Art Exhibition: 7 - Face

This is a face.  I drew it.  I can make more.

     - J. A. Kind

Madmen and Quakers

I am a free Donald Draper - no, that statement bathes in contradiction.  Nonetheless, I, the unpaid advertiser, shower the scanners of the cyberspace with knowledge of my coming attraction.  Features of my work will be exhibited on a site quite like this.  

Said site belongs to my educational campus.

Said site owns a link.

Said site's link.

      - J. A. Kind

Excerpt: 1 - Untitled

Excerpt from a piece of boredom and desperation.  Beware the breeding of cusses.

Was the sky as blue as it is now when the dinosaurs roamed the Earth?  Did their scale-scarred eyes and fear induced insomnia witness the brights of blues and the serenity of an explosive, unexplainable sunset?  Stop – I sound like such a jackass for asking this, but come on, it’s an honest question.  I know the reason it’s blue and shit is because of all the light and elemental chemicals in the sky and how it curves or whatever; but really, was it the same color?  As I walk down the path to Mr. Gleason’s apartment I realize that I have two hypotheses, I think that’s the right word – I sleep in biology, or at least I try to.  The first h word is that nowadays there is more goddamn shit in the air like smog and crap from China, like so that we wouldn’t be able to see all of the bright colors as clearly as dinosaurs did.  Wait, could dinosaurs even see colors? I hate bright colors by the way.  I mean calm the fuck down.  You have no right to get all up in my grill.  I don’t know, I guess I don’t like it when people get too close.  But I mean, back the fuck off.  Jack Daniels always has it in just the right balance that way.  He has his friends and his boys, but they’re all not too close.  He is still shrouded in that mystery.  I mean, he’s still a jackass, such an annoying prick, trying to act all cool and shit, but in the end he’s got it.  One day, Jack and I were partners in Latin.  I fucking hate that class.  It’s a dead language, you know.  Why even teach it if it’s gone?  I get about the dinosaurs and how that relates, they actually lived, but dead things that never really existed like Latin, I just have no appreciation.  Why appreciate - anyways, dead things cannot come back to life, at least I think.  There I go again, the world energies and fuck, getting all spiritual and shit.  I don’t really know what my religion is, some people are like no, once you’re gone, you’re just a bag of bones.  My parents, I think, believe in Heaven and Hell.  Bunch of liars and jackasses, I tell you.  They all try and act all perfect and never commit sins, but we all know they’re fucking it and themselves up in the shadows.  Religion, the climactic source of all energy.   People should be allowed to choose.  Oh, and don’t get me started with those shit eaters, you know, those kids that are strange as fuck and believe in the reincarnation stuff.  They’re all high as shit.  Honestly, I wouldn't know though - I mean, I’ve never smoked; I tell people I have, but I always pussy out before I get the chance.  I just worry too much that I’ll do something stupid and people will see me.  People don’t get second chances anymore.  You have your fate and you can’t change it.  Well, I mean, I don’t know.  I think that fate is either fate like it is what it is, even when you think that you are changing it, fate already knows that you were about to do that and has all your mistakes planned out and all your decisions made - or its the other, darker one.  Honestly, I like the first a lot more than the one that lurks in the back of my mind.  It has been eating away at my brain for the past couple days.  I know, its pretty lame, but its true – I’m an honest guy, really.  Maybe, you can change your fate.  Like work hard enough and then boom, its different.  But then that would mean the rest of your life would be different.  That’s not the thing that bothers me though.  The fucking weird as shit shit that freaks me the fuck out, is that the two would both be the same fucking fate.  You kill Bill in one, and he still dies in the other.  Either way, you’re fucked.  And you know, I can’t get a fucking minute to think about anything anymore.  But it’s not the people around me and my room, which is always loud from the echoes and reverberations of the “neighbors” that keep me up at night.  It’s inside me.  I can’t fucking focus.  I used to be so good at memorization.  Back when we were little, my sister and I would battle each other in memory games, the states, the capitals, shit like that.  Now, and ever since we both got fucked up, I cant.  Obviously she still can.  Three years younger and three grades above.  Not really, but she might as well be.  Either way I got the short end of the long stick, I think that’s the expression.  I’m not short, trust me, I’m tall, probably about five eleven now.  Short people got it rough though; I mean you can’t even try to change that.  Your fate is fixed.  They can smoke a joint or take some meds and get cancer or shit like that, but they’re still going to be fucking short as fuck.  Little fuckers, I mean they all try and act cool like they got all their shit together, but you know it, you can see it in their eyes. Haha, Ruby was pretty tiny, but it’s different with girls, you know.  It’s cute.  The small girls always have the walk, you know. With the little Converses or whatever, and the tight jeans. "Walkers."

