The guest speaker for our class was Richard Streeme. He spoke of his various experiences throughout his life as a performer, and showed us different memorabilia. There was something in his presentation that I found striking. The popular image of punk/hardcore punk artists seems to be irresponsible kids who curse and make loud music. Richard even said something along the lines of parents viewing punk as something they did not want their kids to do. When Richard passed out the little pamphlets he made on the school copier, I saw something completely different. Sure the music is loud, and the pages were filled with curses, but those “irresponsible kids” had been the ones who were truly socially responsible. Besides their lyrics that had a message, they included random bits of information they thought that might be helpful or thought-provoking to people. How to avoid bee stings, how to better care for your pet, where does your food come from. They did something that many people, including adults, didn’t- care, about each other, and society as a whole.

It made me think of a place of an artist in society, and proper place of art once again. It seems an artist is either risen to star-hood and given millions, or not appreciated or paid at all. There are a few that live in the happy medium but they are not heard of much. Should their art be locked up in museums, where only a fraction of it will ever see the light of day, and where you have to pay to view it? How are artists to get paid? Should the public sponsor it or the government? If we sponsor it, what exactly should we sponsor, how do we distinguish what is art?

Richard defines himself as part of the regular masses, and I feel like it is a good attitude to adopt in any profession. We should not glorify artists, doctors, lawyers, performers, athletes, or any other occupation, but we should appreciate them all enough so that they can make a fair living without the kind of struggle we read Robert Mapplethorpe go through.