October 29, 2009
Over at TPM, I read that a report said 67% of bloggers are men and the writer
wondered what that was saying. I think it says that men are more willing to state their opinions in print and don’t
need a real time feedback as much as women. Actually, it’s my experience that they prefer to be unchallenged most
of the time. Which of course doesn’t happen often in the company of women. The writer suggested that misogyny
plays a big role and again because women do like feedback, the sometimes anonymous vitriol towards them can be frightening.
I agree.
3:13 pm edt
October 20, 2009
Recently I wrote to a friend that she have enough in her own life to give
her something to “save” her, when all that she thought was right goes wrong. (For me, it’s my artwork).
Because inevitably, life goes wrong and we all make mistakes.
Lately I’ve thought a lot about how one’s
nature so affects the way we deal with “life”. Perhaps my optimistic nature – my older daughter labeled
me “pathologically optimistic” when she was a teenager – does give me some resilience. But it also
makes it almost impossible for others to see beneath my seemingly upbeat façade. It even jolts me when I’m
driving alone and find myself again overcome with sorrow that I actually cry out loud and then come upon some miracle of nature
that radiates its beauty through my veil of tears. Almost instantly I feel guilty for this ability to so appreciate
beauty, amidst my very real sorrow and sometimes I’m angry with this upbeat nature of mine. As my daughter use
to say, “It can really make others ill” and that lately includes me.
October 18, 2009
The hassle of traveling to another state to see my mother became even more
“interesting” last evening. I left NJ at 10:17 PM and arrived in Kimberton at 12:10 AM, almost a record for traveling
48 miles. First the rain was torrential and then came the bottle-neck with fire engines, police cars and ambulances gathered
where 295 meets the Walt Whitman Bridge and branches off to 476 toward the Ben Franklin Bridge – my destination.
Accidents on both the Jersey side and the PA side had the Walt Whitman Bridge closed and cars just piled up all over the highway
blocking access to the 476 highway.
I’ve no idea how long it took me to finally get over to a slo-o-o-wly
moving lane that took me to the Ben Franklin. Things were again moving along even though all drove at 40 mph or less
on the Schuylkill Expressway due to poor visibility. But then my exit onto Mall Road led me to another fire engine,
police cars & ambulance blockade at Route 363, which sent me in another direction to 422 W to the Valley Forge Park Rte
23 W exit. Once again I was on my way, but as I turned onto Valley Park Road I heard the firehouse siren screaming!
The fire engine was about to leave as I passed the firehouse. It eventually overtook and passed me and it was going
in my direction!
Within minutes it turned into the huge Phoenixville area YMCA complex, to join another fire engine
and many police cars. I could see a glow in the high windows of the building wing facing the road. What a night!
But I’m finally here and wide-awake, which actually isn’t all that unusual for me.
Later note: Fortunately this last one was a false alarm.
October 14, 2009
The Barnes on the Parkway – I have mixed feelings about this.
I loved being in the Merion building for classes and the way the works are exhibited there was integral to that experience.
It was extraordinary.
But parking, especially if you came on the weekends could be a nightmare and for many of
those that the Gallery was meant for, the location isn’t easy to get to without a car. So, although I personally
like that location and the history there, I think that the Parkway location may make it more accessible to exactly the audience
that Barnes preferred.
The proposed plan for the new building by architects Billie Tsien and Tod Williams seems
to have the concept of the Merion building pretty well incorporated into a more modern facility. The “diving board”
top though leaves me less enthused. It doesn’t come across to me the way the architects explained it. But
often scale models don’t really show how the full-scale building will work in its actual setting. I’m sure
I’ll be commenting on this again.
1:40 am edt
October 9, 2009
Happy Birthday to my brother, Joseph!
I remember when we could laugh forever over nothing at all.
October 6, 2009
It seems that when I was in the Southwest the paved Schuylkill River Trail
was run through a portion of the Audubon Wildlife Sanctuary and I decided to walk that section several days ago. It
was a perfect fall day and since I’m having a knee problem, it was the best surface for me to walk on. Of course
at some point I did wander onto a dirt trail to get closer to the river and then when I could go no further, had to backtrack
up to the paved trail again. Except for the highway noise at the northern end of the Audubon Loop, it was just the hike
I needed. So I’m headed back there today to see if there’s a good (quiet, isolated) place where I can paint,
once the fall colors of the trees have deepened/peaked.
12:58 pm edt
