Today was a good day.
When I got in late last night (after the drive from New Haven and looking for legal parking on the night before street cleaning) my eyes were filled with a precarious bounty of bags, computer, blankets, boots, and books and I barely got the front door open with all of my items intact. This morning, when I came down the stairs, my wallet was sitting in the vestibule with a note that said simply, "found this on the stoop." All of the cards were there and there was an absence of cash-- exactly as I had left it.
This was a wonderful relief (though I hadn't even noticed it missing yet), especially since every morning someone comes by the front gate and rifles through the recycling collecting cans and bottles for deposits. Had this stranger been the one to find the wallet and drop it inside? Someone broke enough to roam the streets in the bitter cold collecting bottles? Or was it someone in my building? I will write them and note and see if anyone picks it up. And I will keep you posted.
The other magical thing that happened today is the spontaneous appearance of Ken Roht (back in my life, right here in Brooklyn!). He is an old friend and an artistic hero of mine and I spotted him on Court Street outside the Cinema. We hugged and caught up and I learned he is spending the next several months a block from my apartment... so there will be more catching up ahead. The crazy thing is-- he arrived this morning and I had no idea he was coming east (he usually lives in LA) much less to my hood, and I love that I just happened to see him on my walk home. I wouldn't be so struck by this if it was the first time. On January 17th, 2004 I ran into Ken on the street in DUMBO (on a bit of a bad day) and our conversation and a job offer from him resulted in me spending 3 1/2 years in LA. The last time I saw Ken was in April 2008, when he was writing my recommendation letter for Williamstown Theater Festival. I went to Williamstown in May 2008 and never went back to LA after that. Is it just me or does it seem like he's sort of a spiritual force in my life?
Him and Vito Acconci. A man who either I am following or he is following me.
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
happy valentine's day.
In honor of Valentine's I'm going to share these great quotes Stella sent me.
Go ahead and fall in love with a book. I'm going to.
[Also, I cannot believe there's nothing from Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go on here.]
30 Literary Quotes That Just Might Get You Laid
11:00 am Wednesday Feb 9, 2011 on flavorpill by Kathleen Massara
Wooing is hard work. Inevitably all of us will be crushed by disappointment from time to time when a chosen paramour rejects us with a single, cutting remark. However, we are almost certain here at Flavorpill that having a background in literature will work in your favor, whether you find yourself pining at a bar, a café, or at an awkward house party filled with graduate students clutching red plastic cups — their eyes glazing over as another person enters the throng and attempts to discuss his thesis on Levinas’s idea of irreducible relations. Rally against this stagnation, readers, and use the quotes below to find love… but don’t blame us if you get slapped.
1. Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Best way of cutting to the chase:
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
2. Complete Works by D.H. Lawrence
When you’re encouraging the flame:
“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”
3. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
Infamous heartbreaker, that Henry Valentine:
“What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.”
4. Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
You could almost pick a line at random with Neruda, really, but here’s a sure thing:
“I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”
5. Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Get ready to test adulterous waters:
“I used to think marriage was a plate-glass window just begging for a brick.”
6. “Don Juan” by Lord Byron
For the shy ones, sitting in the room downstairs:
“A little she strove, and much repented,
And whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’ — consented.”
7. “Bright Star” by John Keats
Who is able to resist Keats’ spell? If anyone can, you shouldn’t be interested in them anyway:
“Pillowed upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon in death.”
8. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
When you suddenly realize your kendo teacher is thinking of molding more of your body than your mind:
“I seemed like a baby bird keeping its truly innocent animal lusts hidden under its wing. I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself.”
9. The Lost Poems by Dorothy Parker
To use in any bar, in any city, but probably best with Wall Street guys:
“I require only three things of a man. He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid.”
10. Just Kids by Patti Smith
It’s a risk, but it worked when Patti used it on Robert:
“Will you pretend you’re my boyfriend?”
11. Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
For people who insist they enjoy “erotica” and not porn:
“He was now in that state of fire that she loved. She wanted to be burnt.”
12. A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky
For scientifically-minded perverts:
“We’re getting along so well; I trust you so much for this one second that I’m going to let you yank on me.”
13. Male Colors by Gary Leupp
This one will work in most gay bars or history departments:
“Excuse me for talking to you this way, master, but isn’t your bottom hard to please?”
14. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
For chrissakes, please do not attempt on anyone under 18:
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
15. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
To the woman in the blue dress:
“Let me first state forthright that contrary to what we’ve often read in books and heard from preachers, when you are a woman, you don’t feel like the Devil. ”
16. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
This man was once married to Padma Lakshmi. He must have done something right:
“For a fellow who’s not to much to look at, you have the instincts of a champion.”
17. Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant
To the man or woman who will in no way break your heart:
“You’ll find that my coquetry is quite impartial, which allows me to keep my friends.”
18. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
Let’s be honest here:
“I’m the fortieth ugliest man in this bar. But so what! So what!… Isn’t this how people used to fall in love?”
19. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
When confronted with your first threesome:
“The signore…wishes her to begin at the beginning.”
20. Sula by Toni Morrison
Saying it like it is:
“What do you mean take him away? I didn’t kill him, I just fucked him.”
21. London Fields by Martin Amis
When a clear sense of foreboding conquers all:
“You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other’s otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full contact — all that?”
22. The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
When it’s time to get fruity:
“Stuff me in a tutu and let’s screen experimental videos all day.”
23. Couples by John Updike
Sometimes you have to be the bait:
“The first breathe of adultery is the freest.”
24. Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver
When you are the last man at a bar, talking to the last sympathetic woman:
“We were so intimate once upon a time I can’t believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can’t imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven’t been.”
25. “First Love” by Isaac Babel
Who enjoys saucy French words? Hopefully, your admirer does:
“She would lift her peignoir above her knees and say to her husband: ‘Give baby a kiss…’”
26. Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates
When you meet your first baby dyke:
“Like they’re pretending not to know who I am: I’m Legs Sadovsky I’m FOXFIRE I don’t fuck around with guys.”
27. “Tonka” by Robert Musil
When you think coming clean about your anxiety will get you through the difficult parts:
“You see how wrong I go, how ridiculous I’m making myself in your eyes by keeping on guessing wrong like this! Doesn’t that help you to come out with it? Come on now!”
28. “Fireworks” by Richard Ford
When you need to switch identities:
“I realized I loved you, and I didn’t want to be married to somebody I didn’t love. I wanted to be married to you. It isn’t all that complicated.”
29. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
When honesty is the best policy:
“Are you happiest and saddest right now that you’ve ever been?” “Of course I am.” “Why?” “Because nothing makes me happier and nothing makes me sadder than you.”
30. Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker
For the post-punk, French critical theory set:
“If you ask me what I want, I’ll tell you. I want everything.”
Go ahead and fall in love with a book. I'm going to.
[Also, I cannot believe there's nothing from Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go on here.]
30 Literary Quotes That Just Might Get You Laid
11:00 am Wednesday Feb 9, 2011 on flavorpill by Kathleen Massara
Wooing is hard work. Inevitably all of us will be crushed by disappointment from time to time when a chosen paramour rejects us with a single, cutting remark. However, we are almost certain here at Flavorpill that having a background in literature will work in your favor, whether you find yourself pining at a bar, a café, or at an awkward house party filled with graduate students clutching red plastic cups — their eyes glazing over as another person enters the throng and attempts to discuss his thesis on Levinas’s idea of irreducible relations. Rally against this stagnation, readers, and use the quotes below to find love… but don’t blame us if you get slapped.
1. Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
Best way of cutting to the chase:
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.”
2. Complete Works by D.H. Lawrence
When you’re encouraging the flame:
“Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”
3. Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller
Infamous heartbreaker, that Henry Valentine:
“What holds the world together, as I have learned from bitter experience, is sexual intercourse.”
4. Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
You could almost pick a line at random with Neruda, really, but here’s a sure thing:
“I want to do with you what spring does with the cherry trees.”
5. Written on the Body by Jeanette Winterson
Get ready to test adulterous waters:
“I used to think marriage was a plate-glass window just begging for a brick.”
6. “Don Juan” by Lord Byron
For the shy ones, sitting in the room downstairs:
“A little she strove, and much repented,
And whispering, ‘I will ne’er consent’ — consented.”
7. “Bright Star” by John Keats
Who is able to resist Keats’ spell? If anyone can, you shouldn’t be interested in them anyway:
“Pillowed upon my fair love’s ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever — or else swoon in death.”
8. Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima
When you suddenly realize your kendo teacher is thinking of molding more of your body than your mind:
“I seemed like a baby bird keeping its truly innocent animal lusts hidden under its wing. I was being tempted, not by the desire of possession, but simply by unadorned temptation itself.”
9. The Lost Poems by Dorothy Parker
To use in any bar, in any city, but probably best with Wall Street guys:
“I require only three things of a man. He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid.”
10. Just Kids by Patti Smith
It’s a risk, but it worked when Patti used it on Robert:
“Will you pretend you’re my boyfriend?”
11. Delta of Venus by Anaïs Nin
For people who insist they enjoy “erotica” and not porn:
“He was now in that state of fire that she loved. She wanted to be burnt.”
