themediamademecrazy.com

stacked outside doheny library:

a day in the life of an american revolutionary youth…

sometimes you’re happy
and sometimes you cry

half of me is ocean
and half of me is sky.

–Tom Petty “Walls”

recently i have been attending yoga at yoga circle in lovely downtown los angeles. although i have a gym in my building, the experience of walking through downtown, and entering a space designed to be an oasis from the urban hustle and bustle.

during the final pose of the day, savasana, we are encouraged to let the mind release all daily thoughts and meditate. during yesterdays savasana, i realized something.

all urban noise has a definite meaning: a car horn, sirens, screeching tires, people screaming, subway tracks, etc. each of these individuals sounds can be constructed to create a story of the environment without any visual stimulus whatsoever. alternatively, natural sounds are delightfully devoid of meaning. Wind through trees, a babbling brook, the sound of feet crunching leaves underneath. although these sounds may have meaning, they are not designed with an intention in mind. they allow for any and all meaning to be placed on them.

so listen to something natural, and derive some meaning (sensical or not). its good for the mind and soul. personally i like the jazz styles of the fountain in my yoga studio.

My experiment is based on a few assumptions:

1. Treatment often depends on different risks associated with each gender therefore the two groups can never be treated equally outside of a controlled environment.

2. Women tend to suffer from victimization and other such ego-destroying factors of life more often than men. Men can suffer from victimization as well, and this often changes their outlook on life in a similar way.

3. Psychotropic drugs (especially Prozac) alter the behavior of healthy individuals as well as depressed individuals. Slightly depressed individuals are easy to find anywhere in America.

4. Prozac changes an individual’s “emotional quotient” which can have a specific number associated to a subject. This somehow quantifies the personality.

5. In our new 15-minutes-of-fame world, people are more willing to have their lives drastically altered and video taped without thinking that it might be ethically wrong.

Study the effects of psychotropic drugs under controlled conditions. Collect a large sample group from different communities where moral and social upbringing of children is similar. My first consideration was the agricultural community in the mid west. Although I am making vast assumptions about how individuals are raised in this area of the country, I am suggesting this only as a starting point. The communities in this area of the country tend to be more homogenous than larger cities on the east coast.

Anyway, test these individuals for mental competency and physical ability as well as psychological status. The experimenters can regulate for major traumatic events that would interrupt their general social interactions. Take one person from each community so that when the entire subject population is complete, there is a lesser incidence of prior association. Gather the subject population and subject them to identical stimuli.

I do realize that this is ridiculous but each subject would have their own room, to decorate, as they feel comfortable and would live in single sex portions of a house. Or have two houses, one for males and one for females. They would suffer the same stimuli revolving around a 24-hour cycle. I foresee a schedule of this variety:

7am Wake up
8am Single Sex Breakfast
9am “Work” whatever that work is, be it learning or sewing wallets
Noon mixed lunch
1pm Work
4pm Social
6pm mixed dinner
8pm entertainment
11pm personal time lights out at 12.

Each subject would also participate in emotionally altering tests, varying in time during the day or if possible at the same time as well as regular psychological reviews. These individuals would be under the same personality shaping stimuli and all personal events would be monitored by a series of cameras.

Once the subjects have been standardized according to emotional quotient (variants in women according to sexual cycle would be accounted for; hopefully after a short period of time, the women’s menstrual cycles would become synched.), begin to administer Prozac (or any given psychotropic drug) and monitor changes in observable behavior as well as the quantified emotional quotient. In this experiment, gender in variable, and hormones the covariant (I think…).

I’m sure your next questions is, Charisse, how do you expect to do this?

Well, clearly it is a reality show.

a conversation that occured on wednesday night…

TJ: you know that black folks shouldn’t call other black folks ‘nigga’ right?
ME: well, unless they fuck you over…
TJ: true. niggas will fuck you over.

did the media make you crazy?
do you want to scream it from the rooftops?
while drunk in your swimsuit?

then join me for cocktails to celebrate the launch of themediamademecrazy.com v2.5 and charisse’s 25th on saturday, october 7 from 7-11pm.

feel free to bring your swimsuits, your talents, your instruments, your media (to be projected), and anything you’d like to contribute to the festivities (libations welcome).