I have been invited to be in an "Artist in Residency" program in Austin's Partnership with Israel Western Galilee region and participate in an Arts Festival called "Arts on the Fence." Photography, paintings, and mixed-media work will be assembled on a fence as one aspect of the visit.
This Residency program holds the potential to be a unique and powerful experience. Its focus is about connecting me to people in the Western Galilee through my creativity. I’ll be able to experience the region with all its artistic treasures while building relationships with Austin’s partnership region.
I haven’t been to Israel since 1992—and a lot has changed in those 19 years. The theme for the arts festival is “Point of Encounter." There’s something about that
phrase-- to meet unexpectedly, with perhaps a bit of serendipity. My work now is to
identify what that means to me, and how to portray this through my mind’s eye. In any
case, for the first time I’ll be content with the status of "being on the fence."
I hope you’ll follow my journey via Facebook Twitter (@shalomaustin @gr8wendini) and this blog.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Children of the Corn
I was born with the last name Corn. It was Korn in the ‘old country’ but we can blame Ellis Island for that. 10 years ago was the inaugural “Children of the Corn” Family Reunion in the Midwest (my parents are from Chicago). A concept dedicated to keeping family ties, creating traditions, sharing oral history, laughter and having a sense of knowing our relatives. My cousin, Sara Gorr introduced the concept initially as a dedication to her late Grandmother, my aunt, Florence Gorr, who inscribed the importance of family and we ran with it. The Corn’s have humor in the gene pool, so riffing off the 1984 horror film Children of the Corn; we used it as our own. My cousins Sara, Lila Rosenweig, and Marily Schonthal spearheaded the effort again 10 years later, back by ‘popular request’ 60+ family members turned up at the Perlstein Resort in the Wisconsin Dells where a ‘once in a decade’ tradition was born.
When you hear the words “Family Reunion” mostly people cringe. It conjures up all kinds of emotion ranging a natural feeling of uncertainty, viewing it perhaps as some kind of obligatory company picnic where everyone wears the t-shirt and plays nice to ‘I’d rather staple my lips together’. My personal hesitation was the projected judgment that I’m in my early 40’s and single--still single with a few ‘almosts’ in my life. In 2000, at the first reunion, I was set to go with my then Australian boyfriend who had the chutzpah to break up with me right before we were to get on the plane! I was devastated. I arrived to the first CotC reunion with a broken heart. I lost a love that day, but found an unexpected one in my family. Like Toula Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding says “My family is big and loud but they're my family. We fight and we laugh and yes, we roast lamb on a spit in the front yard. And where ever I go, what ever I do they will always be there.” This year, I again found myself less than excited that I didn’t have a significant other, kids or even the badge of honor of being married and divorced. Fortunately for me, my mountain of emotion dissolved once I landed there and engaged in the connections that this unique opportunity offered. Really, it’s a once in a lifetime event because this particular configuration of family present will never be duplicated again. It looked totally different 10 years ago with many not even born yet, and of course, some have passed since. I’ve got an amazing family ranging from 2 to 98 years old. Intelligent, funny, wise, interesting, opinionated, talented from all walks of life and from all over the world including Israel, UK, New Zealand, East/West coasts & the Midwest —people I want in my life—lucky for me, we’re related and I know where they live.
The miracle of the event was that my Aunt Ruth, 97 years, the oldest living Corn and my Uncle Jack, 98 (99 in September) attended, and stayed! We thought they’d come for a day, and be in the family portrait—and that would have been enough (Dayenu), but they kept on feeling good and so they were there all 3 days! We didn’t know if Aunt Ruth would make it. She’s had health complications, pneumonia twice last winter, a broken hip more recently, all par for the course. But she did, and Uncle Jack too. She’s got an incredible memory—citing dates and people’s home addresses and she’s an animated story teller who just loves holding court as we all circled around and listened to stories of my Grandmother Bessie and Grandfather Morris. They had a Bakery in Chicago and Morris used to sleep on the burlap bags of flour he worked so hard—you know—those stories.
