The Facebook Fairy Tells { > Ω < }

A few Saturday mornings ago, as I was strolling along side Paul Ryburn en route to River Arts Fest on S. Main St., I said,

I am not sure what to be for halloween, Paul.

I was playing with the ideas of a Time Tree, World War II, or Facebook.

Paul’s eyes widened and he responded,

Facebook?!

…

That would be awesome. Do that. Go as Facebook, yes!

Hearing his response, seeing his encouragement, and gaining his approval, I settled on personifying the sign-of-the-times, world spread, Facebook, for halloween this year.

How does one do that? I googled “facebook+costume” to see what has been done before, and found a few images of other people who had dressed up as the popular social networking site.

 

I hold dear to me two phrases, one of my favorite architects, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, coined, as well as applied to his life and designs,

Less is more

 and

God is in the details.

Less is more is much more of a complex statement than it appears. It does not always implicate simply fewer visible items.

Last year, I ordered the Sexy Rainbow Brite costume online to wear for halloween. I never got to wear it. Different story. So here I have this blue dress and that is where I started my design seeing as how Facebook’s color is blue.

First, I used a ripper to take off the white faux fur lining the bottom on the dress as well as the red sequins adorning the neckline and sleeves. Then, I used a bottle of white fabric paint to dab little to big dots in several clusters along the sides of the waist and all around the front of the skirt. Next, I used some sparkly thread, the kind you made friendship bracelets and hair wraps out of in c. 1993, to demonstrate the connections between the dots and clusters representative of the information, messages, pokes, tags, wall comments etc., shooting through cyberspace, via Facebook, resulting in tighter bonds with friends…cyber bonding.

I had a little trouble doing this as I noticed the thread was pulling the material of the dress taunt in places and causing it to crumple up. I fixed this by tying a knot on the underside, each time the needle went downward through the dress. This stopped the thread from pulling through all of the holes.

 
I got an old keyboard and plucked off a few keys. I placed these spaced out along the front of the dress surround the f I cut out of felt to stand for Facebook. I bought some iron-on transfer sheets from Hobby Lobby. My plan was to take the Facebook logo, make it black, mirror it, print it on the transfer sheets, and then iron them each onto the long white gloves I purchased at Spencer’s. This did not go as planned, the iron was too hot for the 100% nylon gloves, as the transfer sheets were intended for cotton—a much more dense fabric. I knew this, but I did it anyways. It turned out awful…like when you can only tear a sticker off half way.

I was severely irritated by this.

However, not deterred, as I trucked along and thought of a way to save the gloves. I took some India ink and magenta watercolor, in an eye dropper, and dabbled them all over the previously pure white, now janked up half-faded-rippled-facebook-logos gloves, and they turned out satisfactory.

I wrote, It’s complicated on the rear of the dress. I thought about a lot of different options as far as that goes, e.g.: poke, poke back I remove,  This is you., tag etc. I landed on, It’s complicated, since it is always complicated…it is life..

On February 6th, 2009, I deleted my Facebook account for 3 months. I did this so that when I ended my relationship status, which was married, it would not pop up on the mini-feed. I filed for divorce that day.

Why is there no option for Divorced on Facebook?

There is only,

-option to leave blank-

Single

In a Relationship

Engaged

Married

It’s Complicated

In an Open Relationship

Widowed

I strongly dislike forced boxes, hats, and labels. What about divorced? Why can I not call it how it really really is? It is the absolute truth and reality. It is what it is.

Like a blemish. A Scarlett Letter even. A stain.

Wedding Day, September 29th, 2007

I am not ashamed in the least…not particularly proud, however, it is the truth and the real of it.

I no longer have time, interest, or energy for the fake…give me the real…save the fake to sprinkle on your instant oatmeal some Tuesday morning.

…These concerns are often well warranted. I have no idea what the long-term effects of discussing such issues so openly will be on my personal and professional life, but, whatever the consequences, they are bound to be better than continuing to be silent. I am tired of hiding, tired of misspent and knotted energies, tired of the hypocrisy, and tired of acting as though I have something to hide. One is what one is, and the dishonesty of hiding behind a degree, or a title, or any manner and collection of words, is still exactly that: dishonest. Necessary, perhaps, but dishonest…

…Much like crossing the Bay Bridge when there is a storm over the Chesapeake, one may be terrified to go forward, but there is no question of going back. I find myself somewhat inevitably taking a certain solace in Robert Lowell’s essential question, “Yet why not say what happened?”

I have driven over the Bay Bridge.

An Unquiet Mind: Memoir of Moods and Madness by Kay Redfield Jamison Ph.D, 1995

Dr. Jamison was not referring directly to Facebook. The context was in reference to writing down the truth about her personal experiences living with bipolar disorder for all the world to see. I share this same diagnosis with Dr. Jamison, that of being touched with fire, which I shall be writing a post about eventually. Dr. Jamison, along with other writers, have inspired me to write as open as I am capable of.

Documenting life { as it is } in written Truth.

 Eight words to sum it up.

I am sick of, my own included; half-truths, 99.9% truths, omissions, additions, fluffs, tweaks, skews, rotations, reversals, rose-tinted glass, filters, fish eye lens, under/over exaggerations, straight up bullshit and flat-out lies.

I have been actively, purposefully, and most importantly consciously striving, with all the intertwined strings of my complete self, every second of every minute, of every hour of every day, to keep that curtain of denial tied up stage left—thus ensuring I am interpreting my past memories, present moments, and all together cognizance, with the preciseness required in that of the  handling of an atom bomb.

 

Putting on my wedding gown.

Otherwise, that curtain’s rope knot will loosen, slip, slack up, and slowly creep out as I will wake up one day living in a fairytaylored fantasy world constructed by my ego’s defense mechanisms and lavishly decorated by my wishful thoughts.

This is a state of existence to be cautiously weary of.

Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor, the enemy of the people. It will keep you cramped and insane your whole life, and it is the main obstacle between you and a shitty first draft. I think perfectionism is based on the obsessive belief that if you run carefully enough, hitting each stepping-stone just right, you won’t have to die. The truth is that you will die anyway and that a lot of people who aren’t even looking at their feet are going to do a whole lot better than you, and have a lot more fun while they’re doing it.

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamont, 1995

What is the Facebook Fairy?

It is a halloween costume that made up in my head and then manifested into tangible form for you to see.

It is a real thing.

If you need it to be more ‘real’, since I do hold a bachelor’s degree in graphic design, I can whip up a cutsie little logo, business cards, brochures, a Facebook group, and even a website.

What does the Facebook Fairy do?

I do not know. Things are not required to have grand purposes in order to exist in physical reality.

I have noticed people I meet being outrageously and easily swayed in the blink of an eye by a bit of mediocre design, a quasi-complimentary-enough color palette, and a bit of rhetoric on a daily basis…anyone can make anything up and present it to you however they darn well please.

So go buy you a fuzzy blanket with arm holes cut in it.

ζ

.. ::_ All Hallows’ Even 2 double oh 9_:: ..

Thank you, Rebecca, to tie; to bind; captivating.

 

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