12. A Primate’s Memoir by Robert Sapolsky
For scientifically-minded perverts:
“We’re getting along so well; I trust you so much for this one second that I’m going to let you yank on me.”
13. Male Colors by Gary Leupp
This one will work in most gay bars or history departments:
“Excuse me for talking to you this way, master, but isn’t your bottom hard to please?”
14. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
For chrissakes, please do not attempt on anyone under 18:
“It was love at first sight, at last sight, at ever and ever sight.”
15. My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk
To the woman in the blue dress:
“Let me first state forthright that contrary to what we’ve often read in books and heard from preachers, when you are a woman, you don’t feel like the Devil. ”
16. The Enchantress of Florence by Salman Rushdie
This man was once married to Padma Lakshmi. He must have done something right:
“For a fellow who’s not to much to look at, you have the instincts of a champion.”
17. Alien Hearts by Guy de Maupassant
To the man or woman who will in no way break your heart:
“You’ll find that my coquetry is quite impartial, which allows me to keep my friends.”
18. Super Sad True Love Story by Gary Shteyngart
Let’s be honest here:
“I’m the fortieth ugliest man in this bar. But so what! So what!… Isn’t this how people used to fall in love?”
19. Portnoy’s Complaint by Philip Roth
When confronted with your first threesome:
“The signore…wishes her to begin at the beginning.”
20. Sula by Toni Morrison
Saying it like it is:
“What do you mean take him away? I didn’t kill him, I just fucked him.”
21. London Fields by Martin Amis
When a clear sense of foreboding conquers all:
“You know how it is when two souls meet in a burst of ecstatic volubility, with hearts tickling to hear and to tell, to know everything, to reveal everything, the shared reverence for the other’s otherness, a feeling of solitude radiantly snapped by full contact — all that?”
22. The Ask by Sam Lipsyte
When it’s time to get fruity:
“Stuff me in a tutu and let’s screen experimental videos all day.”
23. Couples by John Updike
Sometimes you have to be the bait:
“The first breathe of adultery is the freest.”
24. Where I’m Calling From by Raymond Carver
When you are the last man at a bar, talking to the last sympathetic woman:
“We were so intimate once upon a time I can’t believe it now. The memory of being that intimate with somebody. We were so intimate I could puke. I can’t imagine ever being that intimate with somebody else. I haven’t been.”
25. “First Love” by Isaac Babel
Who enjoys saucy French words? Hopefully, your admirer does:
“She would lift her peignoir above her knees and say to her husband: ‘Give baby a kiss…’”
26. Foxfire by Joyce Carol Oates
When you meet your first baby dyke:
“Like they’re pretending not to know who I am: I’m Legs Sadovsky I’m FOXFIRE I don’t fuck around with guys.”
27. “Tonka” by Robert Musil
When you think coming clean about your anxiety will get you through the difficult parts:
“You see how wrong I go, how ridiculous I’m making myself in your eyes by keeping on guessing wrong like this! Doesn’t that help you to come out with it? Come on now!”
28. “Fireworks” by Richard Ford
When you need to switch identities:
“I realized I loved you, and I didn’t want to be married to somebody I didn’t love. I wanted to be married to you. It isn’t all that complicated.”
29. The History of Love by Nicole Krauss
When honesty is the best policy:
“Are you happiest and saddest right now that you’ve ever been?” “Of course I am.” “Why?” “Because nothing makes me happier and nothing makes me sadder than you.”
30. Pussy, King of the Pirates by Kathy Acker
For the post-punk, French critical theory set:
“If you ask me what I want, I’ll tell you. I want everything.”
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
a photograph can tell so many stories
Peter Turnley is one of my favorite photographers and a family friend (he has shot my mom's school, Codman Academy). Each year he assembles a photo-->video montage of his Year in Pictures. Take a few minutes and visit these vivid worlds. I really feel that his pictures always have rich, layered narratives within them. And they are so damn striking. Do you agree?
Sunday, November 14, 2010
a woman on the subway platform at 96th street
You can never go back. You see a young woman in scrubs with a stethoscope around her neck and you remember the year you spent in that outfit. The days you wore it out on the lunch hour because you liked experiencing the little kindnesses shopkeepers, strangers showed someone they perceived to be a caretaker. The lunch with Jimmi at Fred 62 when he said, "are you working at a hospital now?"
Not exactly.
