mad shadows

[yamamanama]

I agree with this but America has fancy high-tech gadgets, crippling wealth inequality, and rain. We're also a surveillance state but it isn't done by governments, it's done by corporations and social control is done by sites like Kiwi Farms. And we have a president who is a reality show star. Also rain. 22 days of rain in April. And the days that weren't rainy were cloudy.

Irene has a bunch of pendants that were mostly obscured under her jacket, which was pale gray and had an almost imperceptible pattern in pale green that I did my best to depict with a pen.

Anna pronounces her name in the Russian manner and likes to paint landscapes but can never find the time. One of her rings looks like a tendriled flower, another had a blue stone.

I like how the Spanish word for acrobat is "equilibrista"
There were photographs of Zapotec (meaning inhabitants of the place of sapote, they call themselves Didxažoŋ or Ben 'Zaa, meaning Cloud Pepole), Mixtec (who are called the Cloud People, not to be confused with Cloud Children, by the Aztecs and call themselves Ñuù savi, which means People of the Rain), and Seri (Comcaac. In the grand tradition of American colonists, they got an exonym) people. Alas, though the descriptions were written in both Spanish and English, they did not include any samples of Native languages. There are photographs of death and photographs of birds, photographs of a Mixtec ceremony that started because the Spanish had them slaughter goats for them and pay them with the hooves and entrails.
Mixtec looks like this: Taka ma ñayi nguiakoi ñayivi ñatu na ja'a tnu'u ja kusa'a ndeva'ña-i, su'uva kajito va'aña-i, yuka ku ja jiniñu'u ja kukototna-i.
It doesn't look like Nahuatl at all.
Seri looks like this: Heeesam quij toc cömiij. Coote hapah quij toc cömiij. Coteexoj hapah quij toc cömiij. Heem hapah quij toc cömiij. Xaasj himcap toc cömiip. Mojepe quih toc cömiip. Taax toc cömotat ma, heeesam quih toc cömiih. Tiix mos tcmiiquet, toc cöquiihtim iha.
Zapotec looks like this: Diti mien ndied xa yent kuan nkie xa nak rieti xa diba xa rola.

There's an exhibit of South African contemporary fashion.
In 1989, protestors seized water cannons with purple dye meant to mark them for arrest and sprayed the National Party's headquarters. A woman made herself into a monument because they're all monuments to colonizers. A designer imagined a Xhosa identity outside of colonialism and repression.

They were showcasing forgotten midcentury artists.


While this is called Black Duck, it in fact depicts an eider. I knew this because black ducks look like dark female mallards.


I'd never expect Hyman Bloom to paint a Christmas tree. Hmm, it does kind of look like a rotting corpse.


I asked and he said that the balloons were there for the Winnie-The-Pooh exhibit and for whatever reasons, they can't be fucked to take them down. My words, not his. I think they should leave them and call it art.

Someone put "f*ck gender roles" on a sticky note. There were laws prohibiting crossdressing and still are but they're probably unenforceable.

They have pav bhaji at Chutney’s now. Hurrah. They also have vada pav. I didn’t notice this until after I ate.

If the third Amberlough book was 5 dollars, I’d probably buy it. 10 is too much for a used book I can either find for cheaper or find new for not much more. I mean, it should be available because it hasn’t been a year since Armistice although with Amazon’s takeover of book distribution, that may not be true. I’ve never seen it at a bookstore but to be honest, I never really looked mostly because the last time I was at Barnes and Noble, I forgot who wrote it. Spoiler alert: Donnelly. Like Tanya Donnelly. It's an easy name to remember. Spoiler alert: The Coop has Amberlough and only Amberlough. Amnesty just came out. I did, however, buy Indigo Springs’ sequel Blue Magic. Raven Books has The Lathe of Heaven, which I didn't buy, and it had a bunch of books by Jonathan Lethem, except, surprise surprise, Girl in Landscape. Someone there said something that sounded like "maglava" in a conversation and I want to know what language she's speaking.
There’s a Star Wars cookbook.

I met several dogs, including a mix with an interesting gray and black coloration, a collie, and a husky.

The first movement of Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony opens with a fanfare and leads to a hornpipe and a fugue and has a lot of call and response with the baritone or soprano and chorus. The second movement is a nocturne with the baritone and the chorus not so much calling and responding but the baritone’s words about the vast similitude coming in loudly amongst the chorus. The third movement is a scherzo for chorus. The fourth has the chorus sing a few stanzas, then the baritone or soprano sings and the
It’s one of the first symphonies in which the chorus is used for all the movements.
It’s inspired by Ravel and Debussy.
The orchestra didn’t get any credit which makes me think they have fuck all to do with Harvard. They have three separate vocal groups singing. One of the singers is named Antares, which I think is really cool.

I met a bunch of art students on the way home. Didn't get their names, though, because all of a sudden, we were at Park Street.

burning question: I think she’s right. Is there any reason various editions of LotR and The Hobbit should take up multiple shelves? Is there any reason Brad Torgersen or Larry Correia should be favored over Jasmine Gower or Lara Donnelly?