Gibson and Portraiture Essay

Back in 2016 I had blogged about the new exhibition at the Royal Academy on the sculptures and drawings of John Gibson (1790-1866). Toward the end of the exhibition's run, there was a study day held at Tate Britain, and I was honored to be invited as one of the speakers for this event. We also did a local London version of the Gibson Trail and examined closely a selection of his figures and busts in the UK capital. About two months afterward, our host for that day, M. G. Sullivan, announced that some of us had been invited to submit articles associated with that study day in Tate Papers, the peer-reviewed, free online journal published by the museum. Sullivan and I decided to collaborate and co-author an article on Gibson's portraits, basing a portion of the essay on the bust of William Bewick that is in the Tate's collection. Our essay--and three others--have now been released (click here), and I must say that I am pleased to see this one in print.

Our essay is the first to focus on his portraits, and I think we managed to convey well how, despite Gibson's general distaste for portraits, he still made quite a number. We tapped into his extant account books to record prices and heretofore unknown commissions, and examined a number of these works chronologically and culturally. The image you see above is a detail from the back of the bust of an unidentified woman, dated to the 1820s, by Gibson; the work is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art and is a rather magnificent bust, particularly in the carving of the sweeping hairdo. The title of our essay is "'Men thinking, and women tranquil': John Gibson's Portraiture Practice." I'm looking forward to reading the other essays on Gibson's studio practice by Anna Frasca-Rath and his association with the Duke of Devonshire by Alison Yarrington (a subject I've written about as well, from a queer context, but Yarrington is the world expert on Devonshire's sculpture gallery). I read the other day Susanna Avery-Quash's essay on Gibson's friendship with Sir Charles Eastlake, which was excellent. So take a look, and if you feel inclined, enjoy the reading!

Time and Experience

Whenever my dear friend JAM emails me wondering how I am, because she hasn't seen any updated posts on bklynbiblio, I know it's been a while since I've blogged and I've overdue a post or two! A few new posts will be coming over the next week or so, but for now I thought I would make a return by commenting on the passage of time (hence the pocket watch), but also the importance of life experiences. This past Christmas Eve, I included in a post that in general my blogging had dropped overall largely because of a general lack of time due to the numerous projects I have going on both related to work and of my own professional interest. But I also noted that I had recognized a shift in my own life over the past few years, where the recording of events is no longer as important to me as actually "living in the moment" has become instead. I'm certainly not the first person, nor will I be the last, to ever come to this rather individualized existential realization. However, I recently came across someone from the past actually acknowledging this very idea in their own writing. I came across the following in a travel journal I was reviewing related to a current project.

Greatly to my regret, I find it impossible for me to continue my journal in the foregoing way. My desire had always been that my journal should record not only facts, but also, to a certain extent, impressions and descriptions. As writing matter it would in that way afford me much more temporal enjoyment, and as reading matter would, I believe, be much more interesting in the future. But lack of time forbids such continuance. I have so much to see, and so much to do in order to see it, that it is wholly impracticable at even the present length, to keep the writing up to date. And so for the present at all events, my "journal" must consist of little more than more or less disconnected notes.

Those words were written on November 5, 1892 in Japan by James Graham Phelps Stokes (1872-1960) in his travel journal that he kept while touring Asia. (This journal is part of the Stokes papers in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia.) His brother and he had only just arrived in Japan a few weeks earlier, their first stop on what would be a year-long trip from there to China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, and India. His previous travel entries had been incredibly detailed, but there is a marked difference in tone--more phrases and personal asides then documented historical facts--than the earlier portion.

When I read his words, I couldn't help but smile and find it reassuring that even in 1892--without technology, just a notebook and pen--someone could still feel as overwhelmed attempting to record life in detail, rather than actually living it. It was a subtle reminder for me that, regardless of the passage of time, we humans are not much different from the people of the past.

The Passing of Linda Nochlin

Linda Nochlin, one of the great art historians who influenced more than one generation of scholars, died this past weekend at the age of 86. I first met Linda about 12-13 years ago when I was exploring graduate programs. She kindly met with me in her tiny, book-crammed office at NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, where she worked for decades before retiring a few years ago, and we chatted about Simeon and Rebecca Solomon and my interests in Pre-Raphaelite art. I wound up not going to IFA, so I never had an opportunity to take a class with her, but my adviser at the CUNY Graduate Center, Patricia Mainardi, was one of Nochlin's students, so I feel as if she was my academic-adviser-grandmother of sorts. I saw Nochlin every once and a while afterward through the years at various events, and even though she didn't remember me she always graciously reconnected with me about the Solomons when we spoke again. She was the adviser for a few friends of mine who went to the IFA and they remained close to her through the years.

It is her art-historical scholarship, however, that will live on. Nochlin's pioneering essay "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" (1971) was a watershed moment that changed art history and practically initiated women's and gender studies in the arts and humanities. This evening, Mainardi posted on Facebook that her mentor's essay "was a game-changer, a paradigm-shifter, a breath of fresh air that blew through the art world like a tornado and changed everything and everyone in it. We are all her progeny." If that essay wasn't enough, Nochlin also was a specialist in 19th-century art, particularly that of Courbet, and she wrote an incredible number of social-historical essay about art that are still relevant and worth reading. Among some of my favorites are:

• "The Imaginary Orient" in which she applied Edward Said's groundbreaking post-colonial theories about literature and history to visual art, teaching us how to really look at exotic pictures of the Middle East;
• "Manet's Masked Ball at the Opera" in which she tackled prostitution and misogyny in Second Empire France through images of fragmented female bodies and the visual representation of sexual aggression by men;
• "Degas and the Dreyfus Affair" in which she explored whether one can find evidence of the Impressionist artist's anti-Semitism in his art, and then forced us to consider whether we could look past his anti-Semitism and still appreciate Edgar Degas as a great artist (I've always called this "Michael Jackson syndrome"--can you still like his music if you are disgusted by his actions toward children?--and was inspired to think of this by her article);
• and "Morisot's Wet Nurse" in which she examined Berthe Morisot's painting of her nurse breastfeeding the painter's infant daughter, considering everything from subject to facture in an attempt to explore the challenges of women having children and careers.

I have gone back to Nochlin's scholarship time and time again because of its insightfulness, but also because of its erudition. She never had to rely on abstruse literary and cultural theory to make her point. She always returned the reader back to the work of art. Some scholars may have gone on to challenge some of her suppositions through the years (that is part of the job, anyway), but everyone who has studied art history since the 1980s has had to contend and acknowledge her contributions to the field and recognize how her work changed things.

Nochlin will be best remembered for "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?" Her conclusion ultimately was that because institutions and thus individuals prohibited women from studying properly as men had, it inhibited their ability to become the artistic geniuses their fellow male artists often became. At the end of her essay, Nochlin charged scholars to learn from this mistake of the past and change things for the future. Her words seem prescient for all forms of scholarship that consider minorities and otherness, although at the time she was inspiring women.

What is important is that women face up to the reality of their history and of their present situation, without making excuses or puffing mediocrity. Disadvantages may indeed be an excuse; it is not, however, an intellectual position. Rather, using as a vantage point their situation as underdogs in the realm of grandeur, and outsiders in that of ideology, women can reveal institutional and intellectual weaknesses in general, and, at the same time that they destroy false consciousness, take part in the creation of institutions in which clear thought--and true greatness--are challenges open to anyone, man or woman, courageous enough to take the necessary risk, the leap into the unknown.

