“The Man”

Anna Deavere Smith writes about the elusive “Man” in her book Letters to a Young Artist, and I confess that while it is near impossible to disagree with Smith on the inevitability of the existence of “The Man,” I still feel quite an aversion to him/her. Smith reminds me that the Man is always looming in all situations, work and personal alike but especially in the professional world of art and what is more disconcerting that Smith notes is that as an artist I need the man. Even typing that out infuriates me. Why? Because I am still holding on to the romantic notion that my art will be swept into the heart of a person because it strikes a chord in them, not because some “Man” somewhere knew how to finagle the right lighting, music, and ticket price in order to get a piece off the wall. In the same breath I know that ambiance and logistics in general do matter a great deal. I am feeling like this blog is the force of accountability that I need to make me let go of my angst over the Man.

I do hereby solemnly swear to learn who the Man is, what my relationship to the man is and what the route to the Man is.

So, who is the Man?

With nice weather come the open windows and with open windows come neighborhood kids. I took a break from my studies and asked one of the kids if he knew who the Man was and then I proceeded to explain to him, age eight, who the Man is, to which he replied, “No, I don’t know anything about that but can I play with your skateboard?” I opened the utility room door and in he poured pulling out skateboard, baseballs, gloves, etc…. As the clanging of bats rolling across the floor rang in my ears I realized something, something dreadful, I realized that to my eight year old neighbor I am the Man! Smith says, “The Man is the one who can open the door, and the Man can shut you down.” My break from my studies was soon over and I retracted the skateboard, the gloves, the baseball, and in so doing the importance of knowing the Man was ever present, to my neighbor I had just shut him down.

I am an intern for the semester at a local studio that hosts visual and performing arts events. I need to get to know the Men, that’s right plural because there is a Man for every situation, every event, every job, every department, everything. I confess that I am still a little shaky on close contact with powerful people but that is what this is all about. The first step, make a meeting with the Man. Yikes! Smith says I need to make a list, a short list. Smith says I need to ask the Man what I can do for him. Already, this seems feasible.

Well, cheers to the Man!