i'm going to talk about work for a bit.

i don't feel like i talk in too many specifics about my various jobs very much on this blog. even though they do actually occupy nearly all my time :) so indulge the long post........

so i have been working for african refuge in staten island the last 4 months. my boss had asked me [among other things] to plan two large educational forums/events to highlight african issues in new york city when he took me on in february.

i don't know why i always seem to get stuck with event planning. i honestly hate doing it, but seem to have been assigned events to execute ever since i was 12 :) but this request was something new as it was on a much larger scale. i must admit that it brought me some serious stress. finding venues on a $0 budget, plus coordinating speakers, publicity, and all that [basically on my own] was overwheeeeeeelming.....

but i wouldn't have believed it: it all absolutely paid off. tonight was our second event: african liberation day! (i designed the flyer, shown here - my first foray into illustrator - SO FUN OMG) the night was actually incredible. we booked a room at columbia university which had a huge conference table in the middle - instead of pushing it aside and putting chairs in rows, we decided to just keep the format. around 35 people were there.... but despite the smallish numbers, every person was extraordinarily passionate, articulate, and voiced in the real complexities of african issues. we had all ages in attendance - a mix of african refugees, academics, professionals, students, preachers, football players, lawyers... africans easily outnumbered anyone else, and everyone had a heartfelt opinion to share with amazing life experience to back them up. so in the end the discussion was actually meaningful. we shared real debate and collected everyone's email addresses so we could meet again, perhaps annually, and flesh out more issues, find more practical solutions... the conversation went much longer than 9pm, all of us around the table, disagreeing in many cases, but actually exchanging something real.

when i set out to plan this event i knew what i did not want: an empty and meaningless panel discussion, one where the same academic arguments are rehatched and everyone is bored and leaves with nothing. i had sincere doubts about tonight, but can honestly say that i am so happy to have this done, to have put work into something that did yield something with purpose. this was my farewell to african refuge - it's a good group and i believe in it, but the disorganized and scattered state of affairs was driving me slowly mad :) so i'm happy to have done what i did, and now say adieu.

sigh... one job down, two more to go! :) :) in june i start my summer life, filled entirely with time spent with loved ones. my flights are all booked and i am so thrilled :) see you all soon!!!

mom and dad are here!!!

so after church...

we visit the cloisters :)

[they're just up the hill from my church building. absolutely gorgeous!!! truly one of my favorite places in new york.]






don't you think dad and i look so much alike in this picture? or maybe it's just our mutually round faces? :)













and thank you leslie! she's advertising my sublet request on her fabulous blog! huzzah!

2am photo shoot.

last night around 2am there was an absolute torrential thunderstorm over new york. the rain created this massive waterfall plunging down from the rooftop of my building.

my window looks out into the well in the middle of the apartment building, and the mini-iguazu-falls was right outside my room.

so i took these semi-abstracted photos [pink sky and soft blur of the water due to super-long exposure time].






and i realize the pictures kinda make it look like i live in chechnya. but don't make fun of me if i think they are super beautiful.

and i love her

last night i heard salman rushdie read a yet-to-be-published short story he had just written.

a few days before i attended a discussion between jonathan safran foer and zadie smith.

tonight i went to a book launch/reading/discussion of "gods and soldiers: an anthology of contemporary african writing", with authors binyavanga wainaina and patrice nganang. last tuesday it was a reading by antije krog and adrienne rich.

