Lisa's Stuff

Journey to Hefei, China Part I: Traveling with Infant

2010-09-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Hefei is a small city by Chinese standards (4,789,000 compared to Boston’s 589,000) in Anhui Province in China. That's where Ken's grandparents have been living for the past decade and a half, when the University of Science and Technology invited Ken's grandfather to help expand their chemistry department (to include free radicals) as something equivalent to a professor emeritus.

The stay in China this past week was a short one, but it took a lot of preparation and the actual journey to get there and back was 28 hours door-to-door each way. Ken really did not have the vacation days to go, but it was something we had to do. Ken's grandmother had a stroke recently that paralyzed the entire left side of her body. She is getting weaker day by day, with a worsening lung infection that is only being suppressed by myriad antibiotics but can never fully recover because her paralysis left her unable to expel phlegm from her lungs that a healthy person would under normal conditions. It was a trip to bid her farewell and to have Esther meet her.

Although it was only a week-long trip, I have many thoughts about it that I want to record. This blog entry will focus on traveling with a baby from Boston to Hefei.

Traveling with Infant

We had to start preparing for this trip a few months ago because we had to get a passport for Esther and then China visas for all three of us. We decided on coach tickets for just Ken and myself and have Esther as an infant in lap from Boston to Shanghai. The cost for each adult ticket came out to be a little over a thousand each, while the infant "lap" ticket was about 10% of the adult ticket. Friends had told me earlier about the bulkhead seats and bassinets, and so we decided this was the most economical option. To get to Hefei, we had the options of flying domestically or taking the train. I was a little hesitant about the train, due to Ken's parents' exaggerated (and unfounded) concerns over difficulty in reserving train tickets and baby kidnappers, but the fact that the domestic flight schedules did not work well with our flight back to Boston made me agree to opt for a train between Hefei and Shanghai.

What We Packed

I had worried over what to bring, how to safely feed the baby, how to put her to sleep and keep her from crying while traveling, and even how to get to Logan Airport. We wanted to travel light to allow us to take the train in China, and so we only took 2 carry-on rolling suitcases and one backpack as a diaper bag. I had Esther in an Ergo baby carrier (for convenience, for it is the only thing that makes her fall asleep, and to deter the aforementioned imagined kidnappers).

An infant car seat is just way too cumbersome to carry. Although I want to record our visit visually, bringing my whole Canon 5D set up with lenses is just too ostentatious and impractical. Instead, I relied on my iPhone. I also packed my Kindle.

We saw that the TSA allows liquid formula, and so we brought a lot of it, as well as a good number of bottles for formula packets (which we planned to mix with Dasani water bought after the security gate). I do not trust Chinese baby formula (after the melamine incident back in 2008), and I do not entirely trust even boiled tap water in China (not knowing the lead content in the water). We packed about half a week's worth of clothes and extra onesies because of the availability of a washer at Ken's grandparents' place.

Before we left, I shipped a box of supplies (powdered and liquid formula, Bounty paper towels, disposable diapers, etc) via USPS international priority ($58) expecting to get it by the time we get there.

We also packed some wipes and about 30 Pampers Dry Max diapers because they seem to keep the baby feeling dry the longest. We figured 12 each way would be enough, while we would rely on the less heavy duty disposable diapers from the package we shipped.

Finally, we packed some gifts to bring to the relatives.

Getting to the Airport without a Car Seat

And so, before our trip, I called up our local cab company and asked about taking us with a baby. They were very reluctant but told us to call back the night before. We did our due diligence and looked up the MA state law about a rumored taxi exemption for the child passenger restraint law. We found it quite interesting that the exemption indeed exists but is stated in a very roundabout, ghetto way. Notice how they don't say outright that taxis are exempt, but they say that they will not fine taxi drivers?

An operator of a motor vehicle who violates the provisions of this section shall be subject to a fine of not more than twenty-five dollars; provided, however, that said twenty-five dollar fine shall not apply to an operator of a motor vehicle licensed as a taxi cab not equipped with a child passenger restraint device.

Anyhow, we decided to rough it and save a few bucks. We took the T at 5:30-ish before sunrise. I was surprised at how many early commuters there were, though it was not a full train by any means.

What Worked

The bottles of Dasani we bought after the security gate and the powder packets worked very well. Esther likes her milk warm, and the flight attendants on our Continental flight were very helpful in warming up the milk with hot water baths.

We did all right changing her in the airplane bathrooms, which were equipped with simple changing tables you pull down from the wall, right above the toilet.

When we arrived at Pudong Airport, we were pleasantly surprised by the priority treatment we got because we were carrying a baby. The guard led us straight to the front of the border control line.

Our schedule worked pretty well according to plan. After we flew into Pudong International Airport, we took an hour-long cab ride to the brand new Hongqiao Train Station for the Chinese-designed (Japanese-consulted) bullet train that ran between Shanghai and Hefei. We were able to buy Class B reserved seats, which were nice and comfortable, with a lot of leg room and seats that lean pretty far back. It would have been great, if Esther hadn't cried the whole 3.5 hours on the train. She was exhausted and sweating profusely in the humidity and heat, and the air conditioning was not strong enough to her liking, though it worked just fine for me. You cannot buy tickets more than 6 days in advance, and so we had to buy the return trip tickets separately from Hefei, and when we did so we got Class A reserved seats, which had stronger air conditioning and slightly more lumbar support. Esther slept during the whole return trip in the stronger air conditioning.

We sterilized all of Esther's bottles every night by boiling them after washing with detergent and rinsing very thoroughly. After we used up the 3 large liquid formula bottles, we used the Dasani water we brought from the States. When we ran out, we bought a 4 liter bottle of Nongfu Brand spring water from a local supermarket. I had done my research in advance, and Nongfu appears to be the biggest Chinese brand of spring water. Even so, we did not use the water straight from the bottle. We boiled it first before mixing the formula. Esther seemed completely fine with it.

The Ergo Baby Carrier was a key part of the trip. Esther simply would not go to sleep without being in a sling.

The iPhone provided all the camera equipment and entertainment we needed. With it I took many stills and videos of Ken's grandparents with Esther. I was able to read about Hans Christen Andersen's life as well as some of my favorite fairy tales written by him from a free book I got on the Nook app for the iPhone. I started reading The Black Swan by Nassim Taleb on the Kindle app as well. Ken's grandparents' campus apartment building had free WiFi and I was able to check my emails. However, Facebook and Twitter are not accessible from China, which I didn't know until this past week. In our last trip to China, we bought a simm card with prepaid minutes and used it with our old Motorola Razr phone, but this time, Ken just used his iPhone for calls within China.

I spent a lot of time worrying about Esther's ears during take-off and landing, but it was not a problem at all. I tried to feed her during those moments, but at times, she wasn't hungry and her ears didn't seem to be affected that much.

The Airborne kept us from getting ill full-fledged during our stay in China, though we started feeling scratchiness in our throats on our way to Shanghai. We also hardly slept while in China (Ken even less so because he had to take care of more family matters regarding his grandparents), which lowered our immunity. We're still taking Airborne now, but Ken has actually developed a cough.

I'm really glad we did not have any more luggage than we did because it would have made our traveling a lot more difficult, with longer wait time at baggage claim.

What Went Wrong

Just when you need it to rely on it the most, the postal system does not deliver. The package of supplies that we sent ourselves never came during our stay, and we had to buy more disposable diapers from a local supermarket. We were just informed by Ken's aunt that it arrived a few hours after we left his grandparents' home. I shipped the package from the US on August 30 and it arrived in China on September 15th. Again, this was International Priority at $58, with content value at about $45. We asked Ken's aunt to give away our supplies to any baby she might know so we don't waste it.

The trip to the Chinese supermarket for extra diapers was an interesting though. We ended up buying a pack of 28-count Pampers for 53RMB (which is $7.88 USD). I noticed how there is very little difference in pricing compared to the US, even though, according to the Forbes blog, the average (not median) household income in China is $10,220, compared with $84,300 in the United States. How could the Chinese afford disposable diapers at all? The local Chinese brands are all priced comparably as well. Ken asked his cousin how this was possible, and the answer was very insightful into the lives of Chinese families. Most Chinese couples both work full-time, but their babies are taken care of by older members of the family who almost always live nearby if they don't actually shared the same quarters. The Chinese are willing to spend money on their babies, because they want what's best for them. I should point out that the Pampers we got are a lot flimsier than the Dry Max kind that I like, even though the actual price is not much different. Proctor & Gamble must be laughing all the way to the bank.

Esther did not like the bassinet at the bulkhead seat provided by the plane. This was a surprise to us. We never figured out what it was that made her dislike it so much. A possibility is that it was fastened to a wall adjoining the lavatory, and every time someone flushed the toilet (which was often) she would wake up crying. I didn't bother putting her in the bassinet on our return trip. I kept her in the Ergo the whole time. The bassinet was handy as a storage bin nonetheless. If I had to do the same trip again, I would definitely bring an inflatable travel pillow. I really hardly slept on either 15-hour flight, and both my neck and back were killing me.

While the Dasani bottles worked on our way to China (and the extra bottles were handy while in China as well), when we tried to bring 2 bottles of Evian (total costs $90 RMB, which is $13.38 USD) onto the inbound flight, they were confiscated at a final boarding manual security check. Apparently the TSA does not allow inbound flights to have any water brought on board. We had to use water on the plane. Luckily, Esther did not seem to have any issues afterward.

I'd like to make a note about cabs in Shanghai. The ride from Pudong Airport to the Hongqiao Train Station must have been one of the scariest car rides I've ever taken. The cabbie sped in and out of lanes and I thought he was going to feed us to a truck at one point. He seemed to have no regard for the fact that there is a baby in the car. He did, however, complete the trip in about an hour.

Finally, I would try to avoid eating the "fresh" fruits and salads that come with every airplane meal. Both Ken and I had stomach problems on our return flight after having eaten them.

Home Sweet Home

On our trip back, we shared our row of bulkhead seats with a woman traveling by herself from Shanghai with her ten-month-old baby. I was amazed and humbled by her bravery.

We hailed a cab from Logan back home because we were just too tired for the T. The cab driver did not even utter a word about the baby.

Our trip took 28 hours door-to-door each way. I'm glad we made the journey, but I'm glad it's over. On our way to Shanghai we flew over the Atlantic, and on our way back, the Pacific. Our little girl circumnavigated the globe at age 6 months!

Favorite Baby Products

2010-07-15T12:42:00.000-07:00

There are so many baby products out there that it's really hard to know what to spend your money on. I've wasted a few bucks buying the wrong stuff. Four and a half months into my job as a mom now, I have a better idea of what I like.

