Gl@dys Dit...

Virginie Sommet : "Ma victoire : être sortie de mon ghetto"

 

Virginie Sommet est une œuvre à elle seule. Cette passionnée a fuit le ghetto des BCBG dans lequel elle a grandi afin d'exister. Normande pure souche, aux talents multiples, Mademoiselle Sommet a choisi l'art pour exprimer sa quête d'une autre société. L'utopie a bon goût. Entretien.

D'où te vient ton engagement, ton envie d'ailleurs?
Je pense que mon engagement vient du fait que je sois issue d’un ghetto, celui des catholiques pratiquants et bourgeois. Dans ma chambre d’enfant, il faisait 0°. Je n'avais pas le droit de regarder la télé. Alors une fois à Paris pour étudier, ce fut un choc. J'ai réalisé que la vie n’était pas bleu marine et vert bouteille comme celle que j'avais connue jusque-là. A Lisieux, on vivait entre blancs, il n'y avait pas d'autres ethnies. Je me sentais confinée.

 

Alexia Perimony discusses I am an emotional creature by Eve Ensler

A few months ago, I've got a chance to meet with a strong, smart and beautiful woman. We've quickly realized that we shared a common passion: fighting to enable women and men to live their differences and benefit from equal rights. Alexia Perimony is a feminist and the Agent of a brillant play written by Author Eve Ensler, I am an emotional creature. As a feminist, she uses her talents to spread humanitarian messages written by thoughtful writers. Thanks to her, those messages can be heard by all.

Art --- “Hair” by Virginie Sommet: “White people know nothing about Black hair.”

“Hair”, installation by Virginie Sommet (December, Miami  2011)

 “White people know nothing about Black hair.”

Virginie Sommet is a French artist based in New York City. She's spent over 10 years creating pieces that enable people reflecting on societal constraints such as gender and urban subcultures issues.  She is one of the most inspirational artists I got a chance to meet as her pieces describes our society and its inner troubles.

Vivez le mouvement pour les droits civiques avec The Black Power Mixtape (1967-1975)

Oakland, 1967. La société américaine est en pleine ébullition. Les mouvements féministes battent le pavé, tout comme les jeunes qui manifestent leur envie de changement et de paix. De leur côté, les noirs luttent pour leurs droits civiques. Près de San Francisco, un nouveau mouvement a vu le jour un an plus tôt. Douze mois déjà que le Black Panther Party For Self Defense est fondé. Ces derniers choisissent les armes pour que les violences avec la police cessent. Mais la violence attise aussi la violence. Cependant, ils s'organisent aussi pour créer des programmes à destination de leur communauté. La Baie de San Francisco est au centre du mouvement, Oakland devient le centre du monde.

Des journalistes suédois sentent que quelque chose se passe là-bas. Le mouvement pour les droits civiques, ainsi que le mouvement anti-guerre attisent leur curiosité. Ils traversent l'Atlantique pour comprendre ce mouvement et le Black Panther Party, réduit à l'image d'un mouvement violent dans la majorité des médias américains.

30 ans plus tard et quelques pages d'histoire noircies, nous avons la chance de découvrir le fruit de ce voyage dans l'histoire américaine et afro-américaine. Tous les leaders du mouvement sont présents Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Emile de Antonio, William Kunstler, Angela Davis...

Rencontre prévue dès le 16 novembre dans vos cinémas.

 

 

 

Between exhibitionism and art, is Femen a new form of activism? Feminism?

Photo Edge of the Sandbox

October 31, Femen, an Ukrainian feminist group did a topless demonstration at the Paris home of former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Dressed like housekeepers, they used their bodies to share a (protest) message... (That doesn't really seem obvious). Between exhibitionism and art, is Femen a new form of activism? Feminism?

 

What do you think about this demonstration?

If you read Ukrainian, check out their official website: Femen

 

Don't wait until it is too late! Turn your TV off and open your mind...

 

Once in a while, you get to open a book that will change the perception you have on almost anything. You discover that those lines have opened a closed door. Those words are changing the way you perceive your condition as a woman and as a human being. Then, you decide to ACT. You have no other choice.

