Glaze Forward

Watching you eat has become a history lesson, where I can read the things that have passed between us, on your lips, as if at any moment you would open your mouth to me to apologize or confess.  Instead, there is only more soup, and more moments that pass before without a remark.  You come to visit me here, and I welcome you in as though you belonged.  The truth that we both understand is that I don’t belong here myself, that this is something we all recognize here, and that belonging is an idea that belongs to an antiquity that we cannot reach in these bodies.

We are ravenous in the streets, moving like ravens, unable to stop racing thoughts and racing hearts.  A gallery here, where you will tell me you love Singapore and I will blush, and a Japanese restaurant there, where you will talk about esoteric philosophy and the history of food.  Maybe later, in another room, another more spacious space, you might start to tell me the stories of the dead, and the way that ancestors have a way of returning to the bodies of the living, even if they are not invited.

That is then and this is now, we always say.  Every time, there is an invasion, and there is a fall, and speed is never on my side.  You make me dream, and here I move more slowly than I could even pretend, even if it were for a film about my life.  In the imaginary movie about us, there are always outsiders who are interested in what we might do here, and they might be more invested than we know in the small gestures of a long and tender, and always so tenuous, love affair.

One of the favorite activities for many people who visit the city of New York is to spend time in Central Park and enjoy the numerous attractions and cultural event opportunities this provides. In fact, the park actually offers some of the most affordable entertainment options of the city. Even some of the Public Theatre’s summer Shakespeare Festival performances are free and they feature some of the top talent and even Holiday stars in their productions. This is a highly anticipated annual event and many of the residents consider it a tradition to take in these productions. Meanwhile some of the guests in the Boutique hotels in New York consider themselves extremely lucky to be visiting while these productions are taking place. And while the play is the thing for many New Yorkers and city visitors, it is not the only cultural event option that occurs in Central Park. In fact, throughout the year numerous dance and musical events and concerts are staged in the open air of this precious green zone of the city.

In addition to the great cultural events and activities that occur in Central Park there are also some incredibly intriguing and interesting landmarks and historic attractions. All across the park little pieces of paradise can be found and it’s actually much more diverse and inclusive than what many people realize. In fact, bird watching is becoming more popular and over 275 species of migratory birds have been observed in the park. And all of those joggers thought the binoculars where following them. One of the standard features that contributes to the overall beauty and atmosphere of the park is its seven decorative fountains. The Angel of the Waters at Bethesda Terrace is an incredibly popular fountain that attracts numerous photographers and general interest visitors throughout the year. Other fountains are located near various gardens and landmarks and are also associated with them. One thing is definite and that is that something is always going on in Central Park and if you happen to be in New York it is certainly worth the visit.

Rome, Italy is just one of those amazing historic cities that fills visitors with a tremendous sense of awe and cultural wonder. It is one of the Western hemisphere’s ancient cities as well as one of its most famous. In addition to all of the historic architecture and artistic elements there are a great deal of contemporary societal aspects that continually draw in tourists and keep the residents content as well as inspired. It is truly one of the world’s great historic landmark centers as well as contemporarily relevant urban environments.

One of the interesting architectural landmark aspects of the city is its numerous obelisks found throughout its streets. These are some of the popular attraction destinations for many of the guests in the hotels in Rome There are five ancient Egyptian obelisks in the city as well as others. One of the most famous of these is located in St. Peter’s Square, which is located directly in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica. It is near the beautiful fountain, which is also located in the square.

The Solare obelisk is another famous landmark and this one is located in the Piazza Montecitorio. This is one of the Egyptian obelisks that was acquired by and moved to Rome. It was constructed from red granite and dates from between 595 and 589 BC. It was transferred to Rome around 10 BC by Emperor Augustus who wanted to use it as the gnomon of the Solarium Augusti. It was transferred with the Flaminian obelisk. Interestingly, some of the technological specifics of this obelisk are supplied in the Naturalis Historia, written by Pliny the Elder. It contains various typology, appearance and operating procedural information. As with the other landmarks and tremendously popular art and architecture of this great city, information on it can be found in your hotel lobby and at various other public places. But actually, all you have to do to find a great historic landmark in Rome is to roam the streets.

