photographs from dance jam 1, may 1 2010 
photos taken by Anjola Toro

a day at the races
upper east side socialites take over hunter college

I had the utmost pleasure of house managing an event today at Hunter College. It was a music recital for local, manhattan (and london... and occasionally jersey city) bred youngsters playing the piano as virtuoso-like as they possibly could.

What I could not get over was how grown up these children were; they had i-phones and do-dad's, make-up, and designer outfits. The boys were looking sharp in their argyle. They all emulated their socialite/wealthy musician/upper east-west-greenwich- parents.

I was in awe of what it must be like to be born into privilege; of what it must be like to wake up in the morning and already be in manhattan; of what it must be like to take a cab instead of the god-awful underground railroad.

These kids, some of them talented, some of the divas, some of them who should not quit their day job, kept it real. They got up there and remained calm, breezed through mistakes, did not cry or fuss. 

I did find it expected that many of the parents, obviously, were musicians or stage-mom's who unsecretely wanted to be performers. The latter never cease to ignite my deepest loathing. They are the most obnoxious, gucci bearing, unattractive creatures to ever be spawned out of the arts. 

happy mother's day,
m

melissa west makes things
a brief entry

so, everything i learned in college i am quickly tossing out the window. this is because experiential learning, i feel, is the most effective guide to formulating one's criteria for living and creating.

so all of those textbooks and rules and rules for rules sake turn out to all be a hoax. i read more books in the past year than i ever did in college and i'll say, i did alright.

the god delusion by richard dawkins was a radical experience for me. i recommend that book to everyone. it took me two years and nights of staying up and contemplating but it is a brilliant treatise on why organized religion is at the root of our hatred.  

the taoh of pooh, i read this on the lawn at union square park during the late summer of last year. letting go of inhibitions and perceiving the moment as the fluid motion it is... sipping tea with the sunshine. diggin' that.
childhood was a complete wave that ebbed and changed. one day my daddy fished with us, the next he threw things at us.

i did not dance until i was 19. i used to play music but the music always moved more than it played.

-m