A new life begins

I have a new apartment where I live alone (at last!) and a new boyfriend.  Time marches on...

I massively strawberry you

Door County

I love it here.  I love being on the Lake (Michigan) in August- its so perfect!

I love my kids, once again...

Summer art classes full of beautiful children.  Gives me hope, so much hope.

Meet IDA!

claymation class

GIANT film!

This was the outdoor film projector (portable) that the Wex rented!  Its really super cool.  Do you see the huge reels in the back?  Black and white FILM (not video!!)- The Wolfman w/Lon Chaney Jr.

Many groups of teens today...

This was a writing intensive for teens from all over the country through Denison University.  32 kids!  It was a class taught by Julian Lee our favorite graphic novel artist educator.  It went so well and I hope we can do it again next year!

Hard Working Kids

They could literally sit in silence all day long and draw.  I remember that.

PRIDE this weekend

Here is the 2001 work of Deborah Kelly and Tina Fiveash out of Sydney. The site: www.tinafiveash.com.au

I love my kids

This is the group I worked with today- all talented young videographers who received commissions through a state-wide competition to create PSA's about prescription drug abuse.  This was the "rapper" pose.  We did a "goofy" pose, an "uptight contemporary artist" pose and a "normal" one, too.  Left to right: Truman, Emily, Prentiss, Mark and Ashley.

eating the immediate

Our household just got its first CSA share.  Lots of lettuces and radishes and the sweetest little parsnips I have ever tasted in my life.  I LOVE RAW FRESH UNSHIPPED LOCALLY GROWN VEGETABLES THAT WERE PICKED ONLY HOURS AGO.

This flower from this tree

The man in the purple shirt is holding this flower from this tree.  I need to find out about this tree which I am unfamiliar with.

tender

Yellow Springs, Ohio

Antioch University is closed and this place is kind of sad because of it, it seems.  Its a cute hippie university village w/o any students- feels empty and lost; a shell of what it once was.

I miss Oahu

Nope, its not Bon Festival there yet but it is very close to Memorial Day and this is such a beautiful way to remember the dead off Sand Island in Honolulu.  Not only is the environment so lovely in Hawaii, the customs are incredibly lovely as well- I prefer this act of lighting candles that float out to sea than to watch a bunch of military guys in uniforms shooting guns into the air and standing around in graveyards any day.

the ants and the peonies

I love to watch this in the mornings when its still very cool.  So slowly, the ants begin.  They move very slow in the coolness.  They move faster as it gets warmer. They march slowly in a row on the stems as if it were a causeway.  What if the I-70 was a peony stem?  I'd really love that.  

Then they get to the bud and get to work.  I would really like to be an ant with this job.

squid

I used to think I was a giant squid until I found out about colossal squids.  I am not sure how I know this but I am pretty sure.  Doesn't that profile kind of look like me?

hands and feet

I love my hands and feet and believe that they are among my very best assets.  My foot hurts today- it was a minor sprain that I ignored and it got worse so today I am staying off my feet and its much much better.

What is pain for?  I know that physical pain is a warning.  But what about emotional pain?  Is that a warning, too?  Neither one will kill you, in and of itself, I don't think.  I used to think that powerful feelings (like pain, sadness, anger, joy) might kill me but it never did.  It was like being afraid of the needle.  Sure it hurt but it never killed me.  Signals, is that what they are?  Are they signs, warnings?  Why does something really really good sometimes hurt so much?  There is so much I do not really understand.

soup

I love soup.

I eat soup.

I make soup.

desk

cluttered, messy, too much going on on one surface.  I think I need to find a better spot for my desk which is actually just a table and an ironing board (midwestern surfboard).

Maya & Catherine (her mom)

Youth Video Showcase at the Wex

Today we screened 20 videos created by youth from all over Ohio.  It was a very cool show and many many people showed up which was wonderful.  I think we must have had around 150+ people show up, lots of proud parents, teachers, friends.  It was really great!  Ashley Nicol Knotts won a new HD video camera, a gift from an anonymous donor which was an audience choice award determined through a paper ballot.

It felt great to be a part of this.  I really love the work of kids and teens because they are much more capable of unfiltered honesty and have lots more courage than most adults.  The work of this bunch was nothing short of terrific, every single one.  I feel very proud and satisfied today- it was such a long one.

Another class: wexLab in PS

Another weekend studio class (2 days) over Mother's Day weekend: its called Project Fashion Show and we rounded up some sewing machines and powershopped at the thrift store and cut and transformed one thing to something else entirely- the "show" is tomorrow and we shall see what this intergenerational group came up with: moms, grandma's, daughters, aunties and friends of all ages making.

so good I cannot stand it

I love this.

More soon.

At Nightfall by Sursaut from Montreal

Rehearsal before one of the shows.  SUCH a splendid show of contemporary dance w/o any words- incredible music, costumes, dance, lighting, sets.  They had to pack up quick and get through the border before midnight when their US VISA's ran out!  Great show at the Wex.  Excellent children's/family theater: not at all dumbed down (thank god) all the kids "get it"; it's the adults who never do.

Intoxicating

I do not know what kind of flowering bush this is, but it smells SO GOOD I can hardly stop sniffing it when I walk by it and bury my head into it.  

More

The John Lennon bus arrived today

www.lennonbus.org

I greeted the arrival of this bus at 7AM this morning at the Wexner.  Its now almost 10 PM and I can hardly keep my eyes open.

