eclosion

I finally had a chance to catch up reading my friend Sarah's blog avventure. She's a professional clown who is in Florence as a pedagogical knight (read more about that on her blog) for a brand new international clown school Helikos, founded by her mentor Giovanni Fusetti. Not only is she blogging wonderfully about her own process as a teacher in training and a witness to the "emergence" of a new school, she's sharing a lovely portrait Florence.

In one of her posts - giocavamo [we have been playing (imperfect)] - she shares one of the teacher's lessons on LeCoq's Twenty Movements. The one that resonated with me was "eclosion" or the verb "eclose"

Definition: "Emerge as an insect from the pupa case, or of a larva from the egg."

I love that essence of emergence. And as a concept for movement... very interesting. I'll be checking out more LeCoq.

the boneyard

When Matt and I went to Las Vegas back in March, the one thing I wanted to be sure and see was the Boneyard. It's part of the collection of the Neon Museum, an organization preserving, salvaging and restoring old signs so they just don't end up in the dump. They are also all about celebrating the "neon sign" as a uniquely Las Vegas artform. For now, the Boneyard is a big lot (actually two lots) where they store all the signs that they've salvaged. In addition to neon signs (many of which also also use incandescent bulbs) the museum ends up salvaging all kinds of other large signs. I thought it was pretty dang groovy, and a great Vegas activity if you're not much of a gambler or need time away from the regular action. You can only visit by appointment only, so don't forget to call at least a week before you want to go.

Here's a few of my favorite photos from the Boneyard. My whole set is up at flickr.


Next time, I'll be hitting the Liberace Museum.

when in doubt, make a list

oy, i've been so busy that i've had little energy for blogging. so, what to do? time to make a list. here's a list of places i'd like to see, based on recommendations or inspiration from trusted friends. domestic sites for today; i'll go international another...

the boneyard: a part of the neon museum in las vegas, the boneyard is a a lot filled with non-restored signs of all kinds. seems pretty surreal, industrial, nostalgic.
(photo by angie1611 on flickr, creative commons license)



grand canyon: what can i say, i've never been.

high desert test sites: from their website - "The High Desert Test Sites are a series of experimental art sites located along a stretch of desert communities including Pioneer town, Yucca Valley, Joshua tree, 29 Palms and Wonder Valley. These sites provide alternative space for experimental works by both emerging and established artists." andrea zittel is one of the artists who founded it. rad stuff.

sequoia national park: hamblog recently made the trip, and it inspires. big, old gorgeous trees in the amazing sierra nevadas.

mother tongue

apa compass is a radio show i help produce as part of a collective at kboo. shameless plug: we're on today at 9:00am pacific at kboo or on the FM in portland 90.7. in case you miss it we'll have an archive (and podcasts soon!) at kboo.fm/apacompass. today we're talking about language and identity and community.

i long to speak another language fluently. my parents' first language is tagalog (filipino) and they never taught it to me and my brothers. when we were young, they thought it would hinder our ability to learn english and possibly leave us with an accent which might make it more difficult for us to fit in. and now as adults we all realize that loss and my mother tries to speak to us in tagalog at random times as if it might still seep in. and it might.

in fact, all these years, i've claimed that i don't know tagalog. but the truth is that i actually understand a LOT of tagalog, but can't open up my mouth and speak it.

in honor of our show today, i want to share a funny experience from when my husband and i went to the philippines last year. it was his first time and my first time with a "guest" who was not filipino. we were on our own a fair amount at the megamalls, the museums, tourist sites etc. i quicky found myself interpreting for matt. that's right, i was actually interpreting, much more than i thought i ever could. it was a delightful discovery and has changed my perspective on my relationship with my parents' mother tongue.

and another bizarre thing occurred, a story matt loves to tell. people would speak to me in tagalog. i understood the gist of what they were saying. then i spoke back to them in english. they understood me. we communicted back and forth in two different languages. i actually barely realized that it was happening, but matt, as an observer pointed it out. it happened all the time during our two week stay.

i'll keep working on my tagalog. but next i'm going to tackle me some espanol...

long time no see...

it's been forever since i've posted. guess i just got overwhelmed with life, weddings, projects. my brother mark married his sweetie kimmi in chicago last weekend. it was a fun, exhausting, hot weekend. of note were the neo-futurists' too much light makes the baby go blind a fun dada-ish show in which they attempt to perform 30 plays in 60 minutes. always an interesting range of things from comedy to political to satirical. and every week they roll dice to see how many new plays they'll write/pull for the following week's show. (the particular show we saw was fun, not the best of theirs, but always worth a look). i also loved the cloud gate at millenium park (better know as the "bean" because it looks much more like a bean than a cloud). a simply designed yet, wonderfully engaging and compelling scultpure that somehow pulls you in.

i also started working part time at kboo community radio as outreach coordinator. it's fun and hectic for sure. i'm also part of the apa compass collective and we're currently looking for new members who are interested in helping produce our monthly asian pacific american public affairs program.

more locally some great stuff happening... i'm helping to organize the portland grassroots media camp a weekend-long event of skills trainings and workshops designed to make media creation more accessible taking place august 24-26 at various locations around portland. matt and i are teaching a workshop at scarlet star studio called generate, create, communicate: using improvisation to unleash the story inside. also, matt and i are trying to organize an improvisation share/playgroup which will probably come to fruition sometime in september.

Sunday, no day of rest

Matt and I spent the weekend with a bunch of cool new friends at Nehalem Bay State Park in Manzanita on the Oregon Coast. As soggy as it was, we loved being by the ocean again. The beaches around there are quite beautiful. And for a coastal state park, Nehalem is pretty damn cool. About 30 of us shared yurts which in just about the most luxurious camping experience I've ever had. The yurts were large, well-sealed mini-cabins that slep 5 comfortably on a bunk bed and a futon. The skylight brought brightness into the room, despite the cloudy skies. Plus each yurt has heat, electric (yes you can plug in your cell phone and even get reception for the most part, but I would recommend just turning the darn thing off), a small deck with picnic table and parking for two cars. Call this super-deluxe, cush, car camping. Our group also rented out the meeting hall for just a few more dollars which included a full sink, tables and chairs inside and out (for non-rainy days), so we had a nice gathering place out of the rain. From camp, we walked out to the beach, up and through dramatic sandy dunes. It is gorgeous beach there, dramatic yet peaceful. Apparently this part of the coast is pretty unpredictable and they have plenty of signage for emergency tsunami action. Yes, tsunami in Oregon, USA. Who knew? Manzanita, is about 5 minutes away from Nehalem and offers quaint coffee shops, galleries and markets. Like I said, this is cush, almost like non-camping, camping. But it's fun and it is the ocean so you just can't beat it.