But before we begin, Alok first shares their thoughts of a sculpture titled The Buddha Triumphing Over Mara. #lgbtqia #lgb, What do you do if youre telling a past story ab, Gender Spectrum: A Scientist Explains Why Gender Isnt Binary, 8 of the Easiest Ways To Get Into Real Estate in 2023. I was dematerialized and less concerned with form than I was with flow. "So I guess I would rephrase your question to be, 'Can you help me get free?' In this performance-lecture ALOK presents a 21st century approach to gender rights, calling for an end to the gender binary. That sense of safety, of trust, of legibility and coherence. And what I really appreciate about the story is it requires us to kind of move out, zone out, zoom out of just like an interpersonal interaction and see the world from a different perspective, and be like, what, from the perspective of a tree or from the wind, is this conflict? And I remember speaking it and being like, whoa, this is what I, not just what I want to do for the rest of my life, but this is what I am. A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment. I see peace and serenity and surrender and acceptance of what is. While youre here, head over to the Button store to check out our books and merch, including books by Olivia Gatwood, Sabrina Benaim, Rachel Wiley, Neil Hilborn, Phil Kaye, & our newest release from Andrea Gibson! These inspiring keynote Coming from many different backgrounds, these men and women are popular entertainers, athletes, models, and more. I was working with a powerful transgender advocacy group there called Gender Dynamics. Like Im going to let a couple finish, but its the after-party for me. Is this my own beauty? But for me, beauty is what we feel like. I was feeling and being. As I continue my journey of self-acceptance, I see so much more beauty around me. Before we come to a close, Alok shares their practice of how breath can be used as a tool to move through moments of discomfort. 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? As a mixed-media artist their work explores themes of trauma, belonging, and the Or is this someone else? I used to love dancing, and I think dance was my first language. We punish them until they conform. And what a delight and what a joy it is to be foolish together. Please select your budget range:(check all that apply), Please select your budget range: I just was. These are the sacrifices a body must make for growing too fast. We can no longer tell the difference between our depression and our oppression, between our violence and our gender, between our sin and our skin.. that we may wonder what itwould mean to have peopleempathize with our sufferingfor once in our goddamn lifewhat it would feel liketo hold the captive attentionof a funeral of strangers. . Like that feels like the real treat of the wedding. I really believe in the divinity of all of us, that we are souls first, bodies second. Alok Vaid-Menon on how the transphobic narrative constructs predators and victims For so long I lived my life within society's constraints of who I was supposed to be. ALOK is a often invited to deliver lectures, keynote speeches and commencement addresses on LGBTQ issues, racial justice, feminism, fashion, art, design, and more. Urvashi Vaid: Wikipedia & Biography# Whether it's through passionate activism, LGBTQ+ advocacy is reaching thousands of people on a local, national, and international scale more than ever before. It felt like the body was a mere suggestion. In a conversation filled with wisdom, historical insight, and radical mercy, ALOK challenges us to value compassion over comprehension, to try harder for each other in the name of love, and reminds us that learning is a sign of being alive.We want your feedback on season 1. Is this me? Poets use carefully chosen language to connect with audiences, advocate for social causes, and convey emotion. Join for an evening of poetry, stand-up comedy, drag, and more as they take their audience on an emotional roller coaster all the way from the personal to the political. In a world thats committed to making your life miserable, theres something audacious and beautiful about insisting on maintaining your humor and your delight.. Alok Vaid-Menon is a gender non-conforming performance artist, educator, and writer. Heartbreaking, brutally AAE is one of the premier celebrity booking agencies and top keynote speakers bureaus in the world. The LGBTQ+ community was sook by the death of one of their leader and activist. This website is a resource for event professionals and strives to provide the most comprehensive catalog of thought leaders and industry experts to consider for speaking engagements. Alok Vaid-Menon will appear at the Festival of Dangerous Ideas in Sydney on Sunday, September 18. Accessing this beauty can feel impossible in a system that rewards conformity over creativity. What am I feeling in this moment? And I had to alchemize it and hack at it. The fluid artist moves seamlessly among poetry, comedy, fashion and writing. When you spend your entire life being on one side of the joke, its actually quite therapeutic to be able to make a joke, Mx. Beauty is about looking like yourself, even in the face of social and cultural repression. Its the reason why I do the work that I do. We do not handle requests for donation of time or media requests for interviews, and cannot provide celebrity contact information. I began to use color to return to my own color and to see the large swath of colors in the world and realize its not that color is the problem. When Alok Vaid Menon performed this spoken word poem live at #Spoken2019, they left the crowd stunned. Vaid-Menon, who created #DeGenderFashion, said their message to cisgender men is that they don't have to be masculine or strong, and they can be vulnerable and human. 