You can read more about Nochlin's life and work here, here, and here.
(Photo of Linda Nochlin by Adam Husted.)

Week-in-my-Life: Mar 2015 (Pt. 3)

Recapping the last two days of the week... (you can read parts 1 & 2 here and here)...

FRIDAY 03/20/15

6:35am = After falling asleep about 11:30pm the previous night, wake up about 3 times during the night; finally get out of bed to start the day. Breakfast: whole-wheat waffle with peanut butter & strawberry preserves, blackberry-flavored Greek yogurt, and tea.

7:55am = Against my better judgment, decide to launch into a liberal but jocular defense against a conservative post on Facebook by the ex-cousin-in-law KG.

9:00am = Start work day chatting briefly with staff about plans for the day; snack: coffee and two (tiny!) shortbread cookies.

11:30am = Catching up on more neverending emails and projects, but making progress. Receive news at work that donors' tax documents for their donations are signed, so rush off 7 blocks away to retrieve papers and call donors reassuring them docs are on the way, then process via FedEx. Snow starts falling.

1:00pm = Snow is coming down harder now. (Happy 1st day of Spring!) Home for lunch: spinach salad with chicken, tomatoes, apple, Swiss cheese, cashews, and ranch dressing with water.

2:00pm = Grab backpack and laptop, then head downtown to work at Pret a Manger cafe near World Trade Center. Snack: chocolate chip cookie and Earl Grey tea (which, surprisingly, the cashier gives me for free...how nice!). Spend next few hours working mostly on my performance review and catching up on emails. Snow seriously falling now.

4:15pm = Receive my awaited summons from AA to head to NJ, so pack up laptop and walk in blizzard-like conditions to PATH train, on which my iPhone dies at 43% battery for like the gazillionth time, which causes me to curse out Apple yet again, although in my head, not aloud, because passengers will think I'm borderline lunatic fringe.

7:00pm = Lazy in-house early evening with AA channel surfing between Something's Gotta Give and Pretty in Pink, the most schizophrenic and incongruous pairing of flicks ever. Finally select new movie to watch, The Namesake (U.S. premiere 2007), which at first I am hesitant about because I've wanted to read the novel by Jhumpa Lahiri before seeing the film, but then agree and truly am very satisfied. The movie is excellent and highly recommended as a snapshot of the immigrant experience and assimilation into American culture (hence image above). The Indian actress Tabu plays the mother Ashima and is just superb. Dinner during the move: barbecue chicken pizza and salad with red wine. (Why didn't we order Indian?!?!).

10:00pm = In bed, AA quickly falling asleep (see earlier in week for comments on his sleep habits), so I watch Dateline, but then realize there is loud music coming from next door. And, of all things, it's "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" by The Shirelles. Then it repeats. Five times!! I wake up AA and tell him someone must have been murdered and the song was put on to mask the screams (the episode of Dateline has clearly affected me). He clearly thinks I'm crazy and falls asleep. Finally the song stops...only to be followed by "Locomotion"...repeated 4 times! Someone must be practicing their karaoke or auditioning for America's Got Talent. It finally stops about the time Dateline ends, and I actually fall asleep.

SATURDAY 03/21/15

7:30am = Wake up from a glorious full-night of sleep...first time this entire week! Huzzah! Breakfast: blood-orange Greek yogurt, English muffin with butter & blackberry preserves, and two cups of coffee.

8:00am = Continue to engage on Facebook with KG using tongue-in-cheek commentary about conservatism/liberalism, then fondly remind him of his NYC liberal roots. Further ongoing commentary leads me to give up and say we should celebrate happier thoughts, like that the DPG-JBs, AA, and I are going to Rome and Florence soon! More huzzah!

9:00am = While AA is in class, I start preparing notes for my upcoming talk in Rome on the sculptor John Gibson (more on that in another post). Make great progress. Snack about 11am: raisins, walnuts, and tea.

12:30pm = AA picks me up and we drive to Edgewater for lunch at Greek Taverna: lamb (AA) and pork (moi) souvlaki sandwiches with homemade herb fries.

2:30pm = Decide to go for a drive and wind up on the Palisades Parkway. Park and admire the view of the Manhattan/Bronx landscape along the Hudson River (see the lovely image AA took below).

3:45pm = At Newport Mall in Panera having berry scone and tea (AA has peach-pecan muffin and coffee), and amazingly they don't charge me for the food (how does that happen two days in a row?!).

4:30pm = At the movies seeing Kingsman: The Secret Service, having used a coupon for free tickets courtesy of the M-CAs (thanks!). Movie is slow at first, but picks up fast and is quite an action-packed film, with some uncomfortable environmental truths, dark humor, and some graphic-but-not-bloody violence...overall quite good!

8:30pm = Dinner: homemade chicken tacos courtesy of Chef AA! And (very strong!) blueberry martinis. Dessert: fruit & granola with a cup of tea. And the wind-down for the night is coming soon...

Whenever I write these "Week-in-my-Life" posts, I'm always amazed by the unusual things that happen. There was the library flood or the visit to the Palisades or all the snow. Before writing, you know some things are a given, like what will happen at work or some basic meals that are consistently eaten each day. But after writing, you discover all the surprises, the little twists that make all of it worth having written. One of the great challenges I've learned in life is that it is a continuous series of ups and downs, peaks and valleys. Sometimes these are very difficult to deal with and you want them to go away, but other times there are happy moments that you want to last. But they all come together, and we discover that that is life, the adventure, the wave, the laughter and the tears, the giggling and the frustrations, and the quiet moments you spend with those you love. It's all part of life, and these predictable and unexpected experiences are all what makes it worth living to the fullest.

Week-in-my-Life: Mar 2015 (Pt. 2)

WEDNESDAY 03/18/15

5:00am = Wide awake after not-so-great night of sleep (again). Breakfast: oatmeal with berries and Greek yogurt, with tea. Decide to lie back down again.

6:15am = Still awake, my brain on overload.

7:30am = Finally must have fallen asleep but now awake. Start getting ready.

8:30am = Step out of subway at 110th St., notice someone's dandruff is flying everywhere, then realize it's actually snowing again. UGH! Get grande blonde coffee and cranberry-orange scone at Starbucks.

9:30am = Visit School of Journalism Library with LS to assess environment for potential loan of paintings they are requesting.

10:00am = Informal interview with prospective intern for Summer/Fall.

11:00am = Meeting about potential collaboration for art & visual literacy program for med students and doctors at the medical campus. Some great ideas shared!

11:40am = Meeting cut short by announcement from TG that there is a flood in the library, and all staff needed. I hurry upstairs and see water is gushing, having come from a burst pipe on an upper floor, water now rushing through the vents and cascading like a waterfall all over about 1000+ architecture books! Everyone called to action trying to salvage books, separating wet from dry, setting up emergency fans, etc. It's a total mad house, but actually quite amazing to see everyone ban together (including a few students studying in the area) to help save what they can, while facilities staff try to stop the flood.

1:00pm = Lunch at local diner: mushroom & goat cheese omelette, potatoes, and wheat toast with coffee, reading my book on the history of the unification of Italy. Get call from LS that there is another flood in a different building and a painting is affected. Rush to finish lunch and head out, only to find out it was not an emergency and nowhere near as bad as other flood, but definite water issues, so we remove painting to storage.

