Thursday, May 31, 2007

Art is Calling to Me


Look closely. Closer. Yup, it's a frackin' 6-ft man and reflection made out of LEGO building blocks. This is just one of many "sculptures" by artist Nathan Sawaya. Keep in mind that this guy gave up being a lawyer to follow his Muse's Call. Here are a few more, for you viewing pleasure.

Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Quote of the Day: "I feel that Pure Romance is my ministry."

Y'all know how I love music AND puns, so when I saw this article, I had to read it.

Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Burn, Baby, Burn

I'll take them! Don't burn them! Why not eBay them, at least? I know it's a protest, but....

My book-heart aches.

That's One Sad Bananna

Saturday, May 26, 2007

"If a Body Meet a Body"


I grew up thinking J.D. Salinger must be an Evil Man because his novel The Catcher in the Rye had been banned by so many schools and libraries. Censorship is the only way to protect the hearts and minds of our children, isn't it? I mean, it is just so much healthier to pretend like these things don't exist than to brave some potentially embarrassing and honest conversation.

The recent Mississippi school ban of Ray Bradbury's anti-censorship classic Fahrenheit 451--during the celebration of ALA's Banned Books Week, no less--made me reconsider the whole "banned books are evil books" thang of my dewy youth.* Having read F-451 during said youthful period, I knew this was not an Evil Book; in fact, the worst slight I can throw at it is that its narrative pacing is occasionally boring. What the heckles, I wondered, could have caused such a fuss? Goddam.

The almighty epithet Goddam is the No.1 excuse given for most banned books. Salinger used it 225 times** in The Catcher in the Rye, and then sprinkles in a handful of "Fuck you"s towards the end of his angst tome. Swearing, plus a chaste encounter with a frosty prosty, outraged enough earnest citizens to get the book banned in large portions of the U.S. The Message was obscured by the Vehicle of Expression.

Salinger's novel is unsettling, thick with sadness, and as accurate a depiction of depression as I have ever read. Our "unreliable" narrator, Holden Caulfield, grapples with capital-C Communication from the first sentence. "If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is....all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." But The Truth is submerged in the mundane details of two days of Holden's life. The plot follows Holden meeting body after body, meeting but never connecting, never catching one another.*** Two of his most meaningful relationships are merely memories--the first, with his dead younger brother, Allie; the second, with crush Jane, to whom Holden cannot make himself reach out.

In one memorable scene, Holden tries to explain his childhood love of visiting the museum:
"The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was....Nobody'd be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. Not that you'd be so much older or anything. It wouldn't be that, exactly. You'd just be different, that's all. You'd have an overcoat on this time. Or the kid that was your partner in line the last time had got scarlet fever and you'd have a new partner. Or you'd have a substitute taking the class, instead of Miss Aigletinger. Or you'd heard your mother and father having a terrific fight in the bathroom. Or you'd just passed by one of those puddles in the street with gasoline rainbows in them. I mean you'd be different in some way--I can't explain what I mean. And even if I could, I'm not sure I'd feel like it."****

Holden's melancholic shields tinge every conversation, every jaded reflection. He is trying, with every word, to Communicate, but wants to protect himself from the painful Void of Lost Connection. Isn't this what every teen experiences? Isn't this what every person experiences? Why are people afraid of this book? I found great hope: I Am Not Alone.
*Actually, I had reconsidered years ago; I just felt spurred (like a pony!) into action. And by action, I mean reading. Lots of reading.
**I'm no sadist; I did no counting, but took the figures from the Wikipedia site.
***Pssst, wanna know a secret? The title is explained in Chapter 22. If you read it, then you can see how clever I am!
****I also loved the line, "The thing Jesus really would've liked would be the guy that plays the kettle drums in the orchestra."

Campaign Carolers

More Hillary sillary. She needs your vote, Citizen Blatherscopian!

Friday, May 25, 2007

Happy Towel Day!

Hitchhiker's guide to a hoopy Douglas Adams hommage. You sass that frood, too?

Writing in the Face of Danger: Women in the Middle East

Middle Eastern women are taking courageous stands in their communities by protesting, teaching, and writing about their lives in a part of the world few Americans can even comprehend. There are some wonderful books: Marjane Satrapi's two-volume graphic-memoir Persepolis (from which the image at right is taken) is a heart-rending account of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution; Azar Nafisi's insightful and unusual Reading Lolita In Tehran: A Memoir In Books recounts the lives of a group of women who dared to continue learning after Iranian women were banned from universities. For other recommendations, visit Laila Lalami's book blog, Moorish Girl.

