Brain Popcorn

(photo by Witheyes) I’m a little on the fence about...

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 13:23:52 -0600

(photo by Witheyes)

I’m a little on the fence about writing groups. But I’m also seduced by the idea of company and libations and merciless listeners who could provide brutal, necessary feedback. Or no feedback! Just people to sit with and write with and gossip to.

I’d want my writing group (or couple or trio) to be irreverent, first and foremost. I don’t think I could stomach soupy artists who take their work too seriously or are too earnest.

So it would be an opportunity to get together, write for a while (perhaps on one of these prompts), read each other’s work — or not. It’s our group, we can do whatever we want.

There could be theme nights where we write nothing but inappropriate villanelles or 400-word essays about the best breakfast we ever ate.

Who’s in?

Could it be, might it possibly be my favorite TED talk yet? This...

Fri, 04 Dec 2009 14:01:04 -0600

Could it be, might it possibly be my favorite TED talk yet? This is worth 20 minutes of your time.

(I don’t remember who sent this to me, but I hadn’t seen it yet and I love it, so thanks!)

Curry party!

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:00:01 -0600

Curry party!

I’m sorry for all the food blogging, guys, but on this...

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 16:17:19 -0600

I’m sorry for all the food blogging, guys, but on this candida diet all I ever do is think about food. I’ve been dreaming about pie. This was the salad I ate instead.

Ingredients: Tomatoes, cucumbers, avocado, sprouts, dressing

Dressing: Plain yogurt, lemon juice, dash of cayenne, dill, garlic powder, sprinkle of sea salt

*Extra credit* This dressing would probably taste really good on white fish.

Flavors.me/Kaeti

Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:43:54 -0600

Flavors.me/Kaeti:

This is so great. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Will there be disqus compatibility? More designs? Complete customization?

Fascinating interactive piece from The New Yorker, featuring...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 16:49:59 -0600

Fascinating interactive piece from The New Yorker, featuring portraits by Platon of world leaders, with commentary by the photographer.

Bwahahaha! Automatic Geordi La Forge...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 14:30:30 -0600

Bwahahaha! Automatic Geordi La Forge reblog.

s4xton:cmdrriker:birdlord:rachelanastasia:thedailywhat

I made a lazy version of paella last night. It turned out pretty...

Tue, 01 Dec 2009 11:48:26 -0600

I made a lazy version of paella last night. It turned out pretty well (much better than last time when the Brussels sprouts weren’t fully cooked and had to be picked around). Using fire-roasted tomatoes was also a great addition.

Ingredients: Brown rice, shredded chicken, fire-roasted tomatoes (I used Muir Glen), Brussels sprouts, diced red pepper, garlic, cilantro, chili powder, cayenne, sea salt, hot sauce.

Directions: Cook everything, put it together, let it simmer, season to taste. If you have a paella pan, let it sit long enough that the rice crisps up on the bottom.

Life Drawing Co-ops in the Twin Cities

Mon, 30 Nov 2009 10:17:09 -0600

If you’ve been itching to nurture your creativity — or just want a fun group of people to make pictures with — here are some of your best options for figure drawing co-ops in the Twin Cities …

College of Visual Arts, Saturdays

344 Summit Avenue
St. Paul, MN 55102
Open figure drawing co-op. Drawing Studio, Room 404, First floor: At the northwest corner of Selby and Western avenues, enter through the gallery. The College of Visual Arts will host an open drawing co-op for individuals who wish to enhance their figure drawing skills. Artists must provide their own supplies. $10 per session - cash only. Saturdays 1:00 - 3:30 p. m. during Spring and Fall. More details here.

The Florence Hill Figure Drawing Co-op, Sundays

California Building
2205 California Street NE, Suite 510
Minneapolis, MN 55418
Florence Hill has hosted the Figure Drawing Co-op since 1976. 2-5 pm every Sunday. $7. Tables, horses, easels, and chairs are supplied. Florence says, “Make art and therefore be happy!”