Baby Carrier – ERGOBaby. My husband really likes the Moby Wrap, but I like the convenience and comfort of the ERGOBaby. It's a bit pricey, ranging from $105 to $120, not including the infant insert, but the comfort and good craftsmanship is well worth it. There's also the possibility of buying them used off Craigslist or eBay.
Stroller (a) BabyTrend Snap N' Go. The Snap N' Go is a wonderful stroller. There are many reasons why I like this product, the most important being the ability to, well, snap the carseat into it and go. This is important because my baby usually naps during a car ride and I can transfer her, carseat and all, into the Snap N' Go without waking her. For an inexpensive stroller (around $70), it navigates surprisingly smoothly. AND it folds up and fits nicely into a small car like my Corolla. The storage basket and the cup holders are a bonus. (b) Bugaboo Frog. I was appalled at the price of this stroller (retails for around $700), but I got it for free, and so I was eager to test out why there is so much hype about it. I was amazed by the sturdiness of its metal frame construction and its minimalist aesthetics. The wheels navigate really smoothly -- the stroller comes with its own air pump for its inflatable back tires. The frame can be used with a bassinet or seat. So far, we've only used the bassinet, which comes with a beautiful quilted sleeping bag lining and canopy. The bassinet on the stroller is so comfortable that it is very easy to rock my baby to sleep in it inside our home. I think this stroller is great for folks who live in the city and won't have to worry much about constantly loading the bulky thing in and out of a car (it does not fit into my Corolla). Also, the shock-absorbing tires provide a smooth ride over bumps and cracks in urban sidewalks. We live in a fairly walkable neighborhood, and I like to do light grocery shopping on foot with this stroller. It does not come with a cup holder, but you can order it as an accessory for a hefty price of $25.
Baby Wipes – Bounty Paper Towels + water. We were skeptical when the nurse at the hospital told us to stay away from baby wipes and instead use Bounty and water because they cause rashes. I think we were being optimistic because we had already received so many boxes as gifts from our registry. Besides, we got the kind for sensitive skin. But the hospital nurse was right. Our baby developed really bad rashes. Now, we cut up each sheet of Bounty into 4 squares and wet it with a spray bottle. We still have a lot of commercial baby wipes, and I use them when I have to travel. But the rashes are gone.
Disposable Diapers – Target store brand (some sizes are hard to find). I've come to realize that there is very little reason to use Pampers or Huggies, except for the fact that they're widely available. In fact, Pampers and Huggies often leak desiccant crystals that I find disturbing. The Target store brand diapers do not have this problem, and they are amazingly economical: $6.16-6.49 (50 count in size 1 and 42 count in size 2). It makes me wonder how much of the Pampers or Huggies' licensed animal characters (e.g., Winnie the Pooh or Cookie Monster) you're paying for when you buy them. Also, the sizes of the Target diapers run a little larger, so my baby fits into a size 1 in these and a size 2 in Huggies/Pampers.
Cloth Diapers – gDiapers. It occurred to me that my baby used 1,000 disposable diapers in a little over 3 months. The thought is disturbing, and I began to look into cloth diapers. I started with the old-fashioned diaper cloths (which are great to have as burp cloths regardless of whether you use them as diapers), but I soon found out that my baby gets a rash from the urine-soaked 100% cotton material. I invested $50 in the gDiapers system (2 gently used covers from eBay and 1 new + 6 gCloth inserts from Babies R'Us). It's not cheap, and she can easily go through all 6 inserts in a day. But the gCloths are well crafted with a layer of microfleece to keep her skin from getting irritated and the rest of it is made with cotton and hemp. The system has yet to pay off, but I'm looking into using other substitute inserts to work with it.
Changing Pad Liner – Any brand of doggy training pads in large size. We cut these wee wee pads in half and place them on top of our changing table mattress to minimize washing the changing table covers (of which we only have two). They are a lot cheaper than the ones sold specifically for this purpose in the diaper aisle.

I'm sure this list will expand as I have more experience.

RIP, Loki the Cat

2010-07-12T14:26:00.000-07:00

Loki passed away suddenly yesterday from what I gather was a stroke and subsequent cardiac arrest. I just want to take a moment to remember him while it's peaceful in the house.

I adopted him in April 1997 with his brother Apollo, an orange tabby, when I was living in Tokyo. He was born to an English mother and a Japanese father. The mother was owned by an English family who let her roam about the streets of Tokyo unspayed and later returned with her to England right after she had her litter, which they left behind with a friend.

Loki was all white with light green eyes and a semi-bobbed, crooked tail, which I attribute to his having a Japanese father, since there are many bobbed tailed cats in Japan. He was the most gentle cat I have ever known. All thirteen years of his life, I never heard him hiss. The only times he bit were when he was playful.

Loki lived up to his name. He was mischievous and stole food from us often. No meal we prepared was safe from him if left unguarded for one minute.

He had a series of illnesses over the past few years, but he's finally pain-free now.

Apollo is sad today. He walks around meowing loudly and comes to me often for solace. We miss Loki.

THE BLIND SIDE by Michael Lewis – Book Review

2010-07-04T11:16:00.000-07:00

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game by Michael Lewis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I saw the movie starring Sandra Bullock first and loved her in it, and MONEYBALL has been sitting on my to-read list for a couple of years now. When I found out that the movie was actually based on a Michael Lewis book, I decided to read THE BLIND SIDE. I'm glad I did. The book is far superior to the movie, which is a bit too sentimental in hindsight.

Michael Lewis is a wonderful writer. At times his prose is so rhythmic that your pulse quickens as you visualize the action he describes on the football field. He writes his characters with respect and compassion. He does not get sappy (unlike the movie), but I still feel emotional enough to choke up at certain passages. He has an honest voice that is not laced with hypocrisy.

I should be reading MONEYBALL soon.

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Breastfeeding Zealots

2010-06-30T13:37:00.000-07:00

The little one had her first encounter with the swimming pool today. That didn't go so well. She did not like the feel of the water. I'm hoping to try again on a ninety-degree day.

My friend and I brought our babies into the water and struck up a conversation with two other mothers with young babies. We exchanged the usual platitudes and ages of our respective babies.

Then, one of the other moms suddenly asked my friend if she's breastfeeding her baby, to which she replied she did, but due to her baby's allergies to many foods that she was eating via her breast milk, the pediatrician recommended that she started on a non-cow's milk formula.

"Oh. Mine are both all breast. The older one was breastfed until she was one."

She didn't ask me any questions at all about breastfeeding. When my friend and I analyzed the conversation later, it dawned on me that she probably saw that I was feeding my baby a ready-to-feed Similac bottle and wanted to show her superiority over me.

I guess I'm offended by the maliciousness of it, but I'm just more annoyed and partially amused that someone would latch on (pun intended) to breastfeeding as a means of feeling superior to another. Some of us tried very hard, took a breastfeeding class before giving birth, hired an expensive lactation consultant postpartum, own the most expensive breast pump available to consumers but still, for whatever health reasons, cannot breastfeed. I have discussed this issue with other moms who had trouble as well, and ALL of us, at some point, felt immense guilt and agony over our inability to breastfeed. Some of us were trying so hard that our babies were literally starving because we dared not give them formula. And we finally did when we summoned up the courage to tell people to fuck off because our babies are hungry.

Hey, why the hell wouldn't we want to breastfeed our babies? Because we want to spend a few extra thousand dollars to feed our babies an artificial substance that is supposedly inferior?

We KNOW that breast is best. We KNOW that breast milk offers more natural immunities. We KNOW that one study shows that breastfed babies on average score a few points higher on the IQ test.

But with an ignorant parent like that woman, I don't think those few extra points would help the baby's IQ.

Okay, I feel better now.

My Response to "Rent a White Guy" in The Atlantic Magazine

2010-06-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the day, I posted a link in Facebook to the article "Rent a White Guy" from The Atlantic Magazine, and I just want to clarify a few things. I didn't post it to show people that the Chinese are evil and dishonest. The Western press has already done enough of that since the beginning of the Cold War. I didn't post it to reaffirm stereotypes about China.

Yes, there are some very dishonest Chinese businesses out there, but, gosh, people, please look beyond the obvious. Was this dishonesty appalling? Yes. That's not really shocking news. The irony here is how white men are treated like gods in China. You don't even have to have any skills. Just as long as you're a white Caucasian male in a suit, they can use you. All the while, Americans think the Chinese are constantly working against America and the West. Au contraire, they WORSHIP the West. And if there are people they are working against, it's other Chinese people.

My point is that even Chinese people in the People's Republic of China do not seem to have pride in things Chinese. They need to put a foreign stamp on it to elevate its worth. When I posted this as a link, people seemed to have missed this point.

I am not Asian-American

2010-06-23T11:34:00.000-07:00

I've come to the conclusion that I really dislike the term Asian-American, and I will, from now on, refrain from saying it personally. I won't be offended by others who use it (especially those who simply aren't knowledgeable enough to tell the different ethnic groups apart), and I will only get annoyed at first-generation, American-born and/or raised Chinese who are talking about something specifically Chinese but apply it to all Asians. Because they should know better.

Asian-American-ness to me is useless and inaccurate.

When people say Asian in the Asian-American context, they are often referring to people with yellow skin and slanted eyes--East or Southeast Asian (Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, etc.) and the brown-skinned, Caucasian-featured South Asian are often not included. And oftentimes, Americans of Chinese descent use the term to speak for Americans of Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese descent when they really have no right to do so. Japan, Korea, and Vietnam are pretty different from China culturally and historically. And even among the Chinese, there is a split, but I will talk about that another time. Perhaps what bothers me the most is when a white Caucasian person makes fun of a person from China, and it is those who call themselves Asian-Americans (noticeably many Chinese-American women) who are the most eager to agree and the first to laugh. They laugh because they want to make sure people know that they are different--they are Asian-American, not Chinese. In reality, they're only sabotaging the cause to end discrimination.

Theoretically, one would think that an Asian-American identity would give us more political power and create a block vote, but I think we are way too divided to have that be effective at all, and so I abandon that thought altogether. I applaud minorities who become firsts in their political positions--persons such as President Barack Obama, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Governor Bobby Jindal, Congressman Joseph Cao, and gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley. But I believe their accomplishments are based on merit, not race.

I am proud to be American, and I am proud to be Chinese. But I am not Asian-American.

Why Esther?

2010-03-08T11:20:00.000-08:00

Esther was born one week ago, ten days before her due date, immediately after the two-week celebration of Chinese New Year for the Year of the Tiger and, coincidentally, immediately after the Jewish holiday Purim in honor of her namesake, who saved her people on the brink of genocide.

You'd be right if you guessed that Ken and I are not Jewish, but we like the Old Testament story. It may not be obvious at first, but persons of Chinese descent are similar to the Jewish diaspora the world over. Many of us had been merchants historically, settling far away from our original homeland. And like the Jews, the Chinese have been distrusted by other peoples they lived amongst.

Like American Jews, who consider themselves American and Jewish, we are American as well as Chinese, retaining our cultural identities while assimilating as Americans.

We kept Esther's name a secret until she was born. My mother-in-law, being a chemist at a major pharmaceutical firm, thought of ester and ether when we told her the name.

Our daughter's Chinese name is 界悠 (Jieyou), a very unusual Chinese name. Ken's reason for choosing the characters is twofold: (1) because they mean "flexible between worlds or boundaries," which also embodies our hope that she will be a good mediator and ambassador like Queen Esther; (2) because the characters are atonal homonyms for the name of the princess 解憂 from the Han Dynasty, who was married off to form a political alliance with a western state in what is now Xinjiang Province. Princess Jieyou, like Queen Esther, was a great diplomat who assimilated herself to the culture of her husband and introduced Chinese customs and foods to them.

So, to those who say that Esther is an old lady's name, I roll my eyes at you.

