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[From the Archive] The Principle of The Thing Paints Us All in a Corner
If you ever watched The People's Court, you were assailed with court cases that often were as petty as they come.
If You Treat People Like Children, You Can’t Be Surprised When They Act Like Children
Simply put, people almost always rise to the level one expects them to based in large part to how they are treated. Treat people like a bunch of toilet paper hoarding morons and, sure enough, they are a bunch of toilet paper hoarding morons.
The Ultimate Act of Self Care Isn’t Contained in a Carton of Almond Milk or a Yoga Mat
The ultimate act of self care is to give the opinions of others far less weight.
REVERSALS: Rebecca is Almost Always Right
As Dracula stood centerstage, surrounded by the bodies of his victims, and the first piano strains of “I Will Survive” chimed in, the audience started giggling again already exhausted from laughing their asses off for a straight hour. By the time he was fully into the song, glorious in his Richard Harris singing style, the crowd was clapping on the beat and the place was on fire.
The Principle of The Thing Paints Us All in a Corner
If you ever watched The People's Court, you were assailed with court cases that often were as petty as they come. Neighbors suing neighbors for cutting down trees, going to court against family for a George Foreman grill that was left and won't be returned, rage-filled people suing each other over slights and financial hardships that amounted to children spatting with each other over stolen marbles.
It was always more about the Principle of The Thing than The Thing.
Nothing is Sacred. Not Even You
That was the saying above the theater that WNEP occupied for a couple of years on the corner of Halsted and Belmont.
It meant a lot of things in those six words.
You are not not exempt, as an audience member, from being required to participate.
Nothing in the content within the walls (and minds of the creators) is sacrosanct. Nothing is out of bounds. All sacred cows will be skewered, roasted and eaten rare.
We are artists and we are not somehow the world's very precious tellers of truth. Likewise, your opinion of our work means only as much as we allow it.
It meant that YOU (and WE) are not special.
All Sandwiches Matter
It was the worst sandwich I've ever eaten but, in its odd way and in the context of the dining companion I was with, it was also the best one.
Nostalgia is like a Mirror of Broken Colored Glass
The vast tapestry of the internet, however, has changed that and while it feels claustrophobic in the present, it also forces our hindsight narratives to be more honest and inclusive.
How do you want to be defined? By one action? By some opinion that could evolve? By a mistake, regrettable only with hindsight? Or by the sum of your parts? Okay, do that for other people. Start the trend.