Ponytail Picks #2 - Borders
In this second edition of Ponytail Picks, we explore the idea of borders—borders between countries, between stories, and between realities. Cross on over with us!
LISTEN
As Ukraine takes on the Leviathan that is her neighbour, it seems only fitting to highlight music her citizens democratically chose to share with the rest of the world. These are the last three Ukrainian songs to reach the Eurovision stage. Somehow, they all seem to speak to that country’s current situation.
Kalush Orchestra - “Stefania.” Losing a mother will turn you back into a baby. How do we know when we’ve crossed the border into adulthood?
Go_A - Shum. Winter turns into spring, and it’s a messy transition.
Go_A - Solovey. When forced to choose, who do we honor, our mothers or our lovers? When confronted by such a struggle, we look to nature for solace, only to find it indifferent to our suffering.
- AK
READ
Thomas King - Green Grass, Running Water
Like a picky eater might separate the different foods on their plate at Thanksgiving dinner, we tend to draw borders around the stories we hold dear or sacred. The text is the text and that is that. We do not revise it once it is on the page, we do not allow elements of one to intermingle with another, and we are careful to separate truth from fiction.
King’s narrator and cheeky coyote sidekick say to hell with it all. First, “there is no truth… Only stories.” And in these ones, the cowboys lose, First Woman teams up with Coyote and leaves the garden of Eden for Florida, and Ishmael sees a black whale named Moby-Jane. History is re-written, contemporary characters mingle with those once on a screen, and “that God fellow” dam(n)s his creation with Christian rules before four old Indians break it down again in order to return to the free-flow of the beginning of everything. Every story is overlapping and there’s water everywhere. Nothing and no one is off-limits. The cranberry sauce is touching the mashed potatoes and the pilgrims are dead.
- JB
WATCH
The significance of a border can be seen at the moment of its attempted crossing. Here are a few memorable ones from the movies that came to my mind:
Sam’s step — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
“This is it … If I take one more step, it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.”
Does Sam dare cross from the comfort of familiarity and closeness into the expansive world of the unknown?
No man’s land — Wonder Woman (2017)
“This is no man’s land, Diana! … This is not something you can cross. It’s not possible.”
Of course, Diana is no man. One wonders whether more than one invisible and intangible, yet imposing wall is about to be broken through.
Neo’s choice — The Matrix (1999)
“This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”
The truth is often much more horrible than fiction. Is it still worth pursuing?
- JB
That’s all for now! In two weeks, we’ll explore all things orange.