"Genders: The Story Of Us All" - with Kathryn Bond Stockton

12/14/21 • 83 min

In her new book Gender(s), a new volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Kathryn Bond Stockton explores the fascinating, fraught, intimate, morphing matter of gender. Stockton argues for gender's strangeness, no matter how normal the concept seems; gender is queer for everyone, she claims, even when it's played quite straight. And she explains how race and money dramatically shape everybody's gender, even in sometimes surprising ways. Playful but serious, erudite and witty, Stockton marshals an impressive array of exhibits to consider, including dolls and their new gendering, the thrust of Jane Austen and Lil Nas X, gender identities according to women's colleges, gay and transgender ballroom scenes, and much more.

Stockton also examines gender in light of biology's own strange ways, its out-of-syncness with male and female, explaining attempts to fortify gender with clothing, language, labor, and hair. She investigates gender as a concept--its concerning history, its bewitching pleasures and falsifications--by meeting the moment of where we are, with its many genders and counters-to-gender. This compelling background propels the question that drives this book and foregrounds race: what is the opposite sex, after all? If there is no opposite, doesn't the male/female duo undergirding gender come undone?

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Helper, Utah And The Mysteries Of Community: Part 2 “Art As Caring”

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With the downturn of the coal mines in the 70s and 80s came a period of economic decline for Helper, Utah. The town was starting to look a little shabby, so proud residents Neida Garcia and Lois Giordano took it upon themselves to spruce things up a bit. They started planting flowers on Main Street with a hunch that caring would beget caring. They were right. Every business on Main Street wanted to be a part of it, and pretty soon there were pots of flowers outside every storefront. But it didn’t stop there.

One day in the 80s, artists Dave Dornan and Marilou Kundmueller finally pulled off the freeway and onto Helper’s Main Street after one of their many trips to southern Utah for artist workshops. They had long been dreaming of hosting their own workshops, and when they passed a building for sale Marilou said, “wouldn’t it be nice to have a building like this?” Dave and Marilou bought the old Hotel Utah and began hosting artist workshops while also working on their own art. Some Helper residents were skeptical until they began to see the results of these artists’ caring. The restoration of the building improved the aesthetic of Helper and the workshops brought much-needed life to this sleepy town.

In this episode, you will hear how Dave Dornan’s artwork is inseparable from this story. He’s not interested in finding the beauty in things that are decidedly valuable but in finding “the beauty in something that could become valuable.” Through painting an old useless carburetor he breathes new life into it. Through picking and painting a rose from Chris Diamanti’s incredible rose garden, he turns the retired miner’s caring into an icon through his own form of caring: art. And this is the story of Helper, Utah; caring begets caring.

Soon other artists started to realize that Helper could allow them to pursue their careers in a place where they could really be a part of a community. One of the many artists to follow Dave and Marilou’s lead was Kate Kilpatrick. Inspired by people’s coal mining and railroading stories, Kate began painting portraits of Helper’s residents as a way to remember these individuals and their stories. This process developed into her “Faces of Helper” series, which has seen six installments so far, and which truly bridges worlds, uniting Helper’s coal mining and railroading past with its new economy based on the arts and tourism.

Kate’s work reminds us that none of this would even be possible without Helper’s unique story. Each face immortalized on canvas holds nostalgia for the good times in their smile lines, coal dust and worries over union rations in their forehead wrinkles.

Take a listen to find out how artists helped the town shift to a new economy, buoyed always by Helper’s story, forging a new chapter of community, built solidly on the old.

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Helper, Utah and the Mysteries of Community: Part 3 "The Ineffable Authentic"

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In Part 3, we continue searching for that special something that no one can quite put their finger on; whatever it is that is drawing people to Helper like a magnet.

Gary DeVincent made his way to Helper because he has an eye for quality. He has been restoring old motorcycles and cars his whole life, giving him a penchant for recognizing things that were built with care and intention. So, several years ago when he saw the beautiful but run-down buildings on Helper’s main street he saw a project. Now he is doing everything he can to shorten the distance between now and then, restoring buildings to their original look with a vision of turning Helper into a romantic getaway.

Again, we see how caring—the caring construction of the early 20th century—begets caring—the intention to revitalize and honor that caring and create new opportunities in the process.

The impetus behind his and many other restoration efforts often appears to be nostalgia. Nostalgia for a time when things were built with higher quality and when there seemed to be a lot of excitement and opportunity (at least for certain people). But it’s even nostalgia for a time when life was harder. This has prompted me to ask, What is it about the way we live our lives today that leaves us wanting something else?

You’ll hear every one of the people I talk to in this episode, Gary DeVincent, Jaron Anderson, and Shalee Johansen, mention in their own words that Helper lacks pretense, that it feels authentic, and it’s that feeling of authenticity that is drawing them to Helper.

But what happens when authenticity is ultimately obtained? When it becomes the commodity? Take a listen to find out if Helper can hang on to whatever it is that makes it so special, as the town continues to be revitalized.

We ask these questions and more as a way to continue exploring the mysteries of what brings together and then maintains that elusive sense of community. Sure, we're talking specifically about Helper, interesting enough in itself. But we're also examining Helper in light of these broader questions. At the end of this podcast, Logan and Ben will consider what these interviewees have said to see if Helper offers itself as a microcosm to understand the slippery nature of community.