I'd like to be an activist, but politics is so serious and depressing. I'd like to start a group of artistic activists -- performance and visual artists who would use their talents to have fun and promote awareness and appreciation of suburban culture. Hey, I'm suburban, I can't help it. That's how I was raised.
I'm tired of being ashamed of being from the 'Burbs and wishing I could be cool like the inner city hipsters. We can't appreciate something we take for granted, so we need to promote awareness, poke fun, gently nudge the minds of our fellow suburbans. Can we separate the wonderful gifts and priviledges of the suburban life from the tired cliches of blandness associated with it? Can discordianism thrive in suburbia? Well, it's *my* pipe dream...
suburban dissonance manifesto
celebrate
suburbia
embrace the
Multiplex, the
Minimart
love the
pot luck dinner, the
Chinese buffet
appreciate
esplanades and
jogging trails
hug a
soccer mom
celebrate suburbia, but
don't make it your world
don't take the
Master Plan too seriously
don't
sway to its
rhythms
Instead, keep yourself a step off the beat.
Sing a little
off key.
Create some dissonance.
Have a
drum circle in a local
park.
Get 50 people, all dressed alike,
go stand by the
fountain at the
mall.
When anyone asks you what
group you're with,
say you don't know these
people.
Put
poetry and
art on local
bulletin boards.
Adopt a
convenience store. Buy the
clerks lunch.
Hop the local
shuttle bus with your
friends.
Ride for a few hours.
Sing bus riding songs.
Bonus points if you sing in
harmony.
Get some
brooms and
sweep through town. Literally.
Make
fingerpaint murals. Invite
passers-by to help.
Make people
look twice.
Make people
think.
and
laugh at themselves.
Give them something
funny to share
over
breadsticks at the
Olive Garden.
Be
peaceful. Be
respectful. But be
weird.
Get all the necessary
permits, but don't seek
approval.
Let people
stare. Make them
wonder.
Cultivate funny looks.