Brief Interruption
We interrupt this edition of Animal Planet to bring you some art:



Now that I'm back, here is my Daily Lake. I was out early enough that there was still morning color to the east, but a squall over the lake was obscuring it. The clouds are a bit too dark, but I'm about out of my lighter colors, though the too-white splotches in the sky are a combination of jpeg compression and, well, too-white splotches. Maybe I'll try to fix. Must go shopping soon, or else find a different project, though this is fun.

Still to come on Animal Planet: a dog eating a deer.

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:13 PM | | | Link |

 
Poultry Blogging
Yes, roosters, and hens too.



They are very strange, sad chickens, some of them mutants with only one eye. I remember collecting eggs from a well-managed family chicken farm when I was a child, and these are not happy chickens. They need warmth and clean straw. More to the point, they probably don't need the big dogs tied up mere inches from their nests. Wouldn't think it was conducive to laying eggs, but what do I know?

And here are some geese and/or ducks. I'm not good with this.



Usually they play follow-the-leader as they march toward the house demanding grain, but here they're a little disorganized. They remind me of how we democrats are acting these days.


- posted by Cynthia @ 2:10 PM | | | Link |

 
Waves of Love To Greet El Presidente
Ottawa, Halifax on lockdown in preparation for Bush visit

Marine 1, the U.S. presidential helicopter, is already in Ottawa, and a no-fly zone will likely be established over the capital. Sharpshooters are expected to be posted on the roofs of buildings. And squads of riot police will be waiting out of sight, to be called into action should events exceed the control of uniformed officers patrolling the streets.
...
The President will travel in his own limousine -- brought from the United States so he can tour in comfort and high-tech safety. The RCMP would not confirm that another vehicle in the entourage has the James-Bond-style capability of shooting down incoming airborne weapons.
...
The walk between Mr. Bush's limousine and the door of each venue is expected to be covered by a tent to prevent potential snipers from obtaining a clear view of their target. And people who live near the museum will be required to carry identification to prove they belong there.

However, protests in Halifax will be allowed, and protesters apparently will not immediately be shot on sight.

A peaceful protest is planned and as many as 5,000 are expected as several dozen church, student and human-rights groups will march as the Halifax Peace Coalition. Participants will wear black armbands and hold a minute of silence to mourn civilians killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.

El Presidente, however, will be blindfolded so he will not be subjected to seeing those who disagree with him.

More than 70 journalists are supposedly travelling with El Presidente, but I'm sure most of them will file pretty much the same story:

The Leader is Great, The Leader is Good.

Good morning, my friends. I hope you have been enjoying the pets and meat from the last few days. Still have the poultrey group to get through, and then dogs and deer, and we'll be done.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:37 AM | | | Link |

 
Bunny Blogging Tuesday
Here's the angora bunny I spoke of. He is not wearing a sweater. He is a sweater.



And your ordinary, normal white rabbit. Her name is Bo Peep and she is not little at all.



On Sunday before church, the family got up early (they seem to enjoy 4:30 a great deal) and drove to a monthly animal swap and wanted to take me along, but I haven't seen 4:30 am since my drinking days, so remained welded to my bed. It wasn't very good, they reported back, only a few rabbits and goats. ("Pets or meat.") The family brought back a brown rabbit. "If he doesn't breed, he's stew," was the pronouncement.

Next up: chicken blogging.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:16 AM | | | Link |

 
I'm Back
...home, that is. More pictures etc. later. And will try to get back to normal real soon. Am sure Bush has been doing all kinds of stuff we should be paying attention to, regardless of whether we're stuffed and bloated, lying on couches or being trampled by shoppers at the mall.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:39 PM | | | Link |

 
Cat and Dogs Blogging
This about says it all:



It also apparently describes the scene at Wal-Mart this morning about 5:00. People were allowed to put their hands on the pallets holding the tvs and dvd-players of their dreams, but couldn't actually cut through the plastic strapping material until the signal was given. And then all hell broke loose. At the other end of the sale, burly guards stood in the line to mark the "end" of the sale line, and many hard feelings ensued, not just verbal.

All this while I peacefully slept.

Tomorrow we have all decided we need to get some exercise, so hope to have some interesting pictures. Spent another day digesting and watching all 3 versions of "Freaky Friday" while lying bloated on the couch, so didn't get snaps of the chickens etc. So no chicken blogging until tomorrow. I realize this is a disappointment, but there you go.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:01 PM | | | Link |

 
Dog Blogging Friday
We start the day with Dog Blogging, to be followed by Cat and Dog Blogging, Cat Blogging, then Bunny Blogging, Chicken Blogging, etc.



Much of family woke at 4:30 to get to Wal-Mart so they could stand in line for the sale. I decided I'd rather be shot repeatedly and dragged through the town before I'd allow myself to be sucked into the madness, even for the chance of a few snarky photos, so, wrapped in my citi-fied superiority, I remained in bed even as they squabbled over who would get the last cup of coffee, since there wasn't enough time to make another pot.

Have now emerged. I fear that they have been trampled. I have no idea what to feed the animals or when. Rooster is crowing madly, and dogs snarling at something, possibly each other. There's a dead deer out back somewhere that one of the big dogs has been working on. I can smell it. Missing my Starbucks and Lake, I remain.... in exile, yours truly.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:15 AM | | | Link |

 
Cynical Admits Being Thankful For Something
Family with many boys and shrieking 3.5 year old blonde Supreme Court Justice-to-be have finished tormenting the dogs and bunnies as grownups finish the pie and everyone else is huddling around the tv watching Kindergarten Cop for about the 15th time.

Let me just undo the top button on the pants a little. Ah... that's better. I hope if you're American you've had a pleasant Thanksgiving Day, and all you others, you're on your own. Here's mine:



I am so lucky.

I was wrong about young Emperor George. I forgot, he doesn't have to worry about getting elected again for a few more years, until they change the constitution, so he could stay home and eat leftovers:

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - President Bush spent a down-to-earth Thanksgiving Day at his ranch eating leftovers and riding his mountain bike - a world away from Baghdad, his secret destination a year ago.
Bush also called members of the military stationed around the world, most of them deployed to the Middle East[ed. odd way of wording it].

