PASSAGE :: Larry Jens Anderson
As I age the concept of passages takes on more profound meanings. Personally there is my body changing and illnesses, realizing that the passage of time brings me closer to death, friends and family are dying and artistically my ability to perform takes on new relevance. None of this is new to the world, but personally I feel threatened as I try to work through the doubt.
My youth was free of the gun violence that seems pervasive today. Overlapping the contemporary attitudes to guns and being homosexual means I am part of a target group.
Going to school or a concert, a church, a synagogue, a bar, used to be innocent, safe and now are tainted by the fear of dying. I use camp humor, art history, religion as devices to communicate. Religion is curious with its bedding with groups such as the gun lobby and then also being a target.
From 1970-76 I taught high school in Goddard, Kansas. A year after I moved from Goddard to Houston, Texas, Goddard Junior HIgh fell victim to the first school shooting. One of the track coaches I worked with was shot in the leg and several individuals were killed. What seems like an anomily has now become too common. Going forward the youth of today will have more complex passages to figure out.
