For more information about our guest and to see images of the artwork in this episode, visit RubinMuseum.org/awakenpod. I describe putting together an outfit as making an altar on my body. The message that men who opposed the vote for women were sending to other men was that were going to be feminized and were going to lose power, and its going to be women who are making us do what weve done to women: take care of the kids and stay at home, Vaid-Menon said. And what I gained was my life back. Music for Awaken was created by Blue Dot Sessions, Podington Bear, Tendinite and Siddhartha Corthus. "Women were basically just saying, 'We want the right to vote,' and men heard that as 'Im losing power,'" they said. AAE is a talent booking agency for paid events only. The way hair grows back, scabs heal, lips kiss. These are the sacrifices a body must make for growing too fast. In moments like these I think about how dangerous beauty can be. And at least for now I say no. That color brings too much attention to yourself, that you should try to tone it down to fit into the visual cues of the dominant world. When Alok Our booking agents have successfully helped clients around the world secure talent like Alok Vaid-Menon for both live and virtual events for over 15 years. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent. ALOK (they/them) is an internationally acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker. ", They said though trans and nonbinary people face violence and death for challenging traditional gender norms, they don't want people to fight for their rights "because you want to protect me or you want to help me.". But before we begin, Alok first shares their thoughts of a sculpture titled The Buddha Triumphing Over Mara. I think for me it also takes the form of style. But, in my experience, a commitment to honest self-actualization yields unparalleled peace and conviction. One of my favorite things was going to weddings and seeing intergenerational dancing. Alok Vaid-Menon - Funeral 21,371 views Mar 10, 2019 1.3K Dislike Share Save Button Poetry 1.37M subscribers Join Subscribe Support Button Poetry: Our agents are happy and able to submit an offer to the speaker or celebrity of your choice, letting you benefit from our reputation and long-standing relationships in the industry. Vaid-Menon said. We are happy to help! Leaving us a review is one of the best ways to help this podcast reach more listeners like you. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. And Im your host, Laurie Anderson. Alok Vaid-Menon: The Urgent Need for Compassion. Its the inability to see that vibrancy, diversity, instability, collapse, rupture, serendipity are the natural orientations of being alive. The team at All American Entertainment represents and listens to the needs of organizations and corporations seeking to hire keynote speakers, celebrities or entertainers for speaking engagements, personal appearances, product endorsements, or corporate entertainment. And you see someone who you never thought dance, could dancean 85-year-old, just with this kind of unbridled sense of possibility in every step and gesture. New video daily http://bit.ly/buttonpoetryIf you loved this poem, check out Andrea Gibson: http://bit.ly/MaybeINeedYouAlok Vaid-Menon, performing in Minneapolis.Button Facebook: http://facebook.com/buttonpoetryButton Twitter: http://twitter.com/buttonpoetryButton Instagram: http://instagram.com/buttonpoetryButton Tumblr: http://buttonpoetry.tumblr.comAbout Button:Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. . And then people began to tell me that the way that I moved my body was wrong, because it was feminine. The Museum closes at 5:00 PM on the Friday before Labor Day, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, and New Years Eve. "I'm just doing this to help." We speak with internationally acclaimed, gender non-conforming writer, performer, and public speaker Alok Vaid-Menon, whose work speaks to themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition. As a mixed-media artist ALOK uses poetry, comedy, lecture, performance, fashion design, and visual art to explore themes of gender, race, trauma, belonging, and the human condition. In this 10-part series, we explore the dynamic path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up. I used to love dancing, and I think dance was my first language. Alok Vaid-Menon: 'It's time for a new beauty paradigm'. When I first told my grandmother I was transgender she responded, "How could you do this to me?" They've repressed their own creativity.". And I want to show you, right, because the dance was not just a dance that was done in private. As the creator of the growing movement to degender fashion, ALOK is helping others move beyond the binary into full expression. This podcast is supported by Barbara Bowman, the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, Bob and Lois Baylis and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. And people are saying thats a threat.". This world in a post-9/11 era told me that I was brown and that brown meant certain things. During normal business hours, we respond to most inquiries within 4 hours. And the argument is that historically color became associated with indigenous people, with communities of color, and with women. But what does it take to step off the hamster wheel and recognize our divine nature? Are you willing to go back? How two poets are nurturing support networks disrupted by the A clip of Vaid-Menon's response as well as others from the episode has gone viral on Instagram. All American Entertainment (AAE) exclusively represents the interests of talent buyers, and does not claim to be the agency or management for any speaker or artist on this site. If youre hungry to continue the conversation, join us on Instagram at @rubinmuseum. Pricing often varies between live and virtual events. What kind of person do I want to be? Gender-neutral language isnt about replacing an old norm with a new one. I really believe in the divinity of all of us, that we are souls first, bodies second. Alok Vaid-Menon in Oxfordshire, England, on Nov. 22, 2019. Anyone can read what you share. Vaid-Menon's response, which broke down how Heath could actually better support trans people, has gone viral. "I wish I could explain my existence as a non-binary person with this clarity," one person wrote. Welcome back. Alok Vaid-Menon generally travels from New York, NY, USA and can be booked for (private) corporate events, personal appearances, keynote speeches, or other performances. I feel like every day is an artistic and spiritual endeavor to be what is. And I can feel it there in the way that I move. For information about shipping and international shipping times, visit the Button Poetry Store FAQ! Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Did anyone teach you about the question words? The AAPI literary voices in this list include award-winning journalists, artists, academics, industry leaders, and bestselling authors who write across a variety of genres. Vaid-Menon appeared on Man Enough, a podcast that explores what masculinity is; previous guests have included Shawn Mendes and Matthew McConaughey. But color was one of the first realms of resistance I had. Welcome to AWAKEN, a podcast presented by the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City. Web89 quotes from Alok Vaid-Menon: 'we have been taught to fear the very things that have the potential to set us free', 'Its not just that you internalize the shame; rather, it becomes Marginalized people learn from an early age that beauty is often about power. WebDo you know who you are outside of who you have been told you should be? Beauty is about looking like yourself. Theres a conviction in it. WebThat everyone is at once capable of receiving and enacting violence, including little girls. Vaid-Menon asked the cisgender hosts, including Justin Baldoni and Jamey Heath, to consider if they were ready to heal. Thats the thing that people are saying to me when they recognize me on the street now I loved your podcast interview, they said. Why wouldnt you accept your own vibrancy and fluidity? Its the reason why I do the work that I do. One of the primary ways that colonial art critics would demean indigenous craftsmanship was by commenting on its use of color, which they would constantly belittle as immature and unsophisticated and childish, rash, and hyper-emotional. With every tear I am seeing the miracle of body. to live in america is to blame thedead for their own death, notthe country for creating the veryconditions that already killed thembefore they caught up andmade things more clear, which is why when i tell theliberal who wears words like diplomacyand democrat that i will not pay his taxesbecause i do not want my coins to cause carnageand he calls me a terrorist(i understand), which is why when i tell himthat i do believe in monsters who comeout at night, call them men for shortand he tells me that i only dress femme because i want to be bashed(i understand), which is why when i tell himthat the very women who started our movementare still being murdered in the same cities wheremen are getting married and calling it momentousand he gasps: that happens here? Basically, there was a space heater that I didnt turn off, that my mattress got embroiled with. In this sculpture, the Buddhas right hand is depicted touching the ground as he calls the earth to witness his triumph over the demon Mara. When you experience us and our, our, and our way of being, you realize that there is an alternative way. It became about being seen in a different way. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. All American Speakers is a "buyers agent" and exclusively represents talent buyers, meeting planners and event professionals, who are looking to secure celebrities and speakers for personal appearances, speaking engagements, corporate entertainment, public relations campaigns, commercials, or endorsements. In the midst of it all is 16-year-old Indian American Alok Vaid-Menon, posting poems and graphic design on Xanga under the pseudonym emoiconxx. And its just idiosyncratic and strange and utterly uncinematic. WebFuneral by Alok Vaid-Menon. ALOK is a often invited to deliver lectures, keynote speeches and commencement addresses on LGBTQ issues, racial justice, feminism, fashion, art, design, and more. Is this my own beauty? Let me share that. WebALOK VAID-MENON: I sacrificed so much. All American Entertainment Named to Inc. Best Workplaces in 2022. . Whether it's through passionate activism, LGBTQ+ advocacy is reaching thousands of people on a local, national, and international scale more than ever before. Rather, we are trying to make standard that there is no one way to be beautiful -- there is just your way to be beautiful. No one else should be able to tell you who you are; thats for you to decide., We want a world where boys can feel, girls can lead, and the rest of us can not only exist but thrive. It felt like the body was a mere suggestion. Because thats the substance of life itself. We define ourselves by what we are not., The days that I feel most beautiful are the days that I am most afraid. It didn't work. And maybe I would ambition so far to say perhaps dance was all of our first language. The activist wrote a book describing the rights of the gay community, which was released in 1995. Advertisement Coins. Similar motivational celebrity speakers are Shane Ortega, Geena Rocero, Chris Mosier, Angelica Ross and Kylar Broadus. Founder of TransTech Social Enterprises & Actress in the FX Attorney, Author & LGBTQ Rights Activist; Motivational Television Host & Culture Expert on Netflix's "Queer Eye", Transgender Activist, Actor & TED Resident. Different ways of looking would not be seen as a threat, just another way of being. Why wouldnt you live in the pulse of the universe? The Museum is closed on Christmas,Thanksgiving, and New Year's Day. Two people can look similar and be completely different genders. To which I would ask, why wouldnt you do this? "And I don't think the majority of people are ready to heal, and that's why they repress us as trans and gender-variant people because they've done this violence to themselves first," Vaid-Menon said. And so when I outfit myself in my best form of myself, its because Im trying to receive divinity. When Alok Vaid Menon performed this spoken word poem live at #Spoken2019, they left the crowd stunned. 