Sue Lange's Blog, page 6

Reading Theater Project

What’s it all about? Here’s a quick video to answer that question.

 

Citizenfour and the Singularity

Wow, it���s been a long time since I���ve actually written about the Singularity here at the Singularity Watch blog. When I started this here gossip column it was with the intention of documenting the progress of the Technological Singularity. Eventually I got bored with the subject. I found myself attracted by newer, shinier objects like the Higgs Boson, vampire squids, and Italy.

Suddenly though, The Singularity is back in my thoughts, creeping in as I digest the movie Citizenfour. Which is sort of scary because Citizenfour is not a science fiction movie at all. It���s a documentary of Edward Snowden during the moments he was delivering his information to The Guardian.

It���s a powerful film for a number of reasons. Watching the incident unfold not as a reenactment but as footage of the actual events is thrilling. It’s reality TV in the extreme.

Further, Snowden explaining what he was handing over and why makes clear just what it was��he was doing. Suddenly we understand not only what he did, but the consequences if he didn���t take the action. We didn���t comprehend all that when we first read about it in the paper. We were muddled then. Was he giving state secrets away to our enemies? His accusers would have us believe he was as wicked as the Rosenbergs. And yet it is clear from this film he���s a true patriot. And what he did was important.

Most of all the film depicts the bravery it took Snowden to do what he did. He gave up his entire life and his personal relationships to spill his guts. He didn���t do it for money or fame. He did it because he could no longer live with himself knowing what he knew.

The movie is about Edward Snowden, and Edward Snowden is about privacy. I never worried over privacy much before. After this story came out in 2013, I envisioned millions of gigatons of emails, texts, phone calls, and other boring communications collected by our ISPs and handed over to our government. I imagined some poor slob in the basement of a government building in Virginia or Maryland sifting through it for 10 hours a day, six days a week, hoping to uncover a communist/terrorist plot, or maybe get noticed by a superior with the result being a glamorous reassignment to��the mailroom.

Who could worry about such a scenario? Certainly reading our thoughts is wrong, but who cares, they���re not interesting enough for anyone to pay attention. And the effort never made sense. How would anybody ever discover the next terrorist/communist/North Korean meltdown as they sifted through the tonnage of pornography the average American downloads and passes around?

Unfortunately it���s not as simple as that. It���s a digital world, after all, and the NSA has a new tool: the algorithm. They have super high-octane servers supplied with the algorithm with which they analyze that tonnage of porn at the rate of about a gazillion baud. Our little kernals of communication are analyzed, sorted, filed, interpreted, and saved at mind-blowing speeds. The algorithm connects all dots and when something even remotely strange comes up, over at the other end of the mainframe there���ll be a little card spit out. On that card will be a dirty little secret. Here���s a good example of what might constitute a dirty little secret worthy of NSA harassment:

���Sue Lange frequently passes the corner of Fifth and Penn Street in Reading Pennsylvania. On March 13, 1945 there was a communist meeting at 511 N. 8th Street, in Reading, PA, three blocks from Fifth and Penn Street. Ergo, Sue Lange is a communist.���

Everyone knows the digital mind is logical to a fault, so laugh if you want to, this nightmare can happen.

All right, maybe it leans toward the absurd, but the truth is computers are analyzing our behavior and determining which of us are worthy and which of us are terrorists. Do you really want to trust computer logic to separate the sheep from the goats?

That���s not even the scary part. The scary part involves, you guessed it, The Technological Singularity. As we learned in Citizenfour, there are ways to communicate without anyone being able to read, record, analyze, interpret, etc. your words. If you don���t want your computer, cell phone, table lamp, Hello Kitty lunch box, etc. recording your conversation in order to feed it to the algorithm, the best thing to do is go to some off-the-grid location. The movie suggested a parking garage. Maybe that would work. In 1984 (the book, not the actual year), they went to a hillside somewhere away from telephone wires.

That might work too, except for one thing: The Singularity.

The Singularians can���t wait for the day when every living and dead thing���every leaf, cow, streetlamp���is filled with nanobots that can solve every problem, cure every disease, make everything work right. There are whole teams of brainy people funded by wealthy Singularity fanatics working to make this happen.

Imagine those ubiquitous nanobots planted in every entity on the planet feeding information into the algorithm. Considering the vicissitudes of digital logic, how many of us sheep aren���t going to be incorrectly identified as goats?

You don���t think this is going to happen? Just keep your eye on IoT: Internet of Things.

It���s coming people. Welcome to the future.

Sue Lange

P.S.��For the gazillionth time, The Technological Singularity is the moment artificial intelligence bypasses biological intelligence. Experts are divided as to whether or not this could possibly happen. They also don’t agree on what the ramifications will be if it can indeed happen. Check out my typical cynical explanation in a previous blog post.