I had a dream.  Not one where I was asleep but one of the ones that blocks my vision and blurs my mind.  It was a memory that my intellect formed from the dust that had fucking collected in the wasteland that is my skull.  Deep, I know.  Sometimes it shows and cracks its way through.  I fucking try and hide that shit.  I actually tried to act stupid around Ruby - told her I smoked, partied, played three varsity sports, you know, "Jack Danieled."  I even made her believe I had an alcoholism problem, all through text and crap.  I don’t know – she was just so beautiful.  Her hair, I don’t know what its called, but it was all like choppy and stuff, but still looked so soft, like a little store shop teddy bear.  Fuck, what the hell.  Anyways, I was at the beach, no it was more like a cliff.  Wish I was there now - but instead I have to tell Gleason that my fucking clock is up with the shop.  A bunch of bullshit, if you ask me.  Anyways, the cliffs - the stone was rocky, rough to the touch, yet calm enough to have crests that mimicked the arches of the waves that served as skilled sets of accompaniment to the underwater organisms.  Lucky bastards - always swimming around, hidden by the thick, moist blanket of their home.  Ha - Ruby hates the word moist.  I'd tell her to calm down, its just a word, but scaring walkers never ends up right.  Fuck - what even is right.

     - J. A. Kind

Art Exhibition: 6 - Five Fingered Discount

rain    rain    go    away    droplets    say    five    fingered    way



      - a writer and J. A. Kind

The Northerners' Declaration of an Appropriate Amount of Codependency

It is strangely comfortable how safely and spontaneously my back melts into the mix of brick and backpack that function as the pit stop for the specific realm on campus.  All around me people, of all shapes, sizes, ages, ethnicities, etc., wiz by, but I remain at the pit stop – refueling – sometimes with friend, oftimes alone, as the day turns to after light and the academics morph into athletics.  I sit and I rest.  Some would find it uncomfortable, almost strange and meticulously attention grabbing, however here, and when I say here, I mean campus, it is normal – accepted of the sort, if I may.  So I lay, under the bush of no blueberries, to the north of Retford.  I wait, I know not of the event I place myself there for, but I know that its arrival is soon to come.  It brings me joy, just to ponder, to think and push down the pedals of my mind, knowing that body will remain in rest as soul effects change in the pit stop. 

I lay to the north of Retford.

The basics would call it “my favorite spot.”  But we are not basics – we are the northerners – pardon me, The Northerners, The Northerners of Retford, Land of the mathematic majority, and painting and drawing minority.  Though, thou mustn’t forget the small tribe of video conjurers.  Oh yes, we must not forget those.  We must remember as we rest in our spot.  We must retain the memory.  We must expedite the urge of refusal and decompose the endorsements of movement.  For here at campus, we are free.  The Northerners may seek seclusion, but they understand the tangible lack of animosity for their hinds.  They understand that as they lay under the bush to the north of Retford, they are not alone – a sea of other pit stops surrounds them and their own.  The Northerners beckon the flood. 

            - J. A. Kind

Art Exhibition: 5 - Tresses

By the touch of your sway, I feel the bob of the curl sweep down beneath your brow and gently kiss your crease of skin.  Your eye's same substance, reflecting the keratin of past bellows and future cries, seeps under the wave as a blow from the glass hollowed pitcher lifts the remains of a once potent crime.  I miss the way it fell and laughed.  I missed the curl of your hair.  

      - J. A. Kind

The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, And Christ

An essay on The Sun, The Moon, The Stars, by Junot Díaz.

