Erykah Badu-Barefoot & Brave
Erykah jumped into the audience barefoot at the Fox Theater in Oakland. What’s the big deal about being barefoot? My spiritual mentor taught me that you can absorb the energy of a place if you are barefoot. So Erykah jumping into the crowd, barefoot, represented strength (knowing she could contain her energy) and vulnerability [...]
Haul Videos: Harmful or Helpful?
A haul is a video where someone talks about what they buy, usually from a particular store. They can review the items or just talk about how cute the things they bought are with no advice as to whether the buy was worth the money. Lots of people are slamming hauler Blair AKA juicystar07 because [...]
Bright Star Butterflies
I captured a white butterfly when I was about seven. I scarred her wings while I was trying to trap her. When I looked for her a couple of hours later, she was gone. I don’t know how she’d managed to get out of the jar. I’ve always been fascinated by butterflies, but I learned [...]
Tapologo by Gabriela & Sally Gutiérrez Dewar at the Human Rights Watch International Film Festival in New York City
Tapologo is a subtle and hard-hitting film. Without being belligerent or preachy, the film reveals the extreme challenges of being female in South Africa, where 50% of the women are living with HIV.
Sally Gutiérrez Dewar and I co-taught Gender and the Politics of Culture at the New School. She and her sister Gabriela continue exploring [...]
Alternatives to high heels (museum shoes)
Sometimes, you or a loved one may be tempted to wear heels to a museum. I spotted these intrepid museum-goers at the De Young on a Friday night. It was full of people dancing to live music, checking out art, watching films, and making art. Perhaps the high-heeled were wearing the shoes because it was [...]
Crying over Susan Boyle
Susan Boyle is making people cry. Could it be her frumpiness combined with unexpected talent that gets people? Her bushy eyebrows, dry, frizzy, gray hair, white pumps and tan colored pantyhose are endearing. She’s tapping into the feeling of success against the odds-no matter what your age or what you look like, recognition can and [...]
Tortillas y Lalo Guerrero
In every city, I hunt down tortillas. I hear Lalo Guerrero singing “no hay tortillas” when I’m without. Here are the lyrics:
Lalo Guerrero
There’s No Tortillas
I love tortillas
And I love them dearly
You’ll never know,
Just how sincerely.
I love the corn ones,
Y tambien de harina,
But when my wife calls out from
La cocina.
There’s no tortillas.
There’s only bread.
There’s no tortillas,
And [...]
The perfect slippers, but not like Cinderella's
Moving is hectic, especially when you’re looking for comfy slippers that fit well and aren’t frumpy. Why slippers? Because we want to keep our floors sparkly. My brother says we need to provide slippers for guests, but I can’t even find a decent pair for myself. We went to Macy’s the other day, and the [...]
Surprise is good for the brain: Irreverent Nordic craft art at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Yerba Buena’s Irreverent: Contemporary Nordic Craft exhibit is full of surprise, which is what the brain needs to stay elastic and resilient. Simply taking a new route to work or a different path in the park can help your brain remain elastic, so walking through an exhibit of Nordic crafts must be a serious stimulator.
The [...]
How to look your best: ask friends and relatives to help
It’s hard to know what we look like, and how we could improve, right? Fashion mags are disconcerting to lots of people, and so a lot of people get stuck with a mirror and nothing else as a way to judge what’s happening in the self-improvement department. I have a friend who can’t even look [...]
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