Male vs. Female

The battle of the sexes never ends. I have been paying careful attention in the last (almost) year to who has a visceral or emotional response to this project and I'm finding that the majority of the 'fans' are women. I'm wondering if this is because women feel social scripting or the pressure of socialization more acutely? Maybe it's because women can relate to the story told primarily from a female voice? I'd like to hear your responses to this question.

The recent slew of comments on burn magazine, ranging from attacking to supportive, supported this theory as well. The women who commented tended to be sympathetic to the project while many of the men (not all of course) couldn't get past technical talk. I am not trying to put people into their gender pockets here, but the observations can't be denied.

It should be noted that Zach refused to participate in support of the project on burn magazine and again refuse his responsibility to the project. In a statement, he wrote "you probably wouldn't like what I have to say anyways". He also doesn't want to meet on the one-year anniversary of the beginning of our project. It does not matter whether I feel positively or negatively about him, I am still proud of the work I invested and feel sorry for him for what he missed.

My final words on the subject are words of advice: don't mix business with pleasure, or in this case, reality with the fictional.

BURN Magazine

The photo essay is posted on BURN Magazine's website NOW! Please check it out.

http://www.burnmagazine.org/

The challenge has been laid out

If you re-read Zach's initial craigslist posting, it has a day for the couple to run into each other some time after the relationship ends. We began the project April 1st, 2009. I am proposing to him (and in public here) that he and I "run into" each other just as we are now for a real ending to the project. The ending as it exists now is falsified because we were still hanging out afterwards. In the present, Zach and I actually do not talk and I believe a 'chance' meeting would be more authentic and final. Let's see if he goes for it.

This idea comes from remembering anniversary dates, but more importantly from reading about Marina Abromovic's current performance piece at MOMA. After a goodbye ritual from her long time collaborator, Ulay, in 1988, they met again at her staring table at MOMA. They stared at each other, touched hands and a tear was streaming down her face. The idea of relationships being something that are organic, constantly changing, and only finalized by death is interesting to me.