Live From PA
Yesterday Kai, my mom and I took the bus from New York to PA. It was a lovely bus ride, about an hour through the seemingly unending highways of New Jersey and finally through the mountains of PA to the Deleware Water Gap. Kai grew excited when he realized he was leaving the city behind, "You didn't tell me where we were going would be a lot of nature!" So he is happy and very much in his element. Before we fell asleep last night he asked, "Mommy, which one do you like better, PA or New York?" I turned the question around so as to not influence his answer and he answered PA. "There too many people and buildings and stores in New York." Ha!
I started talking about Glen Thompson in my last entry. Glen was a kid traveling back from London and found out that John Berger was on the same airplane as he was. John Berger has written many amazing books, one of them, and one of my favorites is "Ways of Seeing" which talks about the pyschology of how we view things especially in the art world. Very seminal work, especially in this age of media and the omnipotent image. So anyway, by the end of this plan trip, he managed to talk this dude into letting Glen publish one of his books--and that was the beginning of Glen's publishing venture which included Harlem River Press, Readers and Writers, Black Butterfly Press to name a few. I worked a bit with Glen as well, editing and copyediting and he and Marie went way back.
Back then, I was surrounded by so many people who I admired, wanted to emulate. I was also surrounded by people just like me: quirky black artists. It was affirming and inspiring and the thing I miss the most in Copenhagen. BUT, there are other things that I am learning and that is life: new challenges. I look back at my apprenticeship at Marie's and am dumbfounded at how lucky we ALL were and continue to be to have her.
PA is cool. I'll sign off now. I'm way nicer when I have written for the day, so I'll try to be a bit more regular even while I'm here. I'll be back in New York in a few days.
Adeiu
the lab!!!
I started talking about Glen Thompson in my last entry. Glen was a kid traveling back from London and found out that John Berger was on the same airplane as he was. John Berger has written many amazing books, one of them, and one of my favorites is "Ways of Seeing" which talks about the pyschology of how we view things especially in the art world. Very seminal work, especially in this age of media and the omnipotent image. So anyway, by the end of this plan trip, he managed to talk this dude into letting Glen publish one of his books--and that was the beginning of Glen's publishing venture which included Harlem River Press, Readers and Writers, Black Butterfly Press to name a few. I worked a bit with Glen as well, editing and copyediting and he and Marie went way back.
Back then, I was surrounded by so many people who I admired, wanted to emulate. I was also surrounded by people just like me: quirky black artists. It was affirming and inspiring and the thing I miss the most in Copenhagen. BUT, there are other things that I am learning and that is life: new challenges. I look back at my apprenticeship at Marie's and am dumbfounded at how lucky we ALL were and continue to be to have her.
PA is cool. I'll sign off now. I'm way nicer when I have written for the day, so I'll try to be a bit more regular even while I'm here. I'll be back in New York in a few days.
Adeiu
the lab!!!