We all used to love London much easier than we love London now.  It’s been getting harder and harder to love because of the way things have started to turn, there are directions here that are unlike directions anywhere else, and the turns are often accompanied by strange voices.  For most of the formative years, being here meant a strange kind of freedom to explore and sometimes even thrash out in creative ways, and all the time there was a like-minded community to accompany the journey.  Only now there is a new sense of purpose to the city, and it may not be conducive to these grand experiments.  Still, there’s no reason not to find a fantastic hotel in London and try it out, to see if the magic is still there.
It is hard to replicate the things that happened when we were first figuring out how to make new and cool things while Deleuze and Guattari were formulating their Thousand Plateaus.  A few of us managed to make it through the first volume, and were hoping there was something else coming out soon to make this one look like child’s play, and they were successful.  If that word can even obtain.  It does not.  Then we were presented with the task of leading a kind of rough adolescence that too quickly turned into adulthood, but, wanting to avoid the threats of responsibility, we had to find something to do in the world but still not do too much, because we’d seen how that turned out.  In those days, Michael Bowdidge was just beginning to express an interest in making things with his hands.
Or rather, he spoke of doing so on a formal level.  This translated to sculpture, and the very best news is that these works are still untranslated.  Better, perhaps, to say, he is still working, and suddenly hearing that he is based these days in Edinburgh, it’s all optimistic news.  Deleuze’s notion of the assemblage is as ethereal as a sculpture in Berlin, which is to say, the world is in motion, and Bowdidge is helping to keep the flows of desire going in multiple directions.  Like so many post-structural anarchists of human sensibilities, he seems to understand better than we ever did that multiple directions are the only way to liberate the soul, if anyone still believes in such a thing.

I can’t wait for this summer to arrive. What’s making me laugh about that statement right now is that very likely for the person reading this it is a perfectly sensible sentiment and one that is felt by most people. However, I live in Tucson, Arizona, which for anyone who doesn’t know is in the Sonora Desert. This means that the summer is sometimes unbearably hot and many people feel that it lasts at least half of the year. For someone who lives here to say they are looking forward to the summer generally means they have lost their mind. And I don’t mean to deny the fact that there are those few human lizard hybrids that actually enjoy and thrive in the Arizona summer. I however am not one of them.

What I am though is someone who greatly enjoys getting out of the desert for a period of time in the summer. In fact even a weekend away gives me the feeling of a slight reprieve and makes the rest of the summer a bit more bearable. However, this year I’m going to be gone for an entire month and guess where I’m going to be while I’m gone? Well, in another sunny state, oddly enough though one that doesn’t get nearly as hot as this one. I’m going to West Palm Beach, Florida and couldn’t be happier about it. And did you hear me, I’ll be gone for a month and I’m not spending a single night in one of the West Palm Beach hotels. I’m spending the entire time with my cousin who moved there last year.

My cousin’s name is Mike and he has a private construction business. He actually asked if I wanted to come and work with him doing some painting this summer. I couldn’t believe my luck. I’m a substitute teacher and spots are extremely rare in the summer so I generally need some kind of temporary income. Living and working in West Palm Beach couldn’t have come at a better time. Unfortunately I’ll be arriving after SunFest is over and that’s something I would really like to be in town for sometime. It’s actually the largest waterfront festival in the state of Florida and has some incredible musical acts play there. Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, John Mayer, No Doubt are just a few of the major bands and musicians to have been on the festival’s stages. Too, bad but maybe next year I can plan things differently.

Imagine you’ve arrived in Hampton, Virginia, and you find a place to sleep, and you’re ready for the adventure down the road, over in Colonial Williamsburg or Busch Gardens, but it’s pouring down rain.  Where can you go to get out of the downpour and still see sights that are only available in Hampton?  If it were me, I’d be headed for the Virginia Air & Space Museum.  For adults, there’s over a hundred artifacts, including the Apollo 12 space capsule, which orbited the Moon in 1969 about thirty-one times in sixty one hours (each orbit taking a little under two hours; imagine sitting in a space capsule and watching the entire Moon slide past you at that speed).  For kids, there’s a traveling exhibit that will be there until September which investigates the ick factor in science, called Animal Grossology.