3:30pm = More neverending emails and other projects at work. Finally leave about 5pm. Startled by how cold and windy it is outside.

6:00pm = Phone calls to the Uncle, then DPG to express some concerns about his apathy toward everything. Unfortunate situation.

7:00pm = Dinner: chicken, spinach, tomatoes, and rice in a bowl with a glass of Sauvignon Blanc. Decide to watch via Netflix on demand the movie Dumb Witness (1996), a murder mystery originally a book written by Agatha Christie, where an adorable Fox Terrier named Bob (played by Snubby) helps Hercule Poirot solve the murder of the dog's mistress Miss Emily Arundel. (I've watched this before and read the book, but it's one of my favorites, hence the image above.)

10:00pm = Go to bed.

11:00pm = Still awake. So annoying! Finally fall asleep about thirty minutes later...

THURSDAY 03/19/15

2:40am = Wide awake and cannot sleep. Make decaf tea and a turkey & Swiss cheese sandwich with apricot preserves.

3:45am = Finally back in bed, falling asleep...

7:00am = Awake, start to get ready, amazed to discover via text that AA is already at work! (Sometimes he's crazy.)

8:45am = At Starbucks eating sausage, egg, and cheddar breakfast sandwich and drinking a grande blonde coffee.

12:30pm = After spending most of the morning working on my annual performance review, meet colleague DCM for a trip to the Upper East Side to visit a gallery briefly and then to meet with a new potential donor. Productive trip, and much for us to discuss.

3:30pm = DCM and I finally eat sandwiches for lunch. I am SO tired though. Spend little while finishing up a few things at work, then head home.

5:30pm = Stop at Gristedes for milk and on impulse buy Entenmann's chocolate chip pound cake and blackberries. (Don't judge!) Go home and indulge in a cup of tea and slice of cake with said berries and dollop of Greek yogurt. (Delicious!)

6:00pm = Sugar crash! I pass out on the bed and fall immediately into a deep sleep.

7:30pm = Awake. Play Candy Crush Soda on my iPad for a few minutes, trying to wake up, then start blogging. Praying silently that I will be able to actually sleep tonight...

Week-in-my-Life: Mar 2015 (Pt. 1)

It's been about 2-1/2 years since I last posted one of these more personal moments: a random week in my life. You can read the last time I did this in August 2012 (here and here). People's comments to me about these often remark about how funny it is to read what happens in my life. The detailing of my food choices are particularly amusing to some. But what I discovered about these posts is that they also force me to think about what I'm doing and what I'm eating. It's like, "If I'm going to be confessional, I better look good!" So it is relevant for me to be doing this again these days, as I've been doing a lot of thinking lately that I need to make a few healthier life choices. I haven't been to the gym in so long I think I've forgotten how to use treadmill (not really, but I hope I don't fall off). One of my friends commented over the weekend that he's been going meat-free for Lent, and while I don't think I can be that extreme, I have wanted to cut back on my overall meat intake and emphasize more fish for a change. (Reading below, however, you will see that so far I have not been too successful in that mindset.) No matter how this week plays out, and any lifestyle choices that I may or may not modify, you can damn well be sure there are some things I just will not give up, like my daily dose of Ghirardelli dark chocolates and my cups of tea. But note: dark chocolate is healthy for your heart, and I don't use sugar in my tea anymore, so already these are signs of how healthy I truly am.

SUNDAY 03/15/15

7:30am = After a night of so-so sleep, I wake up and make coffee. AA is asleep, so of course I wake him up because I've decided he sleeps too much. (Ha! Watch how that bites me back!)

9:30am = Slowly getting going, eventually dress and take AA to Levain Bakery on the Upper West Side (my new discovery last week on Unique Sweets!). I want a roll with chocolate, but they are sold out (dammit!) but get a delicious blueberry muffin instead and AA gets brioche with chocolate, and large coffees. Walk through Central Park, until finally we are so freezing cold we need to head home.

10:30am = Brief visit to friend JM working at florist.

11:00am = Call the Uncle in nursing facility where he is recovering from broken-hip surgery. Afterward, realize the inevitable must now happen: laundry that has been sitting in baskets for over 3 weeks must get done, so schlep to basement and go back & forth, up & down, over next couple of hours doing about 6 loads. AA takes a nap (seriously!).

12:00pm = Reserve tickets for the DPG-JBs, AA and me for the Vatican Museums in anticipation of our upcoming trip in April to Rome. (Fantastico!)

1:30pm = Still doing laundry, AA is awake, but now I'm starving. Order in from Ollie's chicken and broccoli and fried egg rolls. Surprisingly getting caught up in watching on Ovation the fantastic multi-part Colin Firth adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

2:30pm = AA naps. Again. Place a mirror under his nose to make sure he's actually still breathing, then look up narcolepsy online for more information, just in case...

4:00pm = Shower time then AA has to go home (I hate good-byes...boy I hope he sleeps tonight!). Have tea and watch more of P&P.

6:30pm = Meet JM for dinner at Jackson Hole, and can barely finish my 5-lb.(?) bleu cheese burger and fries. (Seriously. It's insane.)

9:00pm = Blogging! And knowing it's time to get ready for work tomorrow. Ugh.

MONDAY 03/16/15

6:50am = After waking up 3 times and contemplating an early start to the day, the alarm finally sounds, I turn it off, then fall right back to sleep and wind up waking up 30 minutes late!

7:00am = Breakfast: oatmeal with berries and Greek yogurt, and tea.

8:40am = At work, slightly humiliated after having carried on the subway a mounted poster map of China (don't ask) that makes me a sight for numerous unknown observers.

10:00am = Deal with morning email and look in on staff handling return of numerous large Chinese stone sculptures from an exhibition. Finally get some morning coffee (and a shortbread cookie).

12:30pm = Spend most of morning hours drafting press release about conservation project of a painting and the donors who made it happen. Won't be able to get out of 17th-century British painting mode rest of the afternoon (not necessarily a bad thing). Lunch: turkey & Swiss cheese sandwich with cashews and cherry tomatoes (brought from home).

3:00pm = More brief visits to see staff and pleased with turn of events in how sculpture is all put away nicely. Finish draft of press release, move on to Excel spreadsheet about various things. More email that never seems to end. But finally...tea time! Earl Gray with a chocolate-chip cookie. Sit outside to enjoy with warm weather in the 50s.

5:30pm = Call from Papa's accountant about his taxes. Decide I need to leave work and go home. Weather is so nice, start walking the 30+ minutes home. With each step finding myself feeling accomplished with progress of the day and actually smiling. Stop in Walgreens to buy nasal spray, then a bodega to buy daffodils (love daffodils! spring is here! hence the photo above), then a wine store for some Sauvignon Blanc, and finally a grocery store for a lemon pepper rotisserie chicken.

7:00pm = Dinner: aforementioned chicken (not the whole thing!) plus leftover tortellini & vegetable soup. Dessert: decaf tea, 1/2 apple and Ghirardelli chocolate mint.

9:00pm = Blogging (is it really that time already??!!). Planning bedtime momentarily....

TUESDAY 03/17/15 (St. Patrick's Day!)

6:35am = Wake from a night of very disturbing dreams about my family, so vividly real that I can hardly believe they were just dreams, and I'm upset for almost an hour, but get support via texts from AA and DPG.

