i am back

yesterday vito acconci apologized for being to harsh on me, after thinking about it for a week.


i wish everyone would do that. including myself.

HOME OF THE BROOKLYN NETS?

This semester, my colleagues and I are joining a group of artists, community members, life long residents, and concerned citizens to explore and bring light to the city of brooklyn's atlantic yards area.

The Atlantic Yards area, which is a stretch of downtown Brooklyn, is set to be demolished and
redeveloped into a commercial mega house, complete with the new home of the "Brooklyn Nets" formally the New Jersey Nets, the worst team in the NBA. Great news, sports fans! .....??

Local businesses and residence of the area are upset. They want development, but not destruction.

Owners and patrons of the corner bar Freddie's, a popular spot for hipsters and locals alike, plan to handcuff themselves to the property to stop demolition.

No matter what side you are on, the project is quite interesting to explore, especially if you live in the BK.


Our research is just getting underway, but its already quite compelling...if you ask me.

My focus will be on interviewing and bringing voice to the local color of the area.

Here are some links to help to open your mind to what we are looking at...


The wikipedia explanation, of course-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantic_Yards

A video my roommate put together to give you a visual of the area- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFkHsbb4FrA

An art group working in North Brooklyn with similar goals and ideas- http://boomcrash.org

The Train Platform: 12 AM.

Last night on the platform, I saw a black woman, dressed in all purple garments, playing the drums. her face was wrapped, so i could only see her eyes. Her child was sitting across from her. i could only see the back of his head, covered in his jacket. I listened to the woman play, a sign that read
"the only thing that matters is love" next to her, with a small basket for money.
Her child turned around, and his face was white. He was not her child. I feared he was alone, so I sat with him. We watched the woman play together.
In a few moments, the boy's father came along from a snack vendor with treats for his son. He smiled at me, perhaps to thank me for watching over his kid.
I sat with the small family, and continued to watch the woman play. She offered up a maraca to the child to play with her, and he took it. Then she pulled down
her scarf, revealing the face of a man. It was a man. The child played the maracas with the man. The father took pictures. I learned to never assume.

The House of Yes Yes Yes!

Now usually I'd rather stab my right eye out than follow a trail of hipsters off the L train into Williamsburg (don't get me wrong, I love the place, the scene, but sometimes its gag city, you with me?), but when those sparkly legged, long haired, soft hearted youths are headed towards The House of Yes, I am game.

For me, It's the only place in Brooklyn that really captures the energy of central Europe , and reminds me of the days I spent in Copenhagen this past summer. Enter this unique space through an old warehouse door, with colorful tiles adorning the frame. 342 Muajer St. Brooklyn.

Inside, a dose of life literally slaps you in the face, with a relaxed bar scene, old couches and chairs, cool kids like you from all walks of life, a stage, and dope art going on in each little corner.

There is usually a suggested 10$ donation, and by suggestion they made required admission fee. Yet, leave it to a charmer like me with the sweetest smile in the world to pass through unnoticed. (Okay, to be fair, I only had my hello kitty debit card on me, and there was no ATM in sight. I'll definitely get them back next time!  )

I was lucky enough to come on a "circus themed" night, with pole crawlers in sparkly costumes, acrobats swinging in the air, fire jugglers(so euro), and the like decorating the space around a kick ass band shooting love, lyrics, and amazing media art in your direction. When the live music stops, be ready for some Jackson 5 and/or Lady Gaga to keep you moving between sets.


I was just totally blown by this place, and am excited to explore the spot during the day with the looters and squatters who stick around after hours.

Moreover, I was totally blown away by the main attraction band: The Shivers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8S320myXYo


Check them out!!!  Right now!!!!!!!!!

Didn't go in the bathroom. Sorry. I'm sure it's disgusting.
( I STAND CORRECTED! THE BATHROOM IS SWEET!)

Brooklyn Resident of the Month: Tim (TJ) Hospodar

(Photo Credit to Matt Licari. .)

