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ÖYKÜ T. - INTERVIEW #7
How To Engage: WATCH by clicking the video up top (or view on YouTube). LISTEN by clicking the audio link below.
THE BREAKDOWN:
1:49 - Life on the move. (From Turkey, to NYC, to Granada.)
4:18 - The Cave (home) and the birth of Pinsapo Press.
11:00 - On limited frameworks.
15:31 - A poetic politics of non-opposition.
25:00 - Innate curiosity (aka. people watching)
30:00 - ChatGPT is not a poet.
40:00 - Pure evil. (Same picture, different story.)
47:00 - The power of our immediate environment.
52:00 - Finding a place to sit on earth as a word.
59:00 - Keep moving, no feeling is final.
DEBREIF
Hi, I exist.
How are you?
I am having a hard time writing this newsletter. I can think of a few reasons for that - some personal, some not. I think the truest reason for my blockage is - overwhelm. I have experienced a fair amount of uncertainty and chaos in my life and have always considered myself very good at the required juggling act that goes along with those kinds of life choices (I have made choices). I was especially good at COVID (am I allowed to say that?). A friend said to me during the pandemic, “You know, it’s as if everyone is like you now.” In that moment I was quite offended, but she was right. Precarity had become my brand and at that point the entire world was getting a taste of it.
Well, I’m over precarity, and am now, slowly but surely, trying to switch up my brand. The rather ironic thing is that the world has become EVEN MORE jazzed about it. I want to get off the rollercoaster and the powers that be are like, “Sorry, for this next chapter, instead of letting you off, we’ve decided to jack shit the fuck up. Please put on your seatbelt and try not to puke.”
I met Öykü in the early 2000s when my rollercoaster ride felt like it was just starting. Since then we have seen each other pass through many ups and downs. Many degrees. Many moves. Many life crises. Much wine and many heartbreaks. But most importantly, many formative fun times. The funnest. It’s always magical when you meet someone who rides life like you do. You know what I mean? Someone who’s presence in the world mirrors the kind of freedom and passion seeking (and chaos? and precarity?) that you have also strived for. This is an important kind of friendship. An important kind of love.
Öykü is a poet and a translator. She is a brilliant, beautiful, and curious creature and I am lucky to be on this rollercoaster ride with her. We all are.
Hi, I exist.
How are you?
(Try it.)
THOUGHTS & THINGS
THE STRAIGHT STORY: Saw it for the first time. Feels like a vibe America could use right now. It’s funny because Lynch (RIP) always struck me as an artist who understood better than most how closely our shadow side (as people and as a culture) existed alongside and just beneath the surface of our light. He always gave us one, hand in hand with the other, and never refused to see.
THE LINE: Not what I expected. A refreshingly real portrait of rich kid fraternity life/masculinity. Quite an uncomfortable and dark movie, which obviously I loved. And Alex Wolff was great in it. (Dir. Ethan Berger)
I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE: A poignant, real, and beautiful documentary about positionality and having the courage to be seen as a full human in the world. Formally smart and cinematic. Watch it. (Dir. Reid Davenport)
IDEA: Can someone write a play OR A MUSICAL (not a TV show!) about the many many people (an industry?) that enabled these “Monsters” to destroy people’s lives for the entirety of their brilliantly successful careers? Maybe these are the same people (an industry) who are profiting off of the documentaries about their downfall? Lol accountability. Lol enabling. I’m bored of big baby rapists.
CONCLUSIONS
I’ve been thinking a lot about what Öykü said about how we all need to find our frames and yet also be flexible enough within them to change. May you find your frame and may it not suffocate you and everyone you come into contact with. May your frame breed life, instead of death. May we not be afraid to talk about our wonky frames together and grow. Good luck out there.
Thank you for reading A LIFE BASED LOOSELY ON REALITY! Please like or comment on this post below and share it with a friend who you think would enjoy it. Right now all of my posts are free, but any and all financial support is deeply appreciated. Paid subscriptions will go towards helping to support my work and develop this project. More about me here.
Send interview inquiries to vanessameyer85@gmail.com.
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