Archive for April, 2010
April 29th, 2010
Does anyone know the origin of spider web imagery in seventies lesbian-feminism? When I came out, everyone was always going on about “we are the weavers, we are the web.” Was it about reclaiming something people are afraid of? Was it some Wiccan thing? Was it because female spiders are bigger than males? Was it an association to spinning, and spinsters? Was it based on a misperception that male spiders don’t spin webs? DO male spiders spin webs? I’m able to find surprisingly little about this with my impatient slapdash google technique.
I always thought it was very cool how women would bring rope and yarn to political demonstrations, and “weave webs” by tangling everyone up together…but what’s the symbolism about? Where did it start? I have a letter from a friend written in 1981, which says, “Remember—wimmin’s webs are always connected but when they become electricity is where it all happens, when the threads of the webs become the wavelengths is when the magic begins!” Except she didn’t use any capitals and all the “o”s are turned into little women’s symbols.
April 28th, 2010
Thank god I went out Monday and got some new deck chairs. Aren’t they pretty?
April 24th, 2010
What a weird dream! I was Las Vegas with Harvey Pekar… oh… wait. I AM in Las Vegas with Harvey Pekar! Here we are in line at LAX this morning, just before Harvey was detained and frisked by security on account of his hip replacement.
April 19th, 2010
Thank you all for your very helpful suggestions in re my lost iPhone. I couldn’t take it any longer, though. Had to go out to the phone store and replace it. But strangely, it all worked out rather well. This phone, the 3GS, is an upgrade from my old one. It’s faster, it shoots video. And it’s not all scuffed up. And it cost $100 less than the old one did. Somehow I had become “eligible for an upgrade.” That sounded like bizarre corporate double talk. Like, why wouldn’t you be “eligible” to buy a new phone whenever you wanted? But whatever. If I’d known all that, I’d have stolen my own phone. Anyhow. You’ll all be pleased to know that I immediately signed up for MobileMe.
I also posted on Craig’s List about my lost phone. If it turns up I’ll donate it somewhere. It was very moving to see the half dozen or so notices from the other people who lost their iPhones in Manhattan this weekend. I felt such a profound sense of community. There were also two found cats, which struck a hopeful note. And one found phone which was not mine. And one lost phone with a $2000 reward because of the incriminating photos on it of an older man, a younger man, and some kitchen utensils. The older man didn’t want his wife to find it. I couldn’t tell if it was for real or not.
Okay. Going to bed now with my new device. Check out my new holster.
April 18th, 2010
That’s a picture of me sadly searching the internet for clues about what to do when you lose your iPhone. I seem to have left mine in a cab in New York this afternoon. I know it’s very unseemly to come on here and whine about it, but I can’t figure out what to do and maybe you’ll all have some clever ideas. I did call this cool 311 number that NYC has for all kinds of minor city life bureaucratic details like parking rules and recycling schedules. Very smart, snappy people take all your information and for a second you feel hopeful. I had the cab’s medallion number. But they won’t know anything for two days.
Should I call AT&T and cancel the service? This seems smart, but then whoever finds the phone won’t be able to find me. Right? We’ve been calling the phone all day to no avail, and sending texts to it
I’d show you pictures of my ferry ride to Staten Island last night to see Kate Clinton and Lily Tomlin perform. But they’re on my iPhone.
It’s very odd how much a part of myself that thing was. I feel strangely amnestic, not quite sure who or where I am.
April 11th, 2010
Holly and I were having a fight at breakfast—now we can’t remember what about, something having to do with me interfering with her cooking—when Holly said “Look!”
We started all these flats of seeds last weekend. And we’ve been watering them and moving them in and out of the sun. But then we had a very busy couple of days, and stopped paying attention. Now this morning there are all these little green shoots! It was a weird, science-fiction moment, as if they were sprouting instantaneously before our eyes.
Oh, and check this out! I tried to get a picture of the bear which was very delicately cleaning out our bird feeder the other night, but all you can see are her eyes.
April 7th, 2010
1.
I just emailed my colleague James Sturm to congratulate him on his new book, Market Day. I got an automatic response that read, “I will be off-line from March 19 through June 18. Any e-mail sent during this time will not be read. Apologies for any inconvenience.”
I get auto-responses all the time from people who are on vacation or something. But I’d never seen one that said YOUR EMAIL WILL NOT BE READ. What a thought! Don’t you DIE if you don’t read your email?
Apparently James is quitting the internet for four months, and documenting his experience at Slate.com. (And no, the irony of blogging about being online does not escape him.)
2.
A kind reader, Antje from Berlin, sent in this photo collage she took in a shop on a German island in the Baltic Sea. She calls it “Mo’s Paradise.”
3.
3. When I was in Chicago in February, I did an interview with a smart young woman from a blog called “Gender Across Borders.” See how hard I’m trying to look smart too?
4. You’ve probably all seen this by now, but Martina has breast cancer. Prognosis excellent. But she went four years without a mammogram! Don’t any of you be so lax, okay?
5.
Carey Maloney of the New York Public Library’s LGBT Committee just sent me this photo from the newly renovated St. Agnes branch of the NYPL, with Fun Home on display at the checkout desk with Catcher in the Rye.