This blog would like to congratulate its first ever Brooklynite of the Month, Ohio Native, Mr. Tim (TJ) Hospodar!  

TJ, an artist who lives, for the time being, in the up and coming neighborhood of Bushwick (bushWACK) in North Brooklyn, has an energy and vision that drives me a little crazy, in the best possible way. Working with Tim over the last few months has made me more observant of the subtle oddities of life, and has convinced me that bacon is, in it self, a food group.

A lover of coffee brewed in the car, dinner in the car, theater in the car, plastic toy shrines in the car, talk radio in the car (etc), charming his way through life with an unnerving, unending, smile, this man is one you should surely get to know. And if he's too much for you, at least his work.

This January let us celebrate Ohio, Bacon, Tim Hospodar, and all things absurdly America!

Here is a blurb on his most recent performance piece:

New Year's Resolutions as Performance Art?
   This month, Brooklyn artist TJHospodar is exercising more, eating differently, and sleeping less. But his intentions are short-termed because they are tied to a seven day performance taking place in a stranger's home. "Getting To Know You" is a project about researching someone first hand, and adopting their lifestyle as a means of understanding. TJ's participant is an emerging playwright residing in Park Slope South in a three bedroom apartment. She is a young woman, currently out of the country on holiday. In her absence, TJ is jogging her Prospect Park route, biking her errands, cooking flexitarian, writing a short play about break ups, while sleeping in the woman's bed and acting as her proxy around her roommates and friends as well. Spending time with someone's first degrees of separation is an important aspect of the work, TJ argues, who believes that some peers and colleagues might know the subject better than she knows herself. Never the less, presenting a newly written, short play to her colleagues at a workshop was an intimidating experience. "Not only are her peers incredibly talented," TJ admits, "but they are an entire group of people staring at you, as you sit there serving as someone's proxy, and it's impossible to determine whether they are taking you serious or as a nut."

Project Peg

This was the feminist group I was a part of in college. This project was brought together by a group of amazing women and men that I am lucky enough to call my friends.


Award Winning Student Film by my friend Lindsey McKitterick explaning the group from artistic expressions of feminism, to raising awareness on human trafficking, to winning the first ever Women of the Year award on a collegiate level.


Check it out!

http://faculty.fairfield.edu/mediacenter/student/l_mckitterick_2009.html

Blessings

This showed up in my inbox today from a friend. Sometimes what you need comes when you aren't expecting it.

Sometimes when you think you are doing everything wrong, you are really inspring someone.

Thank you, my friend, for this gift today.


"Laura, I was flipping through my old livejournal, and there was an entry from Nov 06 that was titled "10 things you'd like to say to people but probably never will." I don't know why this is is something I wouldn't say to you... but you were one of those people - this is what I wrote.




I wish I could have your brain for one day... I love the way you think. You have a God-given gift. I love the way you have this beautiful outlook of the world, even though you've seen the ugliest of it. I love how you want to change the world. I love your poetry - I would kill to be able to put words together like that. I love how you're a feminist. I love how strong of a relationship you have with God. I think you're the most beautiful person I've ever met. I hope you follow through with your biggest dreams. I know you can't do it all and that kills you, but pick a few projects you love and excel in those, because if you do the world will be such a better place. "
 
 
<3

evolution is constant.

not just in ideas either.

we are physically evolving.

we become soft, behind computer screens,
while those faced with injustice become
hard.


watch the revolution happen. just watch.

Brains and Beauty?

http://www.zednelson.com/loveme/gallery.php?pg_id=3&img_id=8




Sometimes I try to laugh at the absurdities of this world, instead of crying myself into a fit. I wake up every morning wondering if I can get through my own mental problems, just to be confronted, usually through terrible ad campaigns, about just how much the world is suffereing. Its not just my perception either. When ten year old girls are telling one another that they are fat, or a man's self worth is deternmined by the size of his house, I feel that maybe, as a species, we are doing something wrong.

