In Person!
Coffee and a chat?
So, it feels like the transition is happening towards a post-pandemic something-or-other—at least here in California. Restaurants are hiring again (or trying to, according to an article in the Monterey County Weekly). Today I attended an AAPI rally in Monterey, today—not on Zoom, not on Facetime—but on the lawn in front of City Hall. It was great to see people in person and do some elbow bumping, if not yet ready for hugs. I do still feel that pandemic background anxiety, as well as feelings about AAPI violence, about “fire season” already upon us (last I heard, 19 fires have already been tackled (successfully) by California fire departments); and the climate change crisis is still with us—so I don’t have any illusions about “normal.”
BUT, hey—I am looking forward to coffee and a chat in a real coffee house, shopping for recycled “retro” clothing inside a shop, buying groceries in a market instead of ordering delivery; stepping into a bookstore, seeing vaccinated family members, attending meetings in person, live concerts, etc. Next week I will have reached my two-week-after status following my second vaccination. I’ll be heading for the (socially distanced) gym (or maybe get that bicycle). So, yeah. I will still mask up in public and keep my distance. But still, it feels like change is in the air.
Here are a few photos from that very public event I attended (representing the nonprofit I work with, Asian Cultural Experience [ACE, Salinas Chinatown]). What a great turnout! It feels good to know that there are supporters in the community, people who care:
ART
I’m also actually considering registering for Open Studios this Fall. That’s a biggie. I’ve been thinking about showing a lot of small works, and a few large works. Haven’t signed up yet—still looking at other possibilities—but it would be nice to have something like this to look forward to, after a year and half of lockdown. Here are a few small works that would likely be included:
THREE GOOD THINGS:
Like anybody, artists also deal with health issues and other challenges that change how they work.
Drawing has so much to do with the body and breath. I began getting back into art, a few years ago, by painting. But during this last year of the pandemic, I feel like I’ve been teaching myself to draw. And sometimes it feels like drawing is teaching me how to breathe, how to listen. So check out this little video on Lynn Herschman Leeson: “Drawing Breath.”
Jack Whitten on his development as an artist after he left Tuskegee: Several phrases that stick out for me: “After that march [for civil rights in Baton Rouge], which turned vicious and violent—that changed me politically, forever” and “I wanted a painting to exist as a single gesture.” Then, speaking of his illness and getting back into painting afterwards: “That painting was my way of hitting back; I’m not gonna let that shit defeat me, you know?”
On Substack:
Above, I mentioned an article about how local restaurants are having trouble hiring. Perhaps relatedly, Anne Helen Peterson discusses the “capitalism is broken” economy in her newsletter, Culture Study: Retail storeowners in some areas are hard hit by a lack of applicants for their “shit jobs.” Some of the owners complain that workers have grown lazy because they’re getting stimulus checks. But, "what if business owners are scandalized, dismayed, frustrated, or bewildered by this scenario because their pre-pandemic business models were predicated on a steady stream of non-unionized labor with no other options? It’s not the labor force that’s breaking. It’s the economic model.”
That’s it for this week. It’s been a long day (but a good one) and I’m off to catch some shut-eye…but I’d still love to hear from you.