The family will enjoy working hands on with displays and simulators.  There’s also a short film that examines the pioneers of avaition which you may watch while sitting on the wing of an airplane.  Kids can learn, to, about how air flows over wings and provide lift to an aircraft.  There’s even a flight simulator where you can land a space shuttle.   Most people seem happy to have visited this kid-oriented museum and enjoyed its collection of biplanes, World War II planes, and space ships.  In the exhibits, you may walk on mars, see how planets move, and see rocks from the Moon.  On one side of the museum, you’ll find a B-24 Liberator and several military jets like the A-6 Intruder and the F-15.  Even more planes hang from the ceiling to give the impression of flight, including helicopters, jets, and vintage aircraft.

Animal Grossology is based on a best selling children’s book and explores precisely what you might think as it plunges into the world of vomit, poop and slime of the animal world.  To the delight of your kids, and perhaps to your own shock, this exhibit is hands-on.  While I’m sure the goo is simulated, the kids will be able to explore such things as party poopers in a penguin pen, how blood suckers such as leeches are used in surgery, and creatures who are basically vomit munchers.  Kids will love it, although the adults may not want to schedule lunch directly after this exhibit.

I was reminded of the great times I had in Portland tonight when the Trail Blazers beat the Phoenix Suns. They were the first ones on the scoreboard and they lead by a nice gap throughout most of the game. The Suns rallied late in the fourth quarter and tried to close the gap though they just couldn’t make the grade. They did narrow the score difference and didn’t lose by twenty points which it looked like it might be a possibility at certain points. And this was a rather unexpected performance by the Suns who just came off of a great out of town visiting tour. They returned to Phoenix undefeated on the road after their final game and victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night. Okay, so the point of this was to talk about good times in Portland, Oregon, not to complain about the Phoenix Suns.

My parents lived in Longview, Washington for a few years back in the early 2000s, around the turn of the century as my little brother likes to call it. I don’t remember why they moved there now but they lived there for about three years while I was in school. My brother had just graduated high school and he stayed here in Phoenix with me. I was just finishing my two year degree at Mesa Community College and getting ready to transfer to NAU. Anyway, we visited my parents twice a year during those days, once in the summer and then again at Christmas. While we were there we either went up to Seattle or down to Portland, though Portland was a lot closer. It was only about a half an hour down from Longview. You could basically hop in the Columbia River and get to Portland if you wanted.

Anyway, my love for Portland started one year when I drove down to the city by myself. My mom had to work that day and I borrowed her car and drove to Portland. I didn’t know what all I was going to do I just wanted to see the city. Do you know you can see Mt. Saint Helen’s from certain spots in Portland? I found that out that day. I passed by the Bagdad Theater though I didn’t go in. It’s an historic theatre in Portland that originally opened in 1927. It’s also famous for premiering One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975. It was really cool to see it in person, it just has that historic landmark important feel to it. I also spent time down along the river at the Tom McCall Waterfront Park. That first day by myself I didn’t really do a whole lot but it was cool being there alone and discovering the city. The real stories begin during the next trip when my friend and I stayed in one of the hotels. We didn’t spend a lot of time in our rooms, I’ll just say that much for now.

A visit to the Ardenwood Farm is a visit through history, the history of a man in search of gold in California during the mid 1800′s, George Washington Patterson.  Patterson may have been looking for gold, but what he found was rich and fertile fields instead.  He prospered in the fields and now along with the produce, the grounds surrounding the Victorian Mansion are filled with flower gardens as well.  There is a small museum which illustrates the farming techniques of days past through to the present time, with artifacts that were once pulled by the horses and oxen.

The farm is located relatively close to many of the hotels in downtown Fremont, and tours can be scheduled at the Farm through the people working at the front desk.  Each visit to Ardenwood is different, as since it is still a working farm today, it all depends on the seasons of the year.  Through the summer months, many people go to the farm for their fresh, organic fruits and vegetables, and during the winter months holiday activities take place, such as the Halloween Harvest and various social events and concerts.

Other great features of the Farm include rides on horse drawn carriages, and a petting farm with chickens, rabbits, turkeys, pigs and cows.  A blacksmith works on the property and invites all to watch.  They conduct educational programs as well, and during the week the naturalists and the farmers conduct classes for school children and other large groups.  Some of the classes include and introduction to farming, and some of them are actual cooking classes, where one cooks their meals using old wood burning stoves.  This is a great look into the history of not only the farm, but of the life and the history of those living in Fremont, California …a look at the old days.