Saturday, January 30, 2010

W.W.J.D.

My first year in college was spent at a relatively small, extremely liberal, and uniquely progressive institution. I made my ultimately brief foray into alternative education in late September of 2003 a few weeks after had Johnny Cash passed away in Nashville. I don't believe I was a particularly worldly 18 year old nor a particularly "cool" one, so aside from the name I didn't really know much about the man.

The whole year I spent at that school was a confusing one. Everyone in my program was under the impression that performance art was a legitimate way to spend one's time. Not suffering under the same delusion I found very difficult to connect with my fellow students. It turns out performance art, like religion and politics, can be a deal breaker. The campus, located in a wooded area, was cut with crisscrossing trails. In the middle of one of the paths that I most often used someone had spray painted this simple message: Johnny Cash Died To Save Our Sins. At the time it held little meaning to me however I can't help but find, now that I have become familiar with the man's work and the workings of the world, that it becomes truer and truer as life goes on.

1 comment:

  1. From the context, I do not think progressive means what you think it means.

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