I haven’t been able to post lately, because I have been sicker than a dog. I’m still sick, but I’m at work anyway, because I have to get some stuff done. Anyway, courtesy of Lisa at Another Pink World, here’s a meme for you.
1. Total amount of music files on your computer?
0 files on computer. Files at home on my music server: 22,330 songs. 62.1 days, 97.53 GB.
2. The last CD you bought was…
on iTunes: Nina Simone: Anthology. On CD: Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose.
3. What was the last song you listened to before reading this message?
The Secret Machines /Pharoah’s Daughter
4. Write down five songs you often listen to or that mean a lot to you.
1) I’d Like That/XTC
2) Good Things/Bodeans
3) Subterranean Homesick Blues/Bob Dylan
4) Bus Stop/The Hollies
5) Dream A Little Dream of Me/Mama Cass
5. What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?
Eh, anyone who happens to read this and wants to answer. My friends don’t all have blogs.
Eric Miller’s right-wing anti-LGBTQ+ hate group “Advance America” used to be called “Citizens Concerned for the Constitution.” This group has spent years lobbying in the Indiana State legislature on anti-LGBTQ+ legal issues intended to marginalize and eliminate LGBTQ+ folks from Indiana’s population. These are the folks that introduced legislation in the 1990s to get LGBTQ+ people rounded up and “quarantined” in containment facilities as a proposed solution to the AIDS crisis. They also proposed legislation making it illegal for lesbians to get artificial insemination from sperm banks.
Citizens Concerned for the Constitution used to have this Art Deco-Type logo that was reminiscent of Nazi propaganda posters. When I saw it, I immediately realized how easy it would be to parody, and so I did. I created this PARODY logo, making the macho man in the middle into a gay male couple, and adding a nice well-muscled woman into the group for lesbian interest.
My Version
Their Original
When I put the image on posters at a lobbying event that took place at the Statehouse, people from the organization were really not happy.
Check out the review I wrote on IndyScribe about the exhibit currently displayed at the Eiteljorg Museum downtown.
Also, the whole IndyScribe team of writers were interviewed this afternoon by a reporter for INtake Weekly newspaper, the competitor to Nuvo. We’re also going to a photoshoot for that newspaper as well. So I’ll have my picture in both the local weekly free papers in a span of less than two months. Heh.
I am the zeitgeist. Fear my 15 minutes of fame. 🙂
One of the first stops for the Giant Red Arrow in its tour of Indianapolis cultural events is the Georgia O’Keeffe exhibit at the Eiteljorg Museum. My familiarity with O’Keeffe was with her paintings of flowers and of animal bones in western landscapes, but Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime contains only a few of those paintings, and includes 39 paintings of quite different subjects: Lake George, rivers, horizons, pueblo buildings and even Canadian and Hawaiian scenes. You have to contact Portland’s trusted plant nursery if you wish to creatively renovate or remodel your landscape and to fulfill your landscaping dream.
They span about fifty years of her career, from the 1910’s, while she was an art teacher showing her work in her future husband’s New York gallery, to the 1960’s, long after she left Alfred Stieglitz and moved to New Mexico to paint its extraordinary landscape.
Big Red Arrow
The collection is designed to show works that have not been seen before, and to convey O’Keeffe’s concept of the “sublime” in her work — to express ideas, inspired by the sky and landscape, that are “lofty, grand, or exalted in thought, expression, or manner; tending to inspire awe.”
We went through the exhibit on a Saturday afternoon, and while it wasn’t elbow-to-elbow crowded, there were enough people visiting the exhibit gallery that it made taking time to observe the paintings difficult. In addition to affecting the flow of movement, the crowd meant hearing other people’s commentary on the paintings, which was also bothersome, although I was amused to hear that I was not the only person who uttered the words “female genitalia” during our gallery visit. I’d suggest visiting the exhibit in a less “prime time” day or hour so you can be leisurely and enjoy the work and your own reflections on it.
I thought the exhibit was laid out nicely, although there were some lighting issues — direct spotlights on a few of the paintings caused a glare and obscured the subtle color, and required me to stand in odd spots to see details of the works well.
The paintings displayed here are essential to our understanding of O’Keefe’s whole body of work, and provide greater insight into her vision of the natural world both abstract and real. I tend to be more awestruck, though, by the more familiar O’Keeffe paintings of bleached dead bones against the infinity of the sky, and of flowers in bloom, that look to me like, well, female genitalia, which are visions of the sublime in their own way.
