Sandra, my dear friend since high school flew back to Chicago today. I think she'll have had a good time looking back, but we began to irritate each other. Over the past couple years DC has become my home, so every time she criticized it for its crappy metro ticket system, or bus fare machines that don't give change, or the incompatibility of the subway and bus payment systems I became defensive (even though I'm known to complain of the same things). She did say that our trains are cleaner and more comfortable, but at the same time couldn't believe people didn't drink coffee on their morning commute (no food or beverages on the trains). In Chicago they may eat breakfast on the train to work, but this is the U.S. Government's city and the government likes to keep a clean appearance. For instance, every time I see someone painting, or polishing brass fixtures I immediately think of sailors. One thing you can be sure of is that every single ship in the Navy's Fleet, at this very moment and always, is being painted. I swear.
I have been eating a lot of rice lately, along with half of the people of the world. According to the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization rice supplies nearly 900 calories a day to those in China. However, less than 100 calories per day per person are gathered by rice here in the US, where our staple foods are genetically modified meats and sugars.
Tower cranes in Southeast Washington DC hover over the area around RFK Stadium. This area may be the future site of DC's baseball stadium, if not a revamped RFK itself.
Rehearsal Thanksgiving
I went to a Thanksgiving Dinner at my friends' parent's house. There was excellent Thanksgiving Ham and Turkey and plenty to talk about after dinner ... and for weeks to come. I am thankful for the invitation.
My friends Chad and Cat talk "Art Speak" in the Corcoran 3rd Year studios. Everyone prefers these studios to the senior studios because they are down stairs and the senior studios are up and up the stairs. Art Speak goes something like this ... Creativity comes from mothers and grandmothers, craftsmanship and skill from fathers, and I can personally root my interest in Modern Art to my oldest sister Gina. She had me looking at Lichtenstein, Kandinsky, and Mondrian at the LACMA in early grade school, maybe before. I remember her asking me if I liked Modern Art. I responded negatively at first, but had a good idea of what Modern Art could look like - a jagged Cubist collage, the blank canvas Conceptual Art, "Broadway Boogie-Woogie," and the limited-color paintings of Color Field painters. Now I watch the future of art and its artists, and they're pretending to ignore me. That is Art Speak.