Bush and Torture

2009-11-23T22:18:00.000-08:00

I liked the Andrew Sullivan open letter to George W. Bush in the October issue of The Atlantic. I would not consider myself a Bush fan, and I don't agree with the idea of torture. But I was really surprised to find that many people really seem to think that torture was never condoned by previous US presidents. Can we really naively believe that torture was unknown to the CIA during the Cold War under the administration of our beloved JFK?

One reader wrote in a letter to the editor, published in the current December issue, accusing Bush of undermining "decades of unassailable moral leadership on the international stage" with his employment of torture. Perhaps we had decades of such unassailable moral leadership because no one made an issue of it until now?

What's Going on in There: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life

2009-11-18T20:32:00.000-08:00

What's Going on in There? : How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life by Lise Eliot

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This is probably the most useful child development book I've read. I now have a much better understanding of the physical limits of a child's brain at different stages. Also helpful are the motor milestones to look for in case early intervention is needed.

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The Daunting Responsibilities Ahead

2009-10-31T15:07:00.000-07:00

Lately, I have been reading many books on child development theories and ways to raise and discipline children. With the exception of What’s Going on in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life (a book full of brain development facts by Lise Eliot, Ph.D. in neuroscience), the titles I’ve come across have mostly been different philosophies and recommendations. I have come to accept that much of our future children’s personalities will be shaped by nature rather than nurture, but I still believe that there are specific values important to us that we can try to inculcate. These values, based on accomplishments and mistakes we have made in our past, will merely serve as guidelines to help our children achieve happiness. Here’s the start of a brainstorm list.

Appreciate history and culture. I believe understanding the history of both the United States and China will help you possess a stronger sense of who you are, as you are both American and Chinese and should be proud to be both.

Having a successful life does not mean having a big, regular paycheck, BUT you should be able to make enough money to sustain your costs of living.

Understand personal finance.

Do not ever get comfortable with the idea of debt, not even for a tax-deductible mortgage.
Save money. It’s not how much money you make, but how much you end up saving and investing that will determine your net worth.
Spend money wisely. Things and gadgets may be cool, but experiences are usually more meaningful. Things can end up owning you.
Don’t try to keep up with the Joneses. Wanting things that other people have can get you into a lot of trouble.

Be a responsible citizen. Understand what’s going on around you and try to contribute to your community.

Have a wide range of interests. People often like to put you into a category, and if you believe what people say, you may start living a stereotype. You can be a nerd and a jock at the same time. You should be able to enjoy a Red Sox game and the Museum of Fine Arts on the same day. You will never be bored or boring if you have a wide range of interests.

Value family and friends. Family members and friends may not always agree with you or tell you what you want to hear, and they may get on your nerves sometimes. But relationships always take work, and you need to remember good times and bad. Writing off people is not a good way to deal with a relationship, unless the person you are dealing with is clearly not trying and you have done your best at making it work.

Think independently and critically. Don’t always believe what they tell you in the news. Think about why something is happening. Don’t be manipulated into thinking a certain way by the media.

Ken's New Publications

2009-04-29T05:40:00.000-07:00

My husband Ken Liu is a lawyer by day and writer by night. He has some great news about his stories. I will summarize his news and then include links to stories that are available online later in this article.

Two of Ken's stories, "The Algorithms for Love" and "Single-Bit Error," have been translated into Chinese and published in the April issue of SCIENCE FICTION WORLD. With a monthly circulation of around 300,000, SFW is China's (and presumably the world's) most widely read science fiction periodical. These magazines have nice glossy covers, and a glossy centerfold, unlike any other genre fiction magazines I've seen here in the States, where they are mainly printed on cheap pulp. "Algorithms for Love" was also translated into Romanian last year.

"Algorithms for Love" was also included in the anthology, SCIENCE FICTION: STORIES AND CONTEXTS, edited by NYU professor of literature Heather Masri and published at the end of last year. This is one of the first anthologies of science fiction intended for classroom teaching. There are some great stories and context essays in there. Other names in the anthology include H.G. Wells, Ursula LeGuin, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, William Gibson, Robert Silverberg, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ted Chiang, and Connie Willis -- just to name a few to illustrate that he's in good company.

Finally, "Single-Bit Error" was also published this month in THOUGHTCRIME EXPERIMENTS, a new Creative Commons-licensed anthology of fiction and art edited by Sumana Harihareswara and Leonard Richardson.

I am really excited about the publication of "Single-Bit Error" because it is one of my favorite stories, and also because when Ken first wrote it in 2004, he was not able to find a publisher for it. I'm glad he didn't give up.

The THOUGHTCRIME EXPERIMENTS anthology is available on the web, as a print-on-demand book, or as a PDF download:

http://thoughtcrime.crummy.com/2009/

Here's the write-up about THOUGHTCRIME on BoingBoing:

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/04/27/thoughtcrime-experim.html

If you are interested in reading these stories, the links to the English versions are included below:

"Single-Bit Error"
http://thoughtcrime.crummy.com/2009/Error.html

"The Algorithms for Love"
http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040712/algorithms.shtml -- STRANGE HORIZONS, an online sci-fi magazine, is where "Algorithms for Love" was first published in 2004, and other people (including those in Romania and China) read it here first and approached Ken for publication rights.

Ken's previous printed publications are listed below:

*"Beneath the Language" published online as a result of his first prize entry in the online short story contest ON THE PREMISES in July 2007. http://www.onthepremises.com/issue_02/story_02_1.html

*"Algorithms for Love"in YEAR'S BEST SF 10, published in 2005, edited by David G. Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer

*"State Change" in POLYPHONY 4, edited by Deborah Payne and Jay Lake, published in 2004.

*"Gossamer" in WRITERS OF THE FUTURE Volume XIX, 2003. This is an annual contest open to all new writers, and Ken was a finalist.

*"Carthagian Rose" in EMPIRE OF DREAMS AND MIRACLES, The Phobos Science Fiction Anthology, edited by Orson Scott Card and Keith Olexa, 2002.

Ken is also an avid blogger discussing a wide range of topics, including our travels, films, linguistics, politics, race, the law, computer programming, and our cats Apollo and Loki. His website is http://www.kenliu.name.

Duxbury Art Association's Winter Juried Show 2009

2009-02-13T22:54:00.001-08:00

I'm honored to be juried into the Duxbury Art Association 2009 Winter Juried Show with my photograph Rodeo III. The juror for photography was Lou Jones. The show will run from February 8 to April 26th at 186 Alden Street in Duxbury, MA.

Here's the complete list of participants.

Phyllis Adams
Franny Andahazy
Marian C.Atkinson
Sylvana Baracchini
Robin Beckwith
Christina Beecher
Evelyn Bernal
Patricia Berube
James Bird
Janet C. Blagdon
Stephen Boczanowski
Robert Bolster
Kristine Brennen
Dennis Broadbent
Kelly Carmody
Judith Chaves
Lilly Cleveland
Nancy Colella
Jane Flavell Collins
Meredith Wildes Cornell
Michael Coyne
Patricia L. Cullen
Donald Dacier
Deborah Ellen Davies
Susan G. Denniston
Esme YC Disch
Kathy Dixon
Sandra L. Donnellan
Dennis Doyle
Russell du Pont
James F. Earl
Dominic J. Farrell
Georgia Fletcher
Jack Foley
D. Randolph Foulds
Kate Garrity
Linda L.Garrity
Anne Garton
JoAnn Gouzoules
Ellen Gower
Karyn Frances Gray
Michael S.Guertin
Susan Hagstrom
Wendy Hale
Becky Haletky
Stephen Haley
Anne Henning
Stephen H. Holland
June Hollisian
Vin Horrigan
Wilson Hunt, Jr.
Shirley M. Jenkins
Ruth Jensen
Roger Carl Johanson
Susan Kelley
Brooks Kelly
Danguole Rita Kuolas
Andrew Kusmin
Susan LaFevre
Robert Lavery
Eleanor B. Lawson
Priscilla Levesque
David P. Locarno
Jim Lo Piccolo
Jeanne MacFarland
Lisa Mackin
Heidi Mayo
Jan McElhinny
Jeanne McKenna
Margaret McWethy
Michele Meister
Felice Mendell
Dianne Miller
David Monteiro
Mary Moquin
Amy B. Moran
Paul Munroe
Yale S. Nicolls
Ann Marie Oliver-Nickerson
Carol O'Malia
Judy Pollock
Glenn Pollock
Deborah Putnam
Page Railsback
MJ Rest
James J. Richard
Stephanie Roberts-Camello
Rain Rodolph
Betty Rogers
Donna Rossetti-Bailey
Nan Rumpf
Elizabeth M. Ryan
Leigh Ryan
Mary Schiess
Luis Seoane
Marcia Sewall
Katherine Smit
Susan R. Smith
Maureen D. Spinale
Chuck Sullivan
Chuck Tamulynas
Lisa Tang Liu
Anne Tcherepnin
Albert L. Tousignant
Lanci Valentine
Collen Vandeventer
Linda Vopat
Nancy Motley Walton
Tina Watson
Paul Weiner
Susan White
Virginia Wilson
Denise Zompa

ABSTRACTION NOW at the Firehouse Plaza Gallery at Nassau Community College

2009-02-03T20:22:00.000-08:00

I was truly honored to be with 36 other chosen entries to participate in the show ABSTRACTION NOW, juried by Franklin Hill Perrell, Chief Curator at the Nassau County Museum of Art. The show was hosted by the Nassau Community College art department. What a beautiful gallery space it is!

http://firehouse.ncc.edu/current.html

As mentioned before, my painting AMERICAN ICONS 1: 492 DAYS was chosen among over 300 entries from across the US as well as Europe.

My mother took one hour off from her tax-season Saturday to attend the reception this past Saturday. My sister Vivian and brother-in-law Jonathan were also there. I didn't win any prizes, but I was just grateful and honored to have gotten in.

The show was very strong, and here is the list of works presented there:

Donald A. Budd -- Desert Stripes, acrylic.
Marc Deppe -- Spartan, mixed media on paper.
Matt Dibble -- Chased from the Market, oil on canvas.
Cathy Eckdahl -- Medea, gouache/ink.
Sam Faix -- Ten Foot Wall, oil on panel.
Matthew Farina -- Thatch, oil/canvas.
Richard Gachot -- Action-Reaction, animated sculpture. BEST IN SHOW.
Richard Gachot -- Drip, acrylic.
Eric Galandak -- Most, oil.
Richard Garrigus -- August Field, oil on panel.
David Gerlach -- Zephr, steel.
Lawrence Glickman -- Neruda Song 1, acrylic.
William Grabowski -- Celestia, digital photo.
Ruth Hamill -- Ocean Breeze, oil on raw canvas.
Eleanor Himel -- Jones Beach Sunday, acrylic. AWARD OF EXCELLENCE.
Wei-An Huang -- Within and Without #3, acrylic on canvas.
Greg Ike -- Orchid, acrylic on canvas. HONORABLE MENTION AWARD.
Kenneth Kaplowitz -- Adam Names The Fish, pigment print
Peggy Klineman -- The Tree Outside My Building, oil on canvas.
Jon Leach -- Local Commerce, mixed media.
Adrienne Leban -- 5.31.07, mixed media.
Gili Levy -- Piano, oil and paper on canvas.
Jonathan Levy -- Peacock, acrylic on canvas. HONORABLE MENTION AWARD.
Richard Margolies -- Dream Catcher, acrylic.
Milt Masur -- Flowerbed in Anchorage, enamel bas-relief. HONORABLE MENTION AWARD.
Kevin Mertens -- Spider-Rabbit, mixed media on panel. HONORABLE MENTION AWARD.
Puneeta Mittal -- Pluripotent XXXII, oil on panel. AWARD OF EXCELLENCE.
Marcie Paper-- Untitled #103, acrylic on panel.
Rebecca Perez -- Untitled, oil and mixed media.
Susan Reedy -- Graffito, mixed media. HONORABLE MENTION AWARD.
Cheryl Safren -- Rund 'n Rerund, mixed media.
Denise Segreti DiGiovanna -- Sea Life Series: Bat Star, oil.
George V. Sordoni -- Moments G, oil on canvas.
Kenneth Susynski -- Wedding Song, oil on canvas.
Lisa Tang Liu -- American Icons I: 492 Days, oil on canvas.
Grant Vetter -- Fair-Skinned, oil on canvas.
Rachael Wren -- Portent, oil on canvas.