Ruth Rose is my father’s only living sibling. My dad, Bernie Corn, (whom I call Pop Corn) is 82—he’s ‘the kid’ of the family, which makes me the kid of the kid, having 2 significantly older brothers-- my first cousins’ children, my first cousins once removed, are my age.
“Wendy”, my cousin Lila wrote, “I don’t want to put you on the spot, but, how would you feel about teaching a yoga class?” well, I hadn’t been teaching in years, but I got excited and nervous and grabbed my yoga school teacher training notes and strung together a beginner class. I had the pleasure and honor of sharing my passion with eight family members—including my mom, brother, niece, sister-in-law there they were in downward facing dog, balancing poses and ultimately shivasana. What a memory that was. It’s just not your ‘standard-fare’ family reunion--whatever that is. I definitely know for sure the Corn’s are some distinctive crop.
There was plenty of free time during the day for excursions to Water Parks, Dairy Queen, the neighboring lakes of the Dells and general kibitzing balanced with the purpose we were there. Other cousins, Alan Gorr and Toby Rose, organized a memorial service where we lit candles and said the names of our loved ones no longer with us, whose memory lives on.
Another aspect that rounded out this happening, was the division of family members into three ‘activity planning’ factions. Each group had a turn to introduce a different interactive ice-breaker game each night after the entirely non-memorable dinner (let’s just say you don’t go to the Perlstein Resort for the food). It may sound cheesy (we were in Wisconsin after all,) but it was unexpectedly entertaining sharing both amusing and profound stories with the group or raising hands in a “Have you ever…” truth or lie diversion. It was a fun and meaningful way to get to know these people. I would have conversations and say-“Wait, how are we related?” Then we’d go to the Family Tree banner (thank you cousin Peter) and put it together.
I live in several ‘communities’ (Jewish, spiritual, yoga, film, fashion) and I believe in the concept of ‘chosen family’—friends that nourish us emotionally and love us unconditionally--the ones you want to be around because they uplift you. My take away from the Children of the Corn family reunion is that I have ’community’ in my very own family. If you were to be your own movie director, and ‘cast’ your Thanksgiving table with your favorite people, who would they be? Chances are, they’re a mix of blood and chosen family. Mine is.
When you hear the words “Family Reunion” mostly people cringe. It conjures up all kinds of emotion ranging a natural feeling of uncertainty, viewing it perhaps as some kind of obligatory company picnic where everyone wears the t-shirt and plays nice to ‘I’d rather staple my lips together’. My personal hesitation was the projected judgment that I’m in my early 40’s and single--still single with a few ‘almosts’ in my life. In 2000, at the first reunion, I was set to go with my then Australian boyfriend who had the chutzpah to break up with me right before we were to get on the plane! I was devastated. I arrived to the first CotC reunion with a broken heart. I lost a love that day, but found an unexpected one in my family. Like Toula Portokalos in My Big Fat Greek Wedding says “My family is big and loud but they're my family. We fight and we laugh and yes, we roast lamb on a spit in the front yard. And where ever I go, what ever I do they will always be there.” This year, I again found myself less than excited that I didn’t have a significant other, kids or even the badge of honor of being married and divorced. Fortunately for me, my mountain of emotion dissolved once I landed there and engaged in the connections that this unique opportunity offered. Really, it’s a once in a lifetime event because this particular configuration of family present will never be duplicated again. It looked totally different 10 years ago with many not even born yet, and of course, some have passed since. I’ve got an amazing family ranging from 2 to 98 years old. Intelligent, funny, wise, interesting, opinionated, talented from all walks of life and from all over the world including Israel, UK, New Zealand, East/West coasts & the Midwest —people I want in my life—lucky for me, we’re related and I know where they live.
The miracle of the event was that my Aunt Ruth, 97 years, the oldest living Corn and my Uncle Jack, 98 (99 in September) attended, and stayed! We thought they’d come for a day, and be in the family portrait—and that would have been enough (Dayenu), but they kept on feeling good and so they were there all 3 days! We didn’t know if Aunt Ruth would make it. She’s had health complications, pneumonia twice last winter, a broken hip more recently, all par for the course. But she did, and Uncle Jack too. She’s got an incredible memory—citing dates and people’s home addresses and she’s an animated story teller who just loves holding court as we all circled around and listened to stories of my Grandmother Bessie and Grandfather Morris. They had a Bakery in Chicago and Morris used to sleep on the burlap bags of flour he worked so hard—you know—those stories.
