http:\/\/queerumich.com\/post\/75508370570\/the-queer-art-of-quitting<\/a>) and I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never felt better. However, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been interesting to see how people react to my news. From \u00e2\u20ac\u0153TAYLOR?!? REALLY??!?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d to \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I support and think that this decision will make you happy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I appreciate both sentiments–it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s fun seeing what people do when I throw their world axis off just a smidge, and when I can surprise them. (boom.)<\/p>\nIn the wake of all of this, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve received so much support and love. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never felt more comfortable with a decision or more proud of myself, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all because my community stepped up and validated, affirmed, and actively supported me. A community that I thought I had a solid grasp of who was in it, but, then again, I myself was surprised.<\/p>\n
Come a month ago, while still writing my thesis, the most support I got was from my books, my tears, and \u00e2\u20ac\u0153dreams . . . drugs . . . waking nightmares, alcohol and cock and endless balls\u00e2\u20ac\u009d (a little Ginsberg goes a long way, no?). I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not trying to call anyone out but the support I got while in the thesis process was no where near the level of support I have now. This got me thinking.<\/p>\n
Support is an art form.<\/p>\n
About a year or so ago I got in the habit of saying \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I approve\u00e2\u20ac\u009d at everything I wanted to affirm. Quickly, I realized that very few people need a white cisgender man to give approval–it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s weird, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s unaffirming, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just a little much, in my opinion. So I reflected on what I meant by \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I approve,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d and I came to the conclusion that I meant, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I support.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I support verbally, physically, emotionally, mentally; if I say, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I support _____,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d you have my permission to use me and my resources to the fullest extent because I care, I support, and I want to validate and affirm you and your endeavors.<\/p>\n
What I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not so eloquently getting at is: support needs to be known.<\/p>\n
Support isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t some canvas on which I am painted. I need support to be painted on me. Covered in it, filled with it, not born from it. Support can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be implied or unspoken because all it looks like is somebody somewhere following you or looking at you or sending some good vibes, which, don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get me wrong, is wonderful, but isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really how I use or mean \u00e2\u20ac\u0153support.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Support is an action, a verb–to support. It necessitates motion from bodies and minds and hearts. It is not a watercolor. It is spoken word, it is slam poetry, it moves oceans and causes storms. I need support that will rock me to my foundation.<\/p>\n
What stopping the thesis process has taught me is how to really support someone. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve learned this from those who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve pretended and from those who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve succeeded in supporting me. And today, perhaps, I can call myself an artist supported by fellow artists (friends, family, peers, acquaintances, coworkers, facebook strangers, grindr peeps, and people eluding my words)–with a general mission to support and affirm and validate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is art and then THERE IS ART. Notorious for proclaiming every damn thing in my life can be art, I am going to continue to cast my art-golf-umbrella on everyone who reads this: art is everywhere, everything is aesthetic in some manner, and sometimes everything sucks (or is so good) that aesthetics are all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[441,535,533,536,534,532,484],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4642"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4644,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4642\/revisions\/4644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4642"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4642"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/artsatmichigan.umich.edu\/ink\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4642"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}