Comments on: Eggsistential Anxt

By: Collette

Collette — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 14:32:52 +0000

What a wonderful way to celebrate life…in words, symbols, history, and just “being.” Reading this has been very inspirational, motivational and encouraging to not give up my very own fight in dealing with cancer.

By: liberty

liberty — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:10:21 +0000

One of the wonderful things about this post is that it is open to comment–and interpretation. I very much enjoyed reading the different musings and reactions (so far).

By: Rachel B.

Rachel B. — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:10:10 +0000

“But instead of throwing away the history I was disconnecting from, I kept some memory of it as a medium to play with, to create something out of material trouble rather than just leave it altogether.”

You mentioned that you did this on Easter as a symbol of rebirth, and I don’t think keeping the eggs is incongruous with that idea. In fact, I think that you simply executed a very pure, and valuable, act of recycling-based creation. Especially since you say the eggs no longer have a distinct or clear meaning to you, all kinds of ideas about identity and the nature and purpose of art leap to mind. (I’m a philosophy school drop-out, but you probably understand where I’m going with this.)

To me, I see this an example of certain materials at Point A become different materials at Point B, which is really interesting conversation about aesthetics and utility; form and content…and of course, identity over time. Yours and the eggs and the hair.

Thanks for this thought-provoking exploration.

By: vve

vve — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 14:23:56 +0000

Beautifully put: “Eleven’s an odd little inscrutable number, overflowing one standard grouping and not quite reaching another. Like life itself, in a way—more than you could ever ask for, and yet somehow never enough.” It’s an image I know my mind will wander back to.

The analysis of the art you created to help you cope with your fears and hopes is fascinating. The final irony of the box itself is emblematic of the modern life we live–and the ominous price we pay for comfort and convenience.

I look forward to your next essay.

By: Maya

Maya — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:35:23 +0000

Miranda,
What rich and layered reflective writing on such a profound process!
You’ve poetically, politically and philosophically woven together intricately personal elements with the universal. The contemplation of Styrofoam as both the protector of the symbolic eggs and potential contributor of the disease was quite powerful.

I was and still am honored to have been a part of your ritual of renewal and celebration of your beauty and strength!!
Inspiring and potent work, as always.

By: Eric Eicher

Eric Eicher — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:20:21 +0000

Miranda, I really enjoyed this. Looking at some of the decorated eggs made me a little ill, but the act of decorating them struck me as a triumphant and therapeutic thing, and I admired your courage in sharing the whole episode with the cyber world, at large.

Rhetorically, this essay contains some wonderful writing: the brief paragraph on the wonders of 11 concludes with a sentence on life that’s my favorite line on this site so far; the irony that ends the piece is effective, and the image of the future, not as a “hallucinated…mirage of the forthcoming days,” but as complete blank, is a powerful one.

I definitely look forward to your future work.

By: Michael Bennett Cohn

Michael Bennett Cohn — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 19:17:35 +0000

The richness of overlapping real-life symbolism here is fascinating. Death and life, nesting and self-nurturing, the natural and the artificial, all mixed up together in a ritual that is clearly personal and original, yet resonates in so many universal ways.