My spring break is over. A few highlights...
I got a haircut and color. Carmen is a genius and I love her. I feel like a new woman.
I went out almost every night. The drinking part wasn't the best, it was feeling like I could relax and completely enjoy myself with my good friends.
Had a little slumber party with some friends on St. Patrick's Day. Notable: tumors, instructional dvd's, a nice fire, good conversations, laughter and general silliness.
I spent Friday at the Frist. What a great day.
The Matisse/Picasso exhibit was fine. I know I am supposed to be overjoyed at having such great artwork in our city but I wasn't very impressed with the actual pieces they selected to exhibit. It was worth the $6.50 student price and definitely worth the couple hours I spent there though.
I am not a huge fan of Matisse's paintings, although I do appreciate them. What I do enjoy are his drawings. His ability to edit and to portray his subjects with the fewest lines possible has always impressed me.
The most incredible part of my visit were some video pieces by HIRAKI SAWA. One large piece, "Going Places Sitting Down", was projected onto 3 large screens in the back room of the main gallery downstairs. It honestly felt like walking into a dream. I had a difficult time getting my head back together after watching it as it was simply beautiful and elegant and relaxing…like a good dream should be.
In the upstairs gallery is an exhibit featuring Mexican Printmaking (1920-1950). My favorite pieces were by Diego Rivera (Frida Kahlo's husband). I'll have to go back. After watching Hiraki Sawa's videos, it was difficult to concentrate and all I wanted was have a cigarette and cocktail.
Which I did and I was drunk and home in bed by 10:30.
Spring break. woo hoo.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Friday, March 9, 2007
Go Nashville!
Current mood: optimistic
I attended the Public Workshop on Green Building in Metro Nashville this week with my gal, Allison. Pretty exciting stuff for sure! The city of Nashville has an ordinance up for approval to implement a policy of Green Building for Nashville's government buildings. If you aren't familiar with the idea of sustainable or green building, I have included a few websites at the bottom of this post. The idea of Nashville moving towards a greener philosophy is so very exciting!
Because we, as American's, spend about 90% of our time indoors, the quality of the environment we work, live and shop in is very important. If a building is green, expect 30% energy savings, 35% carbon savings, 30-50% water usage savings, and 50-90% waste cost savings. In a business, these figures add up to enhanced productivity (between 2-16%), reduced absenteeism and improved employee morale. In schools, 20% better test performances. In retail a significant increase in sales. With all this being said, the health benefits are the most important to those of us who aren't business owners. I, for one, would love to work in a green environment. Several other large cities have already implemented Green Building policies and are reaping the benefits.
From the workshop:
The purpose of the Metropolitan Government's policy on sustainable
building is to require the Government's commitment to environmental,
economic, and social stewardship, to yield cost savings to the
Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced operating cost
savings to the Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced
operating costs, to provide healthy and productive work environments
for staff and visitors, and to contribute to the government's goals of
protecting, conserving, and enhancing the region's environmental
resources. Additionally, the Metropolitan Government shall help to set
a community standard of sustainable building.
16.60.050 Policy and goals.
1. It is the policy of the Metropolitan Government to finance, plan,
design, construct, manage, renovate, maintain, and decommission its
facilities and buildings to be sustainable. This applies to new
construction and renovations, for which the planning and construction
commences on or after August 1, 2007, in which the total project square
footage includes 5,000 gross square feet of occupied space or the total
project cost exceeds two million dollars. For existing buildings or
facilities, this chapter shall only apply to renovations that add 5,000
or more gross square feet of occupied space.
..[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->..[endif]-->
If you would like to get involved, join the mailing list at the Nashville Civic Design Center Website:
I attended the Public Workshop on Green Building in Metro Nashville this week with my gal, Allison. Pretty exciting stuff for sure! The city of Nashville has an ordinance up for approval to implement a policy of Green Building for Nashville's government buildings. If you aren't familiar with the idea of sustainable or green building, I have included a few websites at the bottom of this post. The idea of Nashville moving towards a greener philosophy is so very exciting!
Because we, as American's, spend about 90% of our time indoors, the quality of the environment we work, live and shop in is very important. If a building is green, expect 30% energy savings, 35% carbon savings, 30-50% water usage savings, and 50-90% waste cost savings. In a business, these figures add up to enhanced productivity (between 2-16%), reduced absenteeism and improved employee morale. In schools, 20% better test performances. In retail a significant increase in sales. With all this being said, the health benefits are the most important to those of us who aren't business owners. I, for one, would love to work in a green environment. Several other large cities have already implemented Green Building policies and are reaping the benefits.
