TMI.....

Let me tell you about a friend of mine who, when asked if she'd like to see pictures of someone's grandchildren, says, "No."

I love her.  I wish I could bring myself to do that.  I want to be nice, even though I really don't care.

Now multiply that by six hours of being in the company of three sixty-something women who all have grown children.  And grandchildren.

Two of them talked about their 'kids' like they still needed help tying their shoes.
Their relationships, their education, their jobs.  No, not my friends' lives - their childrens'!  Whom I don't know and will probably never meet.

Not that I need to.  I know more than I ever wanted to:  their allergies, their pets, whether they're coming home for Thanksgiving or where they will be, or will they be having two main Thanksgiving dinners.  Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh!!

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??

And why do these women prattle on with all this  - dare I say it - gossip about their offspring!!?? Do they find their lives empty?  Are they overly invested in their childrens' lives?  Almost like helicopter moms, except the people aren't in junior school, they've mostly finished university and have their own, productive, independent lives.  Is it loss of control in their lives that compels these grandmothers to chatter away?  Are the elders trying to solve their own problems and/or their childrens'??.

Maybe I just need a photo album filled with cute pix of my imaginary cat.

Ai Weiwei Exhibit

My sister and I went to Art Gallery of Ontario to see the Ai Weiwei Exhibit last Sunday.  I can't stop thinking about it.

He's a Chinese artist who lived in New York for ten years, then returned to China to live.  His father and friends were persecuted by the government of China.  No surprise:  China doesn't like people with individual or controversial ideas.  

The exhibit was profound.  

In an earthquake in China, a great many children were killed due to poor construction of the schools.  Ai called it 'tofu' construction.  The government denied any such thing, since it funded the construction.

In protest, Ai constructed a huge snake of backpacks, each backpack representing one of the students killed.

He also printed a giant chart with the name, gender, age, and school each student attended, along with a recording of the name of each student read aloud.  The tape took over 3 hours to cycle through the names.

 This photo doesn't begin to show how many names are on the list.  The wall is about 20' x 60'.


Additionally, he took rebar from the devastated concrete buildings, had it straightened and displayed in a huge, undulating display on the floor.  Who would think that rusted, straightened rebar could be so sensual and beautiful?

I've been thinking about the show all week, and the imaginative ways he has developed to display protest.

How would I, as an artist, protray our displeasure with the Canadian government?  My ideas are so lame and pedestrian.  

The Senate scandal:  make pigs out of the red chairs the senators sit in? Too obvious.

The horror of Lac Megantic? Fireworks in the shape of boxcars or oil tankers?  'Keep On and Play With Fire' signs??  Boring.

Ai Weiwei has developed a way to communicate big ideas in a universal way.  He is resilient, keeping his protests in spite of police-inflicted brain injury, house arrest and the literal destruction of his studio.

I bow down to him in respect and appreciation.

Am I a Snob............??

Am I a snob...............??

The other day I was looking at a food label, and thought some of the contents were extraordinary.  

So I handed it to my co-worker and said, "Here, read this."

Little did I know she would read it out loud to me.  Poorly.  I'm sorry, it was like she was in Grade Six.  

Maybe she doesn't read  much, or isn't interested in reading.  Maybe she has a learning or reading disability.  

I was embarrassed for her, and embarrassed myself that I didn't make it clear I hadn't expected her to read aloud.

Then I started to feel really bad that I felt I was looking down on her for her poor reading.  I was actually starting to feel smug and a bit superior.  Crap!!  I don't want to feel like that.  

I was judging.  I was comparing the two of us.  Not fair.  

And I felt bad because of it.  I like her, and I was mentally putting her down.

Do I apologize?  For my thoughts?  I don't think so!  

Can I change my thought patterns?  I don't think so.

Maybe I can change my reactions and be a bit more open-minded................................