What’s the deal with the monkey face anyway?

There are a number of reasons I have the for giving myself the appellation “simonesimian”.

First of all I had a very dear buddy who had the audacity to go and get a fatal brain tumor when we had many more decades to go on our family strong friendship. “Simian” was his nickname for me, pretty much the only nickname I’ve ever had except for my father calling me “seem” sometimes.

In America the name “Simone” is uncommon except in the African American community. (an African American has never called me “Simon”, a frequent occurrence with others). For some it carries hoity-toity connotations. It amuses me to undercut them by adding simian to it.

I was raised in a pretty sedate household with only one younger sister. So there was definitely a learning curve to becoming the mother of 2 boys. Their behavior has inspired me to refer to them as “little monkeys” on numerous occasions.

In a book about festivals one recommendation was to distinguish yourself somehow - bright shirt, funny hat etc. Some people find the monkey face amusing, others just “weird”. Whatever the reaction, it does stand out.

Lastly, I regularly practice in Anusara Yoga. This type of yoga is particularly focused on posture and alignment - an area where my body has undergone much needed improvement. Over time you develop the awareness to retrain your body out of its bad habits such as slouching and hunching your shoulders.. These tendencies worsen over time with most people. When I see a woman from a distance I can often get an accurate sense of her age just based on how she carries herself. It’s almost as if our bodies are trying to revert to our simian origins and its our continual struggle to counteract this. And the battle between our human and animal nature is played out in too many ways to be dealt with in this blog!

MORE IMPRESSIONS FROM “AMERICA’S COUNTY”

As we waited for our food at the Italian Oven, I tried to get a sense of how various family members perceived the presidential candidates. As I’ve implied previously, the demographics of Somerset county don’t reflect America as a whole. But they do reflect a segment that feels and votes quite differently from “The People’s Republic of Maryland” from which I hail. So I don’t argue or debate anymore, I just listen to get a sense of how they feel.

Nobody supports Senator Obama, the “experience” issue is a real deal breaker for those who have thought much about him.

For one middle aged female the fact that Senator Clinton had taken her husband back after how he treated her was a terrible example for young woman and thus disqualified her.

A not quite 40 year old female in the party felt the fact that Senator Clinton was female counted strongly in her favor (she had voted Republican previously).

A female college student with a boyfriend in Iraq supports John McCain, because she identifies as Republican and for his military experience.

And my mother-in-law genuinely likes President Bush as much as ever.

THE RETURN OF THE L-WORD

From today’s Washington Post, news that both McCain and Clinton are using the term “liberal” in a pejorative way against Senator Obama.


In Obama's New Message, Some Foes See Old Liberalism

By Alec MacGillis
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, March 26, 2008; Page A01

“ . . . Sen. John McCain and other Republicans have already started to brand him a standard-order left-winger, "a down-the-line liberal," as McCain strategist Charles R. Black Jr. put it, in a long line of Democratic White House hopefuls.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign has also started slapping the L-word on Obama, warning that his appeal among moderate voters will diminish as they become more aware of liberal positions he took in the past, such as calling for single-payer health care and an end to the U.S. embargo against Cuba. . . .”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/25/AR2008032503082.html

“AMERICA’S COUNTY” endures THE DEFEAT OF FREEDOM

Our director Richard Hall hails from Somerset, Pennsylvania which is located in the Southwestern corner of the state. Americans became more familiar with the area after 9/11, as it’s the area where the “plane came down”, and also where the trapped coal miners were rescued. It calls itself “America’s County”, although demographically the area is 97.39% White (according to Wikipedia). Also, it has only voted for a Democratic presidential candidate once in the past hundred years.

One of the area’s dining establishments is called “The Italian Oven”. When we were last there the menu featured “Freedom Fries”. We went back last weekend for my sister-in-law’s birthday “French fries” had made their return.

Sign of the times perhaps?

PRODUCTION UPDATE 4, THE DIRECTOR SPEAKS

From Richard, the Director/Editor:

I am working on improving the advance review copy of our DVD so that it will smoothly play in older and/or most DVD players. Some people have had trouble with our DVD. Using Studio Pro I am limiting maximum MBPS to 6.4 (no-I don't really understand what that means). I learned this from the technical specs. on "CreatSpace" a self-distribution company. The way things are changing and "improving" in the world it's hard not to learn something new everyday. When I first opened DVD Studio Pro I was overwhelmed by the complexity of the interface and the seemingly boundless options. A month later I can almost navigate my way from A to Z without losing my marbles.

PRODUCTION UPDATE 3

In the next few days we will create a commentary track as a DVD extra. There has been some debate about how useful it is to do this. Chris Gore’s DVD book says it is mandatory for true film nerds. Personally I rarely ever have time to listen to them, and the times I have they were often tedious monologues. . I asked on my documentary forum and responses were mixed. But there was enough people who said they enjoy and appreciate them that I figure we might as well, since there will be space on the disk.