Yes, finally thankful. For family, friends, e-friends, and blogger buddies the world over. And thanks to you all too, for visiting and putting up with my rants and artwork.

Tomorrow I promise will be both cat and dog blogging Friday. And maybe duck, geese, bunnies, and birds, too. For knitter friends, the bunnies are the kind you can have sit in your lap as you comb their hair and spin it. I may fashion a hand spindle and see what I can come up with (I learned how to do this back in college).

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:20 PM | | | Link |

 
Not Giving Thanks Quite Yet
... but soon.

Ok, I give thanks that I arrived at my undisclosed location in one piece, despite the weather, and what appeared to be a monsoon blowing across Route 57 as my little Saturn and I tooled along, knuckles white, lips bloody from being bitten, and eyes bugged out as I was boxed in by a convoy of trucks and SUVs thinking that if they just drove faster, they'd get out of the storm quicker.

Now the smoke detector has gone off twice as pies are being baked and cranberries are boiling over. It wouldn't be Thanksgiving without at least one scare.

I am perched with computer on the edge of a chair, since the phone line only stretches so far, so this will be brief. I suppose news is occuring out there, and perhaps Bush will parachute into Fallujah, where bin Laden is no doubt hiding, and wrastle him to the ground all by himself, then hogtie him and haul him home to Crawford, assuring a new constitutional amendment allowing more terms if your name is Bush.

Yes, still bitter.

But the holiday has started well, with family and 3 dogs, many, many chickens, ducks and geese, etc. The bunnies have been groomed. Perhaps I will show you some pictures later, but it's dark now, and I believe the venison is ready.

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:15 PM | | | Link |

 
Two Days Ago
Was about 4:00, and light coming from west illuminated the clouds slightly and made a few odd patterns on the water, but not as odd as the fingernail scraping you see on the right. Was my first day with actual light blue sky underneath the clouds, I didn't quite know how to proceed. This is only six inches tall, and craypas is better suited for bigger projects. So why am I doing it this way? Beats me.

Still seems a bit too bright for me, but I think it's partly how it scanned. Partly.



This is still a fascinating project for me (doing little oil pastel drawings from notebook color descriptions), though people looking for more of my award-winning* snarky political comments are out of luck.

And all you knitters, I know you despair for a soul lost. I will be starting something shortly, however, because it will be a long, cold winter if I don't. Socks, perhaps.





*not really
- posted by Cynthia @ 1:59 PM | | | Link |

 
I Am Not Inciting Anyone To Riot
... merely reporting the news.

Ukrainian Demonstrators Threaten to Storm Government

Nov. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Ukrainian presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko led more than 1 million protesters to parliament, threatening to storm government buildings unless lawmakers annul results that show he lost the election to the prime minister.

The parliament debated canceling official results that led to Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych's victory in Sunday's vote. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the U.S., the U.K. and Germany said the ballot counting was flawed as central Kiev was overrun by demonstrators in a sea of orange banners shouting Yushchenko's name.

I smile at the thought of our congress debating the annulment of Young George's triumphant attainment of the throne. After the election, we Democrats merely brought out our self-flagellating whips and let "morality" have its wicked way with us.

Good morning, friends. Hope to be doing a few art things, but Thanksgiving, as always, disrupts. I may end up eating two dinners on Thursday, neither one luckily I will have to cook, but will be within blogging distance, so have no fear.

(Pulling on orange armband). And now, to launder.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:25 AM | | | Link |

 
Game Is Afoot
Painter Debi Rice writes that she took my landscape description (below) and using only those words came up with the following painting:



She has a website here.

I am utterly blown away. I burst into tears when I saw it.

Anyone else want to join the game? Debi is going to come up with a list of words for me to paint from, so we'll see whether I can take it, as well as dish it out.

Situation still fluid...

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:59 AM | | | Link |

 
All Hail Caesar!
Colombia Deploys 15,000 Troops for Bush Visit

About 15,000 Colombian security forces - backed by warplanes, helicopters, battleships and two submarines - will safeguard Bush's four-hour trip to discuss the nation's war on drugs. That is the same number of American troops deployed in the Fallujah offensive in Iraq.
...
The sale of alcoholic drinks will be banned for 24 hours and workers are being given Monday off - in part to pre-empt protests, since many employees and students live in surrounding villages and would face roadblocks and searches if they tried to enter.

Nevertheless, a handful of minor demonstrations were expected, but probably not all of them will directed against the United States, Fernandez said.
...
"I have been searched three times in the last two days," said Jorge Enrique Martinez, who sells ice cream on a bicycle cart. "I am not a guerrilla!"

Bush's own personal pork in the new spending bill is nothing in comparison:

A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold three decades ago, and its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 million and are distressed by the provision.

Is a pattern emerging?

Good evening, friends. Have had some delightfully artilicious experiences the last few days. Will be posting more later.


- posted by Cynthia @ 8:27 PM | | | Link |

 
Lake, Again
Here's the interpretation of the colors I noted below. Still in craypas, still about 6 inches tall. Imagine if I could paint big.



Tired. To bed.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:44 PM | | | Link |

 
Feral Turtlenecks
oh...ooops.

Fair Isle.

Sorry.

[tiptoeing back into the computer screen]

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:34 PM | | | Link |

 
The Lake, Again
Went out about noonish, in time to hear the roar from Northwestern/Illinois game at the stadium -- "Touchdown, Wildcats! Illinois, Nothing!" (announcer presses Wildcat scream button "Yeeeooowwwwooooaaarrrr"). The Cats play their last game in ..... Hawaii! Makes you want to go back to college again, doesn't it? They'd got rid of football at University of Buffalo where I went for undergrad through complete lack of interest (or maybe everyone was in Viet Nam), though I think it's back again. (Interesting concept -- when football disappears can war be far behind? Hmmmm... this isn't the NaNoWriMo blog, however.)

So was a little distracting, but the colors a little less subtle today than yesterday, no fog, one or two spits of drizzle.

Colors would make a good sweater, though without luminosity.

