Amber Thomas June 30, 2007

Nuff said.

I woke up this morning and set my goal for the day. This is not something I do often. Usually, I wake up, stumble through brushing my teeth and drinking some juice and then the rest of the day is up for grabs. But today, I woke up with a goal: I'm going to ask Yusef Komanyakaa to write a word on me.

Now, it's not that Yusef is an intimidating man. He is...cool. I mean cool like pine tree shade in the middle of a hot meadow cool. I mean cool like miles davis jazz at the blue note cool. I mean cool like blades of grass sprout dew in his wake cool. I've been hanging with the man for a week. Took a workshop with him on Monday. But - it's another thing altogether to ask him to write on me.

So, I worked up the nerve. 2pm followed him to workshop.

"Yusef - I'm doing this project...I'm..yadda yadda"

He laughed. "I'll think about it."

So, I took the man at his word. I went back to him after dinner.

"Yusef - did ya think of a word?"

He laughed some more. His wonderful front porch laugh.

"Yeah - alright."

And he wrote "temple" on my left arm. Now that, my friends, is a blessing like I've never known before.

Then the wonderful sistah Aya de Leon took the photo from me. Isn't it gorgeous?

Today's word was given to me by L'Oreal Snell at the reading in Pittsburgh. We drove down there in the big bus, Paris is Burning on the televisions, and ate some sushi and down-home cooking before parking our butts in the Hillside Center auditorium/gym to listen to Carl Phillips, Cornelius Eady, Toi Dericotte and Yusef Komanyakaa speak the good word. And by good I mean the humorous, poetic, deviant word.

So, in accordance with the mood, L'Oreal wrote "orgasm" on my wrist (picture to come shortly when the scanner is once again available). I said, "Oh - okay. Nobody's written that one yet. That's hot." and she said, "I don't mean it in a sexual way?" You don't? Oh - that's right. Orgasm in the sensual intellectually stimulating way, right?

Cool.

Yesterday, as we drove to the store to get some things, Vivee said, "I have a word for you tomorrow." I said, alright. So, today I found her in workshop, and she wrote "enigmatic" on the back of my neck. What I love is that the photo is also slightly enigmatic. Slightly mimetic/conceptual...Cornelius Eady is hanging out in the back. Talking to somebody about their brilliance.

Today's word is "site" - as in the site of major activities and events. As in the site of memory and moments.

As I walked by yesterday, Dante asked me about the word "vesper" on my arm. I told him about the writing project. He said, "Find me tomorrow. I have a word for you."

So that's what I did. This morning, as I finished breakfast, I saw him trying to find out which sausages were meat and which ones were vegan.

"The flat ones are vegan." I said, as I handed him the sharpie. Without another word, he pulled my sleeve up and wrote `epicurean' on my arm. The left one. My deltoid/bicep area.

Epicurean: having luxurious tastes, sensuality...perhaps - a hedonist.

I have yet to locate a scanner today. I'm at Cave Canem in Pennsylvania, with a group of amazing people. Today, Simone White wrote "vesper" on my right arm. I barely met her, she had been taking a nap, when I asked her. She asked me how long she had to think about it. I replied, "You can think, but not too long."

Here's to hoping I locate a scanner!

Note on June 25th: I located a scanner. Here's the photo. That's the view from my dorm room window.

In case it's hard to read, my mom wrote "prestidigitation". A little magic for a Saturday.

She turned to me, as I wrote this blog and said, "It's like conjuring." Well yes - I suppose it is.

I went to D'Lo's show - Ramblations - tonight. And afterwards a group of us went to go get something to eat and to hang out. Tisa, who was not able to make the show, joined us. I asked her to write on me. She contemplated the word for a half hour. Wrote it out on a napkin. Checked in with Erica, sitting next to her, as to the correct spelling, and then very graciously spelled out "palimpsest" along my collarbone - following the curve of my undershirt no less. Brilliant.

First off, I love Tisa's writing. It's almost Victorian. Second of all, I love that she wrote it out on a napkin first. Third of all, we contemplated for quite a while as to where the word would fit. And lastly, she measured it out along my collarbone before writing it. Amazing.

We were sitting at this restaurant, eating really good food in the midst of an avant-garde picture show: trees and landscapes flashing in LCD screens around us (you can see branches in the top right hand corner of the picture).

Then we all posed for pictures. D'Lo's friend (whose name I'm forgetting - but she was really cool), took this photo. That's why you get the face - my face that is. And D'Lo, too (D'Lo - you are too FUNNY!! What you doin' checkin' out my palimpsest?) and I had had a Brooklyn Lager - thus the HUGE grin on my face.

Finally, we wandered outside into the cool mid-summer air, and realized that none of us knew what palimpsest meant. At which point, Erica - word genius - defined it for us. "Words layered upon words." Rona chimed in "It's basically dirty laundry."