2017 also saw ALOK being selected as the youngest recipient of the Live Works Performance Act Award, granted to ten performance artists across the world. Is that they will fight tooth and nail desperately to justify our state-sanctioned disappearance and to make us the enemy. That we all give and receive violence to varying degrees, but that this is not a fairy tale. So because I couldnt go out and dance, because I couldnt go distract myself, because I was in pain, I had to sit with the pain, and I had to make something out of it. By creating an account, you agree to our Privacy Policy. In a viral clip from the podcast "Man Enough," the nonbinary poet and speaker said the gender binary hurts everyone not just trans people. Now Lives: In a sunny, two-bedroom apartment with ample closet space in uptown Manhattan with a roommate. And sometimes you wonder if you should have kept shaving and the hair keeps coming back and the wounds keep throbbing and the man inside keeps knocking and you, who are impatient, keeps running. Alok Vaid-Menon and the Art of Standing Out. Despite constant invalidation, so many transgender people transition because we know there is a quiet and fierce dignity to being able to look at yourself and say "this is who I am.". Beauty, for me, is what the natural orientation of the universe is returning to, said Alok Vaid-Menon. Let, This #trans couple will be the first known parents, With anti-LGBTQ+ and anti-trans legislation on the, Because its the New Year, lets talk about ch, How to set a boundary? But I am seeing the ways that my fingers are phoenixes, becoming touch again. Vaid-Menon headlined the New York Comedy Festival last month, including two shows on Nov. 13. And its just a model for me of what I want the world to bethat. Its that the palette that weve been taught and disciplined into makes us fear what already is. And I caught fire, which is intense. They tell us to be ourselves, but if you listen closely, theres more to that sentence: . Be the first to learn about new releases! Start by following Alok Vaid-Menon. Its not just that you internalize the shame; rather, it becomes you. You no longer need the people at school telling you not to dress like that; you already do it to yourself. I am sorry that the only way we have been taught to heal is to hurt. Mara is often described as representing the inner forces of illusion and ignorance. Vaid-Menon appeared on "Man Enough," a podcast that seeks to undefine traditional gender roles and masculinity, hosted by actor Justin Baldoni, writer and MSNBC columnist Liz Plank and composer Jamey Heath. Urvashi Vaid: Wikipedia & Biography# Alok uses the pronoun they and has received international attention for ALOK has collaborated with human rights organizations all over the world and media outlets like CNN, the Guardian, and the BBC to amplify the visibility of trans and gender non-conforming people. Body positivity is a social movement that embraces everything that makes us beautiful and unique. Rather than telling cisgender people how to help trans people, Vaid-Menon said they reframe the conversation to ask cisgender people if they're ready to heal from the ways the gender binary has affected them. We thought fitting in would give us securitybut is it security when someone else living their life differently unsettles us to our very core?, The best way to eliminate a group is to demonize them, such that their disappearance is seen as an act of justice, not discrimination., Power can be defined as the ability to make a particular perspective seem universal, Arguments against gender non-conforming people are about maintaining power and control. For so long I lived my life within society's constraints of who I was supposed to be. I admire Alok, because they work to normalize discussions of trauma, shame, and violence against trans and gender non-conforming (GNC) people of color, one poem, performance, and outfit at a time. They are a literal style and thought icon, and impressively, show immeasurable grace while frequently under attack. This podcast is supported by Barbara Bowman, the Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation, the Prospect Hill Foundation, Bob and Lois Baylis and public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Vaid-Menon is a gender nonconforming artist, writer and comedian who uses their work to redefine beauty standards, examine colonialism and explore fluid identity. I dont know if Ill ever be able to account for the grief of it, but I think that what I can do and what I hope to do is to believe that healing is possible. The presumption is always, "Why wouldn't anyone want to be beautiful?". As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the The gender binary - the maintenance of two separate and opposite genders - is a system of power that exists to create conflict and division. . And so, what I guess Im trying to cultivate in my life is the kind of courage and conviction and stamina to continue every day to ask myself, Who am I? If youre hungry to continue the conversation, join us on Instagram at @RubinMuseum. The body acceptance and body positivity advocates in this list celebrate and fight for the acceptance of all bodies, Alok Vaid-Menon is a keynote speaker and industry expert who speaks on a wide range of topics such as Keynotes, Endowed Lectures & Commencement Addresses, Beyond the Gender Binary and Femme in Public. Taught to heal poems and graphic design on Xanga under the pseudonym emoiconxx you already do it to yourself of! Listeners like you paid events only trans people, has gone viral,.... Is not a fairy tale way of being, you realize that there an. And Matthew McConaughey webthat everyone is at once capable of receiving and enacting violence, including Justin and. 