Black is Black

I couldn't really be more tired. Stayed out too late on turkey day, got up waaaay too early today to set up for Art vs. Craft. I'm as ready as can be for tamale after a few major minor disasters - deep, deep breath.

A last minute email check tonight during a fish fry dinner in West Allis brought me a sweet surprise.Photograper Darren Hauck (who took my picture for the September HOME article) forwarded me this NY Times article that ran today with mention of Handmade Nation, me & a link to my other blog--- as well as a photo of my shop Paper Boat. Pretty hyped about that.

Black Friday, Buy Nothing or Make Something

I really hope you can make it to the show tomorrow. Goodnight.

wishbones

Right now all I am wishing is that we could of recorded some of the conversations at dinner last night.

articulated mantras to keep near

Everyone should have this poster in their vicinity. One of the places you can get them is here.

The history of this WWII poster is here. This image is from here.

Doug & Debbie:::

This song is meant to listen to, not to watch. Actually it's much better if you just download the recording. Bruce Springsteen covering Suicide's "Dream Baby Dream".


i love this found form of devotion


I am finding myself wishing I could eat at my mom's for Thanksgiving on Thursday. Last year was pretty epic. Maybe being 31 makes you want to be closer to home?





I was amazed when I read this quote from Another Roadside Attraction on the airplane last week. It basically sums up the land near my mom's farm so very perfectly. In the book the main characters are pretty much living down the road from her house.



"A sketchy panorama where objects, both organic and inorganic, lack well-defined edges and tend to melt together in a silver-green blur."

the beautiful truth (for zollo)

Saturday I drove from Atlanta to Madison GA for some programing in association with Handmade Nation. On the way back I made a pit stop in Athens since I had never been. I got to visit this amazing ceramics studio. Took all these great photos but they are currently lost somewhere between my camera and computer. So annoying. However, this one was captured on my phone as I drove into Madison. Holy shit.
On my drive back I made catch up calls. Spoke with Kristen who is land-sitting for some hippy deep in a forest on an island in Hawaii. Me driving my crappy rental, in the dark, on a rural highway in Georgia- her sitting sitting on a couch in the middle of the jungle, under a lean-to while the tropical rain fell. She said everything was damp there. I think I'm going to go visit once she gets a house. Then I talked with Seyta who had just gone mushroom hunting in Hood Canal. She told me that Nick Cave's assistant just got his suit that she had fitted him in his hotel room a month or so ago. That is a whole other amazing story. Gina told me that she got herself a tattoo for her birthday. It is of the leg lamp from the Christmas story. It takes up the entire side of her calf. By that time I was back in Atlanta.

Later on, after a dinner of fancy pizza with Lloyd, we met up with his friends. This one guy just got back from a solo trip to Ethiopia, he had good stories to tell. Makes me want to pack my bag. Drank too much and had a very difficult time with the airport and plane on Sunday. Glad to be home in the snow. Wish I had a better car.
Last night at black bird Annie brought me the softest muted blue scarf made out of alpaca wool that she knit me for my birthday. Made my day.

P.S. Saturday I was quoted (well, let's say paraphrased) in the LA Times. I also spied my spread in the new issue of Readymade Magazine, full page photo and all.

it simply was

Good eats here in Atlanta. BBQ tofu tacos at El Myr, cinnamon toast and grits at the Majestic. My birthday dinner was at Top Flr ending with a pumpkin pound cake with maple ice cream and the synchronous timing of Just Like Honey playing in the background. I love when you can get good food late at night, eating out in other cities makes me bitter about Milwaukee's dining options.

Nathan got me a copy of I Was Just Leaving: The Artwork of Richard Colman a book I've been drooling over for a long while. Beautiful creepy people barfing rainbows with things happening inside dresses and on top of tripped and tricked out mountain tops and mansions. There is a review of it here & on his site you can buy a special "dirty" edition of the book, which if I was rich I would.

a driver at the Atlanta airport

Tinlark Gallery posted photos on their blog of the Gathered Together opening last Saturday. There is funny photo of Jill Bliss and I gawking at her work- I was trying to figure out what piece to buy. Thankfully, I did.

p.s. that is me making that goofy kid face below

11,315 days

Always interesting to see where you end up and what you miss.

Last night drinks were had here in Atlanta with Nathan, Maggie, Lloyd and Sarah. Ended up unexpectedly raging and bringing in my birthday at a bumpin' underground club that was super South & super fun. Staying at this cute spot until Sunday right next to Maggie's gallery where my book signing is on Friday. Nathan flys home Saturday to play a show that I am disappointed I am going to miss at Cactus Club with C-Section, The Chain & Call Me Lightning. Last year today I had just finished my manuscript.

the day before mine

Dewey were her eyes

As we said, “Adieu.”

flux of blood and offensive imaginations

an owl serenades a love song to a grapefruit

via noel

The heat is on and the work is getting done. It is not as warm as I was hoping it would be in Atlanta this week.

about 60 hours left of being 30

Home Again Home Again. When I opened my eyes I had gone from 85 degrees to 30. Nothing like sleeping on the plane all night, a work meeting then giving a lecture to make a day rule.