7:30am = Breakfast: blood-orange Greek yogurt and toast with almond butter & apricot preserves, and tea. Back to sleep for brief cat-nap to relax.

9:00am = Slow start to morning. Stop at Oren's for cappuccino and chocolate-dipped biscotti, then finally to work.

12:00pm = Spend morning catching up on various projects (and more neverending email), feeling somewhat accomplished. Lunch: tuna wrap with lettuce, tomato, cucumber, plus Sun Chips and club soda; sandwich not very good, so throw out half.

1:30pm = Brief meeting with conservator to review drawings by American artist Marguerite Zorach for potential exhibition loan.

2:30pm = Productive meeting with Dean at Teachers College about art collections and potential future projects for graduate students.

3:30pm = Drinking a mocha and sitting out in the chilly afternoon breeze on a break.

4:00pm = Caretaker conference call with DPG and staff at nursing facility about the Uncle's health prognosis so far; actually a positive call with some supportive news on their part!

5:00pm = Happy hour drinks with TG and MH: 2 Sam Adams lagers and french fries (no comment--it was happy hour, and it is the official Irish drinking holiday!!)

7:00pm = Dinner at home: chicken, Swiss cheese, spinach & ranch dressing sandwich with cashews and decaf tea.

8:00pm = Follow-up call with DPG regarding earlier caretaker call and plans about our upcoming trip to Italia. Texts received from AA declaring his attendance at a talk by Arianna Huffington to be "very inspiring," which I am very glad to hear -- he needs more converted liberalism in his life :-)

TO BE CONTINUED....

Lessons from Papà

Today was my father's memorial service in St. Petersburg, Florida. It was a beautiful service. Numerous people from the Italian-American Society of St. Petersburg were there, as were members of my family, all in celebration of my father's life. The minister, Tom Lentz, knew my father from the Society, so it was a joy to have someone lead the service who actually knew my father. My "right-hand person," Rose Marcelin, gave a lovely talk remembering the positive and fun parts of my father's life that touched so many people. We played the "Ave Maria" (Bach/Gounod, sung by Andrea Bocelli), as we had at my mother's service eight years ago, and we also played "Miserere" sung by Russell Watson and Zucchero, a song that my father used to sing and loved not only because of its beautiful harmony but because my mother loved the song so much. The message in that song is clear and appropriate for today: although sometimes we go through terrible things, we salute life for all the beauty it holds. We ended with a small group of dancers from the Society performing "La Molisana," a lovely slow dance that was one of my father's favorites when he performed with the group.

The DVD of images from my father's life included many touching moments, but also a few funny ones. I acknowledged the important role that the Society played in my father's life, and the Fountains of Boca Ciega Bay where they helped make his last few years so rewarding and respectful. I also tribute to his dear friend Karin Cline, who was his constant companion the past few years, and to Rose and my cousin Denise for their support and help through the years and at the very end. I've given my memorial talk the title "Lessons from Papà," and I have transcribed the text below. I wasn't sure I would be able to make it through the entire talk, but I'm glad that I did, as I wanted to convey to those present these memories and celebrate my special moments of his life.

Before the memorial service started, I’m sure many of you were watching the DVD of my father’s life. The images tell us a clear story—he truly lived a full life and he took pride in his family, his friends, and things that gave him great joy, like playing the drums and dancing. He also enjoyed himself on stage and performed in drag. I'm proud to say my father did drag! And he was good! For a number of years, my father taught Italian language classes for the Italian-American Society, and although we have no images of him teaching in that DVD, many of us know first-hand how much he enjoyed doing this. He did not have a degree to teach.  In fact, my father’s official education ended during World War II when the Americans bombed his high school in Milan. But even without an official education, his exuberance made him a natural in leading a classroom. Thinking about his role as a teacher, I realized that as my life has unfolded it is my father who was one of my great teachers. So I thought I would share with you some lessons in life I learned from Papà.

When I was 8 years old, I remember struggling to understand why the seasons changed. My father picked up a red apple, removed the stem, and reinserted it at a slight angle. He then began to rotate the apple along the stem’s angle, and moved his hand in a circle in the air. That was how I came to understand how the earth rotates on its axis and how the planet moves around the sun. It was also the first time it ever occurred to me that this man, my father, was rather clever.

When I used to practice the piano, he would teach me about rhythm and tempo, acting as my own personal metronome by clapping his hands to a consistent beat. It used to drive me crazy! But over time I realized how playing his drums wasn't just about making sounds. By playing the drums, he was the foundation of rhythm that made every song sound great.

My father taught me that history was not just facts about the past. He did this by telling stories. He would recount strange tales of growing up under Mussolini, of avoiding bombings, of eating marble dust in bread or marmalade again and again, and of watching Mussolini hung upside-down with his girlfriend after the War. He taught me that history is about an experienced life.

My father taught me about determination and working toward one’s goals. He emigrated to a new country without speaking the language and forged a better life for himself and for his family, in pursuit of the American dream. And he always encouraged me to find my own path and to live my own life, but to always know that he was there for me when I needed him.

One day my father told me about his life before my mother, Chris, and me, that he had been married before and had two daughters. I learned that day about honesty and integrity, but also about fallibility, watching in my father’s eyes a hidden awareness that even though he had tried to do the best he could for his daughters in Italy, he knew he had let them down by not being in their lives the same way he was in ours.

But he also showed me the power of true, unconditional parental love when, during my own personal identity crisis 21 years ago, a time when I even contemplated suicide rather than disappoint him, my father came to me and said, quite simply, “We love you, no matter what, and we are here for you. We will always love you.”

My father showed me through his relationship with my mother the power of passionate love, how it can be romantic, combustible, thrilling, violent, exciting, and extremely painful. But then he showed me the true essence of love when my mother’s sickness got worse and worse. He fed her, he carried her, he cleaned her, he held her. And toward the end, when he could do no more physically, he visited her every single day just to say hello and to hold her hand. After she died, he told me that he had loved her in those last few years more then all the intensely passionate years beforehand.

Everyone here will likely agree that my father was a happy man, someone who always wanted to throw another party, to play music, and to dance. He was not perfect, but he was a decent, hard-working man who wanted only the best in life for everyone. 

My father understood that life is a journey, an opportunity to contribute to the universe with all the gifts, talents, and love that we possess. It is that personal sense of enjoyment and experience, that thing that is not just life but living, that is the greatest lesson from my father that I will keep in my heart above all others. I salute you, Papà, and I say "Mille grazie!"

Portal 1

Ever since I began bklynbiblio in August 2008, I've used it primarily for the discussion of ideas and reviews associated with the arts and humanities. I've also brought in my own work, such as my scholarly presentations and writings on the 19th-century artists John Gibson and Simeon Solomon. However, it always was my intention to also use the blog as a portal for the dissemination of my own creative work, especially my photography. For the record, I make no claim to being a professional photographer, and in fact I would only ever claim to be an amateur. To be blunt, I'm not that good, and I know very little about how to take professional photos. Digital photography, not to mention software tools like Photoshop and Instagram, has made all of us photographers in one way or another, for better or for worse. So in some ways for me it's less about the ability to take photos and more the conscious thematic arrangement or composition of them that is important. Over the years, I have worked on an art project that I call Portals, and I've decided to start sharing images from the series on this blog. The work you see here has now been dubbed the first in the series, Portal 1: Firenze (8 July 2005). As I post these from time to time, each will be accompanied by texts, and to begin the series I thought I would write a statement about the project and the images. I hope you enjoy it, and please do feel free to comment on the blog. (Note that I hold copyright on these images. You are free to download them for your personal use, but please ask my permission before using an image for print or electronic publications, including on another website. You should always cite the source and photographer for your images, when known.) And now, my statement...