ok i say none of this to brag, and i hope this post doesn't come off in that way: i simply had to share because i feel that since moving to new york over 3 months ago i have been in a literal intellectual explosion. i have had years worth of cultural experiences crammed into a few months time. this last week is not even that unusual - if i actually documented on this blog every fascinating artistic and intellectual event i attended and my copious notes and thoughts and insights learned, i would have crammed up blogspot and bored everyone to tears - i would suddenly find myself with a blog with no audience. haha - truly i feel my blogging of my new york experience is horribly lacking, but its paucity is only due to my constant feeling of sheer incapacity to process the absolute brimming richness of day-to-day life and experience. toni recently asked me if it's actually possible to attend a movie screening in new york where the director isn't present for a post-film q&a, and i laughingly admitted that you have to seek out a discussion-less screening of anything :) new york is like a continuous film festival, literary seminar, museum exhibition, and contemporary art festival happening all at once - there's never an excuse to be un-inspired or un-challenged or bored, and you're bound to miss four events while sitting at the reading or exhibition or screening you chose among the endless crop of possibilities.

i cannot express enough how deeply and terribly lucky i feel to actually be here. my life is so near perfect... except for the huge gaping hole that is left by the fact that all my dearest loved ones are at least 5 hours away by plane. so speaking of, stella is now cast-less!!! and i can't help but say that as inspiring as salman rushdie is in person, i'd rather squeeze stella for an hour :) congrats steph on making it through such an ordeal. you are my hero.

and a brief fyi and p.s... post-title from the beatles of course. ah! how good is this scene?! i can (and am) watching it over and over...again, mom - i will always have the deepest gratitude to you for raising us on the beatles :)

of note:

this is what a real pretzel looks like:

and if you happen to find yourself on the lower east side of manhattan, and not in germany, this is where you can eat one (or three):

i tell you when i stumbled upon cafe katja on saturday amidst gallery-hopping i nearly died of joy. i didn't realize the potential wonder that pretzels could contain until visiting their birthplace last summer, and since returning to the US have been woefully missing the real prussian goodness. but of course, since you can find anything in this blessed city, i would naturally stumble across a hole-in-the-wall austrian bar nestled between little italy and chinatown to indulge in an authentic pretzel experience :)

so everyone come visit me and we'll take a little international tour of cozy little restaurants, galleries, and parks just like this. i mean how can you resist?

me + german pretzels + new york = :)

well there's not much to see actually we're inside a chinese dragon.

my awesome bro lincoln made this video for my awesome mom, in honor of our childhood, in which "what's up doc" played a critical role. thank you mom for raising us right :) and lincoln!!! you're amazing!!!!

america's best invention.

it's true. to much controversy the new york yankees have a new stadium this season. i tell you it's hot news on these city streets - i can't tell you how many conversations in subways i've heard, men complaining of the suuuuper-over-priced tickets or recounting sentimental tales of childhood visits to the original yankee stadium... i love how important baseball is in this city!

and i say hey, it may be a new stadium, but it's still baseball, and so it's still awesome. and so me and a certain german already have tickets for a nationals game in june. because on one's first visit to america, one must go to a baseball game, yes? :)

but p.s. as historic as the yankees are... whatev' - i wish we could go to the angels instead :(

april 18, 1969

mom and dad on their first date :) this wondrous occasion has been celebrated every year as parker day, and today is it's 40th anniversary! so happiest of parker days to all! really, how happy are we all that mom and dad met in mr. brunt's history class at villa park high school? :) love you guys so much.

the local train to etsy

it's true, my official uniform for many years has been a vintage dress with a vintage slip underneath. i promise it's the most comfortable thing to wear ever. SO... to inaugurate the 72 degree weather (!!!), i thought it was time to shop for a few new spring vintage dresses. but. vintage in new york city = WAY overpriced. even brooklyn. i mean seriously - $50 for a dress? i miss LA shops... so instead, i resorted to etsy. huzzah! what do you think?


and i have no face in these pictures because a) my hair is super long and is taking over my head, and b) i'm super shy and awkward when having my photo taken - thanks carlynne, you're the best roommate/photographer! :)

more lunch-break blogging.

i think this is really wonderful. my friend ashmae is quite brilliant, and also a beautiful artist. one of her pieces was lovingly given to me and hung on my otherwise naked wall in oxford. it brought me such joy!

but please take a moment to join her effort! it is just what american women need, truly. huzzah for [non-maoist] cultural revolutions!!!