Action Hero

Raiders and cowboys, Young boys chanting and taunting the other team: TAPE sample: sports chants and taunts 30sec The Raiders are represented in silver and black, symbolizing pirates who invade and overtake with their steel and their destruction The Cowboys are represented in blue and white, colors extracted from the American flag, for rugged heroes who claim their territory Like many sports, American football is a game of  reclaiming territory on a field, conquering space, and passing into guarded zones.

Today is our fourth day together as 8 collaborators and after yesterday's NFL experience it feels like we're really starting to unpick and unravel the complexities of our notion of 'Stranger in a Strange Land'. The notion of America as a story and Americans as storytellers keeps returning and ownership over that story is what seems to be niggling us most. Constructing fictions and conducting life through role-play is perhaps not unnatural, perhaps its even a necessity and the U.S.A's

Today we tailgated at an NFL football game. For those of you reading this in England, tailgating is hanging out in the carpark (parking lot) of the football stadium before the game and eating food next to your car/truck. This is us tailgating out the back of Andrea's truck:     Before we left we made some American food at Elizabeth's house. Including potato salad, hash browns and a cake with a U.S flag on it. I'll post up some

Sometimes people die unexpectedly and the leave behind a house full of things from their past.  Estate sales are public markets. and many people can override ethical questions about reclaiming the property of the dead by the incredible cheap deals they can get from their personal objects. Estate sales are rampant throughout America, because America as a nation has a tendency to accumulate an incredible amount of  things, without any necessary obligation to realize a material future past a singular

As a child there were many experiences that followed traditional American norms that I participated in without question. On occasions I was taken to fast food restaurants for dinner, and bargain stores for school supplies. Spending and consuming is an American experience for many, and often people value bargains and illusions over the actually quality of the thing itself. Task: Enter into a fast food restaurant, ask as many questions as I could about how to acquire the biggest thing