I love this, prolly posted it before but HK right?

greatness comes to those who take it

At the airport. Here I am on my way back home for 2 days, then off to Atlanta for 5. Crabby as heck. I hate flying a overnight flight- but there was no way around it. AND, why oh why can't there be something healthy to eat at the airport, I'm in California for f's sake. Maybe a spinach salad, a sushi roll? Is that so much for a lady to ask for? Really the feeling I own right now is hangry- one of my favs from Sarah's vocab meaning a combo of hungry and angry. I settled on a grimy $9 burger. Breath.


Evan's alley

Went to the Jill Bliss & Salee Oh opening at Tinlark Gallery on Saturday night. It was fantastic and I ended up buying a Jill Bliss mobile made of drift wood, feathers and her printed fabric. One of a handful of birthday presents I decided to get myself on this trip. It's perfect since I don't have to find wall space for it. These lovely leaves took up a 1/4 off the room.


This was the view from the balcony today at Felt Club. I picked up a pair of earrings and a necklace- both beautiful pieces that will get a lot of wear over the next season. The earrings were definitely influenced by the fact that Evan and I watched Mongol on Friday. I was mesmerized by the costumes in that movie, they are divine. I would like to dress like a Mongolian woman in the 1200's


Oh- the reason I am flying home tonight is so I can be home for this talk tomorrow. Nothing like getting in at 9am, opening the shop at 12 and then speaking for an hour later that evening. It's how I roll.

the city is burning

The city is on fire. The entire sky is full of smoke. That cloud is from the fire in the distance on the way to Barnes & Noble for my book signing.....

This was an awkward first.....

Picked up a book at the berd house gallery cause the cover looked familiar: Rommel Drives On Deep Into Egypt. Paid my $5 and I am so pleased with the purchase. A goodie on Page 44.

Please

Do you think of me
as often as I think
of you?

lunch with you today

Okay the Wizard Crystal was better as a kid, and as a book, but it's still worth noting. I'm getting ready to go have my favorite coffee at Cafe Tropical then drive out to North Hollywood to visit my uncle Steve. Steve has been diagnosed with schizophrenia since he was 23, he's now in his 60's. It's always a bit of an adventure hanging with him. THEN I am due at Barnes & Noble for a book signing. Should be a strange day. I'm pretty hyped it's 85 degrees out & I get to rock my summer dresses one last time.

For sale on on 20x200 is a print of my favorite haiku eves (I am a fan of the haiku). Kate and Clifton set one aside for me which is rad. Can't wait to hang it in my studio.

Wizard Crystal

The toads at Evan's house made me flash on this story from when I was a kid. I could only remember something to do with gems and a well, so I called my dad to ask him if he knew what I was talking about. He knew immediatly that I was talking about Daniel Pinkerton's Wizard Crystal. He texted me the link to the audio file- such an amazing story...... on this recording you have to skip the first 1/4 of rammering that has nothing to do with the story at all. Today I went to Griffith Park Observatory, last time I was there was a grade school field trip.

down to business in LA LA land

Opted for the rental with no digital radio so I could listen to the local stations. Thank goodness I also remembered to bring along some tight mixes that saved me on the plane & while sitting in my first hour of traffic on my way to Evan's. Wouldn't of expected to end up at the driving range this evening when I woke up at 6 this morning.




so random


chocolate & guiness flavor

ice is better than diamonds

this song is worth a proper download

Picked up four goodies while at Quimby's in Chicago for our book signing on Monday. I had the hugest pile and had to put stuff back which I hate. I want it all, can't helps it. Then when I retire I will have the best library to chill out with. All my friends can come over drink tea or whiskey and chill out on my wrap-around porch.................


1. My favorite is The Bibliodyssey, which is an archive of the blog that catalogs incredible images-so so so awesome and amazing.
2. Issue #5 of Meatpaper, a magazine about art and ideas about meat-it's super strange

3. Stories Care Forgot: An Anthology of New Orleans Zines that has reviews and excerpts of all sorts of people and publications I know. Super nice collection of a time.

4. Public Phenomenons, which is really mysterious and I can't find any online info on right now.

Time to pack.

westward bound

Today's weather makes me homesick for the northwest- tomorrow morning I am heading to LA LA land for all sorts of events....


Last trip to Washington: mom's farm in Bow


Last trip to LA: swimming at Kevin, Nathan & Leona's house

If you are in the Los Angeles area find me here:

Friday at the new ReForm School!


Saturday at Barnes & Noble, Glendale, CA, 3pm

Sunday at Felt Club

too much with too little

no way to finish it all

waiting on down under

Waiting on a phone call from Australia, any second now- cross your fingers for me. If all goes well I will be there with my film this Spring....

If you have time read this interview with photographer Tod Seelie about his time with the Garden of Bling {pictured below} and the Miss Rockaway Armada- amazing right? The fact that I know people who do things like this makes me thankful to be alive.


