Description
Comedian Richard Pryor narrated the George Floyd murder in 1979, forty years before it occurred. A murder no one is laughing about. Yet when Pryor tells the story in very raw terms, and with his comic talent, the audience laughs. As a time-traveling trickster, Pryor is preparing the audience, lubricating their psychic joints-spiritually, psychologically, politically-foreshadowing today's reckoning. It can be checked out on Richard Pryor: Live in Concert (1979).
People and cultures draw on a mix of archetypes, the attributes of personality that make them who they are-Warrior, Caretaker, Magician, Fool, Hero, Sage-and Trickster. Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love is about how grownups who have retained the ability to be playful as they were when a child view and behave in the world. Such a grownup will consciously or unconsciously engage with the Trickster, and Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love is about what could happen if society made more of that animating force. Today, an infantilized infatuation with the Warrior archetype tears society apart. The best response comes out of a more peaceful and playful approach. In a time of great political frustration and culture wars, readers will be looking for and will respond well to Tricking Power into Performing Acts of Love which casts a clear eye on the dilemmas and proposes the pursuit of fun and the refusal to take power seriously as a timeless and potent political strategy.
About the Author
Shepherd Siegel, PhD is an activist, previous professional rock and jazz musician, and educator in music, career + technical, and special education. His first teaching assignment was with youth in lockup in the County Juvenile Detention Center. Striving to make the greatest positive impact, he earned his doctorate from UC Berkeley while inventing innovative internship programs for troubled and troubling youth, including those with disabilities. Along the way, he played with the jazz trio Swingmatism and the power pop band Thin Ice. While more active as a writer, Dr. Siegel sustains a wide-ranging interest in music. He has written over 30 peer-reviewed and other published journal articles, a textbook that enjoyed two editions (Career Ladders), and the 2018 book Disruptive Play. Dr. Siegel is uniquely qualified to train his playful lens on politics and culture and tease out the Trickster element as it has shown up, tickled society, and then just as quickly disappeared. His diverse academic background-degrees in music, career + technical, administration and special education, and studies in anthropology-equip his scholarly pursuits. His activism grows out of the new visions forged in the bohemia of the San Francisco Bay Area. His presentations and talks have established him as a reliable and entertaining public intellectual on the subject of tricksters in politics and culture. Born in Chicago, Dr. Siegel has lived the longest in the Bay Area and Seattle, where he now resides.
Reviews
"An activist scholar immersed in the Bay Area's bohemian counterculture, Siegel shows a playful writing style, replete with puns and inside jokes, that mimics the Trickster archetype in using humor against the dark, powerful forces that drive contemporary politics and society. A compelling catalog of Tricksters and a convincing analysis of their power." -Kirkus Reviews
Awards
Commended for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Awards (Popular Culture) 2022.
Book Information
ISBN 9781631957307
Author Shepherd Siegel
Format Paperback
Page Count 300
Imprint Morgan James Publishing llc
Publisher Morgan James Publishing llc
