and now a word from our sponsor . . .

A while ago, I was introduced to Blurb (www.blurb.com), the self-publishing website that enables anybody to format and produce their own book. The results are really pretty good. I highly recommend the service to anybody who has thought of publishing a book before. The beauty of Blurb is that you can opt to print only one copy of a book if you desire. Also, Blurb offers its own bookstore for exposure and potential sales opportunities. Below are my two efforts highlighting respectively, my toy camera photography and my latest body of work.

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/102309

http://www.blurb.com/bookstore/detail/290743

Feel free to purchase as many copies as you want. They make great gifts!

Blatant self-promotion? You betcha!

mark rothko chapel

During a recent family reunion in Houston, we visited the Mark Rothko Chapel. The paintings in the chapel represent his last body of work prior to committing suicide. He said that he hoped (and I paraphrase here) that the viewer would connect with the emotions he felt when he painted these pieces and that they too would weep uncontrollably.

more miya ando stanoff images

These are the two final Stanoff steel pieces I had mentioned earlier that I would post.

gambling and sexual urges . . .

At a recent physical, I told my doctor about my Restless Leg Syndrome (RLS), a condition that causes my legs to feel as if tiny electrical impulses were running through them, resulting in outbreaks of dance-like jigs as I settle into bed for the night. Interestingly, a possible side-effect of the medication she prescribed, is an increased propensity to gamble or have sexual urges. WHAAAT?!?! How can a drug designed to quell involuntary jerks of your legs at night possibly affect such behavior? It is almost as far-fetched as a warning: "possible side-effects may include the desire to wear plaid."

In any event, my night-time jigs in bed have been eliminated and to my knowledge, I have suffered none of the potential side-effects. AND, I'll lay you 10-to-1 odds, I never will . . .

Art of the Samurai Sword

While on a recent trip to Sun Valley, we visited our favorite gallery: the Anne Reed Gallery. There were two show running, both featuring artists of Japanese descent. One in particular, a half-Japanese, half-Russian artist named Miya Ando Stanoff attracted our attention with her beautiful abstract work on sheets of steel. Stanoff uses a combination of pigments, encaustics, heat, lacquer and various surface treatments (like sanding) to achieve ethereal, moody, landscape-like pieces. Due to the surface properties of steel, each piece changes with the light or viewing angle. The dark areas become the light areas, and vice versa. It is very captivating and magical.

She mentions in an interview that her ancesters were swordsmakers, and thus the medium resonates for her almost as a legacy. We were reminded of the work of Rothko, and indeed her work can be interpreted as either very solemn, or as beautifully tranquil, depending upon your glass half-empty/glass half-full perspective. Needless to say, we purchased three of her pieces we felt complemented one another. I'll post photos of these works shortly, but in the meantime, you can see examples on Stanoff's website at www.miyaandostanoff.com.

being gay isn't everything . . .

Recently, somebody I work closely with was doing research on what we initially thought was a summer camp for gay kids. We had assumed it was to help address issues of identity and pride and learning strategies to cope with a sometimes prejudice environment. My friend commented that although she felt such programs were valuable, being gay was only a small component of what defined her. While it is important to recognize her sexuality, it is equally important to not allow this one aspect of who she is, to overshadow her other attributes.

friendship

Below are some thoughts from a friend (who will at present remain unnamed until I can procure her permission to credit her publicly):

Keeping in touch gives us protection from the meanness of life. We are driven to keep in touch because we're human and it's one of the nice things we do. It provides us with ties to others in the clan so that when we scream for help, someone responds. It gives us a break in the tedium and sometimes imparts joy. We learn from another's experiences, but this is extremely rare as evidenced by the dumb things people do after being told "don't do that."