the art of rape.

When we think of art, we think of the finger painting of a child, a sketch of some trees, some abstract sculpture that you still don't understand, or something along those lines. And who creates art? Artists.

Richard Whitehurst is an artist.

His newest piece of work titled, The Rape Tunnel will be displayed at Columbus' 4D Gallery on October 30th. It's an art project, so how bad could it be, right? Wrong. Whitehurst promies to rape anyone who dares to go through the tunnel into a small room.

Yes, you read that correctly.

He explains. "In the 4D Gallery main room, I’ve constructed a 22 ft tunnel out of plywood that leads into the project room. There is no way in or out of the project room except for this tunnel. As you travel through the tunnel, it gets smaller and smaller, making it so that you have to crawl and put yourself in a submissive position in order to reach the tunnel’s destination. At the end of the tunnel the subject will find me waiting in the project room and I’ll try to the best of my ability to overpower and rape the person who crawls through."

I’m not necessarily concerned with the positive or negative effects of this project so long as there is some effect on people’s lives. I’ve merely set up a situation where there is potential to impact people in meaningful ways. Maybe I won’t be able to rape everyone who crawls through the tunnel, but the door is open for all kinds of scenarios; rape, serious injury, maybe even death. I might even get arrested."

Is this art? Would you ever go through The Rape Tunnel?

Full Article found here : http://www.artlurker.com/2009/09/the-rape-tunnel-by-sheila-zareno/

this post is way, way overdue.

i really do wish i wrote more, like i used to. sigh, oh well. i'm going to do my best to sum up these past few months.

oh so, i graduated high school.

it's weird. i mean, everyone keeps saying "congratulations". thanks? i mean, to me, graduating high school was never an option. it's just something i thought i had to do. although i guess in the scheme of things, it is somewhat of a huge accomplishment.

and what's even weirder is that i'm never going back to pennsbury. two years at edgewood, five at makefield, three at william penn, and four at pennsbury. fourteen years in the pennsbury school district and i never. have. to. go. back. ever. it's crazy. it's ursinus from here on out. well, for the next four years at least.

the last few months of school seemed to dragged on. it felt like it was never going to end, and i pretty much stopped putting much effort into school work. my grades were fine with the exception of intro to college math. but let's be serious, when am i ever going to use that in real life?

and despite all my refusals and rants about how i was not going to prom, i did end up going. i was right though, it was just like every other high school dance, and it was expensive. it was the people that made it though. i ended up going with justin, and it was nice going with a best friend and not having to worry about much. and i will admit, making the hansel and gretal float with amber was fun, as was prom as a whole. go ahead, say "i told you so".

i still can't believe school is really over. i'm thrilled, but it is bittersweet. i'm going to miss a lot of it, despite the fact i couldn't stand a lot of it. it's hard to believe that we're all going different ways and some of the people i had classes with for years, i might not ever see again. it's unreal.

i quit carlucci's in the beginning of june. i do miss it, but i was getting sick of it. i loved everyone i worked with, but i needed to leave. plus, i got a job at wood's services so i didn't really have a choice. i started training for woods the day of graduation. that was a stressful day. i had training 8-5 and graduation the same night. instead of going out ad partying like most teenagers that just graduated high school, i went home and slept. hey, what can i say; it was a long fucking day. as were the following 5 days of training. it was long, boring, repetitive, and useless information most of which i already knew. it was torture, especially considering the last thing i wanted to do immediately after graduating was sit in a classroom for 9 hours a day. somehow i got through it, and the people in my orientation group made it bearable.

i finally started working and it's a lot easier and more laid back than i expected. i really do like my job. plus, it's great experience even though i highly doubt i'll end up doing anything with special education. then again, dance therapy could involve people with special needs. who knows.

speaking of "what i'll end up doing", i picked my classes at orientation. i'm taking, intro to psych, contemporary social issues, fundamentals of dance, spanish, and this cie course which is required for all freshmen. i'm excited for my classes, with the exception of spanish. but hey, we can't be happy all the time, right? i'm really excited for college, yet completely terrified at the same time. i guess that's normal though.

summer has been good. i've been taking a dance class once a week at downstage center with my sister, which is encouraging me to keep stretching and such through the summer. i'm also still teaching the dance class at woods with anais and megan, and it's going well. everything else is pretty much just hanging out with various people. i've been hanging out with my best friends a lot and other people here and there. it's been an enjoyable summer so far.

