Art Np2

(artwork by Amanda Mulcahy Parkland College) The Visual Arts Gallery at Governors State University is pleased to present our 2012 annual Illinois Community College Juried Exhibition The exhibition will be on display from February 17 through March 3, 2012. The closing Reception and Awards Ceremony will be S aturday March 3, Noon – 5 p.m. Juror’s talk at 3 p.m. The distinguished juror Christopher D. Smith , Director Linda Warren Projects, Chicago, IL has selected 55 works of art from 236 entries by 93 Students from 9 Illinois Community or Junior Colleges. Over $1500 will be awarded during the closing reception/awards ceremony/juror's talk on March 3. There will also be a "Peoples Choice Award" handed to the student artist that received the most votes from our galleries visitors. There is still time to vote for your favorite piece of artwork. Come in to the gallery during regular gallery hours and cast your vote! GSU's art program will also host an open house

This will definitely interrupt your reading. Live Under The Sky 1990 Al Jarreau I simply love you.  Joe Sample, you're a part of the sound track of my life.  Steve Gadd,  that drum solo.  That drum solo.  You left me speechless.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1852.  Doyle was trained as a medical doctor, but writing was his first love.  He is famous for writing the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and yet he also wrote science fiction, adventure, horror, and essays. In "The Case of The Man With The Twisted Lip" Sherlock Holmes and his trusty sidekick Dr. Watson try to find a woman's missing husband.  The wife unexpectedly sees her husband in a seedy part of London, half dressed in the window of an opium house. When the police investigate all they find of him are his clothes and some blood on a window sill.  After investigating, Holmes is puzzled and frustrated when he has to tell the wife he thinks her husband is dead.  What happens next?  You won't find out unless you read  The Case of The Man With The Twisted Lip By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle .  I don't think you will be disappointed.

Robert Hass Robert Haas is a poet, was the Poet Laureate of the U.S. 1995-1997, won a Pulitzer for poetry in 2008, but "A Story About The Body" isn't a poem is it?   Is it a short story?  I t hink this is a very, very, short story or some kind of   a free form poem. Am I right?  If someone out there knows, now is the time to speak up.    This story is not about a woman's body.  It's about a young composer's disgust and fear  when confronted with an authentically sexy woman who had a mastectomy.   In my opinion he definitely was not ready for that woman. He was obsessed with the feelings in his body and mind.  He didn't even she her.   The man didn't even know what a mastectomy was.   He did not understand her body.   What seemed to turn him on about her was that she was something new he had never before experienced with his body.  She was an older Japanese woman, talented, and comfortable with her body and sexuality.  Maybe he thought she was exotic.

Usually I don't buy new books.  Some people call that cheap. Actually it is being frugal. However Thursday I did break down and buy The Plays of Anton Chekhov at Barnes and Noble.  Then I went on Amazon and saw the same book for four dollars less.  Yes four dollars that could have gone into my savings!  Those dollars add up.  So, I was kind of  irritated with myself. I am happy to be able to say that most of the books I buy are discounted.  Also, there are a lot of free books given away in my area.  These are the ones I found in the past six weeks. Dancing at the Louvre: Faith Ringgold's French Collection And Other Story Quilts.    Various Authors The Storyteller's Goddess.   Carolyn McVickar Edwards On Women Turning 50: Celebrating Mid-life Discoveries.    Cathleen Rountree A Little Yellow Dog.    Walter Moseley Small Island.   Andrea Levy Abide With Me   Elizabeth Strout Robert Louis Stevenson: Treasure Island, The Master of Ballantrae, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Kidnapp

I have such a hard time seeing my own mistakes when I write. There is no problem with my seeing other people's mistakes.  I just don't get it.  Even when I go over something word by word I still occasionally miss things.  One of things I notice is writing by hand is easier for me than typing on the computer.  After all, that is how I learned to write.  Maybe writing by hand gives me the chance to think slower and I make less mistakes.  When I do write by hand and then have to type it too, it feels like double the work, and it is.  But oh well, it seems that is what I will have to do if I want to improve my writing.  You see I'm solving my own problems.  By the way I did not write this longhand.

Mohja Kahf is a modern storyteller and like  Scheherazad her poetry stories keep the listener or reader captivated. "Voyager Dust" tells the story of  immigrants who travel to the United States from another land, from a different culture and language, and have to sink themselves into the American melting pot.  Many of  these people experience consciously or subconsciously a longing for home and the familiar. Kahf says the immigrant's needs and desires are transmitted by the bearer through the clothes they wear.  Clothes take on the scent of the wearer.  Scent is a metaphor for desires that exude from the Chinese woman on the bus and Kahf mother's scarves.     She and her brother (Kahf) can sense the yearning through what Kahf calls "smell," but that is not what it is.  What it is may be difficult to explain in written language.   Voyager Dust When they arrive in the new country, voyagers carry it on their shoulders, the dusting of the sky they left behind Th

