n-1+Soup [Danny Malks' Blog]

The Ugly One Without the Jewels

The Ugly One Without the Jewels

Laurie Anderson is a long-time favorite of mine. She has a recording called "The Ugly One With The Jewels And Other Stories", which my brother gave me many years ago. The piece mentioned in the recording's title is unusual (well, all the tracks are actually pretty unique) and wonderful. It describes time she spent with the Tsutsil Indians, the last surviving Mayan tribe in Mexico. She describes the people of this tribe as speaking a "lovely birdlike language". ...well, that's me in the green shirt between Bono and Jack Valenti. Bono is lead singer of  the Irish band U2 and Jack Valenti recently left his position as head of the Motion Picture Assocation of America after 38 years. (Jack Valenti has had quite an interesting history/career and perhaps I'll talk some more about that another time). John Crupi, CTO of Sun's Enterprise Web Services Practice stands on the other side of Bono next to Ingrid Van Den Hoogen,  Vice President, Brand Experience and Community Marketing for Sun. Just to her left...Brad Pitt...
Laurie Anderson continues her story: "One day the women decided to braid my hair Tsutsil-style. After they did this I saw my reflection in a puddle. I looked ridiculous but they said, “Before we did this you were ugly, but now maybe you will find a husband." ...hi, it's me again (can't help feeling a bit like the Central Scrutinizer, from Frank Zappa's 'Joe's Garage'...any Zappa fans out there?)...Anyway, in this photo you see all the same folks but next to Brad Pitt add MaryMary, world famous blogger and Marketing wiz for Sun. You might be wondering why I have such a bewildered look on my face...several reasons, in no particular order...number 1: I had gum in my mouth and was trying to move it somewhere in my cheek where it might not look so silly...number 2: I'm standing next to Bono and Jack Valenti...number 3: Several thoughts were suddenly racing through my head, like 'am i supposed to smile? this is a press conference about Extreme Poverty'...then again 'The press conference is about *ending* Extreme Poverty, so I guess I can smile...I ended up doing something in between a smile and a yawn, and I think you can actually see my gum as a small white speck near my bottom lip.
	The story continues: In the local language she was called "Lausha", which loosely translated means “the ugly one with the jewels." The "ugly" label is a natural, (though often bewildering to an oustider) result of any group's tendency to define aesthetics in a localized way. But why the reference to the jewels? She reveals this later in the tale: "I didn't find out what this meant until one night, when I was taking my contact lenses out, and since I'd lost the case I was carefully placing them on the sleeping shelf; suddenly I noticed that everyone was staring at me and I realized that none of the Tsutsil had ever seen glasses, much less contacts, and that these were the jewels, the transparent, perfectly round, jewels that I carefully hid on the shelf at night." Well, I don't wear contact lenses, but felt in just about as unfamiliar territory as Laurie felt in the Mayan village when I was in front of the cameras at this press conference for the ONE Campaign. For me, a wonderful experience and an opportunity to be around a bunch of truly fine people.

Posted at 12:34MD Maj 15, 2005 by malks in General  |  Comments[1]