#american dream

Китобой [The Whaler Boy] (Philipp Yuryev - 2020)

The Farm 

by Joanne Ramos

At one day past my due date, I am currently in either the best or the worst position to review Joanne Ramos’ thought-provoking page-turner The Farm.

At the moment, the slightly-too-plausible premise of farming out pregnancies via pricey surrogacy does not seem so bad. Having endured morning sickness occurring all times of day that does not cease after 1st trimester, exhaustion tantamount to being hit repeatedly by a bus, never-ending constipation and pains in places I didn’t know existed, might I hire someone to trade places? Tell me where to VENMO.

And yet, in a way, this isn’t even what The Farm is about. The bookstore employee suggested it was like The Handmaid’s Tale, perhaps in an effort to warn my obviously gestating self that it might not be the best time to read it. In fact, it is only really like The Handmaid’s Tale in that there are pregnant women at its center.

It’s also not about the price of motherhood, the high-achieving women who are penalized at work for having children, nor about the fact that the US is the only developed country without paid maternity leave. These topics could have doubled the size of the book - and I would have gladly read more. 

WhatThe Farm is about is far more personal and insidious - a sort of collective history and culpability woven into the fabric of the American flag - Betsy Ross stitching in her trinity kitchen all the while going blind.

The story follows Jane, a young Fiipina mother, trying to survive in NY. Her cousin presents her with an opportunity: interview at Golden Oaks, a resort-style surrogate facility, where the wealthiest clients pay top dollar to outsource their pregnancies. The facility provides comprehensive nutrition, weekly prenatal massages, yoga, wellness tracking and …alpacas. There she meets Reagan and Lisa, two caucasian “hosts,” who pull her into their orbit. With the payouts for healthy babies so huge, each “host” has her own reasons for signing up for 10 (yes, look up how long pregnancy actually is) months of incarceration, so to speak.

In addition to a brilliantly-paced speculative fiction thriller, what starts to unfold is a social commentary about opportunity, access, immigration, and skin tone.  And by the end of the novel, as Jane marvels at her own brave smart daughter, I start to wonder about the American Dream - who has been duped and who is benefitting from doing the duping. We expect it to pay its dividends in one lifetime. Come “your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” not well,…three generations down the road. And when my own great-grandmother emigrated, gnawed family photo in hand, I wonder if she ever thought about three - and any day now, four - generations down the line, and where her sea voyage would lead.

And perhaps it’s not that the American Dream is dead - perhaps we just always thought it was free. What if it’s always been pricey? And the questions are: how much are you willing to sell?Andhow much are you willing to pay? 

Let the bidding begin.

What became of the American Dream? We break it down on the Business of Life.

New York - gens - peoples

The Collapse of The American Dream. Explained by animation. Everyone needs to see this.

Had to share this @WeHeartIt http://weheartit.com/entry/220645258/via/yendealdaron

Marla and Darren Sumner’s house, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2011 © Joakim Eskildsen, Courtesy Galerie Taik and Polka Galerie

JOAKIM ESKILDSEN: AMERICAN REALITIES

Exhibition from Apr 20 to May 21, 2016 at Galerie Polka, Paris Fair Exhibitor

12, rue Saint-Gilles, Cour de Venise, 75003 Paris
[email protected]
T +33 (0)1 76 21 41 30
www.polkagalerie.com

Galerie Polka presents American Realities by Danish photographer Joakim Eskildsen (born in 1971 in Copenhagen).

“One in every six Americans lived below the official U.S. poverty line when Kira Pollack, Director of Photography at TIME Magazine, commissioned me to capture the growing crisis. During thirty-six days spread over seven months in 2011, and mostly accompanied by reporter Natasha del Toro, I traveled through New York, California, Louisiana, South Dakota and Georgia, visiting places that according to census data have the highest poverty rate.

The approximately 50 million poor Americans are a heterogeneous population from very varying backgrounds. Some are newly poor, some are immigrants who have come from humble conditions, dreaming of the American possibilities. Of course, U.S. poverty differs from poverty in developing countries. People living below the poverty line can have physical goods, even work but they are mired in debt, many homes are in foreclosure, and most often, being poor also implies having to resort to the cheapest, most unhealthy and risky lifestyle. Any unexpected occurrence may jeopardize the fragile system and find people living on the streets.

(…) The myth of the American Dream is very strong in the U.S., and it seems people are disillusioned with the fact that it is so difficult to get by today. They said there is no American Dream anymore. This, they said, was the American Reality.”

Book mood board:The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)

“You see I usually find myself among strangers because I drift here and there trying to forget the sad things that happened to me.”

“american  dream” by LCD Soundsystem // Call the Police - Single(2017)

Not much to say here, except that this is probably my favorite song of the year so far in 2017. James MurphyandLCD Soundsystem are pretty perfect on this one - as they are on most others. 

tejanos /why did so many hispanics vote for trump?

elisa chavez

Tío, su casa tiene
escalones faltantes.
Pero en vez de cambiarlos,
ha cambiado si mismo.
Toma pasos largos,
forma músculo, sabe bootstrapear.
Forja carácter ¿y por qué?
¿Para sobrevivir?
¿Porque la vida sin amor
no es la vida?

No soy su enemigo.
Vengo con mis
martillos y medidas,
y debe pensar que condeno
todo lo suyo–
pero no.

Simplemente le quiero.
Simplemente pienso
en la noche. Pienso en usted,
dando un paso en la noche,
en la oscuridad.
El momento en que espera
algo sólido,
pero recibe
el vapor.

When people say
they don’t like Mexicans,
they don’t mean me.
Immigrants have changed
since I came here; now
they’re illegal. Handout hagglers.
Now they have no desire
to better themselves–
that’s what people mean.
Not me.

You kids are skinned so thin
these days–
martyrs and measurers,
bellyaching battle-drums
with all your words
for spelling anger.

I simply look at what’s there:
Jobs or no jobs.
Neighbors at church.
The rig bones
of a home built solid.
The ladder of opportunity
rising to heaven
rung
by rung.

Further reading:

• TheMiss Translated poems
• Politico:Trump Didn’t Win the Latino Vote in Texas. He Won the Tejano Vote.
• Miss Translated: the immigrant rights benefit e-chapbook!
• Support the author on PatreonorKo-Fi

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998)

<b> American Dream

‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’

A beautiful quote from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, which I just adore. I hope you all like it.

This piece is available to buy in my shop here. Please let me know if you have any requests or custom orders! :) 

Marina and the Diamonds - ‘Savages’ (2015) | Grant Wood  -American Gothic (1930) | x

Woe, Is me on Warped Tour 2013 (my photo)

Find the place where you can be boring.