Freud, Oedipus, Breast feeding, and Circumcision

Jan. 2006

www.artbycassiday.com

For all you football fans out there, I am not happy to report that my son Jeremy is being placed on the Injured Reserved List and will not be playing in the NFL Playoff games or the Superbowl this year.

In what started out to be an innocent "Let's go out and play catch with the football" event, Jeremy's left thumb got fractured at the first knuckle. No surgery will be required according to team physicians, but Jeremy's thumb will be splinted for three weeks. The pass from Dad was right on target, but struck Jeremy's thumb straight on the end resulting in the fracture. A full recovery is expected and Jeremy should be ready for next season. Dad feels pretty bad, too.

Caution - personal details about to be revealed. Do not read any further if you do not want to know what comes next. It's all very Freudian. And I wouldn't even go here, execpt that I am embarking on an Autobiographical series of paintings and I find it hard not to be autobiographical while I do this. If you are squeamish (which word, incidentally, comes from the Anglo/Norman "escoymous," then do not proceed.....

Okay, here we go, but prepare yourself. I have titled today's painting Autobiography, Chapter One, Day One, Later in the Day - Tired and Sore. I am still reading Terry Eagleton's Literary Theory and finished the chapter titled "Psychoanalysis" last night. It was an interesting read and included a brief but insightful analysis of DH Lawrence's Sons and Lovers. By the way, do you think it is a coincidence that my full name is Donald Lawrence Cassiday? See what I'm getting at? Here's the point: on my first day in this world back in December of 1950 I was both breast fed and circumcised (this may be way more than you wanted to know - if so, please disregard). So I began this life by thinking, "Hey, this isn't so bad, things are looking up" and then - whack - "Yowee, what the f*** was that?" The Oedipal ramifications of this dual pleasure/pain event on my very first day may still be echoing through my universe like those cosmic echoes of the Big Bang reverberating through the vastness of the universe which were first detected by those two guys putting up telephone microwave equipment in the 1960's . However, I am choosing not to dwell on those events any more and plan in the near future to move on to Day 2 when my own universe started to expand.

In the weeks ahead, by the way, I should have my art exhibited at the Visiting Nurses "Art and Soup" event and also for the Omaha Lit Fest fundraiser at the Loft gallery in the Old Market. I should have additonal work at Louisville in March. And I still have work at Adventure in Art in Benson. More details to follow.

And I am in day 8 of hoping a good job lands in my lap! So far I have received one rejection letter which said I had many nice qualities and another which said my file would be looked at if a position opened up. That's progress!


Later,
Bud