Mottled black white gray
Whiter
Gray
quite white, at an angle, sloping south
stripes alternating narrowly
creamy white/ violety gray
horizon hits here
dark blue gray
violetish gray
aqua, nearly teal
paler, aqua, yellower, with some umber beneath
more sienna toward beach
Current running from NW to SE, left shoulder to right hand
Pale ripple, bird runs along beach
windy, fewer leaves in dunes
tired gray/beige/flesh sand, no pink
grassy cad yellow, limp.

But no rain.

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:47 PM | | | Link |

 
A Turkey of a Bill
Negotiators Add Abortion Clause to Spending Bill

The abortion language would bar federal, state and local agencies from withholding taxpayer money from health care providers that refuse to provide or pay for abortions or refuse to offer abortion counseling or referrals....

The provision could affect millions of American women, according to Senator Barbara Boxer, Democrat of California, who warned Friday that she would use procedural tactics to slow Senate business to a crawl if the language was not altered.

"I am willing to stand on my feet and slow this thing down," Ms. Boxer said. "Everyone wants to go home, I know that, and I know I will not win a popularity contest in the Senate. But they should not be doing this. On a huge spending bill they're writing law, and they're taking away rights from women."

They think we're too busy shopping for Thanksgiving to notice this? You go, Dems. No surrender.

Good morning, friends. Another day of gray weather, though I suppose I better get used to it, since this is what it'll look like pretty much until late March.

No one seems to have wanted to play my landscape color game (see below), or perhaps I didn't make it very clear. Am just interested in whether everyone's idea of a color such as "fawn gray" is the same, so send me a link to your conception of it, or email me a .jpg color chip, or whatever. If you want my opinion on a color, just let me know, and I'll play it back to you.

And now I must call Mr. Durbin and Mr. Fitzgerald and let them know how I think this budget game sucks.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:27 AM | | | Link |

 
Yes, Even More Art
Those interested can continue with my Art Adventure here, or not.

Perhaps if I get a whole bunch of these done I'll stick them on a separate page like with the Kline project. I have ideas for expanding the whole idea (are we moving into our manic phase? Hmmm???).

Or not.

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:18 PM | | | Link |

 
It's Just Funny, Is All
Angry at Being Targeted by U.S. on Human Rights, Belarus Accuses U.S. of Abuses

The draft resolution expressed concern about numerous alleged violations, including limiting human rights under the pretext of fighting terrorism, blocking poor and minority voters in U.S. elections and attacking press freedom.

Dabkiuinas also cited the "regretful example" of the United States "arm-twisting" other countries to exempt Americans from possible prosecution for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, which President Bush's administration opposes.

"We believe that this resolution should send (a) strong and timely message to the government of the United States and encourage it in a positive and constructive way to take all necessary measures to improve the human rights situation in the country," Dabkiuinas said.

I realize that Bush could care less what the world thinks, but to have a former Soviet republic get feisty on George's behind is refreshing -- and disturbing. In the old days, people really did believe that the U.S. had a "moral voice" when speaking about human rights.

The pair of resolutions ended up withdrawn, ending a possible lively debate about what constitutes human rights and a whole bunch of score-settling.

And a good morning to everyone out there on this gray and rainy Friday. May go out and look at the lake again, or maybe just draw. Have some images to unload upon you from the camera, and still have Part Three of my Purse series to finish.

Be back later.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:07 AM | | | Link |

 
A Little Art, For Once
Oh, all right. Here's a little (6 inches tall) craypas drawing I did based on a notebook entry of the colors at the lake.



Will work on more. This is part of the An Art A Day Challenge (a Yahoo group). This week is Conceptual Art. Everyone over there is coming up with great stuff. Also posting this to the Art by the Inch group (over at Livejournal). I am too tired to dig out and put in links right now, but you can always google them.

I am suggesting that people use my scheme and "color names" and come up with their own drawings (the conceptural part). I am not good at this stuff. Oh, all right... here's the Livejournal link to my original drawing:

"Conceptual Landscape"
- posted by Cynthia @ 10:46 PM | | | Link |

 
Faith-Based Reporting
Powell Says Iran Is Pursuing Bomb

SANTIAGO, Chile, Nov. 17 -- The United States has intelligence that Iran is working to adapt missiles to deliver a nuclear weapon, further evidence that the Islamic republic is determined to acquire a nuclear bomb, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said Wednesday.

Separately, an Iranian opposition exile group [ed. headed by Chalabi, perhaps?] charged in Paris that Iran is enriching uranium at a secret military facility unknown to U.N. weapons inspectors. [ed. well, tell them where it is and let them go and take a look.] Iran has denied seeking to build nuclear weapons.

Mohammad Mohaddessin, of the National Council for Resistance in Iran, uses satellite imagery to pinpoint what the group says is a previously unknown nuclear facility in Iran."I have seen some information that would suggest that they have been actively working on delivery systems. . . . You don't have a weapon until you put it in something that can deliver a weapon," Powell told reporters traveling with him to Chile for an Asia-Pacific economic summit.

Shit, they forgot the yellow-cake purchases from Niger. Damn.

And the world is supposed to believe this time, I guess.

Sounds like they think things have gone so well in Iraq that they're ready to take on the big dogs now. God help us. God protect us from these monsters.

The ones in Washington, I mean.

To clarify it a little more, I really mean the press. Have they learned their lesson? Probably not. We'll be so scared by the time the 2006 elections come along that we'll decide it isn't worth even having elections anymore.

Good evening, friends. As I said, things are not good, so have turned an eye again to art, where I'll be buried for the evening.

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:52 PM | | | Link |

 
More Car Talk
While cleaning off refrigerator recently, found this little note someone had attached to my windshield years and years ago when my car was young. I swear I never touched this guy's precious car, honestly. I merely parked next to it in a cramped parking garage.



I didn't sleep for many nights afterwards. No one ever contacted me. And my car cost $15,025, ya moron, not $10,000.

Good morning, friends. Gloomy and warm this morning, not a shred of good news, except perhaps unemployment claims dropped a trifle, though no one points out that in many places it was a short work week because of Veteran's Day.

I take that back. The Clinton Library opens today, Bill's pride and joy, and I wish I could be there to see it. Little Rock is a pretty place, if you ignore the town itself. I did some work for Alltel several years ago, and always wanted to go back and do a painting of the (I think) Arkansas river that runs behind their corporate headquarters.

