2024 Through the Rearview Mirror at Ennyman's Territory: A Letter to My Readers

Welcome to the 2024 Year In Review for Ennyman's Territory! It’s been an eventful year filled with insightful interviews, cultural reflections, and a deep dive into the human condition through the lens of literature, music, and social commentary.

Literary and Writing Highlights:

This year, we explored the power of storytelling in many of our most popular blog posts. The narrative craft was celebrated, highlighting how stories can connect us across time and space, reflecting on how they shape our understanding and empathy towards different facets of human life.

Cultural Musings:

2024 was also a year in which we delved into cultural icons like Bob Dylan, examining how his lyrics continue to speak to the disenfranchised, echoing the sentiments of Woody Guthrie. We discussed the timelessness of holiday traditions, from the heartwarming tales of "A Christmas Carol" to the universal appeal of "It's A Wonderful Life," emphasizing the importance of tradition in our lives.

Social Commentary:

A significant portion of our discussions revolved around societal structures and policies. We looked at the unintended consequences of good intentions, critiqued political maneuvers with bills passed in haste, and questioned the effectiveness of urban policies related to housing and transportation. The year brought a critical eye to the effects of lockdowns and the push for electric vehicle adoption here and in the EU, pondering the balance between idealism and practical outcomes.

Personal Reflections:

The year we looked at personal matters. We pondered existential questions, the legacy we leave behind, and the courage to try in the face of uncertainty. Philosophical musings from Nietzsche to Paul Tillich enriched our exploration of identity and purpose.

Engagement with Technology:

We continued to engage with technology, asking AI systems like ChatGPT about their capacity for empathy, and reflecting on the intersection of technology with human emotion and creativity. 

Looking Forward:

As we wrap up 2024, the year has been one of reflection, critique, and hope. We've seen how art, literature, and thoughtful commentary can lead to a greater understanding of ourselves and the world around us. Looking forward, we aim to keep this conversation alive, exploring new ideas, celebrating creativity, and questioning the status quo to foster a community that values depth, diversity, and the pursuit of truth.

Thank you for being part of this journey at Ennyman's Territory. Here's to another year of learning, growing, and connecting through the power of words and ideas.

Ed Newman
Ennyman's Territory

[Published on: December 30, 2024]

EdNote: This overview of my Ennyman's Territory blog was generated by Grok, an AI developed by xAI, designed to provide helpful and truthful answers from an outside perspective on humanity. The term "Grok" originates from Robert A. Heinlein's science fiction novel "Stranger in a Strange Land." 

Flashback Friday: An Engaging Dialogue On the Role of Art in Society

John Heino

10 Years Ago Today

During the noon hour yesterday a half dozen of us met for a Red Interactive Brown Bag Lunch Dialogue about art around the theme “Engagement or Chaos?” The main objective was to get clarification on what appears to be a problematic dichotomy in the arts. Is anything and everything art? Or is art only considered art after it has been “blessed” by the appropriately certified critics from on high? John Heino served as moderator of the discussion as we explored these two apparently contradictory propositions. 

At the beginning of the hour we were each given a red marker that we were asked to place on a line that indicated where we personally stood with regard to this dichotomy. The line was numbered 1 through 10 with 5 being the middle of the road. On the extreme left we had Elitism and Control. On the extreme right we had Engagement and Chaos. 

The dot placements proved surprising. One was toward the left, most were toward the engagement/chaos side of center and one was off the grid completely. Erika indicated that her unusual outside-the-box placement came from a lifetime of observing that many false dichotomies have been created when we make either/or assumptions. She sees the need to re-phrase the paradigm and see it as a circle with room for all perspectives. It was the first of many unexpected insights. 

 

What follows are some of the notes John sent to me from yesterday's dialogue. An hour clearly proved too short and it became evident to all that we were just scratching the surface. Much more can be said. 

 

What was especially valuable, and not recorded here, were the many stories and experiences that informed our personal perspectives. It was helpful, too, that John set up the dialogue in a manner that provided a level of non-judgmental trust in which everyone felt free to be open. John's notes from the discussion are here.