 

Suddenly ACTING has a meaning. Activist Eve Ensler uses acting as a tool to empower women, girls but also men and boys (they are hitten by the rebound). Eve has this ability to share our stories and true feelings with so much grace. Indeed, each time you believe that the experience she is talking about may be yours or the one of someone you know... Each time you feel her words as if they were yours, you understand that you're not alone. It may sound like a little thing you've secretely tried to protect, hoping that no one will ever realize what you're going through. But remember, you're not alone. You're in good company now.

 

This week, in Paris, you have a few more days to discover the play I Am An Emotional Creature written by Eve Ensler author of the Vagina Monologues.

_

 

Josh Waitzkin "You don't need to be an expert in strategy to see that violence begets violence." (interview part 5/5)

 

From space, earth probably look like a chess board, humans fight over lands, natural resources,... Jimmy Hendrix once said that "when the power of love will overcome the love of power, then the world will know peace", what's your take, as an expert in strategy, on the state of the world today ? What do you read in the actions of the people in power ?


I think humanity is ripping itself and the world apart. We are destroying our environment, we are madly fixated on the short term accumulation of wealth, we are insanely short sighted in the use of violence, we vote morons into the presidency and then wonder why everything is going out of control. It breaks my heart. You don't need to be an expert in strategy to see that violence begets violence, that mad consumption leads to barrenness. I think what Jimmy said is beautiful and deeply true. But the problem doesn't begin at the top, the problem begins with the apathy of the people. Americans need to weep, really weep for those suffering in Africa. Every bomb dropped on an Afghani child should make mothers in Kansas shudder to the bone. Then we can start putting things back together with presence to our shared humanity.

If you want to know more about Josh's story, you can also read others related articles:
PART 1 - Josh Waitzkin "We have to embrace fatigue, pain, discomfort, tension, pressure as the richest soil for growth"

PART 2 - Josh Waitzkin "When you dig deep the walls fall down"

PART 3 -Josh Waitzkin: "I don't really know what boring means to be honest, other than being sick of yourself"

Josh Waitzkin, American chess player "I think that many young people are getting hooked on superficial goals." (interview part 4/5)

How were you first approached by the Hip-Hop Chess Federation ? What do you think about their project?

Adisa Banjoko emailed me on my website. When we spoke he seemed like a genuine spirit out to do good things in the world. And I loved the premise of the HHCF. Empowering kids by breaking down walls. Teaching learning through interconnectedness. Inspiring people to search out our thematic links instead of getting bogged down in superficial differences. Our world is tearing itself apart and this kind of loving dialogue is desperately needed. I'm proud to be a part of the HHCF.

What have you learned being in around the Hip-Hop community?

I am learning more and more about the core. These guys like RZA, Monk, Casual, they are intense, they care deeply, they put themselves on the line as a way of life, which I respect hugely. And, from what I see, they speak from the gut. It is always real. They are not bogged down in nonsense. RZA in particular is a very intense spiritual being. He operates on a plane of deep connectedness. Every word has meaning that springs from the center of his being.

I remember you saying at the HHCF event in May, after D'Lamont Robinson said that chess was teaching his student, that sometimes they have to do things that they may not want to do. And it is easily understandable that in life sometimes, we face situations that we can't control and we have to deal with it, even though we don't want to... That being said, you made the statement that one must learn how to want to do what one has to do. Can you elaborate on this ?

D'Lamont is a great teacher. He uses chess to teach life, and I have tremendous respect for the man. I think that many young people are getting hooked on superficial goals. They want cars, gold chains, fancy shoes, money, stuff. It is a race for the external, what Lao Tzu would call The Ten Thousand Things. But if the hunger is for something deeper—for internal growth, for inner peace, for a deeper sense of compassion, for continued learning, then the healthy decisions will not be so tortured—they will be natural.

If you want to know more about Josh's story, you can also read others related articles:
PART 1 - Josh Waitzkin "We have to embrace fatigue, pain, discomfort, tension, pressure as the richest soil for growth"

PART 2 - Josh Waitzkin "When you dig deep the walls fall down"

PART 3 - Josh Waitzkin "I don't really know what boring means to be honest, other than being sick of yourself"

Josh Waitzkin, American chess player: "I don't really know what boring means to be honest, other than being sick of yourself"

Third part of my interview with Josh Waitzkin, 8-time American Chess Champion and Two-time Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands World Champion. Learning is not a boring exercice but a way of life that anyone should practice.

