+interesting

so, i'm doing the whole social network thing and exposing myself. it's ok because i want my writing and my books to reach people. this adventure sent me to pintrest. do you know pintrest? it's like a bulletin board where you can 'pin' images from the internet. you create a board with a name and then do searches on various themes--today, while pinning my '+happy' board, i typed in the word BEAUTY and i expected you know, 'art, moon and sun and colour and flowers'...the first three or four scrolls down were pictures of women. now why is this interesting? because i had a constructed vision of what BEAUTY is (key here: constructed) to me----and when the page popped up, i saw something different. don't get me wrong---people are beautiful and women, too, and yes, as a girl i feel a certain amount of pressure to be 'beautiful' according to society's standards (as fickle as they can be!) but see, i was expecting my own paradigm on that page! proving once again that i construct my own reality! and, embarrassingly, i am surprised when i find that it is not a universal construct!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i construct my world. i make the world with my thoughts. THOUGHTS = THINGS. powerful stuff, constructivisim.

+example

http://imaginepeace.com/archives/18337?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter From the link above:

Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde

From the mid-1950s through the 1960s, Tokyo transformed itself from the capital of a war-torn nation into an international center for arts, culture, and commerce, becoming home to some of the most important art being made at the time. Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde provides a focused look at the extraordinary concentration and network of creative individuals and practices in this dynamic city during these turbulent years. Featuring works of various media—painting, sculpture, photography, drawings, and graphic design, as well as video and documentary film—the exhibition offers a story of artistic crossings, collaborations, and, at times, conflicts, with the city as an incubator. It introduces the myriad avant-garde experiments that emerged as artists drew on the energy of this rapidly growing and changing metropolis.

Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde brings together some of the most iconic works from the period as well as works recently discovered or reevaluated by new scholarship. A significant number are already part of MoMA’s collection, while others are on loan from important public collections in Japan and the United States. Artists in the exhibition include artist collectives such as Jikken Kobo (Experimental Workshop), Hi Red Center (Takamatsu Jiro, Akasegawa Genpei, Nakanishi Natsuyuki), and Group Ongaku (Group Music); critical artistic figures such as Okamoto Taro, Nakamura Hiroshi, Ay-O, Yoko Ono, Shiomi Mieko, and Tetsumi Kudo; photographers Moriyama Daido, Hosoe Eikoh, and Tomatsu Shomei; illustrators and graphic designers Yokoo Tadanori, Sugiura Kohei, and Awazu Kiyoshi; and architects Tange Kenzo, Isozaki Arata, and Kurokawa Kisho, among others.

In conjunction with Tokyo 1955–1970: A New Avant-Garde, MoMA presents a 40-film retrospective of the Art Theatre Guild, the independent film company that radically transformed Japanese cinema by producing and distributing avant-garde and experimental works from the 1960s until the early 1980s. The retrospective features such filmmakers as Teshigahara Hiroshi, Shindo Kaneto, Imamura Shohei, Oshima Nagisa, Matsumoto Toshio, and Wakamatsu Koji. This exhibition runs December 7, 2012–February 10, 2013, and is organized by Go Hirasawa, Meiji-Gakuin University; Roland Domenig, University of Vienna; and Joshua Siegel, Associate Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art.

---

Organized by Doryun Chong, Associate Curator, with Nancy Lim, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Painting and Sculpture, The Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition is co-organized by The Museum of Modern Art and the Japan Foundation.

The exhibition is supported by The International Council of The Museum of Modern Art, The Contemporary Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art, and ITOCHU International Inc.

+pin

+day trip

florence is sure pretty

+flip

flop... today the havanianas i bought in venice beach in summer 2010 broke, just as i was walking down via fillungo (and thinking that it was 'about time they busted...hmmmm) =>see above, groovy old green and fabulous new white<=

+advice

Charlotte Rampling in The Look

...it doesn't make any difference what people say about oneself
it's what we say about ourselves that make us who we are
and, most of the time people say terrible things about themselves

 ...and the cruelty we enact on ourselves...we wouldn't treat anybody like that.

+be kind to yourself+

+report

since i've been gone...

i have finished three years of university
got a breast reduction
spent a summer in san francisco and met my niece and her girls there...
written a book
started planning grad school
read lots of books
written lots of papers
spent a birthday in NY City
visited my mom and dad 
met my high school girlfriends again

held my sister's hand when she died of pancreatic cancer

learned tons
was grateful

cried a lot
laughed more

have been present and accounted for

+news part 2

a few weeks ago daniele and martina opened SOUP in TOWN, the first vegetarian restaurant  in the centro storico.  i haven't cooked since then.  now i can eat grilled eggplant panini and veggie burgers and couscous and felafel and spinach quiche and panzanella and gazpacho whenever i want

today, however, it's ferragosto (a national holiday) and SOUP's closed...inspired by gessjca's baked green pepper and cherry tomato with extra virgin olive oil topped with feta and capers, i am using my kitchen again

+it's good to be back+

+news

+beginning

In Israel there is a Peace Preschool where Arab and Jewish children make a peaceful start together. Classes are taught in both Arabic and Hebrew. For more information visit CNN World Report.

+mary louise

I put my cat Mary to sleep today. She was 15 years old. She came to Italy with me. She was my family.

+ playing for change

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=2539741

+ green p.s.

I want to share a video on the Earth Wellness Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska which has touched the lives of 42,000 fifth graders over the last 15 years. The fabulous, articulate woman speaking is my niece, Kenzie. She rocks. Love Mother Earth. Amen. http://www.kolnkgin.com/video/?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=3602149

+ end

Dear readers, this is my last blog for awhile. Thank you for reading me.  I will be back!
I wish you good health, love and peace. I wanted to say something about what is good and wonderful and beautiful in this life, even in times of trouble and strife. How lucky I am to be able to say it. Take care of yourselves. Dreambigger. Love, me

+ the road less travelled

I know two extraordinary women whom I admire very much and who have been dreaming of changing their lives for many years. Now, both of them have been granted their wishes. Both of them are hesitating to move, to choose, to accept. And I wonder, is the fear of change or failure enough to keep us from moving towards our dreams? And the false sense of security that we feel or the security that we long for at all cost....we can see now that security is not always so easy to navigate, that promises are not always kept. That what feels safe can be an illusion.
When my mom died I think I knew then that security was fleeting and that I had to be ready when the tides changed, shifted. The idea of security is wonderful: a love that lasts forever, a job that lasts, a house that is yours and represents your hard work, a government that represents you- all of these things, a comfort. So, I understand the fear of heading down a new street- worrying that you could make a mistake. I understand.
I don't know what these women will do- I will support them, no matter what.
Joseph Campbell said to follow my bliss... that if I am on MY road, things fall into place. And, if I am on someone else's path, I will not feel my life and, things won't  fit. That makes sense to me.
The road awaits!

+ happy G20

Come gather 'round people...for the times they are-a-changin'. --Dylan

+ chomsky

All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume. Noam Chomsky

+ call

As a teenager you are at the last stage in your life when you will be happy to hear that the phone is for you. Fran Lebowitz

+ innovation

If you're not failing every now and again, it's a sign you're not doing anything very innovative. Woody Allen

I would add here the Japanese saying:

Fall down six times, get up seven. 

+ darwin

It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man. H.L. Menchken