Edna St. Vinent Millay and the Reading Pagoda

I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

With quiet eyes,

Watch the wind bow down the grass,

And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show

Up from the town,

I will mark which must be mine,

And then start down!

–Afternoon on a Hill, Edna St. Vincent Millay

I spent the afternoon on Mt. Penn where the Pagoda lives. There were deer to keep me company.

And tracks in the snow.

From up there, Reading looks like a rail yard with all its long rows of houses attached like train cars.

Defunct industry sits in the middle of them, still holding court, but no longer protecting the realm. I spied a beautiful church somewhere in East Reading. Someday I���ll drive around and find it on the ground.

I left before the lights began to show, but I did mark which must be my house before I started down.

Reading Theater Project 2015

Lots of stuff going on with the Reading Theater Project.

First off: a quick video. In response to Reading���s 15 minutes of fame ala the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree saga, RTP member, Joel Gori, put together a sketch from the tree���s point of view. Check ���er out:

Second, RTP is moving into a new space. The T.E.A. Factory had a change of ownership and we were concerned about homelessness, so we snagged a studio at the Goggleworks. Our Quick & Dirty improv shows will be held there and we���ll be participating in Second Sunday open houses with open writing sessions, open rehearsals, etc. For our first ever Second Sunday which is actually being held this Sunday, the 19th, (the third Sunday of January, don���t ask, I have no idea), we���re having a big��open house with food and libation and who knows what else. Stop by at noon to meet and greet (and eat!) It���s all happening at Room 213 of the Goggleworks (201 Washington Street, Reading, PA). We’ll be there until 5pm. See you there!

Reading Theater Project One Body Show

Be prepared: this is an x-rated video. I’m not joking; it’s graphic. It contains excerpts from the Reading Theater Project’s One Body show. For this show members from RTP prepared individual performance pieces in response to Pamela Shields’ Masturbation Series of charcoal drawings. I created something using a recording of “All by Myself” by Washboard Sam and Big Bill Broonzy. I always wanted to perform that song somehow and it worked perfectly with this show’s theme.

One Body was a lot of fun to prepare and perform, but due to the extreme nature of the artwork, it didn’t get widely promoted. We didn’t really know who beyond the art community would appreciate such beautiful, but unapologetically sexual work. Pamela Shields drawings are extraordinary but some people have a tough time with the subject. Oh well, we had fun.

If you’re up for it, take a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fkn5eXMuFxA

RAiL Launch

The next big thing for me is the RAiL launch. RAiL is an amazing project in Reading, PA. We’re trying to put together an art train: cars that are painted by local artists and then used as performance spaces at events. We’re in the process of preparing a model car and will be publicing launching the whole project on October 26th. Andrew Pochan has created a great video that describes the project and the launch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRaGLzE6mXc&feature=youtu.be

For this launch we’ve received grants from Berks Arts Council, Wyomissing Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and Berks County Arts Fund. It’s nice to have the backing of so many illustrious groups.

To help celebrate the launch we’re bringing in local musicians, dancers, theater artists, poets, all kinds of. We’ve got six different groups of artists working on canvas panels that will be draped over a train car located at the Reading Railroad Museum in Hamburg, PA. Here’s the official description:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are the performers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The event is free. Hope to see some of you there.

 

Sue Lange

Post Fund-Raising

Tracy’s done with the Finding Jenn’s Voice fund-raising campaign. She got 100% funded. Yay. We’ll be seeing that film next year.

While all that was going on Reading Theater Project had a very successful run with Speakeasy. All shows sold out with an added matinee to handle the overflow. And they liked it! That made me very happy.

I loved working with these folks. It was an exhilarating experience. I’m sort of in withdrawal. I’m sitting here alone with my laptop wondering what to do with myself now that I don’t have to hawk tickets, round up props, or head over to the T.E.A. Factory for rehearsal.

Thank goodness I have a few souvenirs. Here’s one that I taped of Marie DeBooth, Kira Apple, and Christine Cieplinski doing the Max Hassel/Waxey Gordon/Big Maxie Greenburg bit ala Abott and Costello. This had very little to do with the plot but it was fun to write and see performed. I have no idea how Marie, Kira, and Christine feel about it.

 

http://youtu.be/njT27WzZRqk

 

Jenn Snyder, 2010

This is the final week of Tracy’s fundraising campaign. We’re still trying to find Jenn’s voice, but as of this posting, we’re still only at 48% and there are only 6 days left in the campaign. Here is Tracy’s final message:

“Yesterday I had an amazing conversation with a new friend who reminded me that this campaign is about creating awareness. We set out to do this film to give Jenn a voice and to share her experience with the world. Through the last year of outreach, we’ve done just that! We’ve heard from dozens of survivors that having a voice is a powerful tool in healing and prevention.

