One of the best things about holidays and living in New York is finally having the time to check out the amazing resources the city has to offer. Last week on my days off I made it uptown to the MOMA and finally got around to seeing Pipilotti Rist’s installation ‘Pour Your Body Out’. I had huge hopes for it after seeing clips of it and pictures online weeks before. When I got there it was really crowded (I guess we all had the same intentions) and all the cozy spots in the center circle were taken! My first impression was totally let down, but then I found a corner spot and just sat there for a long time watching her projections float across the walls and the lights go from red to blue and all variations in between. The images were of roses, and succulent fruits being picked by hands reaching down at you. (see video here)
I quickly relaxed and began to really enjoy this installation. People were urged to remove their shoes and ‘make new friends’ upon entering the exhibit. Adding to the atmosphere were deep moaning sounds that intentionally imitated under-water noises, it was too blissful.
On top of all this, Pipilotti Rist not only changed my experience and mood, but she also turned the austere, white, masculine interior of the MOMA into a dark red, warm womb. Absolutely necessary on a frightfully cold day, and pretty incredible when you think about the majority of museum shows. Exhibition runs until February 2nd, it is not to be missed.
Simone de Beauvoir would be proud. Not only does France have a female foreign minister, but she’s 43, Muslim, unmarried, and recently gave birth while refusing to name the father of her child (While the Uk Telegraph reports ‘Possible candidates include a French millionaire and hotel and casino baron, and the former prime minister of another European country,’ I smell sperm bank and IVF. It’s not easy to get preggers at 43, especially a first pregnancy, and isn’t often done without fertility treatments. Anyway, good for her). But that’s not even why she’s in the news lately. Instead, it’s because she’s not taking any maternity leave - she’s just getting out of bed and going right back to work. Which I think is interesting, because for all the crap that Palin got for doing the same while governor, it seems to me that if you are a woman entrusted with such a position of power, taking maternity leave might not really be a reasonable option. I mean, would it be acceptable for a president to take a 3 month leave of absence? A Vice President? A Secretary of State? It’s something to think about, especially as women of a variety of ages come into more powerful positions all over the world.
The phrase ‘Blonde Bombshell‘ conjures images of Hollywood legends Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield or Jean Harlow, but all-too-often history tends to overlook one of the great blonde starlets of our time: Liz Renay
The original Queen of Re-Invention, Renay starred in over eighteen films, including John Water’s controversial film ‘Desperate Living‘. Walking out on an abusive marriage, she became an exotic stripper and later served a brief stint in prison due to her personal relationships to notorious mobsters Anthony Coppola and Mickey Cohen. Upon her release, she returned triumphant as an award-winning artist and best-selling author before passing away last year at age 80.
The Burlesque Hall of Fame and the Deitch Projects are paying homage to the late great Ms. Renay with a retrospective exhibit ‘How to Attract Men‘ beginning January 9th at the 76 Grand Street Gallery in NYC that will showcase her original paintings as well as memorable collages, costumes, and artifacts from Ms. Renay’s private collection.
So, now that the economy kinda blows and everyone in the art world is fumbling to hold on to whatever they had going before the crash, the discourse is starting to be shaped by the real independents.
One of the raddest galleries of this new set is Cleopatra’s in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
Run by four sassy ladies who resemble a mix between an all girl folk/rock group and the cast from Designing Women, the gallery showcases amazingly talented artists and holds raucous events nearly every month.
Not only are they the ones in the know in the art world, they also have the smarts to back it up. The four ladies, Bridget Finn, Kate McNamara, Erin Somerville and Bridget Donahue hail from upstanding Chelsea gallery/Museum backgrounds. They have thoughtfully adapted their formal learnings and figured out how to operate differently in their own space.
Don’t miss this coming Monday, Cleopatra’s is having their holiday celebration ‘Cleoptra Romanza On Ice’ at Glasslands in Brooklyn. And don’t miss some very special DJ’s, including the mysterious Free Danger .
Next time you are hankering for a new perspective or want to see something different, stop by Cleopatra’s on Meserole and Manhattan Avenue. Be sure to check their website for hours as they rotate with each of Cleopatra’s projects, www.cleopatras.us. While you are at it, read up on these lovelies in Interview Magazine online.