What is a portal? It's a doorway, a gateway, a passageway. It's the in-between space between here and there, between today and tomorrow, between life and death. It is no space and all space at the same time. Sometimes it is open, sometimes it is closed. A portal's very existence is an invitation to look through it and to pass through it, and in doing so a new world awaits you on the other side. It may be better than what you left, or it may be worse. That is the risk and thrill of a portal. We pass through portals every day of our lives and never think about them. Other portals, however, make us stop and think, perhaps because we see something exquisite on the other side and we cannot fathom how we to obtain it, or because we know something dark is there and it terrifies us and we can barely convince ourselves to turn the doorknob. To pass through a portal is to evolve. Portals may be doors, but they may be windows, gates, or simply created spaces in which to pass to another place. My photography series Portals will show you various types of passageways I have photographed through the years. I leave the aesthetic judgment of each image up to you. Each will be accompanied by excerpts from poetry, literature, essays, and/or spiritual texts, each of which will share how portals have impacted and continue to affect our lives. It is my hope from this series that you will appreciate my images as examples of the beautiful and the sublime. But ultimately I hope that the series may teach you to pause every once and a while when you come up on a portal, to think for a moment about where it is you are in life and where you are going, to relish the very life you are living and the experience you are about to begin, simply by peering through an open window or stepping through a doorway to another space beyond.

Post-Dissertation Defense

On February 22, I posted about having finished the defense draft of my dissertation, with all its statistics. I'm pleased to announce that I had my actual defense yesterday, and I passed. (My friends and I did some imbibing last night to celebrate.) So, yes, you may now address me as "Dr. bklynbiblio"....uhm, I mean Dr. Ferrari. Well, actually, I'm not officially done yet. After a 2-hour discussion with my 4 readers, I have a number of changes and additions I need to work on in the dissertation, but fortunately there's nothing major. I hope to actually deposit the final draft in the next couple of weeks, and then it's graduation! It does seem strange that it was almost exactly 3 years ago that I took Oral Exams (see my Before and After posts), and here we are at the final stage. Upon hearing the news on Facebook of the outcome of my defense, my friend & colleague Carolyn Conroy wasted no time updating the "About Us" page of the Simeon Solomon Research Archive, adding my new title. Family members seem rather tickled by the idea that we finally have a doctor in the family. People keep asking me if I will use the "Dr" as part of my name, but I doubt it. American society sees "Dr" as a medical practitioner and to use it would give a false sense of who I am (in other words, I can't write out prescriptions). In the academic world, it's commonly used, but even then I have always preferred calling someone "Prof." In the UK, "Dr" is a noteworthy title for academics actually distinct from "Prof," higher in status than some professors in fact, so I can understand why it is used more frequently there. For me, I think Roberto C. Ferrari, Ph.D. looks rather chic and says exactly what I want it to say. And if you're wondering about the image above, it's Cupid Pursuing Psyche, a marble bas-relief from ca. 1840 by John Gibson (image: Royal Academy of Arts). Although I don't discuss this particular work in my dissertation, I thought it was a lovely example of his work to exemplify his achievements in sculpture.

Defense Draft of the Doctoral Dissertation

As I've mentioned, I haven't been blogging because I've been a bit inundated with the looming deadline to complete the defense draft of my doctoral dissertation. Amazingly, it looks like I've done it. I worked from 5am until 10:30pm tonight running through the entire thing one last time, and then printing everything out. Ready for the stats?...(drum roll)...3 years, 316 pages (including 26-page bibliography), 745 footnotes, and 126 images. Whew! And now it's 33 days until Dissertation Defense Day. Ah, yes, and in case you're wondering, here's the title: Beyond Polychromy: John Gibson, the Roman School of Sculpture, and the Modern Classical Body.

Four More for Forty-Four

Four years ago, I blogged briefly about Barack Obama becoming our 44th President, and I followed up with my thoughts on the day of his inauguration. (I also couldn't resist reviewing the cultural events of the inauguration.) Regular bklynbiblio readers know that I intentionally avoid blogging about politics because I think others do it much better than I, and because politics is frequently divisive and painful I choose not to engage with it. That said, the election is a time for reflection, and so I thought I'd take a few moments to write about why I'm thrilled that America has reelected Obama. He may have won the electoral vote (as of now, 303 to 206), but he just barely won the popular vote (50% to 48%). Clearly Obama has a long road ahead of him that is going to be filled with obstacles. He will have to be steadfast on some issues, and make great allowances on others. Admittedly, he may not have a very successful second term at all. And yet I'm still thrilled that he was reelected.

During Obama's January 2009 inauguration, I wrote the following: "I'm not so naive as to think that Obama is a magician whose going to make all our problems go away, nor do I think he's a miracle worker who will heal all our woes. But I do believe that Obama brings a sense of education and righteousness and charisma that makes me believe in the possibility that our problems will dissipate and our ills go away. That belief is what we need right now, more than ever." Do I still believe that? Yes, but with some hesitation based on the past four years. According to critics, Obama's two major strikes against him during his first term have been his inability to successfully reinvigorate the economy and his move toward socialized health care. Do I agree with these critics? Perhaps, although I'm more sympathetic on his health care reforms than I am on his economic recovery. Clearly Obama isn't an economist or a financial expert or a business entrepreneur. That said, I'm not sure that even if he were any of these that he would have done a better job (note: if he were any of these things, he probably would have been a Republican). I'm not convinced that Obama or Romney or anyone in the government has the answers to fixing the economy. Personally, I think Obama and Congress need to create a non-partisan think-tank of economists, financial specialists, and business executives--people who are not in or running for political office!--and have them hash out ideas and make recommendations as to how to jump-start the economy. There has to be a middle ground between all the stalled attempts between Republicans and Democrats to fix the economy, and I can't help but feel that this middle ground is comprised of individuals who are knowledgeable from hands-on experience and (more importantly) are not in political office. As for health care, to me this is a no-brainer. Health care and insurance costs are astronomically high, and everyone is entitled to reasonably priced medical assistance. The obvious option is for the government to place restrictions on health care costs, but that will never happen because no one would allow the government to monitor and control the insurance and medical industries. The only other option then is to provide a government-sponsored form of health care that allows for everyone to be able to receive medical assistance. Of course that is going to be an outrageous fortune and a financial burden on the American people. But it is at least an option available to people who currently have no option at all, and left unchecked health care costs are going to sky-rocket.

While some of you reading this post may agree with me, I know there are others who will adamantly disagree with me. That's fine. That's why this is America. To quote my dear friend CF, who commented on my inaugural post: "To be able to disagree with our leaders and not face imprisonment, torture or banishment, that is what makes America unique." Although most people in my circle of family and friends are Democrats, others are Republicans, and I respect that we all have different opinions about these things. People assume I'm a Democrat and of course I am (a gay, art-loving writer, educator, and librarian?--hello!), but I publicly admit that I'm not as leftist as people assume. I'm not anti-Republican. I think there are points about the Republican party's platform, such as lessening government involvement and aspects of business politics, that are important and need to be taken into consideration. But I more firmly believe the Democratic party is right in its progressive move forward in the realm of civil rights. For me, the biggest mistake the Republican party ever made was aligning itself with the fundamentalist Christian population. America is (theoretically) about the division of church and state, and whatever personal religious affiliation an individuals has, those tenets must be overlooked to ensure that all Americans are treated equally from a socio-legal perspective, regardless of their own affiliations. In the long run, that is to me the most important part of this election and why I'm thrilled Obama has been reelected. To me, the fundamentalist Christian right has kept the Republican party from evolving and moving forward in understanding that the old way of doing things has to change. We need to start embracing change and moving forward. We can no longer keep looking back to the past like it was some sort of utopian America.

