gentrification?

If you've been reading my blog you know Liv and I were in Portland recently to help her parents work on their house. I have some great before and after pictures that I will save for another post, but for now, I thought I would post about a moment we shared during the painting process.

So, this reads like more like a joke than a social commentary, but here goes:

Q: How do you know when you are part of the gentrification process?

A: In two parts:

1. When your family profile reads: White mother with Ph.D. in German, white father with M.S. in Mechanical Engineering, white lesbian daughter with B.A. in English, and white lesbian daughter-in-law to be with M.A. in Women's Studies

AND

2. When the door you are refinishing is covered with pencil scratchings that read: "DiJonnete" and "Teneshia is the bomb '96" as below.



Sile used to sometimes call me "white, white" to which I took great offense, but there are moments where those words creep up and resonate with me.

things i saw in texas

This post is a bit late, but I saw some crazy things in Texas, some of which are to be expected, others that were a bit surprising...even for Texas. Of course there were lots of cowboy hats and boots and cows in abundance and women with big hair, but what I didn't expect were women with big purses, particularly big hairy purses, like this lovely specimen. OK,so ironically, this picture is tiny because I tried to make it bigger in Fireworks (another program I do not know how to work, but am attempting to learn) and I bombed. So, as I write, Liv is sitting next to me correcting my error with her mad Photoshop skills. In a minute I can post a more true to life version that will really be impressive...as impressive as the beastly thing was in person. And I do mean beastly, it looked more like Oscar the Grouch hanging from her arm than a purse. OK, so here is the whacked thing in its full glory...as they say, everything is bigger in Texas, even ugly purses! Ugh, now this picture is gianormous and is overwhelming everything else on my otherwise well organized blog. If this weren't the chronicle of my technological pursuits, I would have blown a gasket by now. JESUS.

supafly

Chillin with the aunties on a sunny Spring day in Columbus.
Leif looks the part!

fowl

Liv and I are still in Portland helping her parents work on their house (a beautiful work in progress!). We took a break on the weekend and Robin came down from Seattle with her new G Shira to hang out and wander around town. We went out for drinks to a great new bar/restaurant on Alberta St. called Zaytoons. It's a lesbian owned neighborhood joint with fancy design elements that has a very contemporary urban feel...super cool. So we did a little photo shoot of us all together.










Then farmer Liv introduced the amazing urban chicken book to us,











so we did the photo shoot again, this time with chicken in tow!



Robin and Shira were particularly pleased to welcome the curly chicken to our party!

long johns

Check out my hottie on the slopes!



























Zoom in for a closer look at the latest in cross country ski fashions.



























And finally, the ass shot!

Old Lady [Speedy]

Old Lady [Speedy]

Watch the video

A birthday short!

Old Lady [Uncut]

Old Lady [Uncut]

Watch the video

A birthday serenade, live from Portland, Oregon.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEWEY DEW!

Pucker Up!

Pucker Up

Watch the video

Elis, Amoreh and I found an eligible girlfriend for T. down by Rio Concho! Learn more at this link!

mama mia sopapilla

This post is a special shout out to T and Liv:
Your mouth is gonna water, you missed it :(
For those not in the know, the fabulous sopapilla pictured here is like a giant elephant ear covered in hot strawberries, topped with whipped cream then and drizzled with scrumptious chocolate sauce.
Mmmmmmm, mmmmmmmm, good.
Another highlight of my time in West Texas.

flaming onion...sideways

flaming onion...sideways

Watch the video

Hey folks,

In case you have forgotten, this blog is about my A/V adventures, so try a little neck stretch for the next 49 seconds if you want to watch this video.  We learn by doing, right?

Anyway, highlights from a Texan version of a Japanese Steak House.  Globalization in action.

mexico pics

Elis, Amoreh and I took off for Mexico yesterday. For the first time in seven months it rained in Texas, so I didn't get the much wished for time in the sun, but by the time we got to Acuna, the rain stopped and it was at least warm enough for a t-shirt. We wandered around the small border town for a few hours and snapped some fun pictures.
These are some of my favs!

hogs

hogs

Watch the video

Spring Break in Cuidad Acuna, Mexico!  With baby in tow, we stumbled upon a harley rally!  So much for a quiet day in Mexico with the three year old!

salute

My niece is the cutest ever!
I'm off to see her in less than 8 hours and as usual I am still not packed.
I just banged my head on our ceiling in that tiny ass cellar of ours.
I should not be writing right now, but I HAD to get these pictures up pronto.
Later gators I'm off to Tejas!

Proud American

Check out these three pics. They are from the same outing to New Albany.

New Albany, Ohio

Some pics I took last week from an outing to New Albany. I went to look for a house on 161 that was abandonned. It's been at least 6 months since I drove that route last and in the time since then a huge chunk of land with tons of houses on it has been bought up for development. I took a ton of pictures which I will put into a slide show for another post, but for now, there are the ones I like best. They all reveal that sad transistional space between old and new. I wish I knew what the people who sold their land and houses think about all the changes in that area. For all I know they could be overjoyed at the increase in value of their land...none of the boarded up houses was particularly nice. Anyway, here goes:

young ideas

For Christmas Liv and I bought a collection of postcards from the Wexner Center called "Catalogue Woman: Mail-Order Fashion Foxes." We got this great idea to share the postcards with our creative friends and challenge each other to re-create the fashions for a group photo shoot. I chose this postcard to recreate


We haven't met yet to compare our fashion creations, but here are some photos of my design









Now all I need are the pony tails!

new life church

new life church

Watch the video

Cornfields all over Ohio are being bought by developers.  One spot in Central Ohio will become the home of a mega church.

shuttered house

shuttered house

Watch the video

One of my favorite houses on SR161 between Columbus and Newark. I've been drawn to it because of the green shutters. It appears that the land it's on has been bought recently, as all the houses in the area are boarded up. This whole process of urban sprawl is so sad to watch.

caught

caught

Watch the video

Since the goal of my blog is to document my quest toward 21st Century digital media literacy, I have decided to post snippets of video I film for class projects, family stuff, whatever. So far I have ended up traipsing around all kinds of odd places around Columbus. Fears of being caught have resurfaced for me several times.

barber pole

barber pole

Watch the video

If you're bored with George, skip the post, but he was full of so many fascinating stories, I couldn't resist making several posts. 

hair pieces

hair pieces

Watch the video

Gotta love George!  Here he tells the story of his collection of hair pieces.  What a gem.  Read the story of my encounter with George at www.scootking.blogspot.com

topless barber

topless barber

Watch the video

As promised, the first installment of my visit with George the Barber!