and, of course, cats...
December 4, 1996
Cats:
BJ and Praline who have been at the shelter since I've been working there actually got adopted together! They've spent their whole lives together so it was important to find them a home together. When I saw their names on the board I cheered! Charlie, who liked to hang out with BJ and Praline all the time and sleep in their cage during the day, is devastated. He sulked in his cage all morning. I had to clean around him 'cause he wouldn't budge. Later on he went into the former BJ&Praline; cage and really ticked off Patricia, a new cat who lives there now. After some hissing and snarling, he went back to his own cage and resumed his sulk.
There are several new cats, the most notable being Alice. She's gorgeous a kind of pale calico tabby if you can picture it - a most unusual coloring. She looks like very light coffee with tabby pattern swirled in but under an orange light. How's that for a struggling description. (And to think I call myself a writer!) Anyway, she showed up at a local boatyard the very day that the boatyard guy's mother died. She jumped onto a running table saw and somehow miraculously survived. The boatyard guy became convinced she was his mother reincarnated. Seriously. He couldn't keep her so he made a big donation to MRFRS to take her so she'd be well taken care of until she finds a home. His mother's name was Alice. Hence her name. Since she just arrived she has to stay in for 10 days before she can mix with the other cats. When I opened her cage she jumped onto my shoulder and rubbed her head against my chin repeatedly. I had to clean with her on my shoulder. Quite a feat. She purred the whole time.
I accidentally let out Teddy, one of the kittens recently released from the sick room. Big fuss. He wasn't supposed to be out. Kittens are confined to quarters til further notice because of "the leukemia exposure". I didn't know this. I do now.
Jaguar was very friendly to me. He actually solicited petting.
We actually have fewer cats and I still can't get the work done!
Work: Work is a fairly generic title for a pack in the masses blockbuster exhibition of Herb Ritts' photos. Mark and I went on an art mission today and took in most of the special exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts. I was mainly interested in the Alfred Stieglitz and Early Modern Photography show. I might even have skipped Herb Ritts if 1) there hadn't been so much hype about it, 2) Mark hadna been with me...
I couldn't exactly be disappointed with Ritts since I had no expectations to begin with. I struggled to put into words what I disliked about it. Big giant wall size photos of celebrities and supermodels can be art I suppose but in this case they're not. They don't transcend what they are. There's no content, no statement, no feeling... Just big huge supermodels in their underwear or rather some designer's underwear. A couple of times I turned to Mark and said "Robert Mapplethorpe did this earlier and better." (I should add here that I am a great admirer of Mapplethorpe. ) Almost simultaneously, Mark asked: "How come Herb Ritts can get away with this and Mapplethorpe couldn't?". Much later over coffee at the Someday Cafe in Somerville, I figured out the simple answer: the Ritts show is funded by Donna Karan; Mapplethorpe had NEA funding.
Anyway, I loved the Stieglitz show especially for the O'Keeffe "time line" photos and for the sprinkling of O'Keeffe paintings as well as photos by others in Stieglitz's circle including the famous Paul Strand photo of the church in Ranchos de Taos that I have tried to reproduce in my muddled photographic style. (If you thought you were gonna get a link to my photo... keep thinking... it's really not very good... maybe I'll scan it in sometime.) Why was there such a cultural flowering in the early 20th century when now at the end of the century under late capitalism, art is fragmented and marginal?
We also checked out:
Face and Figure was OK especially since they had some excellent portraits by Elsa Dorfman.
The Big City was nice but didn't hold a candle to "The Age of the Metropolis", which Kate and I saw in Montreal at Musee des Beaux Arts a few years back. And I'm kinda burned out on different artists views of the Brooklyn Bridge. Here's hoping the new curator at MFA doesn't decide to do an entire show on the Brooklyn Bridge.
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