Its so incredible, though.

It is here for a group of tween girls to make a music video; girls who would never in their wildest dreams have access to such a mobile state of the art facility or technical assistance.  Tomorrow we will see what they came up with!

Enhancement of mundane objects

It is fun to watch people draw.

Pimp My Cart

I took the Wexner's Education Department cart over to the drop in center (see how boring looking it is?).  The teens there will have it for a week along with some paint markers.  They have agreed to "enhance" (or vandalize) the cart for one week.  I will go over and take a picture each day to see the progress.

big OCEAN love

I really cannot express what it does to me.  The ocean opens me and I immediately unwind like a ball of yarn in its presence.  I love Cape Cod and the light, the dunes, the plant and bird life, the harshness and timelessness.  To walk these beaches daily, weekly or even monthly would be a total dream come true and heaven on earth for me.  So much moodier than Hawaii and actually a closer match to me in some ways.  This is Marconi Beach (thanks gsb for taking me here 0ver 10 years ago and again this weekend).

GSB and I on Longnook Beach (thanks Diane)

(way too much wacky messy curly hair between us) the weather was incredible, the ocean was incredible, this particular beach was super incredible, everything was off the charts while simultaneously deeply mundane and ordinary (my favorite combination) and so some kind of chapter 2 seems to emerge from chapter 1, a decade ago...

super quiet Friday morning in Somerville

P-Town

I did not eat here but loved the sign.  P-Town is a place I can tolerate well for about 3 hours (the full time allowed on the parking meters there) and then its time to go.

Mussels

I love fresh mussels and these were so delicious; the salad was not so great but the company was the best part.  It almost seems as if this might be turning into a food blog but I have to blame my friend Jill who is a food blogger for influencing me and turning me on to taking pictures of all your food before you eat it.

Preparing for the Herring Run

Every year for thousands of years the herring run "back" upstream here in the spring time.  These men were clearing away branches and overgrowth from the stream.  Humans have been coming here since the beginning of our existence to easily gather fish and eat well with very little effort!  This is not allowed anymore but the feeling of the anticipation was quite palatable.

The Cape

Heading to Boston in a couple of days to see (drumroll please) THE OCEAN and (another drumroll please) GORDON, two of my most favorite things right now : ), pix will be coming soon.  I cannot wait to get out of here.  

My tai chi class was awesome last night.  I wish I could just practice with my teacher every single day somehow, following right behind him for hours and hours...

I love asparagus

when I come back in my next life, I do not know if I prefer to come back as an artichoke or asparagus.  Do you think the asparagus has any awareness of how tasty it is to me?!

White Floppy Flower Tree

(I think its a STAR MAGNOLIA)

I saw this on my way to work this AM.

These flowering trees are tremendous and they are everywhere.  The scent of the flowers is wonderful.  I recall them being called tulip trees but I wonder if they are something else here, or if I am mistaken- they are all over the place and I really love them but partially its because I have a real thing for white flowers.  They are very large sultry, droopy flowers, lazy, floppy flowers as in totally NOT PERKY! 

Pixie's Farm

I went to Pixie's farm yesterday and it was the best thing I have done in a very long time.  Her 80 acres are so lovely and it was such a great afternoon on so many levels.  We spoke of so many things with all the different people there of all ages.  Finally, I may have found a place/some people that feel good, here in Ohio.  Open, not closed.  Kind and not afraid. Some of the things we talked about had to do with creativity and education and some of the TED.com talks (thanks AMP!).

Incremental = Gentle

Slowly.

Slow is good.

I keep telling myself this.

Remix/Mashup

Here is what a class looks like- this was our remix/mashup video class for both teens and teachers (we encouraged "teams") which was run by two artist educators from Chicago.  One was by the name of Xavi Macias and he was only 17 and a great teacher!! It was wonderful to work with them and I learned a lot myself. Media literacy is so important, especially for teens so that they can "talk back" to all the media that gets jammed down their throats from the second they were born.

My BIKE!

I got it back from Baer Wheels on High Street on Saturday.  It needed a little work.  The man who worked on it said it got so many compliments while it was there.  Its a great classic.  Someone told me that it was the bike that was very enthusiastically exported by Schwinn to Asia and EU back in the 60's.  I love this bike.  I ride along the Olentangy River every day if I can, all the way down to the OSU dorms where it smells like lousy burnt frozen pizza.  Then back and a ways down the other way and then back, maybe 5 miles.  Its a heavy slow old bike that has a funny bump when you ride it.  It squeaks like people having great sex on an old box spring.  It has a wonderful metal basket on the front and metal saddlebags on the back.  I am so glad I have this bike!

Spring comes to a cold and dark place

Its incredible to go through the cycle again after not going through it living in Hawaii for awhile.  Its really extremely dramatic and traumatic, at least it was for me.  Now its suddenly March and here in central Ohio, it was 78.  I love how soft the earth has become, it smells so good, the trees are budding and the gentle air is intoxicating after the dormancy.  I have to admit to hating it here but now I am also softening in ways I never imagined I would.

Last night was girls night...

I love blurry images because movement is essential to what I (we) am/(are).  To freeze something is to keep something which cannot be kept, really.  Yet, I love photographs, the ones that really provide the real essence of the moment, especially the laughter.  

My sister

This is my sister Julie.  She is my big sister.  I love her more than anyone or anything.  Here she is inside the Thorpedo Restaurant in Thorp, Wisconsin.