Oh, The Places You'll Go (For Free)

If left to my own devices, I would probably spend my summer vacation in bed watching reality television and then feeling guilty about it.  Because my natural tendency is to be an introvert, I have to be proactive about contacting friends and planning activities so that my days off feel productive.  Below are a few of the free or low cost things that I have been enjoying.

The MET Roof Garden Cafe and Martini Bar:

Technically, the Metropolitan Museum of Art isn't free unless you have an IDNYC card.  Luckily, entrance into the museum is a "donation" of your choosing.  This year's installation, Cornelia Parker's PsychoBarn, is inspired by Norman Bates' home in the1960 film Psycho.  The 30 foot exhibit is striking, but the real appeal of the Roof Garden is the view and the deliciously strong cocktails.  James, Kyle, and I celebrated the beginning of summer by rediscovering the joys of day drinking, while Chloe took advantage of the rare opportunity to have a Coke. 

Summer Exhibits @ The Studio Museum in Harlem: 

Chloe is more into performance art than visual art, but I drag her along to the exhibits at The Studio Museum with me anyway. She is good company and I use the museum as an opportunity to work on her communication and critical thinking skills. As we take in the exhibits I ask her questions like: 

• Why do you think the artist made this choice? 
• What painting do you like best? 
• What does this remind you of? 

Alma Thomas's collection of vibrant mosaics is perfect for summer; the light and the color serve as excellent art therapy after the depressing news week.  Also check out Artist in Residence Jordan Casteel's portraits of men who work along 125th Street.  The Studio Museum is open Thursday- Sunday, and it is free on Sundays.

Macbeth @ The Classical Theater of Harlem:

Sometimes I feel like I am the only English teacher in America who isn't into Shakespeare, but I jumped at the chance to see Macbeth in Marcus Garvey Park with Jackie.  The drumming, dancing, and fabulous costumes held my attention and enhanced my understanding of the play.  Watching a performance under the stars with lightening bugs twinkling in the sky was a beautiful experience.  Bring insect repellent for the mosquitos and a pillow.  A bottle of wine wouldn't hurt either! Macbeth is playing  July 8- 31st. Tuesday - Sunday the show begins at 8pm and on Friday it begins at 8:30.

Orchard Beach:

For the record, I am not a beach person but Chloe is and she has found a kindred spirit in RM (who insisted that I add Orchard Beach to this post).  Orchard Beach was known as "The Riviera of New York" when it was created in the 1930's on top of a landfill using sand brought in on barges.  Interestingly, the beach is near where Anne Hutchinson was killed by Native Americans after being chased out of the Masssschsets colony in 1638.  Orchard Beach is around 30 minutes from Harlem, and it is clean and well staffed by lifeguards.  There is a family atmosphere (tell your child that the person selling "nutcrackers" is  selling toys) and people are friendly.  Get there early so that you can stake out a spot and try the chicken empanadas sold at the concession stand.  

Self-Fashioning

There is a funny story behind this picture!

This past Sunday I went to The Studio Museum in Harlem to see their Spring Exhibits.  In particular, I was excited to see the Salon Style exhibit of art inspired by hair and nails.  

Lipstick Building, by Meschac Gaba

Self Portrait #4 by Nadine Robinson

However, the exhibit that spoke to me the most was In Profile: Portraits from the Permanent Collection.  The description of the work mentioned the idea of “self-fashioning” in 16^th century Europe, in which noblemen commissioned artists to create portraits that highlighted their social status.  The pieces in In Profile exemplified black artists' efforts to translate the concept of "self-fashioning" to black subjects reflecting the nobility in everyday life that is lived with dignity.

Coin XXIV by  Whitfield Lovell

Last week, before seeing the exhibit,  I had the idea of doing a post on teachers with great style.  Representation matters and it is frustrating to see teachers maligned in the media as molesters, cheaters, or ineffective blobs.

I asked one of my students to take my photo- and she immediately pulled out a chair, stood on it, got the right angle and took my picture!  Meanwhile the librarian was at the door wondering what the hell was going on! Education, I tell you!  I was "self-fashioning"!  I had to laugh at how quickly the people around me learn my angles! Even Chloe knows that you "have to hold the camera up and tilt it!" I'm like Mariah, you just can't shoot me any old way!

