Life At Ground Level
Smelling life at ground level (that is, experiencing without taking the time to put myself in the place of a detached observer) seems to have kept me away from “blogging,” or at least looking at events in terms of “I could write about this.” My photography has suffered a fair bit, too. That’s too bad because, while the blog may seem a trendy concept, thinking in those terms is a good thing. It clarifies my life’s experience to myself, helps me notice more, remember more, enjoy more. It also encourages me to be more purposeful, to try out new things and waste time less. Poverty seems to work against that, though, preventing me from enjoying things that require money, of which there are many in this most monied of cities. While even a penniless day in New York can be enjoyable, it’s just not the same.
Three huge bummers have coincided at this time, slowing me down considerably. Mom’s anniversary, an ever-extending unemployment (and with “economic recoveries” like these, who needs recessions?) and, of course, a certain electoral fiasco. It feels like the part in the movie when the bad guys seem to have won outright and the hero, battered and bruised, hangs by a thread above certain doom.
On balance, though, some fantastic stuff has occurred in the same while: I somehow managed to relocate to a lovely studio in Manhattan’s Upper East Side (if only for a few months); met world-renowned photographer Harvey Lloyd in the course of my job search; met world-renowned animator and filmmaker Michaela Pavlatova (friend of Nina’s, of course); saw (and photographed!) King’s X live; visited with the great folk behind the Red Bank Independent Film Festival; and began a gig with Time, Inc. (yeah, that Time). I’ve even taken a decent pic or two.
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