Today I sat in my room and wrote a very angry letter to no one in particular. The last fifteen lines were filled with the word "die." Now all of you who know me at all, are aware that I am an extremely positive and loving individual, who strives to take care of all of those around me as much as I possibly can, and often to a fault. Yes. I have many faults. Anyhow, I wondered in circles when this anger would subside, and started to slowly become disillusioned. I don't want to hate anyone, and more over, I don't want to hate the world. My older brother, Mr. Detattched Aquarian, came in to see me crying. He sat next to me, uncomfortably, for a few moments. Then he did something I never saw him do before. He started crying, too. He held me. He told me his struggles of recently married life, of his efforts to find a better job, of his need for me to be closer to home. After we were done crying together, everything felt better. Then I knew what I always knew. That love was all that mattered, and all we needed to fix things.


So love> than ad campaigns, right?

 I am not against advertising, in fact, I think the media is the most powerful force on earth, after love, and perhaps if it, as an industry, grew some balls, we could have some positive messages streaming through our digital access canals every once in awhile.

Alas, a revolution in the creativie department might not be what's coming next. Nor in the love, or lack their of department.

So what can we do to start the ball rolling towards a less opressive, more loving, tommorow?

look through the Zed Nelson pictures....for starters

Chicago

A soul thirsting for adventure found himself up on a magnificent roof, the old and new  lines of the city merging as one by the train tracks..

This friend of a close friend added to the Bird's Eye View, broadening the perspective all the way to the windy city....

Darren Brown, Ohio Native

peaceful

a lovely blog in support...

underground

Brooklyn College MFA in Performance and Interactive Media Arts

December 13

performance installation in the oldest subway tunnel in the world!

My colleagues and I rocked the house with well over 100 audience members! Click images to make em bigger...

Sometimes i'm so happy that I don't mind getting dirty....

The end of a fast

Yesterday marked the end of a fast of forty days for those who wish to relay to world leaders that the dangers of Climate Change are real, and that we must act in solidarity to solve a problem that will effect us all, and most severely, those who contribute the least...

Watch the beautiful movie clip to understand more!


I do believe at the end of day, what is most important, is that we stick together.

<3

Malignant Narcissistic Personality Disorder

This is a serious psychological disorder that those that suffer from it often have no idea that they are.
In the art world, you meet a lot of people who are narcissistic, but it is a spectrum.

Look at this list, and protect yourself, yo!

save the planet!

my b-girl and i created this installation pictured below

in support of this lovely project

for 3-5-0

we set up shop on a roof in North Brooklyn as part of an art festival. the melting ice sculpture is symbolic of climate change. and ironically, it was an abnormally warm day in November.

right now in Copenhagen, the United Nations are meeting to discuss a plan of action for climate change regulation and policy that will help promote financial and political support for the development of renewable energy resources, the preservation of existing environmental programs, and unified support for all nations who are in danger because of the realities of climate change from the countries that cause (namely US!)

let these pictures inspire you a bit, visit our site, and support 350!

Links

I spent the afternoon looking at the projection of horses on nightgowns, for
a production I am in on Friday night. It involves me being in love with the
image of my colleague's boyfriend.

The hours spent in a theater are well spent. Rehearsal, friends, food runs, the majesty of creation that happens at 2am. And only then.

On the way home I picked up a free  Norman Rockwell calendar, which I think will turn into a collage, or a present for someone important.

My mind has been racing today.....to childhood....

I thought of this..

when I was ten, I made a discovery. I discovered that Barbie's legs bend. It was the most exciting moment. I called all of my friends! Sadly, they already knew, and had for years. But the discovery was very important to me. I remember that.

I think tomorrow I will wear my pink tattered-on-purpose leggings.

I don't really look as cool as the woman in the photo, however.

widowded

Nothing that a few months of writing ghostly letters to anonymous can't fix? right?

Maybe this was just a bad year for us; a really bad one.