As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. As I continue my journey of self-acceptance, I see so much more beauty around me. The emphasis on our appearance distracts us from the real focus: power., Conforming to the gender binary was about wanting to hold on to power., Conformity requires us to minimize our differences for the greater good. During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours. What a joy it is to be able to curate the sounds of my own soundtrack. Atlanta-based company Mailchimp calls Aloks talk required viewing for the world and Cornell University uplifts Aloks presentation as truly life-saving work.. While youre here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Sabrina Benaim, Rachel Wiley, Neil Hilborn, Phil Kaye, & our newest release from Andrea Gibson! I began to use color to return to my own color and to see the large swath of colors in the world and realize its not that color is the problem. And what I gained was my life back. Be the first to learn about new releases! ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker. say: these past thirty minutes were the first time i have been forced to publicly grieve death in a long timeand there is somethingbeautiful about that say: what if we stopped moving more often, took a second to absorb the pain,let it fill us a little less empty. our train is delayed and i am late for lunch with a boy i like because he makes me feel less lonely and that seems like a sufficient definition for love Basically, there was a space heater that I didnt turn off, that my mattress got embroiled with. I was paying so much attention to the ways in which I was discriminated against that I forgot to pay attention to the ways in which I was already free. In the episode, which premiered Monday, Vaid-Menon said the gender binary the idea that there are only two genders rather than a spectrum and the traditional expectations associated with binary gender labels hurt everyone, not just transgender people, and these fixed ideas of what it means to be a man or a woman make it difficult for people to find out who they truly are. And what I gained was my life back. Although I am constantly harassed for it, I am able to keep going because I know who I am. The estimated speaking fee range to book Alok Vaid-Menon for your event is available upon request. Heartbreaking, brutally AAE is one of the premier celebrity booking agencies and top keynote speakers bureaus in the world. . Showing Editorial results for alok_vaid menon. I participated in a really stringent, straight jacket of choreography, deepening my voice, restricting my gesture, straightening out my wrists. Josefina Santos for The New York Times By Julia Carmel Dec. 4, Dont miss this powerful poem from Alok Vaid-Menon, performing in Minneapolis, MN. And then I ask it until I can remember that the shame was not my own. It gives legitimacy to the way that we police and restrict one another's appearance. And so I think I lost that fluidity. Trans activist and actress Laverne Cox and actor Billy Porter both shared clips from the episode. And I had to basically stay at home and I started to really write. "I wish I could explain my existence as a non-binary person with this clarity," one person wrote. Do you know who you are outside of who you have been told you should be? We thought fitting in would give us securitybut is it security when someone else living their life differently unsettles us to our very core?, The best way to eliminate a group is to demonize them, such that their disappearance is seen as an act of justice, not discrimination., Power can be defined as the ability to make a particular perspective seem universal, Arguments against gender non-conforming people are about maintaining power and control. Yes, but what kind of beauty do I want to make? they told Heath. Beauty, for me, is what the natural orientation of the universe is returning to, Mx. Alok Vaid-Menon: The Urgent Need for Compassion. And in so many ways, the enduring forms of harassment that I experience are the universe asking me this question over and over again. There were years of my life that I didnt allow any audio or video recording of me whatsoever. Music for Awaken was created by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Tendinite and Siddhartha Corthus. Was not just self-actualization but a self. Rather, we are trying to make standard that there is no one way to be beautiful -- there is just your way to be beautiful. She eventually passed on without ever seeing me as myself. And what I really appreciate about the story is it requires us to kind of move out, zone out, zoom out of just like an interpersonal interaction and see the world from a different perspective, and be like, what, from the perspective of a tree or from the wind, is this conflict? Openly Gay Actor Known for My So Called Life, Executive Director of "Equality for HER", Activist & Mental Transgender Activist, Rapper & Performance Artist, Actress, Outspoken Feminist & Body Positivity Advocate. In a conversation filled with wisdom, historical insight, and radical mercy, ALOK