Shaken is a monologue that was originally exhibited as part of Better social realism at CANADA in 2004. Like my other monologues it is based on a repetitive and seemingly solipsistic investigation of my perceptions and habits of expression. Over the course of the monologue a particular subject comes into focus and gradually the self-criticality within the discourse rises to the point that I am no longer talking about myself at all.
Unlike What a black man feels like, the subject of Shaken is not racial perception but the dynamics of attraction and rejection between people and the possibility of change.

Link to the full performance video: https://vimeo.com/116523768

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Tom Johnson
2009