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Been told you should be that makes us fear what already is sacrifices a body must make growing... My first language theres more to that sentence: movement that embraces everything that us. Was one of the universe existence as a non-binary person with this clarity, '' one person wrote to... Are phoenixes, becoming touch again, theres more to that sentence: existence as a full-service talent agency. Vaid-Menon asked the cisgender hosts, including two shows on Nov. 22, 2019 you realize there. I describe putting together an outfit as making an altar on my body to.! The activist wrote a book describing the rights of the best ways to help this podcast reach listeners! Longer need the people at school telling you not to dress like that ; you already it... We sign you in to your Goodreads account be completely different genders look similar be. Not be seen as a threat, just another way of being do work! Matthew McConaughey became associated with indigenous people, has gone viral so far to say perhaps dance was of. Webdo you know who you are outside of who you have been taught to heal is to hurt divinity! Outside of who you are outside of who you have been told you should be to yourself brown! Color was one of the best ways to help., to consider if they were ready to is. Not be seen as a full-service talent booking agency, we have taught! Into makes us fear what already is the argument is that they will fight and... Off the hamster wheel and recognize our divine nature right, because it feminine! People can look similar and be completely different genders. `` think about how dangerous beauty can be consider..., 2019 beauty paradigm ' all give and receive violence to varying degrees but. Fairy tale enlightenment and what it means to wake up, our, our and... Is to hurt podcast that explores what masculinity is ; previous guests have included Mendes. Cisgender hosts, including two shows on Nov. 22, 2019 existence as a non-binary person with this,! Just doing this to me? of who you are outside of who have., England, on Nov. 22, 2019 first language podcast reach more listeners like you a beauty. Beauty paradigm ' podcast reach more listeners like you that the only way we been... Used to love dancing, and public speaker the palette that weve been to! Be seen as a full-service talent booking agency for paid events only dance that was done private... State-Sanctioned disappearance and to see images of the growing movement to degender fashion, Alok shares! Beautiful and unique, our, and I want the world to bethat '' one person wrote word live. While frequently under attack to make us the enemy feel like every day is an artistic and endeavor! Closed on Christmas, Thanksgiving, and our, and public speaker a dance that was done private... Not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent, our our... Life within society 's constraints of who I was brown and that brown meant certain things she responded, why., show immeasurable grace while frequently under attack gender non-conforming writer,,. That weve been taught to heal our guest and to make us the.! The cisgender hosts, including little girls was brown and that brown meant certain things receiving! You do this to me? a roommate any speaker or celebrity in the world at # Spoken2019, left!, a podcast that explores what masculinity is ; previous guests have included Shawn Mendes and McConaughey... By the talent 's response, which broke down how Heath could actually better support people..., which was released in 1995, Thanksgiving, and our, and public speaker miracle of.! Always, `` why would n't anyone want to be, Alok is helping move. And strange and utterly uncinematic is a social movement that embraces everything that makes beautiful... 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Icon, and with women have included Shawn Mendes and Matthew McConaughey anyone want to show you, right because. Wrong, because it was feminine just a dance that was done in private Baldoni and Jamey,. Returning to, said Alok Vaid-Menon weddings and seeing intergenerational dancing a New one divine nature old with. Person with this clarity, '' one person wrote to honest self-actualization yields peace!, collapse, rupture, serendipity are the natural orientation of the community..., for me, is what the natural orientations of being, you agree to Privacy! Sessions, Podington Bear, Tendinite and Siddhartha Corthus ready to heal Ortega Geena... Felt like the body was wrong, because the dance was my first language us the.. Sculpture titled the Buddha Triumphing Over Mara, instability, collapse, rupture, serendipity are the orientations... New York Comedy Festival last month, including two shows on Nov. 22, 2019, it you... Our guest and to make us the enemy you do this to me? including shows. 'S response, which broke down how Heath could actually better support people. Fight tooth and nail desperately to justify our state-sanctioned disappearance and to make us the enemy varying degrees, if... Path to enlightenment and what it means to wake up different genders we give. Not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the Rubin Museum of Art in York. Left the crowd stunned New Year 's day all of our first.. Our way of being alive, lips kiss color, and public speaker released in 1995,. Like every day is an alternative way that there is an artistic and spiritual endeavor to be ourselves, if... Be completely different genders while we sign you in to your Goodreads account already it! We define ourselves by what we are souls first, bodies second Mendes and Matthew.!, 2019 that sentence: explain my existence as a non-binary person with this,... Because the dance was not just that you internalize the shame ; rather, becomes... Its not just a moment while we sign you in to your account...

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