A presidential timeline opens with Clinton's 1993 inaugural address and his dream for the nation: "There is nothing wrong with America that cannot be cured by what is right with America."

Just hope you're right, Mr. Last-Legitimate-President.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:42 AM | | | Link |

 
Back From Saturn
The dealership, you ninnies, not the planet.

Car started making a noise on the way back from Wausau, which at the time I thought to be crying for the loss of democracy in the United States, but turns out to be an expensive belt that needs replacement.

So have a loaner, a car I don't even dare drive, a GMC Safari, that doesn't fit in my garage, or even in my short driveway, so its ass is sort of hanging half in the driveway and the other half in my back yard. It was apparently the only car they had left in the lot, and I was told that if I needed to keep it another day they'll swap it out. What, for a Hummer, or maybe a Chevy Suburban, a vehicle I thought was the largest on the planet.

Just driving it the 5 miles or so back from the car place I was aware how incredibly ugly it was. I started feeling like a Republican, perched high above even the clueless soccer moms in lesser SUVs. I could practically see the fuel gauge sucking up oil directly from the American drain that is the Middle East. I was repulsed, with extreme prejudice.

But am thinking maybe it isn't too late to go to the lumber yard and get some long boards, or see if I can get a couple of paintings that are too big for the car to the photographer.

Then I think, no. Nothing's going to put me back in that thing.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:57 PM | | | Link |

 
New Terrorism Threat
Insurgent Deer Gets Past O'Hare Security

The deer's head could be seen peeking through a window.

The young buck avoided security by tripping automatic doors typically used for deliveries. The Department of Aviation said the deer was looking for shelter after being injured on the road.

Thank goodness we're not in Iraq, otherwise a few hundred insurgent passengers might have been taken out in the mission too.



Good morning, my friends. Yes, I know this story probably ranks as the most emailed story this morning, so I invite you to click on the little thing that doesn't look much like an envelope below and email it now, if you haven't already.

Having recently picked up and dropped off someone at the airport, I can assure you that nothing natural that might attract even a badly injured deer can be found within several miles of the place, so I can only assume he either fell off the top of a deerhunter's SUV, or else someone was extremely inattentive as they drove in from the suburbs.

And this is the last time I will use the word "insurgent," since I find it odious. I prefer to call these massacred innocents what they are -- dead and dying men, women, and children.

Read Riverbend, follow the links, and think about "values", will you?

"He's dead now." He said it calmly, matter-of-factly, in a sort of sing-song voice that made my blood run cold… and the Marines around him didn't care. They just roamed around the mosque and began to drag around the corpses because, apparently, this was nothing to them. This was probably a commonplace incident.

We sat, horrified, stunned with the horror of the scene that unfolded in front of our eyes. It's the third day of Eid and we were finally able to gather as a family- a cousin, his wife and their two daughters, two aunts, and an elderly uncle. E. and my cousin had been standing in line for two days to get fuel so we could go visit the elderly uncle on the final day of a very desolate Eid. The room was silent at the end of the scene, with only the voice of the news anchor and the sobs of my aunt. My little cousin flinched and dropped her spoon, face frozen with shock, eyes wide with disbelief, glued to the television screen, "Is he dead? Did they kill him?" I swallowed hard, trying to gulp away the lump lodged in my throat and watched as my cousin buried his face in his hands, ashamed to look at his daughter.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:25 AM | | | Link |

 
Cleaning Out the Purse, Part Two
A show called "Imaginary Landscapes" at Melanee Cooper in River North perked my ears and got my nose twitching even before I found the insanely perfect parking place right across the street, and was looking forward to wildly imaginative leaps in paint or sensual ramblings down historical or personal narrative roads. Instead, I find the immensely decorative and lovely Cheryl Warrick and the truly awful Laura Bowman.

Bowman's work is slick and witless, of the school that if one overly finished painting of a burnt umber landscape with burnt umber trees in a yellowish ochre sky is good, then 30 paintings is even better. They offend no one, and would look good in any motel chain's lobby. And so enough said.

Cheryl Warrick's work is good, beautifully executed works on paper where squares of flowers, landscapes, pieces of text and wallpaper, childishly drawn "house" figures, and miscellaneous design elements are put together in quilt-like assemblages. As I say, lovely to look at and admire, utterly pleasant. I shouldn't rail at them because they're something I'd love to hang in my kitchen, or maybe my bathroom, where I'd look at them every day and enjoy it. Perhaps this just says something about where I think art isn't these days. Maybe I just want to see some backbone, something beyond the decorative.

Maybe I'm saying something about what is lacking in my own work, hmmmm???

Anyway, the show is up through Dec. 31.

Moving right along, to a collection that has if not backbone, then fists. Warning, epileptics and those with op-art phobias need not look at the Zg Gallery's showing of Molly Briggs' hot pink tree paintings, so intense they practically eat you alive. Briggs opens your head, sticks in her hands, and plays with your brain in these paintings. Most seem to be patterns of trees and branches silhouetted against other trees and branches, silhouetted against others, in shades of cream and gray painted on wood, so that the colors bounce against each other and literally move in front of you. And they're gorgeous, too.

I don't know whether it's good art, but holy cow, is it fun to look at. The card says the show ended Nov. 13, but maybe they have a few around. They will clear your sinuses. This is an artist to watch, and I usually don't like stuff like this.

Finally, a very classic show at Ann Nathan (ending about now, though she usually has a lot of this artist's work around, since he's from Berlin), Ruprecht von Kaufmann's paintings in a show called "Soul Siberia." His last show at the gallery, 2 years ago, featured strange people underwater, subways, swimming pools, sometimes murky paintings. His painting has much improved since then (and they weren't bad, don't get me wrong). He has just aged a great deal, since he's now 30 and has opened his field of vision quite beautifully to go along with his fine draftsmanship. Each work displayed is a diptych, an individual struggling against something on the left, perhaps, and a related expanse of emptiness, sky or water perhaps, on the right. Diptychs are always interesting, since the whole point is to entice a dialog between the two pieces, a comparison, without any particular resolution.

