theopenbowl

[theopenbowl]

Grey Art Museum with a beloved colleague. So inspired by the collection of Abby Weed Grey (https://greyartmuseum.nyu.edu/2016/05/abby-weed-grey-collection-modern-asian-middle-eastern-art/)

"She realized early on that what interested her was not the traditionally or conventionally appealing, but, rather, responses “to a world both beautiful and ugly; works that were arresting and strange, demanding that, through art, I perceive and understand reality in a deeper way.” She explained, for instance, that while in India, “I didn’t look for miniaturists or gem setters; in Iran, I didn’t look for rugmakers. In many places, I didn’t know where to look or exactly what to look for, but whatever it was going to be, it had to express the response of a contemporary sensibility to contemporary circumstances. In every country, I asked ‘Where are your working artists? What are they doing? How are they breaking with the past to cope with the present?’"

#art #bliss #NYU #NYC

[theopenbowl]

Sirocco feat. Abel Selaocoe | Isolation Broadcast #10

“A Maverick on the Cello”

NYC 4/6/24 

More here: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/23/arts/music/abel-selaocoe.html

#youtube #cello abelselacoe manchestercollective music

[theopenbowl]

A beautiful piece of writing, I'm thinking about who owns sacred art. I am sorry that the Rubin Museum will close. I also applaud them for doing the right thing and joyously celebrate the repatriations. I remember that space well - the hushed quiet. The gods seemed displaced. Was this a kind of punishment? Like when we were made to line up outside the classroom in school for being too noisy. So different than the raucous ecstasy, the surrender of worship.

It bothers me, the inherent privilege of the "owners", the fetishization of what is sacred to another. It feels ignorant and disrespectful.

Who owns a sacred ritual or object? Who does it belong to?

In Hindu tradition, we use ordinary everyday things - water, fruit, flowers, to offer devotion. Outside of that context, they are ordinary things. It is devotion, faith, that imbues them with meaning.

#decolonize #Rubin

[theopenbowl]

A very lovely Christmas celebration 2023! 

Grateful and humbled by the last 10 years. 

2013 - last Christmas in Washington Square Village

2014-16 - H’s apartment 

2017 - London

2018 - Nugget is here! Tiny roast and Christmas crackers on H’s big coffee table

2019 - Tanajhe from Long Island helps

2020 - Pandemic. Chaos. 2 littles. 

2021 - Backup care in Rockefeller Center. So. Much. Schlepping. Phew. 

2022 - Laid back Christmas at home. 

2023 - A lovely Christmas. Low expectations, cooked the food we liked, invited people we love. 

The lessons, they come over years! Not minutes or days. 

image credit: Bokeh christmas tree by peter baird Via Flickr: Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas

#bokeh #christmas #tree #lights #bright #pattern #flickr

[theopenbowl]

(via GIPHY)

End of sabbatical.

Next one, if there is one, is seven years away!

Lotus meditation. Anahata chakra. 

#giphy #trippy #psychedelic #flower #ai #render #euphoria #lotus #4k #reflect #petal #hifi #euphoric #8k #timenotspace #wrwc #raja the tiger #whorwecollective #who r we collective #euphoricwrwc

[theopenbowl]

A memorable evening! The venue was fantastic! Lights twinkling over Central Park.

There aren't enough metaphors for how out of place I felt. Even fish would feel more at home out of water than I did that evening. Ivy league. Hedge fund. Lawyers. H's former tutor is now Master of the college. At an event meant to woo six-figure donors, the Master invited us to visit the college when we were in the UK next. The implicit message about belonging was powerful.

Dr. V is unlike anyone in higher education leadership I've ever met. It turns out he was highly recruited, he was a star and chose his academic vocation. Able to balance details with big picture, personal with professional. Deeply authentic. For the first time, I felt I was in the presence of a leader.

Not narcissistic, not insecure, not territorial.

[theopenbowl]

A lovely Holiday dinner party - I loved being at W's apartment. So glam, so her. Such enthusiasm for life and its pleasures.

[theopenbowl]

Filed under things that are magical.

#youtube

[theopenbowl]

I am devoted to romance novels but find myself in the middle of three non-fiction books!

Anyhoo, I came across "Lessons in Chemistry" - appropriately called "genre defying". I was amused to find it filed under romance, beach read, humor and now literary fiction, presumably to encourage sales.

It was so easy to read, so easy to relate to. It is a sly subversive book. A whopper of a debut for Bonnie Garmus. Brava!

Kinda like Shondaland's Bridgerton, it starts out docile in the form of / in the guise of a period piece. In the beginning, the gender roles and the unconventional central character (Elizabeth Zott) jump off the pages, they seem so anachronistic.