I have insecurities just like any other woman.  I have had to wear braids and weaves for the past year because stress caused my hair to break off.  In the same time-period, I gained 35 pounds (which is ten more pounds than I gained during my entire pregnancy).  It is important to for me to acknowledge my insecurities so that I don’t end up taking them out on other people, but it is equally important for me not to live in a space of disappointment or self-loathing.  And for this reason, I have no problem having my picture taken.  I have to love every one of my pounds and make sure that even the extra ones are properly outfitted.  And when I’m not feeling it, I have to fake it until I make it.  Period.

What I love about the concept of "self-fashioning" is the idea that self-esteem, and by extension, the world's perception of you isn't static. It is something that we can bend and shape as situations change and need arises. Because aren’t we all worthy of a portrait?

Eye Candy: Jet Beauties of the Week

If you are a black person who grew up in America in the 70's and 80's, chances are that  JET and Ebony magazines were part of your childhood.  I remember visiting my grandparent's house in Maryland where I would sit in the sunny front room reading issue after issue of JET.  They had a chair that was upholstered in red and gold fabric, and it swiveled when you sat in it.  There were issues of JET on the glass coffee table, and I can recall spending hours reading while my brother played outside. These are some of my most vivid childhood memories.

  Something is different about Kenya Moore . . . Photo: Jet Archives

My favorite section of the magazine was "The Week's Best Photos," which featured photos of black celebrities and politicians.  I can remember being tickled when JET published pictures of stars in interracial relationships with the caption"so-and-so and his white wife," like we couldn't see that from the pictures! The advertisements for Ambi Fade Cream, Carefree Curl, booze, and Newport cigarettes showed black people coupled up and being fabulous. (Obviously, at this point in my childhood I had no understanding of the concept of irony. )

Where is this scotch when I need it? Photo: Pinterest

This year when Jet abruptly stopped publishing a print edition (in the middle of my father's subscription) I felt a bit sad, like another piece of my childhood was taken away.  I was excited to visit Speaking of People: Ebony, JET, and Contemportary Art at The Studio Museum in Harlem and share this part of my history with Chloe. The exhibit is a collection of works by more than a dozen artists who were inspired by these two black-owned publications.

Jeremy Okai Davis, Makes the Man

In the midst of all of the negative images of black women in popular culture it was thrilling to walk into a room wall papered with JET Beauties of the Week.  It was interesting to to look at the range of skin color, hairstyles, and body types of the women chosen to appear in the magazine.  Although, the Beauties of the Week all posed in swimsuits, it was refreshing to female bodies without digital or surgical "enhancement".

The women were all relatively thin,  but they were shaply in a way that was not grotesque. I can imagine that these images of black women were less psychologically damaging than the ones that exist today in pop culture because they did not represent anything that couldn't be achieved with diet and exercise.

I also enjoyed viewing Theaster Gates's piece On Black Foundations.  Before there was MAC or Nars, there was Fashion Fair. I can recall seeing pink tubes of ruby and burgundy lipstick on my grandmother and aunt's vanities.  In fact, I think that Mikita's first lipstick was a Fashion Fair shade called "Brown Sugar."  There was part of the installation in which a bald headed brown skinned woman repeated "I am beautiful" in various intonations. Chloe was transfixed.

Theaster Gates On Black Foundations

I brought Chloe to the museum to share JET and Ebony with her, but the exhibit that had the most impact on both of us was The Jerome Project by Titus Kaphar.

Titus Kaphar

In 2011, Kaphar was looking on the internet for his father's prison records.  He found dozens of men who shared his father's name, and he used photographs of these men as the inspiration for a collection of  portraits (it is kind of like a visual arts version of The Other Wes Moore).  The paintings of these men were covered in gold leaf and dipped in tar, and they are at once royal and tragic. It is interesting to think about the tar significance of the tar in light of the story of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Photo: songofthesouth.net

Originally Kaphar used the tar to symbolize the amount of time that each man had been under the supervision of the criminal justice system, but it evolved into a means of obscuring the men's faces to preserve their privacy.  The exhibit is a striking and thought provoking commentary on race and the judicial system in America.