Keeping Notes

1. So, the weather is no longer unseasonably warm (she says drily.....)

2. Saw the David Hockney exhibit at the MFA. Sheer and utter happiness.

3. The picture that I like best (not talking about Hockney, see post below) was a large photograph, very flat and without depth, of a slightly overweight blond woman in jeans sitting on a very red couch. Window behind with curtains, a room filled with furniture and books and shelves and a television. You could see every strand of thread in the cloth of her clothes, the furniture. A wooden floor with every detail crisp. But, not hyper-real digital camera detail, you know? Warm. Claustrophobic and beckoning, all at the same time. Messy, colorful and patterned.

4. Jonathan went to a fashion show last night and said it was fabulous. I was safely tucked up in bed.

5. I am closing on a place soon, but the place is not ready, and I have already sublet very close to the closing date. A bit of a problem, no?

6. Rod Dreher's Crunchy Con nonsense is irritating me to no end. Why is it that people make such a big deal of their consumer choices, when it's green and organic, and then decry other consumer choices? Yeah, yeah, Mr. Dreher. I get that you're better than me. Except, my mother can make a fabulous meal out of a little flour, two potatoes, and like, a broccoli floret and wouldn't write a whole book bragging about it. Crunchy Con! Dude, please.

*Oh, and the corollary to this is that aesthetics and beauty have different arguments. I'm not talking about subjectivity; I argue that strip malls and gleaming American suburbs are objectively beautiful. I have Indian parents who look at the 'small and particular' Mr. Dreher talks about, and, well, want no part of it. They think the shiny new houses are beautiful, that they are about space, cleanliness, order, possibilities of a better future, and that they have a certain grace that comes with all of that. Remember, my lovely parent's idea of 'small and particular' is the Taj Mahal, not some New England colonial farmhouse, okay (well, maybe not the small part......) ?

**Michael Blowhard seemed to like the Crunchy Con book, which does give me pause. There's probably something to it, but the tone (from the original essay, I haven't read the book) still irritates.

7. I am looking forward to Bush's trip to India. I plan to enjoy it in a thoroughly non-partisan fashion. I like it when Clinton visits, too.........and then Howard is going. Oh my, someone is coming of age.

8. Watching Miami Ink (love Ami James), Project Runway (love Daniel V) and #1 Single (Lisa Loeb has very sharp 90s connotations for me - back when I was living in Albuquerque and believed in everything).

Comments

[Michael Blowhard]

Hey, thanks for the link, and great to see you blogging again. As for Dreher, well, eager to hear your reasons for not liking him! I see the book as having two parts. One is just describing and labeling something that's Out There -- a trendlet. I think he's done a good job of that. Many Americans don't fit entirely as Dems or Repubs, and much of the hippie thing always was kinda conservative. The other part of the book is advocacy. I'm sort of here and there on that. He makes the case well, but I still find it kind of pious and no-fun. Still, a better-than-decent pop-sociology book. Sounds like you've got one you could write yourself about the tastes of people like your parents. You've got some extra time and energy at the end of the workday to throw a book together, havne't you?

[MD]

Hey, I should thank you for all the nice links to this blog in the past :)

*To be fair, I haven't read the book, but I've been checking out the blog on NR and I read the original essay. I have no problem with saying that consumerism is not all, and markets can't save our souls, so to speak, but who gets to decide what amount of consumerism is *good enough*? On the CC blog there were e-mails about government controls! Yuck. Small is beautiful, it's sad to lose good things in the rush of newness, all those ugly buildings you point out on your blog are proof of that, it's just that he's so, uh, sure of himself. He's like that ultra earnest newly-converted vegetarian who takes a million years to cook a awful tofu loaf and is totally proud of himself, when a simple stirfry or dal-roti is what millions of people eat without congratulating themselves on their superior virtue.

Eh. Whatever. Still, I trust your judgement enought to see that there might be something to it.....

I am swamped at work and truth is, I don't want to stare at a computer screen more that I already do. If a post takes more than two minutes, literally, I'm not into it! But I do want to write!!!!! AAAAArgh - we are supposed to hire someone else which should help. Yeah!

[Michael Blowhard]

The whole Crunchy-Con thing gets a little pious even for my tastes. I like a bit more sexiness and showbiz in my life. Still, I'm glad Dreher's stirred up some interest in the phenomenon, as well as shaken up some righties. Good lord, they seem to be thinking: Conservatives who care about decent houses, good food, aesthetics, conservation! Who knew?

Love your writing, here's hoping the department makes that hire!