Don’t Think!

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-1aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-2aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-9aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-10aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-13aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-14aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-16aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

Marilyn Arsem PAF2018-17aa

Don't Think!
at Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival, Utah
October 5, 2018
photo by Winston Inoway

What do you worry about in the darkness of night when you can't sleep?

event:
Salt Lake City Performance Art Festival
venue:
Salt Lake City Main Public Library
location:
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
sponsor:
Salt Lake City Public Library
date:
October 2018

Project Notes:

For three hours I sat blindfolded in a room, and spoke aloud everything that I worry about – from the personal to the global.  On the walls were paper for the audience to write their own worries.  I had on put on the walls the sentence “What do you worry about in the darkness of night when you cannot sleep.”

I don’t think that I will stop worrying as a result, but it seemed clear that others worry about almost the same things that I do…  Perhaps that gives me some measure of relief that at least I am not alone.

Here is a list of some of the worries that I remember speaking.  Each time I started with the phrase, “I am worried about…”

dying alone

becoming infirm

losing my memory

running out of money

leaving my house

my sisters dying

 

how we will survive another term with Trump

what the Supreme Court will demolish

how women will fare

whether Trump will start a nuclear war

what country Trump will offend next

what the next alert will be that we get on our phones

when the next economic crash will come

whether my retirement investments will completely disappear

 

how soon Antarctica will disappear

how fast the Arctic ice will melt

how fast the oceans will rise

how fast the temperatures will rise in the summer

whether there will be worse hurricanes in Boston

when our family’s house in Maine will become shorefront

what life will be like for the next generations

 

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