Anyway, I like them, more than his previous work. A few studies and drawings are also thrown in, which I like too.

Back in a bit with Part Three, and then I'll stuff everything back in the purse just in time to check out the next set of shows.


- posted by Cynthia @ 6:03 PM | | | Link |

 
You Don't Have to Just Give Money
Though I'm sure they'd prefer it... the only emails I've received lately are to cough up more dough for the Louisiana races. I had to hunt around to find alternative activities.

Democratic Action Center :: Road Trip for a New Majority

Three straight Democratic victories in Kentucky, South Dakota and North Carolina! Taking back Republican seats in New York and Georgia! How? By enrolling thousands of volunteers and activists to gather in battleground Congressional Districts to knock on the doors, make the phone calls and get our voters out to the polls. This December it must happen again for the Campaign for a New Majority to be successful in its efforts in Louisiana.

And we thought the election was over. Never, if you live in Louisiana.

I have no idea whether these links are genuinely active, but we all know that our recent experience tells us that person-to-person activism works best of all.

If anyone out there knows of phonebanking opportunities for these races, please drop a line. The opportunity to add to our Democratic wins should be getting national attention. I realize that all these DNC, DCCC, ACT, etc. organizations are licking wounds, firing people, updating resumes, etc., but there are still a few races undecided. Someone give me a call list and I'll start calling, for crying out loud! This is something a lot of us can now do in our sleep! Links:

Willie Mount (LA-7)
Charlie Melancon (LA-3)

- posted by Cynthia @ 1:42 PM | | | Link |

 
Pinko Pagans Purged From Ultra-Liberal Spy Agency
CIA purge may be in the works

"The agency is being purged on instructions from the White House," said a former senior CIA official who maintains close ties to the agency and to the White House. "Goss was given instructions ... to get rid of those soft leakers and liberal Democrats. The CIA is looked on by the White House as a hotbed of liberals and people who have been obstructing the president's agenda."

I realize this is perhaps the most quoted passage since Bob Jones called us all pagans (see below somewhere), but I wanted to copy it myself, just in case I read it wrong. Very reminiscent of the State Department scandal that culminated in the last gasp of know-nothing conservative panic known as McCarthyism. Are we there yet? Have we surpassed even the dreams of those Red-hunting hordes?

I believe so. I have never prided myself on my reality-based skills, but if your typical CIA operative is a pinko liberal, then I am Jennifer Garner (from Alias, that nest of liberal-leaning CIA operatives who just won't get with the program. I realize I watch too much TV.).

Shrubbie is still taking it out on Joe Wilson's wife, I'm afraid.

Good evening, friends. And Colin Powell is resigning too, along with just about everyone else. I don't freaking care, since they are playing into my hands. By purging all "moderates" (though Powell was merely weak), or those who after 4 years had kinda figured out how to do their jobs (like Paige, though I don't like him), they will shortly begin making mistakes of such apocalyptic grandeur that even the pundits will be silenced and the Democrats will waltz into office in two years.

So, citizens of the world, I am sorry. Really. We aren't all like this, and 50 percent of us did our best, and even 78 percent of us aren't these "moral values" types who believe torture is just good Christian high spirits.

Back later.
- posted by Cynthia @ 5:05 PM | | | Link |

 
Jinx Watches TV
6 minutes left in the Green Bay-Minnesota game, just tuned in. Let's see if I can make Green Bay lose, just by tuning in, since I'd prefer that they win. (Not just because I'm still fond of the Wisconsians).

Let's just test this thing.

UPDATE:

In-freaking-credible. I tune in and Minnesota immediately scores 14 points. And now there's a fumble. Someone should hire me, I'm so powerful. I am reminded of the man I canvassed in Milwaukee who wouldn't take a Kerry sign for his yard because whenever he puts a sign up his candidate loses. He was powerful, too, though only on a statewide level.

Minute to go. Let's see what happens now.

UPDATE:

Well. I am so sorry Minnesota fans, especially those who might have put down some money on my jinx abilities. I am so surprised that Green Bay made the field goal with 3 seconds to go.

Needless to say, if it were the Chicago Bears, they wouldn't have. Though they don't need me to watch to miss stuff.

Ok, back to art and politics real soon.

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:08 PM | | | Link |

 
Cleaning Out the Purse, Part One
One of the small pleasures of life is to come home from a jaunt to the galleries and empty your purse of all the cards and price lists you picked up, straighten them out, and put them in a pile. For those of you without purses, I am sorry if you cannot connect to this feeling.

On Friday I dragged self and visitor down to Chicago and pretty much hit most of River North and West Loop Gate, then relaxed at Orchestra Hall with a soothing bout of Shostakovich (more later).

The most deliciously interesting of the bunch we saw was a selection of gouache landscapes by Martyl at Printworks, up through December 31. Though well into her 80s, she creates work with more energy and structural interest than most painters a half-century younger. Many of her paintings have an old-timey John Marinish quality, with a touch of Milton Avery and Cezanne. Then you realize that she was a mature painter at the same time they were (not Cezanne, obviously).

Three I particularly liked -- "Zen Garden," with globs of snow and shadow, and "Peony Garden," where light rakes quickly across greenery and garden, pulling shadows through time. And "Fall Diptych," was interesting in that it was hung low in a corner, one panel on either side, providing an unexpected intimacy to the piece.

The Printworks space is very small, but it remains one of my very very favorite places. Much of the show has already sold, so get 'em while they're hot. Needless to say, Martyl deserves a museum retrospective. I have run into her occasionally at benefits and the like. It's good to know she's still doing good work.

From painting we move up in the elevator to strange sculpture, Richard Wetzel at Sonia Zaks (no link available). I can't find much about this artist online. In this show, what initially look like black branches hung against the wall or lying on a table up close have small hooves, claws, or fingernails at each end. Their arrangement, and the shadows they cast, are truly frightening. A series of "whips" hanging against the wall, the postcard piece, is called "Gimme Back My Bullets." Oh.... ok... no problemo...