MCAD Life Drawing Co-op, Mondays

These open drawing sessions focus on drawing from the live model. Drawing boards, drawing horses and easels are provided. An MCAD staff member is present to facilitate the co-op, however there is no instruction available. Cost per session is $5 for general public; $4 for MCAD alumni, faculty and staff; $3 for Perpich Center for Arts Education students; and no charge for MCAD degree-seeking students (no registration required). More here.

[Source]

MCAD is a great deal, and I didn’t even know about it until recently! I’ll probably be spending a few Monday nights over there. Come draw with me!

“You can’t go deep into your writing and then step out of it, clamp down, go home,...

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:00:39 -0600

“You can’t go deep into your writing and then step out of it, clamp down, go home, “be nice,” and not speak the truth. If you give yourself over to honesty in your practice, it will permeate your life.

…

Writing can teach us the dignity of speaking the truth, and it spreads out from the page into all of our life, and it should.”

—Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

Lt. Commander Worf would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 22:08:00 -0600

Lt. Commander Worf would like to wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

Leif and I made a little video about the Minneapolis...

Wed, 25 Nov 2009 10:53:26 -0600

Leif and I made a little video about the Minneapolis skyway.

(Pardon the home-video shakes, we were trying not to draw attention from security so we went sans mics and tripods.)

“In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:15:13 -0600

“In the middle of the world, make one positive step. In the center of chaos, make one definitive act. Just write. Say yes, stay alive, be awake. Just write. Just write. Just write.”

Natalie Goldberg, Writing Down the Bones

Sometimes there is nothing better in the world than getting your...

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 10:17:06 -0600

Sometimes there is nothing better in the world than getting your hair wet. Especially when that prudish part of you has taken great care to make sure it stays out of the bath water. And you just dunk your head under anyway — ignoring the prim voice of reason that’s worried about how it will look tomorrow and didn’t you just wash it yesterday? and on and on.

I have a lot of fun listening to that voice shut right up when I plug my nose and go under.

(photo by pequeña esquimal)

I want this cookbook by Thomas Keller and then I want him to...

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:19:34 -0600

I want this cookbook by Thomas Keller and then I want him to come to my house, too.

My favorite bit from the Esquire piece is where he apologizes for cleaning up all the time. I do the same thing when I’m cooking — isn’t it so much nicer to have few dishes to worry about after dinner? I think so!

“When we eat together, when we set out to do so deliberately, life is better, no matter what your circumstances.”

*Swoon*

(via Chris Eats)

Automatic Atwood reblog. (via theopie)

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:16:15 -0600

Automatic Atwood reblog.

(via theopie)

I'm thinking about selling my car

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:02:41 -0600

Tumblrs, I need your advice.

Here are some factors to consider:

+I live within walking distance of my workplace and can work from home when needed

+I live next to a grocery store, bar, Chipotle and coffee shop

+I’m about a mile away from a LRT station and there are good buses ‘round here

+Two to three times a month I have to haul photo and video equipment, sometimes including a 50lb light kit

+Hourcar has a pickup spot at the nearby lightrail station ($5 per month plus $8 per hour)

+I spend about $150 to $200 on gas each month. I pay $700 in car insurance each year. Repairs have cost me $1000 so far this year (I drive a ‘94 Honda)

+I do laundry at my parents’ place and visit them almost weekly. They live in Bloomington (the question here is whether I can cowboy up enough to bring my laundry on the bus to B-town)

+I have a good bike.

The convenience factor is a pretty big deal, but I am a planner by nature, so sorting through bus schedules and figuring things out is no problem. It will take longer to get places, and I am slightly afraid of becoming a hermit, but not having to deal with parking might actually encourage me to go out MORE. Or have people over more!

Video/photo shoots and major grocery or Target trips would be the only time I’d need a car, and Hourcar or a generous friend would probably have me covered.

That said, I don’t want to be an annoying mooch of rides and drive my friends insane.