In the beginning of most Catholic children’s lives, the Bible serves as a guide.  However, this Holy Scripture’s knowledge is not limited to religious followers; it also steers readers to question the sector of the mind pertaining to beliefs.  Beliefs, although varying among different humans, are the overarching principles to how a particular individual wants to live – what a particular individual wants to be and/or feel responsible for.  Once reading a portion of the Bible, an individual is opened to a world where Biblical information, symbolism, and anecdotes can effect and depict daily life.  In the short story, “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars,” by Junot Díaz, religious allusions are used to symbolically question the borders of responsibility, and lack there of, that the protagonist, Yunior, upkeeps.  These aspects of the Catholic Faith are alluded to in the story through the names of the main characters, Yunior and Magda, through their linguistically symbolic relationships to light, and through Yunior’s final experience on the island.  These instances bolster Díaz’s correlation between religion and its effect on the subconscious.  “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars” is an archetypal story in which Biblical history mythically repeats itself in an alternative fashion. 

In “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars,” it is not until later in the story that the protagonist’s name is mentioned.  The reason for this delay in identification, on Díaz’s part, is due to the author’s pity for the self deprecating, emotionally confused, character he created.  Throughout the story, it becomes evident that Yunior is self-conscious.  He defends a façade and combats his environments by using overly confident language that questions the validity of both his description of certain situations, and his own supposed self-assurance.  He cockily rambles, as seen on page two, when Yunior says, “Let me confess: I love coming home to the guys in Blazers trying to push little cups of Brugal into my hands.” (Díaz 2)  This sentence is the beginning of a paragraph that continues with Yunior describing in much detail, all about the Dominican Republic – a description, he could have told to get the reader’s sympathy and empathy.  Díaz also uses Yunior’s description to satirically show how “cool and awesome” Yunior is for knowing all of this.  The reader is unsure of whether or not these descriptions of the Dominican Republic are even accurate, however the reader will “have to take [his] word for it.” (Díaz 2)  It is with this deceptive language that Díaz creates for the reader, prompting questions pertaining to the validity of Yunior’s stories and responsibility.  The reader is made to feel unsure and uneasy about Yunior.  Thus, when Díaz finally introduces the name of his character of confusion, it is done so in a delayed, strategized, and merciful manner.  Yunior is introduced by his ex-girlfriend, Magda, as follows: “I’m bored Yu-nior.” (Díaz 2)  The name is said across two lines, thus needing a hyphen.  Not only did Díaz wait to identify his creation, but he also did so in the most fragile manner.  Yunior’s name possesses importance – it is the key to his confidence, as any name is.  Names hold value; and Díaz tried to protect the value of a character he was harshly exposing. 

The delay of the naming, in relation to the Christian Bible, could be seen as a symbolic christening or baptism conducted by Magda on her then boyfriend.  It appears to be no coincidence that later in the paragraph Yunior “drank fifteen bottles of water.” (Díaz 2)  When christenings occur, they are accomplished in order to give a member of the Christian Church a name that reveals a significant characteristic or trait.  Yunior’s name is directly Biblically symbolic.  In “Spanglish” (the linguistic mix of Yunior’s languages of literacy and identity) Yunior means Junior.  Junior is a name used to differentiate a son from a father who is called the same name as his breath and life giver.  In the Christian Bible, Jesus and God share this identification situation. Jesus is the translated English form of the same name in Greek, Iēsous.  Iēsous stems from the Hebrew name for Jesus, Yeshua; and, Yeshua is one of the many Hebrew names for God.  God and Jesus, from a linguistic perspective, have the same name.

Jesus and Yunior are sons and juniors.  Díaz uses this symbolic comparison to further exhibit Yunior’s personality and struggle with responsibility.  The Biblical foil, assumes a delicate, overarching, religious power that presents himself as a continuously supported allusion.  The sheer dichotomy between Yunior and his sins, and Jesus and his death for the sins of others, complicate the interaction between Yunior and his environment and the repetitive nature of life and history.  By using this foil, Díaz representatively illustrated a humane, troubled side to a revered Biblical character through another character who was indeed troubled.  Additionally, Díaz demonstrated the strange way history can repeat itself.  For although Jesus and Yunior battled differing adversities, their overall seeking of good was evident.  Yunior, even though quite troubled, tried to become a better person throughout the story.  This was demonstrated during his “revelation” in the cave.  Yunior’s subconscious was affected by his religion.  Díaz modernized his work by depicting Yunior as a Dominican Christian.  Overall, Díaz was able to show the effect of religion on an individual by implementing a religious and linguistic allusion on the individual he was showcasing. 