Crossing the street, along the same lines, we find Margaret Evangeline shooting bullets into sheets of alumnium at Byron Roche . Though the show will be down by now, Byron plans to keep one of the large wall-size pieces up for awhile. It is very shiny and reflective, reflecting your own image with bullet holes. Not pleasant. He has been into metallic surfaces for awhile now, a subject I've been unable to cozy up to, unfortunately, though it's always a pleasure to visit the gallery and talk with him.

That's it for this blogging. I must continue to sort my thoughts about a few other galleries in River North before taking us on a cab ride across the expressway to West Loop Gate.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:21 AM | | | Link |

 
Notes From the Dark Side
Doesn't Feel Like a Reprieve, However...

"In your re-election, God has graciously granted America - though she doesn't deserve it - a reprieve from the agenda of paganism," Jones wrote Bush in a congratulatory letter posted on the university's Web site.

"You have been given a mandate. ... Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ," said the letter, dated Nov. 3.

And you despise my Christ, so I guess we're even. This from Bob Jones University president.

And a final word for Bill Frist: Fuck you. (I'm sorry. I don't usually swear)

WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist on Thursday urged Democrats to stop blocking President Bush's federal court nominees and hinted that he may try to change Senate rules to thwart their delaying tactics.

"One way or another, the filibuster of judicial nominees must end," Frist, R-Tenn., said in a speech to the Federalist Society, a conservative legal group.

Am feeling feisty after spending the evening at our final "Chicagoland For Kerry" meetup. No tears, just a lot of good feeling, pats on the back, and a sense that we did good things in Wisconsin, our adopted state, and in other states where we phonebanked to. And quick rundown of new projects in the works, media activities, signup sheets circulating -- activism isn't dead, my friends. Not at all.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:28 PM | | | Link |

 
Terror Chain Yanked Down, So It Can Be More Easily Yanked Up Again
Financial Institutions In Blue States Marked With X For Easy Targetting by Terrorists

Shall we list those buildings that are now cleansed of their orange status and perhaps provide the addresses and hours when security guards aren't looking? And aren't we glad to hear this?

Deputy Homeland Security Secretary James Loy said Wednesday that the decision to lower the threat level had nothing to with President Bush's victory in last week's presidential election.

"We don't do politics here at this department," he said. [ed. insert laughter here] "The hardening of the buildings that has occurred has now been accomplished. We are able to do this now."

I imagine that if Kerry had been elected, the level would have been raised, because, as we all know, the terrorists wanted Kerry to win.

Sad day for many in the world with the passing of Yassir Arafat, one of the last fighters of his generation. Here's hoping the new generation of leaders (on both sides) can find a way to peace and a reality-based solution.

And they're feeding us a lot of crap about what's happening in Fallujah, as other cities are falling right and left.

I have much stuff to do today, but will check back, and am determined to find a piece of good news as well. Anyone with a Democratic success story, please let me know. Will finally be doing some gallery hopping tomorrow with friend, and will try to be alert and take notes. Dying to see some of the new shows.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:51 AM | | | Link |

 
They Show Their True Colors
Hard right awarded key roles in Capitol

Sen. Dale Schultz, the moderate Republican who was elected Senate majority leader in an upset Tuesday, quickly awarded three key appointments to champions of the hard right.

I can't stop worrying about the people of Wisconsin. Their state legislature is split 19-14 in favor of the right wing.

However, their Democratic members have come out swinging, taking immediate ownership of "values" right out from underneath them.

"We're going to focus on values," said [Dem. Judy Robson of Beloit], listing a living wage, good schools, good health care, and enough food for children as some of the "family values" the Senate Democrats will push.

Gov. Jim Doyle [ed. Democrat] has advanced increases in the state's minimum wage, but Republican lawmakers have stalled the legislation.

Yeah, baby!

I have a friend visiting for a few days, so posting will be light. Was a glorious day today, warm, no rain, and good conversation with someone I haven't seen in far too long.

So will make the rounds and maybe be back a little later, or not.

- posted by Cynthia @ 5:48 PM | | | Link |

 
Latest Rising Star
PJStar.com - Journal Star News

CHICAGO - A former Cook County prosecutor was chosen Saturday to fill the state Senate spot vacated by U.S. Sen.-elect Barack Obama.

Kwame Raoul, 40, was sworn in after Democratic committeemen interviewed seven candidates to represent the 13th District on Chicago's South Side.

"I look forward to rolling up my sleeves and starting immediately," said Raoul, who currently serves as an attorney with the City Colleges of Chicago. Officials had been pressed to choose Obama's replacement quickly because the General Assembly's fall veto session starts Monday.

This is good. No muss, no fuss, no hard feelings, and a new star rises from the community, though the Hyde Park-Kenwood CC grumbles a little about not having any input.

And the State Senate wished Obama a fond goodbye as Barack poked fun at his fame. Speaking of his book, he said

When it went on the New York Times bestseller list this year, he said, "I was feeling pretty good about that, until I looked on the hardcover list, and the one that was shooting up the fastest was Jenna Jameson's 'How to Make Love Like a Porn Star: (A Cautionary Tale),' which gave you some sense of the degree to which celebrity and worthiness don't always go hand in hand in this culture."

For a moment I thought he'd written a new one, and I got a hot flash. You all know how I feel about this man.

Don't forget, he'll be having a few town meetings this week and onward. This is good. He needs to see for himself what's what in the less-democratic-ridden areas of the state.

- posted by Cynthia @ 3:57 PM | | | Link |

 
Sad Morning
A friend came up with a novel idea today -- the reason why Bush doesn't care about the the future is that the Rapture is nearly upon us, and so who cares about the deficit? We can spend and spend and spend because there will be no consequences. We don't need Social Security, or health care, because we'll all be in heaven, or elsewhere. And a righteous fire will sweep the land, cleansing the environment with God's Will.

Be afraid of this man. And this one, too.

Does anyone know why they're slaughtering people in Fallujah? Who are these "insurgents" anyway? I don't believe anything they tell us. The only thing that talks is the dead, by their absence, and they're talking louder and louder each day.

I'm so afraid people will stop paying attention, through sheer exhaustion, now that Bush has "won." He's out there today with Laura doing his "pastoral" duties at some hospital, spending 15 minutes with soldiers at Walter Reed. Has it happened yet? All I can find so far is news of the visit tacked on to talk about Card staying on as Chief of Staff. You'd think the first visit the man has made to a wounded soldier since MARCH would get more press.

