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I am here at Krishna's attempting to upload the second half of the people pictures from the 2008 Walk. Unfortunately there are some technical difficulties and I will have to try again another day.

I've been singing in the choir at 4th U Church on the west side which, if you know me you know, is kind of a feat because I am not especially gifted in this arena. This lack of training/talent is heightened by the fact that pretty much everyone else seems to be fantastically talented. Luckily, everyone there is also very nice and good at teaching and tolerating the less musical. I wish I was saying this to be modest. Krishna lent me a book called Music Theory for Idiots. This book has actually helped, causing no less than three epiphanies so far.

The church is also hosting a production of the Vagina Monologues (April 4th). This has pretty amazing as far as church experiences go. It prompted me to go to the library and check out the book.

I have started to practice typing/writing by typing one 11pt page every morning (or almost every morning). This has been good. I've also taken up belly dancing.

Last night Charlie Rose had a guy from Amazon Books on talking about Kindel (sp?) paperless reading devices. This guy looked very much like Tom Beach if Tom Beach had gone partially bald and gotten a very conservative hair style. Apparently, Amazon or his branch of the business is buying up land in Texas and building spaceships.

Walking through Downtown Brooklyn, Chinatown, NYU to Bryant park

Vatya & Eli Levi




Jilberto




Turan




Anah, Alexa & Stephanie




Carolin Chin




Amy at the Center for Architecture




Ryan at Housing Works




Reef



New Museum








Russel Reaves & Rashawn






Dennis Christie






Shateisha





Mr. S Wayne & (Johnny B.?)



Louis




Randy Chin




Louis

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Walking the D-line

Doyle Dill









Maria



Will













Yosef Goodman

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Snow! Great big fluffy hunks of it were falling as I walked around the cemetary, down 4th and Flatbush to the Dekalb st.

Last night I went to a good talk called Eutopia Now at the Center for Worker Education (25 Broadway right next to the Bull). Michael Sorkin spoke in amusing tones about zoning, soy plastics,new urban vehicals, Santa Monica, Far rockaway, 600 Miles of waterfront, artificial islands, better ones (bedouins?), photovoltaics, parks, and showed some great images. I rode down in the elevator with him and Greg Williams, the president of the CCNY, but couldn't think of anything witty to say.

Here is a list of terms that I had to look up:

Prolix
Levon?
Malthusian
Berman
Arverne
Arendt
Buzz Passwell
Bio-remediation

I have loads of pictures from the walk, but can't up-load them here at the library.

Henry Mayzick


Kristina Gindinova


Carol Solovay


Laureano Feliciano


Ary & his mother



Angelica, Catherine and Amanda




Some of Ms. Kosovich's (sp.?) Social Studies students at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.Highhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.Highhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.High//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shallow_Jr.High




Shirley and her very cute dog.




John Dooley recommends this website: www.nycsubway.org




Mike and co-workers near New Utrecht

walking the d-line

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Yesterday I started working on the first step of the NYC History Timeline Large Scale Sculpture. After talking about the idea to Holly at the Urban Center at CCNY, I was convinced that a good way to start would be to walk the length of the proposed site, the D-train.



This is a photo documented performance art piece. This month (December 2008) I will walk the length of the D-lineover the course of several days. In this way I hope to:

a) get a feel for the landscape of the city

b) make some contacts with people who live in communities surrounding the D-line.

So far, I have walked from Coney Island to 55th Street Station near Sunset Park.

The library doesn't seem to want me to upload these images here today, so I'll have to try again elsewhere.

The Names, AF=author function, Moma

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aA man calling himself "Ron Ransom" slipped a petition for non payment under my door today.

If I have time I hope to go to Moma after dropping off the job application Michael gave me. Yesterday I came up with a list of questions for Damien Hirst. (Was that him getting out of a cab around 33rd st?) Eureka! I think I am learning how to get more out of the library resources. The research continues:

Contemporary Art (in NYC) 2008

Daniele Buetti--snowflakes+supermodles

Pablo Helguera--style

Joan Gibbons--memory

Eric Shiner

zkm

"I am sitting in a room."