The Many Emotional Colors in the Rainbow of Life

Just in case you were getting bored with "happiness", "sadness", "joy", or "ennui," now you can feel "requiapathy", "seprudity", and "trepatiousness." As reported (ahem!) in The Onion, Hallmark has discovered new emotions to "fill in any gap left by [their] 'Thinking of You' and 'Just Because' categories."

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Weariness

When I first read about the "honor" killing of Dua Kahlil, I was crying so hard I could barely see the monitor. I am so angry about the way women are treated, and I feel so impotent. Culture and Heritage seem like bullshit screens to avoid Humanity--what responsibilities we creatures of earth have to one another. The kind of anger I have makes me believe that no measured response can effect equality; women cannot continue to beg for value. We need more "fuck you" can-do, even in the face of physical threat.

Via Salon.com's Broadsheet, I ran across this rant by my beloved Joss Whedon. I love that he says what he says; I love that he uses the public forums open to him to create powerful role models; I love that he, as a white-American-male, is openly feminist. But what saddens me is that because he spoke up about Dua Kahlil's murder, people started to pay attention. No woman (celebrity, politician, etc) who has spoken publicly about this has gotten much press. We are all still accepting that it must be men who speak for us, who OK our natural emotions and responses, who decide what is important and why.

What can I do? WHAT CAN I DO?

I am part of the system and its problems; I sing--beautiful, transcendent melodies--about women who want to die for love, who are outcast for following their hearts, who descend into madness when their lover is killed. I am so eager to "succeed" in this opera business that I will act any role granted me, despite its message. One of the roles that I have done repeatedly is Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberfloete; Pamina has been kidnapped by her father to save her from the "corrupting" influence of her "power-hungry" mother; while held prisoner, the man to whom her father entrusts her attempts to "force his love upon" her; she is saved by men, pardoned for escaping by a man, and both her parents give her as a prize to Prince Tamino; Pamina's one moment of greatness in the opera is when she accompanies Tamino on his trials--she is willing to brave water and fire in order to support her man on his mission. How can I continue to play this part, to tell this story, particularly when it is marketed to children? How can I hope to make a real change in this business if I never get started? How can I do any more than be who I am, and hope that me "being the change [I] wish to see in the world" is enough?

What can I do?

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Black Licorice...

...is always cool. Thus, astute readers will note its inclusion on my sidebar: Things That Are Always Cool. What proof* have I, lowly Zerd, of the licorice cool factor? From humble beginnings in Ancient Egypt, today 13 lucky countries provide their own unique lik'rish to the greatful world, and Licorice International (yes, an entire organization dedicated to winning the war on sweets) sponsors a Licorice-of-the-Month Club. Hmmm, I tried to find some poetry or literary references to help propel my case, but all I found was a poem by a little girl (The Scrumptious Sweet-Tooth Monster).

Hubby and I like to keep some around for home Movie Date times, so I picked some up at the local Freddy's. The cashier, when she saw my purchase, grinned, revealing six rotting teeth and big blank holes where other teeth should have been. She asked, " D'ju happen to see if they had restocked the Orange Slices yet? I eat a pack a day, and yesterday I wiped 'em out." I went to my dentist that afternoon.

*In the interest of full disclosure of my dorkiness, I had no proof of anything until beginning this post. What little I found is kinda pathetic, really. Oh, well.

Friday, May 18, 2007

Good Luck, Ben!

My buddy Ben is exhibiting his amazing photography in an art show today and tomorrow. This is a BFD 'cuz it's his first show and he rawks! You can see excerpts at his website.

It's a Tire, It's a Wheel, It's a Tweel


The future is now, folks. No, autos do not yet have lazers or jet-propulsion systems, but they can have airless tires. G*d bless the USA.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

Fuzzy Funny


Darby Conley might be a genius. If you're a fan, or this strip has whetted your appetite for the absurd, check out these funnies.

Hamster Wheels Keep On Rollin'

I'm referring, of course, to the hamster-running-its-wheel which powers my mind. I feed this hamster books. [Long, uncomfortable pause.] In other words, I want to talk about a couple of books I just read.