Ha.

Well, if this is dirty laundry, give me more baby. Give me more! It's occasions like this that I feel that little word addiction coming back. Like I can't wait until tomorrow to get another word. But alas, I shall.

I finally went and got some film. I went to B&H on 34th Street, which is always so much fun. I always get a mild sugar high walking through there because of course I can't resist eating all the little candies set out on the counter-tops. Grape. Strawberry. Banana.

On my way there it had started raining a little bit. It was totally surprising. I get on the subway at Columbus Circle and the sun is shining and the air is cool - a perfect furst day of summer. I get off at 34th and it's drizzling. Umbrellas are popping up everywhere. I just got wet. I don't know why I'm surprised. I'm sure if I'd bothered to look at the weather this morning, I would have seen it coming.

But anyway, I slipped my way into B&H, bought my film and slipped out. I did what a lot of people do: I waited at the bust stop for the rain to pass and then, I mosied on back to the 1 line station. On the way, I stopped and asked Danny if he'd write a word on me. I had this feeling, you know, like he'd have great handwriting, and so I turned around and asked him. He was sweet. Shy. Like the guys I dated in high school. And he wrote "love" - saying, "People have probably written this one before."

Yeah. But it's never a bad thing. To have love. We parted ways when his cell phone trilled with a call. I made my way down to the subway.

p.s. - I inadvertently got a photo of my fam. in the corner of this shot. Oops. They look nice, though. They're dressed up.

Firesong June 20, 2007

I've (re)discovered the joy of my cellphone camera. Yes, I've been known to obsessively photograph my dog when he's looking too cute for words. And to photograph myself in odd ridiculous poses, too. Or with my eyes crossed. And yes, I've been known to actually SEND these photos to friends. But now here's where photographing my arms for a writing project becomes...well, that's almost serious. I'll be back to Polaroids soon. Though this phone thing....

The truth is, I was stuck at the airport all day yesterday, when I was all excited about putting the photo up at the internet port (refer to: delay), and ended up going home at 9pm to start all over again today. Firesong gave me ride to the airport, trudging through the flash floods of yet another Texas thunderstorm (this one was actually reported on the weather channel) to get me to the terminal for what would hopefully be my on-time flight. And it was. THANK GOODNESS!!! Nothing like getting stuck in the airport vortex.

So, now I'm in NYC. And I have the beautiful word, "transcendence" on my arm (note- I'm impressed with the spelling skills here, people). A guy on the subway was staring at me. Cause the words "delay" and "hope" are still there, too. Although he could have just been staring.

Tony June 19, 2007

from the austin airport where i was waiting for my flight to take off..a couple hours "delay"-ed

i love technology. i took the photo with my phone, pixed it to myself and then uploaded it at the internet site at the airport.

rock on. tony

Jeannette July 18, 2007

Today Jeannette gave me `hope'. It's awesome. At one moment, her friend was going to write the word, but when Jeannette said "hope" her friend her "ho" and said, "what? I'm not gonna write that." At which point, J. took control of the marker and wrote it herself.

I was making a print of my grandmother's photo for my mom - you know - one of those machines at CVS? Well, while the thing scanned the photo, I walked up to the group of young women and they were obviously not a shy crowd.

Hope is a great word to hold onto on a Monday night. I hope everyone's week goes well.

p.s. - I keep trying to come up with new poses for my arm. It's like arm modeling. How many different positions can an arm take for the artist? Hmm...

I danced with Shia today and then asked her to write a word on me. She was so lovingly focused on finding the right word. She said, "This is what came through me." Reverence. It made me think about what it means to revere something/someone/sometime...what does it really mean? We can walk with reverence, or without. We can be reverent in certain moments or most of the time. What does it mean? It's such a powerful word. Thank you, Shia.

Lisa's in town. I got a word from her tonight and she chose `transitions' - "cause it's on my mind" she said. Yeah - lots of transitions going on.

Rasa Hollander June 15, 2006

I ran into Rasa Hollander at the Jones Center opening for New American Talent. In the middle of the crowded floor, I asked her to write a word on me, and she picked "tevyne" which is homeland in Lithuanian. She chose it cause she thought I could totally understand. Since she hasn't been to Lithuania for awhile and is feeling the hankering (I was talking about missing Santo Domingo).

Shortly after, I went to the bar and got a glass of wine. As Rasa was saying goodbye the wine crashed into her elbow and then down onto the floor, splattering across her pants and shoes. Mazel tov! Marco (her friend) said. I echoed the cheer. Annette, who it just so happened that the last time she saw me, my wine was also knocked onto the floor, just laughed. Maybe it was for her ancestors?

A few hours and many bad 80s songs later (remixed for the dance club), I stumbled into my apartment and realized my Polaroid camera was in the guest room, where my guest was quietly sleeping. So W. got her digital out and took the photo - before the pillow would have a chance to wipe the word away for ever.

