gallery.web-mex.com/erinstephens-north
I understand
my words as signs reading "ROAD WORK. SEEK
ALTERNATE ROUTE" strategically placed. a "noble silence" is also
in my vocabulary. but where are we going? hopefully towards
____-er.
A deeper understanding.
A truer manifestation of the Good.
I appreciate the distinction between understandable and Good.
cowardice, malice and moral laziness (RE: whatever one may
value) should elicit empathy but not respect.
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I believe in what should be...
Pragmatism is absent from my worldview. every human decision is
an act of worldcreation; should-ness guides my decision-making.
Happiness is never more important than doing the right thing. in
fact, i cannot believe that what others call "happiness" really
is "happiness" when it seems to conflict with justice and
integrity.
And i believe in Beauty...the infinitessimally small grain of
love at the heart of the universe. Beauty is the bittersweetness
of human connection, heroism, sacrifice, melancholia, the
ephemeral nature of all things, that which is as delicate as
foam on the sea yet inviolable. Beauty is justice. Beauty is why
i live.
Mediums: Silversmithing, Sculpture, Drawing, Digital, and Poetry. i'm a studiomate at western ave studios westernavenuestudios.com. i happily take commissions.
Birthday: 08/14/1985
About Me:
i no longer see what i do–the
thinking and the writing–as
theorizing.
because i readily see both the truth and the untruth of what i
decide to put forth.
and what i put forth flies behind me at 100 mph when i chuck it
out the window.
and that is not a grandiose observation for the ages.
i can reconcile many things. but it takes time.
all things take time.
including me. i definitely take time.
"the motion in stillness...sitting in the sun but only appearing to...if someone could look into my eyes and see the motion...there can be so much passion in an instant and so much unbounding love...all in the heart of one person staring into space...doing nothing...and i have to remind myself that i can't just give what is in my heart...i have to be it...what seems obvious to me isn't to others...so i long to reach into their being and touch it like the warm sun on my arm the infinity of an idea or a look...i want it to be there and i want to create it...and find it there already."
College:
Harvard '08 // Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies
High School: Billerica Memorial High School '04
Political Views: Very Liberal
Activities:
new things, old thingsInterests:suchness
being always and never the same
movements of thoughts, feelings
revelation
the koan as a model for communication
the hugeness of practices of reading
counterbalancing
deadpan
the hard thing
the easy thing
the fifth thought
the possible
the unknown
not hating myself
Favorite Music:
foundation movement, kanye, MIDIval punditz, thievery corporation, billie holiday, la sista, my brightest diamond, amon tobin, leonard cohen, jethro tull, dusty springfield, chemical brothers, crooked still, sarah vaughan, velvet underground, kaki king, aimee mann, ella fitzgerald, zap mama, geto boys, johnny cash, ben harper, m.i.a., imogen heap, cat power, devon sproule, portishead, rasputina, days of the new, the decemberists, lovage, massive attack, handsome boys modeling school, gorillaz, paul curreri, frank zappa, tool, moody blues, beck, genesis, led zeppelin, peter gabriel, pink floyd, NIN, mr. bungle, tomahawk, solás, ozomatli, tori amos, tan dun, rage against the machine, porcupine tree, the beatles, patrick doyle, sage francis, danny elfman, the gathering, the who, radiohead, faith no more, the doors, jimi hendrix, lena horne, hildegarde von bingen, gustav holst, debussy, eliot goldenthal, huun-huur-tu, dj shadow, the roots, zap mama, caitie s-n
Favorite Movies:
jane eyre, the hidden blade, no country for old men, hot fuzz, across the universe, perfume, hairspray, el laberinto del fauna, mansfield park, the merchant of venice, who framed roger rabbit?, grindhouse, midnight cowboy, putney swope, thin, the journey, curse of the golden flower, lucky number slevin, crash, brokeback mountain, the hours, borat!, boys don't cry, the twilight samurai, tank girl, titus, kung fu hustle, creature comforts, hero, 2046, frida, much ado about nothing, fear and loathing in las vegas, the wall, henry V, matilda, lilo and stitch, shaolin soccer, la confidential, strictly ballroom, jesus christ superstar, princess mononoke, nausicaa, howl's moving castle, spirited away, oh brother where art thou?, sense and sensibility, american beauty, the princess bride, shrek II, benny and joon, pride and prejudice (the mini-series), dune, v for vendetta
Favorite Books:
jane eyre, teachings on love, the essential rumi, the golden compass, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, black skin white masks, a history of sexuality volume I, unbearable weight, the heart of the buddha's teachings, time enough for love, the silmarillion, the golden cage, gravity and grace, dutchman
Favorite Quotations:
"avant guardian angel."--sage francis.