1. Fun Home. Alison Bechdel's graphic novel/memoir is incredible. I have such respect for her talents, I can feel myself getting less articulate as I try to convey how clever, funny, artistic, acerbic, deeply sad and loving this book is. She threads the story of her gifted and troubled family through myth and literary references, snakes, home decor projects, even Sunshine Bread. Bechdel has a sophisticated sense of the text-art relationship; her nuanced overlay of word to picture and picture to word was spellbinding. Me likey!

2. On Beauty and . Zadie Smith's latest novel dares to tackle Class and Race in modern academic America, a supposedly class-less and mixed heritage institution. Her vehicle of examination is the Belseys, a mixed-race family, each meeting Life's Problems in his/her own way. I liked this book for its use of voice (each character felt real and offered a unique point of view), but had some problems with its overall structure. I recognize (after reading others' reviews of the book) that it was a remake (re-write?) of E.M. Forster's Howard's End (a book I have never read; the Forster I have read has left me cold), but does Smith need to mirror every inane plot twist and meandering subplot? It felt lopsided, with many Important Questions raised and only a few examined. While the first few pages of the book (Jerome's emails to Howard) hooked me, the rest of the first section seemed to describe a different premise (the clash of the mores of Belseys and Kippses) than what it ultimately built upon: fidelity--to relationships, to morals, to culture. The book gained traction with the second section and set up a rousing final act, but the first section continued to puzzle me. So I re-read it. And I still have no clue how anything in the first part really serves the rest of (i.e. the real) the book.

The hamsters are busy chewing on yet another attempt at True Literature, so I'll have more soon. Until then, support your local libraries and bookstores! I heart Powell's City of Books 4-ever 'n ever!

I Heart Hillary

Oooh, the original clip had already endeared her to me; this just pushes my love a bit more toward passion. The choices are hilarious, too. Seriously, a very hip strategy--check it out!

Mini Bottle Of Ketchup*

The anniversary of Hubby's birth passed with a gentle amount of family fanfare. Unfortunately for him, this date is crammed in the midst of Mother's Day, his mother's birthday, his cousin's birthday, and the end of the school year (and because we are a clan of Educators and Over-Educateds, this translates to Crazy Time). Poor Hubby rarely gets a Shin-Dig to call his own. On the up side, he is a Taurus. (Which, I just realized, is the auto his Big Brother #2 drives. WWFT--What Would Freud Think?) At the Combo-Party, he looked so sweet and han'sum in a stylin' dark gray polo I found on the bargain rack. And the cake was Super-Razberry-Fudgy-Awesome! (Beaverton Bakery, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways....)

I also spent A LOT of time in church this past weekend (got to get those Jesus Points!), honoring deacons, mothers, and, naturally, G*d. There is nothing quite like Catholic Pomp and Circumstance--actually, given the slightest Circumstance, the Catholics will Pomp. Of course, what is Pomp without Choral Accompaniment? I am definately ready for the summer break (which came about simply because no one shows up for choir rehearsal in the summer). The Sunday homily has stuck in my mind, though: Fr.George talked about two words for peace** in Hebrew, XXX (word I can't remember) and Shalom can both translate as "peace," but the first means "a lack of conflict" while Shalom means "striving for social justice." The crux of the message being "there can be no XXX without Shalom." Just some fuel for the Thinking Machine inside the head.***

Other topics of my life TBB [To Be Blogged]: Great adventures in the wilds of Chicago, my just-established State of the Voice annual address, and more of the popular Books Read section. Stay tuned to this station for all your excitement--we'll be back after this break!


*Get it? "Ketchup" = "Catch up." Ha! I do love a good pun! Of course, "good" is completely a matter of personal taste....
** I accidentally typed "peach" instead of "peace" here. Hee! I thought it was funny. At the time. Oh, well.
***However, I just tried to look up the XXX, and came across this article which says Shalom means lack of conflict, so.... It is also an interesting rant against Sharon/Bush.

Saving the Earth by Killing Off One Indigenous Population at a Time

"Saving," "killing": what's the diff? They both end in "-ing." This article gets filed under the heading of "Oh, crap." Doomdrops keep falling on our heads.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Absence Makes Hearts...Well, You Know

Zerd still feels hung-over from too many time zones in one week. Though I miss you, dear readers, I must gather my strength to face a bunch of crap this weekend, not least of which is Hubby's Bday. Joyfulness will ensue when we are reunited. Until then, make your worlds prettier!