But we don't like to think about 100,000 or more Iraqis slaughtered, more than 1,100 of our own dead, 8,000 wounded. And we don't want to know what wounded means.

Good afternoon, friends. Sorry to be so sad, but perhaps it's one of those stages of grief I just have to get through. Be back later, I promise.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:45 AM | | | Link |

 
Bingo
Voting Without the Facts

What the Democratic Party needs above all is a clear message and a bold and compelling candidate. The message has to convince Americans that they would be better off following a progressive Democratic vision of the future. The candidate has to be a person of integrity capable of earning the respect and the affection of the American people.

This is doable. Al Gore and John Kerry were less than sparkling candidates, and both came within a hair of defeating Mr. Bush.

What the Democrats don't need is a candidate who is willing to shape his or her values to fit the pundits' probably incorrect analysis of the last election. Values that pivot on a dime were not really values to begin with.

So sayeth the voice of reason, Bob Herbert, who should consider running for office himself.

Talked with my mother last night, a to-the-core Yankee born in Maine now exiled in the south, who is literally frightened of her future and that of her grandchildren. "I don't see where what people do in their bedrooms concerns anyone," she says. "I don't see where what a woman and her doctor talk about is anyone's business," she says. "And why did they approve Vioxx, make us rely on it, and now say it's been killing us all this time?"

But she adds that I'm the only one she can say these things to. She's in the south, after all. (I count the southern tip of Illinois the deep south).

Herbert's piece also touches on ignorance. Thank God we won't be Leaving Children Behind come this new administration, though perhaps they'll only fund creationist agendas. Hey, Wisconsin! Do I have to come up and talk to you again?

GRANTSBURG, Wis. -- The city's school board has revised its science curriculum to allow the teaching of creationism, prompting an outcry from more than 300 educators who urged that the decision be reversed.

School board members said they thought a state law governing the teaching of evolution was too restrictive. The science curriculum ''should not be totally inclusive of just one scientific theory [ed. hmmm. I was unaware creationism was scientific],'' said Joni Burgin, superintendent of the district of 1,000 students in northwest Wisconsin.

I have a theory that the universe was invented by a gay woman following an abortion. How about teaching my theory?

Good morning, people. I will get to art very soon now, but I'm afraid you'll have to put up with 4 more years of political snarkiness too.

- posted by Cynthia @ 10:06 AM | | | Link |

 
Patrick Dougherty in Wausau, WI
First, the pictures, in the order of discovery (click on each thumbnail to expand):




I wrote about my trip to the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum back here. You can read more about this piece at his website here, including a day-by-day description of its creation.

They've redone the Evanston Art Center site recently, so the pictures of the wonderful installation there have disappeared. I did a bunch of gesture drawings of his work when it was up. Maybe I'll try to find them.

But go see his work wherever it may be.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:57 AM | | | Link |

 
Good News For the Nation
Durbin Set to Become Second-Ranked Senate Democrat

Durbin, speaking to reporters from his Chicago office, said that with fewer Senate Democrats after setbacks in the election, "we have to be good, we have to be unified, we have to pick our battles and we have to look for common ground with the administration when we can find it."

Durbin's ascendancy to the whip post became definite earlier Friday when Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Durbin's most likely opponent, announced that he had accepted an invitation from Reid to stay in his current leadership position, as chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee.

Good evening, friends. And you thought now that I'm back from Wisconsin I'd be cowering and whimpering in a corner, numb from depression. Far from it. I've rolled up my sleeves and will blog it out to the end. I didn't canvass my hiney to minisucle proportions to lose so easily.

Dick Durbin is respected in Illinois and Washington for his intelligence, integrity, wit, and ability to pick his fights. If there's a possibility for consensus with the repubs (other than with the 4 or 5 moderates left), he'll find it. I doubt he'll find it. But I'm certain he'll be able to line up the rest, and so perhaps we can hold the line for the next 2 years.

Especially if Alan Keyes decides to run again.

- posted by Cynthia @ 6:46 PM | | | Link |

 
The Last of the Wisconsians
Shaking the last of the bits out of my camera, I find a fitting conclusion to my stay in Wausau: Two (and a half) Americas:

Here's the first: this was also one of the first scenes we saw on arrival, since we got very lost in all the one way streets. I canvassed some of the streets around here (see my story of two women, below).



Here's the other America. Remember I told you Wausau had mountains, some of which I canvassed up and down? This America was just on the other side of the river from the other one, above. I thought the house was empty, but the woman living there caught me in her yard taking pictures. I believe she voted for Bush just to spite me.



And finally, here's the Half-America. Wisconsin loves its garden gnomes and other statues, such as deer. This fine bunch of fellows might have been in a poor person's yard, might have been in a richer person's yard. Might have been a Blue yard, might have been a Red yard. They keep their own counsel.



I caught a woman on her way to work her third shift in a row. "I'm so tired," she said. "I'm just too tired." "It'll only take a few minutes, up at the Elementary school." I pointed. "Do you really need my vote?" "Oh, yes!" "It's just that I'm so tired...."

One of the last houses I canvassed as the sun was going down and it became too dark to see had a number of Laotian people living in it, and as usual only one of the children had enough English to tell me who was home. I was so tired I had difficulty concentrating on what she was trying to say, and so just passed out some literature, where-to-vote info, and plodded off to the next house.

As I was coming back to the car, one of the women from the house interrupted what she had been doing in her yard and ran over to me with the literature. "You like?" she said? "Yes, John Kerry, a lot." "I go," she said. "I vote."

And a final shake of the cow bell for all of you. Maybe I'll see you again in 4 years.



- posted by Cynthia @ 11:37 AM | | | Link |

 
When It Rains It Pours
Elizabeth Edwards diagnosed with breast cancer

WASHINGTON - Elizabeth Edwards, wife of former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards, was diagnosed with breast cancer the day her husband and Sen. John Kerry conceded the presidential race.