i still can't believe there's only a month and a few days until things really change.

this week was exhausting.

i'm not really sure why, because it was just like every other week. for some reason though, it really wore me out.

tuesday i went to new hope with amber. unfortunately, we didn't spend too much time there because i had to be home for dance. i did get some colorful jewelry for prom, which was my main reason for going to new hope in the first place. so i guess that means the mission was successful.

the practice for the michelle dance was exhausting in itself. it's coming along, but it needs a lot of work. recital is in a month and i want this dance to look amazing. speaking of dance, i REALLY need to finish my solo. maybe tomorrow after we finish the prom float i'll drag amber with me to finish it. that's another thing i want to look good.

thursday i had my interview at woods. i was really nervous and it was pouring out, so i looked terrible. that probably didn't help my nerves too much. on the plus side, beth was the person who interviewed me and she was the one who told me to apply for the job in the first time. done deal. needless to say, i got the job. i'm thrilled. and for once in my life, me saying "i'm thrilled" was not meant to be sarcastic tone.

i get to do summer recreation with the clients which includes swimming, crafts, games, dance, party planning and various trips. i'm super excited to start in june and even more excited to leave carlucci's. i mean, don't get me wrong, carlucci's has been a blast, but it's time. oh trust me, it's time to go. i know i'll miss it, but i'm so sick of it and the stress of friday nights drive me nuts. i can't do it anymore.

there's going to be a lot of change this summer. i'm pretty sure it's all positive, but i'm not sure i'm ready for it. guess i don't have a choice huh?

i am the type of girl who sympathizes with serial killers.

so then, what exactly does that say about my personality?

i can't figure out if it's a rare, but good quality or a fatal flaw.

i want to run.

i'm going to ursinus next year.

it feels right. i wasn't too sure about it the first time i visited, but i think it was just the whole idea of college in general that i didn't like. i'm slowly warming up to the idea, and i think we're going to be just fine.

i wish i wrote more this year. last week i was trying to find a livejournal or xanga or something of the sort from seventh grade, and i realized i didn't have one. for what ever reason, i got really upset because how will i ever remember seventh grade? i guess it's a little too late for that, but how will i ever remember my senior year? looking through my computer, i didn't take many pictures either. i have a month and a half to save every memory from my last year in high school.

time sure flys.

my last day of gym was a few weeks ago. it was a good last nine weeks though. sports night, cardio kick/yoga, and dance. that's hardly what i view as "gym". i got to teach the second to last day of the dance unit. i went with modern, even though i was a little hesitant to do so. i didn't think the class would like it because quite bluntly, it's not hiphop; it's weird. the majority of the class seemed to enjoy it, which was good. i taught a combination to shy by ani difranco, and the girls even liked the song. it was a good feeling =)

i started intro to college math which is actually code for "useless stuff you will never use in life that will bore you to tears" i'm considering writing to pennsbury about the name switch. it really is that bad, by the way. even when people ask mrs marshall about "when will we ever use this" she tells us, probably never. fantastic. on the bright side, kristin's in my class so we're able to have fun.

i went to saladworks yesterday and one of the guys that works there asked me about my baby. it's sad that people at saladworks recognize me because i'm there so much. of yeah, and the fact that they now know me as the girl with the fake baby. he said "when i was in school, we had to carry around sacks of sugar"

oh, really? let me step back a moment and feel sorry for you. unfortunately for you, sacks of sugar do not cry.

fake babies on the other hand, do.

but hey, it was physics or understanding children. so after i broke down crying because i hadn't slept and baby wouldn't stop crying, i realized the same scenario would have occurred had i taken physics. the only difference is, i have an A in understanding children. i think it was worth it.

baby wasn't even that bad. just the one night drove me crazy, but i was expecting it to be worse. my favorite part was carrying it around in public. i'm sure you can just imagine the looks a girl like me gets carrying around a black baby. it was quite humorous.

last week, april 22, was earth day. happy belated earth day, xanga.

i wish i had some good story for you about how i cleaned up a lake or found a way to recycle highlighters or something, but sadly i don't. i went to an ani difranco concert with megan and ariel instead.

the concert was amazing. i think it was better than the one i went to in july with heather last summer. she's phenomenal, i really can't get over it. the guy that opened for her? hamel on trial? the only way i can describe him is a jesus freak hillbilly who likes pussy. don't believe me? i'm sure megan and ariel would agree.

i need to get back to being myself, how i used to be.

i have the urge to go for a run =)