Area Soldier Killed In Fort Hood Rampage
Stroger Makes Hollywood Play
Put Down Your Nanowrimo And Leave The House
Sox Shuffle Continues
(Did you like that title? Nobody has ever used it before.) On Sept. 10, 2001, Barbara Koenen shaved her head. The next day brought the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. On Sept. 12, 2001, Koenen heard President Bush respond to the attacks by declaring war on "terror" and encouraging us to go shopping, and knew she needed to respond. In addition to signing petitions, sending email blasts, writing letters to the editor and other standard anti-war activities, she also vowed not to cut her hair "until the 'war on terror' was over."
Today at 4 p.m. -- 2,674 days after making her decision -- Koenen will get a haircut at the Hyde Park Hair Salon, where our new-and-improved President Barack Obama gets his do's did. Koenen's calling the occasion "My Audacity of Hope - Reverse Samson Effect," a reference to both Obama's best-seller and the story of Samson and Delilah. Why reverse? "Unlike Delilah's boyfriend in the Bible, cutting my hair will make me stronger," she explains.
"Although resigned that we'll still be at war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, tragically, for the foreseeable future, I'm audaciously hopeful that our new President Obama will not wage war on a feeling, or on the English language, or the Geneva Conventions, or on the Constitution," Koenen says. "He will not bully, he will not disparage nor disrespect our friends or the grievances of our enemy."
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
I'm going to go out on a limb here and suggest that all presidents, even Obama, will engage in conduct most reasonable and engaged people would consider bullying; it's hard not to when you control a large military spread around the globe, one that not only fights various people but also protects trade routes, whether overtly or covertly, so that spoiled Americans and others can get their various goods from overseas. Bullying is what big powers do, even the ones considered better and more moral than others. Bullying (and one hopes the bullying is smart, not dumb, a difference that Bush never seemed to understand) is one way power is kept and increased. Show me a state that does not bully or engage in other crappy behavior and you will probably pull out a map of the great world power of Andorra.
Glad to see the haircut protest worked out so well, in fact. I am sure it was on the mind of W for years, just like all those buttons on bag and backpacks and urged an end to the war[s].
Well ... maybe at least a cancer patient gets a wig.
Let's hope something good comes from this silliness.
Just laughed again at that quote "he will not bully ... " Well, if he does not bully, he will not get much done, will he? America is in dire need of a smart bully unlike the idiotic chimp who is probably on a plane to Texas right now. Playing nice and fair gets one only so far when it comes to world and national power. Playing smart, and being extremely tough in an extremely smart way, is where real power comes from (see FDR, Lincoln, et al--both were supreme bullies when they needed to be). I think Obama understands that, but check back in a year or so.
How . . . trite.
"Get your patchouli stink outta my store!"
Stinky hairy hippie no longer hairy, film at 11.
+10 on the High Fidelity reference.
I have not showered since the Inauguration of Obama.
I have not trimmed my nails since the cease fire in Gaza.
I have not thrown up since George Ryan went to prison.
Where is my story?
Might try not cutting her hair until Obama completes everything he has promised to do. He, Pelosi and Reid have been resetting expectations since Election Day so expect it to be another 8 years.
And who expected a short War on Terror? Poorly defined and strategized as it has been, it is never ending.
And her 15 seconds of fame are over in 3...2...1...
Well, I am sure we are doing our best to extend her fame by an extra few seconds just by talking about her courageous, original act of protest.
That said, whose friend is this woman?
And, have artists always been so politically naive?
Or politically wimpy? At least when Napoleon disappointed Beethoven, the composer actually did something worthwhile to his work. And Picasso kept Guernica from Spain until Franco was gone. This woman--well, perhaps her hair really does have magical powers, in which case I offer my apologies in advance.
I'm not going to make useless pledges and silly resolutions until we find Osama Bin Ladin. Or jesus comes back.
Why not both? Or pledge that is has to be Jesus that finds Bin Ladin. That would make a great story.
This just in, Jesus is Osama Bin Ladin.
It's all coming together...nicely.
I have a pimple on the back of my left shoulder. Right near the point of the shoulder blade.
I am not going to pop that pimple until Hamas stops shooting rockets.
I don't understand all the smugness coming from the posts here. Matilda, you're always admonishing people to put up or shut up. Well, at least she did something.
She not only did the hair thing, which may not be a huge act of courageousness, but it did call some attention to the issue.
She also wrote letters and emails and did petitions. A tad more active than just sitting here commenting on a blog.
Everybody does what they can do. Some do big things, some do small things, some do no things. At least she did some thing.
Ingrid, it's freaking hair.
And when combined with utter political silliness--really, Obama should not "bully"--it is natural farce.
Guess what? I wrote emails, did petitions and similar things over the last eight years. I don't need the gold star of cheap attention for doing it. I was merely acting as a citizen, as all of us should do no matter our political views.