Mohja Kahf Voyager Dust When they arrive in the new country, voyagers carry it on their shoulders, the dusting of the sky they left behind The woman on the bus in the downy sweater,   I could smell it on her clothes It was voyager dust from China It lay in the foreign stitching of her placket It said: We will meet again in Bejing, in Guangzbou.  We will meet again. My mother had voyager's dust in her scarves I imagine her a new student like this woman on the bus, getting home, shaking out the clothes from her suitcase, hanging up, one by one, the garments from the old country On washing day my mother would unroll her scarves She'd hold one end, my brother or I the other, and we'd stretch the wet georgette and shake it out We'd dash, my brother or I, under the canopy, its soft spray on our face like the ash of debris after the destruction of a city, its citizen driven out across the earth. We never knew it was voyager dust. It said: We will meet again in Damascus, in Ale

I have played this album ( Nu Revolution ) so much people are beginning to think I speak French.  I have no idea what these women are saying but I know I would agree with it if I did.  I just know it. Go on their  Website  to learn more about them.  These women are so talented.

"Art hurts. Art urges voyages - and it is easier to stay at home." Gwendolyn Brooks Purse made from empty Kool cigarette packages by Leland Dodd Self Portrait by Keith Dwy, sculpture made of toilet paper and crayons. Nightmare From Hell by Joy Kaulity, acrylics. To find out more about art created behind bars click  here.

I sang this song to Bub when he was a baby.

In the classic novel it is the middle of the nineteen twenties and Janie Mae Woods is living in the Everglades with her third husband Teacake.  A hurricane is coming, but they don't believe it.  They decide to stay on the "muck" and wait until the storm passes.  Some of the people get together to sing, eat, and boost up their confidence.  This is what they sang: Yo' Mama don't wear no Draws Ah seen her when she took 'em Off She soaked 'em in alco Hol She sold 'em to Santy Claus He told her 'twas aganist the Law To wear dem dirty Draws (157).   That was so funny I laughed out loud.  It took a while to get used the southern black accent even though my family in Alabama and Arkansas speak the same way.  I read the First Perennial paperback published in 1990. While reading The Big Sea By Langston Hughes I learned that Hughes went to Louisiana in 1927 after a flood occurred on the Mississippi River.  Does that sound familiar?  As much as things change

This song is dedicated to Wide Awake Jake, Bub and Melissa, Rnutt and Alethea.

I just found the e-book Mules and Men by Hurston for free.  Click here  and then click on the Mules and Men link on that page.  Happy reading.  The world is beautiful.

I love the little purple dresses the back up singers have on.

http://www.thebluebookcase.blogspot.com/   Question for Feb 9-12 In the epilogue for Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman writes: "It’s always been my theory that criticism is really just veiled autobiography; whenever someone writes about a piece of art, they’re really just writing about themselves.” Do you agree? My answer: When I write a review I unfortunately put too much of my personal point of view in the assessment.  Not all reviewers are guilty of this. Ideally, there should be a balance between an objective and subjective examination of a work because a review should reflect some of the opinions of the reviewer, but it should not read like an academic paper.  An actual review should not be exclusively about the writer's feelings, likes, and dislikes. If it is, then the review is a veiled autobiography.  A review should be a unique, clear, and entertaining evaluation of a book's strengths and weaknesses. At least that's my take on it. Personally, I plan to star

I have been busy over the last six weeks, so I have not had time to write.  I am seriously behind in my blog posts.  Hopefully, as the year progresses I can catch up. Last week I read "The Yellow Wallpaper" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.  This story is commonly read in Women Studies programs and in women colleges.  I just happened to graduate from a woman's college (University of Notre Dame of Maryland) and had already read the story.  However, this is not a story only for women.  Anyone who has ever felt controlled or powerless can relate to the main character. The story is about a nineteenth century, upper class woman's non-dated journal entries concerning her life as a powerless, first-time mother, suffering from what appears to be post-partum depression. Her husband John, a doctor, decides to rent a house in the country supposedly so she can get a much needed rest.  She is given a former nursery as her vacation quarters.  John is away very much.  He says he has med

Cinderella 1997  Why did a beautiful, extremely talented woman decide to take drugs?  Damn!

"My own journey is full of fear, pain, love, shame, wonder, ectasy, luck, daring, and marvelous imperfections."    Sark from the book Succulent Wild Woman . Big Nude by Georges Braque, 1908.   Braque and Picasso developed the painting syle of Cubism. Click here to learn more about Braque.

Steely Dan  Charlotte, NC 8/12/2006  Donald Fagen - Keyboards and Vocals  Walter Becker - Guitar They've got a name for the winners in the world I want a name when I lose They call Alabama the Crimson Tide Call me Deacon Blue

  "I am gonna write poems til i die and when i have gotten outta this body i am gonna hang round in the wind and knock over everybody who got their feet on the ground."  Ntoszake Shange Sketch for Dancing at the Louvre quilt.  Color Marker on Paper.  From The French Collection Part 1: #1, 1990.  Private collection.