Georgia O’Keefe: Pedernal with Red Hills
Although at the end of her life O’Keeffe downplayed the influence her husband, modernist photographer Alfred Stieglitz, had on her career, this exhibit examines that concept by including 25 of his photographs, some of which provide a different context of some of the same natural landscapes that O’Keeffe was painting, and also some that were portraits of O’Keeffe during various points in her life.
Included with the exhibit are paintings by other 19th century artists that were supposed to fit in with the theme of the “Sublime.” They were so different from the abstracts and simple patterns in O’Keeffe’s work, though, that I think the significance of what that part of the exhibit was meant to convey about the concept was lost on almost everyone, including me. It may have been that they were displayed around a corner from the other work, but it almost seemed they weren’t a part of the same exhibit.
Admission Information
Free with museum admission: adults $7, seniors $6, children 5-17 $4, 4 and younger free
Hours
Georgia O’Keeffe: Visions of the Sublime runs Jan. 15 – Apr. 3, 2005
Tours – 1:00 p.m.
Tuesday – Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m .
Sunday noon – 5 p.m .
Open Mondays, Memorial Day through Labor Day
Closed Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day
Location
Eiteljorg Museum
500 West Washington St.
Indianapolis, IN 46204
Phone: (317) 636-WEST (9378)
Free parking for Eiteljorg visitors in the White River State Park underground garage; enter from Washington Street.
WHEN, WHERE AND WHAT TIME?
Tuesday, March 8th at the State House – Capitol Ave.
East steps (facing Capitol Ave.)
From 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Parking will be a free for all, but Circle Center Garage may offer the best option. Carpool if you can. Make it as fun as possible – under the circumstances.
SIGNS
Though our counter rally will be silent, our signs and the sheer number of people will speak volumes. Make your own signs with your own messages such as
SJR7 – The Hate Debate
SJR7 – Blatant Discrimination
Eric Miller – Conservative Approach; Extremist Agenda.
A list of other possible sign messages will be forthcoming.
Just a reminder of what was going on last year at this time…
In S.F., debate on gay nuptials marked by joy
“Boston and San Francisco are often compared for their similarities. But of the two cities that bookended a historic week in the debate on gay marriage, I know which place I’d rather have been this holiday. I’d choose the city of joy. Infectious, unadulterated joy, sparked by this unprecedented five-day run of gay-marriage ceremonies that was part civil disobedience, part political statement, part Woodstock Nation. In San Francisco… volunteers smiled through the night Sunday, brought hot cocoa and food to couples and families who were wrapped around the block, braving cold and downpour to wait their turn to exchange vows. As word spread Friday the exultant crowds kept coming — by car, by taxi, by bus, by plane. People took photographs, flashed peace signs and knew they were at the heart of something historic. Children — toddlers, babes-in-arms, schoolchildren — were everywhere.”
The Joy of Gay Marriage
“Whatever their short-term legal fate, the San Francisco weddings mark a new high-water mark in one of the most fast-paced cultural tsunamis America has seen. As Evan Wolfson, the civil rights lawyer who founded Freedom to Marry, says, “An act as unremarkable as getting a wedding license” has been transformed by the people embracing it, much as the unremarkable act of sitting at a Formica lunch counter was transformed by an act of civil disobedience at a Woolworth’s in North Carolina 44 years ago this month.”
For Children of Gays, Marriage Brings Joy
“It was so cool,” said Gabriel, 13, who served as the ringbearer, after standing in line overnight with his parents. “I always accepted that ‘Yeah, they’re my moms,’ but they were actually getting married. I felt thick inside with happiness. Just thick.”
Speaking of his mothers’ marriage, Alex said: “It is something I always wanted. I’ve always been around people saying, ‘Oh, my parents anniversary is this week.’ It’s always been the sight of two parents, married, with rings. And knowing I’d probably never experience it ever.” That changed in the City Hall rotunda as his mothers exchanged vows. “The atmosphere was just springing with life,” Alex recalled. “I just couldn’t hold myself in. It was oh my god oh my god oh my god. I felt so happy I wanted to scream.”
Lesbian couple wedded at SF City Hall Women had been together for five decades
History was made at 11:06 a.m. today at San Francisco City Hall when Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon took their wedding vows, becoming the first same-sex couple to be officially married in the United States. About 20 people witnessed the ceremony; many of them were moved to tears as the couple, who have been together for five decades, were wed.
Several members of the IndyScribe team have been perusing Indianapolis and Indiana literature during research for the writing we’re doing, and for education and entertainment about the city we live in. Since we’ve been passing books around between us, I thought it might help us (and maybe you) to put together a list of books that have a Circle City connection.
