Tuesday, June 29, 2004

The Big Apple

Blogging in from New York City, on our week-long excursion to America's biggest city. It feels like we have done and seen an awful lot! We spent the first half in Brooklyn, and explored that borough, I took an excursion up to Connecticut, then we spent an evening in Queens, we moved to midtown Manhattan (where I am at the moment, in our hotel room), marched in the Pride parade (the entire length!), hung out in the Village, explored the meat-packing district, walked out on the piers, went back to Queens, and we're not done yet.

Barb has been networking and meeting editors and focused on getting freelance assignments.. I have been trying to un-focus, letting myself wander in whatever diretion takes my fancy. If my feet were hardier, I might have gone even further. I did hop the ferry for Staten Island one day when it was muggy, to take in the breezes over the water. I have been enjoying taking photos of mosaics (especially in the subways) and looking up to see the architectural details of the incredible buildings of this city. I especially have been enjoying friezes - the carved designs in the walls and doors. That seems to be a very specific sculpting skill - to be able to carve something that looks three dimensional, but is nearly flat. I'm thinking about how many artists have been hired through the years to decorate these buildings, and how today, an entire complex can be put together without hiring a single craftsman/woman.

Looking up at the skyscrapers, I notice that the decor starts at about the third floor. Now, you know that when the building was first opened, the decor was probably even more dramatic at ground level, but as The Gap and Shoes For Less (or their predecessors) moved in, they stripped the facade of its beauty and put their ugly logos and signs over the rococco doorways and fanciful lobbies. If you keep your eyes low in this town, you miss the handiwork of a generation or two or three. What are today's artists doing for work? What happens to a society where creative design energy is not valued?
Leah Brooks at 6:37 AM

Tuesday, June 22, 2004

Lola sniffs the air

Leah Brooks at 4:14 PM

Ready for take-off

We will be going to New York tomorrow, how exciting! I just love getting on an airplane, even these days with airports being as unpleasant as they are, the moment of take-off remains a thrill. And to be able to look out and down at the clouds. I watched the news last night (not a usual thing for me) just so I could see the footage of the first commercial flight into space. My brother John was there in the Mojave, covering the story for his radio station.

The poll that the local TV station took showed that 60% of those asked would NEVER go into space, 30% would do so if it cost less than $10,000, and 8% would go, at any cost. I'm not sure what the price point for me is, but I love to fly, and would go just about as high as I can go. (Now the tune from Oklahoma! is going through my head.."just about as fur as she kin go..")

Leah Brooks at 10:29 AM

Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Blissful moments

In the recent Harry Potter movie, there's a scene where the boy is learning how to cast a very powerful spell that will repel some soul-sucking monsters. The key to the spell, along with the magic word, is that he has to pull up the a memory of one of the happiest times of his life. This scene made me start to think about what memories I would use, in his place. You know the feeling - one of those moments when all is right with the world, when you can't stop laughing, when everything seems to be in perfect alignment. Surely I have had my fair share of these moments. But still, it's hard to call one up immediately. I'm looking back in time and a few images flicker up through the mists..

My first visit to Paris - as I was crossing the street, I looked to end of the boulevard and there stood the arc de triomphe. To be in Paris, aged 19, to have achieved a lifelong travel goal.

A night in Japan - a hot muggy summer night, hearing the noodle cart play its tune as it came along the street, going out to buy cold soba and then laying there in the dark, eating it. Feeling a part of the culture.

Marching in the gay day parade in the 80s, having our photos taken a million times, basking in the love generated by the crowd. To be part of a growing social movement.

Dancing in the living room on Downey Street. Looking out at the lights of San Francisco from the top of Market Street with Charlie. Swimming in the canyon with John. Seeing a "blender in the sky" with Barbara. Cutting Nance's hair in college. Holding Jeremy and Aidan on the day they were born. The trip to Hawaii with On Q.. every minute.

Now the memories are starting to flow. There are so many. I could hold back that soul-sucker anytime.

Leah Brooks at 11:20 AM

Tuesday, June 15, 2004

Cats and dogs

Rudy, the cat, lives in our front yard. He lounges under the mexican sage bush by our window, listening carefully for any motion that might indicate it's time for his cat food to appear on the porch. When he hears me in the bedroom, he calls out and rolls around seductively on the yard. When we take Lola for a walk, he stands on the wall of the yard and meows us to "come back real soon".

On our way back, he'll parade, tail up, towards us along the wall, then pounce down on the inside and roll around for us to admire his white belly. Lola, despite her love of catspotting on her walks, is nearly oblivious to his calls. She will occasionally put her front paws on the wall to see what's going on, and last night, Rudy walked up to her, nearly nose to nose. Lola didn't react at all, and even backed off.

We'd like to think that they could share space inside the house, when the cold weather comes again. We've seen Lola grab birds and balls and give them murderous shakes, and it makes us cautious. But Rudy is even more cautious than we are, and knows how to hide in the closet and behind the tv. And now that they have faced each other over the wall of the yard, and not blinked, we can renew our hope for cat & dog co-habitation.
Leah Brooks at 9:29 AM

Monday, June 14, 2004

Summer movies

Amid all the other summer activities, we've been staring at the big screen and during the past week, we saw:
Bruce Almighty
The Cooler (on pay per view)
Harry Potter & the Prisoner of whatever
Aimee and Jaguar
The Stepford Wives

I think of all of them, I enjoyed the last best. Harry Potter's new director made it more realistic, but since the book is a fantasy, I found that I preferred the stylish fantasy look of the others over this gritty feel. And why don't the kids have to wear their robes at wizard school anymore? what's with that? Jeans and sweaters while training to read tea leaves and make incantations? It just doesn't scan. But The Stepford Wives made me laugh out loud - it was a fun update of the story.

Leah Brooks at 9:08 AM

Wednesday, June 09, 2004

Venus

My brother Bob talks about Sousa's tribute to the Transit of Venus that occurred during his lifetime. Here, I'll post the mp3, for your listening pleasure.

Why? It's all those years of marching band! Can't you just see the formations that the band playing this would attempt? Can you remember how to turn on a dime while marching, in order to get those lines at a right angle?
Leah Brooks at 2:12 PM

Thursday, June 03, 2004

Crazy busy

Work these days has been relentless - so many projects, backing up against one another. The break that we had with the 3-day memorial day weekend is already a distant memory.

Now that it's June, we can start to anticipate our upcoming vacation in NYC at the end of the month. Barb is attending the National Gay/Lesbian Journalists convention, and I'm tagging along. We are hoping to see a show or two. The last time we were in NY, we got stuck in a blizzard - I'm sure the weather should be better this time around!

Our quartet will be launching our new website soon.. watch this space.


Leah Brooks at 3:06 PM