Speaks for Herself

Got this message from my friend Stephanie this morning. Stephanie is the mother of Florin, the miracle baby, who is now walking and talking to beat the band (http://www.florincecily.blogspot.com/). Stephanie is now also, miraculously, pregnant again...this time without the help of any invasive medical intervention of any kind. We're all keeping a good thought. But she was riled this week-end:

"So I was still sick this weekend and watched "Reds" and I thought it was pretty good. I thought the movie was about both of them but the fucking movie ended when he died and didn't even have a footnote about what happened to Louise Bryant who was illegally stuck in Russia at that point. WTF??"

In case anyone is wondering what DID happen to her, here's some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Bryant

Baby Art Aficionado

Got an email message from my friend Gina today about her toddler, Michael:

"Yesterday was my parent-teacher conference. (Apparently these are common now that he is a preschooler. I still don't get all the distinctions of daycare...) Miss Danielle wanted to make sure I knew how much Michael loves to paint. (I will admit that I really didn't know that as we don't paint too often here because of the mess. We usually do other crafts or color, so it's not like I'm not exposing him to art.) So I resolved right then and there to let him paint more, like when I'm making dinner and it's something that he can't help me with, etc.

So this morning I thought, "If he likes painting so much, perhaps I should let him look at some paintings." I mean, he loves his Van Gogh, Seurrat, and Renoir boardbooks and we used to read them all the time. So, we went to visit Pat's Paintings.

He LOVED it! His favorite is "Grandma's Pansy." He pointed to it and said, "I like that one. It's pretty and so cool." (I didn't know he knew what "cool" meant, but I guess I was wrong.) He also liked "Memorial Hall" and the space mural. (That one got a couple of "wows". He's also really into space.) And of course when he saw his portrait, he smiled, pointed to it and said, 'Look at the baby.' "

"Grandma's Pansy" was painted in memory and honor of my grandmother Nina, so it touched me that that was his favorite. I also found it a little surprising, but mostly it made me happy.

A Wierd Collection of Stories About Women

in today's Washington Post.


Temporary 'Enjoyment Marriages' in Vogue Again With Some Iraqis:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901850.html

(I really thought I had heard it all...apparently not.)


Ugandan Rebel Leader Alice Lakwena; Led 1980s Insurgency
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901616.html

(Talk about your warrier priestesses...)


Julie W. Bertrand, 115; World's Oldest Woman
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901712.html

("The cause of death was not reported." Gee, she was 115. I wonder what it was?)


Men Have Used Religion to Exert Control Over Women
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/19/AR2007011901385.html

(Well, DUH. )


And last, but not least, and not unexpected, in the more recent online edition:

Sen. Clinton Launches 2008 Campaign
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/20/AR2007012000426.html

(To the Post's credit, they didn't call her "Hillary," but "Sen. Clinton." I have to say I was surprised. Now, if she would tap Obama for V.P., she may have a snowball's chance...!)

Charlotte's Shoes

New painting, 10 by 10, acrylic on canvas, for Girls Gotta Run

I LOVE That Thing!

I got a call from one of the young women putting together this year's Murch Elementary School annual auction to see if I would again offer my 1/2 price portrait or mural and during the course of the discussion I told her that I was the Director of the Girls Gotta Run Foundation and she said, "Oh, wow! Is that YOU!?? I LOVE that thing. I just LOVE that thing! I'm going to put it in the book...!" meaning, I believe, she would note that I was the Director of GGRF as part of the write up about my offer...we'll see when I get the draft form...anyhow...she had seen our exhibit at the Coffeehouse, of course. Cool, huh?

I'm Going to the Dinner Party!

I've been waiting to see Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party" for years! At one point it seemed as if no one would ever have the chance to see it again, that if you missed it on its first go-round, you were just out of luck. Then UDC almost got it and I was so excited. That fell through. NMWA didn't act on it, ridiculously. A few years ago I learned that the Brooklyn Museum was building a new feminist art wing and were going to permanently install it....and every year before I would go to NYC, I checked to see the status of the project. So this year, when Jim found out the dates for the annual Allman Brothers NYC concert tour, I checked to see if it were open/up yet....Lo and Behold! The exhibit is opening on March 23, 5 days before we are going up to see the concerts this year. Whoo Hoo!!!

http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/dinner_party/

Gearing Up for a GGRF Board Meeting

By any measure, Girls Gotta Run had a great first year. Besides all the good things that happened earlier, December saw a lovely Holiday Shoe Art exhibit at the Coffeehouse at Politics and Prose; we got our tax exempt status, ahead of schedule; and we got an unexpected local family foundation grant as an extra Christmas present on the 29th.

Jim did the financial report on New Year's Day, and I'm organizing for a Board meeting. We want to start writing grants, mount a couple of more local exhibits this year, promote exhibits in other areas of the country, organize our product sales and memberships differently, better; find some other volunteers to do specific types of outreach, for instance, with the running communities; and we need to finalize arrangements with PACT. Just to name a few things. We are taking down the Coffeehouse exhibit on Saturday morning.

Tillie Olsen Died.

She was 94!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/03/AR2007010301788.html

Greg Delivers An Impressive Concert

We met our friends Ann and Jack at the State Theater last night to see Greg Allman and Friends in concert. We had seen him/them last year about this time, too, and it had been okay, so I didn't mind going but wasn't expecting anything great. We were very happily surprised. It was way better than last year's....as I told Jim, it was almost as if they had rehearsed! I could do without Honey Tribe, though, his son Devan's band that opened for them. Basically it just sounded like a big pile of reverberating noise. For $40.00 I don't think we should be forced to listen to his limitedly talented kid as well. Devan is no Greg, that's for sure, despite his long white blonde hair.

New Year's Eve: Low Key, but Still a Party

Our friend Kathleen came over to taste the bulgogi and have a glass of champagne with us and about 8:30 the three of us walked around the corner to Betsy's. Although Jim and I were not originally intending to stay very long, her friend from Boston/Chicago turned out to be not only a chef but a principally blues musician and he had brought his keyboard with him. The several other people who showed up were all very interesting and congenial, and even though I started feeling a little tired and headachy about 11, I just took an aspirin and rested a bit sitting in her rocking chair and got a bit of a second wind. So we stayed to welcome the new year in with the group, which eventually broke up about 12:45 or so a.m.

We slept until 9 this morning. Felt a little ragged most of the day and it was cold and rainy, so rested a lot. But we did do the GGRF financial report with an eye to a Board meeting mid-month, and we ventured out of the house for dinner: Lia's for half price burgers.

Nice beginning to the new year.