As the novel unfolds, EZ's honesty and resilience shine through. I found Mad Men and the Marvelous Mrs Maisel hard to watch, such an oppressive and stifling time in the world. Ms. Z is not oblivious but neither does she let the world pull her down. Instead she works with courage and loves with her whole heart. So simple! Bonnie Garmus' tone is perfect.

My favorite novels challenge how I see the world, they open my eyes and do it in a clever sneaky fun way. When the book starts, we're willing to be understanding of 1951 and all the discrimination because, we say to ourselves, thats how things used to be, we've come a long way. I devoured chapters at a time, and when I stepped back into 2023, I found myself blinking. Have we really come a long way?

Each time I stepped away from the book, I came back to the present a changed person... aware of my privilege, sensitive to the suffering of others, and inspired by their courage and resilience. It is no coincidence that Harriet, one of Ms. Garmus' most downtrodden characters gives Ms. Z amazing and life-changing advice.

“Before I go, Elizabeth, can I offer just one bit of advice?” Harriet began. “Actually no, I won’t. I hate getting advice, especially unsolicited advice.” She turned a ruddy color. “Do you hate advice givers? I do. They have a way of making one feel inadequate. And the advice is usually lousy.” “Go on,” Elizabeth urged. Harriet hesitated, then pursed her lips side to side. “Well, fine. Maybe it’s not really advice anyway. It’s more like a tip.” Elizabeth looked back expectantly. “Take a moment for yourself,” Harriet said. “Every day.” “A moment.” “A moment where you are your own priority. Just you. Not your baby, not your work, not your dead Mr. Evans, not your filthy house, not anything. Just you. Elizabeth Zott. Whatever you need, whatever you want, whatever you seek, reconnect with it in that moment.” She gave a sharp tug to her fake pearls. “Then recommit.” 

#notes to myself #motherhood #momlife #lessons in chemistry #nyc #books #book review

[theopenbowl]

Mind is in shreds. So much to juggle. This year definitely feels better than last but not easy by any means. Taking refuge in Brooklyn Raga Massive's Coltrane tribute - listening feels like entering a shrine.

#Bandcamp

[theopenbowl]

Not sure I would call this a rom-com... but this understated movie was deeply moving. Miloni feels like a caged bird. What a life - stifling, surrounded by predators. The trappings of privilege have never really felt like privilege in Mumbai. Freedom is the greatest privilege!

Rafi, played by the sublime Nawazuddin Siddiqui, had more layers. Weighed down. Life as something to be endured. A litany of responsibilities, failures and humiliations.

The final scene in the foyer of the movie theater was bewildering in its simplicity. Rafi and Miloni lose interest in the movie, in conventional storylines. They turn towards each other, open and kind. "Chalen?" "Shall we go?" So simple and powerful. They choose the present, they choose their story.

[theopenbowl]

What an accurate picture!

And in words:

"work as a kind of barely restrained combat"

From:

[theopenbowl]

Another book added.

"about enjoying the absurdity of swimming against the tide of efficiency"

[theopenbowl]

This is a graph that makes me sad...

From:

[theopenbowl]

🐘🐖 Today I Will Fly An Elephant & Piggie Book - Read Aloud Kid's Book

Required reading <3

#youtube

[theopenbowl]

Filed under things that made me sit up and think.

Colin Grant's review of Tomiwa Owolade's "This is not America" took me by surprise. (The title is a reference to a David Bowie song) The review is a bit tetchy and unfair, the book seems nuanced.

I loved thinking about this bit, the politics of identity. Reminded me of the daily mental shoving that comes with existing. That feeling of trying to force one's way into a local train never leaves me!

"A year ago, I opened a respected British journal and read that I was Black. Specifically, I was, it turned out, a Black historian. Who knew? Until then, I was simply known as a historian. The editor was dismayed when I complained about not wanting to be racialized in this way; he imagined I’d be delighted with the capitalization and upgrade from black to Black. Finally, he apologized, saying he’d been badly advised."

This bit surprised me:

"Britain’s problems with race pale beside the awful day-to-day enmity in the US."

Hmm. Why is one kind of cruel history better than another?

[theopenbowl]

May 2023.  Life seems more urgent. I feel like I have to take responsibility, (not control) of my happiness! Like wrestling an unruly toddler. These are the best years of my life.

Image credit: Globe Thistle by Hal Goodtree Via Flickr: Giant alliums in Washington Square Park.

#NY #NYC #New York #Manhattan #New York City #allium #thistle #purple #stuffonstems #garden #park #exterior #day #nikon #d80 #Washington Square Park #Greenwich Village #flickr