Jolanda-Pieta van Arnhem, MFA

Another week has passed and I am still struggling with "The Evil Cold" that I think may have turned into "The Evil Bacterial Infection". Christopher has mandated that if still have the hack I have to go to the dreaded doctor next week. I am desperately trying to avoid this. This morning I was told that "He will take me" if I refuse. This is unusual for Christopher as he normally leaves me alone with these things. I am hoping for a stunning recovery on Sunday.

It has not been the best of weeks. Monday I had to take Little Dog to the Vet on the same day as I did last year with Mojo. We are waiting for blood test results to find out if he having kidney failure. He is coughing a lot and very tired. He is also very snuggly and wants to be touching us at all times. This is very unusual for him. He is a very independent dog.

Jerry is still struggling with "The Evil Cold" as well and I think it is starting to bring him down. He is as tired of it as I am. I am also hoping for a stunning recovery for him as well.

Tuesday Christopher and I went to see the Movie "Freedom to Fascism". If your interested you can take a look at the trailers at their website . They also have a blog that is an interesting read. I am still not sure what I think about it.

The jist of the movie is that it is about "…how the wealth of our nation was silently passed from its citizens to a handful of powerful bankers in 1913. That’s the year the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment were introduced, giving a privately held corporation the means to control our finances while ensuring its interest payments through the strong arms of the newly-formed Internal Revenue Service. Ever since then, Russo suggests, Americans have been gradually conditioned to accept fewer freedoms and a lower standard of living… all the while considering debt and servitude as distinctly American values."

One disturbing point of the evening was the audience that attended the screening. Christopher and I were greeted with questions about whether Oplinger (Christopher’s last name) was German or Jewish. Apparently German was OK. Then we were told a very racist story about black labor. I was distinctly unimpressed and was forced to leave the conversation. Christopher looked like he wanted to throw up. The entire movie was spent listening to "Amen’s" whenever points were made in the film. Towards the end of the screening my head felt like it was going to explode and that I might say something that would get us "jacked up behind the back of our car." We chose to leave quietly.

I mention this because I think that it was an interesting audience and it made us ponder how our curiosity in the subject of the film could put us in contact with people who had such different views. Life is funny like that. I still recommend seeing the film and checking out the website so you can determine your own opinion on the subject. Just beware that your experience may not be exactly what you expected.

Thursday was spent at the dentist and I did not get good news there either. More work to be done in this area. Crap. That’s all I have to say about that.

Friday was a nice day. Jerry and I had lunch with Yvette (she also graduated from Vermont) and she spent lunch with us talking about her experiences there and letting me ask questions. It was great. She also said that she would be interested in being my artist-teacher for the drawing portion of what I want to do (All My Friends are SuperHeroes).

I am very excited about this. She is an excellent artist. I also learned that I will have many artist-teachers which makes me very happy since I really want to split up my work into 3 or 4 distinct areas: drawing, sculpture, video/electronic media, and photography. I also found out that I have to bring some of my work with me on the first residency and Yvette is willing to look at what I have and make suggestions. I am thrilled and very very happy that she is willing to do this for me.

Yvette is also very interested in all the stuff that Jerry has been sharing with me and would like to set up some time to learn more about it. Kudos’ to Jerry. I wonder if he realizes how gifted he is.

Jerry has been really instrumental in exposing me to all the collaboration opportunities that are available now for artists on the internet. He has been the driving force in my experimentation with the 700 Hoboes project, Flickr/Little Black Dress project, All My Friends are Superheroes, and Welcome to the Freak show. Basically everything I am working on right now …which is why he is often referred to as HEaMUSEs me. Although he doesn’t like the nickname he got it because he is the source of my artist’s inspiration.

Friday evening I wasn’t really ready to go home and I knew that Christopher was taking care of Little Dog so I took the camera out and took some photos. I really needed some time to digest events. It has been difficult trying to deal with Little Dog getting sick at the same time we lost Mojo last year. I can tell that I am having issues with this because I have been having trouble not wanting to drive my car off the bridge this week. Since this is never a good feeling to be experiencing I decided that some alone time might be in order. I wound up walking around downtown for about an hour taking pictures. I won’t say I felt better but at least I could go home and not feel like I was going to cry all night. It is difficult to watch Little Dog’s decline and my soul hurts. I keep reminding myself that this to shall pass.

Well that brings us to today, which is Saturday. I slept in until noon in hopes of promoting my stunning recovery. Today I am going to color "Party for Mojo" and hopefully post it. I was also looking at the website and need to add some reading and other stuff to the Influences page. I plan on spending most of the day on the couch or at my outside desk working on stuff and spending time with Little Dog.

Cheers.