OOJ: Brave

today's Object Of Joy (OOJ) is Pixar/Disney's new animated movie, Brave, which stars Merida, Disney's first truly badass princess. ever since Snow White in 1937, Disney princesses have been ridiculously powerless- trapped in death-like sleep (SW, Sleeping Beauty), mute (Ariel), or more commonly unable to solve their own problems and reduced to following other, wiser people's instructions (Cinderella, Jasmine).  Mulan was tolerable, but she had to prove her strength by hiding her true identity and pretending to be a guy. Pocahontas was a terribly eroticized, exoticized revision of history (no joke, turn off the sound and watch her first few scenes when she's running through the forest: you see a woman with a body like Beyonce's in a skimpy dress that looks like it's going to fall off her any second, whipping her hair around in the wind). Tiana was spunky and had career ambitions of opening her own restaurant, but still gave up her dreams in order to save a boy she loved (similarly to Belle, who sacrificed her life for her father). these movies all typically ended with a kiss, if not a wedding, as the princess and her true love (always a boy) lived happily ever after, seeding millions of children with the holographic truth that life success = smooching a light-skinned boy.

how can pixels create hair that looks like this???

enter Princess Merida, who acts entitled, as princesses are, and self-centered, as teenagers are. the story is driven by her quest to fix a mistake that was born out of her entitlement and self-centeredness. my favorite moment comes early in the movie when Merida shows up at an archery tournament (where the winner wins her hand in marriage, of course) and declares to the crowd: "My name is Merida and I'll be shooting for my own hand!" oh, i whooped big when i heard that! and also promptly started crying because finally, finally, here is a girl who does not need a man to feel whole or loved. even more incredibly, the movie ends with nary a kiss- in fact, male characters are mostly sidelined, existing mostly as buffoons or spectators. 


i am not naive enough to think that this movie marks a new beginning in heroine movies. but it is enough for me, for now, that it exists and that children will see it, this new heroine who has both the confidence to break with tradition and the humility to take responsibility for poor decisions.

eating hot dogs in a thunderstorm

wildfire hazed sky

strange times in abq. yesterday afternoon, a wildfire erupted in corrales, about 15 miles away. it's still going on, 100 acres strong (is there another verb for wildfires besides "raging"?), cloaking the sky in a thick, brownish haze that turned reddish as the sun went down tonight. and then to make things even weirder, the sky suddenly cracked upon and dumped football stadiums full of rain on our bone-dry city (ok, not the right metaphor, but i couldn't think of a bigger water holder than a bathtub). once it started pouring, there was nothing more for me to do than roast some hot dogs in the toaster, sit back, and watch the lightning show.  

OOJ: Taos Pottery

before this weekend, i never would have claimed to be interested in pottery. sure, i'd seen pretty plates and cups before, painted and glazed in controlled decorative patterns, but that kind of pottery did not get much of a reaction out of me besides, "that's nice." 

then i went to Taos, NM for a weekend to flee the ABQ heat. it was almost noon; i was in line for ice cream at Taos Cow ice cream behind two people who were taking a very long time deciding which flavors they wanted. i gave up on ice cream and wandered across the street into Rottenstone Pottery studio. suddenly i was in a room full of pottery as i'd never seen it before: powerful, roughly shaped pieces that somehow managed to evoke the desert landscape. looking at one of these pieces was like staring out a window. Scott, the owner, explained how it works: the pigments and patterns on his pieces don't come from colored glaze, but from the ash of the wood that feeds the kiln. wood from different areas give off ashes that produce distinctive effects. my favorite pieces had earth-colored ribbons that resembled a landscape, like the mug in the bottom left corner of the photo above. Scott said those pieces had been fired with wood from Kalamazoo, MI. twice a year, he loads up his truck with clay and drives up to Kalamazoo to create pieces there. i love the idea of art pieces that carry geographical imprints of where they were created.

Scott also carries work from other local artists. i fell in love with these owls (center photo), carved out of found burnt wood by Duane O'Hagan, who also carved the other spirit birds shown. 

and finally, a sign from the Taos Gorge Bridge rest area. i love it.

OOJ: stump face

when school is out, i make lots of home visits to keep in touch with my kids. 

i found today's OOJ in the front yard of one of my kids' homes.

the kids said they found it in the ditch last week and rolled it home.

in many of my kids' stories, there is a ditch involved.

OOJ: Lennon and Maisy

i have not been this impressed by a kiddie act since i can't remember when- maybe never. whoever taped them clearly seems to have hipster savvy (and check out those mics in the corners), but whatev, these sisters are preternaturally gifted with rocker intuition (and long shiny casually perfect rocker hair). loosen up your jaw muscles, cuz your mouth is gonna hang open for a few minutes straight. 
lennon and maisy

OOJ: humans and worms

Sheilah Rose-Zuke, "The Exchange", clay

a few weeks ago, i discovered the fine arts building at santa fe community college (SFCC). i remember the community colleges near where i'd grown up as dingy, brick buildings that were dimly lit and scuffed up inside. SFCC, in contrast, was a gleaming, light-filled structure with windows in every direction. student art was on display in the lobby, so i snapped a couple shots as i hurried through. sculpture is something i've never tried (aside from temporary play doh creations), mostly because it intimidates me: how to create something out of nothing? these students clearly don't have my problem. 

Tanya Story, "Tentacle", sugar, food coloring