According to the Huffington Post, Obama secured anywhere from 70-75% of the Hispanic/Latino vote, and Republicans are admitting that they didn't work hard enough in that area. I'm not sure why exactly Republicans (in general) seem less aware of the power of this particular demographic group, but the fact remains that America is rapidly becoming more Hispanic/Latino, and the traditional White community that founded this nation is losing its place as the dominant socio-political group. I'm not sure where Blacks fit into this, but in some odd twist of fate, I think in a few decades Blacks and Whites will together be dominated by the rising Hispanic/Latino population. Let's face it: America is changing. Republicans--and Democrats--need to recognize this. We have a responsibility to become bi-lingual and learn Spanish (it's on my to-do list for 2013). I don't mean because immigrants coming to America aren't learning English; clearly people coming to the United States have a responsibility to learn English. But English-speaking Americans have an equal responsibility to recognize the rising power and influence of Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America, and South America with the United States, and we must learn to engage with these people and nations by becoming equally bi-lingual--as so many of them are--in order to engage more peacefully with them economically, socially, and politically. 

And then there is the gay community. Maryland and Maine have now voted for the recognition of gay marriage, raising the number of states to do this to eight (Washington soon will be nine, plus Washington, D.C. already recognizes gay marriage). Wisconsin has elected the nation's first openly-gay senator. And our President and Vice-President openly support gay marriage, although they see it as a state issue, not a federal issue (another no-brainer since people are married by the laws of a state, not by the laws of the nation). I've blogged about gay marriage, so I won't repeat my thoughts on that right now. Admittedly it may seem like I'm pleading for the gay community as a group deserving special treatment, but the fact is gay marriage as a political platform is beyond any one individual's personal interest. This is about civil rights: all Americans are entitled to equal rights. And this struggle is no different from the battles that women have had to fight for the right to abortions, and African-Americans have had to fight for desegregation and equal rights beyond the color of their skin. As a country where democracy flourishes stronger than anywhere else on the planet, we have a responsibility to show the rest of the world that America is a progressive nation when it comes to civil rights. I cannot help but believe, from the rhetoric I have heard, that to have voted Romney into office would have set the nation backwards in its progress toward a more national acknowledgment of basic civil rights for the gay community.

What's interesting to me though is that these two issues I bring up about the Hispanic/Latino and gay communities will not always be this way. As I recently said to some of my friends, I believe there will be a time in say thirty years from now when gays and Hispanic/Latinos will have become so mainstream in American social politics that the current perception of special interest pleading will have dissipated. Indeed, I anticipate and expect a significant number of gays and Hispanics/Latinos actually will be Republicans. I wouldn't even be surprised if in say 2046 America elects as President its first gay Republican, a successful bi-lingual business entrepreneur whose parents were from the state of Puerto Rico, or perhaps immigrants from Mexico or Argentina. And perhaps it will be under that future President that the civil rights debate will be over the ethical treatment of clones, i.e. if cloned humans are entitled to equal rights since they weren't "born" but "made." Okay, so maybe that's a stretch into sci-fi, but I think you see what I'm implying. Life in America is going to keep evolving, and there will be new issues to tackle that Americans will debate and politicize. Eventually, however, they will settle those issues progressively as America has done in the past. That is what I see and hope for the future. And that future begins now. That's why I'm thrilled Obama has been reelected. As for 2016...anyone thinking Hilary Clinton could be our first woman President?

Week-in-my-Life: Aug 2012 (Pt. 2)

THURSDAY 08/09/12

7:30am = breakfast: egg & cheddar sandwich on multi-grain toast with blackberries & coffee

8:30am = more dissertation writing, discover 15 pages written in my introduction (stunned!)

11:00am = head to Maybelle’s Cafe again for Wi-Fi and early lunch, discover it’s completely mobbed with people hoarding all the tables, suddenly disgusted that no one in my neighborhood has consideration for me, so forced to go to Starbucks instead, where I do more digital image research on Buddhist art from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection (image above: Head of Buddha, ca. 4th century, Gandhara or modern-day Pakistan)

12:00pm = lunch: chicken tarragon sandwich & iced tea at Starbucks

2:00pm = home with cup of tea, falling asleep on the couch, force myself to wake up with yet another cup of tea with a snack of cherries and a chocolate pudding

3:00pm = therapy with UK (always helpful, never disappointing)

4:30pm = back to working on Buddhist art, finish another PowerPoint lecture with about 65 slides of images for a 3-hour class (huzzah!)

7:00pm = dinner: tortellini stuffed with spinach & cheese in a with a butter/olive oil-peas-tomatoes sauce; Netflix movie = finally finish watching Mirror Mirror (3 stars, and I'm being generous)

FRIDAY 08/10/12

3:55am = alarm goes off so I can do early-morning trip to gym, decide to sleep for just a few more minutes

6:30am = wake up realizing I'm not going to gym for early-morning workout; breakfast: Eggo whole grain waffles with blackberries and tea

10:00am = breakfast #2: cinnamon coffee cake & iced tea at Starbucks

10:30am = at library to use Wi-Fi to pay bills, update files, and go through library books on textiles from India and Mughal decorative arts

1:30pm = lunch: roast beef & cheddar sandwich on whole wheat roll, small bag of Doritos, & cream soda (no judging - I can gorge on bad food sometimes!)

2:00pm = begin the wait for the Time-Warner cable repair man to show up, rest on the couch watching from Netflix first 2 parts of documentary about history of India

3:15pm = first automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case

4:00pm = second automated phone call notifying me Time-Warner is on their way, but I should confirm just in case (note: I already received 3 of these calls earlier in the week as well)

5:15pm = another phone call (this time from a live person!) notifying me Time-Warner is on their way

5:45pm = Time-Warner finally shows up (note: appointment time was from 2-4pm), the great drama of my Internet service problems continues, and he even has to climb down the fire escape to check wires in our courtyard

6:45pm = After 2 months of nightmare problems, Internet is working! (huzzah!), begin prayers that it doesn't go out again

8:00pm = dinner: red-leaf salad with chicken tenders, tomatoes, red beans, black olives, cheddar cheese, and honey mustard dressing with water; movie: finish watching parts 2 and all of 3 of The Story of India (5 stars - very interesting, highly recommended)

SATURDAY 08/11/12

8:00am = after letting myself sleep a little later than usual, breakfast: 2 sunny-side-up eggs on multi-grain toast with strawberries and coffee

9:00am = clean bathroom and start dusting, only able to get through task by listening to Kim Sozzi, Lady Gaga, and Nicki Minaj

12:30pm = lunch: leftover tortellini eaten as pasta salad

2:00pm = at library to go through more books on Indian textiles and Mughal decorative arts

3:30pm = gym, almost full workout, 400+ calories burned

5:30pm = starving! snack: mini-cherry pie & iced coffee at Starbucks

6:45pm = meet JM & DC (with his new friend K) at Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay & Lesbian Art for opening of new exhibition Pop-Up Museum of Queer History: Before We Were Queer; network with people we know, drink some free wine, then realize dying of heat stroke and claustrophobia, so rush outside into sticky humidity to breathe

8:15 = dinner: Mexican appetizers and a Corona at Papatzul in SoHo

9:45 = after-dinner glass of Pinot Grigio at Novecento in SoHo

12:00am = Zzzzzzzzz......