OUTLIERS by Malcolm Gladwell

2009-01-10T15:59:00.000-08:00

Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
Malcolm Gladwell's _Outliers_ is an idea that we are all "products of history and community, of opportunity and legacy."

Bill Gates may be smart, but he was also fortunate that he had the opportunity to have frequent access to a computer when he was as kid, back at a time when very, very few people did. Over a decade ago, Korean Air had the most numerous crash records because of the indirectness and deferential nature of the way the Korean crew communicated with each other, bound by their role-conscious language. But they cleaned their act by recognizing their communication problems and using English to break out of their hierarchical habits. The KIPP School in the Bronx works because they recognize that lower income kids do not learn the same way more privileged ones do outside of school because of the extracurricular activities and abundant books available to them. Outliers are really not all that exceptional if we look them carefully.

We are all dealt a hand at birth, but we'll continued to be presented with different opportunities in our lives. It's a matter of recognizing those opportunities, getting good at what we do by working on them for a minimum of 10,000 hours, and looking into our history to understand who we are in order to correct bad habits. It was generally an uplifting message.

View all my reviews.

Upcoming Shows in Early 2009

2008-12-25T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to announce that my work will appear in four shows in the first quarter of 2009.

Opening first is THE VIEW FROM HERE at Springstep Art Gallery January 15 - April 13, 2009. Medford, MA. As mentioned, this is the first time that photos from my AMERICAN FAMILIES project is being exhibited. The opening reception will be on Thursday, January 15th from 6-8pm.

PHOTO 2009 Black And White Classic at the Brush Art Gallery in Lowell, MA. January 18 - March 15, 2009. This is a show juried by Howard Yezerski, the owner of the prestigious, eponymous gallery that recently moved to Boston's South End. This the first time that my Holga image SHARED FENCE is selected for a juried show. CHAIR IN GHOST TOWN, UTAH was also selected into this show. The opening reception is scheduled for January 31, 2009.

My painting AMERICAN ICONS I: 492 DAYS was selected by Franklin Hill Perrell, the Chief Curator of the Nassau County Museum of Art in Long Island. The show is ABSTRACT NOW: 2009 OPEN COMPETITION at the Nassau Community College's Firehouse Plaza Art Gallery in Garden City, NY. There were over 300 entries from all over the US and Europe, and I got lucky. The show is on from January 20 - March 26, 2009. The opening reception is on Saturday, January 31, from 1-3pm.

Finally, I have a solo exhibit at the Watertown Free Library. I will be showing images from my COWBOYS & RODEOS and PURPLE MOUNTAIN MAJESTIES series. The opening reception and the duration of the show is to be determined.

Springstep to Exhibit AMERICAN FAMILIES

2008-11-23T14:51:00.000-08:00

In a group show opening on January 15th (reception from 6-8pm) at Springstep's art gallery, I will be exhibiting photographs from my AMERICAN FAMILIES series for the first time in public.

BLUE at the Cambridge Art Association

2008-11-23T14:22:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to announce that my Paniolo 1 was selected by Jen Mergel from the ICA Boston to be included in the show BLUE, hosted at the Cambridge Art Association's Kathryn Schultz Gallery at 25 Lowell Street in Cambridge. The show will be up until January 13th.

Here's the full list of participants selected for the show:

Kathryn Schultz Gallery

Jonathan Bechard
Patricia Berube • First Prize
Katharina Chapuis
Andrew Child
Rob Diebboll
Joerg Dressler
Catherine Evans
David Fallon
Helga Felleisen
Suzanne Gainer
Wendy Gedanken
Dena Haden
Ann Forbush Kathy Lobo
Kelly Kerrigan
Julie L'Heureux
David Lang
Rebecca Litt
Madeleine Lord
Nella Lush
Susan Metzger
Steve Miller
Gwen Murphy
Linda Niemann
Suzanne Papin
Gina Picariello
Hugo Porcaro
Sarah Putnam
Beverly Rippel
Andrea Rosenthal
Sarah Rossi
Brenda Steinberg
Lorraine Sullivan
Zsuzsanna Szegedi
Frank Tadley
Lisa Tang Liu
Constantia Thibaut
Dianna Vosburg
William Wexler
Marcia Widenor • Director's Prize
Yefim Zhelezov

University Place Gallery

Rick Berry
Richard Bertman
Scott Bradner
Susan Bregman
Janet Campbell
Alvin Case
Karen Davis
Susan Denniston
May DeViney • Juror's Choice
Kristina Bell Ditullo
John Doyle
Steven Duede
Thomas Durand • Juror's Choice
David Elmes
Merritt Kraft Fletcher
Christian Flynn
Ed Friedman
Jeff Grassie
Don Gurewitz
Ross Harris
Bob Hesse
Becky Holt
Will Holub • Best of Show
Cheryl Jaffe
J.B. Jones
Jurgen Kedesdy
Mary Kostman
Judy Laliberte
Yuri Lipnesh
Sydell Masterman
Anne McNevin
Stephanie Mitchell
Carolyn Newberger
Richard Perkins
Hope Ricciardi
Judith Robinson-Cox
Gloria Ross
David Rossiter
Lia Rothstein
Joan Ryan • Second Prize
Margaret Soltysik-Espanola
Valerie Spain
Amelia Stafford Todd
Ernest Stonebraker
Ted Todd
Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda
Christine Vielmetti Daniloff
Lisa Winant
Pamela Winters
Carol Wontkowski
John Wood
Gregory Wright
Michael Wright
Philip Young
James Zall

Current and Upcoming

2008-05-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

Just a few updates about a couple of shows I'm in or will be in...

The Pen and Brush juried black and white photography show in NYC

, juried by Roy DeCarava.
The Chair, Utah was chosen by DeCarava for the show. Roy DeCarava is a master black and white photographer and a good friend of poet Langston Hughes, with whom he jointly published a book The Sweet Flypaper of Life, chronicling the lives of Harlem residents. This show is located at the Pen and Brush Gallery, 16 East 10th Street in New York City. It'll be up from May 1-25, and the reception is tomorrow May 10th, at 4-6pm. Too bad I'll miss it. My first show in NYC!!!

The Northeast Prize Show, Cambridge, MA.

I just heard the news that my oil painting American Icons I: 492 Days was selected by Nicholas Baume, Chief Curator of the ICA Boston, to be included into the Cambridge Art Association's Northeast Prize show. I was so happy I cried. This show will be up from May 14-June 25, and the reception is on Friday, May 30, from 6-8pm.

Moved into our new place

2008-05-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ken and I moved two weekends ago, and I haven't had the time to blog. But I'm back!

New Show -- Cambridge Art Association: "Interiors/Exteriors"

2008-04-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

The Cambridge Art Association is hosting a new juried show at the Kathryn Schultz Gallery from April 4 through April 29: "Interiors/Exteriors." The juror is James Hull.

And I got in!

Below is a list of exhibiting artists:

Chuck Beisch
Brother Eugene De Lauro
Tom Diaz • Juror's Choice
Catherine Evans
Wally Gilbert
Becky Haletky • Juror's Choice
Fay Hannon
Sirarpi Heghinian Walzer
Bob Hesse • Juror's Choice
Janet Hobbs
Mary Kostman
Simon Lejeune
Bonnie Lerner
Chippa Martin
Trish O'Day
Dana Pearson
Lina LeNeve Pomeroy Tans
Judith Prager
Sheila Rice
Judy Robinson-Cox
Ruth Rosner
Janet Smith
Ernest Stonebraker
Lorraine Sullivan
Zsuzsanna Szegedi • Juror's Choice
Lisa Tang Liu
Adrian Tans
Brenda Van der Beek
Catalina Viejo Lopez de Roda
Karen Weinhaus
Susan Wheelock
Pam Winters
Etta Wolpert
John Wood
James Zall

Stephen Wilkes at The Griffin Museum of Photography

2008-03-31T20:06:00.001-07:00

I am now officially a proud member of the board of directors of the Griffin Museum of Photography in Winchester.

The above image was taken off the Griffin Museum's homepage just moments ago. They just finished their exhibition of Stephen Wilkes' hauntingly beautiful photographs of Ellis Island (second from left above). I thought about blogging this in my new blog, The Aht Blog (visual art found around Boston), but decided against it because I saw it on its last day.

The title of the exhibition was STEPHEN WILKES, ELLIS ISLAND: GHOSTS OF FREEDOM
(January 24 - March 30). The images were created in the dilapidated hospital wing of Ellis Island where few people could access. This was a place where the sick were quarantined, and sadly, many died here, after traveling all the way across the ocean with hopes of a new life in the New World.

Images © Stephen Wilkes

According to Wikipedia, Ellis Island's facility operated from January 1, 1892 to November 12, 1954, which means that it would have been impossible that Chinese immigrants came through here. The Chinese Exclusion Act was in effect from 1882 and was not entirely abolished until 1965 under Lyndon B. Johnson. So, factually speaking, there was no Chinese American heritage associated with Ellis Island. But it doesn't matter. All the same, it is powerfully symbolic as a place for immigrants, me included.

If you've seen my fine art photography work, you'll know that I'm a sucker for decrepit places and objects. I was nearly moved to tears as I toured around the Griffin's main gallery, admiring Stephen Wilkes' work. The large scale of the two pieces pictured was close to life size. They made you feel like you were really there, making the sadness of the hospital almost palpable, as if the spirit of the dead immigrants are there, teleported into the gallery in Winchester.

SPIDER JOHN KOERNER live + film festival

2008-03-26T10:34:00.000-07:00

Come to the Mabray Doc Kountze Festival this Saturday!

The 2008 Doc Kountze Festival will be held on Saturday, March 29th, 2008 from 11 AM to 6 PM at the McGlynn Middle School, located at 3004 Mystic Valley Parkway in Medford, Massachusetts.

Click here to download the map and directions in PDF.

In addition to the live performance by Spider John Koerner, we are honored to present two full-length feature films: SPIDER JOHN KOERNER: BEEN HERE... DONE THAT, produced and directed by Don McGlynn, about renowned traditional folk and country blues artist/guitarist Spider John Koerner, and THE ETERNAL ROAD: AN ENCOUNTER WITH THE PAST, a documentary film by Ron Frank, with music by Kurt Weill arranged and performed by Paul Lehrman. In addition, we will show one short film THE SECRET GARDEN, directed by Sean Carroll. We are also thrilled to have TEA WITH MARY CASSATT, a theatrical performance by local performer Laura Duggan.

