Graduate class on blogging Raymi
Kay so this dude, a teacher dude, scholarly professor type (educators seem to be a big Raymi Groupie subset of people) taught a portion of his course on me some time ago (yes for real). I don’t know anything about school (was that the right terminology, course?) because I am the golden child who has floated in a cloud bubble blogging from outerspace free of having to learn anything more, we cannot possibly teach her anything more! Is what they said, set her free in to the world and we will study her instead!
And that, Little Raymis, is what they did.
__________________________
Hullo Raymi,
Sorry to take so long answering your question; got a little caught up on a project. So, here are the answers to your questions:
>>Raymi: how many students failed raymitheminx 101?
Well, all and none. The class introduced upper class and graduate journalism students to blogging as a medium; they had to create their own blogs to pass, which they all did. By a coincidence, all the students were female. All of them envied you your voice; you have an unmistakable style as a writer, a photographer, and — unusually and interestingly — as a photographic subject. In fact, the only person I can think of who was consistently successful as a model and a photographer was Tina Modotti, who modeled for Edward Weston. So they all passed the class, but I was disappointed that they all chose to do more basic “news” style blogs — they stayed where they felt safe.
>>Raymi: Oooh email the question if u can remember ill get my readers to weigh in, myself included
I do remember the question, partly because I keep asking it as I read you. And partly because there is no “correct answer;” so I change my mind about it all the time:
Is RaymiTheMinx a blog by Raymi, or is Raymi performance art by Lauren White?
They all blogged answers. Suffice to say there was no consensus. I’ve always wanted to hear your answer.
Ok, here goes.
Firstly, I was flattered that they envied my voice, which, truth be told, is addictive cos you keep listening and then I say something deep profound and insane and it takes you away. Maybe if I talked about nicer things with this incredible voice people would be cooler with me?
No Raymi is definitely not performance art, I am a shitty artist. I’m not bad I just half-ass my talent and that’s probably why I didn’t bother with University. I am super lazy and I figured out that being hot would help me get places and do the work for me so I put effort in to that. Call me vain or narcissistic but look at everyone who is famous, are any of them ugly? If they are then they got there someway by perhaps nepotism or they’re just super talented. You don’t need to be all of everything 100% you can have portions of various qualities and smush it all together as one. I pay attention to detail, I am thoughtful, considerate and articulate. I have been on the internet since I was a teenager, ahead of the curve or just right alongside there with the over achievers, and adults.
I am a cunning little minx and everything I have learned I taught myself, that real life experience shit. I chose the other door so, I have spent the majority of my formative life on the internet, more than the average person has. I am conversational on it as a result.
I am fiesty in real life like I am here Raymi and Lauren there is no difference between the two, one just gets a little shier in the limelight. I never stop, this blog does not stop when I am not blogging. I am a thinker and always scheming. I see opportunities in every corner, in every hate email, dance floor moment, person in the street. I take chances and I am fearless when people think I am being crazy and yelling at someone in a bar I have actually quickly on the mark sized up my opponent and methodically calculated that if I pounce there is an overwhelming chance in my favour that I come out unscathed. That is the type of person that I am and it shows on my blog.
My bark has bite and I likely have a teensier bit more testosterone than the average bird so I can make cheeky game moves and because I am an obsessive entrepreneur here I am constantly chugging out material/life/content at a frenetic pace that if that crazy thing I did back there was too retarded, we have already carried on to the next thing.
I am not here to be anybody’s hero other than my own. A lot of people read my blog because I am good at making them stay and come back for more, whatever those polarizing reasons may be, so then I get to say all kinds of verbose ego-stroking things and get shit-faced with my friends and brag about it because I know they’re here watching waiting and loving it. I am not hurting anyone I don’t feel and the more the merrier, I enjoy all walks of life, freaks, geeks, who cares just be nice. I only ever blow up when attacked and/or provoked, which is constantly.
In summation, the only time this is performance art is when I go out and conquer a fear even though I am shy and dying inside I force myself so that I can blog it because I would hate the type of person I’d be if I was afraid all the time and you don’t get anything done that way. There is a reason people get rewarded for public speaking, or paid to do it, all kinds of bloggy things out there. Diva Raymi is real too, that’s who I am right now. I’m a showgirl, an originator and entertainer, nice to meet you.
I created this monster and now I must slay it!
Alright, I’m going to get all “academic” on you… I was a philo major in uni, so that’s where this is coming from.