Week-in-my-Life: Aug 2012 (Pt. 1)

I know it’s been a while since I last blogged, so I thought I would rectify that by bringing back another one of my random weeks in my life posts, which I last did back in Feb/Mar 2011 (here, here, and here). In some ways it is timely to do this now, as I’ve had a few changes take place in my life. For starters, I’m no longer employed at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. (bklynbiblio readers may recall this post about one of my work-related digitization projects last Dec.) Circumstances worked out that it was the right time for me to move on to something new, and I’m thrilled to say that I’ll be teaching again starting in Sep. I will be an adjunct lecturer at City College of New York (teaching 19th-Century European Art) and Marymount Manhattan College (teaching a survey of Asian Art). I’m also actively working on my dissertation again. My friend KB and I decided we needed to motivate ourselves by being held accountable to someone, so we are writing weekly updates to one another on our progress. In the spirit of unfolding diurnal events during a random week in my life, here’s what has taken place so far (and in all fairness, I should admit that I've left out mention of the daily dips into Ghirardelli chocolates).

SUNDAY 08/05/12

AA, JM, and I take DC to the beach for his 42nd birthday, specifically Asbury Park where we soak up the sand and surf, probably have few too many cocktails but lots of fun, and wind up at tea dance at Paradise. breakfast #1: tea and cereal; breakfast #2: muffin and iced coffee at Pret a Manger. lunch: pizza and salad. dinner: 5Guys cheeseburger and fries, which we eat during a black-out from a torrential thunderstorm that oddly reminds me of Florida.

MONDAY 08/06/12

9:00am = drop off laundry, then call Time Warner because I still have no Internet service for 2 weeks now, find out I have (yet another) service appointment for Friday, would it not have been nice if someone had told me this before now??!! (begin to secretly plot how to destroy them for their arrogance).

9:30am = breakfast at Maybelle’s Café: bacon, egg & cheddar on brioche and cappuccino. stunned to find entire café filled with people who apparently are all out of work, so uncertain if it’s a good thing that I’m joining them. spend next few hours gathering digital images on early Indus Valley civilizations of Mohenjo-Daro in the Punjab for my lecture.

1:00pm = lunch: turkey & Swiss sandwich on multi-grain break with grapes and walnuts

2:00pm = continue working on same project, successfully finish first PowerPoint for one of my classes, including writing out explanations about things as diverse as the Bhagavad Gita and religious concepts like samsara (huzzah!).

6:30pm = dinner: spinach salad with salmon; Netflix movie: MidsomerMurders: Master Class (4 stars, midlands England, creepy piano teacher, fabulous students getting bumped off...what's not to loved?)

TUESDAY 08/07/12

7:30am = breakfast: pomegranate yogurt, ½ multi-grain bagel with cream cheese, and tea

9:00am = begin dissertation writing with reorganization of material, diving head-first into introduction chapter to justify to myself why I'm slaving away on this bloody thing, amazed to discover 4½ pages written.

12:00pm = lunch: turkey & Swiss sandwich (again), this time with leftover pasta salad; Netflix movie = Mirror Mirror (watch about 20 minutes; so not thrilled with Julia Roberts as a bitchy Queen Mum to Snow White)

2:00pm = off to gym, burn off about 400 calories doing machines and cardio

5:00pm = go to library and do more digital image research, this time on Buddhism and Buddhist art in India and Tibet

7:30pm = dinner: chicken & avocado salad at Pret a Manger

9:00pm = meet academic colleagues DJ and PK from London for professional networking drinks at Lyon’s in Village

WEDNESDAY 08/08/12

8:00am = breakfast: egg & cheddar with multi-grain bread and fruit, cup of coffee

9:00am = more dissertation writing; finish another 5 pages (huzzah some more!)

1:00pm = meet CS3 at the Ferrari dealership/store on Park Avenue (hence the Ferrari logo above), where he insists I show my license and prove to them that I’m actually a Ferrari and one of the distant cousins; despite this humiliation, we have delightful and engaging professional luncheon where we gossip first, then discuss at length electronic publishing, digital image rights, and the world of art books today. lunch: Cuban sandwich with plantain chips, iced tea (thanks for lunch, CS3!).

4:00pm = back to library for more digital image research on Buddhist art, suddenly becoming overwhelmed by the reality of how much work is involved in preparing a lecture to teach!

6:30pm = still at library, suddenly realize I should have left half hour earlier and now will never make it to yoga class (groan!), but then strangely bump into fellow doctoral dissertater SD and catch up for few minutes where we commiserate over the non-existent future of academic careers.

8:00pm = dinner: tomato, red bean, black olive, peas & walnuts salad with Lean Cuisine macaroni & cheese and 2 fried chicken tenders; Netflix movie: continue watching Mirror Mirror, but only get 30 minutes in before catch-up phone calls from the Uncle and SVH.

Stay tuned for more...

Week-in-my-Life: Feb/Mar 2011 (Pt. 3)

THURSDAY 03/03/11

2:15am = insomnia! decaf tea and chocolate biscotti; watch episode of House that turns out to be more emotional than I expected.

7:15am = officially awake now. breakfast: scrambled eggs, English muffin, fruit, coffee. weather: ridiculously cold (yuck!).

8:00am = commence writing of section of dissertation chapter.

11:00am = break. go downstairs to get the mail, almost choke from worst smell ever in hallway, spray Febreze, but doesn't seem to help, wonder if something died in the wall. back to writing.

1:00pm = lunch: tuna sandwich.

4:00pm = phone call from RM about the Padre's health status past few days.

6:00pm = finish writing for day, shocked to discover 10 pages written. (yay!)

8:00pm = dinner: roasted pork chops with vegetables and stuffing; Netflix movie: The Social Network (good movie, but creeped me out about getting back on Facebook for a while).

FRIDAY 03/04/11

8:15am = wake up startled to discover I slept 9 hours and never moved. breakfast: oatmeal and last of the English muffins (finally!). weather: mild but cool, 40s.

10:30am = subway read: more of Potts (cover above). arrive at gym, cardio for hour+, realizing halfway through routine on elliptical I forgot to program it so have no idea how much I burned off, pretend it was a magical number like 444 calories.

12:15pm = lunch at Moonstruck: California wrap (chicken, avocado, etc.) with Greek salad.

1:00pm = at school for the afternoon half of the AHNCA Graduate Student Symposium (more on that later), I meet up with RL and other people I haven't seen in a while; Prof. Judy Sund tells Prof. Elizabeth Mansfield about my blog, pointing out that they purposely tortured me during my Oral Exam just to see what I would write about them (scandalous!).

4:30pm = post-symposium wine & cheese reception and networking (always important).

6:00pm = RL and I make a quick stop to Macy's so I can show him the suit I fell in love with, but alas they still don't have my size; oddly, RL keeps trying to get me to spend more money on clothes, but I resist. for now.