It's not too hard to bring out the gay boy in me, but Kristen did it with astounding skill. She wrote "grace" on my lower back. It was lovely. I didn't even see it until I got home. I was going to resist the temptation to look in the mirror (I wanted to wait until the photograph came out), but I couldn't! I looked and saw it backwards.

And then, it came out so great in the photo. I love the fish swimming just below. You see the fish?There're two of them.

This is my writer's outfit. A sarong and a tank top. If I could walk around like this ALL the time, I would. And I do. As often as possible. Now that I know how gay I actually look, I'm even more excited.

And thank you for the gift of grace!

Ji-Hye was very disappointed. She had imagined her day in the word light as an occasion to serve strawberries and chocolate, champagne and Billie. Holiday. Not Bragg. But no. It was the opposite of gracious or intimate.

We were parked in the sweltering heat of the afternoon Austin sun, a bunch of pre-freshman orientees swarming the sidewalks on the right. Cars in the beginning afternoon rush hour inching along Guadalupe St on the left. We were parked in front of some store. And I asked her to give me a word. After the shock of it all, she decided she wanted to write on my foot. I reached under the steering wheel and in some form of contained acrobatics, managed to pull my shoe and sock off which, by the way, I had only been wearing because I knew I was going to be inside most of the day. Normally, I'm a sandal/flip-flop kinda gal.

So, here I am stretching my wrinkly foot over the gear shift (hoping my feet don't stink) and Ji-Hye ponders for a minute. "What shall I write? This is not how I pictured it."

sombra

"For three reasons. One, because you helped me find Chavela Vargas. I had been searching for her for ten years. Ever since I heard her voice in the Flower of My Secret [a film by Pedro Almodovar]. Two, because it is your first language. And three, because it is so hot where we are sitting right now, I wish we were sitting in the sombra."

After we cracked up, I re-started the car and drove her the block and a half to where she was going. I didn't bother to put my sock or shoe back on until a bit later. When I knew the ink had dried.

So KT and I spent about 4 hours today putting up projectors in the theatre. Yes - they are suspended from the rafters. So, after all of this, I asked KT to put a word on me. She chose "labor" - not so much for the fact that we had been labor-ing, but because it's part of her alma mater's motto. I asked her what she thought it was in latin. Then I got really nerdy and looked it up myself. Her school's motto: Learning & Labor. In Latin: Perceptum et Laboris

I like how I kinda look badass with my sleeve rolled up. You would never guess that 2 hours earlier my arms had been shaking from holding a projector over my head at the top of a ladder. No. I don't lift weights. I lift pens. Thus, the shaking. Thus - I love how I look like a badass.

I was surrounded by people ALL day. I'm not just talking 9-5. I'm talking 8am - 9.30pm. But, something in me was not fully in the world. For good reasons. There's a lot on my mind. And I couldn't bring myself to ask anybody. I just felt...introspective.

So what a surprise, 10.30pm rolls around and no word. Yet another day of dilemma! Do I

a) leave my house - which smells like paint fumes cause they just painted today so it might not be a bad idea but do I really feel like it or
b) skip the word (and then what kind of artist am I?) or
c) have a repeat and ask Wura (Day 1) to write another word (again, what the heck) or
d) the dog print option (that is not my final answer but it might be my final lifeline - i've got 75 days to go people) or
e) think of something new.

hmm..

well, wura was the one who suggested i give myself a word. I took her up on her suggestion. So, I consulted with Audre Lorde, her book - Zami: A New Spelling of My Name and picked out the word "sleeping". Wrote it on my foot with my shaky hyperactive hand and photographed it right here in my own house.

And it felt good to give myself a word today. Yeah.

Yenchao, who I also know as Steve, was really excited to write my name in Mandarin. I was excited, too. Apparently, my name means "Where are the peaceful graces?" I know I'm messing that translation up. But, part of "A-Na" means `peace/grace' and the other part means `where is'. Yenchao was impressive. He was not only earnest about the word itself, he called his mom to get the correct spelling. Amazing.

I wasn't the only one to take a photo, either. Yenchao also took one. How awesome is that?!!

I'd like to note that today is DAY 25 of my 100 Day project - thats 1/4 of the way through. I can't believe it.

Just a reflection. There have been days where I barely make it - where I'm rushing to find a word. Days where I've forgotten that I'm getting a word. Days when I forget the date/time/place. Days when asking someone seems like a grueling prospect.

But not one day has passed where I'm not psyched about getting a word.

Today, it is the suggestion of a word on film, perhaps, though it's definitely on my arm.

I went to the library today, as I do when as often as possible, and Melissa, who is one of the many wonderful librarians here in Austin, wrote "malt". I had forgotten my marker at home, so she graciously used a fine point sharpie. Sadly, it doesn't come out strongly in the photo, but know dear readers that it is there. Malt "Cause I just had one", she said.