What do you think, MSP?

Books I read on writing

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:12:00 -0600

More book reports. I’m on a reading kick, and I want to make some notes about what I’m learning.

On Writing by Stephen King

This dude knows how to tell a story, and that is what he holds most sacred in his writing (story, story, story). Reading this made me want to relive my childhood practice of falling asleep to music and while making up worlds in my head. The parts of the book when he’s telling his story are the best — the writing “how tos” (which aren’t really how-tos, more like suggestions and guides) are fine but not revolutionary. I also found myself getting frustrated with the book editor because of numerous which/that confusions and subject/object pronoun mistakes (a la “Johnny and me went to the store”).

But no matter, I enjoyed it a lot. I’m taking away from it a renewed importance of letting your story develop organically when it can, letting your writing rest for a while and giving yourself permission to write the worst shit in the world (Anne Lamott says it best, though).

Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg

I’m still working my way through this and I love it so far. I think my adviser assigned it in college but I was so oversaturated with poetical prose that I skipped it (there’s only so much Mary Oliver a girl can take in one semester). Coming to the book now, it feels like I’m reading a Pema Chödrön–Anne Lamott hybrid. Goldberg draws from her Zen meditation practice and her Jewish faith, which means that I loved her almost immediately.

The idea of practice is the heart of this book, from what I can tell so far, and that hits very close to home. By making it a practice, and not expecting yourself to write something good (or great or even all right) every time you sit down with pen in hand, you are free to explore and play. The other thing that both Goldberg and King emphasize is honesty — not necessarily “writing what you know” but writing your first thought (not the second and third thoughts that are ripe with self-editing and criticism) and writing what is true to you in that moment.

Oh! That’s the other great thing I just read in this book. Let go of the feeling that what you are writing is a reflection of who you are. Sure, other people might see it that way, but it is only a reflection of where you were in that specific moment. You can leave it behind and come to the page a different person the next time.*

—

*I fear this constantly when I write in my journal. I’m always wondering, “Geez, what are people going to think about me if they read this after I die?” This is stupid and morbid, I realize, but our journals tend to memorialize the less savory parts of our lives — i.e., the times we need to work some stuff out on paper. If that’s all our families are left with, boy they will think we were cranky potatoes. Of course I’m not giving my family enough credit here. They’ll also have all the memories and experiences and conversations, not just my ornery journaling, to judge me by. And why do I assume they’ll be judging, anyway?!

Today on FreeCycle: Barn

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 14:12:46 -0600

2 story Barn in SLP

Hopefully this is fine…but we will let someone have the barn if they pay to move it off of our land. Please only contact me if you want the whole barn, not just a few pieces of wood. I have pictures and a little more information

Thanks!

—-

It’s all or nothing with these barn people.

Books I finished this weekend

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:25:30 -0600

2666

It took me ages to finish this ~~novel~~ tome. I was making good time until I got to the middle section, wherein the meticulous recounting of the brutal murders of hundreds of women slowed my progress. Go figure. But I trudged through and I was not disappointed. This is a rich, complicated story — it’s like you’re eating a steak, and then you’re with the cow that made the steak, and then learning about the sordid history of the grass that fed the cow, and then off to get to know the microbes that nurture the soil that grows the grass. And as a footnote, here is a brief history of the tartar sauce.

The Brief and Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao

A fast, easy read despite being cripplingly depressing at times (the way generational fiction tends to be). The family stories were beguiling and the characters have stayed with me, which is always a good sign. It wasn’t life changing, but a clever and engaging novel.

The Night of the Gun

The local connection is fun, as is learning more about the Minneapolis (journalism) community during the 80s. It’s smart, quippy and Carr manages to come across as both arrogant and self-effacing. He uses the word “acuity” a lot, and I was kind of left wishing that he’d told more stories instead of all that blathering about the ephemeral and fecund nature of memory (we get it). Even with the slogs through memory philosophizing, I really enjoyed reading it.