Deja Taylor is not your average performer. At only 19 years old, she is an award-winning spoken word artist, a playwright and will be featured in a 2009 HBO Documentary about youth slam poetry.
She’s also not afraid to step up for causes she believes in. Deja recently joined forces with DJ Spooky to produce a video for NARAL Pro-Choice’s free.will.power. initiative. Power is the third video in a three-part series that takes a fresh look at what it means to be pro-choice today.
I’m so sick of reading about the distaste that some idiots had on Michelle Obama ’s outfit on the night of her husband’s historical victory. As I saw it, the modified version of the Narcisco Rodriguez’s dress was showing off her confidence in not being pigeonholed into wearing those lame-ass, boring suit-dresses. We still have ways to go, but I think it’s awesome that powerful women are getting closer to be being on the same playing field as men, but why do they have to dress like them too? We all know that Michelle is incredibly intelligent, successful and naturally gorgeous. She was also the breadwinner of her family! So, peeps needs to chill out on that one outfit and think more about what a bonus she is going to be to the White House. Does every first lady have to be compared to Jackie O’s immaculate style? Don’t forget that Jackie’s era was one of the best decades in fashion. So, me thinks… What’s your take on this?
If you’re like most women who grew up post-Title IX, you probably had some pretty good opportunities to play sports in high school and college. However, Title IX is still a controversial issue as many people believe boy’s sports suffer from the policy of ensuring equal resources for athletes of both genders.
The fact is, many schools around the country, girls still have less equipment, fewer teams, inferior facilities or less time dedicated to their sports teams than boys. A recent survey by the WNBA and Seventeen Magazine revealed that 35% of girls say their teams don’t get as much equipment or field time as the boys’ teams.
The Hawaiian term for grandparent is tutu and Obama shortened the term for his beloved grandmother to Toot. He called her his rock and she was the matriarch that helped raised him and his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng in Honolulu. Madelyn Dunham peacefully died from cancer in her sleep at 86 in Hawaii.
Madelyn Dunham was a REAL maverick! She was a feminist trailblazer and moved up from being a secretary to one of the first women vice presidents for the Bank of Hawaii in the 60’s and 70’s. So make your vote count for women that paved the way like Obama’s Toot!
ps,
Be sure to find your correct polling place, bring proper i.d. and be sure to wear comfy shoes for the long ass line…
Call Election Protection’s hotline for any probs at 1-866-OUR-VOTE (1-866-687-8683)
HAPPY VOTING!!
It’s not exactly shock of the century, I realize, but I still couldn’t help but startle at the contempt dripping from a few of Fox’s most recent headlines. Wowza, what journalism!
Read on for the best of the bunch. And by best, I clearly mean WTF?!
This week John McCain criticized the ‘’Feminist left'’ for attacking Sarah Palin. We think he’s just frustrated that women weren’t fooled by his whole my-VP-pick-wears-a-skirt-so-vote-for-me tactic.
Eleanor Smeal, President of Feminist Majority, says, ‘’Obama/Biden are running on the strongest platform for women’s rights of any major party in U.S. history.'’ That’s why Feminist Majority launched www.FeministsForObama.org, a side-by-side comparison of the candidates on major women’s issues like breast cancer research, domestic violence prevention, the Fair Pay Act and reproductive rights.
To reach as many people as possible, Feminist Majority also created three striking videos that illuminate some of the grave truths about the McCain/Palin record on women’s issues.
Unholy Trinity ‘’John McCain voted against funding to fight and prevent domestic violence'’
See the other videos here: http://www.feministsforobama.org/Videos.htm
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The phrase ‘Blonde Bombshell‘ conjures images of Hollywood legends Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield or Jean Harlow, but all-too-often history tends to overlook one of the great blonde starlets of our time: Liz Renay
If you’re like most women who grew up post-Title IX, you probably had some pretty good opportunities to play sports in high school and college. However, Title IX is still a controversial issue as many people believe boy’s sports suffer from the policy of ensuring equal resources for athletes of both genders.