I just picked up a book on Sound Art by Jim O'Rourke

powerhouse books

Garden City

Rugg+Sedgwick

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Saturday there was an auction at the 4th U Church. Jim was playing Vanna White. Krishna and I went to see Robyn Hitchcock at Symphonie Space.

Vagina, Vagina, Vagina

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"Vivons heureux. Vivons caches."

I've been spending more time at the Science, Industry, and Business Library (SIBL). They have some databases there that seem like they could be powerful if one could figure out how to use them. My favorite right now is Reference USA which for my purposes is basically a really good yellow pages. (Remember phone books?)

I am researching the state of nyc art 2008.

Most of my contact with the fine art world here (besides talking about painting with my neighbor's Amayas and Mark or Photography with Krishna) has been related to the art dept. at city college, P.S. 1, Moma, Lew, Barry, and the key-lime-pie queen in the Bronx, the Whitney, looking at le pendant perdu, and magazines on the newstands at pen station.

People I seem to have art crushes on today are:

Tracy Emmer (sp?)
Damien Hirst
Keith Tyson
Kehinde Wiley
Pierre Cavalan
janaina tschape
Elizabeth Peyton
Taka Fernandez
Cindy Sherman
Iris Eichenberg



http://www.phoenix-gallery.com/
http://joshualinergallery.com/gallery/

Broadway Whispers

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CUNY Graduate Center cafe has works on paper hanging by or referencing these artists/events:

James Rosenquist
Amos Anderson
Roy Lichtenstein
Sol Le Witt (?)
Man Ray
Andy Warhol
Alexander Lieberman (sp?)
Chaine Simpson
1980 DNC
David Hockney
Picasso
Marcel Duchamp
World Congress for General Dis Armament and Peace

I'm here at the Business Library researching:

Contemporary Art in NYC 2008

How are you?

black tea shortage at penn station

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Well...grr...it's thusday ....it's november...I have a shrp pain in my shoulder and I'm craving caffine. There for some reason seems to be a black tea shortage at both Penn Station Borders and K-mart. This has made me unreasonably cranky and sad, as I am trying to quit drinking coffee and black tea is my substitute of choice while perusing the glossy art-porn. Now I am at the Sience and Business library...trying to rationalize spending a relatively large amount of money on Robyn Hitchcock tickets in the same week that I am re-applying for food stamps/public assistance.

Here are some galleries/artists I read about on my last Border Magazine Stand binge:

www.salomonarts.com
http://www.keszlergallery.com
www.joshuagallery.com
housprojects
www.theguildny.com

Humility, Hubris, Pride and (Homelessness?)

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Still here at he GMHC (Gay Men's Health Crisis)improving my job readiness;not drinking coffee;and thinking about the history of public assistance, civil service, and corporate welfare.

November 22 4th U on 76th St is having an auction to which I have donated a few of my "dead" neighbor, Mark Shevlane's drawings. Monday night after attending a screening of Slumdog Millionaire, I stopped by the Art Student's league to talk to Barbara Adrian with whom Amayas says Mark studied.

As I am also preparing to apply yet again to CCNY's MFA program, my mind is on the state of contemporary art in NYC 2008. Last night I stopped by the Borders at Madison Square Garden to look at art magazines. Art in America, Interview, Ceramics Monthly, American Craft, Art Papers. Many of the good ones are funded partially by the Andy Warhol Foundation.



Now I'm off to a job fair at the Radisson Martinique Hotel on 32nd street. Then to talk to a law office about a class action law suit against the owners of the building where I live. Maybe I can get a hair cut today too.

More art links:

From Art Papers

oda projesi

center for tactical magic

embrace atl

out of actions

from art in america

aca galleries
Jacques Roch
Franklin Sirmans
art slant
James Cohan Gallery
Al Held
sideshowgallery
baldwingallery.com
gagosian
liza lou
mark dion
jenny holzer
michael snow
Bill Gilbert

from new american paintings

creative arts workshop
paul booker
www.hollyjohnsongallery.com
robert mcan
sydney yeager
keith allyn spencer
gillockgallery

from Cabinet Quarterly

Fogg Art Museum
michael taussig

Aperature

ASLA, AFSCME, GMHC, and the skyscraper museum

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Here I am at The Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC), a Community Based Organization on 24th Street that (among other things) works with the NYS Dept of Labor to assist workers transition to better lives/jobs. The computers here are very fast.