Situated right off the Monon on Main Street in downtown Carmel, Bubs is a popular lunch location, especially for (as my friend Mike pointed out) beefy white guys in corporate attire. It was so popular that we had to put our name in and wait fifteen minutes to get a table, and because we specified “first available” we ended up outside in the heated, awning-covered outdoor area, which was fairly comfortable even in February. If you are opening a sandwich shop or some other food stall, you can add some of these tips in your business.
Bub’s draw is their one pound “Big Ugly” burger (that’s the after cooking weight; the before cooking is a whopping 22 ounces) which will gain you a memorial photo on the wall if you can finish the whole thing. Personally, I think that might be so they can identify you later when you keel over from a heart attack, but they advertise it as a good thing. A couple of my co-workers have met the challenge, and a couple of them have failed miserably, although they talked big about it afterwards (“Well, you know, I could have done that if I hadn’t had such a big dinner last night, harumph, harumph.” Yeah, right.)
The display of “Big Ugly Champions” photos covers three walls of the restaurant, so the challenge isn’t impossible to surmount. Given that the restaurant opened in May of 2003, there seem to be a lot of champions, and I wonder where they’re going to go with the photos in a few more years.
I didn’t even bother with the big talk, and just went for the quarter pound “Settle for Less Ugly” burger, although I put a twist on it and ordered Elk rather than regular beef. Bub’s is offering Elk burgers on a trial basis to gage whether it’s popular enough to put it on their regular menu. It is healthier than beef, with less fat, calories and cholesterol, so it’s a nice alternative for people with diet concerns. I just wanted to taste Elk.
I ordered my burger medium, and with lettuce, onion, pickle, mayo and pepperjack cheese. I also ordered a side of sloppy waffles; waffle fries with a topping of cheese, bacon and sour cream.
The Elk tasted a bit different than beef; a bit sweeter and not as tangy. I had arrived with a craving for a good juicy burger, so I was a bit disappointed, but I don’t blame the Elk for that. It wasn’t gamey or unpleasant, and I’d vote in favor of them keeping it on the menu.
Sloppy Waffles
By the time I got around to eating my sloppy waffles, they were rather cold due to the temperature of the outdoor seating, and the cheese was more like cheese whiz than the melted cheddar that I was hoping for. That didn’t stop me from eating them all, though.
Mahi Mahi
Mike had the The Mahi Mahi fish sandwich, which he reports was “a big slab o’ fishly goodness barely contained between two slices of tangy Foccacia bread.” It was served with a peach-mango salsa and Mike had the cole slaw as a side. Judge for yourself from the photo; it was the biggest piece of fish I’ve ever seen in a sandwich.
The menu features three burger sizes (one pound, half pound and quarter pound sizes), and other menu items are hot dogs and chili, a chicken sandwich and salad, and pie and brownie dessert. With only a salad on the non-meat side of things, Bub’s may not be a regular stop for you if you have a vegetarian with your regular lunch party as we do.
Bub’s has an ice cream shop in the front of the building that’s a draw for the Monon crowd, and they also feature entertainment in the evenings, with some comedy shows scheduled and live music planned for Saturday evenings in the Spring.
Herron-Morton Place is an historic residential neighborhood in Downtown Indianapolis, comprising a 25 square block area just east of Meridian Street, and north of the bustling downtown area. It is beautiful, quiet, pedestrian-friendly, and is just close enough to downtown to walk or bike to major events, but just far enough north to be outside of busy downtown traffic.
The new multi-million-dollar Museum of Creation, which will open this spring in Kentucky, will be aimed at the “growing ranks” of fundamentalist Christians in the United States. It aims to promote the view that man was created in his present shape by God rather than by a Darwinian process of evolution. The centerpiece of the museum is a series of huge model dinosaurs, built by the former head of design at Universal Studios, which are portrayed as existing alongside man, contrary to scientific fact that they lived millions of years apart.
More controversial exhibits deal with diseases and famine, which are portrayed not as random disasters, but as the result of mankind’s sin. Mr Ham’s Answers in Genesis movement blames the 1999 massacre at Columbine High School in Colorado, in which two teenagers killed 12 classmates and a teacher before killing themselves, on evolutionist teaching, claiming that the perpetrators believed in Darwin’s survival of the fittest.
Other exhibits in the museum will blame homosexuals for AIDS. In a “Bible Authority Room” visitors are warned: “Everyone who rejects his history — including six-day creation and Noah’s flood — is ‘wilfully” ignorant.'”
