My Personal Pantheon

A while back, Kathleen asked us to think about who was in our “personal pantheon” – who were our heroes?  We didn’t really ever get back to that question in class, I’ve actually spent a lot of time thinking about it esp as it relates to the video I’m working on for my final project.  I suspect the list is ever-evolving, but as of today, these are the heroes that live atop my personal Olympus:

1. Batman: As a small child, I watched the Batman TV show religiously.   Batman was synonymous with the word “hero” for me and I, like many little boys I imagine, used to tie a blanket around my neck as a cape and run around the house “fighting crime” while singing the theme song – “nanananananana… BATMAN!”   Obviously, at the time I never tried to deconstruct what was so appealing to me about the dynamic duo – but in hindsight I think that it might’ve been that he was just a guy – but a really super awesome one!   A boy could never hope to grow up to be Superman who could fly and bend steel, but Batman offered the hope that you could, if you tried really hard, be the most awesome dude in the world.

2. Joe Strummer: My only real hero from the rock world (Joe was, after all, the artist who wrote the line: “No More Guitar Heroes!“). Strummer played an instrumental part in my teenage years – it was partly the songs of the clash that influenced my decision to take charge of my life by dropping out of high school in order to try and do something better.   While I wouldn’t call him a utopian exactly, Joe’s philosophy was that nothing was impossible and that the world can be, and should be, a better place.  He definitely made it a better place for me.  Thanks, Joe.

3. William Shakespeare: I don’t really know what can be said about Shakespeare that hasn’t been said for centuries already.  During the time I spent in Boston -after NYC spit me out- I was a member of a Shakespeare troupe called Counterpoint Theatre Company, started by alumni of Tina Packer’s Lenox troupe, Shakespeare & Company.  It was doing these plays – Measure for Measure, The Tempest, Twelfth Night, and The Comedy of Errors, that l learned not only to appreciate the brilliant poetry of the English language, but also that Shakespeare wasn’t for the uptight elite, but was written for the people.  In a way, Shakespeare’s plays were the MTV of its time – and packed more sex and violence than a Russ Meyer marathon.  Also, it was through this small community of performers who did it for love, that I learned that the value of art was in its creation, not just in its consumption.

4. Ikaros (Icarus): I pretty much covered the significance of Ikaros as it relates to my life in a previous post, so I won’t rehash it all here.  Suffice it to say that much of my life has been spent persuing the reckless adventure of the flying boy and that this has led me to many a crash, but also allowed my to achieve heights I never would have reached otherwise…

5. Joey Skaggs first became a personal hero of mine when I read about him in the “Pranks” issue of RE/SEARCH Magazine.  Joey is an artist who has dedicated his life to pranking the media, setting up such elaborate hoaxes as “The Cathouse for Dogs” (a brothel for pets) and “The Fat Squad” (a weight loss method involving ‘agents’ who follow you around and slap food out of your hand).  He would create these pranks and set them up for the media as being real, and after they were reported he would reveal the hoax, leaving journalists and news shows with proverbial egg on their faces, and having to admit that they had been tricked. He dedicated his life to exposing the US media as frauds – report anything without properly checking facts, and he is revered by pranksters and culture jammers everywhere.  After moving back to NYC, I was lucky enough to become friends with Skaggs and participate in a few of his events.  Check out his website, and his new blog, pranks.com.

6. O Sensei: When I lived in LA, I began studying the Japanese martial art of Aikido.  A discipline as much spiritual as it is physical, Aikido changed my way of thinking about all aspects of life.  O Sensei was the founder of this art.  He began as a martial artist in the 1920’s, but as he grew older and more spiritual, his style changed from one of offensive attacks to one of harmony and blending with your opponent.  There are no punches or kicks in Aikido and the goal is not dominance, but a spiritual blending of energy with your oppponent.  He described the philosophy of Aikido as “loving protection for all things”.  I mean, come on… how awesome is that?  I think Aikido training should be mandatory.  It would solve this little problem of war, I can almost guarantee it.

7. Jon Stewart/Stephen Colbert: Finally, my pantheon would be woefully incomplete if I didn’t include the 2 men who I feel are doing the most to influence popular opinion and raise awareness of social and political issues amongst young Americans.  Even more importantly, they are challenging American media, and as a result we are actually seeing a fundamental shift in the way news is being reported.  Both men have adopted a “bottom up” approach to the news, offering up deadly serious issues as comedy and allowing us to see the world through a lens that isn’t crafted by the corporate elite.   Charles Ludlam (i think) once said: “If you’re going to tell people the truth, you’d better make them laugh, or they will kill you”.  No where is this exemplified better than in The Dailly Show and The Colbert Report.  For perfect example sof how each of these men are challenging the system, I refer you to Jon Stewart’s appearance on Crossfire, and Stephen Colbert’s speech at the White House Correspondant’s Dinner.  Mind bendingly brilliant, both.

Tagged as: Hero(ine)s, pantheon, Personal Heroes