From the workshop:
The purpose of the Metropolitan Government's policy on sustainable
building is to require the Government's commitment to environmental,
economic, and social stewardship, to yield cost savings to the
Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced operating cost
savings to the Metropolitan Government taxpayers through reduced
operating costs, to provide healthy and productive work environments
for staff and visitors, and to contribute to the government's goals of
protecting, conserving, and enhancing the region's environmental
resources. Additionally, the Metropolitan Government shall help to set
a community standard of sustainable building.
16.60.050 Policy and goals.
1. It is the policy of the Metropolitan Government to finance, plan,
design, construct, manage, renovate, maintain, and decommission its
facilities and buildings to be sustainable. This applies to new
construction and renovations, for which the planning and construction
commences on or after August 1, 2007, in which the total project square
footage includes 5,000 gross square feet of occupied space or the total
project cost exceeds two million dollars. For existing buildings or
facilities, this chapter shall only apply to renovations that add 5,000
or more gross square feet of occupied space.
..[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]-->..[endif]-->
If you would like to get involved, join the mailing list at the Nashville Civic Design Center Website:
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
ummm. hi.
the second the coin hit bottom
the clicking sound of acceptance
anonymity as the ring began
gone are the days of the pay phone call
gone are the days of the crank
of the hang up
did we lose something when technology caught up with us? did the thrill of surprise escape us? or has the mobile phone, computer age and caller ID made us all noticeable, mysteriousness escaping us, leaving us displayed in a connected non-shadow.
i remember as a young girl the thrill of crank calling at a slumber party...boys from school not knowing who we were. slyness cloaking our need to just hear for one second the life of someone we had a crush on, on the other end of the line. talking to boys was fun then. asking them questions, when playing coy was an innocent game but not really a game.
i remember how we thought if we just wore the right outfit, if we just played the right game, they would like us. for maybe just one second the world lifted up, the fluttering began in our stomachs.
now in our adult years, how much has it changed? really. people flock to websites. they think they can put up a front..the about me's; the interests; the music and books to impress...intrigue until you meet, finally over at an innocently expectant drink. then it hits you...how similar it is to being young again. guards are all up, the best photos posted... when in reality it's all just the same.
people want to be liked and they put their best foot forward. when in reality, all we need is a little reality. not watered down. not fantasy. but a good dose of the real us. the real you. and a connection not found in a world made up of zeros and ones.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Floods and signs
Last night I dreamt of floods. Floods took over all of Nashville. The only areas where you could be free and dry of all the water was on the highest overpasses of the highway system. It was one of those dreams where cities from your past present themselves in small unexpected ways. The waters of the Cumberland slowly merging and then mixing with the dirty brown waters of the Houston Brazos river. The two waters coming together in the dream were hesitant at first like two apprehensive hands coming together for a handshake, and then as the force of nature pulled them together, there was no visibly discernible difference between the waters. People grabbed onto table tops, some had boats, others just simply drifted along in a quiet and accepting back stroke/float. There was no panic, no cries. Just a simple acknowledgment of "hey this sucks" and then "well, shit happens". Della Robbia sofas floated by with beautiful textiles browning from the muddy waters, artwork dotted the waters with vibrant colors, and strips of white reflective tape from the highway danced on top of the water breaks.
After having dreams such as these, I wonder the significance. Why did my mind conjure up these images? Floods typically mean "emotional issues and tension". And all I can think is what? me? never.
It's rare to actually have time to sit and think these days. That is, unless the flu takes over your body and you end up in bed for 3 days. Unfortunately, the kind of thinking that occurs is more of the "no one loves me, woe is me" kind of crap. Needless to say, I am still not feeling so very optimistic today. I am beginning to need a sign. A sign I can grab onto in the middle of flood filled streets....a beacon of hope to help guide me back to my usual state of optimism. I guess when you ask for a sign, it doesn't really present itself.
After having dreams such as these, I wonder the significance. Why did my mind conjure up these images? Floods typically mean "emotional issues and tension". And all I can think is what? me? never.
It's rare to actually have time to sit and think these days. That is, unless the flu takes over your body and you end up in bed for 3 days. Unfortunately, the kind of thinking that occurs is more of the "no one loves me, woe is me" kind of crap. Needless to say, I am still not feeling so very optimistic today. I am beginning to need a sign. A sign I can grab onto in the middle of flood filled streets....a beacon of hope to help guide me back to my usual state of optimism. I guess when you ask for a sign, it doesn't really present itself.