While you may not intend to be a performance artist, what you produce is nonetheless performance art. You do not have to “intend” for it to be so. A hot topic in the philosophy of aesthetics is that art is what is talked about in terms of art (or often, in terms of art critics and the “art world”). But that applies here, too.
Note that this doesn’t make it any less real or any less you. You ARE your art, and your art IS you. You make life art – your life, your art, simultaneously. (I also understand this because I consider my life my art as well.) This also doesn’t mean necessarily that what you are doing is staged… although it isn’t “not staged” either. Because you have “grown up” on the internet, what is “normal” to you is “staging” to others. Do you know what I mean? Most people don’t follow themselves around with cameras, but you do. And because you’re done it for so long, and because what you do for you feels effortless, it isn’t fake; the staging is part of your authentic life.
I think that’s part of your appeal; people get caught up in your stories and experiences and get to live vicariously through you. As with many works that I admire, and in many ways what I try to achieve myself (although very differently than you do), the lines between art/life/business are blurred and indistinguishable. And THAT is fascinating to people… even if they do not understand what it is they are observing. Your life IS performance art, Raymi; and this blog is a way of capturing that.
I had to laugh when I saw that your first question was how many people flunked Raymi 101? Your thought process cracks me up…
Very well written
an accurate description of self awareness
I think you inherited some of your testosterone from me
yes mum we are boys at heart and competitive.
Kat, wellest put. You pass Raymi arithmetic.
Am i the only one who is excited about this MTV thing?
HAHAHHA NO! we are containing ourselves just barely over here and there’s more surprises in store. sploding!!!!!!
Yes!!!
email me BLERGH and I will tell you a secret!
I don’t think you and I are competitive, i think we are a team, yin and yang
iS that how its spelt or did I just embarrass myself?
As for my dirty humour, I’ve always felt I’m trapped in a 12 year old boys mind
But when a man tries to put me down
My balls become bigger than his
and you don’t want to mess with a woman who has bigger balls
You’ll always come up short.
As for your performance part, for the most part you are always on
but being on is you, its the way your mind has always worked
so in essence it is you. Its never an act.
Now
About the dog poop.
One of these days someones going to pick up your shit, follow you hope with shit in bag, and light it on fire on your doorstep.
Think about that next time you don’t scoop Stella’s droppings.
that should read follow you home
Hullo Raymi,
Interesting answer. BTB, I should probably say that the mixture of performance art and writing has a long and honored history. After all, the greatest American writer of all time, Mark Twain…didn’t actually exist. Mark Twain was — performance art? — a character played by the writer Samuel Langhorne Clemens.
Of course, after decades of writing and speaking as Twain, I think even he couldn’t tell if he was Twain or Clemons.
Art, or just life? We’re all different people, playing different roles. Look at how you change when your mom drops by…As do we all. I talk to my mom every week, and she’s like “It’s cold. Are you wearing a coat?” And I’m like “MOM! I’m an adult! I KNOW WHEN TO PUT ON A COAT!” And she’s like “Yeah, but are you wearing a coat?”
Sigh.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this.
cjf
Except Lauren/raymi doesn’t change when I’m around. Shes exactly the same. Well, maybe a tad mouthier.
i am at my best when you are around. all emotions on full blast. some of my best material too!
I use to think raymi/lauren was some kind of a personality disorder
If there were things I didn’t want to read you would say “Mom Its only a persona character”
Whatever you were thinking in the beginning stages, stuck for almost eleven years.
Are the lines blurred between Lauren/Raymi for you?
At one point I thought I had lost Lauren . Who is that Raymi girl, I want Lauren back!
But what I’ve come to know is that you are one and the same person. You just promote your stage name more when you are feeling it.
Although raymitheminx might be a tad crazier.
I’M A LEGEND.
Mom I am making fun of you over on twitter.
when did you think you lost me. thats bullshit. i think i lost you once waaaaaaaah where are you help i cant see. pfft. you have seen me every day inside out on my blog and now you are me so thanks bye lol.
A Legend can be in the mind too you know.
Be Great but Be Modest too!
you know what they say about people who are over confident?
I am not you.
We are our own crazy, just bouncing off of each other!
i meant i invented another me, I have two people that represent me, that’s hugely greedy which is a legend move and intelligent.
andy koffman had multiple personalities. kaufman? Anyway, that’s true, pride comes before a fall.
ps. I was being cheeky.
tk, when ramybo said “yes mum we are boys at heart and competitive” I think she means you are both competitive, not necessarily against each other, just competitive in nature.
ps appreciate the use of the correct address “mum” there, raymi
thats right, i meant we are competitive and rough-house like dudes