 

By reading your book, I realized that we can apply the principles you exposed in our everyday lives. Learning, the way you do, seems to be a way of living more than a boring exercise. Am I right? And Why?
Absolutely. My vision of the learning process is to connect all moments, to enjoy the hidden subtleties of the "mundane" by plunging deeply into everything I do. I learn the macro through the micro. Waiting around for life's climactic moments is letting life pass you by. Learning to me is the furthest thing from boring. It is what lights me up. I don't really know what boring means to be honest, other than being sick of yourself. People who are bored should read Jack Kerouac. It is a beautiful thing how he draws such wisdom, such meaning and insight, from the smallest moments.


You went from being a Chess Champion to a Tai Chi Chuan Champion, what's the next thing you want to be a champion of ?
After winning the 2004 Push Hands Worlds, I needed to be a beginner again, and since then I've been training exclusively in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. I'm in the middle of my 3rd mountain right now, and am aiming for the 2010 and 2011 Mundials.


Did you feel the same before entering a chess game tournament, as you feel before a martial arts fight? Is your mental preparation the same ?
It is similar, although I got better at it in the martial arts. I learned how to deal with chaos more effectively (for example dirty players, bad conditions, etc), and I learned how to condense my routines down into a trigger. But the lessons learned in chess have been the foundation for my growth.

 

If you want to know more about Josh's story, you can also read others related articles:
PART 1 - Josh Waitzkin "We have to embrace fatigue, pain, discomfort, tension, pressure as the richest soil for growth"

PART 2 - Josh Waitzkin "When you dig deep the walls fall down"

 

Josh Waitzkin, American chess player "When you dig deep the walls fall down." (interview part 2/5)

    Josh went on to draw this game in a simul with World Champ Garry Kasparov. (Source: Joshua Waitzkin's website)

Second part of my interview with Josh Waitzkin, American chess player. (You can find the first part, entitled Josh Waitzkin "We have to embrace fatigue, pain, discomfort, tension, pressure as the richest soil for growth" here.)

You met different worlds when studying, playing chess or martial art. Did you have the feeling that you kept crossing social barriers? Did these worlds and their values help you grow?
Of course. I think people get caught up in false constructs. They act as though the different components of their lives have no connection. To most, chess and the martial arts seem completely different—one physical, one mental. But to me they are essentially the same. Once you get past the physical conditioning, the technical outer layers, you have the same flow, the same principles, the same experience of human beings pushed to their outer limits and overcoming. These arts have helped me cross social barriers, intellectual barriers, artistic barriers. Some of my most interesting dialogues have come with musicians, psychologists, golfers, football players, architects, investors, people who have reached a high level of Quality in their fields and are able to speak a language that transcends their art. This is how RZA and I connect. He is a deep man. A true searcher. We have lived very different lives but we speak the same essential language. To be honest, I connect with his mind much more easily and deeply than I connect to 99% of all the chess players or martial artists that I have known. When you dig deep the walls fall down.


You had to face other people's pressure (because of the Movie, Searching for Bobby Fischer, your dad and coaches' expectations). All of us can experience different kinds of pressure (social, family or even ourselves' pressure). How can we deal with it? Do you think that without the celebrity pressure, you would have kept playing chess?
Maybe I would have. I certainly would have played for longer than I did. When I hit my crisis towards the end of my chess career there were two major components. On one side I was playing to live up to other people's expectations instead of playing for my love of the game. And the other factor was that I was being pushed by a coach into playing chess in the opposite style from my nature. I wrote about this very deeply in my book. I became disconnected from my natural voice, and this loss of an inner compass made it even more difficult for me to navigate the external pressures. I think dealing with pressure, we must be true to ourselves. We need to listen to our intuition, trust our gut, so we stay in touch with out inner compass. And we need to stay present to the richness of the little moments of the process, so that we don't get fixated on results.

 

Related ressources:

• The Art of Learning: A Journey in the Pursuit of Excellence by Josh Waitzkin (2007)
• Searching for Bobby Fischer, Directed by Steven Zaillian (1993)