A Free Life

It’s been crazy-busy around here lately, but I did finish this book recently (A Free Life, Ha Jin, approx. 600 pages). It makes me curious about the author’s many prizes for other books, because although I found the narrator’s story compelling, I never found the language of the author very lyrical, which is something that he is praised for with his other books. At any rate, this book is (must be) a semi-autobiographical account of a couple’s experiences after they immigrate from China to the USA, bringing their son to live with them after the Tianmen Square massacre. Always struggling, the narrator also recounts his efforts to be published as a poet, first writing in Chinese and then moving on to English, a switch that seems to parallel his shifting nationalistic loyalties and ties. This book was evidently written partially due to a grant from the Guggenheim foundation in 2000, and the book was only recently published — during the epilogue I hoped to find the narrator’s response to 9/11, but it wasn’t the case. Timing-wise, this gives the book at dated feel. Again, I wonder what this writer can do with the English language in his other books, but I did find the narrator’s struggles with nationality and love of his art, as well as the struggles to survive in an unknown country, enlightening and inspiring.

Next (for something completely different): Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism, by Michelle Goldberg.

More marching

weaving9

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Day and night, the halloween house.

Forward march

weaving8

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Day and night, Davis Square.

Time flies. . .

weaving7

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

This one was finished on Friday; I’ll have a couple more up in a few days. Night and day in Davis Sq.

Close to home

weaving6

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

Night and day at Victor’s convenience. I just finished this the other day.

Returning to reading, old sport.

I read Gatsby again in the darkroom recently, and it was better than ever. Then, I read Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac which was lots of fun but just a little silly. Still, getting all the time to read is yet again another advantage of the darkroom time — and I haven’t read a book in 24 hours like that in a while (as I did with Amnesiac.) Now reading: What It Takes To Pull Me Through: Why Teenagers Get in Trouble and How Four of Them Got Out. It’s kind of random, but I am really enjoying it so far.

More on the new project

macys

Originally uploaded by Bearolyn

This one is also a bad picture of a new project, but I’m beginning to get excited about how everything’s shaping up.

Weaving, etc.

Here’s some art that I’ve been working on for a little while. I’ll try to take some better photos soon.

Camera obscura and more

It was such a pleasant surprise to realize that one of my perks as a part-time SMFA student is free MFA movies. . . and I am taking full advantage of this. I think I’m going to miss the Alice Neel movie, the preview for which made me drool for its insidery soap-opera promises — but I did see a documentary about Abelardo Morell called “The Shadow of the House” — and it’s wonderful. I won’t even lie, I cried at the sometimes silly but ultimately touching documentary moments — and it was incredible to see his working process. I also gained more of an understanding of how more varied his work is than I ever realized.

Coming into the theater, I expected somewhat more of the rollercoaster offered by the 2005 Eggleston documentary, which as a side note literally made me sick to my stomach because of its Blair-Witch style camera work. The Morell piece, following the way he presents himself to the world, is not as frenetic and wild as the Eggleston, — but each gives a look into the working processes of a talented photographer, and I’m glad to have seen them.

I also headed to the Manhattan Short Film festival (shown at the Boston MFA) last weekend. I hate to say it, but I thought it could’ve been better; lots of over-wrought plot lines and unnecessary repetitions of pretentious ideas from other movies. One of the few standouts was an Israeli film, Boris’s Complete Book of Rules — which I ended up voting for, and which did not win. Not that I’m bitter.

Tuvalu

I watched this movie with a friend last night. It’s firmly in the realm of art films that are intentionally obtuse, but it’s filmed in a beautiful way and the story, in the end, is very sweet. It’s also impressive as an example of a modern, almost entirely silent film. I would recommend that you watch it on the largest screen available, and prepare to be confused but amazed.