Happy New Year
A rundown of the year - because I know you’ve been wondering, “why doesn’t that woman write?” I’ve been busy.
Keeping busy in arts, this year I’ve been elected as a board member to Ignition Northwest ignitionnw.org here’s the blurb; Ignition Northwest is a membership based non-profit organization created to foster radical self-expression, participatory art, and sustainable community through regional events, art grants, and information sharing and education for the Burner-based community in the Pacific Northwest. All of our activities are the results of the amazing collaborative efforts of our members, with guidance by our member-elected board of directors. Our primary activities include sponsoring art, organizing events, and building community.
I’ve been in a relationship for the last year, I do hope it continues, he’s a great guy. His name is Barak (sounds like Eric with a B). He’s a good guy from a good gentle family, he does guy stuff, he’s nice, and tolerates me most of the time. Seriously, he’s amazingly supportive of my “work”.
You may or may not know that I have been participating in a project called 365days, where I make a self portrait every consecutive day for a year. It’s harder than it sounds… it’s harder than I thought it would be. It’s hard. I’m 1/3 of my way through my third year. I use the time to myself as an opportunity to give a mental and physical check in. As a result of the project I’ve grown immensely as a person and a photographer. Not every picture is great and that’s okay.
I have been taking pictures of other people as well, some of them are pretty good even. I’m working on a series where I guide people to taking self portraits in my studio. We all have a picture face - however if we’re in control of pushing the button, the resulting pictures can be alarmingly open and honest. The pictures have been really wonderful! I look forward to getting more people in. I’m not ready to show that group of pictures just yet, but I’m close.
Back in spring I hung a photo series of a potato at a group show at Form Space Gallery. It was amazing to see my photos blown up and mounted. And it was a cool experience watching people really get into looking at them. I’m looking forward to more shows in the coming year. None scheduled so far, must get busy on that.
I’ve self publishing 2 books of my “work” 365 Days of Self Portraits, Vol. 1 I didn’t tart it up with words or anything, it’s just pictures. The second book has words and stuff, no promises on their quality, just that they are present and offer some juice to the images. They’re honest and sometimes uncomfortable, well at least they were for me to write. Woman Of A Certain Age, it’s a little spendier, it has words after all, and it’s bigger. I haven’t set any price on them yet, so I’m not raking in the cashola or anything - I haven’t figured out how yet - so act fast if you want one! I’ll put the link/badge at the bottom of the mail.
This summer I worked at The Fremont Arts Council on the Summer Solstice Parade. And this winter I’ve been pulling my weight at the Seattle Center doing some production coordination for a Winter Fire festival. We were supposed to run the show on the winter solstice, but were snowed out and have postponed until 1/10-11, if you’re in the neighborhood, consider checking it out.
I’ve been making funny little felt 3d soft sculptures of cameras all of which are goofy squishy replicas of actual cameras. This activity clearly falls into the “WTF?” category of past times, however I’m really enjoying the creative process, the results and then the magic of giving them away.
Other than that, really I don’t do much, life is life, stuff is stuff.
You?
day 96/827
I love snow, I love snow sports. I love to hurl myself through space at an alarmingly quickened pace. It’s probably be prudent of me to slow down some, or so the Universe tells me. I think my first broken leg & then foot + sprained ankle (all of which from this point henceforth will be referred to as ‘leg’) was really a big huge red flag being waved in my face to slow the fuck down to gain some perspective. Slow down I have, I haven’t been anywhere near snow in a couple years, and I’ve been sad about it, thinking doom and gloom, I’ll never ride again, as I lay in bed nursing a very painful leg, trying to keep my spirits up with heating pads and failing pain management efforts. The last two winters have been so glum, I figured this one would be the same - as autumn didn’t give me much hope.
As it so happens I was really quite sick this fall, finally getting myself to the doctor and on antibiotics. Before feeling the intended effects of the course of medication, I noticed my leg stopped hurting - stopped hurting for the first time in 2 years. Sure I’ve probably had a moment or two in the last couple years where I felt particularly good, but nothing like this. I didn’t want to jinx it, so I didn’t mention it to B for a couple weeks, I wanted to be sure it really wasn’t hurting. A few days ago I thought to myself ‘I’d like to go snowboarding, wonder where my pants are’ and it wasn’t followed by an Eeyore voice getting down on myself for what I can’t do, I honestly felt like I could really go riding.
I’ve been keeping a tight mental check on my leg, daily meditation system check to identify what I am feeling. I’ve been going for daily walks, which would normally end feeling like I was on fire, now are met with some muscle soreness around where my fibula is articulated. I’m really stoked.
I am curious what in my leg got treated as an aside to the intended treated affliction? Should I mention it to my doctor? My reasoning skills suggest to me that I should go back promptly to talk about it and ask for further investigation. I don’t feel that whatever it was that got some attention from the antibiotics has been fully treated. I have a lot of questions; did I have some low level bacterial infection in my leg bones for 2 years? Did my body fend it off just enough to allow me to be constantly be sick with everything under the sun yet keep me from the edge of death? Will it come back? Is it even gone? I need to go back - it’s so expensive, as an uninsured it’s really challenging to muster it up to get in to a doc, and then hope to pay for it.
Anyway, I’m feeling great, and think I have more great in me. I can feel even better. I know it. AND the first spare cash I can guitllessly throw at a lift ticket, I will.
om nom nom
Dear Universe,
For my birthday, I’d love to have a spa day, to have my hair done fresh, a facial - I’ve never had a facial, and a pedicure. That would be lovely.
