Plague Journal, Sublime And Animal
NEW YORK
The beauty of the Black and Puerto Rican women of New York. Apart from the sexual stimulation produced by the crowding together of so many races, it must be said that black, the pigmentation of the dark races, is like a natural make-up that is set off by the artificial kind to produce a beauty which is not sexual, but sublime and animal – a beauty which the pale faces so desperately lack. Whitness seems an extenuation of physical adornment, a neutrality which, perhaps by that very token, claims all the exoteric powers of the Word, but ultimately will never possess the esoteric and ritual potency of artifice.
Excerpt America, by Jean Baudrillard p. 16
A French sociologist, writing in 1986 informs us, majority-class-Whites of a beauty, of an intrinsic spiritual force which we may observe, but do not possess. No longer a default, beauty ≠ whiteness.
How the times have changed. The presence of a woman of color is visually arresting.
Baudrillard observes: white is neutral. Another way of putting it, White is like Wonder Bread, serviceable, a standard for the WWII generation. Wonder Bread always needed something extra, — mustard, or mayo perhaps. “Bread” but not comparable to a loaf of dark rye.
As luck would have it, due to historical contingency, another word for luck, whiteness has claim to the powers of the Word. We whites make up the ruling class, write the laws, and shape opinion that sets the standard for enforcement. Exoteric power.
I do not doubt, esoteric and ritual potency belongs particularly to women of color.
Call me crazy, — I hope such insight figures in to Joe Biden’s selection of a running mate.
This song fits. Anyway I’ve always liked it.
2 thoughts on “Plague Journal, Sublime And Animal”
I enjoyed a 3 to 4 year relationship with a woman of exceptionally beautiful color. ( Excuse the adverbs, whose use suggests a lazy mind one prof told me. But other than ‘caps’, special acknowledgement is demanded ). It was perhaps the best relationship I’ve ever experienced; excluding my late wife. But my late wife, Karen, and I were in love – and we were ‘in sync’ : we’ve all seen couples that are sad fully often engaged in what I call ‘ripping little pieces of flesh’ off each other. And upon witnessing such, one can’t help but think; if they do this in public, well you get the picture.
I know that Karen and I exhibited anything other publicly than courtesy and respect, perhaps a tad more courtesy ( opening doors, helping with coats, holding chairs and arising when she left or came back to the table ), ‘old school stuff’ I guess, but I didn’t do these things out of common courtesy – I did them because she deserved such attention. She was unique, she loved me. I was told that we ‘appeared’ happy together and, in fact, we were. We were both strong willed people so as do most couples, we had our rare disagreements, but there were words we never used and lines we never crossed – we never lost respect for one another, even in the very uncommon ‘tiff’. I miss her greatly and know I always will.
Upon meeting Karen I had to sever my relationship with Laurie (the woman of color that graced me with her companionship) because upon meeting Karen, I soon realized it was going somewhere. Laurie understood perfectly and would have expected nothing less of me – our relationship was different than most I believe, it was of course a tidy, well mannered one: that’s my nature. But it was unique in so far that it’s nature was one of pure hedonism ( and lasting so long, well again you get the essence ). And because we both knew it wasn’t ‘going anywhere’ in the (dare I say) normal world, we made absolutely no demands on one another’s nature. We liked the so many of the same things, although in the late 70’s we did have to choose our dining and dancing experiences cautiously, but the ‘scene’ in Lincoln Park was fine and we never were really hesitant about going anywhere together (there’s that pesky ‘low risk aversion’ thing – but it did get me around a racetrack smartly). We both knew that our relationship had no future, not because of ‘race’ but rather that we came from two different worlds: she was from a prominent family back East (even her manner of speech was intoxicating to me) and I was, in a manner of speaking, just beginning to rejoin society after a decade of taking my own counsel – but I was pretty smart and I did ‘clean-up’ nicely and was good at acting in a manner appropriate to most any situation that might arise (always good when engaged in a society that I had very little in common with). I could go on, mentioning moments we shared like when we would hold our bodies close together and just marvel at the difference in tone and color, but I think I will keep those moments exclusive. How could anyone fault me?
Blessings
Al, I am honored that you shared in words so moving, of a season of pure delight in your life. Be well my friend. And need I say, keep writing! – Jerry