NYC Grassroots Media Conference

I will be participating in the NYC Grassroots Media Conference on March 2nd with my colleagues talking about connecting teaching strategies for visual literacy and media literacy. I'm really looking forward to this conference and hope those in the NYC area will make it! If there's nerdy media, art and museum educators coming to the conference, I hope you'll make it to our workshop!

"Void" at Magnan Emrich Contemporary

I've also decided to start writing more on the riffRAG blog. As an attempt, I wrote a review of Monica Paez and Nicolas Consuegra's excellent show "void" there. Please check it out here! (http://www.riffrag.org/blog/blog.html)

My Favorite Pastime

While I enjoy waking up to NPR's morning addition or the BBC world service (I also used to fall asleep to the BBC when I lived in Oregon) I have a favorite new radio show: Fair Game with host Faith Salie. A mixture of political commentary, sketch comedy, interviews and musical performances, all pulled together by Faith's valley girl voice had me first saying, "This is NPR? I just can't believe it!" While Terry Gross she is not (thankfully), Faith is an upbeat and critical host. I now I find myself looking forward to each weekday evening between 8 and 9 when I can cook dinner and listen to Fair Game. My favorite segment? Bathed in Glory, which highlights really hideous things people do, like run over a 17 year old and then sue the deceased boy's family for damages to the car. Last night I even found myself in the kitchen after I had finished dinner (and the dishes). I realized I was engaging in a very old fashioned pastime: sitting around, listening to the radio. If you love WNYC as much as I do, today is the last day of their fund drive, so donate if you can (I am guilty of not donating this time, but next time! I swear!).

Guide to New French Slang

The other night G. gave me a special French test, part of in concerning gastronomie and the other concerning verlan and argot, aka French slang. Needless to say, I did o.k., but not great. However, I found a helpful site that explains new verlan, which is incredibly grammatical, to use thick headed English speakers. My favorite part is that it's not the spelling of the words that are reversed, but the syllables.

Scene From a Movie

it's easy in New York to imagine that you are living in a movie. Tonight was no exception. Freezing wind and squalling snow caused us to dash into the Fort Hamilton Parkway subway stop, only to wait on the plant form as tumbleweeds rolled by on the unused center express track and the "N" was no where to be found. The station was complete with a deserted feeling, graffiti and a chainlink fence above rattling in the wind. I'm not sure what happens next, but probably something sinister.

Blogging Resolve

Part of my hopes and goals for 2008 is to write more. I realized I'm in danger of becoming one of those artists who never does the thing that they really want to do (writing in my case) because they are too busy earning their rent money or getting lost in daily distractions. During a phone call with Elissa today she talked about working on her writing while being a public school teacher. They key is to start small, to "use what you have" as Elissa says. Like this blog. So I've decided to rekindle my posting focus and let this blog and the small stories I share about my life as writing warm up. I'm also reading "The Anti 9 to 5 Guide," which is also inspiring me to get off my duff and start writing. So, if you have any suggestions about being a writer AND working a full time job not at all related to writing, please send them my way.