My Holga Silver Gelatin Prints on Display

2008-03-24T22:27:00.000-07:00

Tom Yum Koong in Medford (see previous blog entry) has installed 8 pieces of my silver gelatin black and white prints in their restaurant space. These images were created with my Holga camera and developed in the darkroom.

Visit Tom Yum Koong to see my work! 11-13 Forest Street, Medford, MA 02155.

Tom Yum Koong Restaurant Celebrates 2nd Anniversary w/ New Dining Room

2008-03-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today marks the second anniversary of the grand opening of Tom Yum Koong, a Thai restaurant in Medford Square. Restaurateur Tom Daranuwat and his family opened Tom Yum Koong in 2006 with just takeout and delivery service. But due to popular demand by a loyal client base, they converted the space next door (former space for 13FOREST Gallery - now in Arlington) into an intimate, comfortable dining room with a contemporary feel.

What makes Tom Yum Koong stand out among the myriad Thai restaurants in the Greater Boston area? Let’s start with the name. Tom yum koong is a traditional Thai soup dish with made with young coconut, fresh shrimp and herbs and spices with a spicy, tangy flavor. According to Daranuwat, no one else in Boston makes Tom Yum Koong in the authentic manner the way they do. Tom Yum Koong Restaurant is about presenting fresh, authentic Thai dishes to the general American audience while still offering different innovative new dishes. The Daranuwat family had years of restaurant experience in Bangkok and they take pride in their craft.

Tom Yum Koong is also known for their great service in the past for takeout and delivery. Daranuwat knows his loyal customers and understands their taste. In their new sit-in dining service, you will not be disappointed by the equal attentiveness of their staff. The dining room menu has a larger selection than the takeout menu and includes house specialties, such as “Seafood Hot Pot” and “Soft-shelled Crab with Yellow Curry.”

Tom Yum Koong’s dining room seats 38 people and can host parties in its intimate space. Their beer and wine license is pending.

What's more, they'll be displaying my artwork in their restaurant soon! Stay tuned...

The address of Tom Yum Koong is 11 Forest Street, Meford, MA 02155. You can take a look at their partial (takeout) menu online at www.tomyumkoong.net. Phone: 781.393.0888; fax: 781.393.8488. The restaurant is opened 7 days a week, 11am-10pm.

13FOREST Gallery's New Arlington Space

2008-03-06T09:16:00.001-08:00

Visit Marc Gurton's new space for 13FOREST Gallery in Arlington! It's at 167A Mass Ave, right near Flora Restaurant and the Capitol Theatre. I have a few pieces in there too! http://www.13forest.com

Pigmentia Website Has a New Look

2008-01-31T06:56:00.000-08:00

I've decided to rebuild Pigmentia Photography's website using RapidWeaver on the Mac. This application may actually cause me to make the switch.

Check it out at www.pigmentia.com

Joel and Maya's Plant

2008-01-23T14:43:00.000-08:00

I photographed this plant a while back. We were plant-sitting for Joel and Maya and had forgotten to water the plant for a few days... We watered it and it was rehydrated within a few hours.

The Hot Asian Bitch Stereotype

2008-01-21T00:53:00.000-08:00

Once in a while, I like a good action flick. "Live Free Or Die Hard" lives up to its predecessors in its thrilling plot and special effects. However, one thing really put a damper on it. I was really annoyed by the stereotypical hot Asian female villain played by Maggie Q. Normally, I would be slightly miffed, but in this case, John McClane (Bruce Willis) actually calls her a "hot Asian bitch." This really made me mad. Today, I don't think Hollywood will ever have a line in a movie calling a woman a "hot black bitch" or a "hot Hispanic bitch." But they somehow can get away with calling someone a "hot Asian bitch." Is it because Asians let them? We're easy to pick on? Then I began to get mad at Maggie Q and other actresses (including Lucy Liu) who have taken on similar roles in the past.

There is a very negative stereotype of Asian women propagated by Hollywood, and what makes me uncomfortable is that I'm not sure if many Asian American women recognize just how negative this stereotype is. While there are "hot" Asian female roles out there, they are rarely ever the heroine--frequently mere objects or seductresses. Asian American women should not be flattered by the "hot" part of the image and really think about the implication of the entire pigeonhole that Hollywood created for us.

Dead Raccoon

2008-01-10T06:48:00.001-08:00

I found a dead raccoon in our backyard this morning. Rabies? Poison? I haven't figured out what to do with it yet. I called the local health department and am waiting for a call back...

Latest updates. Well, the health department can't do anything about it because it's on private property. I may have to summon up the courage to take a shovel and put the body into a double-layered bag later...

The Martha Rules

2008-01-09T21:03:00.001-08:00

Every time Ken and I go on a road trip, I try to check out an audio book from the local public library so we can keep ourselves entertained while driving.

I love Martha Stewart. I bought a copy of The Martha Rules, her business advice book when it first came out, but I never had a chance to read it. So, I jumped at the chance to check out the audio version, read by Martha herself, when I saw it on the shelf. Ken was not interested in listening to it, but I ended up downloading it onto my iPod and listening to the whole thing over several sessions of cooking and doing dishes.

Martha Stewart is just an amazing person. She was a fashion model in her teens (she's still very beautiful). Eventually, she became a stock broker, then a real estate agent, a celebrity caterer, and now a multi-media mogul.

She wrote this book shortly after she came out of prison, and it was candid, heartfelt, and full of very useful, practical advice. I wished I had read (or listened to) this book before I started my own business (of course that was before she had written it). Martha never tried to justify the reason why she went to prison, but in my humble opinion, she was wrongly punished. There are economists (like the late Milton Friedman) who believe that there is nothing wrong with making a stock trade based on "insider" knowledge about a company. But never mind that. The book was not about any of this. Martha shares with us her guiding principles in running a business and gave many interesting anecdotal examples from her own life as well as business owners across a wide range of industries, from celebrity hair stylist Eva Scrivo to Microsoft's Bill Gates.

Martha seems to be a tough but fair boss who nurtures her employees. Her book was sprinkled generously and affectionately with names of former protegées who became independent business owners themselves.

Mentioned in the Boston Globe today

2007-12-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

I was mentioned in an article in the Boston Globe today. It featured one of my photos as well, though I just realized that my name is not credited in the caption... The article is about our last show in the Medford Square space at 13FOREST Gallery before moving to Arlington.

Here is the article!

Blogging about blogging and other recent web activities

2007-12-18T19:31:00.001-08:00

There must be a verb for pinching contacts of your contacts from networking websites like Facebook... I can speak frankly about this because I know Jeff D'Urso does not read my blog :-) Jeff and I have been stealing each other's contacts off both Facebook and LinkedIn. This is pretty obvious because when I add a new contact we both know, he will soon add him/her as his contact, and vice versa. If you log in as either me or Jeff, you'll find that we'll have about a page full of shared contacts. I've known Jeff since college, and he introduced me to my first job out of college (even though he left the company before I even started). After I moved back to the US from Japan, I worked for Jeff's startup company. I'm now back in touch with people I haven't spoken to in 15 years. Hurray for technology.

I want to spend a few moments meta-blogging. I must confess that I am not 100% comfortable blogging. Now that I know some people actually read my blog, I have to be more careful about editing. It's so different from writing in a diary. In blogging, you obviously want the public to read what you are saying, and so what you say will have to be more controlled. It is quite a bit more constraining than writing in a diary, in which you won't have to worry about proper grammar or looking like an idiot about what you're saying. A blog has to be somewhat of a essay. If you are simply reporting what you've done today, then that's just plain boring.

I know people who don't want to keep a blog for fear that it will reflect poorly on their professional lives. This is understandable, I suppose, especially if you plan on becoming a politician. Even though I'm an artist and can have the luxury to speak my mind more freely, I still have to be careful about what I say, especially any frustration I might have felt during my career photographing weddings (eh-hem, if there was any frustration, that is).

I'd like to blog more regularly in 2008. Hopefully, I can learn to conquer my ADD enough to sit and write extensively on a given topic.

Upcoming Exhibit

2007-12-15T19:00:00.000-08:00

I'll be showing my work with Sand T and Sophie Glikson at TV3 in Medford from January 10 - February 10. This is going to be a very exciting show, as we are all very different artists.

I have never shown so many black and white pieces in one show, and I'm looking forward to it.

Snow in Boston

2007-12-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

I'm feeling very depressed about having to dig my car out. Just waiting for the caffeine to kick in my bloodstream before starting the task.

My Daemon

2007-12-10T22:04:00.001-08:00

Hmmm... It's interesting that my daemon animal is the same as Lord Asriel's in the Golden Compass... Not sure if that's good or bad. Ken's daemon is also a large cat.

Free Food for Millionaires

2007-11-20T20:43:00.001-08:00

Even though I've read quite a few new nonfiction books recently, it has been over a year since I last read a great novel. I am happy that my time was well spent on Free Food for Millionaires, the 560-page debut by Min Jin Lee.

I first heard about this book when Min Jin Lee was being interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air. I was impressed by the poise and ease with which she answered difficult questions posed to her, particularly those by an angry Korean American young man insisting that there is no racism toward Asian Americans in the United States.

I was also amused by the title. Strangely enough, the first thing that came to my mind was the episode of the Sopranos in which Ben Kingsley made a cameo appearance. The episode shows how movie stars are offered many free things by the luxury hotel they stay in. It is true: in America, you get many more freebies when you are wealthy.

In a nutshell, Free Food for Millionaires is about a young Korean American woman who just graduated from Princeton in the early 90's and is searching for a way to support her lifestyle that revolves around designer fashion and accessories in New York City. This story is more similar to Candace Bushnell's Trading Up and William Makepeace Thackeray's Vanity Fair than to any Amy Tan books--thank God. The Asian American writers (all Chinese American women until Min Jin Lee) I've read tend to focus so much on emotions around identity that they feel hollow after a while. Min Jin Lee's novel is full of rich layers that address everyday issues that Korean immigrants and their children encounter -- money, status, Christianity, and family. Identity certainly plays an important role in the book, but it is done with little self-consciousness. Casey Han is searching for an identity, but she is searching for it through money, status, religion, and family, not her race. Yet, I could always sense that she is proud of her Korean heritage throughout the story. Min Jin Lee's talent in crafting this truly American novel with such integrity is remarkable.

One of my husband's biggest complaints about Chinese American women writers is that they often unfairly portray Chinese or Chinese American men as terrible people. Min Jin Lee does not do that here, but she is Korean and not Chinese. Every character in the novel has very human flaws, and she has been fair in her depictions of women and men, Korean or otherwise. Casey is not opposed to interracial marriage, but neither is she partial to courting only non-Korean men.

Another aspect of this story that really struck me is Casey's struggle with her faith. In the beginning of the story, Casey claims that she is agnostic, but everyday, she opens up the bible to copy down a passage that she either dislikes or does not understand. As she drifts through her life in a materialistic world, she finds ground in spirituality.

The most judgmental are the most afraid of being judged themselves. Forgiveness and grace are among my favorite themes in the story.