I’d like packs of polaroid film, both spectra and 600, and packs of 120, color, 400 speed please.
and angelfood cake
and my laptop fixed - tho a new macbook pro would be cool, but unnecessary if my ibook were repaired.
a copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard
Thanks
Q
P.S. I understand that times are tough, I would make absolutely the best use of any single item.
day effing 800!
You’d think if I could stick to this for so long I might be able to keep a job or stick to a diet huh?
But it does look like it took me this long to figure out how to light myself
more on modesty, I think I’m repeting myself
I think it’s interesting I’m so conflicted. I’m concerned I’ll offend religious women wearing something that is so strongly religious. I’m especially concerned if I don the shalya with my regular clothes, t-shirts and jeans with a jacket I’ll look like I’m deliberately defying the principals of hijab. The other day I was out - driving wearing a shayla and I’m confident my hair was sticking out. An hijabi in a car next to me was totally checking out my head gear. I thought about smiling, but instead I tucked my hair in and kept my eyes forward.
When I look around, I see many women on the street covered modestly, and are still intensely hip. But, it’s fall in Seattle, so, it’s natural to be wearing layers and scarves and hats and all that. Summer is definitely different. I wear long sleeve cotton blouses and shirts - a good fit is hard to find, I have broad shoulders, long thick arms, a long torso and a narrow waist. My arms make finding something to wear the hardest. I can get something that fits mostly except they’re too tight at the top of the arms, or too short in the sleeve. All those years of body building I guess. If I find something to fit my arms, it would need lots of tailoring through the body to look nice.
I think because I am tattooed and have goofy hair, I want to cover it all up. I’ve been covering it up for years. I used to wonder what was the point of having tattoos if you’re just gonna cover them, but the longer I have them, the more personal they become and the more they really are nobody elses business. After I’ve known people a while then I’ll uncover, but they have to be "safe" people. I’m pretty sure I have had some associates for years who’ve never seen my tattoos in person, if they even know I have them.
I think that being modest, or adopting modest behaviors just because god or some scripture says so is ill informed. I really want all people do things that they’ve thought through and concluded works for them. But then I won’t do anything because I’m told to, I must come to it on my own, by my own discovery. I must understand for myself that it’s the right thing to do for myself. Certain Christian, Catholic and Mormon flavors of modesty make my skin crawl. I can’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it’s the jumper dresses that kind of look like little girls dresses, the stylings just aren’t mature, stylish or elegant, let alone, going the other direction, playful, accommodating and free.
I think I’m tired of people confronting me because of my tattoos. I’m tired of the insincere conversation starters I get that many people are unwilling to finish. In addition, I’m really sick of people touching my tattoos uninvited. It doesn’t happen as much anymore, for the simple fact that I don’t leave the house very often. But when I went out socializing or networking people would grab at me all the time. This is just unacceptable, I’m not available for petting.
there is more… I’m tired and it’s just not coming out well.
40 is the new 30… almost
after lighting discussion - well durring really.
What did I learn?
I need umbrellas.
Photo by Stuart Updegrave
what’s on my birthday list? Umbrellas
and lemme just say, when I see pictures like this it’s hard for even me to believe I’m turning 40 next month.
day 57/788 a modest proposal. Can I get one of these in gortex?
this is not a well formed thought - and I’ll be editing it.
Those who know me in real life may have noticed without a second thought that I am always pretty covered up and I don’t wear makeup much. I am super modest and almost always have been. My modesty is deep seated and very old, yet has nothing to do with religion. I wish it did it’d be easier to explain if it were ever questioned, which it isn’t. Now, I’ve gotten all kinds of sexy when it comes to costumes, oh boy, that’s a different story!
The following video series on the hijab discusses why and how it’s managed in Islam, many of the same tenants apply to my own modesty.
welovehijab.com/2008/08/22/muslim-fashion-videos-washingt…
I’m seriously considering some kind of super westernized non-religious head covering to top off my already modest personal dress code.
I’m not quite sure what it would look like, probably not nearly as elegant as hijab, and likely not nearly as flamboyant as this yellow scarf. I already wear a hat and hood as it is, but that’s pretty low brow. I know there must be other non-religious women who practice modest dress - wow to say it that way makes it sound creepy - lets try that again, I know there must be other women who aren’t practicing or devoutly religious who observe some level of personal modesty with fun funky urban styling.
… I just let my fingers do the walking here
NPR
www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&am…
Wall Street Journal
online.wsj.com/article/SB118254928882245220.html?mod=goog…
The articles talk about girls and young women rebelling against trends to be sexy. Standing up for their dignity and personal choices to behave how they see fit for themselves - perhaps a 4th wave of feminism is occurring. The author of Girls gone Mild interviewed an 11 year old girl who was fed up with her shopping experiences, looking for shirts and pants that overlap.
That I can relate to! I’m kinda tall, shirts are generally too short for me, unless I buy them at an LDS approved store for modest layering options. I’ve talked about how hard it is to find longer shirts, and people look at me like I’m crazy…especially guys… like why the hell would I want to cover my tummy? Um, because I’m cold. A few years ago I started wearing wide knit or crochet scarves around my midsection to fill the gap between my shirts and pants. Thankfully present fashions have been a little longer.
I’m of the mind to agree with the idea that the veil is empowering. I agree that covering up does allow us to be seen for our character and skills. The more tattooed I am, the more I cover up - it’s just nobodies business, you’d be surprised by how many strangers touch me. My hair, I love it kooky colored, love it, feels totally natural to me, but I acknowledge that I am creating barriers for myself. I got the most crap when I had dreadlocks, (rolls eyes). I imagine, I’m making myself unemployable by having kooky hair - wearing something like hijab seems like the most obvious and easy way to eliminate that as a possibility.
My boyfriend is probably going to think I’m nuts.
