Two Cheers for the Avant-Garde

Link: Two Cheers for the Avant-Garde

Speaking with this student about the rationale behind her project, she said that she felt that the wrapping held in and embraced the great memories and traditions of the college. Moments later another student piped up, saying that she thought the white barrier of fabric could also just as easily give the impression of keeping people out.

It was a beautiful moment because it reminded me that despite how much I am irritated by the sheep mentality among students, I still see myself in them. In college I desperately sought ways to fit in and be considered hip, and was complicit in many acts of conformity that I now find icky.

For me, the avant-garde is a great antidote for those feeling misfit and self-conscious, because it eschews the center and the traditional, in favor of a creative spirit that is always looking innovate: to question the ways things have been done before and propose new ways of speaking, hearing, and seeing.