Ruth Rose is my father’s only living sibling. My dad, Bernie Corn, (whom I call Pop Corn) is 82—he’s ‘the kid’ of the family, which makes me the kid of the kid, having 2 significantly older brothers-- my first cousins’ children, my first cousins once removed, are my age.
“Wendy”, my cousin Lila wrote, “I don’t want to put you on the spot, but, how would you feel about teaching a yoga class?” well, I hadn’t been teaching in years, but I got excited and nervous and grabbed my yoga school teacher training notes and strung together a beginner class. I had the pleasure and honor of sharing my passion with eight family members—including my mom, brother, niece, sister-in-law there they were in downward facing dog, balancing poses and ultimately shivasana. What a memory that was. It’s just not your ‘standard-fare’ family reunion--whatever that is. I definitely know for sure the Corn’s are some distinctive crop.
There was plenty of free time during the day for excursions to Water Parks, Dairy Queen, the neighboring lakes of the Dells and general kibitzing balanced with the purpose we were there. Other cousins, Alan Gorr and Toby Rose, organized a memorial service where we lit candles and said the names of our loved ones no longer with us, whose memory lives on.
Another aspect that rounded out this happening, was the division of family members into three ‘activity planning’ factions. Each group had a turn to introduce a different interactive ice-breaker game each night after the entirely non-memorable dinner (let’s just say you don’t go to the Perlstein Resort for the food). It may sound cheesy (we were in Wisconsin after all,) but it was unexpectedly entertaining sharing both amusing and profound stories with the group or raising hands in a “Have you ever…” truth or lie diversion. It was a fun and meaningful way to get to know these people. I would have conversations and say-“Wait, how are we related?” Then we’d go to the Family Tree banner (thank you cousin Peter) and put it together.
I live in several ‘communities’ (Jewish, spiritual, yoga, film, fashion) and I believe in the concept of ‘chosen family’—friends that nourish us emotionally and love us unconditionally--the ones you want to be around because they uplift you. My take away from the Children of the Corn family reunion is that I have ’community’ in my very own family. If you were to be your own movie director, and ‘cast’ your Thanksgiving table with your favorite people, who would they be? Chances are, they’re a mix of blood and chosen family. Mine is.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Ratio TV
Once in a Blue Moon seems to be more or less now when I write and update my Blog. We got one of those as we entered the 2010 New Year one month ago...I'd like to give Mystical Musings a shot in the arm for the new decade--so here I am one full moon in. The 'Wolf Moon' of January.
I've been musing about the ratio of TV owning/watching people and their main-stream conditioning, motivation, 'change the world' inclination & general contribution to local art venues & economy VS. most of the people I know who are artist-types. Perhaps these creatives work in 'the biz'(production/film/design etc.) and I'm not sure why--but by enlarge don't own/watch TV (they own DVD players & rent a season at a time of any HBO series). I'm some sort of hybrid that has illegal cable (shhh) that otherwise would also not be in this mainstream American habit. It feels like some elite club--although the only initiation ritual is paying for installation and your monthly bill. The point of cable originally was quality programmed television shows without commercials-- and now we get them too. Oh, you can be in 'the club' if you wanted to pay some devil-worshiping conglomerate like T/W Cable only to get a hit of societal surrender of sub-par content that we've been conditioned to think is what we want or what our ADD/ MTV attention spans can accommodate.
Sound like I'm bitter? Perhaps I am just a bit. There's always some thread of apologetic tone I feel with being American and how we are viewed internationally. It's got somewhat better with Obama taking office. Our TV watching habit as a default companion is not new news by any stretch, but is particularly heightened with the Super Bowl next week and leverging new commercials (at a colossal $ cost/second) and messaging to take advantage of the millions of eye balls that will be a captured audience this day.