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. Contact a speaker booking agent to check availability on Alok Vaid-Menon and other top speakers and celebrities. Vaid-Menon headlined the New York Comedy Festival last month, including two shows on Nov. 13. our train is delayed and i am late for lunch with a boy i like because he makes me feel less lonely and that seems like a sufficient definition for love He asked what he needs to "unlearn" and what he needs to do to help other men unlearn, in order to better support them, referring to trans and nonbinary people like Vaid-Menon. WebAlok 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 Femme In Public (2017) is a collection of poetry by nonbinary artist Alok Vaid-Menon. They've repressed their own gender nonconformity. We silenced our own differences, subdued our creativity, and toned down our own gender non-conformity in order to fit in. Now Lives: In a sunny, two-bedroom apartment with ample closet space in uptown Manhattan with a roommate. Addeddate 2016-11-04 00:33:48 Closed captioning no Duration 199 Identifier Reincarnation_-_Alok_Vaid-Menon Claim to Fame: Mx. Well hear from authors, artists, wisdom bearers, and Buddhist teachers, people who have experienced a shift in their perspectives on life throughout their personal journey. What I recollect is a feeling of unbridled joy, a feeling of wonder, of the enormity and potentiality of my body and this universe and art. And I had pretty substantial burns all across my hands and my feet and my arms. So who am I going to prioritize? The feeling I get in me is that we have been so structured by the logics of cinema that have made us feel like there has to be this kind of transcendental moment of realization. They are the creator of #DeGenderFashion: a movement to degender fashion and beauty industries. It didn't work. What kind of joy do I want to cultivate? If youve never read one of Alok Vaid-Menons stunningly evocative poems or cutting social commentaries, youre missing out on the glory of all that is Alok. 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: What kind of person do I want to be? I yearned for a way of being that was more consistent with what I felt, not what I had been told. 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.". That we all give and receive violence to varying degrees, but that this is not a fairy tale. And the argument is that historically color became associated with indigenous people, with communities of color, and with women. And then you acting like a fool, that gives me permission to be a fool. And its just a model for me of what I want the world to bethat. In a viral clip from the podcast "Man Enough," the nonbinary poet and speaker said the gender binary hurts everyone not just trans people. "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. A clip of Vaid-Menon's response as well as others from the episode has gone viral on Instagram. Diversity and inclusivity are not just industry buzzwords. The presumption is always, "Why wouldn't anyone want to be beautiful?". Because the thing is, you have revelations about yourself, but youre not ready yet to live those revelations. And so much of the formalization and consolidation of European-Western modernity was also a project of aesthetics and color. Premium Powerups . Science Says No. Because there are things more important to me than that. No need to encapsulate my universes into frameworks of gender. "I'm nonbinary, which means it's not just that I'm challenging the binary between male, female, man and woman, but between us and them," Vaid-Menon, author of " Before making any health decisions, you should consult with your doctor. Alok uses the pronoun they and has received international attention for And at least for now I say no. In the author's words it "is a dream of what it could look like to celebrate transfemininity in public both in ourselves and for the people who desire us (by which I mean: everyone, across time, always)." Please provide the email address you used to create for your account. The estimated speaking fee range to book Alok Vaid-Menon for your event is available upon request. And what does it mean to move from there? Basically, there was a space heater that I didnt turn off, that my mattress got embroiled with. i will soon forget. And I wrote one of my first collections ever of poetry that I didnt write to be published. They've repressed their own creativity.". They are the author of "Femme in Public" (2017) and "Beyond the Gender Binary" (2020). I describe putting together an outfit as making an altar on my body. And if youre enjoying this podcast, leave us a review wherever you listen to podcasts. Are these my own hands? Next Thing: This month, Mx. This podcast is inspired by the