"emptiness here, emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands
always before your eyes.
infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen."--seng-tsan
"love yourself and be awake--
today, tomorrow, always.
first establish yourself in the way,
then teach others.
and so defeat sorrow.
to straighten the crooked
you must first do a harder thing--
straighten yourself."--the buddha
"although they are only breath, words which i command are
immortal."--sappho
"'what an idealist,' people will say. not at all: it is just
that the others are scum."--frantz fanon
"do not move the way fear makes you move." - jelaluddin rumi
"it is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate
fingers." -peter gabriel
"if you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth
will save you. if you do not bring forth what is within you,
what you do not bring forth will destroy you."--jesus
"if all the world hated you, and believed you wicked, while your
own conscience approved you, and absolved you from guilt, you
would not be without friends."--helen burns, from jane eyre,
charlotte bronte
"do not be what you hate. do not tell lies."--jesus
"again the surprised expression crossed his face. he had not
imagined that a woman would dare to speak so to a man. for me, i
felt at home in this sort of discourse. i could never rest in
communication with strong, discreet, refined minds, whether male
or female, till i had passed the outworks of conventional
reserve, and crossed the threshold of confidence, and won a
place by their heart's very hearthstone."--jane eyre, charlotte
bronte
"i know no medium: i never in my life have known any medium in
my dealings with positive, hard characters, antagonistic to my
own, between absolute submission and determined revolt. i have
always faithfully observed the one, up to the very moment of
bursting, sometimes with volcanic vehemence, into the other."--jane
eyre, charlotte bronte
Interests:
laboring. realizing. diving into the Beauty abyss. trying to look insidious forces that grow strong in the peripheries of my vision straight in the eye. trying not to look my realizations straight in the eye, lest they dissolve. thinking inside-out, sideways and other ways. my thinking *is* motion; when it becomes easy for me to name the essence of a thing, i change it or myself such that we may both continue to live in the unnameable, truer space. aiming for unity and purity. loving. transmuting. paying attention. dreaming...literally. wielding acetylene torches. heaving. silently exploding in slow motion. heading the sage advice: "do not do what you hate, and do not tell lies." watching. balancing out through application of thought and force of will all those parts of myself that are lopsided.
Websites:
gallery.web-mex.com/erinstephens-north
www.wasaa.org/profile/ErinStephensNorth
Archive
Interests:
compassion!, the high country, acting, pablo neruda, activism, garcía lorca, andy kaufman, anti-apathy, artemisia, welding, awesome art direction, Beauty (sharing/appreciating/creating it), being free, being spiritual, borges, bumming around boston, carl sagan, claude cahun, collaborating w/ my twin, connection, dredz, empathy, anti-oppression, fighting isms, fine arts, firesign theater, frank herbert, frida kahlo, genmai cha, ghandi, good food, gustav klimt, guy richie, hatha yoga, heinlein, human rights, installation art, integrity, lapsang souchong, linguistics/phonology, love, making shit, mangos, mark twain, mary wollstonecraft shelley, matt groening, mehndi, metalsmithing/silversmithing, monet, monty python, norman jewison, organic farming, orson wells, painting, pan yuliang, photography, poetry, reading, really cool chord progressions, robert pirsig, rumi, salvador dali, sanskrit, sappho, self-expression, shakespeare, singing, south park, sustainability, tengwar, terry gilliam, the Buddha
Clubs and Jobs:
metalsmithing, yruu (young religious unitarian universalists), hpag, hsf, uu campus ministry
Favorite Music:
genesis, led zeppelin, jethro tull, smashing pumpkins, pink floyd, NIN, mr. bungle, tomahawk, solas, ozomatli, gorillaz, tori amos, raga, tan dun, rage against the machine, porcupine tree, the beatles, patrick doyle, sage francis, the gathering, chemical bros, copeland, the who, radiohead, faith no more, sean davy, phish, the doors, mahler, jimi hendrix, hildegarde von bingen, holst, gershwin, danny elfman, dave brubeck, bach, debussey, beck, eliot goldenthal, huun hur tu
Favorite Books:
the essential rumi, zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance, the gnostic gospels, sense and sensibility, the language instinct, breakfast of champions, la casa de bernarda alba, pride and prejudice, dune, one flew over the cuckoo's nest, the adventures of huckleberry finn, hamlet, time enough for love, the silmarillion
Favorite Movies:
okay change that to favorite directors: julie taymor, kenneth branaugh, terry gilliam, guy richie, oliver stone, quentin tarantino, zhang yimou, orson wells, norman jewison, miyazaki, stanley kubrick, the cohen bros, ang lee, almodovar
Favorite Quote:
"do not move the way fear makes you move."-jelaluddin rumi
"it is the scent of garlic that lingers on my chocolate fingers."-peter gabriel
"arma contra todo lo que no te libra, rebelión en todo lo que te encadena."-frida kahlo
"if you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. if you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."
"do not do what you hate, and do not tell lies."-jesus