I've been musing about the ratio of TV owning/watching people and their main-stream conditioning, motivation, 'change the world' inclination & general contribution to local art venues & economy VS. most of the people I know who are artist-types. Perhaps these creatives work in 'the biz'(production/film/design etc.) and I'm not sure why--but by enlarge don't own/watch TV (they own DVD players & rent a season at a time of any HBO series). I'm some sort of hybrid that has illegal cable (shhh) that otherwise would also not be in this mainstream American habit. It feels like some elite club--although the only initiation ritual is paying for installation and your monthly bill. The point of cable originally was quality programmed television shows without commercials-- and now we get them too. Oh, you can be in 'the club' if you wanted to pay some devil-worshiping conglomerate like T/W Cable only to get a hit of societal surrender of sub-par content that we've been conditioned to think is what we want or what our ADD/ MTV attention spans can accommodate.
Sound like I'm bitter? Perhaps I am just a bit. There's always some thread of apologetic tone I feel with being American and how we are viewed internationally. It's got somewhat better with Obama taking office. Our TV watching habit as a default companion is not new news by any stretch, but is particularly heightened with the Super Bowl next week and leverging new commercials (at a colossal $ cost/second) and messaging to take advantage of the millions of eye balls that will be a captured audience this day.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Real Halloween Zombie
This year that would be me. (The picture accompanying this blog post is from last year.)
What I thought was a common cold was bronchitis. After walking around with no voice, coughing a lot and generally feeling crummy for over 2 weeks I finally went back to the Doctor. He took X-Rays and did blood work and we learned I have Pneumonia which explains everything! I've never had such a stretch of time where I've been so 'un-well'. Phew! So, I'm not crazy (although others may argue this). I'm in good hands & on a strong antibiotic now, but three days ago my white blood cell count was 25 and 11 is considered normal. Dr. Schneider said "My jaw dropped--you know 9 out of 10 doctors would have put you in the hospital". Well I'm glad he was the 1 that didn't--now my WBC count is down to 16--so the meds are working and I'm feeling better than I have in days.
This is the most quiet Halloween for me to date. I just finished giving out candy to the neighborhood kids. Although I'm aware of the various parties everywhere this evening--and photographing friends stopping by as they're off to take on the night--I feel relieved that I'm off the hook this year. Right now, there's nothing more compelling than a hot cup of tea and a good book, or perhaps 'cracking out' to Bravo watching entire past seasons of 'America's Next Top Model'.
What I thought was a common cold was bronchitis. After walking around with no voice, coughing a lot and generally feeling crummy for over 2 weeks I finally went back to the Doctor. He took X-Rays and did blood work and we learned I have Pneumonia which explains everything! I've never had such a stretch of time where I've been so 'un-well'. Phew! So, I'm not crazy (although others may argue this). I'm in good hands & on a strong antibiotic now, but three days ago my white blood cell count was 25 and 11 is considered normal. Dr. Schneider said "My jaw dropped--you know 9 out of 10 doctors would have put you in the hospital". Well I'm glad he was the 1 that didn't--now my WBC count is down to 16--so the meds are working and I'm feeling better than I have in days.
This is the most quiet Halloween for me to date. I just finished giving out candy to the neighborhood kids. Although I'm aware of the various parties everywhere this evening--and photographing friends stopping by as they're off to take on the night--I feel relieved that I'm off the hook this year. Right now, there's nothing more compelling than a hot cup of tea and a good book, or perhaps 'cracking out' to Bravo watching entire past seasons of 'America's Next Top Model'.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Scenic Gumbo: Vanishing Austin
Yesterday Austin Officials celebrated the City’s designation as a “Preserve America Community.” and last night at the J was a reception & talk for Jann Alexander, a Photographer that celebrates & documents the "scenic gumbo" that contributes to keeping Austin weird. She successfully contrasts the old with the new--the new condos surfacing juxtaposed with old signs or buildings. "I try and keep ahead of the wrecking ball" she said.
I have an affinity for Jann--she is also an East-Coaster that "got here as quick as she could"--now having lived here for 1.5 years, it was interesting to hear some of the stories behind the signs from some native Austinites--like from JCAA member, Sandy Dochen.