Spokesman David Ginsberg said Elizabeth Edwards, 55, discovered a lump in her right breast while on a campaign trip last week. Her family doctor told her Friday that it appeared to be cancerous and advised her to see a specialist when she could.

She put off the appointment until Wednesday so as not to miss campaign time.

Take that, you red states. The woman has nearly killed herself for you.

To continue the Christmas analogy I ridiculously started a few bloggings ago, how many lumps of coal in this stocking are there?

Good late-afternoon friends. I apologize to my international readers (of which there are surprisingly many) for the depth of stupidity parts of my country showed by electing Bush and his cronies. I hope the damage he will be doing to this country stays in this country and he doesn't start in on yours.

Have modified some of the links to the side, and will be adding more as time progresses.

I am afraid that Barack Obama got it wrong. There really are red states and blue states, and I'm afraid there is no longer a true United States. This makes me incredibly sad.

- posted by Cynthia @ 4:45 PM | | | Link |

 
No Surrender
... yeah, right.

Greetings from the Peoples Republic of Illinois, the state that's black and white and red blue all over.

Or perhaps I should form a new nation called Minwisinois and declare myself emperor, kinda like Bush.

That's right, for me, no surrender. Never, not an inch. He stole this election. We just haven't figured out how he did it yet.

We left Wausau around 10 am, pretty much not saying anything the whole way back in the car, so tired were we, but still a little hopeful, because there were still absentee ballots to count and provisional court battles to look forward to, and then the fight on the floor of the House and perhaps the Supremes would get a chance to sing again.

But at a toll booth outside Rockford, the attendant saw the obvious signs still in the windows and on the car and, with a sad voice, told us to turn on the radio because Kerry was speaking. "The worst news?" I said. "Yeah," he said.

I was wearing these cheap wraparound sunglasses over my ordinary wirerims and cried so hard it was like being under water and the right lens popped out. Try doing that in the middle of an expressway going about 80 (since all I wanted to do was to get home so I could blog all this).

We worked hard, and it worked out just fine in Wisconsin.

We worked hard, and it worked out not so much in Florida and Ohio.

We'll cry and learn and drink a lot before we figure it all out, and then with luck we'll impeach the son-of-a-bitch and send the whole lot of them to The Hague for trial.

I find I don't need to update this blog's description much at all, nor change all the links just yet.

I'm still on your case, Karl.

Voter registration in Illinois has resumed as of today. I'm patient.

- posted by Cynthia @ 2:55 PM | | | Link |

 
Christmas Morning
It started at 6 am trying to wake up, then braving the frosty air for waving signs and rattling cowbells at the major intersection leading to the main bridge into town. Honking and shivering, and a squad of young girls (Young Democrats) keeping our spirits up with hops and leaps and cheers and making the whole electoral process fun.

Then phoning, and canvassing, and phoning, and canvassing, and phoning, and canvassing again and again, and phoning until the very last possible minute. And then someone found the pile of six requests for rides to the polls that someone forgot.

Ooops. If Wisconsin loses by 6 votes, the Wausau staffers will flagellate themselves for the next four years.

We are all so exhausted. Everyone is over at the Labor Temple (yes, it's really called that) trying to digest sloppy joes and good thick slices of sausage and cheese and really wishing they were elsewhere. So I came elsewhere, since I wanted to see the Illinois results and sit around in my underwear for awhile.

I may never make it back. Right now I could care less who's president, because I worked as hard as I possibly could.

It's like those presents I opened but was too over-excited to play with on Christmas morning. Will play with them later, or maybe tomorrow. Camera is full of interesting shots (not all cow pictures, honestly) I want to unload once I have a fast connection again.

Maybe when they start declaring Wisconsin and Michigan and Iowa and Minnesota for Kerry I'll perk up again. Right now I want to take a shower because I stink so bad.

- posted by Cynthia @ 11:02 PM | | | Link |

 
We, the People
Tonight I feel like I'm waiting for Christmas morning. All these presents are sitting under the tree but I can't touch them or open them until tomorrow.

Does anyone believe Gallup will be in business after tomorrow night?

I am so tired right now. Spent all morning canvassing the town of Tomahawk, about 40 miles north of Wausau. During the summer the population is probably about 10,000 speedboaters and waterskiers, but during the fall it's probably about 3,000 unemployed factory workers, and a hotbed of Kerry supporters. People literally came out of their houses to tell us they were voting for Kerry.

Spent a lot of time being lectured to by a guy who had been working with his parish organizing Catholics for Kerry. And one of the most beautiful faces I saw belonged to an elderly nun, a nurse at the local hospital, who, with a glow that came from somewhere I don't understand, told me she was voting for Kerry, and so was her roommate, Sister Theresa, and no, they didn't need a ride to the polls, and yes they knew where to go, you betcha.

And back here in Wausau, recanvassing an area we'd first gone to on Saturday, we note the Undecideds are starting to come home to roost on Kerry's shoulder -- and this time they're settling in and building nests quite firmly. For example, the woman who saw me coming up the path and trotted to the door to meet me, saying "I was a Republican for 35 years but I finally decided, enough is enough. I don't know who these people are anymore. I'm voting for Kerry."

And on Halloween, a woman told me, "Oh, you betcha, Kerry. And Russ Feingold. I love that man. Does he need more money?"

And again on Halloween: a woman dressed in a burka holding a basket of candy. Dolls dressed as soldiers were piled up on her porch. "My husband said I shouldn't paint them with blood." Gulp. She was German and so couldn't vote. "But he's voted already, dear God, yes."

There you go. This is it. I'll be up and out before you're probably awake, but let's meet at the Victory Party when the polls close later.

So tired. This is as eloquent as it's gonna get.

Nite nite, and let's dream of a better day-after-tomorrow.

- posted by Cynthia @ 9:40 PM | | | Link |

 
Good Morning, Wausau!


And Marathon the Cow bids you good morning too. I promised more pictures of art, but Marathon (named after the county we're in, though it feels like the endless race, too) wanted to say Hi. People are very serious about Bush turning against the dairy farmers here. And Kraft (ie. cheese) is a big employer here.

Must run out the door NOW. So this is it for awhile.

- posted by Cynthia @ 8:51 AM | | | Link |