My longest-straight employment to date was at Talmadge studios in LA, the set was Seattle Grace hospital, and my employer was Touchstone TV. It was a hard job in a way, long hours that often started before the sun came up but the people I worked with were lovely and the pay was decent. Like most 'money' jobs I've held it had the attractive quality of lots of down-time for reading, writing, and thinking. Among the more exciting elements of the job I got to watch two great DPs work: Tim Suhrstedt and Adam Kane, and do funny things like lie in bed with Patrick Dempsey, and dance with Katie Heigl, Sandra Oh, TR Knight and Ellen Pompeo. I stay in touch with the other stand-ins Eriko, Val and Kelly periodically and think of them more often.
It's amazing how much another person-- a complete stranger- can remind you of a moment, now long gone, from your own life.
Not exactly.
My longest-straight employment to date was at Talmadge studios in LA, the set was Seattle Grace hospital, and my employer was Touchstone TV. It was a hard job in a way, long hours that often started before the sun came up but the people I worked with were lovely and the pay was decent. Like most 'money' jobs I've held it had the attractive quality of lots of down-time for reading, writing, and thinking. Among the more exciting elements of the job I got to watch two great DPs work: Tim Suhrstedt and Adam Kane, and do funny things like lie in bed with Patrick Dempsey, and dance with Katie Heigl, Sandra Oh, TR Knight and Ellen Pompeo. I stay in touch with the other stand-ins Eriko, Val and Kelly periodically and think of them more often.
It's amazing how much another person-- a complete stranger- can remind you of a moment, now long gone, from your own life.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
thank goodness for little girls
I have been feeling a little down lately but am so grateful to Erica for reminding me of this young lady, who brings a smile to my face and a twinkle to my eye every time I so much as think of her.
magic girl
I hope she works the same magic on you.
Also, she always reminds me of the part in The Devil Wears Prada where Miranda (Meryl Streep) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) school Andy (Anne Hathaway) on how she came to be wearing the color blue she's wearing and how fashion is not shallow or elitist but culturally interconnected and global and really very meaningful.
magic girl
I hope she works the same magic on you.
Also, she always reminds me of the part in The Devil Wears Prada where Miranda (Meryl Streep) and Nigel (Stanley Tucci) school Andy (Anne Hathaway) on how she came to be wearing the color blue she's wearing and how fashion is not shallow or elitist but culturally interconnected and global and really very meaningful.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
silence
My friend sent me an extraordinary article called The End of Solitude. I think it is definitely worth reading.
It also got me thinking about how I really enjoy solitude, and often feel like that is one of the qualities few of my peers share. Something that makes me 'weird.' I don't mind feeling weird though. Also, I thought about how most of my favorite books center around character's who are struggling with being alone versus being 'attached.' Siddhartha, Leaves of Grass, A Moveable Feast, The Road.
I am riding on the bus to Boston at the moment and feeling very cocooned in my foliage-staring, computer-reading, This American Life-listening bubble. I know I am technically connected, and I'm certainly in a crowded group environment, and yet I still feel like I am garnering the benefits of solitude. If nothing else I think living in a city teaches you to access and protect the state of solitude, the mental experience of it-- even without being technically alone.
In memory of Dr. David Musto, who passed away yesterday. He was a great man who well understood the infinite value of solitude. I remember fondly sitting in the house in Williamstown this past summer and listening to Dr. Musto and Jean's ideas for possible Broadway musicals. Dr. Musto, you will be missed.
It also got me thinking about how I really enjoy solitude, and often feel like that is one of the qualities few of my peers share. Something that makes me 'weird.' I don't mind feeling weird though. Also, I thought about how most of my favorite books center around character's who are struggling with being alone versus being 'attached.' Siddhartha, Leaves of Grass, A Moveable Feast, The Road.
I am riding on the bus to Boston at the moment and feeling very cocooned in my foliage-staring, computer-reading, This American Life-listening bubble. I know I am technically connected, and I'm certainly in a crowded group environment, and yet I still feel like I am garnering the benefits of solitude. If nothing else I think living in a city teaches you to access and protect the state of solitude, the mental experience of it-- even without being technically alone.
In memory of Dr. David Musto, who passed away yesterday. He was a great man who well understood the infinite value of solitude. I remember fondly sitting in the house in Williamstown this past summer and listening to Dr. Musto and Jean's ideas for possible Broadway musicals. Dr. Musto, you will be missed.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
where I'm at today
I think the pictures speak for themselves.
I am a very lucky lady.
Thank you Liz Engleman and the Tofte Lake Center for bringing Emily Conbere and I out to a cabin on your Boundary Waters, taking away our cell and internet vices, and giving us a week of the most stunning quiet to work on our play.
And thank you Tucker Hollingsworth for your absolute picture-perfect proof of the beauty.
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