challenges us to value compassion over comprehension, to try harder for each other in the name of love, and reminds us that learning is a sign of being alive.We want your feedback on season 1. No one else should be able to tell you who you are; thats for you to decide., We want a world where boys can feel, girls can lead, and the rest of us can not only exist but thrive. He asked what he needs to "unlearn" and what he needs to do to help other men unlearn, in order to better support them, referring to trans and nonbinary people like Vaid-Menon. Acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and speaker, ALOK, shares their story, and the . "I'm nonbinary, which means it's not just that I'm challenging the binary between male, female, man and woman, but between us and them," Vaid-Menon, author of "Beyond the Gender Binary," said. Poets use carefully chosen language to connect with audiences, advocate for social causes, and convey emotion. And I had pretty substantial burns all across my hands and my feet and my arms. Big Break: This summer, Mx. But what I like about a wedding dance party is everyone is just being gnarly and foolish and playful. And that feels like a spiritual practice. Why would you do this, if you lost access to power, legitimacy, intelligibility? That sense of safety, of trust, of legibility and coherence. We punish them until they conform. Beauty is about looking like yourself, even in the face of social and cultural repression. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent. And sometimes you wonder if you should have kept shaving and the hair keeps coming back and the wounds keep throbbing and the man inside keeps knocking and you, who are impatient, keeps running. Is this my own gender? In moments like these I think about how dangerous beauty can be. That is the poetic work. No one is purely good or evil. Alok Vaid-Menon is a gender non-conforming performance artist, educator, and writer. This podcast is supported by Barbara Bowman, the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, Bob and Lois Baylis and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. . so i want to embrace to this woman on the trainand say: i am afraid too say: remind me trustsay: sometimes this silence feels like the highest pitch of screaming. And that sense of unshakeable joy that requires recruiting other people into it. I was feeling and being. And Im your host, Laurie Anderson. Nonbinary activist Alok Vaid-Menon broke down the history of and problems with the gender binary and how people can fight against it in video that has gone viral on social media. And so you default back into your self-sabotaging coping strategies, and then two months later, something falls apart and youre like, oh, Ive been meaning to address this and I never did. Vaid-Menon's response, which broke down how Heath could actually better support trans people, has gone viral. Are you willing to go back? And its just idiosyncratic and strange and utterly uncinematic. Id put on an old Bollywood track and I would just dance. The way hair grows back, scabs heal, lips kiss. And I have never been good at waiting. 0 coins. The fluid artist moves seamlessly among poetry, comedy, fashion and writing. And what a delight and what a joy it is to be foolish together. not, 'Can you help me help you?'" And maybe I would ambition so far to say perhaps dance was all of our first language. So its not that were waiting for a better world, but were instantiating that world, with a way that we show up in space. People have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set them free. Our agents find the right fit for your event, Full access to all speakers & celebrities, Your personal Logistics Manager who takes care of all event details. And I really want to say that art was that for me. When Alok Vaid Menon performed this spoken word poem live at #Spoken2019, they left the crowd Two people can look similar and be completely different genders. Im going to act like a fool because it makes me feel good. WebFuneral by Alok Vaid-Menon. With every tear I am seeing the miracle of body. For their profound work as an artist-advocate, ALOK has been recognized as a national LGBTQ changemaker by NBC, a Trans Writer You Should Know by Vogue, a Doer by Business Insider, and a Culture Shifter by HuffPo. Why do engrained beauty standards so often require some of us to become invisible in order to make other people feel more comfortable? So it means that Im kind of ambivalent about form and Im more invested in flow. Mx. Fill out a. Vaid-Menon said. I didnt have shame. Web89 quotes from Alok Vaid-Menon: 'we have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set us free', 'Its not just that you internalize the shame; rather, it becomes Normativity looks like a specific sneaker brand being upheld as the best. In this 10-part series, we explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. To live in America is to already attend a funeral with complete strangers.. Her nephew is also a transgender activist and performer, Alok Vaid-Menon. And Id rather spend my life and my career speaking