I just love those old retro signs--the type of eye candy you don't see much of anymore--except in Austin! My first post-Bali blog post in Austin (Jan. 2008) was the famous phalic sign at the Austin Motel that reads "So Close Yet So far Out". I think those signs were part of the lure that got me hooked into Austin...and figuately a sign that I belonged here. I love that Jann is celebrating these whimsical treasures with her vibrant images. They indeed do capture what is, to me, the pulse of Austin...a reminder that you are indeed experiencing some place special.
Visit: http://austindetails.com to see her work and she is open to suggestion if you have any ideas of what's vanishing next!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Now Arriving at Destination…
I haven’t had much to say lately—virtually that is—which seems to be a trend looking over the last few entries. Sigh.
Life is life-ing though. Humming right along. New friends, experiences, relationships—like the one with my car, or more accurately my new toy—a Garmin GPS device with a British accent, the voice of my Scion XA, whom I’ve affectionately named Suki, (Japanese for ‘loved one’) reciting to me in her cold accent phrases like “ In .7 miles arrive at destination on left”
Some friends have Blogs about fashion like Claire James: www.collectiveselection.com
Others about documentary film-like Agnes Varnum: agnesvarnum.com “Doc it Out” or about making Alyiah to Israel with Barbara Roth’s intoisrael.co.il
An still others about Raw Food or Yoga—thank you Rebecca Jordan: eatfruitbehappy.blogspot.com and laughingsunyoga.blogspot.com
And mine, is well, is about musings…my own personal ‘A-ha’ moments without any particular theme that swirl in and out of my consciousness everyday. These fleeting thoughts have been severely neglected in this blog. I said to Agnes—“I’m having a blog identity crisis” My blog is about nothing—you know, like Seinfeld—just life and it’s idiosyncratic moments I choose to disect because after all, what’s personal is universal—so if I’m amused and so muse—someone else may find it intriguing, interesting, or provocative.
So perhaps, my destination is that I don’t have one and that I’m just sharing whimsical moments of my journey—perhaps inspired by fashion, food, yoga or spirituality.
I continue to be incredibly grateful for my delicious life and appreciating these new connections I’ve made. Today I’m donating blood (this is a big deal for me!) and participating in a movie blitz for the Austin Jewish Film Festival then going on a sunset boat tour. I’m loving Austin in the heat of the Summer.
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Vale Vale!
Oviedo/Gijon (pronounced soft cHE-hon)
Gerry Kaiser (wavelets.com) my very interesting brilliant academic, new friend and catalyst for this impromptu trip met at the airport with our host, Emilio. We have an ocean view from our hotel room. What a treat, especially now living in Austin, I don’t have Ocean views. This small port town feels familiar—the climate and weather reminds me of Mamaroneck meets Wales.
Gerry is here teaching a Mathematical theory 4-day advanced course at the University of Oviedo. Ah, Europe. It’s so nice to be out of the country again. My goal is to go somewhere every year. We meet up with Ari on Saturday in Barcelona.
Before leaving town, two noteworthy events happened—the first was Rebecca Zshozshing my apartment from painting very room, redecorating and organizing it all on a Goodwill/Ikea/Target budget. Excellent work. I have officially moved in and purged all paperwork and memories I’ve been traveling with for 20 + years. I finally got my books out of boxes. I guess I’ll be living on Ford Street for another year…Rebecca made me say so long to my beloved Rocket Dog shoes. Sigh.
The second in event was that Bernie & Saraine—my parents came down for Passover and for the first year ever we 3 experienced a second night Seder. The first was quite big, almost 60 and second a more manageable event with 15 people. We went to the Blanton Museum (free on Thursdays) for an interesting exhibition about the relationship between music/media and architecture called “Birth of Cool” after the 1958 Miles Davis album. We also went to the Umlauf Sculpture Garden, ate lunch Mr. Natural, dinner Artz Rib House (good veggie burger for me) and spent a nice morning with Carole & Kerry Price and Carole’s mother, Audrey.
And now back to Spain—
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