The shirt wearer leaves because he cannot stand this

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:08:38 +0000

GZ hangers

Complications set in. A pink shirt, a French blue shirt, some black polos.

Mainly, I sorted . . . hangers. Many wire hangers are now . . . in the middle. They must go. I do not remember what happened to the shirts. Surely there were shirts. But I am focusing on hangers per se.

I think the shirts went into a suitcase. The shirt-wearer has taken the suitcase and left.

Three categories of shirts

admin — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:04:21 +0000

The categories: blue, blue-and-white striped, and white.

Sculpture as Campus Housing at Brown University

admin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:57:39 +0000

Is it art or is it student housing? A first-year student presents a sculpture on the Brown campus. In the background, people wildly applaud Shakespeare’s Othello. That’s college culture. The sculpture is by . . .

Let’s write a Shakespeare play

admin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:31:23 +0000

1. Pick a big historical event with which, however mistakenly, people feel they are familiar. Alternatively, present an event so ridiculous it hardly matters.
2. Reduce it to six main characters (Henry the Whatever, fairies and/or transvestites).
3. One of the characters should seem ill at ease or out of place in his or her role (Richard II, Rosalind)
4. Insert play within a play to give people a second chance to figure out what’s happening (Pyramus and Thisbe).
5. Insert monologue by main character addressed to a significant object (crown, skull).
6. End in a blood bath.
Wild applause!!!
You wonder why more people don’t write these plays.

Veterans’ Day

admin — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:58:20 +0000

Today I read again the commendation from then Secretary of the Navy Forrestal, recognizing the “courage and sacrifice” of my grandmother, who sent seven sons to fight in World War Two. Here’s to you, Catherine.

In solidarity with Viennese students, Munich students demonstrate

admin — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 11:37:23 +0000

A few hundred students marched down the Barer Strasse to join others marching down the Schelling Strasse to protest tuition and the relatively-new European bachelor program; and to express solidarity with students occupying the Auditorium Maximum of the University of Vienna. A block of police officers accompanied the marchers, and several police vehicles brought up the rear of the march down Barer Strasse. Protests originated earlier today at the Munich Academy of Fine Arts, which has successfully resisted implementing the new bachelor and master sequences.

Munich students protest tuition hike

admin — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:57:23 +0000

At about 8:30 pm, a few hundred students coming from the direction of the Technical University marched under my window on the Barer Strasse to join their counterparts marching down Schelling Strasse from the direction of the Ludwig-Maximilians University. You can hear them chant: “Gebühren? Nein, danke!” Tuition at the two federally-designated “elite universities” is currently 500 euros ($750.) per year.

LadyButler

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:04:56 +0000

This is my friend Anna, also known as LadyButler. Anna’s closets actually look like this. It is a little scary and I try not to think about it too much. However, I do think–often–about my own shortcomings in this regard. I think how much nicer my life would be if my closets were not inhabited by demonic textiles.

I do know what the problem is, and I will not burden you with my personal neuroses. Just remember that the first short story of my adult life is called “The Closet and the Money,” and deals with the detritus of the Second World War, that somehow wound up stuffed in a standing closet in my childhood bedroom. That’s all I will say for now.

But I do so wish I could move just ten centimeters toward Anna’s end of the spectrum.

Anna emailed me today and asked if I would like her to bring over some of her new hangers, which can be custom tailored with shoulder pads or skirt clips, to suit the exact garment that will hang on this hanger.

I would. So I thought I’d begin cleaning out my closets by bringing some crappy old hangers back to the dry cleaner, as I am not planning to go into the illegal abortion business any time soon. Surely I could part with wire hangers. And then I could practice color coding the shirts in my husband’s closets. This should be a fairly elementary exercise, as he only owns two colors of shirts.

The photo on the right is about as far as I got.

If you live in Germany or the UK, I recommend that you contact LadyButler. The alternative is Bellevue.

Goddess of Salvation

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 21:33:40 +0000

Goddess of Salvation

Posters go up for Incroci di Civiltà

admin — Sat, 30 May 2009 15:37:41 +0000

Everyone was excited that Orhan Pamuk and Salman Rushdie were coming to to town. Bookstores around Venice displayed posters for the literary conference, “Crossroads of Civilization.” This bookstore is on a street leading away from the Querini Stampalia.