Portentious

does it feel like a time of portents to anyone else? as I watched the eclipse tonight I was struck by how everything feels like it is coming full circle. some things are drawing to a close, wrapping up.

500!

I just noticed that the last post made 500 posts on my blog! This is 501 which strikes me as oddly appropriate given the new directions I am moving in. I am also at 495 comments – so close!

New Look

Well, modifications are almost complete on my new Blog format. I think it is looking pretty good so far. the top right will have a featured artwork- I’m currently working out how it will work and look.

Apathy

it’s funny – it was doing so well last year that I panicked and stopped working on it. I have a fear of letting people down – so I stop and let them down….. but for some reason it’s been hard to get things out on my keyboard.

Nudity is an insult in Iraq

Car bombings, kidnappings, gunfights and mortar blasts litter the landscape of life. Check points have been established to ensure obedience to strict dress codes.When there is no expression of the human imagination, what remains is violence and hatred…. If the individual expression of human creativity is suppressed, what is left?Karen Macedonio: If Human Creativity Dies, What is Left?

hibernation

everyone is finding this winter difficult. I don’t know whether it’s the bitter weather or the bad viral strains around but a general malaise seems to have settled over everything. I have spent a good portion of it sick and sore as it now appears that my back can predict the weather and is doing it’s best impression of an overfilled hot water bottle.

Sometimes a Nude is Just an Unclothed Body

This had nothing to do with retaliation,“ said Richard Zuckerman, attorney for the school district, who was also individually named in the suit…. He got punished.”In 2005, school district officials sought to fire the tenured teacher, accusing Panse of bringing sex into his high school classroom and of violating district policy by offering students a figure-drawing class — which would include the use of nude models — off campus and for his profit…. An administrative law judge ruled Jan. 8 that Panse did violate the district’s no-solicitation policy but that district officials failed to prove that his talk of nude-model drawing rose to the level of sexual inappropriateness.

Scrubbing Sexist Nudity

Ms. Carey sent one of her letters to the director of the Queens Museumof Art, Tom Finkelpearl, who also used to run the City’s Percent for Art program, which supports public art. In an interview, Mr. Finkelpearl said that, while he does consider the statue’s imagery sexist, he thinks there’s nothing wrong with artworks stirring debate…. I think it’s great; that’s people responding to public art.“But as for spending public money to restore the statue, he said, that’s another matter…. ”I think it’s kind of perfect the way it is.“‘Fat Boy’ Vs. Feminists – July 20, 2007 – The New York Sun:This is an interesting debate that, for once, does not stem from the fact that the subjects are nude.