7:30pm = arrive home, odor in hallway is still atrocious, now convinced something died in the wall. dinner: chicken noodle soup and leftover pizza; Netflix movie: Paranormal 2 (not as good as the first one).

SATURDAY 03/05/11

6:45am = breakfast: scrambled egg & tomato sandwich on multi-grain bagel with lovely cuppa tea; back to bed for a quick catnap. weather: cool and cloudy, low 50s.

9:00am = catnap turns into longer delightful snooze. pay bills. food shopping, once again shocked how one comes home $60 poorer with only 2 bags of groceries to show for it.

10:00am = start editing dissertation text from Thu, realizing within a few short hours I'm surrounded by falling towers of books.

11:15am = break to get mail, discover odor in hallway has almost dissipated, but now smells like patchouli, so obviously something died.

1:00pm = lunch: tuna & Swiss cheese sandwich.

2:45pm = break, look down at calendar, realize sheepishly I've forgotten everyone's birthdays this week!

4:00pm = finish writing, feeling pretty good about it, discovered I added another page & 1/2 of text (yay!).

4:30pm = texting with AR about evening, jealous he's getting a pedicure.

5:00pm = pleasant 30-minute catnap on the couch, followed by snack.

7:00pm = heading out to Chelsea for dinner & movie (The Adjustment Bureau) with AR. looking forward to brunch with the RL+DGs on Sunday!

Week-in-my-Life: Feb/Mar 2011 (Pt. 2)

MONDAY 02/28/11

4:00am = wake up at ungodly hour but decide to have breakfast: English muffin. fall back to sleep. weather: horrible rainy day, extremely grateful bought Tote umbrella day before.

8:00am = subway reading: Potts, chapter five, "Ideal Bodies."

9:00am = arrive at work, starving so snack on mini bran muffin and large cuppa tea.

12:30pm = lunch with MLS intern CW, who's working on a project for me; roast beef & cheddar sandwich on multigrain bread with Sun Chips.

3:45pm = surprise phone call from RL who's back from Costa Rica.

7:00pm = dinner: turkey pot pie and salad, watch episode of CSI: Miami about corrupt psychics.

8:00pm = read Padiyar, chapter two, "Inheriting Greek Eros: Anacreontism and Homosexual Desire."

TUESDAY 03/01/11

6:30am = breakfast: Golden Grahams cereal and 1/2 English muffin with cashew nut butter & blackberry preserves. weather: sunny, upper 40s (yay!).

9:00am = amazed at work on time for second day in row.

10:00am = email co-workers for advice: how should we catalog for our visual history database a digital image of a negative photographed in 1942 by American artist Charles Scheeler (1883-1965) of the facade of the museum (see above!), when it turns out the image also is a 1982 photographic print that is an accessioned object owned by the Photographs Department?

11:00am = meeting...followed by another meeting.

12:30pm = lunch: 1/2 chicken sandwich and small salad.

2:00pm = wearing my brand-spankin'-new navy blazer and a tie, give presentation with my co-worker CD and boss AG to a select group of V.I.P.s about our new Visual History Project (roaring success! crowd goes wild!).

5:45pm = on way to subway, surprise phone call from Padre, lots of bantering back and forth in Italian and English.

6:15pm = pick up interlibrary loan book from school: Grant F. Scott, Joseph Severn: Letters and Memoirs (2005); review at home for Gibson references.

8:00pm = dinner: eggs and English muffin with fruit salad and Greek yogurt; watch first 2 episodes from Season 3 of Upstairs, Downstairs, including shocking twist involving Lady Marjorie and the Titanic!

WEDNESDAY 03/02/11

8:00am = slept through alarm ("accidentally"); breakfast: 1/2 English muffin and blueberry yogurt. weather: cool but sunny, reaching mid-40s.

9:00am = subway reading: Potts, chapter six, "Freedom and Desire."

11:00am = meeting (for 2 hours! ugh!).

1:00pm = lunch: baked tilapia, potatoes, green beans.

2:00pm = meeting, during which we resolve the Scheeler image dilemma (who knew he worked for the museum in the early 1940s?).

4:00pm = desperate for cuppa tea, have a lovely Earl Grey and sneak in a pudding parfait too.

6:00pm = subway reading: call for papers for the 2012 College Art Association conference in Los Angeles.

7:30pm = dinner: pizza and salad; watch more of Upstairs, Downstairs.

Week-in-my-Life: Feb/Mar 2011 (Pt. 1)

About a week ago, my cousin MB sent me an email that said, "Hope all is well. You have been quiet!!" She's right. I've been super busy lately, and even though I had a few things I wanted to blog about, I never did get around to doing it (yet?). All this made me think that maybe it was time for another random Week-in-my-Life. You'll recall I did this last year (in parts one, two, and three). It was interesting how people commented about my eating habits, and that I was bragging about the number of push-ups I did (a feat I don't think I'll be doing again anytime soon). So here goes...a week of selected incidents in the life of this NYC-based queer doctoral student-slash-writer-slash-art historian-slash-librarian (gees, I'm exhausted just thinking I do all that!).

SUNDAY 02/27/11

8:30am = after getting in late last night and falling asleep about 2:30ish, shocked to discover I'm wide awake and hungry at this early hour. breakfast: scrambled egg & (low-fat, low-sodium) cheddar cheese on a toasted multi-grain bagel with French Vanilla coffee. weather report: sunny, near 50° (yay!).

9:30am = back in bed, trying either to organize my day or fall back to sleep; caffeine wins and have to begin the day. wash dishes.

10:30am = snack: last of the coffee with a chocolate almond biscotti. read first chapter of Satish Padiyar's Chains: David, Canova, and the Fall of the Public Hero in Postrevolutionary France (2007, book cover above), with its insightful socio-(homo)erotic-political interpretations of Jacques-Louis David's 1799-1814 painting Leonidas at Thermopylae.

12:00pm = food shop. on return home, pack up bag to do work at library and go to gym. subway reading: chapter four, "Beauty and Sublimity," in Alex Potts's Flesh and the Ideal: Winckelmann and the Origins of Art History (1994).

2:00pm = find myself wandering through Macy's, suddenly glad I had the forethought(!) to bring those coupons I got in the mail. discover a gorgeous Michael Kors suit--on sale!--but even the jacket I have them take off the mannequin doesn't fit me right...damn! more browsing, find instead a beautiful navy Michael Kors blazer that fits like a glove...and it's also on sale...ka-ching! $230 later, walk out with said blazer, 1 pair of Calvin Klein jeans, 3 pairs of socks, 3 pairs of underwear, and a golf-size Tote umbrella to replace the one that blew apart during a windstorm last fall in Leeds. feel no guilt whatsoever.

3:00pm = hungry! head to Pret a Manger for late lunch, devastated to discover they're closed, so settle for Pax (i.e. chain bodega). lunch: salad with mixed greens, chicken, and bunch of other stuff, ranch dressing...attempt to be healthy probably not so much.

3:30pm = realize just want to go home, library and gym ain't happening.

4:20pm = settle on the sofa with a nice cuppa tea and a LU petit écolier (chocolate biscuit), start watching episode of House; two hours later, still watching House.

7:15pm = start on dinner: turkey burger and sweet potato fries. Netflix movie indecision: scary Paranormal Activity 2 or silly Something's Gotta Give?

(To be continued...)