In addition to Yunior’s name representing Biblical and linguistic significance, the naming of Yunior’s girlfriend, Magda, is symbolic.  Unlike Yunior, Magda’s introduction was immediate.  At the beginning of the story, Yunior quickly introduced his ex-girlfriend and her disappointment for him when he said, “Magdalena disagrees.  She considers me a typical Dominican man: a sucio, an asshole.”  (Díaz 1)  Without name related analysis, the introduction of Magdalena, or rather Magda, her nickname, is significant due to its involvement with the Spanish language.  Magda’s description of Yunior as “a sucio” shows the importance of the shared, otro idioma.  Magda shapes Yunior’s life – by having her be involved and understand the same language Yunior speaks, Díaz was able to show the intense bond Magda and Yunior had that was not simply sexual and romantic.  Additionally, Díaz exhibited the augmentation of “Spanglish” phrases in Latin culture.  Instead of illustrating Magda and Yunior as perfect Spanish speakers, Díaz showed the two using Spanish nouns with English articles, thus symbolizing their imperfections.   These imperfections demonstrate the effects of subconscious misunderstandings and symbolically exhibit Yunior’s lack of responsibility. 

This exhibition of humanly imperfect behavior is vital to Díaz’s comparison of the characters in “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars” and their religious others.  Similar to Yunior’s foil-like relationship with Jesus, Magda carries a Biblically alluding connection.  Magdalena’s name stems from Magdalene, meaning “maiden.”  Most individuals who gift their children the name, or some variant of it, do so in tribute to the second most prominent, and often thought, important female in the New Testament, Mary Magdalene.  Magdalene was a follower of Jesus; she attended his crucifixion, and witnessed his Resurrection.  She was not a lover, but rather a friendly follower.  Supposedly, Jesus cast out seven demons from Magdalene who had been associated with the crime of adultery and other specific sexual sins.  In his story, Díaz mirrored the complex relationship that Magdalene and Jesus shared by using Magda and Yunior.  Unlike the Biblical pair, Magda and Yunior did indeed take part in a romantic relationship, which included premarital sex – a sin.  This is ironic in reference to the overarching Biblical allusion because of the type of demons Magdalene hosted. Magda and Magdalene’s comparison is fueled by sex.  Díaz used this sinful foil to complicate the confident, female character he created whose mission was to test and batter his other male creation who lacked responsibility and such confidence. Through the comparisons of Biblical persons and ordinary people, the usage of sacred allusions and linguistic symbols furthered the tension of sexual and romantic hardship by reinforcing a tale as old as time.  Díaz created another foil, furthering his exhibition of an archetypal story of Biblical proportions.

The story of The Fall, also known as the story of Adam and Eve, is arguably the most well-known and discussed narratives in the Bible.  The experiences of the Bible’s first two humans are filled with light and darkness.  This variation of light is symbolized in “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars.”  Light, in the short story, plays a central role in the governance of Yunior’s borders of responsibility.  Yunior is severely affected by actual light, its absence, and its metaphorical attributes.  Every action Yunior decides to make occurs in some form of light or darkness, however, in the story, certain forms of light are associated with certain actions.  During the daylight hours, when the sun traveled high in the sky, Yunior’s actions and behaviors, especially pertaining to his relationship with Magda, exposed themselves in a more clear and evident fashion than at night.  For example, once back on the island and under the sun, Yunior’s true emotions were shown.  Yunior expressed himself in the paragraph that begins with “The sun is blazing and the blue of the ocean is an overload on the brain.” (Díaz 3)  In the story, the sun shined and its beams of light broke and tore down the façade that Yunior had so desperately tried to construct; however, all the work of the sun was soon forgotten.  At night, Yunior relapsed.  His actions and emotions became muddled – hidden beneath the blanket of black.  Yunior would “loiter around” (Díaz 6) and notice dark aspects about potential lovers, such as the “dark stubbled spot in her armpit.” (Díaz 6)  During the time reigned by the moon and the stars, Yunior’s borders of responsibility vanished and his relationship with Magda crumbled.  Life experienced an archetypal alteration after the presence of the moon and the stars.