Today I have to remind myself that sometimes I should cover my mouth with my hands before I speak to keep words from spilling out like barf. It's true.

I also am reminding myself how much I love my West Coast BFF Andrea Zollo. Once she wrote a song for me called Modern Day Emma Goldman and before I had an "online presence" if you googled my name that would be the only thing that would come up. Zollo Zollo Zollo- I am saying three times out loud for good luck (and to make her headache go away x).

I'm ready Australia.

orange juice island///tomorrow is 11:11

My dreams have been so vivid lately. I woke up this morning to crisp memories of being on an island, a northwest type island, not tropical. I was getting ready to hitchhike to go meet someone. There was a small restaurant near the ferry depot and I was waiting in line to get some fresh orange juice. They had all these varieties of oranges to pick from. Something made me start crying. Disappointed I had displayed such emotion, in my head I reminded myself to keep it together. What did I have to cry about anyhow? I should know how lucky I am.
I woke up and immediately went to go get fresh juice remembering the morals of dreamland.

My family went to Catalina Island every summer when I was a kid.
It's where I first saw a flying fish.


Today Cortney and I go to Chicago for a book signing at Quimby's, one of my favorite book stores in the world.

11:11<--------------------- For tomorrow you may want to keep this project in mind that was passed to me via Kelly Lynn Jones...... 11:11 - One Minute wish: The enigma of catching our actions aligning for one minute

Host: All of us
Type: a special event
Network: Global

Time and Place
Date: Tuesday, November 11
Time: 11:11-11:12 am and then again at 11:11 pm - 11:12 pm
Location: everywhere

(For people in the Bay Area please meet at Dolores Park near the tennis courts, to collectively make our wishes, and document this event through photographs and writing. )

We will be making a wish list, preserving all wishes made, to be published in the future.


When? Tuesday, November 11 @ 11:11 am and again at 11:11 pm

Why? This November 11, at 11:11 am/pm people everywhere are invited to come together in Dolores Park in San Francisco for one full minute of silence to collectively make our own wishes. The alignment of numbers and synchronicity of people coming together for a common mission can remind us that together we can realize the true affect that positive thinking can have.

People who are not in San Francisco are also encouraged to take a moment at 11:11 to make your wish, and email it for later inclusion in a future publication.

If you want to join in please invite your friends too. Anyone is welcome to participate.

Email address:
1111wishlist@gmail.com

bubblegum alley

freezing morning.
I was due at 10am to talk with the political art collective Just Seeds down near the river. It felt good to be in a room with such fantastic people. After the visit to the chilly industrial warehouse where their meeting was, I mosied out with Coco & Sarah for some pho & tea.

"when you are born in the gutter you end up in the port"

one end to hold forever

The Norns
Long years ago while eagles shrieked
And rain streamed down from the Hills of Heaven,
Helgi the warrior, the high-minded hero,
Borghild's son, was born in Bralund.
The Norns came to the house that night,
Those who would fashion the prince's fate;
Great fame, they said, would mark his future,
He would be called the best of kings.
Then they wound the threads of fate,
In Braland's castle where the hero was born
Gathered the strands into a golden rope,
And made it fast in the moon's high hall.
East and west they hid the ends;
The prince's lands lay in between.
Neri's sister went to the north
And fastened one end to hold forever.

{thank you cris for the hands}

Wet n' Wild & White Rain::: {for sarah & coco}

Perhaps it is seasonal. When I walked to black bird last night I felt a sense of loss. There are a lot of CLOSED FOR BUSINESS signs in our neighborhood. Never enough hours in the day it seems. Then I walked past a funeral where people seemed happy to be in each others presence. That reminded me that in the village of Milwaukee it's really easy to see the bigger picture even if you don't want to. I ran into Jon, Davey, Chris from the barber shop- someone on every block. The bar was bangin' early and I remembered that I really do like living here. Hello darkness. Goodbye warm.

"You have no power over me"

This weekend we will dance like it is May Day in November. Try to remember that even though Christmas music is being piped through the speakers there is time and space to take a breath and wait for the snow to fall.

revitalization of sprit

Today is a gray whateves day.

I would like to curl up and read the biography of Gabrielle Bonheur also know as "Coco" Chanel. Totally random book for me to spend time with but she is one of those mystery people who lied about her upbringing and paid off siblings to not exist. She built the Chanel empire of out nothing and becoming a totally powerful women of her time having timeless influence.

This morning I had one of those foggy memories that seems like you saw it in a movie or something. I was thinking about how I once sufi danced in the high altitudes of the Rocky Mountains as the sun came up. I know I was there.

Last night in my dreams I saw the northern lights over a large body of water while standing in the street with a tall man. I could tell people were waiting for me. I have never been privy to seeing northern lights and I will make a mecca before I am gone to witness the best. Mesmerizing beauty.

Sam Macon took some totally bonkers shots of the Obama rally in Grant park.
View his flickr set HERE.
Two things that I like very much:

The work of Maya Hayuk



Old Sesame Street & Raga combined in one amazing clip



The reality of this rainy day is I have massive amounts of emails to answer.
Starting now.