The ICA, No Name Restaurant, and the Boston Fish Pier

2007-11-08T10:54:00.000-08:00

I became a member of the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Art) recently, and I decided to go back with my friend Bénédicte to see the current exhibit DESIGN LIFE NOW in the West Gallery (through January 6, 2008). This show has some of the best designs from 2003-2006 across many industries. This is my second visit to the show and I still haven't seen everything. The membership at the ICA is definitely worth it. I will go back again with Ken and my cousins this weekend, and possibly again sometime with my former assistant Stephen.

I discovered the No Name Restaurant recently in the process of photographing my client's wedding. What wonderful fish and chips! For those who don't know about the No Name Restaurant, it's located right on the Fish Pier, meaning that the fish is completely fresh, of course. I felt like having a beer today, and I ordered a Budweiser Select, just out of curiosity. A terrible mistake. It's a little more flavorful than club soda. Bénédicte enjoyed the meal with a Harpoon ale. She has a few more months in Boston before returning to France, and she said she would bring her husband Nicolas back to the restaurant.

Finally, a word about the fresh fish from the pier. About a year ago, I blogged about grocery shopping in Boston, and coincidentally, today I was contacted by a David Barkay in Montreal who actually read my blog entry (check out David Barkay's blog). I've been meaning to add to that entry regarding my recent find about the fish, and now I'm motivated to do so.

I have stopped buying fish from supermarkets in Boston. I am so spoiled by the fish at the fish pier that there is no reason to buy from the supermarkets. The seafood companies are mainly wholesalers, but they will sell retail if you ask for something they have. I just bought 4 lbs of bluefish from Bramante Seafood yesterday and roasted 2 lbs in the oven last night with ginger and spiced salt (a mixture of cayenne, paprika, and salt). My mouth is still watering at the thought of last night's dinner.

Now back to work...

Joyce Tenneson at the Griffin Museum of Photography

2007-07-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

My friend Bénédicte and I went to see Joyce Tenneson speak at the Griffin Museum tonight. The show is up through August 12,

Joyce kicked off the talk with a couple of Powerpoint slideshows, the first of which was a selection of images from her new book, a retrospective of four decades' worth work.

As she got up to speak at the end of the slideshows, she welled up with tears over the images from her Wise Women series featuring women over 65. The late Jessica Tandy was one of them. Joyce has always photographed from the heart, and she got to know some of these women very well in preparation of her portraits of them. She loved them and wanted to be close friends with them. She explained that she got emotional over them because it was the first time she looked at the slideshow on a big screen with music like this.

She apologized, but of course, we more than forgive her. We just love her that much more for getting emotional. Well, I'm speaking for myself at least.

Wise Women happens to be my favorite body of work by Joyce Tenneson, and I was happy that she was so attached to it. It's her least stylized body of work because she really wanted the women's characters to speak for themselves, and so there weren't any special backgrounds that may distract the viewer from the subject. Pretty young starlets will please the vast majority of the public no matter how poorly you photograph them. Being able to distill the inner beauty from an older woman is something only a master artist like Joyce can do. It's likely that a young male will look at this body of work and say that he has no interest in viewing, but young, shallow boys are irrelevant here. Wise Women will only speak to other wise women, women seeking wisdom, and maybe a few worthy wise men.

The session was then opened to Q&A. I learned the process by which she used to mount her large flower images.

Ken's new short story

2007-07-10T17:52:00.000-07:00

My husband Ken won another writing contest recently. The story "Beneath the Language" is now published at http://www.onthepremises.com/issue_02/story_02_1.html

You can see another of Ken's published stories "Algorithms for Love" at Strange Horizons.

StoryLINES at artSPACE@16 in Malden

2007-05-28T08:57:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been to http://artspaceat16.com/currentexhibition.htm's new show, go see it before it closes on June 9th. It features sculptures by Pamela Sheridan, paintings by Sam Tan, and photography by Brian Doan.

I stopped by this show for the first time two Thursdays ago and was immensely moved by Brian Doan's large format photographs of Vietnamese Americans in his series Dreamland, particularly one of a Vietnamese American young man in a U.S. Army uniform. This young man is now deployed in Iraq. Blurred in the background of this portrait is a movie poster of Apocalpyse Now.

I felt such strong emotions when I looked at this photograph because Asian Americans always have the need to prove to the rest of America that we are Americans, and the Vietnamese American soldier's portrait is great proof. And of course, the allusion to the Vietnam War just a few decades ago reminds us how once again America is "fighting for democracy" today, but it is just that much more poignant that this young Vietnamese American man, whose parents probably came to the U.S. as refugees from the Vietnam War, is now risking his life for the U.S. government for another war.

Upon browsing through his website and seeing more samples of his work, it struck me how Brian's subjects all display a sense of their own dignity. The rarity of any Asian Americans portrayed with dignity in photographs is astounding. Asian American women are often stereotyped as sex objects in commercial photographs, and Asian American men are either ignored, or portrayed as effeminates. And sadly, oftentimes Asian Americans themselves pertetuate and reinforce such stereotypes. Brian's work is very important to the whole Asian American community and in getting a voice out to the larger American society, not just Vietnamese Americans.

I returned to artSPACE@16 to meet Brian during the artist talk on May, 24th. Brian was an engineer who decided to become a full-time artist, to the dismay of his parents and others around him. Vietnamese immigrant parents, like Chinese immigrant parents, all wish for their kids to have a steady job that earns a lot of money.

Pam Sheridan was not an abstract artist until she was diagnosed with cancer (from which she is now recovered fortunately). Here, on the left, you can see details from one of her sculptures Paradox at artSPACE. The sculpture is about 5 feet in height and is made entirely of intricately woven barbed wires, colored threads and painted spherical shapes.

I had come across Sam Tan's paintings about a year ago in Arlington. His works are often characterized by two juxtaposing patterns and very bright, often complementary colors. In this current show (shown on right), his paintings from the Mindful Landscapes series employ cadmium orange and cobalt teal acrylic paints -- ultra intense, complementary colors in their pure forms. Sam wove them into webs of abstract shapes that remind the viewers of arteries and organs and their own mortality.

Sand T has once again put together another extraordinary show.

2007 Best Boston Photographer CitySearch Editorial Award

2007-04-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Woohoo! I was chosen by the editor at CitySearch as the 2007 Best Boston Photographer! http://boston.citysearch.com/profile/35815924

Ecotopia at the International Center of Photography

2006-12-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

One of the reasons for my extended stay in New York is to see the art shows in town. On the top of my list was the International Center of Photography. And since I'm now a member at the Griffin Museum in Winchester, I get free admission. The current show at the ICP is a group show called Ecotopia on view through January 7, 2007. The biggest attraction for me to see this show was Catherine Chalmers, a photographer whose interest is primarily of ecology. I was introduced to her work by Ken, who gave me a copy of her book Food Chain. As I was doing some digging online just now, I found out that Chalmers' work can be seen at the current DeCordova exhibition Going Ape: Confronting Animals in Contemporary Art, on view until January 7th as well.

Ecotopia was one of the best photography shows I've seen. It showcases the work of 40 photographers around the theme of nature and our interactions with nature. Certainly there were subthemes that I expected -- the destructions of nature by humans. But there are also more subtle and neutral subthemes about the natural order of things in nature. Catherine Chalmers' exhibition piece turned out to be a short film rather than still photography. The film depicts a cockroach's emergence from a body of water, his journey through the woods, and eventually his demise by becoming prey to a frog.

I was also excited to find out that among the 40 participating in the show was Wang Qingsong. His website always seems to be too busy to load, and so I suspect he's doing very well. In an issue of Aperture Magazinen this year I had first seen Wang's work Come, Come, three staged images depicting waves of political protestors and the irony that they leave behind a mess of abandoned banners and other garbage--all this angry concern about China's polical future while neglecting the environment. Wang's work is full of irony and challenges herd mentality. He's one of the most refreshing contemporary Chinese artists who made his name known internationally. Most Chinese artists with international exhibits have a tendency to reinforce western stereotypes about China, while much of Wang's work is about Chinese identity and integrity in the face of globalization and commercialism.

"Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006" at the MFA in Boston

2006-12-17T17:07:00.000-08:00

I'm a few weeks behind on my blog, but here is my attempt to capture a few thoughts.

Being a member of the MFA, I had free tickets to the current exhibit, "Fashion Show: Paris Collections 2006." Ken has no interest in fashion shows, and so I invited Sand T, who had been a fashion designer a one point in Malaysia, to come with me.

I couldn't tell what this show was about before I entered the Gund Gallery, and so I had very little expectation in mind. It really turned out to be literally a representation of the Fall/Winter collection of the Paris fashion show which took place in July, featuring ten designers: Azzedine Alaia, Hussein Chalayan, Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel, John Galliano for Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Maison Martin Margiela, Olivier Theyskens for Rochas, Valentino, Viktor & Rolf, and Yohji Yamamoto.

There are a couple of things that struck me most about this exhibition. First, I had never thought of fashion as fine art, but what really is fine art? After all, there are those who argue that photography is not fine art. Does it really matter? Not to be cynical, but I suppose it becomes fine art if a curator at the MFA decides to call it fine art. Admittedly, some of these pieces are truly works of art. One of the solid silver-plated wedding dresses by Viktor & Rolf looks more like a sculpture or an armor. Some of the Chanel dresses literally feature hundreds of hours of hand-sewn sequin work. But this is in line with the

Secondly, the last display screen right before the exit scrolling Q & A about fashion shows, most of which were specifically about the haute couture Paris fashion shows, was wonderful as an educational tool. I read my share of Vogue in my early twenties, but I had never known that haute couture was a official class of designers designated by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture of the French government. Upon knowing this, I couldn't help but snickered a bit. Of course the French government would regulate this as they would wines. And unless you're really in tune with the fashion industry, you're going ask the question: Do people really wear some of this stuff? The simple answer is: if there is a demand. Fashion buyers, the press, and celebrities are the main audience of the fashion shows. If there is a demand from the buyers, the designers would be willing to make them into ready-to-wear.

As a personal response, my favorite collection was the Olivier Theyskens for Rochas, which feautures an updated version of the industrial Victorian look--consisting of gray and black ensembles that I can see myself wearing if I had the money. I really don't like the John Galliano for Christian Dior collection as wearable items -- to which Sand T remarked, "People are not wearing these clothes; these clothes are wearing people. There's no respect for the human body." The idea of this collection is supposed to be an edgy combination of the Marquis de Sade and the French Revolution inspired by Hollywood. I found the execution of it heavy-handed, gimmicky, and pretentious. Dresses are imprinted or embroidered with the face of Marie Antoinette and words like egalité and liberté were strewn all over fabric. And, of course, there was plenty of black leather.

All in all, I like the show. But I can't help but dwell on my ever-persisting dichotomy between commercial and fine art. I am uncomfortable when others point out this distinction in the field of photography, but I do it myself. Bad habit. I have to remind myself that it really doesn't matter as long as I like it.

Here are some other interesting links about this show: http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1124/p11s01-alar.html

http://www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2006/11/12/12fashion2art/

Car Accident

2006-11-27T21:43:00.000-08:00

There are probably more sleepy drivers on the road than drunken drivers. I was hit by one of them last Tuesday up in Danvers. It was around 3:45 during rush hour on 128 North. I was on my way to a shoot up in Beverly. Traffic in both lanes was sluggish (about 25 mph). Then, out of nowhere, I heard a sound in back of me, and before I knew it, a white Toyota Camry pried between the two lanes at about 30 mph and tapped me on my left front wheel and bounced off to the green Saturn in front of me, smashing it up pretty badly. It seemed to have sped up as it moved forward until it hit a pickup truck. An old man emerged from the white Camry and confessed that he fell asleep at the wheel.

