I’ve thought about trying different methods to portray my performance last Thursday, HOWEVAHH, i think words will do best.
The idea of the performance was to address the lack of interpersonal acknowledgement at Lafayette and how it makes me feel.
By this I mean I see people in class out at night, at a party, at a basketball game, etc. blah blah blah, but anywhere in between those things and most likely at them as well – ain’t nobody say nuthin to no wan! its fucking stupid; people just look at the ground when they pass by each other, or look up at the sky – literally pointing their nose up at you – or their phone or any single thing just not at your sorry ass….psh.
So, my point wast to point out that this happens to everyone all the time and that it’s stupid, and to accomplish this I planned to act with complete stupidity and total disregard for common courtesy (that outside of this bubble would be abnormal and strange, yet here are the norm or you could say: the common courtesy).
I told everyone to plant their faces towards the ground, to look as straight down as you can, and when i single you out and tell you to look me in the eye, do so!…. but not before i tell you to… and once i tell you to look me dead in the eye KEEP doing so for the rest of the performance other wise i might leave because you’ve broken my rules. I proceeded to go one by one to each person in the room and say, “look me in the eye” and they would look up to me looking directly at the floor, or at the ceiling, or at my phone, or allllllllllll around the room at every single thing except that persons eyes. In other instances i would look at people in demeaning ways, as if i were a hot shot looking at a geek, or i’d size up a girl (eye fucking i believe is the term)…..every way you wouldn’t want to be not looked or looked at, in ways that would alienate you, make you feel unimportant, or even nonexistent…
then, when i finished i left the room and that was the end…. look out for this sort of behavior on campus (i suggest looking people in the eye, for in stance), you just might find it!!!
-RLS