May 2008

Twenty or so commencement ceremonies, and nearly as many collegewide end of year fests that are now called Employee Appreciation Day.  Somewhat amazing considering I took the job on a temporary basis intially, and I had never worked anywhere longer than two and a half years previously.  Today was a day long cheer-fest of how great everyone is.  When one considers that the achievements are real and substantive, perhaps the prolixity and intensity of the positive spin of this event can be forgiven.  Some.  It finally doesn’t bother me that I have evolved so much that I don’t really feel that I “fit in” anymore.  Our fearless leader continually refers to us as the “Delaware Tech family”.  If so than I am like a flamboyant transvestite drama queen of the family, who never feels truly herself when toning herself down in order to fly under the radar of the family’s conservatism.  I guess diversity and creativity are OK as long as the result isn’t too “different”.  

It has probably been longer than ten years since Pat Ciarrocchi was our Commencement Speaker, so it has been quite awhile since the speaker was quite memorable.  However, tonight Dr. Tony Allen, an executive with the Bank of America (formerly MBNA) has set the bar higher.  I was pleased to see a young community leader who had managed to rise to the top in the banking business, but hadn’t needed to obliterate obvious characteristics of his culture of origin.  

He made all of us affirm the following - vociferously and repeatedly:

I am the Voice
I will lead, not follow
I will create, not destroy 
I am a force for good
I am a force for peace
I will xxx xxx xxx
Defy the odds
Set a new standard
Step up
Step Up
Step UP

One treasure of insomnia is that I can be a silent spy in the sleeping wonderworld of the other breathing beings in my household.  Surrounded by their soft snuffling snorkeling sleep, I feel a gentle soundscape draw over me like the downiest of comforters.  A little cat cuddles at my foot.  I am connected to all that I hold most dear.  Where IS that Catzilla?

Friday I took a bus trip to New York City.  As it was a miserable rainy day, which left me abed with a pounding headache and sore throat the day after, it was not much a day for tripping the light fantastic, or meandering hither and thither in the great metropolis.  I chose to use my cheap roundtrip travel as an opportunity to visit the places I usually wish to go to, but never get to - those museums on “museum mile” on the upper east side.  There was no grand plan, but as the skies never cleared, I took a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, the Cooper-Hewitt, and the Whitney.  It has been decades since I visited the Whitney, and a good long while since I’ve been to the Cooper-Hewitt, and my first visit to the MCNY.  My husband is wishing now for the more upscale briefcase versus his usual backpack - as he was required to check it at all locations.  

The exhibits at the Museum of the City of New York were interesting even if the museum attendants/security were a tad lacking in politesse.  I was chastised for making notes on my iPhone - “No cell phones allowed”.  The phone itself was on silent - but this little device is more than a phone,  I was making notations of stuff.  The doll houses were spectacular - little time capsules of life in a bygone era.

 I found these as interesting as the exhibits of “New York Interiors 1690-1906″.  The Dutch influence of ceramic tiles lining the edges of fireplaces didn’t become “unfashionable” until the 19th century.  
 

New York Interiors (1690-1906)

A New York interior in the Dutch tradition, c. 1690 

There was an exhibit about the theater in NYC, which was interesting but it could have used more exhibit space.  I was hoping for an exhibit of their antique clothes but had to satisfy myself with about two dozen postcards in the bookstore.  

Next stop was the Whitney, which was having its 2008 Biennial.  I could relate a lot to the artists, like Ruben Ochoa and Phoebe Washburn, and was thrilled that such work was being given exhibit space.  I commented to my husband that some of these pieces made my little outdoor “tree” seem relatively tame.

“It Makes for My Millionaire Status” - installation Feuer Gallery Los Angeles 2005 - Phoebe Washburn.  Javier Tellez’ “Letter on the Blind For Those Who Can See” (2007) was a video of the proverbial blind man interacting tactilely with an elephant and discussing the experience.  The visual aspect was as arresting as the suspense in wondering what the commentary would be.  I have pause to consider that the only difference between them and myself, is that they are working and I am not, much.  Sigh.

When I entered the “Rococo: The Continuing Curve, 1730–2008” exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt I thought I had died and gone to heaven.  I don’t know why I always dither about buying exhibition catalogues.  Everytime I don’t, I regret it.  Like this time.  From the drawings and video of the ironwork of Jean Lamour, to contemporary work that utilizes the curve as its construction, such as the fabulous “Cinderella table” of Jerven Verhoeven, the exhibit was a treat for the eyes and the soul.  I could have stayed and sketched for days.  

Cinderella Table
Jeroen Verhoeven (Dutch, b. 1976)
Made by Demakersvan
The Netherlands, 2004
Birch plywood
The Museum of Modern Art, New York, Gift of Marie-Josée Kravis in honor of Patricia Phelps de Cisneros