Lowell & the Lowell Photography Weekend

2006-11-16T20:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend (November 11 and 12) was the Lowell Photography Weekend, which involved five participating galleries and their respective photography-related exhibitions. I visited Lowell mainly because of the Photo2006 Black and White Classic exhibition, where my one piece "View from Ladder" was displayed in the back section. The juror of the exhibition was Ron Rosenstock, who had studied with Paul Caponigro and Minor White for a number of years. The selected works were really, really wonderful. I can honestly say that I loved and admired every single piece there (and I was damned lucky to have gotten one piece in!). When you first walk into the gallery, four of Paul Wainwright's stunning pieces from his Spirals series (pictured above) are directly in front of you. I believe some of the prints in this show are not on his website. Paul Wainwright is the juror for the exhibition closing this Saturday November 18 at artSPACE@16, called PROOF: in Black and White (see my previous blog post). The Lowell Brush Gallery show is really wonderful, but its lack of publicity is a shame. I can't find an image for it on the web, but Meg Birnbaum's "Cowgirl" is a very memorable image. Meg's work is also exhibited at artSPACE@16. Another familiar name in this exhibit from PROOF is Silke Hase. I wished I could remember more names and I wished there is an updated page on The Brush Gallery's website, but there isn't. I understand that it's a volunteer-run organization and that website updates are not easy (I neglect mine all the time and do not update this very blog often enough), but one could only imagine that it must be difficult for the press to publish any content on it without even any information on WHO are in the show. I tried to obtain postcards for the show, but there were none left when I dropped off my work... *sigh* The biggest disappointment was that the juror Ron Rosenstock was not there during the opening reception. This show really is fantastic, but as far as I know, it didn't make it into the Globe. It runs until January 7th at the Brush Gallery.

My husband Ken and friends Joel and Maya accompanied me through all but one of the participating galleries at the Lowell Photography Weekend. Ken and I had visited Lowell for a Dar Williams concert over the summer one evening, but we had never walked around Lowell before. And I believe it was the first visit for Joel and Maya. I was surprised at how many museums and galleries there were in Lowell. The Whistler House Museum of Art has some good quality work exhibited in its main member's exhibition and its digital photography exhibition in the outer gallery and is worth visiting. On our way to the various galleries, we stopped by the Revolving Museum. The installation piece in the lobby and the kitchen walls filled with painted matzohs are some of its most impressive features. The current exhibition is "Race, Class, Gender ≠ Character." It's an interesting theme. One video installation that I almost didn't pay attention to turned out to be the most poignant piece to me. I think the title was "After the Smile." It candidly captures different groups of tourists posing for someone else's camera in front of some popular tourist attraction. When the posed shot is over the smile immediately fades and are often replaced by frowns, annoyance, or dejectedness. The Revolving Museum has one of the better websites of the above mentioned galleries and museums in Lowell.

The revitalized Lowell is a beautiful place with many old mills converted into modern luxury condos and museums. One can see that much money has been raised to make it beautiful, but how does it keep running as a self-sustaining economy? Does UMass Lowell offer enough consumers for its retail businesses? Are there enough art collectors and buyers to frequent its many museums and galleries?

PROOF: In Black and White, artSPACE@16 in Malden

2006-11-05T08:54:00.000-08:00

I've mentioned the current show PROOF: In Black and White several times in my blogs, but I haven't actually taken the time to talk about my thoughts on the show itself, artSPACE@16, nor Sand T -- the phenomenal artist, gallery founder and director.

Let's talk about the show itself. PROOF: In Black and White is a juried exhibition (for those not familiar with the term -- it means that the participating artworks are chosen by a juror, who is often an expert on the subject--in this case, photography). The juror is Paul Wainwright, a traditional black and white large format (referring those old large cameras that you use with a black cloth over your head) photographer. The requirement to enter the show is that traditional film and darkroom processing must be used to produced these images. On the jury day, Paul went around and picked the pieces judging solely on their artistic merit and without seeing the artists' names.

When I dropped off my work, I knew I had tough competition. The caliber of the work present was very impressive. And on the opening of the show, I felt immensely honored to be exhibiting my work among such wonderful photographs--and I learned a lot of their wonderful techniques. Here are some of artists with the most striking pieces and unique techniques. Paul Weiner's work shown here is one of them. He used a large format camera set on long exposure and flashed a flashlight over the room to draw patterns on the wall.

Chris Yeager's medium format studio portrait of singer-songwriter Rose Polenzani is shown on the left.

Silke Hase's Holga image (shown here on right) gives me new inspiration to try a Holga.

Erik Hansen's (left) abstract long/double exposure of a model set up in his studio.

Robert William Streeter prints and processes a single image with multiple negatives--American Sarum is shown below right.

Elsa Campbell (left) brushed developer onto silver gelatin paper, instead of putting it into a developer bath as you would normally, thereby creating a unique print every time.

Now about the gallery artSPACE@16 and Sand T... This is the fourth show I've attended there, though it's the first time I'm exhibiting. For first time visitors who don't know anything about the place, they are often shocked to find that it is a converted garage in a secluded residential neighborhood in Malden. It's a hidden gem and well worth the trek. Sand T had pretty much converted her garage into a gallery using her own pocket money and created such professional exhibitions that got wonderful media attention. It is rated in the Boston Globe as one of the best galleries by Raphaela Platow, curator at the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis University. Sand T has worked tirelessly for years to bring this sort of attention to artSPACE@16. One can only imagine the struggle. Oh, did I mention that she doesn't even ask for commissions from her artists who make a sale??? I was flabbergasted when I heard this. She says she'll only hope for donations from the artists, and I can only hope that the artists know about this donation policy. Having just had a one-year project of a gallery myself (what was Pigmentia Gallery in Medford is now run by Marc Gurton and renamed 13FOREST Gallery), I know how tough it is to juggle the show schedules, getting money and time to have exhibitions. I am relieved that I'm on the other side now, but it certainly gives me a special appreciation for the gallery directors who put together shows for us -- and the commissions are justified.

As a person, Sand T is warm, generous, helpful and embracing to all artists around her. She is resourceful and can literally build walls and pedestals, paint and do anything to make any space look like a museum. When I first opened Pigmentia Gallery, Sand T introduced herself to me and connected me to not only the Malden art community but many artist communities all over Massachusetts. She is a very talented artist in her own right, though I know it must be hard to find time to do her own work with so many exhibitions going on. From this link you can see some of her work: http://www.artspaceat16.com/sandt.htm. Sand T crosses many media disciplines. She's an installation artist, sculptor, painter, and photographer. Just spend five minutes with her and you'll feel energized.

13FOREST Gallery

2006-11-05T07:38:00.000-08:00

For those of you who don't know this, Marc Gurton, my accountant/business partner has taken on the gallery space and started 13FOREST Gallery. The gallery has expanded its inventory to include many "beautiful, functional things" such as ceramic, glass, and fabric work by local artists and craftsmen. His grand opening yesterday was a great success. We're working on bringing his products online to help him expand the business beyond Medford Square.

Julie Thacker and Chris Yeager

2006-11-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

I was supposed to be in NYC this weekend trying on bridesmaid's dresses for my sister's wedding. I got sick and just couldn't make it through a 5-hour drive yesterday. So now I'm home.

At SandT's b&w juried exhibit PROOF, I had the pleasure of meeting a very interesting couple -- Chris Yeager and Julie Thacker. Chris is a wonderful portraitist who is exhibiting at the same show (See Chris's work here at http://www.chrisyeager.com/new/slides/), and Julie is a writer (her website is http://www.juliathacker.com/).

I just read Julie's short story "The Funeral of the Man Who Wasn't Dead Yet." It is the first half of a novella currently published on AGNI, and it is beautiful.

There are several things that struck me about the story. The story wasn't actually about the actual funeral at all, but it was more about HOW this funeral came to be. Our anti-hero Houston Webb can be seen simultaneously as both a narcissistic womanizer and a freedom-loving spirit who misses his roots back in the Kentucky mountains. I dislike him but sympathize at the same time (it's hard to make a reader feel that way). Houston has moved to urban Ohio to make a living, but he's out of place there. He has high aims to be like Honest Abe and makes small gestures to be a father figure, but does not live up to his own expectations. He seems to want a funeral while he is alive so people can say nice things about him and give him affirmations about being a good person, not unlike how he needs the constant affirmations from Lana about everything he does. Another fascinating element is the setting of post-WWII America (late 50's/early 60's?), where women's roles changed drastically. Lana is progressive enough to divorce her first husband, but she's also human and needs love and companionship, which she hopes to find in Houston. And in order to make him happy, she succumbs to his temperamental mood swings and demands, even at the sacrifice of her children's happiness. Even though the setting is several decades back in time, the characters and their problems are timeless.

Grocery Shopping around Greater Boston

2006-10-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

I had a moment of insight yesterday about grocery shopping around the greater Boston area--mainly Medford and Watertown, between which I spend most of my time.

My favorite grocery store over is Russo's in Watertown on Pleasant Street. Much of their produce is super fresh from New England farms. The prices are generally lower than the Stop & Shop right next door. You can even buy Chinese green leafy vegetables like snow pea tendrils and yu choy there. In the back room where they keep leafy vegetables, they have racks full of slightly older produce for a GREAT discount. It's not unusual to walk home with 2 lbs of vine ripe tomatoes for just $1 or 4 lbs of bananas for $0.59 (great for banana bread), but you would have to expect to throw out a couple in the package or just cut out bad parts with a knife.

I try to get fish once a week, and it's become so expensive almost everywhere. There are still a couple of places to get very fresh fish for a relatively low price. The Chinese supermarket chain Super88 in Malden, Allston, and South Boston all have fresh fish (you can usually look at the clarity of the eyes and tell). Some are even live and swimming in tanks (like the tilapia and eel). They also carry a larger variety that are seldom or never seen at Stop & Shop. I rarely buy meat at the Super88, but the fish is definitely fresh -- probably not fresh enough for sushi, but great for grilling.

For sushi grade fish, stop by either the Korean grocery store in Union Square or the Japanese grocery store Kotobukiya in Porter Square -- some of the fish may be frozen -- but if they're labeled as sashimi or sushi, then they're safe to eat raw. Their prices vary, but sometimes I think they're even better than Wild Oats, Whole Foods, or even Stop and Shop.

Wild Oats and Whole Foods (and sometimes Stop&Shop) have sushi grade fish -- I would and had in the past made sushi with fish from these places. However, they are definitely NOT considered inexpensive.

The worst salmon I've ever bought came from Foodmaster -- I had to throw it out because it smelled awful -- and I eat fish the same day I buy it.

BJ's also has great prices on very fresh fish and seafood -- if you don't mind buying a large quantity. HOWEVER, fruits are generally not fresh at BJ's -- I often find rotten moldy pieces whenever I buy a case or bag.

The best and cheapest meat can be found at McKinnon's in Somerville's Davis Square. They also have some farm produce (though it cannot compete with Russo's in that area).

I hated Foodmaster until I tasted their fresh baked Italian and French breads. I think they really have the best fresh baked bread there -- surprisingly!

