Author Archives: Oscar Bermeo

I think I just learned more about Postmodernism watching “Helvetica” than I have reading about it. More importantly, I learned a lot about reaction to art and process from a variety of viewpoints that all centered around a love of expression.

In this case the form of the expression is type design and how it seems to all center around Helvetica. The way some of the designers interviews in this documentary were talking about it, you’d think it was the Herald of the New Age upon us as Helvetica is born and an age of reason and order falls on the land (And Helvetica maybe says everything, and that’s perhaps part of its appeal. – Jonathan Hoefler).

Another opinion sees the ubiquitous type–for real, it is everywhere–more like the rough beast slouching towards Bethlehem (one designer blamed the Vietnam and Iraqi Wars on Helvetica and she meant it). Other designers challenged that accessibility is the best path to understanding, that maybe a text that challenges the reader will actually lead to a greater appreciation of the message (Don’t confuse legibility with communication. Just because something is legible doesn’t mean it communicates and, more importantly, doesn’t mean it communicates the right thing. – David Carson).

Closer to my own poetic aesthetic would be the self-taught type designer who came into the game without knowing there was a war to end all fonts over Helvetica. He just sees it as another tool in his tool box and plays off its versatility not for versatility sake but for the design’s sake.

The documentary ends on, of all things, the MySpace generation–talk about ubiquitous slouchers–and how the representation of user-generated content sites may be the next leap in visual design and communication.

If you likes to see artists who are passionate (maybe even obsessive) about the origins, trends, misconceptions, and future of their art, this is definitely a documentary you want to check out. If that art centers around the spacing of words, the weight of what isn’t said, and the gut reaction to text, then you really want to see “Helvetica.”

[ETA: Barb’s post on “Helvetica” and the Poetic Industrial Complex]

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS
The 6th Intergenerational / Interdisciplinary Writers Lab (IWL) 2009
A program of Kearny Street Workshop & Intersection for the Arts

A unique program with two of SF’s oldest interdisciplinary arts organizations to thoroughly explore and develop your writing. Accepted applicants will participate in workshops led by accomplished writers and artists, attend special exhibitions and performances, have the opportunity to perform/read work at a public event, and be published in online anthology.

APPLICATION DEADLINE: RECEIVED BY 5PM, FEBRUARY 13, 2009.
NOT A POSTMARK DEADLINE. APPLICATIONS MUST BE RECEIVED BY 5PM on 2/13/2009.

SF-based arts nonprofits, Kearny Street Workshop & Intersection for the Arts, are seeking applications for, the 6th annual Intergenerational Writers Lab (IWL), a literary program for emerging writers, scheduled to take place April 11 – June 6, 2009. Twelve participants will be selected to participate in the literary program which will involve workshops, a public reading, and an online anthology publication. IWL workshops will be led by Jewelle Gomez and Truong Tran. The IWL will include a public reading scheduled for July 8 at Intersection for the Arts.

More information here.

IWL Application PDF can be downloaded here.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
Rating: 4 of 5 stars

Junot Díaz expertly captures the languages, landscapes and folk tales of the Modern diaspora experience laying out his stake in the multi-generational family epic genre. And don’t get your wires crossed, this isn’t just urban fiction, sci-fi, magical realism, Spanglish 101 or the Postmodern Hemingway; this is an American tale of stitched family histories.

It’s also a tale of crash and burn and crash (again). In most cases, when speaking of the Latino immigrant experience, these tales rely on familiar tropes: the drug addict, the (reformed) gang member, the single mother, the drug addict, the sellout sibling, or the tragic artist. Díaz brings a new player into this mix, the fringe player every ethnic sub-group shuns, the unattractive non-conformist, and gives him a back story that is unique and complex but accessible.

More than anything, I’m drawn to Oscar Wao’s lingua franca, a mix of Spanish, New Hersee Quisqueyano, Hardcore Nerd, and Ghetto delivered and defined by English sentence structure, and the manner it reflects not just our narrator’s background but his world view. “Only what I can carry,” is not just a mantra from the later chapters but also speaks to the languages each character accesses.

I would have liked to see a more balanced view between DR and Jersey. In Oscar Wao’s world a social system where families fight violence and feel disenfranchised from the ruling political structure, men are unjustly imprisoned, and women are sexual pawns is something that only happens back on the Island, while in America we honestly bust our asses and get just a little ahead in the game with only the threat of catcalls and verbal harassment holding us back. To quote Yunior, “Negro, please.”

After the success of Drown and the accolades from Oscar Wao I am very curious to see what Junot Díaz will deliver next. If it’s anything like the rich text and interesting plot turns that shines a new spotlight on what it means to be and saty familia through a crazy national and personal history, I’m there.

[A report of Junot Díaz reading from Oscar Wao in Oakland and his follow-up Q&A can be found here.]

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