This alteration can be analyzed through a linguistic and religious lens.    In relation to Yunior’s native language, Spanish, light produces symbolic waves.  In Spanish, the sun is “el sol.”  The moon is “la luna;” and the stars are “las estrellas.”  Light as an overall concept is translated to “la luz.”  All of these words, except for the sun, are feminine.  The gendered heavenly bodies represented certain characters in the story.  The sun represented the masculine Yunior.  The moon symbolized the feminine Magda; and the stars signified the other possible lovers of Yunior.  This characterization of heavenly bodies presented itself in the short story at the differing times of light during the day and night.  Díaz related these linguistic characterizations with the moods of certain time periods of light to symbolically illustrate the archetypal adversities Yunior faced because of his lack of responsibility.  Yunior and his lovers, like the sun, the moon, and the stars, entered a light induced cycle – however, their cyclical relationship was problematic.  This cycle is shown in The Fall. 

Díaz refers to The Fall in the final moments of his story.  The last scene on the island, like the story of Adam and Eve, is mythical and mystical.  Like the Bible’s first story, the setting is mysterious and historically significant.  In the story, the cave rested at “the birthplace of the Tainos.” (Díaz 6)  Like Adam and Eve, Yunior was faced with temptation.  The darkness around him, enticed his soul to commit sin.  Díaz used this religious allusion to transport his self-deprecating character to a world where the author’s mercy shined onto the environment like “a darkness obliterator.”  (Díaz 6)  This symbolism in the situation, on Díaz’s part, is further intensified by the overarching allusion to Jesus.  At the end of the story, Yunior is literally lowered into a vertical cave by a Vice President and his henchman.  He is then raised out, overcome with emotion, and enlightened.  Before Jesus ascended to Heaven, he descended to Hell.  This hyperbolic allusion deepened Yunior’s sin and lack of responsibility through the comparison to the immortal and angelic foil.  Díaz simultaneously and satirically showed mercy to his main character while exhibiting the archetypal story of falling. 

Overall, “The Sun, The Moon, The Stars” is an archetypal story that contains Biblical allusions and synergetic properties.  Díaz compared Christian and Latin culture by amalgamating various anecdotal references from numerous sources.  This exhibited Yunior’s self deprecating nature and lack of responsibility while maintaining the dignity of the plot.  The short story decreed a global cry of vindication by incorporating religious and linguistic attributes in order to define a mysterious, ethical beginning to a mortal human.

- J. A. Kind  

Hey It Is Judith

This is the story of a girl, well, no - actually an old lady, who must battle the - okay we get it.  Watch the video here.  It is educational.  Subscribe.

        - J. A. Kind

Hakespearian Prose (Pronounced Jakespearian Prawhsay): 1 - A Moment With Chloe and Stacey

chloe (clah as stace calls her main turtle (omg turtles!)) –

i like make the face like this stace right omg i need lip botox – my lips like holy crap, where’d they go, i can’t feel them, like stacey i cant feel my lips.  Are they like still there or should i go to like the health center or like some place of medical you know?  oh no i see them in my cam cam i’m so ok anyway act cute here comes Justine oh Justine oh Justine look at his jk jk already seen like what yess yess YASSS THE BEAR WANTS ITS HONEY that is not apropro but like yeah back to duck face can we just like because honestly i don’t know if i can  can you stace stace can you i said that i cannot but i never can cannot omg canception again like no get me out of the can can stace? like random like for interception oh no i mean intensity like STACE stace answer me i am feeling really self unconfident right now okay cool cool like wslkiislafs  yeah you know that the homophone synonmin means teehee i’m so cute okay no i’m not wait okay time for short short pics oh wait that wall oh yes like the bricks yes mmh those bricks will look so hipster against my turtle iphone case hashtag instaclass like like you know i cannot like bae turtle teehee yaaas boo boo omg if you say boo boo fast its boob ooh ok i cannot i am done like so done like yep like  like likkkkkkke hakespeare

       - J. A. Kind

Art Exhibition: 4 - Juxtaposition

Needless to say, our interlocked harpoons entangled the subservient shellfish of our habitation.  The grindings of our tin canister, "unsanded," and the tinfoil wrapper of aluminum, pronounced in the British accent of course, fill the void between rocket and launcher as the knife attached to stick, impaled the first of all of its innocent prey.  Fish tails swerved and glided away in the undulations of currents that beset my heart like the very groupings of elements that create it.  Oh weary traveler, art thou, a small puckering of the lips, a minuscule bubble of breath from the near tragedy of aquatic kingdom?  Let the finned creature bleed, and hope the ions swell in the cushion of their saturated sea casket.

       - J. A. Kind