There was some question last week when I went to the workforce center on 125th street last week to see about getting an extention on unemployment benefits. The question was to apply or not to apply, for public assistance that is. I applied. One week later I am here feeling pretty good about the decision. I won't know until next week if I qualify for anything, but I am pretty happy now with the "tough love" (for lack of a better term)I have recieved so far.

I am interested in jobs related to buildings maintenance and construction, as well as entreprenuership and the arts. I'm still planning on applying to CCNY's MFA program for fall 2009 even though my 2006 and 2007 applications were rejected. (Applications are due by the end of 2008.)This time my work will have to do with History (time+storytelling), Quilting, and Communication.

In addition to attending coffee and cookies at Redeemer, Erin and I have joined the choir at fourth UU (Landmark on the Park). THis has been a big source of joy, better than imagined. The choir director is amazing. The people are great company. Rosemary is great. Jill is great. All is good. On Sunday anyway. Tonight I am going to a R.E. leadership group meeting there.

We met a Photographer/videographer/screenwriter/director named Michael who lent me a copy of B. Bryson's Short History of Nearly Everything and offered to let us collaborate on some projects with him. He is trying to digitally edit a play called "Blind Date". He smokes too much, but is otherwise a nice guy and a good mentor. He says I am wasting my time with this this Public Assistance Application/Endevour. I respectfully dis-agreed.

Last night I checked out a new museum called the Skyscraper Museum

History, Coney Island, SmArt

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It's Tuesday and I'm here at the mid-town library. Yesterday Erin and I went out to Coney Island looked at the ocean and talked to some people about the history of the area and the proposed changes. We met a rally nice person named Sal who showed us around. Then we headed up to Columbia to a (Bernard TShumi?)lecture that had to do with an exhibition called matters of sensation. The discussion was odd and difficult to follow, with an air of (bogusness?)je ne sais quoi. Mais afterwards instead of the usual offering of wine and fantastic salsa, there was one cup of yellow liquid and (a muffin?)with a note and smilie face attached that read something like: eat, drink and be healthy:)

leo castelli?
Richard meyers didia faustino felipa ferarria shernberg limits scaffolding and skeletons tweakyness, torsion, tom maynes?, materialism, plastics, the wigital,

gangs, tiling, scales, guilds?, selection processes, manufacturing, "they can afford it", "they work"...were some words that came up.

Earlier today I was at the N-Y (I'm not sure why it's hyphenated.)Historical Society. They have a good drawing/watercolor exhibit. (I recently learned that Teddy Roosevelt is responsible for the colour/color change in american english.)

I have been trying to read some books my former neighbor, Mark left behind and now wants sent to Persia. One of these is A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Al-Madinah & Mecca by Sir Richard Burton (the 1850's explorer--not the actor). Another is from the (1960's?)Flashman series...apparently based on Burton's books. These are alternately humour/humorously entertaining, educational and horrifically racist.

N.E.W., work, and capital

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Happy 9/11!

Quickly i am writing this before running to a special 9/11 forum on socialism tonight here at ccny. I was kicked out of the N.E.W. worker training program (for wearing the wrong shoes?)but I am hoping to write the most contrite letter and get back in because it really is the best thing since...well, ever.

My new roommate, Erin Dunner and I saw lecture at columbia last monday in which blue glass and steven holl's name came up. They had very nice salsa there. Erin liked the drawings the speaker spoke out (against sustainability?). Not an issue for him he says.

next thursday there is a radical women's conference and a lecture by (julie snow?)
here in Harlem U.S.A.


Julie Snow

fall lectures

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311, thyme, world architecture

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Back in NY dealing with a leaky ceiling, swarms of flies and herds of rats...this week is good because Patty J from Marta's class is staying with me while she is finishing up some school work, drinking loads of tea and getting ready to move to Oregon.

I am here at the NAC (North Academic Center)checking e-mail and trying to figure out what to register for for the fall.

Last weekend I met some people at the NY Historical Society who were really into Lafayette and La Rouche.