Jenn Snyder is the face of our film. But we all know someone. One in four women and one in seven men are impacted by domestic violence. Maybe it is a mother, grandmother, sister, friend, neighbor, cousin…a person whose face you see when you think of intimate partner violence. Maybe it’s the face in the mirror…

It’s easy to feel helpless when we see that face. Easy to feel overwhelmed by the enormity of the statistics.

But I’m here to tell you that just by reading this post, you are taking a stand against intimate partner violence.
Share this information with one other person, and your impact doubles.
And by funding this film you create a powerful tool which will make your impact grow exponentially.

No one needs to feel helpless.

Intimate partner violence is a preventable problem. Thank you for being a part of the solution.

Gratefully,

Tracy”

Visit Finding Jenn’s Voice and let them know what you think by posting a COMMENT.

And please consider a contribution: http://www.seedandspark.com/studio/finding-jenns-voice

The War on Women

It’s a political phrase, this war on women. Maybe a metaphor or a tag. It started as a ploy by one political party to define the workings of the other political party. Despite that,  it may very well be a reality.

The number one cause of death among pregnant women is murder. The number one cause of work place death for women is murder. There are more statistics, not pretty to look at, but important. This war on women goes unrecognized for the most part because it’s not the usual type of war that starts with a line in the sand or congressional declaration. It’s all done within the confines of intimate relationships. Lovers everywhere are killing their loved ones.

The problem is solvable. As with many of America’s current problems, the answer lies in education. Take a look at the left sidebar at domestic violence website listed above. “55% of women perceive violence as a normal part of their marriages.” I’m quite sure violence has no place in a marriage. Or any relationship. I’m also quite sure someone should get the word out about that.

The goal of Tracy Schott’s “Finding Jenn’s Voice” is just that. It’s a tool to educate the general public about the problem, and to raise awareness among those most at risk.

Narcissistic people capable of heinous crimes, such as murder of a loved one, send up red flags even if they are not outwardly violent. If we learn to recognize these red flags, we can save lives.

The word needs to get out. Documentaries, such as “Finding Jenn’s Voice,” need to be made and distributed. But films are expensive to make. That won’t happen without funding. Please consider a contribution to “Finding Jenn’s Voice,” today, so we can get the word out. There are only 13 days left in the fundraising campaign and it is only 40% funded so far. Please help.

Keep in mind this is a pay now, or pay later deal. Each murder in the U.S. costs the taxpayers 2 million dollars. This is preventable. Help now.

Sue Lange

Your Personal Murder Bill

According to the World Health Organization, a murder in the United States costs the American taxpayers 2 million dollars. First off there’s the loss of productivity and wages the victim would have earned. Then there are the costs incurred during the processing of this murder. The investigation, the prosecution, the incarceration. There are additional costs if the victim is hospitalized prior to death.

With roughly 15,000 murders a year committed in the U.S. that ciphers out to 30 billion bucks. It’s a luxury I don’t think we need.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, most murders are committed against someone known to the perpetrator. Sadly many of these people are victimized by intimate partners. It’s hard to believe, let alone understand, that truth.

The key to preventing such horrible acts is education. There are red flags in a relationship that can indicate a person is at risk. But currently we are not educating ourselves as to what these red flags are. What if there was a vehicle for disseminating this important information? Would you help to get the word out?

If the answer to that question is yes, then get yourself over to the crowdfunding site for the film, “Finding Jenn’s Voice,” and make a donation. The very purpose of this film is to educate and help those of us at risk for intimate partner violence (IPV). It explains what IPV is, how to recognize it, and how to prevent it.

The film’s producer, Tracy Schott, is only 22% funded at this point. She’s half way through the campaign. If she doesn’t reach her goal she will not get her funding. She will not finish the film. It will not get distributed. The word will not reach the people who need to hear the message.

And if you think the number of people dying via IPV is small and so not worth fretting over, consider this:

The FBI has reported that 11,766 American women were killed by IPV between 9/10/2001 to 6/6/2012. According to the Center for Disease Control, every day more than 3 women are killed by their intimate partners.

You can do something about this. You can help educate people. All you have to do is give ten bucks to the film. Ten bucks now might just prevent a 2 million dollar bill later on. And it’s not just about murder. IPV in all its forms incurs costs to all of us.

According to the World Health Organization, from 56% to 80% of the costs of care for gun and stabbing injuries are either directly paid by public financing or are not paid at all — in which case they are absorbed by the government and society in the form of uncompensated care financing and overall higher payment rates.

So you are paying for IPV whether or not you are involved, are related to someone involved, or even remotely know someone involved. If you are a million miles away from IPV, you are still paying for it. So do yourself a favor, take one small step in preventing it.

Sue Lange