AND (vs. or) Think of a circle [or perhaps a sphere] instead of linear spectrum
• Room for diverse expression
• Avoid judgment
• Inclusive

Pretty much room for everything
• Whatever criteria you come up with, there’s always something that doesn’t fit
• Reserve the right to call something “crap”

Don’t like either word—“chaos” or “elitism” in the context of art
• Everyone has something “art” within her/his being
• What is “art” will always remain subjective
• Engagement is the better choice

Contradictions
• There is a place for “high” art
• Appreciation at certain levels requires training
• BUT creativity is innate in all of us

Engagement may be the future of art. People want to engage. Where is art going in postmodern society?

Capitalism run amok is a problem.
• It seems to be all about the money
What happens with organic growth when it begins to look like chaos?

We need a new paradigm.
• Spirit-based, flowing
• Listen to each other
• Really see
• Pay attention to the intuitive world
• Notice where everyone is coming from

Social and economic dynamics over the past 25 years or so have resulted in art being less valued and less of a priority in society.
• Schools can’t afford art classes? It’s a choice. Political dynamics have allowed that choice, but that wouldn’t be the case if a majority of taxpayers and political supporters insisted that the arts be made a priority.
• Everybody loses when the arts are treated like discretionary spending. It’s more than just the sad shortchanging of something very important that makes us human. The insights students gain in the arts give them a broader tool kit no matter what they eventually do for a living. One-dimensional students become one-dimensional employees and unimaginative managers if they make it that far.
• Think of the cumulative negative impact of turning out less creative graduates. What has it done to earning potential of our young people? To business productivity improvement? To the wellbeing, competitiveness and economic performance of America? In reality, we cannot “not afford” to include arts as part of a well-rounded education.

What is value?
• Utilitarian?
• Aesthetic/beauty?
• What about the assumption that if a piece of art is expensive, it must be good?

"I don’t accept that anything is art."
• But I want to decide. I don’t want to be told why I should appreciate a piece of art.

I don’t really think of myself as an artist, but I have impulses to make things.
• If someone else enjoys it, that’s great.

If something called art is strange or inaccessible on its face, it may be because we’re not trained to understand what is happening.

In the end it proved a most interesting discussion. What happens next is anyone's guess.

Engagement or Chaos: The Role of Art in Post-Modern Society

One feature of the Phantom Galleries Project, and especially our Red Interactive project, has been an attempt to engage the public. For our open house in September we invited people to wear red and bring something red that could be used in a collaborative sculpture. It thrilled us to see the interaction that occurred as the show visitors engaged in the making of that 3-D red expression.

Today the office-space-turned-gallery at 1410 Tower Avenue will be opened for an hour to discuss questions about the role of art in society today. John Heino and I will be moderators of this brown bag lunch public event titled “Engagement or Chaos?”

The main object of the discussion will be to get clarification on what appears to be a problematic dichotomy in the arts. Is anything and everything art? Or is art only considered art after it has been “blessed” by the appropriately certified critics from on high? Another way to break this out will be to explore these two apparently contradictory propositions.

Perspective 1
This idea that anyone with materials and an impulse can make art is just nonsense. More engagement? Maybe, but it’s a slippery slope to chaos. There are still very valid roles for art critics and art historians and that is to ensure that there always remains something legitimate about what gets to be called “art.”

Perspective 2
What is the art elite protecting? There never have been absolute criteria for determining what is and isn’t art. Now, more than ever, we need to foster engagement and not be overly concerned about what “passes for art.” Would the world end if a piece of non-art avoided detection? It hasn’t yet. Engagement is the antidote for elitism.

According to John Heino, photographer and co-founder of the Red Interactive project, “This is not a mere intellectual exercise. If we agree that some form of art is a desirable component of human existence, then we ought to be concerned about accessibility and practice as it relates to the entire population, not just a smattering of insular cults that are intentionally or otherwise incomprehensible to ‘average’ folks.

I, too, have questions. Is aesthetic appreciation innate, automatic and universal or something that also must be learned in order to be valued? If the latter, can this be part of why elites sometimes disdain the common to some extent? Is there a place for high art, high culture?

The dialogue is intended as a starting point for future discussions about the relationships between the arts, culture and commerce. Red Interactive is a sanctioned project of Phantom Galleries Superior.

