Tuesday, December 09, 2008

social history bio #2-Jerilea Zempel

I'm going to take a wild guess here and ponder some possibilities about my last post:
a) many people lack a fast enough connection to watch a video
b) folks don't like watching video clips, even on topics they enjoy? (like knitting)
c) it didn't seem interesting or like legitimate information
d) it didn't seem relevant to the topic/it was too radical/controversial/fill in the blank
e) too busy with pre-holiday shopping? (this is my husband, the professor's contribution)
f) don't like Stephen Colbert/Comedy Central?
g) all of the above?

You're welcome to vote on this in the comments...
I'm still enchanted by this Comedy Central clip and was struck by the lack of interest!

In the meanwhile, here's more information about why I posted that video clip:
Jerilea Zempel is an artist and professor at Fordham University. Her work has won NEA grants, been exhibited in the US and Europe, and she's taught at Bennington, Barnard, Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art. I found this out via a bio posted about her 2oo9 residency here.

Professor Zempel's border crossing experience (from Canada to the U.S.) is written up in detail on her blog (listed above), newspaper articles, as well as on the following other sites: Dream Activist, Don't Doodle in your Notebook

Why did I include this in the feminist social history/bio series, "And she knits?"
1) This is an artist whose work comments on aspects of our daily lives
2) Her work intersects poignantly with typical history topics of war, peace and geographic boundaries.
3) It fits into a definition of social history "that is often described as history from below or Grass-roots history because it deals with the every-day people, the masses and how they shape History rather than the leaders." (One could argue that educators are leaders, but women educators might still be considered more grass-roots in this definition.)
4) Oh...and here's the big one. This artist uses knitting and crochet as her mediums (media?) to get her point across. That's very cool, in my book. It also fits perfectly into this phrase...."and she knits."

You'll note that there's no photo posted here...I didn't want to steal any of this American artist's work without permission, since the border patrol stopped her because they feared "some kind of copyright infringement" when they saw her sketch book and yarn/crochet hooks!

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7 Comments:

Blogger Donna D said...

I rarely watch videos in blog posts, even if I'm interested in the topic.

December 9, 2008 at 11:24 AM  
Blogger Nancy said...

U had seen it before you posted it; but I also don't watch Colbert.

December 9, 2008 at 4:44 PM  
Blogger Geek Knitter said...

I plead flu, and the fact that the video had been making the rounds and I'd already seen it twice.

December 10, 2008 at 6:34 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'd already seen it, and I watched it again here. Got a soft spot for Lulu's little brother.

December 10, 2008 at 9:12 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Not a fan of Colbert - which may be in a large part due to the fact that some very annoying flatmates I once had were really into him.

December 11, 2008 at 3:25 AM  
Blogger Cathy said...

I find Colbert funny - but with slow dial-up...well, you know.

I'll have to keep an idea on this blog - great great great stuff - thank you and Cindy for sharing.

December 11, 2008 at 10:05 AM  
Blogger Cathy said...

That should be "eye" on this blog - thought I adored her ideas.

Had trouble posting - couldn't read the word verification!!

December 11, 2008 at 10:06 AM  

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