PRODUCTION UPDATE 2

Right now, when you google “American Feud” you get a bunch of hits about the Hatifields and the McCoys, with our Youtube trailer being tenth. One of the things you are supposed to do to change this is join “social networking sites”. We’ve been on MySpace for awhile, that apparently hasn’t helped. (albeit with the old littlebig website). But today I went ahead and gave it a FaceBook page, which you can do for films as well. The whole thing seems silly in some ways, but I suppose it doesn’t hurt. I’m still surprised (and encouraged) that people have found us with no publicity at all. I think it’s because of Noam Chomsky’s participation - believe it or not, the man has a real fan base.

production update 1

Recently, I’ve been trying to focus on this website. One thing I’ve realized is how this project has continued to add to the list of things I know just barely enough about. Soon I can add website creation and search engine optimization to the list. My cyber friends on the D-word documentary forum have been ever so helpful. In addition a stranger (a Katie Alender) I found while googling for a problem I was having with Iweb software gave me the solution I couldn’t find elsewhere. I never ceased to be amazed at how the internet has facilitated “the kindness of strangers”. Honestly, I’d give up chocolate and a bunch of others things before I’d give up my lifeline to the world!

Richard has been more focused on continuing the final “polishing” of the DVD and seeking endorsements. He’ll post soon.

INTRODUCTION

Welcome to the blog for American Feud, our political documentary about the history of Liberalism and Conservatism in the US. If you are reading this directly from blogger you can go to www.AmericanFeud.org for more info.


Now, because she's my mother (and our biggest fan) She gets the first words . . ..

Richard, Simone - I think that the reference to "pragmatism" in your film is important and relevant to the political situation you describe. It
 could be a way out of our divisions and "feud."
 
It seems to me that the "point" of your documentary is, as you stated yourselves, "to invite the audience to reconsider the ideas that divide us and imagine a new future beyond Liberalism and Conservatism."
 
The main difficulties that I see for the acceptance of the ideas of the New-Pragmatists is  that  (1) those ideas are not well known, and  (2) pragmatism has not defined, I think,  what moral criteria we should consider for our actions. (Maybe "radical pragmatism" has?) 
 
The social democracies of the European Union have agreed on a set of common principles,  not only  the basic democratic values, but also solidarity, social justice, sustainable development for all, peace, etc. 
 
There has been an intellectual dialogue between some American New-Pragmatists (Richard Rorty and others)  and some post-  modern continental philosophers (Gianni Vattimo and others). And there is a convergence of ideas.
 
The long cultural, religious,  and political evolution of Western Europe has led us to what Europeans call "the secularization of the Christian message", that is the Gospel message of love your neighbor, help the poor, etc.. is now "incarnated" i.e. "secularized" into civil society and governmental policy. This "secularization" can be compared to Protestantism which became "incarnated" in the U.S society.  The Protestant ethic of individual conscience and responsibility, sense of self-reliance,  hard work, and frugal life encouraging saving has been "secularized"  into the American capitalist system.
 
For the American philosopher Richard Rorty, the decisive event in the process of this secularisation of Christianity in Western Europe "occurred when the French Revolution coincided with the Romantic movement.  The intellectuals began talking about the power of the human imagination, at the same time that Christian charity changed into Liberty, Equality, Fraternity."
 
For Christian believers,  of course it occurred at the birth of Christ when the divine message of love became incarnated in our world.
 
We have witnessed the convergence of anglo-american pragmatism and European secularized Christianity during the French electoral campaign.  Like many others, I was undecided on my choice of a candidate, because I really wanted to keep our principle of fraternity, but at the same time use more pragmatic methods than the left offered for achieving solidarity, a better life for all, and the protection of the environment. 
 
The centrist candidate who came third  in the first round of the elections said that he wanted to look left and right and cross borders between the political parties. Though he lost, he claimed that he "changed the political landscape."  I think he is right.  The first gestures of Sarkozy give me hope that it is indeed happening.  First, the President-elect met for consultations with members of Parliament, not only from his party but from other political parties; he had a meeting/dialogue with the representatives of labor and trade unions, and committed to regular consultations with them; As president, he named two socialists to be ministers, one of them for Minister of Foreign Affairs (Bernard Kouchner, the founder of "Doctors without Borders"), and one from the centrist party; there are 7 women in his cabinet of 15; the minister of Justice is the daughter of North African immigrants.
 
Maybe a symbol of this convergence of action and values toward a goal which is in accord with our cultural heritage is the new name given to a ministry, heretofore know as "Ministry of Social Affairs,"  and now called "Ministry of Active Solidarity against Poverty."