Sunday, May 6, 2007

"I'm An Alligator Boy!"...



...Was my favorite quote of the day from a 7-year-old climbing a gigantic mosaic sculpted to look like some sort of sea creature. The sculpture was part of "Niki in the garden," an art exhibit set amongst Chicago's Garfield Park Conservatory. Each of the pieces was HUGE, very tactile, and most could be "experienced"--i.e., climbed. Photos to be uploaded soon.

Update, May 8: Zerd is a gal of her word, and here are the promised photos. Well, one photo, anyway. To see more, go to here.


Friday, May 4, 2007

Ants...

...Are never cool. Thus the new entry in like sidebar. I just found ants crawling all over my kitchen counter, under the pile o' nast. They give me the heebee-geebees! I can feel them trickling up my nose and down my neck, under my bra, into my belly-button.... I skull ants.

Off I Go, Into The Wild Blue Yonder...

...Soaring high, into the sky, for the second time in a week. Destination: Chicago. Glamorous activity: being coached by Jennifer Larmore.

Now I know all you Blatherscope readers thrill to the bone at Ms. Larmore's very mention, so I know I don't have to remind anyone that she is one of the most acclaimed singers in the world; a mezzo-soprano with a rich timbre equally at home in coloratura and sustained passages. She is also an extremely gracious lady, very giving with her time and expertise. She has a number of CDs, so rush out and consume! I met her last year when I had the good fortune to sing for her at a masterclass here in Portland (she was in town to sing Mahler's Rueckart Lieder with Carlos Kalmar and the Oregon Symphony. Gorgeous!). She is so uplifting! I heart her.

I'll be staying with Benjers and Amber-pants, some of the Wonder People in my life brought to me through Hubby. I have high hopes for fun times in the big city. Don't let me down, Chicago.

Stinkin' Cute


Awww....who doesn't like baby elephants? (Unless a drunken Dumbo terrified you as a child.) (Crap. Now I have "Pink Elephants On Parade" running through my head.) Seeing something that huge in teeny-tiny form is, well, just too precious for words. Not that I will probably waste any more thought on baby Ming Jung, but for this moment it is elephan-tastic!

If, however, huge steaming piles of 'phant dung thrills you, check out the Cologne Zoo, Cologne, Germany for periodic updates on Ming Jung.

Latest Reads, Or: More Trees Eaten By My Mind

Some of you astute Blatherscope readers may have noticed this week that two books switched from my Books-To-Be-Consumed list to Books-I-Have-Loved list: The Plot Against America by Phillip Roth and Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt by Nick Hornby. And, knowing how this list activity must set your eager minds a-whirl with bookish questions, herein do I propose to discuss said literary queries.

The Plot Against America is Roth's alternate-history memoir of his boyhood during the first years of WWII. The world of this war, however, has an America that elects aviation hero and Nazi sympathiser Charles Lindbergh in the stead of FDR's 3rd term. Lindbergh campaigns on a promise to keep America out of "their" (i.e. the Jews) war, and slowly begins to dismantle the freedoms of American Jews. The Roth family, a middle-class Jewish family from Newark, NJ, can do little but watch the erosion of their civil liberties and try not to let each other slip away as well.

Roth's pacing of events is so subtle, so insidious, and so utterly believable, I had to remind myself at several points in the book that, "No, this is not real. This did not happen." But what is even more chilling to me, is that it could still happen--maybe not to American Jews at this point*, but to American Arabs/Muslims/East Asians. The steps Lindbergh takes to isolate America's Jews and accentuate their "otherness", all while supposedly offering Jewish families a chance to get out of "their self-imposed ghettos" and assimilate into "real American communities", are frightening. (See the Rabbi Bengelsdorf's monologue, p.110-111. Aww, heck, here it is, in part)

"[Lindbergh] is a man of enormous native intelligence and great probity who is rightly celebrated for his personal courage and who wants now to enlist my aid to help him raze those barriers of ignorance that continue to separate Christian from Jew and Jew from Christian. Because there is ignorance as well among Jews, unfortunately, many of whom persist in thinking of President Lindbergh as an American Hitler when they know full well that he is not a dictator who attained power in a putsch but a democratic leader who came to office through a landslide victory in a fair and free election and who has exhibited not a single inclination toward authoritarian rule....What Hitler perpetrated on Germany's Jews with the passage in 1935 of the Nuremberg Laws in the absolute antithesis of what President Lindbergh has undertaken to do for America's Jews through he establishment of the Office of American Absorption. The Nuremberg Laws deprived Jews of their civil rights and did everything to exclude them from membership in their nation. What I have encouraged President Lindbergh to do is to initiate programs inviting Jews to enter as far into the national life as they like--a national life that I'm sure you would agree is no less ours to enjoy than anyone else's."