Thursday, January 18, 2007
from my past.
Insomniac
by. ms. plath
The night is only a sort of carbon paper,
Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of stars
Letting in the light, peephole after peephole ---
A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.
Under the eyes of the stars and the moon's rictus
He suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessness
Stretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions.
Over and over the old, granular movie
Exposes embarrassments--the mizzling days
Of childhood and adolescence, sticky with dreams,
Parental faces on tall stalks, alternately stern and tearful,
A garden of buggy rose that made him cry.
His forehead is bumpy as a sack of rocks.
Memories jostle each other for face-room like obsolete film stars.
He is immune to pills: red, purple, blue ---
How they lit the tedium of the protracted evening!
Those sugary planets whose influence won for him
A life baptized in no-life for a while,
And the sweet, drugged waking of a forgetful baby.
Now the pills are worn-out and silly, like classical gods.
Their poppy-sleepy colors do him no good.
His head is a little interior of grey mirrors.
Each gesture flees immediately down an alley
Of diminishing perspectives, and its significance
Drains like water out the hole at the far end.
He lives without privacy in a lidless room,
The bald slots of his eyes stiffened wide-open
On the incessant heat-lightning flicker of situations.
Nightlong, in the granite yard, invisible cats
Have been howling like women, or damaged instruments.
Already he can feel daylight, his white disease,
Creeping up with her hatful of trivial repetitions.
The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.
by. ms. plath
The night is only a sort of carbon paper,
Blueblack, with the much-poked periods of stars
Letting in the light, peephole after peephole ---
A bonewhite light, like death, behind all things.
Under the eyes of the stars and the moon's rictus
He suffers his desert pillow, sleeplessness
Stretching its fine, irritating sand in all directions.
Over and over the old, granular movie
Exposes embarrassments--the mizzling days
Of childhood and adolescence, sticky with dreams,
Parental faces on tall stalks, alternately stern and tearful,
A garden of buggy rose that made him cry.
His forehead is bumpy as a sack of rocks.
Memories jostle each other for face-room like obsolete film stars.
He is immune to pills: red, purple, blue ---
How they lit the tedium of the protracted evening!
Those sugary planets whose influence won for him
A life baptized in no-life for a while,
And the sweet, drugged waking of a forgetful baby.
Now the pills are worn-out and silly, like classical gods.
Their poppy-sleepy colors do him no good.
His head is a little interior of grey mirrors.
Each gesture flees immediately down an alley
Of diminishing perspectives, and its significance
Drains like water out the hole at the far end.
He lives without privacy in a lidless room,
The bald slots of his eyes stiffened wide-open
On the incessant heat-lightning flicker of situations.
Nightlong, in the granite yard, invisible cats
Have been howling like women, or damaged instruments.
Already he can feel daylight, his white disease,
Creeping up with her hatful of trivial repetitions.
The city is a map of cheerful twitters now,
And everywhere people, eyes mica-silver and blank,
Are riding to work in rows, as if recently brainwashed.
Saturday, January 6, 2007
turn up the music, take me over, take me anywhere....
i love...obviously...:
1. my family both immediate (my mom and daddy are fantastic) and the family i have made here in nashville.
2. jill, ollie, leia, richie, elijah, molly, stephanie & charles, cameron, allison....etc, etc.
3. modern design, mid-century modern.
4. modern art.
5. vintage furniture, art, objects.
things you might not have known i love:
1. cooking for friends over many bottles of wine and great conversation.
2. the way flour feels on my hands and between my fingers.
3. picking dead leaves off of house plants.
4. the smell of dirt and soil.
5. watching movies over and over until they are so funny i can't stand it.
6. annabelle sleeping in a curled up ball (i can't believe she can get so small) next to me in bed.
7. the way annabelle gets insanely excited when i say "annabelle, outside?"
8. clean sheets right when i have had a shower and shaved my legs (weird, yes. i know.)
9. good lighting. mostly modern classic pcs, but good overall "lighting" in general. dark and comfortable...not glaring.
10. walnut wood. i love the grain and color.
11. george harrison, frida, marimekko, jonathan adler, angela adams.
12. henna orange, the palest blue, and marine blue/green.
13. coffee on sundays when i have nowhere to go and i can sit and drink as much as i want, as slow as i want with friends coming and going not caring if i am still in my pj's and no makeup.