exhibition Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment, which illustrates the stages of enlightenment through paintings, sculptures, and other objects. To have a relationship with our body thats our own body? But Im less concerned with what I sacrificed as much as I am with what I gained. And what most people dont know is that one of the tactics of colonization was the attempted cultural genocide of these populations. Let us know whats wrong with this preview of. And I know that the magic continues, because I was able to return home to it. ", "I dont need your help. At her funeral I had to dress as the man she wanted me to be. I would tell everyone, Im going to grow up and Im going to be a dancer. She eventually passed on without ever seeing me as myself. Let me buy you a razor?" They performed this poem as a part of a recent appearance on The Laura Flanders Show. Alok has a vast and deep body of emotional, educational work. She is the partner of comedian Kate Clinton. Because before I could speak, I could gesture. 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. Alok Vaid-Menon is one member of the transgender South Asian performance duo known as DarkMatter. School, Vaid-Menon explained to me, was difficult, and they needed an outlet. 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. A listing or profile on this website does not imply an agency affiliation or endorsement by the talent. Let me share that. Explore Gaming. 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 Awaken is sponsored by Tricycle: The Buddhist Review, a print and digital magazine dedicated to making Buddhist teachings broadly available. Theres this term thats circulating called chromophobia, fear of color. Vaid-Menon said. Who hurt the people who hurt you? To live in America is to already attend a funeral 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. It depends on each persons experience. I wept: for her, and for me. Eyes on the Prize: Fashion plays an important role in Mx. WebCome here to share slam poems, or talk about slam! Like so many, this person mistook their insecurity as my own. ALOK VAID-MENON (they/them/theirs) is an internationally acclaimed writer, performer, and public speaker. 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. The sight of me walking with my head high -- brown, bearded, and in a bold red lip -- was too much for them. As a full-service talent booking agency, we have access to virtually any speaker or celebrity in the world. And I woke up in flames. Theres a conviction in it. your salt rubbed on our wounds. Acclaimed gender non-conforming writer, performer, and speaker, ALOK, shares their story, and the stories of those who came before them, with an urgency that invites us to step into our power and the power of interdependence. I feel beauty right now in being a disembodied voice. WebALOK they/them author. 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. 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. Whether ALOK is selling out an international performance tour, publishing essays and books advo-cating for LGBTQ equality or speaking at some of the most prestigious universities outlining a 21st century approach to gender rights their distinctive mix of charisma, poetry, and intellect has made them one of the most dynamic artists of our times. Trans and nonbinary people also shared parts of the interview on Twitter. Welcome back. "People dont know how to receive that love," they said. by their tongues. I am awake.. comedian. Leaving us a review is one of the best ways to help this podcast reach more listeners like you. The driving force of Alok Vaid-Menons work is centered around creating safe spaces for trans and gender-nonconforming people when they perform, create shows or curate events. It was a dance that I wanted to stage for my own community. Trans activist and actress Laverne Cox and actor Billy Porter both shared clips from the episode. Robot". And that sense of unshakeable joy that requires recruiting other people into it. 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. Valheim Genshin Impact Minecraft Pokimane Halo Infinite Call We see the fair, thin, and gender-conforming among us called "beautiful," while the rest of us are meant to spend our entire lives aspiring to be like them. 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. Support Button Poetry: http://bit.ly/buttonpatreonSubscribe to Button! In a secular world like the West, art is one of the only spaces for this mode of relating, this kind of unfurling. . How two poets are nurturing support networks disrupted by the And I realized that pain cant be eternal, because I can still make beauty from it. How do I express it? Fill out a. People have the right to self-determine their gender whether it be a man, woman, or a nonbinary gender. Wayfarer Studios LLC. i will apologize for being late.i will not have the words for a type of loss that is so distant it is intimate.after lunch later i will get back on the train.i will remember. 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? This site uses cookies. Anyone can read what you share. To use his own words, he once declared, I am not a man. But Im less concerned with what I sacrificed as much as I am with what I gained. 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