about those important things. ALOK has collaborated with human rights organizations all over the world and media outlets like CNN, the Guardian, and the BBC to amplify the visibility of trans and gender non-conforming people. Awaken is sponsored by Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, a print and digital magazine dedicated to making Buddhist teachings broadly available. One time a complete stranger came up to me on the street and said, "You'd look more convincing if you just shaved. Rather than telling cisgender people how to help trans people, Vaid-Menon said they reframe the conversation to ask cisgender people if they're ready to heal from the ways the gender binary has affected them. I feel like every day is an artistic and spiritual endeavor to be what is. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry's audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.Help us caption \u0026 translate this video!https://amara.org/v/CYwp1/ Beauty is about looking like yourself. by their tongues. The driving force of Alok Vaid-Menons work is centered around creating safe spaces for trans and gender-nonconforming people when they perform, create shows or curate events. Is this my own beauty? For more information about our guest and to see images of the artwork in this episode, visit AWAKEN Podcast. they tell us that someone jumped in front of the tracksthat he died upon impactso we just sit there in silence as they remove his remains. They've repressed their own gender nonconformity. And I caught fire, which is intense. How do I express it? It became about being seen in a different way. Then I convened a group of us at the end of that summer and I recited it to them. Theres, in fact, a third way. They share with us their spirituality, poetry, and what it means to live beyond the gender binary. But whose standards of beauty are we required to adhere to? The gender binary - the maintenance of two separate and opposite genders - is a system of power that exists to create conflict and division. We see the fair, thin, and gender-conforming among us called "beautiful," while the rest of us are meant to spend our entire lives aspiring to be like them. Special thanks to Alok Vaid-Menon for sharing their experience with us. And if youre enjoying this podcast, leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. We deserve more options. Know that you're divine. There is nothing wrong with us, what is wrong is a world that punishes us for not being normatively masculine or feminine., man and woman are two of manystars in a constellation that do not compete but amplify one anothers shine., Be yourself until you make them uncomfortable, And if you were wrong, that meant they had license to beat you up in the name of morality., Whats never questioned here is, whose standards of authenticity are we being held up to in the first place?, And we tell the kids who dont fit into our categories that they are wrong. What kind of joy do I want to cultivate? Why wouldnt you live in the pulse of the universe? We silenced our own differences, subdued our creativity, and toned down our own gender non-conformity in order to fit in. I sacrificed so much. They tell us to be ourselves, but if you listen closely, theres more to that sentence: . "Women were basically just saying, 'We want the right to vote,' and men heard that as 'Im losing power,'" they said. I would tell everyone, Im going to grow up and Im going to be a dancer. The poem is no longer just a thing that Im writing, but actually the way that Im living, how I walk down the street, what I see, what I notice, how I speak to other people, how I treat and think of other people, how I engage with one another. Could it be that we actually are practicing something thats so important and organic and necessary that its more important than that? So color is part of that. And so the connotations that we inherit of color are that color is something that should be feared or something that should be relegated to the special event. What I recollect is a feeling of unbridled joy, a feeling of wonder, of the enormity and potentiality of my body and this universe and art. I think for me it also takes the form of style. That color brings too much attention to yourself, that you should try to tone it down to fit into the visual cues of the dominant world. "They've repressed their own femininity. Theres so many turning points. Join for an evening of poetry, stand-up comedy, drag, and more as they take their audience on an emotional roller coaster all the way from the personal to the political. Normative beauty is insecure. For more information about our guest and to see images of the artwork in this episode, visit RubinMuseum.org/awakenpod. In her eyes my journey was about hurting her, not about healing myself. Substantial burns all across my hands and my career speaking about those important things on... On without ever seeing me as myself access to power, legitimacy, intelligibility episode, visit Awaken.. That the shame was not my own you know who you have told! 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