14. my house almost anytime.
15. being able to remember most of my dreams. reliving them all day the next day. flying in my dreams. lucid dreams.
16. white. pottery, furniture, lighting, dishes...etc, etc.
17. hardware stores. i get so INTO them. it's hard to focus.
18. my backyard after dark when i am all alone and the sky is clear. being able to find the little dipper and seeing where it is in proximity to my home.
19. small town feelings (east nashville) and big city anonymity.
20. great music that makes me forget who i am and then remind who i am 4 seconds later.
21. getting postal mail from someone i love (postcard, letter, card...a nice little hello) it makes me smile.
22. people who "get" me.
23. researching. learning. exploring.
24. black and white photographs. old. new. people i know. people i don't.
25. spending the day completely alone with nothing to do. (only every once in a while)
26. slightly damp paper.
things i don't like AT ALL:
1. arguments that don't go anywhere.
2. unfounded judgement.
3. ignorance.
4. being ignored.
5. my computer freezing (which hardly happens...its an apple)
6. people misusing "in regards to" (it's "in regard to")
7. holes in my socks.
8. overdraft fees.
9. car trouble.
10. misunderstandings.
11. assholes. bitches. with no reason.
12. the last sip of beer.. when its warm and ick.
13. seeing my friends in pain or suffering in emotional turmoil and knowing there isn't anything i can do to help.
14. seeing stray dogs or cats.
1. my family both immediate (my mom and daddy are fantastic) and the family i have made here in nashville.
2. jill, ollie, leia, richie, elijah, molly, stephanie & charles, cameron, allison....etc, etc.
3. modern design, mid-century modern.
4. modern art.
5. vintage furniture, art, objects.
things you might not have known i love:
1. cooking for friends over many bottles of wine and great conversation.
2. the way flour feels on my hands and between my fingers.
3. picking dead leaves off of house plants.
4. the smell of dirt and soil.
5. watching movies over and over until they are so funny i can't stand it.
6. annabelle sleeping in a curled up ball (i can't believe she can get so small) next to me in bed.
7. the way annabelle gets insanely excited when i say "annabelle, outside?"
8. clean sheets right when i have had a shower and shaved my legs (weird, yes. i know.)
9. good lighting. mostly modern classic pcs, but good overall "lighting" in general. dark and comfortable...not glaring.
10. walnut wood. i love the grain and color.
11. george harrison, frida, marimekko, jonathan adler, angela adams.
12. henna orange, the palest blue, and marine blue/green.
13. coffee on sundays when i have nowhere to go and i can sit and drink as much as i want, as slow as i want with friends coming and going not caring if i am still in my pj's and no makeup.
14. my house almost anytime.
15. being able to remember most of my dreams. reliving them all day the next day. flying in my dreams. lucid dreams.
16. white. pottery, furniture, lighting, dishes...etc, etc.
17. hardware stores. i get so INTO them. it's hard to focus.
18. my backyard after dark when i am all alone and the sky is clear. being able to find the little dipper and seeing where it is in proximity to my home.
19. small town feelings (east nashville) and big city anonymity.
20. great music that makes me forget who i am and then remind who i am 4 seconds later.
21. getting postal mail from someone i love (postcard, letter, card...a nice little hello) it makes me smile.
22. people who "get" me.
23. researching. learning. exploring.
24. black and white photographs. old. new. people i know. people i don't.
25. spending the day completely alone with nothing to do. (only every once in a while)
26. slightly damp paper.
things i don't like AT ALL:
1. arguments that don't go anywhere.
2. unfounded judgement.
3. ignorance.
4. being ignored.
5. my computer freezing (which hardly happens...its an apple)
6. people misusing "in regards to" (it's "in regard to")
7. holes in my socks.
8. overdraft fees.
9. car trouble.
10. misunderstandings.
11. assholes. bitches. with no reason.
12. the last sip of beer.. when its warm and ick.
13. seeing my friends in pain or suffering in emotional turmoil and knowing there isn't anything i can do to help.
14. seeing stray dogs or cats.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Hussein
I must be more compassionate than I thought. I am so very disturbed by the public execution of Saddam Hussein. I have always been one to believe rotting in jail is more punishment than capital punishment and this situation is no different. I understand all the points which have been made- a coup could free him from prison, thus allowing him the opportunity to gain power again….etc, etc. I am conflicted...but I think Gandhi said it best, "The law an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind."
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