Just came back from New York (only to realize, as I browsed through a copy of Time Out New York, that I was missing Eileen's reading the very day I was leaving). It was raining in NY (and sleeting up in Ithaca), but no matter; I ended up walking in the freezing rain to make my usual pilgrimage -- no, not to Cendrillon, but to the Dakota and Strawberry Fields.
I was invited to give a talk at a terrific symposium at Columbia organized by Coco Fusco called "Visualizing Race in American Photography" -- yeah, there I was all starstruck with all those bigshots! And if you don't live in NY or Seattle, the accompanying website and exhibition catalog would be the next best thing -- though it inevitably pales in comparison.
A photograph of Bennie Flores Ansell's piece "The Collection Box, Morpho Stiletto" doesn't do it much justice; one should really see the inkjet transparencies of shoes, in the shape of butterflies, pinned inside a box, to experience its fragile yet creepy tactile quality. I met the artist at the show and we had a nice chat about our respective obsessions about Imelda Marcos -- anyhow, I highly recommend checking out her website, where she has a mini-gallery and a discussion of "the interface of the values of beauty, identity and gender classification." (We talked about the possibility of some conference thingie, or at least more scholarly and artistic work -- hey, maybe I'll do another one of those mini blog parties! -- on Imelda. Anyone interested in answering a call for blog papers?)
Anyhow, it seems I'm missing out on a "po(e)tluck and literary feast" at Pusod this weekend; I'm kicking myself (no, really) as I have to be in Disneyland for Madeline's cousin's wedding. (Yes, really.) I think the bride actually comes out of a pumpkin-shaped carriage. And part of the contract is that Mickey and Minnie have to dance during the bride and groom's first dance. (Yes, really!)
So I've been praying, please, oh god, let Donald Duck pronounce them man and wife. That would totally make my weekend.
So you Bay Area folks: eat my share of adobo.
Posted by the wily filipino at February 9, 2004 08:59 PM