A video from one of my favorite spoken word artists, Juliana Luecking, about an attempt in NYC to limit video artists. Queen Juliana, as she is known on YouTube, Moli, MySpace and more, has a "People Are a Trip" video project in the works which is fabulous; earlier works on YouTube are available here, where she does periodically post updates; the more recent work is available on Moli. She has questions she asks people on the street, in their homes, at the park, and so on, with her video camera and then posts their responses. Sometimes people video themselves or their friends and send them to her. One of my favorites (on YouTube) is one where a guy from another country created a written and visual response to all of her questions at the time and mailed it to her; she recorded herself opening the package and each page in his creation.She is also a poet and artist and is outspoken on attempts to silence or limit artists (as well as other social and political movements, I'm sure). I believe it doesn't matter where the attempts at censure are occurring or whether it is writing/art/film/theater/radio/etc, it affects us all. As cliche as it has become, there is still truth in the "when they came for [insert marginalized or oppressed group] .... and when they came for me, there was no one left."
Juliana is smart, funny, serious, dedicated, and talented.
Enjoy. And check out some of her other work.
