We checked out some properties -- wild, roofless, overgrown -- on the Amalfi coast today. Got me fantasizing all over again about that 8-sided barn. Carl Djerassi, inventor of the birth control pill (I personally thanked him at a conference at Stanford...that was before I decided it was not such a good idea to play funky with your hormones for ten years...with my hormones, that is), has a gorgeous estate in Woodside, California, that is home to the Djerassi arts residency program. An 8-sided barn houses the 8 artists -- choreographers, painters, poets, sculptors, musicians -- who come for a month to explore the terrain (gawgeous) and have a quiet place to make art, share it with each other, collaborate. Many choreographers I know have benefitted wildly from this and other residencies. I would love to provide something like that for artists. So I am looking to build an 8-sided barn in Italy.Just thought I'd put that out there.
Lately, I have been rather nostalgic for Wisconsin of all places. I did my undergrad degree at Madison and my MFA in Milwaukee, so I've spent a fair amount of time in that great midwestern state. I would love to show The Husband and La Bimba all the beauty and tranquility, eat some brats, drink some beers. Too bad The Husband would never consent to live there. He would freeze his nookie tookie off. He is an ectomorph, who has to wear a wool shirt under a t-shirt under a long sleeve t-shirt under a sweater under a leather jacket when it dips below 60 degrees outside. I used to be chillier, but since pregnancy and motherhood I am always hot. Hot, hot, hot to trot.
I need to ask Bleeding Espresso lady to devote a special entry to all the pros and all the cons about living in Calabria. Maybe we'll move there and build the 8-sided barn. Hey BEL (bleeding espresso lady), if you're reading, hook me up! (And I love your food photos by the way. They are sexy).
Alas, poor Yorick, it's time to put the skull, I mean, you, down and watch some TV.
2 comments:
Aside from my suggestion that you throw your TV out the window, I'd say that it's a pretty big move to open Djerassi Italia. Not that you "shouldn't" do it, but something like that will take up years, easily.
And, to continue possibly annoying you, it struck me that you want to help other artists express themselves (not in itself a "bad" thing, of course!) as opposed to expressing yourself.
But, as with all quasi-advice, take or leave my quasi-insights. Whatever you do will be worthwhile -- I think you need to realize that.
PS: Very sweet passage about your baby falling asleep on your chest. Kinda puts the rest of the anxiety into perspective, no? :)
A friend of mine who lives in Germany said to me on a recent visit to Naples, "I've been reading your blog. Who is this Doug person who comments so much?"
I appreciate all your comments, verily I do. I could throw my TV out the window, but that would change nothing since I watch The Office on my computer.
Now that my J and K keys are back on I should get back to blogging.
On writing, choices, other artists: yes, following writing is absolutely the thing to do...but I am petrified! The supporting other artists is more about choreography, something I'm not much into, and dancing, something I love and miss and hope to some day reincorporate into my life. As we say here in Naples, constantly, vediamo, we'll see.
Good luck house hunting. I would be of no help in that department.
And keep on commenting!
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