very California

one

Tamara and i went to the state park beach at Santa Cruz, known for its surfing breaks and laid-back attitude. we put our one bag down and immediately ran off to chase the waves in and out. soon a group of six adults and one little girl came and put their things just next to ours. they all took off their street clothes and went swimming in their underwear, except the blond child, who went naked, displaying a lovely allover tan. when they came out after a brief time--the sea was cold--they took off their wet underwear (bras, panties, jockey shorts) and put back on their street clothes, with no hurry or attempt to discreetly cover up their bodies in the transition. the little girl didn't bother with her clothes, but came over to play with tamara, now digging in the sand. her name was Indigo and her 4th birthday was coming up on the weekend. her attractive mom (in a wet sports bra and running shorts) invited us to Indigo's birthday party, to be held in a park in Santa Cruz. alas, it was too far to go from San Jose. the next two days Tamara ran around the house without a stitch on.

two

Walking in the early evening in San Jose, i could see in the living room window of an apartment close to the sidewalk. there sat a fairly large tv, tuned to some adult drama. right next to it on the same shelf sat a smaller tv, tuned to a cartoon. unfortunately, this may not be uniquely Californian, but i'm sure it is very American.

three

a friend who lives in a posh southern California suburb told me that her daughter, age 7, went to a day camp this summer where one day the children learned to make sushi. the kids looked so cute with those little sushi chef bands around their foreheads. i forgot to ask if they learned how to distinguish yellow tail from belly tuna. meanwhile, at Tamara's preschool, they had a project to make trail mix. the two sides of California.


four

a northern California friend referred me to the information on her daughter's upcoming wedding website (who knew? okay, call me old-fashioned. the attractive and happy couple tell the story of their courtship from each one's point of view, with photos of significant places in the progress of their romance. they will be married in Yosemite; guests will carpool in; sleep in tents ("let us know if your have room to share"); all food and drink will be local, organic, and vegetarian; gifts must homemade or those of time and effort; wedding rings have been made of recycled gold. yoga will be available each morning. their admirable aim is to have only one bag of trash to carry out from each group of 10 people leaving after two days. the timing coincides with a nearby music festival and it all sounds like it will be a lot of fun.

the second dirtiest word in museums

the word is: editors

Since the post back in May on labels,the dirtiest word in museums, has been the most commented upon blog entry to date, it seems appropriate to consider the second dirtiest word in museums. A guest blogger (Maya) with a great deal of editing experience has identified "editors" and submitted the following:

Satire often lets the satirist off the hook. And when we do satirize ourselves, we can easily downplay the aspects that we find most displeasing. But I have tried to reveal the editor's heavy, heavy hand in this label, which has been adapted from a real gallery label at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as shown on their website (www.metmuseum.org under Works of Art/Collection Database/European Paintings).

editors comments below are in bold. you can see the painting and original MMA label at:

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/european_paintings/Saint_Rosalie_Interceding_for_the_Plague_stricken_of_Anthony_van_Dyck/ViewObject.aspx?depNm=european_paintings&pID=0&vW=1&Pg=1&St=0&StOd=1&vT=1&OID=110000697&RID=17


Anthony van Dyck (Flemish, 1599-1641) (Change hyphen to en dash)
Saint Rosalie Interceding for the Plague-stricken (Citizens?) of Palermo (use italics for title)
(Capitalize “Stricken”.)
1624
Oil on canvas
39 1/4 x 29 in. (99.7 x 73.9 cm) (Confirm: 29 inches converts to 73.7 cm)
Purchase, 1871
Metropolitan Museum of Art, 71.41

This and other pictures (How many? Was it a favorite subject of his? Why?) of Saint Rosalie were painted by van Dyck (Avoid passive voice. Also, don’t refer to works of art that are not visible. Change to “Van Dyck painted this picture of Saint Rosalie”.) in Palermo (Add: ,Sicily) in the late summer of (Delete “the late summer of”. The day is specified in the next sentence.) (What was van Dyck doing in Sicily?) 1624. The city suffered a severe (Wrong word) plague (Bubonic? Other?), (Delete extraneous comma.) and was under quaratine (Correct spelling to “quarantine”. Also, avoid metaphorical language. Change to “There was a devastating plague in the city, which was under quarantine”) when, on July 15, Saint Rosalie's remains were found on Mount Pellegrino (which is where? Was it called Mount Pellegrino in Saint Rosalie’s time? Or only afterwards when it became a place of pilgrimage?). A young noblewoman (What young noblewoman? Is this Saint Rosalie?) who withdrew to prayer and a hermit's life (Awkward phrasing, rewrite), she reportedly (Who reported this?) died there (where?) around 1160. As the patroness of Palermo, she became the object of the city's prayers (No, the city is an inanimate entities and can’t pray, you mean the citizen’s prayers. Prayers for what?), and the subject of many paintings, (Change commas to parentheses.) during the grave (Ambiguous word here in a discussion of death, use another.) events of 1624 (all painted that year? none in later years?). Van Dyck depicts the saint interceding for the city (This just repeats the title of the painting. Suggest deleting or revising.); (Add: A portion of)the landscape below, now badly worn, shows the port of Palermo and Mount Pellegrino. Autoradiographs have recently (Delete “recently”) revealed that van Dyck painted the picture over a striking (Delete “striking”.) self-portrait which (Change “which” to “that”.) he had sketched out (Delete “out”.) on the canvas. The painting was purchased (When?) by Antonio Ruffo, the collector who commissioned Rembrandt's "Aristotle with a Bust of Homer" (61.198) (Avoid passive voice and use italics for titles of works of art. Change to “Antonio Ruffo, the collector who commissioned Rembrandt’s Aristotle with a Bust of Homer, (61.198) purchased the painting.” (Can we know more about Ruffo? He must have been an important collector. Was he in Palermo? Or the Netherlands? Indicate where the Rembrandt can be viewed. Is it in the same gallery? the same museum?). (Refer to the skull in the lower left.)

Now the competition is now open for submitting ideas for the third dirtiest word in museums.