The reasoning is immaculate, if you accept the basic (unspoken) premise: white "christians" are THE TRUE Americans, and anyone who lives differently isn't. Scary to me was the fact that there were times that I couldn't immediately see the harm in a proposed action; I thought the Roths were over-reacting, hysterical for no reason--partially because Roth keeps his family characters real: intelligent, but inarticulate. Only after the "harmless" action opened the way for blatant discrimination and violence could I trace the terror to the source. It made me feel like a bad human because I, as a part of the dominant white "christian" sector, am so oblivious to what can cause harm to others. How much harm have I inflicted (what I have said, how I have voted) unaware, but no less culpable? My one major criticism of the novel is that the stamp collection representing young Phillip's youth is overwrought and LAME.

I am not alone in my respect for Roth's novel, as Nick Hornby gushes about it in the opening chapter/essay of Housekeeping Vs. The Dirt: Fourteen Months of Massively Witty Adventures in Reading. Now, I think Blatherscope readers are aware that I, Zerd, am a gigantic nerd. Not only do I like books, but I think books that contain others' thoughts on books and reading. Hornby's essays are no less entertaining than his books of fiction (About A Boy, High Fidelity, How To Be Good, and A Long Way Down), but somehow seem less illuminating than those works dealing with Serious Human Problems (suicide, monogamy, humanity) in rawly hilarious ways. Still, a frothy, fun read, with witty insights on books and authors (as promised on the jacket cover!).

I loved the lists [side note: I think I may have a "thing" for lists. Is that weird?] of books bought vs. books read at the beginning of each essay, and one can see how reading the books he did would put Hornby in the mindset to buy said books. A sort of chicken-and-egg thang, if you will. All in all, the collection of essays served as a delightful palate cleanser, scrubbing the stain of Lindbergh's America out of my mind's-eye, preparing me to devour The Next Book (to be revealed in a future column).

*I hope this doesn't show how naive/oblivious I am....Love, Peace, and Understanding for All!!!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggitty-Jog

I can now say that I have been to NYC--and, in the words of Camden/Green and music of Bernstein, "It's a helluv a town." It felt like Portland to me--only bigger, with bigger buildings, more people, shops, culture, and history, and a lot more noise. It's the "grown-up" version of Pdx. I was comfy and able to enjoy it without being over-awed by years of movie/tv/book build-up to the experience.

The noise was the startling thing (which is semi-ironic as I had gone to contribute more noise to the cityscape). No place was quiet. By the time I arrived back in Portland, I felt aurally berated.*

I had no idea that the city butts the water quite that closely--at JFK, the landing strips seem to overlay the illusion of land; I'm surprised flooding isn't more of an issue. The transit system was just like Portland's, only dirtier, smellier, and more underground (one escalator seemed to raise me almost completely vertically the length of a football field). While in the subway, I kept my eyes peeled for Mole People, but mostly saw a lot of nothing because it is very dark down there.

MoMA was exceptional. It was so exciting to be in place where hundreds of people queue for art at 10:30 a.m. on a Wednesday! I loved the design gallery, the Pollocks, work by an artist named Kiki Smith, and a series from Lisa Yuskavage. And then I walked around a corner, and there she was: Christina.

I have loved Andrew Wyeth's painting "Christina's World" since I was a little girl growing up in the Hoosier land, surrounded by fields of corn. The painting always seemed slightly melancholy--a solitary figure in a sea of grass, far from home--and I felt a kinship with her. How much lonelier I felt when I learned that the real Christina had been Wyeth's crippled neighbor; she would drag herself out to work in the fields each day and home at dusk to make dinner.

Suddenly, in the midst of New York and all its noise, I was there with Christina in her prairie world. My head was quiet for the first time (the only time) that day. And for the first time, I saw her strength, her hope, her happiness. Wyeth had painted her in a pink dress that glowed amidst the golden grain; her arms are strong, her fingers show her determination, her head held high; her world was beautiful and un-pityable.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I may have been tipped over the edge by the row of screaming children directly behind my airplane seat.