Laura
laura milkins
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Reclaiming Paris
Female
38 years old
TUCSON, ARIZONA
United States
Last Login: 7/23/2009
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Laura's Interests
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| General | Making stuff: art,food,music,gardens,quilts, | | Music | I play saron in a gamalan group (gamalan is an Indonesian precussion type of music.)
Otherwise, I'm musically retarded and just like whatever is on... even really horrible stuff, even elevator music, I basically just like everything and everybody! | | Movies | Brazil, Fast Cheap and Out of Control, The Adventures of Baron Van Munchaussen | | Television | Don't have one! | | Books | Anything by: Faulkner, Umberto Eco, Barbara Kingsolver, Alice Munroe, Toni Morrison, Gabriel Garcia Marquez
or...
TRASHY NOVELS - the dumber the better!
| | Heroes | Nicki Lee, Sophie Calle, my Granny |
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Laura's Details
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| Status: | Single | | Here for: | Networking, Friends | | Orientation: | Straight | | Hometown: | Pentwater, MI | | Body type: | 5' 9" / Average | | Ethnicity: | White / Caucasian | | Religion: | Agnostic | | Zodiac Sign: | Cancer | | Smoke / Drink: | No / Yes | | Children: | I don't want kids | | Education: | Grad / professional school | | Occupation: | student |
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Laura's Latest Blog Entry
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Changes and Challenges
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Answers to the QUESTION OF THE WEEK No.8-12
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A Letter to My Best Friend...
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Question of the week...
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Why Isn't It OK to Be Single?
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| [View All Blog Entries] |
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Laura's Blurbs |
About me:
"Paris" Cleans:
"Paris" Draws:
"Paris" Sews:
"Paris" Cooks:
WEBCAM: lmilkin1@web2cam.com (or www.lauramilkins.com, click on Reclaiming Paris)
From now on I'll only be using my webcam for the final performances!! Jan 8-13
Reclaiming Paris:
I am transforming myself physically into Paris Hilton.
Then I am going to do performances, with a webcast, in which I apply my mid-western, middle class values to Paris by doing tasks for other people. I am going to cook, clean, sew, and garden for free in a public space, dressed as Paris Hilton.
I plan to lose 20 lbs., dye my hair, do my eyebrows, and imitate her makeup.
I've been planning this project for 3 months, and was amazed to hear that Paris announced a few nights ago that she is promoting a year of abstinence! She seems to want to recast her slutty, frivolous, rich-bitch, bimbo image (we must be on the same wave-length.) Through this project I will help reform her image.
Who better than me to Reclaim Paris. I am a Mid-western, middle class, over-educated (I'm seeking my 4th degree), plain spoken, whole-foodie, nature-loving, no make-up, no-nonsense woman.
Paris is our current Sexual Icon. Like Jessica Simpson, she is the dumb blonde of this decade. But unlike Jessica, she is famous for nothing, or rather famous for being famous. She did not start out striving to be a movie star, TV icon, rock star, or anything else. She was just a teenager who liked to party, and who happened to be rich and beautiful. The media loved her, took her over and made her a star.
Now, I am reclaiming Paris!!
SOME CLARIFICATION ON BECOMING PARIS....
A friend said to me today, “This must be really good for your self-esteem, getting all this attention.” This reminded me of a comment one of the guys made while I was doing Dress Me Sexy. He said, “This must be good for your ego, having guys tell you how sexy you look all the time...” My response to him was, “No, actually, it’s demoralizing. Standing up in front of men and asking them to look me over and tell me what is or isn’t sexy about my outfit makes me extremely uncomfortable. My personal dignity is important to me, and I’ve never been comfortable having sexual attention. But I feel it is something women do all the time in unconscious ways when they dress a certain way, and I want to address this part of our culture.”
I think my work can be easily misunderstood as attention-seeking, self doubt. It can be read as me wanting people to tell me I’m attractive. Many people assume that getting attention for you looks is a good thing that makes the recipient feel better about themselves. It has never made me feel this way. When someone tells me I look good, I feel cheated in some way, and almost insulted. As if I baked a beautiful apple pie and they told me the plate it was on really pretty. I mean, it’s just a plate. Anybody can buy a pretty plate, but baking your own apple pie is something special.
Part of my problem is that I don’t understand our consumerist culture. People really believe that making yourself look attractive, like buying a pretty plate, is something special and important. That it is NOT something readily available, that anyone can do. Personal taste these days is defined by what you buy... not who you are. I can’t really say whether or not this is true. A whole culture can’t be wrong, can it?
My intention with “Reclaiming Paris” is to ‘buy the pretty plate.’ In one sense, I’m showing my audience that anyone CAN look like Paris if they want to and work hard at it. But why do it? Why do people want to emulate a woman who is a dumb, inarticulate, frivolous, rich, fashion obsessed, party girl? People love her and at the same time love to hate her. She is a blank slate we can pour our desires into.
Likewise, I’m questioning my own assumptions about the value of beauty. I want to know what is good or bad about our culture’s extreme focus on looks. In fact, it is not just our culture. Every culture has ideals of beauty, some ancient and some faddish & new, some appropriated from outside cultures, and others created by the media. I don’t pretend to understand it, and I don’t want to criticism what I don’t understand. The must be value in physical beauty, otherwise it wouldn’t be such a big part of every culture, right? It may be as simple as a tool for selecting a mate.
By becoming Paris, I hope to gain understanding and empathy for the pressures to be beautiful and the joy, as well as the downfalls, of being in the spotlight. I hope to learn something about girl culture, myself and my place in this culture.
As for my ego and self -esteem, I truly feel beautiful most of the time. I love myself and my body, no matter what it looks like. (Although I’m having some trouble loving my new skinny, bony figure... I always resist change.) I love who I am and don’t want to be anyone but me. Even my flaws and oddities feel special and worthy of love. To be honest, I think I’m wonderful...
This may sound egotistical, but it’s honest. What’s wrong with loving yourself anyway? It hasn’t done me any harm, yet.
I edited my profile with Thomas’ Myspace Editor V3.6!
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Who I'd like to meet:
artists, performance artists, anyone who's interested in my project
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| Laura's Friend Space (Top 4) |
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