World 'O Grayson

Sometimes I just hate being normal. Or is it that I secretly hate being Southern American? Or could it be that I was raised in such an astonishingly sexist environment whereby women were so "invisible," as the wise Anna Quindlen calls such dark times, that I'm still too scared to consider myself in any artistic context for fear of being even more marginalized than I was as a powerless child?

The psychology of it all is too much for me; thus my silly housekeeping obsession. You know what "they" always told me about wicked, idle hands... they being the women who raised me yet never once had to lift a finger to support themselves. House Ho's all! But enough bitterness for one blog...

Why can't I be more like... Grayson Perry? (See above photo.)

Instead of the usual vaccuming, scrubbing and laundering I am called and compelled to do on Sunday mornings until I'm blue in the face (when I'm not in church of course), I defiantly sat down and googled other people named "Grayson," whereby I came immediately across a British cross-dressing contemporary ceramic artist.

For his creative efforts this Grayson wins grand awards that pay tens of thousands of dollars. For mine, I am derided, further ignored by immediate family members (if that was at all possible) and reduced to blogging for a living. But oh how I do go on. UPDATE: Kevin at NG has an interesting reflection on fame and fortune. Summary: why bother?

I am fascinated by this Grayson Perry of Essex, England. Not only does he live life in a series of delightfully complex costumes, he even looks to be in normal life (see above photo) as I imagine (if I allowed myself such creative license) I might look if I was a man. Also, my paternal grandmother's maiden name was "Perry." If ever there was a more "maidenly" married woman it would have been her, but oh how she loved me and oh how I diverge...

I doubt Grayson Perry's namesake is, as is mine, a hand-me-down from a South Carolina ancestor with a pronounced literary inclination, albeit one terribly reflective of the times in which he lived, worked and flourished.

To find our shared ancestory, we'd no doubt have to work our way back to... The Druids! I must admit to a bit of wonder, pride and sheer delight in being able to google one's ancestor and discover that he served in Congress.

To celebrate, I might go really wild and not vaccum at all today. I might instead take a moment to think on family members currently serving in Iraq and Afganistan, and ditch the anti-American moments of self-loathing that can haunt us all -- while corsetted as a Moulin-Rouge barmaid of course.

tags: Grayson Perry, W.J. Grayson, U.S. Congress, Neko Case. This blog entry put together by Neko Case's Fox Confessor Brings The Flood.