Eventful weekend

2006-10-22T23:54:00.000-07:00

I shot the last wedding of the season with Matt on Saturday. This morning, I tried to meet up with my clients at the gallery, but they didn't come, and so I stayed to help Marc out with his prep for the soft grand opening. Marc really did a great job on collecting some really wonderful and unique items in a very short time frame.

Ken and I each made three small watercolor paintings -- they were a really good exercise and I'm going to try to run them by Marc to see if he'd like to sell them. Mine are shown above.

We also went to see The Science of Sleep -- a good film overall but with a weak ending that is more depressing than Charlie Kaufman's other screenplays.

Got into another juried show!!! Woohoo!

2006-10-20T22:22:00.000-07:00

I got accepted into another juried black and white photography show. This one is in Lowell at The Brush Gallery juried by Ron Rosenstock, who had studied under Minor White. When I dropped off the entries in person earlier this week, it was my second time ever visiting Lowell -- the first being the Dar Williams concert back in August. I was amazed at how beautiful Lowell is. The city really spent a lot of money reviving it. The art and culture there is really impressive.

The entry that was accepted was "View from Ladder" from the Anasazi Ruins series. When I took this image, it was a very significant moment for me, as I am deathly afraid of heights. This ladder was the top of a very long series of ladders that led to the cave dwellings of the Anasazis in what is now the Bandelier National Monument in New Mexico. I almost chickened out of climbing the ladders, but my husband Ken coached me through it. And so, if it weren't for all his encouragement, this image would never have come into being.

On Fat

2006-10-19T12:03:00.000-07:00

Where does fat go when a person goes on a diet and loses weight?

Last wedding of the season this weekend!

2006-10-19T10:56:00.000-07:00

So, my wedding season is wrapping up for the year. I'm thrilled that
I'll get a break, finally!

This year has been the busiest year I've had since I became a photographer professionally. I have also made a lot of progress in my career in fine art too. While I'm a little sad that I had to give up my gallery, I'm also tremendously relieved that I will have more time to devote to really creating and marketing my own fine art. I found out this Monday that I was accepted into a black and white film photography show at artSPACE@16 in Malden, juried by large format, black and white photographer Paul Wainwright. I'm really thrilled because it's quite an honor.

2006-10-09T22:45:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling very restless, running around so much that I had not had the time to sit down and reflect the happenings in my life. I realized that I hadn't posted a blog since July.

I'm looking forward to the end of wedding season, which would officially end after October 21st for me, but then the album rush starts... The Columbus weekend was pretty productive, as I got some client work done, as well as my own new fine art website.

Well, a lot has happened between July and now. For one thing, we spent two weeks traveling to Alaska and Seattle, and I think I shot about 10 weddings since then. I also read 4 more books, which brings the book count for this year to 12. They are NEVER LET ME GO, MORTGAGES FOR DUMMIES, SILK, and CLOUD ATLAS. I'm currently in the middle of FREAKONOMICS and GETTING THINGS DONE. I also have to read THE EMPEROR'S CHILDREN for my book club next week.

2006-07-18T20:13:00.000-07:00

I finished reading my 8th book of the year -- Intuition by Allegra Goodman. I'll talk about this later because the heat is just too unbearable right now.

2006-07-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Wedding in Narragansett, RI this weekend.

I shot a wonderful wedding yesterday in Narragansett, RI. After so many days of rain, it was wonderful to have a clear weekend. Luckily, there were some nice clouds in the sky to diffuse shadows, creating some very dramatic portraits by the sea. AND incredibly, in the evening around 7:30 we had a rainbow in the sky -- without the rain! My assistant Amy and I posed the couple out on the deck of the Towers with the rainbow behind them. It was beautiful. The couple themselves were very photogenic as well -- here are the engagement portraits I took of them back in February. I didn't get back from the wedding until 12am and didn't get to bed until around 2am.

I woke up this morning at 7am and drove an hour west to North Grafton to meet my clients who are getting married on August 5.

Then Ken and I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean 2. I think Ken enjoyed it a lot more than me. I think it was a bit too long and neither as witty nor tight a script as the first one. The effects were fun, and there were great moments. An interesting discovery was that the actor who played Norrington was actually Jack Davenport, the same guy who played Steve in Coupling (a British sitcom that Ken and I absolutely loved). We had seen Pirates 1 before watching Coupling so we didn't realize it then.

I met with the book club this past Thursday and talked about Intuition by Allegra Goodman. I have 60 more pages to go, but I am enjoying it a lot -- I just keep getting interrupted. This is probably the best recently published book we read in the book club since I joined. Allegra Goodman is really skilled at character development -- she gets into every character's psyche and shows their different motives in this drama in a medical research lab. I know that doesn't sound too exciting -- a drama in a research lab, but in fact, it is. It's a story about overachieving young scientists trying to make something of themselves, and in the process, we get jealousy, politics, whistle-blowing, fraud, and sabotage--all stemming from the desire to achieve something great and having a successful career. I never worked in a research lab, but I had lived through my twenties in a corporate world just as competitive as the medical research world depicted in the book, and the Allegra really captures very well the mindset of someone fresh out of school.

Hoping to both catch up to Ken's recommended list AND satisfy my book club required reading, I brought in several books to recommend to the ladies, and I'm thrilled that they agreed on Silk by Allesandro Barrico. That will be the September book club selection! I'm already done with the August one because I wanted to hand it off to another book club member. The book for August is The G-String Murders by Gypsy Rose Lee. We had chosen this because Gypsy, a famous burlesque dancer, sounded so intriguing in the book February House -- an earlier non-fiction book we read on, well, the February House, essentially an artist commune in Brooklyn that housed Gypsy, W.H. Auden, Benjamin Britten, Paul Bowles, Carson McCullers, and Salvadore Dali, among others.

I would like to add Call of the Wild to my reading list for Alaska, but I have to first finish Initution, Silk, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell. I'm searching for other books with Alaska settings too. I think it makes a huge difference when you're reading about a place that you're actually visiting. I think I loved All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy that much more because I was visiting Texas at the time.

2006-07-08T14:28:00.000-07:00

More Thoughts on Superman

Superman is probably the most boring of all the superheroes. Yet, I can't help but like him. It might sound corny, but I was moved when Superman went down an elevator shaft and raced through fire rushing up a building -- I thought of the World Trade Center and how nice it would have been if we really had a Superman. And same with the plane crash scene. I'm sure director Bryan Singer shot the scene this way with that in mind. It worked on me.

2006-07-07T20:28:00.000-07:00

Superman Returns

We wanted to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest but ended up seeing Superman Returns because it was completely sold out.

A few thoughts on the movie. Kevin Spacey played a wonderful Lex Luthor. James Marsden's character is very much like Scott in the X-Men (fighting for a beautiful woman's love with the main lead--he ends up with her but she is still in love with the main lead). Branden Routh looks like Christopher Reeve. Lois Lane is stupid because she does not see a connection between Clark Kent and Superman--even though she slept with Superman, she never once sees a resemblance between the two. It's a bit frustrating.

2006-07-06T22:11:00.000-07:00

Thursdays are supposed to be my day off, but I had been bad and had not actually taken Thursdays off for a while (been working from home, but nonetheless, working). But I made a bargain with Ken to take one day off per week so he would stop chewing on his fingers, and I had to keep my promise.

I can't say that I rested very much today, but I did manage to do a few admin things--namely shipping out some eBay auction items I sold and delivering my darkroom equipment that I also sold in Mission Hill. I also had to stop by Dick Blick, an art supply store near the area, to pick up another print rack. Our current print rack (on loan from Michael Seif) is getting overwhelmed with too many prints. Then I drove to Everett and picked up a new can of white paint for the second wall (we spackled and repainted the first wall--the white is so much better than that creme color). We're preparing for a reception with artist talks July 27. Lots of exciting new works. This Saturday, we are also going to be at a community picnic at the Brooks Estate, selling some prints and cards and promoting our reception on the 27.

I should also mention that I started painting again. I've been taking some painting lessons fairly often from Adele Travisano in her garden--a beautiful, unfettered place overgrown with weed and flowers wild and intentionally planted. I love Adele's expressionist style -- so much energy, so free, just like her garden. When I take lessons in the morning, I feel so much happier. Painting is such a different medium from photography. When you paint from something that's live in front of you, you have no limits of the depth of field that a camera superimposes. It makes you appreciate every petal in a flower because you have to look at it for so long.

I also did some more work trying to recruit more volunteers to help out at the Medford Arts Festival (September 9) for the Medford Arts Center, Inc. of which I am now a board member. I've taken on the task of recruiting volunteers. I have 4 so far, but we have time.

This Saturday, I'll set up at the Brook Estate and then Marc Gurton, my accountant/business manager, will take over for me -- he loves talking to people. In the afternoon, I'm going to head over to SandT's gallery artSPACE@16 in Malden. I can't say enough good things about SandT. She's such an inspiration to artists. This woman converted her home garage into a non-profit art gallery that received many critical acclaims -- including the Boston Globe and the WBUR website. Not only is she prolific, but she's so generous in her moral and PR support for other artists. Her new show features 60 artists--emerging and seasoned.

SandT is also the reason for Malden's burgeoning art scene. She was a main proponent for Malden's recent church conversion into an artist community/live-in studio.

I just get so energized just being around her.

2006-07-04T14:21:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'll try again to blog... I had forgotten my password to my inactive bloggers account and because I had to have a bloggers account in order to view Maya's Tunisia blog, I started a new account... So typical of me.

Ken and I went to Plymouth yesterday to check out the Plymouth rock and the history of the Pilgrims' arrival. Ken took lots of great photos with his new Canon S3 IS with his 12x zoom lens while I tested my newly acquired all-manual vintage Minolta film camera with my fixed 45mm lens. The meter on this camera does not work (I have yet to replace the battery) but I decided to shoot with the "sunny 16 rule," which is if on a sunny day, with ISO 100 film, you should be shooting on F16, bracketing at 1/125 and 1/60 of a second. This is really the first time I'm testing this camera and testing this rule, so I'm going on blind faith.

I broke my roll of film last night because I was rewinding the film the wrong way -- again very typical of my using brute force with everything... But we have great images from Ken's camera anyways.

I managed to succeed using and rewinding the second roll taken in Hingham at our campsite, so not all the images were lost -- though all the ones taken in Plymouth were in the first roll.

So, yes, we went camping for the first time last night. Originally we wanted to stay at the Myles Standish State Forest, but it was full -- we should have reserved since it was the weekend of the 4th. They sent us to Wampatuck State Park up north (35min south of Boston) in Hingham. It was pretty, but we were way too close to Logan Airport, and hence the constant sound of airplanes over head until about midnight, and again early in the morning around 5am.

A few valuable lessons: Our Quencha 2-second tent worked perfectly -- no pitching necessary. However, I now know never again to buy this same brand of insect repellent -- it had no effect at all on the mosquitoes, which were abundant and aggressive as all hell.

We went on a nice hike this morning and saw a doe. She ran when she saw us. We also saw a raccoon last night -- I think she wanted to come towards our picnic table but decided against it when she saw me. On our hike this morning, we also saw a variety of colorful mushrooms and lichen. I wished I had a zoom lens in moments like those. A fixed focal lens is very limiting. I forced myself to bring it so I could learn to compose better within these limits. But damn! A close-up macro shot of these would have been so nice!