
Crystal Syben Haidl is not quite the intellect, but more like a not- so-closeted nerd embodying a grassroots sensuality. She admits her consciousness was complexly shaped in youth by 70s era social sitcoms, strict Catholic school flower-power flavored discipline, public high school "journaling", conservative European social-democrat working class parentage, and a rebellious vegetarianism, along with a smattering of Hesse, Chaucer, Voltaire, Wuthering Heights, Laban and funk.
She's a mother, has been a wife; a lover many times over. She's scrubbed thousands of toilets with the same hands shaken with politicians, pointed fingers at anatagonists and cuddled babies. She's been an employer, a stripper, won a full tuition scholarship to UCLA and received a state government commendation for pro-consumer business stances. She's been homeless, jobless, housed by friends and family who supported her, even as they shook their heads.
Crystal's projects focus on societal access and individual integrity - "Hypocrisy, arrogance and ignorance are seeped within each and every one of us. Only when we accept those conditions are embedded within our beliefs, can we honestly roll up our sleeves to remedy the inequities they caused in our world. Laughing about yourself helps."