Today I discovered a very useful paper called the city record
That lists all kinds of public meetings. I wish I had seen this earlier.

Reese Carter, A high school classmate of mine is an architect and musician in Georgia (US, not the former soviet union). Apparently, the christian band he belongs to is competing in something and he is asking for some support. Vaya con Dios!

PF1, OSU, HPB, Cardwell

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For some reason blogger doesn't want to upload photos right now. I can't figure out why.

I have three zillion pictures from the last few weeks walking around and before.

anyway...I was in Long Island City last weekend and stopped at PS1 to see what was up. I got to see what was happening with all those thick cardboard tubes.

Now I am in Ohio, visiting family, the Wexner Center,and HPB(maybe); reading a book about the history of technology and thinking about getting a hair cut.

I'll try to upload these photos later I guess.

work, rose, lehrer, 145+Amsterdam

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Here is a picture of the health center at the corner of 145th and Amsterdam.
It could use some improvement...non?

Okay...so I am here in the computer lab at CCNY's North Academic Center (NAC)thinking about employment opportunities. About fifteen years ago, when I quit my job at Owen's Family Restaurant I swore off food service jobs. (Before that I had worked at Fuddruckers, Denny's, Pizza Hut, Olive Garden, and Stars Inn Cafe.)

Just now, I have made a list of all the jobs I have had since my fourth/fifth grade stint delivering the San Antonio Light (What a raw deal that was!! I think I made $35-$75 dollars a month and worked very hard for about 60 hours per month. Even worse than extra-ordinarily exhausting labor and ink stained hands was being a bill collector--stupid dead-beat neighbors...grrr.):

freelance: Architectural Researcher, Nanny, House-sitter, Photographer, lawn-mower,
car-washer, leaf-bagger, cleaner

volunteer: community organizer (UHAB, Mirabal Sisters, 545 Tenant Association), construction leader, roofer, painter, dry-wall hanger, landscaper (Habitat for Humanity), candy-stripper, maitre d'hotel (Hostelling International), layout editor, wire editor, arts and entertainment writer (Daily Texan), baby-bird feeder (B.E.A.K.S.), gardener (Serenity Gardens), advocate(MLT, Mirabal Sisters), cook prep-cook(Food-not-Bombs), correspondent (inside-books, rhizome collective)

retail: Long's, Cord Camera, Drexel Grandview Theater, Half Price Books, Strandbooks, Follette

teaching: creative play center, columbus public-schools substitute,scab-teaching in southern ohio (a lucrative if-not-especially-proud moment)
ymca after-school teacher (good-fun until a bi&*^&%^$$#@new OSU-education-grad became my boss and treated me like I had the plague.)

Places I would deign to work:
hospitals
schools
used bookstores
record stores
video stores
architecture firms
law offices (with good lighting)
design companies
government offices
abc
nbc
cbs
materials for the arts
pbs
charlie rose
wnyc
brian lehrer
wbai
universities
newspapers
hardware stores
anything related to sustainability
anything facilities maintenance
theaters
art students league


Places I would not deign to work:

food service
places with bad lighting/air quality/work environments
evil corporations
pvc manufacturing
Really sketchy small businesses

new suit, festivus, jeff koons

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So...two years after being fired from Strand I am still (kind of blissfully) unemployed. Because of the odd circumstance with the negligent LL, and the ensuing rent strike, I have survived here in NYC with very little income or savings. Going through six months of unemployment benefits and about (six thousand dollars?) in savings. I am getting a little nervous now as I am about to empty my third bank account. So Last Friday, when I met Krishna at Union Square I splurged on a basic black interview suit. (We both actually bought the same suit.)

Saturday I walked from my place on 146th through the park to 59th street. The day was pretty much perfect. I wandered into a "Festivus" celebration (Socorro informed me, this is a Sienfieldian thing.)Saw thousands of people lining up for the free Bon Jovi Concert, and caught the tail end of a softball game. Sunday, Lindon and I hung out on the roof of the MET with Jeff Koons's Giant Balloon Dog and drank $12.00 mojito's (another big splurge. It was very hot up there and the Mojitos looked so cool and wet.)

Sigh...jobs aren't jumping out at me so if you have any suggestions...