Phantom Galleries Superior (PGS) is one of six Phantom Gallery initiatives in the state of Wisconsin supported by the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts. PGS is a unique partnership between Superior Public Art Creating Community Environments (SPAC2ES) and Superior Business Improvement District (BID), the property owners, the artists, and the community. Use of properties is generously donated by the owners. Additional support comes from multiple artistic resources, the BID, and the Morgan Fund of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation.

For more information about Red Interactive visit our on online interactions on Facebook. In the meantime, let's keep the dialogue rolling.

Engagement happens.

Take a Picture, or Engage?

I was working on my Honda out in front of the garage this morning when I heard a loud buzzing noise behind me. It sounded like a giant bumblebee, making a vibrating buzz sound. When I turned, it surprised me to see that it was a hummingbird, trying to fly out through the window pane. My first reaction was to attempt a rescue, to make sure he found his way out of the garage. I opened the second door.

He then became fascinated by the lights, flew up to them and took interest in the bulbs and then the bright colored wiring. For half a second he perched on the red wire there after examining it, then resumed his exploration.

I ran houseward to fetch my Sony Cybershot, but when I returned he was gone.

The thought I had next was that I wish I’d stayed to watch him a little more… just because he was so near, so interesting. I wished that I had remained engaged, involved with this surprisingly wondrous visitor.

So often we reach for a camera to “capture the moment” but what is really happening? The irony is that we may capture an image, but we missed the real moment, the opportunity for engagement.

I am not opposed to picture making, video taking, or other forms of documenting special moments in time. What I do believe is that we need to take care to keep it balanced. Here are three areas where I believe engagement it vital.

Engaging Our World
Buzz Aldrin, in his autobiographical recounting of his moonwalk with Neil Armstrong in 1969, reflected that the mission was not really about humans experiencing the moon as fully human beings. Rather, NASA used them to accomplish objectives, assigning them the task of completing nearly eight hours of experiments in a four hour period. Aldrin wrote that for about fifteen seconds he was able to stop and allow himself the luxury of an emotional engagement with this incredible experience. He was standing on the moon. It had been a lifelong dream, and the dream was actually being fulfilled.
Unfortunately, he had no time for fully living and experiencing that moment. It was back to work, documenting, taking pictures, gathering moon rocks.

So it is that we ourselves can forget to engage the wonder that is all around us. The way the sun slants through the trees and glistens on morning dew, the shimmer of stars on a crisp moonless night… It’s an awesome world. As we travel through, let’s spend the whole of our time simply setting up the next shot.

Engaging Others
Listening is more than simply hearing words. Engaging others is more than simply being in their presence. We’ve all seen scenes in movies where the man is reading the paper, the woman is looking through her magazine. Engagement is possible when you put the newspaper down and the mag away. In our house, it was a dinnertime rule: no books at the table. This was a family time, a time to be present, not checked out.

One of the reasons many of us fail to ache for the poor and needy of Third World countries is that we do not encounter or engage such persons very easily. It is easy to stereotype the poor, or Republicans and Democrats, or business people, but wrong. Every person is a unique individual. Each has their own dreams, sorrows, hopes, disappointments. Every one is significant and important. In point of fact, it is impossible to fully understand the meaning of our own lives without connections to others through engagement.

Engaging Our Selves
Who am I, really? A lot of people don’t know because they afraid to peer that deeply within. Loneliness, anxiety, feelings of meaninglessness… what will I find there? What if I don’t like what I see?

Yet, true life satisfaction can only happen when we make contact with our true selves. Many there are who have idealized images of themselves, or distorted ideas of who they feel they ought to be. The net result is self-frustration, disappointment, tyranny by a host of shoulds, self-reproach and a divided self.

Let it go. Begin the quest to know and understand who you are. It will help you in every way, including relationships, career and life purpose.

At the end of your days, the pictures and journal notes you made will trigger memories long forgotten, and will indeed be precious. But the experiences are what have real value. The pictures are but a tool to re-illuminate them.

Thanks for letting my words engage you briefly. I hope you have enjoyed my pictures, too.