For the next few days, I will be located (when not in class) primarily at the New Orleans Jazzfest and the Festival International de Louisiane. For an approximate idea of what it will be like, I refer everyone to the videos on my entries in songs. In the meantime we will contemplate Velázquez’ Old Woman … More Festival Time
In underreported news: 1. There is a complicated civil war taking place in northern Uganda. Children at risk of being pressed into unpleasant service by the Lord’s Resistance Army (see also this piece , and this one) have to hide at night, and are thus known as “night commuters.” There were peace talks and hopes … More Night Commuters
This is a tondero danced by students at the José María Arguedas National School of Folklore. I think it is beautiful. In reality, of course, I am posting it because I am a “professional race hustler indoctrinating young minds with […] simplistic ideas […].” No, I am not linking to the site that says that; … More Tondero Peruano
Now, in honor of Ayacucho and all Andean towns, and of Lent which ends this weekend, we will see some of the 2007 Carnaval celebrations high up in the mountains. Axé.
My youngest brother insists once again that we contemplate standup comedy from Brazil – in drag! This character is called Granny Arlinda. If you like her, or even if you do not, you should get wilder yet and meet Miss Edith. The São Paulo press is talking about Terça Insana, which has created over 500 … More Terça Insana – Vovó Arlinda
I showed the film Juchitán Queer Paradise today and, as it turned out, shocked the audience. It seems that although they know gay people and some are gay themselves, this was the first time they saw people talking about it openly. The film is lively and fascinating. I liked it especially because it is so … More Juchitán, Queer Paradise
Since the lunar eclipse I have been busy helping to tend a Cone 10 Reduction Fire. These are always dramatic. Now it is over, and the pieces fired have gone vitreous. This is a good thing. The glazes, however, do not all look as expected. We may not have directed the drafts correctly in the … More Reduction Fire
Dancing in the classical Egyptian style. Axé.
I had been searching for Kiri Davis’ video A Girl Like Me, and now I have found it. This classic text demonstrates, among other things, why the claim to “colorblindness” is a pure and absurd luxury. Axé.
My ceramics class had its first midterm-like event today. This involved showing our work in progress and discussing it, both technically and thematically. Conversation turned to body modification and its relationship to self-fashioning. My own body modifies itself automatically. Right now it is traveling backwards in time due to all the lifting, jumping, and throwing … More Body Modification, Self-Fashioning
coldhearted scientist وداد 