hello november

hello nablopomo, hello national blog posting month. hello yearly ritual in which I try to post something everyday for one month. I do not usually succeed but I do love the trying.

first day of november

and it's the beginning of nablopomo. I intend to post something here everyday this month. which is probably totally unrealistic but whatever. getting back into the swing of writing and posting photographs daily: yes. I am in. like flynn.

hello november, hello nablopomo.

NABLOPOMO, YO

hello november, hello national blog posting month.

every year, I try to post something everyday and every year, I fail. oddly enough, I enjoy the trying. it's possible I even enjoy the failing. for seven years straight, I have failed. that's right, I started in 2006 with this nablopomo business. seven should have been my year, seven is my number. and really, how hard can it be to post something everyday? APPARENTLY, REALLY VERY INCREDIBLY HARD.

this is my year, though. I can feel it. year number eight. nablopmo 2013, yo.

NABLOPOMO 2013, YOU ARE MINE.

nablopomo!

people, it's nablopomo (aka national blog posting month) and every year I participate. every year, I try to post something (anything) everyday for one month. and every year, I fail. but I do love the trying. I do so love the trying.

hello november, hello nablopomo.

hello november

it's the week of the polaroid, friends. I do believe I've been ready for this for weeks now. I check the pool daily for inspiration because seriously, people do not play around when it comes to 'roid week. I mean, really. people throw down. and I love it.

last day of november

nablopomo, I did the best I could. I tried, really I did. true, I lost a little steam there at the end, but hey. there were milestone birthdays and thanksgiving extravaganzas and sick children in the mix. I did the best I could. and I'm back in the swing of writing and posting photographs (almost) daily and I think that should count for something. um, I'm pretty sure that's the point.

goodbye nablopomo, goodbye november.

hello december. I am ready for you.

here's where I begin

with nablopomo, unbelievably, after seven months of (unintentional) silence here, with a handful of words about a yearly ritual that I cannot, will not give up. a post a day, every day, for the month of november.

hello! I am still alive.

hello, nablopomo

the hardest part is the starting. the saying you're going to write something every day. the putting it out there, even though you're not sure people even read anymore. once you get past that part, it's gravy. 

well, gravy those first five or six days and then holy crap you're in it and you said you'd show up here every day, whaaaaat. every day. you know for a fact you are not a show up every day girl, you are more ebb than flow, you are squarely, solidly an ebb girl with just a little bit of flow. 

also, no one reads blogs anymore. or so they tell me.

but with november comes many things: banana bread. new tights. the wearing of the boots, the mourning of the loss of light. increased amounts of soup. changing leaves. and, nablopomo.

unbelievably, this is my twelfth year. 

so, here we go. 

list thirty-nine: 11 photographs of ward that I love

1. with ezra, overlooking the pacific ocean, northern california, june 2008


2. at the food carts on hawthorne and SE 11th, portland, august 2010


3. at the warwick hotel on his 40th birthday, seattle, november 2008


4. in the kitchen of our new place, our first month in portland, april 2007


5. on our first road trip down highway 101, klamath, california, june 2008


6. downtown portland, christmas break 2008


7. with ava (baby ava!), miami beach, florida, july 2001


8. after burgers and fries at mel's diner, san francisco, june 2008


9. in an alleyway somewhere in seattle, may 2007


10. in our front yard, halloween 2010


11. on a beach blanket with me, kure beach, north carolina, july 1998

happy birthday, awesome husband of mine. happy happy birthday to you. here's to more decades filled with favorite photographs of you. decades and decades and decades.

nablopomo

with the fog of sickness and all, I completely forgot about national blog posting month aka nablopomo (inspired by national novel writing month aka nanowrimo). eight days into november and I am terribly late and I hate being late. but I'm throwing my proverbial hat into the ring because I like the idea of something akin to a daily writing exercise and also I'd like a little vacation from the overthinking that so often takes place inside my head. yes, a break from that would be nice.

so hello, nablopomo. it's good to see you again.

photobooth friday

taken on friday, november the 17th at the booth in the basement level of the manhattan mall while I was waiting for h&m to open (lookit, jesC and kristen have both been here). then, while I was switching from the red curtain to the blue one, I discovered the background graffiti. better even than the curtains, I say. funny, because later on that night, I went to see david dorfman's revolution at bam (so much more to say about that, so much I don't even know how or where to start) and all I keep thinking about when I look at these frames is how much it reminds me of that performance. which may not seem like anything, but it is.

