blackgirl on mars: notes on a life in copenhagen (or how my alienation brings me closer to people).

There is something in the spontaneity of letting someone into your life with whom there is an interest: A magic that demands truth. This moment is a ritual, this moment is to break dawn... In Trinidad, to break, is to ejaculate, but to break dawn does not necessitate sex. All that is required is that the new born Sun sheds its light on you and your companion. It is a baptism, a gift, of yet another day of life made even more wondrous by the fact that you are in the company of someone you dig.

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Pigeons are peculiar birds... Some tumble... they fly high into the air and tumble backwards... they are known to have existed in India before the year 1590... they are known to tumble from side to side or roll backward in flight... many say it is a survival technique... basically, they fly high into the sky and tumble all the way down: BUT just before hitting the ground, they miraculously swoop up, into the air: narrowly escaping death. But the problem with the tumbler pigeon is this: If you breed two tumblers the offspring lacks this last but all important reflex-- Instead of gracefully escaping its demise inches away from the ground, they come crashing down only to tragically die. And this is why, I guess, I always will be afraid of loving You.

"There is a civil contract implied by photographs. An Israeli writer, Ariella Azoulay, published a book making that point. Henri Cartier-Bresson made it too. He described shooting pictures of people as a “sort of violation,” adding, “if sensitivity is lacking, there can be something barbaric about it.” There can be, of course, and not just when the subject doesn’t like the image." --MICHAEL KIMMELMAN, New York Times, June 3, 2009