It's only 96 degrees here in Austin today, though it feels like 112 degrees. Not a bad day to get a word written on my arm.

La Vicki wrote LUV on my leg. Yes! We were chillin' following the open mic/poetry event at the Bolm Street Studio where W. works. Talking about her upcoming project in Rwanda - A Farm for Meme - and gettin' all kinds of excited and nervous. And I flashed my leg (with the disclaimer that I hadn't shaved in a week, so if she didn't care, neither did I), and she wrote on it.

Yeah. Loving luv.

Ice cream/Ice in French: La Glace

I could use some ice cream. Matter of fact, think I'ma gonna go and get some banana walnut or butter pecan or chocolate fudge ice cream RIGHT NOW. Cause it's hot.

Yum. I could lick my arm the thought is so good.

Oh yeah - "Summer" it is definitely here. Jessica was making her way to the drained Barton Springs when I stopped her. She nodded in assent when I asked her if she wanted to write a word.

Summer.

Before I say anything, I should ask you if you can spot the difference between these two photos.

So Amanda rightly stated, the first photo I posted on here had the wrong date. The actual date is June 5, 2007. I used some of that spiffy dry line liquid paper stuff to correct it. It actually works nicely on polaroid film. I find that working with a camera, I'm actually thinking about technical stuff in a new way. Different kind of appreciation for camera artists aka photographers.
Today's word, barely visible: Pride.

Nuff said.

For now at least.

It's been an intense word day. I got "love" today. That is awesome. But what trips me out is how the photo came out. I know that happens with Polaroids sometimes, but I still think it's trippy - the face coming down from the corner to kiss my arm.

A friend of mine called me earlier today to tell me she had dreamt of writing the word `zohar' across my left breast. She's out of town, or I would have loved to have that word on me. It's such a powerful word - as powerful as love. If not one and the same.

I didn't share any of this with Caroline when she chose to write `love' on me. She was very sweet. "Nobody's asked me to do this before." she said. I smiled.

This is how ridiculous I am sometimes. I've been home ALL day. Reading. Talking to friends on the phone. All of a sudden, I realized it was 8.30pm- and I had no word. I was desperate. Thinking - "maybe I'll knock on the neighbor's door. Ask her for a word. "(except, as W. pointed out, it was almost 9pm on a Sunday in Texas, which is probably the wrong thing to do to stay peaceful with my neighbor) or "well, maybe the neighbor downstairs." (cause I know them and we run into each other at crazy times) I even thought, "I'll have my dog Flower give me a paw print." Des-per-ate! Yes. I see the approaching lightning overhead, the tremble of thunder that signals a Texas thunderstorm. So, what did I do? I went to the grocery store.

It was all fine leaving my house. The rain had not yet started. I'm wandering through the vegetable aisle - pick up some carrots, broccoli. A couple of green plums. Wander over to the frozen food section. And that's where I find him. Dongjae. He was super cool, his hair tucked back, also wandering through the frozen food aisle. Did the standard intro, and he was like, "sure." so he wrote: on my write arm. It's "hello" in Korean.

And then, it hits me. There is a raging Texas thunderstorm that is shaking the grocery store roof. And I have to get home. And not only that. I have to protect the word. Alas, I had not brought my camera with me. I wrapped a fruit bag around my arm and darted through the rain, just barely making it. Everything was soaked. My T-shirt. My pants. My shoes. There was a waterfall by my front door. My dog refused to have anything to do with me. But,

I had the word.



And, not just that, but it was written in a diagnol so that I had to take two photos to capture it. Okay - I know. You can barely see the words in the photo, but still, isn't it cool just to know that it's there?

By the way - those dots you see in the photo - it's not your eyes - it's the rain.

Today Sharon was the featured artist for the Salon I coordinate here in Austin. At the end, I asked her to write a word. She wrote `gratitude'. I didn't even see it until Zayna Green, a young woman at the workshop, took the photo. Here it is, gratitude in some of its glory:

Hey Steven - I don't know if you lost the paper I gave you in the river, but here's the photo! I was at the river today, in Zilker Park. It was hot, and the river was rushing. Went there with W and our dog Flower. Those are his black ears sticking out just behind my arm. I don't think the guy with the tug boat knew he was going to be in the photo - I didn't know either. But hey.

Steven was on the path on his way up to the big rocks on the river. I stopped him and his friend who was lugging a small tube to float in. Steve had some really cool braids. I asked him if he wanted to write a word. So he started by responding, "Only one word?" and then, "What will you do with this word?" and then, "Are we the first?"

Yes.
Photograph it and put it on the blog.
No.

Those are my final answers Steven. Thanks for "cooperate". That's a theme today. And a good one for the river, too.