I'm a little embarrassed of these. maybe because of the expressions, I don't know. I do believe in peace, though. and I am quite fond of my green hat.

anyway.

some photobooth treatlets for today: thanks to poppy for this link to constructing your own photobooth. if only! coincidentally, I've just joined the new flickr fauxtobooth group. absolutely marvelous idea, especially if you're without a photobooth. and here's how folks are trying to bring the photobooth into the 21st century, check it: mark van s. and the shine flickr photobooth in san francisco (thank you very much for sharing, leSophie). although I'd be in a state of perpetual bliss if someone would just please oh please figure out how to modernize the old skool photobooth without robbing it of the old skool charm. all you technology-minded peoples out there, I am begging you. the old booths are rapidly vanishing into the night and without any warning to the world. I guess I could say something here about how we can get a man on the moon but we can't figure out the old photobooths, but I won't. although I already have. feh. as always, don't forget about the folks at photobooth.net, they are so very fantastically, magically delicious (well, in the eyes of this photobooth fanatic). and I have to say it: nice to have a boy in the friday mix. say hello to matt, won't you please? he's balancing out our revolution just a bit. I think it's nice.

ahem, not so much with the writing skills today.

righteous words or not, the revolution lives on:

jesC
the whole self
nessie noodle
woof nanny
acumamakiki
a.stray
jördis
matt!?
leSophie

inside out

most people would never look at this and think of it as modern dance and I know why. because when the average person thinks of modern dance, they think of strange people in black leotards on all fours, barking like dogs to the sound of discordant flutes and cymbals. or overly dramatic dancers in flowy gowns gesturing wildly. I'm not saying these stereotypes don't exist-- too many times I have found myself in a dark theatre, rolling my eyes or trying to hold back giggles in the middle of a performance dripping with symbolism and/or pretension. and I've danced in a couple of pieces that I am not particularly proud of. BUT. when modern dance is good, it is SO GOOD. really and truly, because modern dance, in essence, refuses to be defined. and because there really aren't any rules, there's endless room for experimentation. my favorite artists and companies are often blending and layering so many elements of movement... african, hip hop, jazz, pedestrian, ballet, release, capoiera, modern and more. this is what keeps my mind and body engaged, this is why I can't seem to get enough. I get excited when I see things come together that are not supposed to come together. I think this is why I love collage so much (ephemera and photography and paint and whatever, all coming together to evoke a sense of something). and why I love underground hip hop, love to listen to my brother's music (beats and fragments from so many different genres of music all coming together to sound like something completely different and original and fresh... hello, DJ dust). nothing inspires me more than to see choreographers turn perceptions of dance upside down and inside out. that's when things get really interesting. because you can find art in the most furious back spin and you can be moved to tears by the simplest hand gesture.

rennie harris puremovement is a company out of philadelphia that I have fallen in love with. I am giddy over the marriage of hip hop movement and modern and more than happy to fork over hard-earned dollars in exchange for a ticket to the show (counting the days til they hit atlanta's rialto on november the 5th). I think I know what I'm going to see (fortunate enough to have seen them perform once before), but really, I don't. sure, the dancers will be electric and the choreography will be brilliant but the sub-context will have me thinking about stuff for days. and days. in both big and small ways, it will change the way I move, the way I dance, the way I teach, the way I choreograph, the way I think.