Her "some thing" is absurd.
You have problems with the absurd? Absurd makes my world go round.
She's certainly not doing any harm...it's her own little way. Big deal.
And so what? You wrote letters and emails. So did I...but nobody knows about it except the people I wrote to. She let her hair grow and now you and I and everyone here are all talking and thinking about issues. So, on some level, wasn't she successful? She found a way to make people talk and think.
Like that girl who sat up in a giant redwood tree for who knows how long. She brought attention to an issue.
1. Good absurd is Dada, which had a strong, relatively ll-thought out political and cultural context, and was a direct reaction to political events. This action is superficial, and her political logic seems goodhearted but hopelessly childish. Isn't there enough meaningless absurd in our culture?
2. Yes, she drew attention to herself, but not in a good way, perhaps. But perhaps all PR is good PR, right?
3. Unless her world is going to radically change as a result of cutting her hair--a notion that seems a bit anti-feminist--I fail to see much personal or emotional courage here. Cutting hair in such a way is an action more suited to championship sports games or principals trying to get students to read.
4. Really, she didn't think we already knew about the war and about Bush? Yes, I have been living in a cave for a few months--what can I say, the economy sucks?--but I am not that ill-informed.
5. Finally, the enemy of art is cliche. This action, for better or worse, now rates as cliche in our culture. Perhaps I fail to see this artist's brilliant deconstructivism, or some other aspect, but this action smacks as nothing more than cliche.
Nailed it in one.
This kind of attention-whoring nonsense gets eyerolls even at Columbia.
Anti-war activists who wrote letters to troops and supported their families back home, protesters who spent days and weeks jailed without charge and artists who spoke out against the war using their passion to create something transcending the conflict, that's something to be lauded.
This is hippie-dippy bullshit. Middle class white folks who want to say they "did something" rather than actually, y'know, do something.
Oh..I guess I'm just a little slow on the uptake...this was considered art?
In support of this woman's sacrifice, I, too, will change my hairstyle. I shall wear a fauxhawk until every troop comes home.
And again, this is an issue where all PR is not good PR. Yeah, she got the people on this site talking. About hair. Not about war or nationalism or the economy. We are talking about her hair.
Way to go, activism!
I understand your position, Ingrid, seriously, but I kinda see what others mean. Not cutting your hair doesn't seem like that big of a hardship to demonstrate your anger at the way the government is run. Not paying your taxes is. Not moving during a protest when police tell you to. Not eating for a month. But not cutting your hair seems like quitting something that was a pain in the butt anyway. A protest of this type, at least I always thought, involved some sort of sacrifice. Unless she REALLY hates getting hair in her face. Then, I guess, she had endured hardship for her beliefs.
Besides, her hair doesn't look that long.
Then there's this part:
In addition to signing petitions, sending email blasts, writing letters to the editor and other standard anti-war activities
hell, i do that but I don't consider myself "protesting"
She let her hair grow and now you and I and everyone here are all talking and thinking about issues.
These issues would most certainly be talked about whether or not the artsy girl grew her hair out.
Well, I can certainly think of a lot of things to get my Vicky Sees in a twist over that are more important than this granola head leaving her hair grow.
For instance the story below about the child care worker who killed the toddler....might that not have started a conversation about how child care in this country sucks? How the workers are over worked and underpaid? No. We got umpteen comments about hair.
Well, for me, it's not that unusual that some worker from some specific industry did something bad. Happens all the time, though I certainly see your point.
The attraction of this story for me is it highlight what I think is the political impotency of our country's artists, which has been an issue for decades. I want our artists to better engage political trends; doing so in interesting, insightful, sophisticated and effective ways requires more, I think, then essentially holdings one's breath until one's face turns blue.
Which suggests her stupid stand is actually harmful, distracting people from the real issues. If she'd just left her hair alone instead of trying to make it some sort of political baton, we just might have had that conversation.
Which is why I hate this kind of activism.
As for not commenting on that story, I just think it speaks for itself. Not really anything to debate about or discuss (although I do wonder why there were more comments on the story a week or so ago about the woman who left her kids home alone to take another kid to school and they accidentially started a fire... an unfortunate accident as compared to the day care center one).
If she would have had all of her teeth extracted instead of getting a hair cut, I would be impressed.
what doesn't make sense is what prompted her to shave her head on sept.10, 2001? it was merely coincidental that planes would crash into the world trade center, pentagon and fields the next day.
For instance the story below about the child care worker who killed the toddler....might that not have started a conversation about how child care in this country sucks? How the workers are over worked and underpaid? No. We got umpteen comments about hair.
It seems a bit off that you are measuring the moral standard of people based on what "post" they respond to.
I noticed neither you or Koenen posted, or grew anything out, to draw attention to the children issue you mentioned.