Tulips and Amma for the algorithm (turns out the Ottawa Tulip Festival is worth the 9 hours (each way) drive. Especially if your mother is as flower power mad as mine). More on this topic later on Substack, but my July class on artists statements and applying for stuff is open for applications - join me! Link in my bio.
I got to speak to lovely Itto and Mekiya for the Datekeepers podcast about the writing life. Link in my bio for a listen. It's a 20min episode and includes a shoutout to my dearest @snarshad for enabling my photographer self.
Friends, I am 53 and I’m in the PINK! I highly recommend the brand Arctic Fox for the vibrance. Thankfully my curls appear to be surviving my once-yearly bleach job – only in ponytails so I don’t touch my roots. Like Josh, I appreciate a roots-showing punk look.
My birthday week was filled with celebration including:
* thanking my mother for the OG gift of life
* shoulder PT (hello menopause) because the clinic has an amazing massage chair
* a sneak preview of The Christophers with an IRL Q&A with Steven Soderberg, Ian McKellen, and THEE Michaela Coel!
* brilliant musical performances at the loft by Steve and Tom (video by Rahim)
* birthday cupcakes (and so much more) by Josh
* friends galore IRL: Arif! Radhika! Jamie! Nate! Jee-Won! Craig! Mira! Diana! Ameya! Prachi! Sarah! Kamil! Erin! Luca! David! Rachel! Shane! Mayra! Wayne!
* dance party with a playlist curated by Anna Roy
* a jaunt upstate to THE COTTAGE: love and gratitude to Marya and Aaron and Vivian the dog for such gracious hosting
* so many games and laughs and meals and sunshine walks with our cottage companions, Rahim and Mark
* everyone who reached out via phone or the interwebs or the post. I FEEL THE LOVE.
#freePalestine #nowarwithIran #abolishICE
New writing, teaching, and action!
I wrote a substack post about my magical time in Provincetown last summer. Link in my bio.
I’m teaching at @fineartsworkcenter again this July and for @narratively this April! More links in my bio.
And I joined a @drumbeatsnyc action in Queens asking for justice for #winrozario - killed 2 years ago by two NYPD cops who are still not fired! Tell @mayormamdani and @nypdpc to show some accountability.
I’m under the weather and wrecked by the news. Here’s my girl dinner tonight: 3 minute buckwheat noodles from the Chinese grocery in Elmhurst, frozen peas, tinned smoked kippers, with tamari and crushed red peppers.
13 years in, still my favourite couch cuddler, travelling companion, artistic collaborator, experimental chef, class conscience, morning crooner, wisecracker love. Happy happy joy joy!
2013 photo credit @a_room_on_the_move
#anniversary #ekushayfebruary
Joy timeline: I’ve loved Mexico City since I first visited, back in 2008. Simi and I did a month long working vacation here - what a treat! Chockful of stunning art and architecture and yummy food, and perfect weather. Also check out the fabulous Mexican guitarists: Hermanos Gutiérrez
Sending revolutionary love to Minnesota and everywhere else being terrorized by ICE. Check out your local @nycdsa or @ny_indivisible if you’re looking for ways to get involved and help our neighbors and friends and ourselves. We need all (your) hands on deck. #abolishICE
Photo 1: My Rifi Mami got me this lovely silk shalwar kamis in Dhaka and it’s like a breeze around my body.
Photo 2: shopping for gifts in Dhaka is such a pleasure. Bangladeshi artisans make such beautiful things.
Photo 3: I spent Wed evening with my Jackson Heights Indivisible peeps as part of our weekly Visibility Brigade action. Lots of honks from passing cars - let’s rise up against ICE’s domestic terrorism. #abolishICE
Friends, I watched ALL THAT’S LEFT OF YOU, a Palestinian film at Angelika last night and was reminded, always always, that this slow motion genocide started so long ago, well before 2023. It’s not a perfect film, but I saw (and wept through) so much in it: the brilliant charismatic father with dementia (😭), Black American struggles and liberation movements reflected in occupied Palestine, the perfect oranges of Jaffa. #freepalestine
Here’s my mom in Dhaka all dressed up in black and white (and a shirt blouse!) and looking so smart! #smalljoys
Also newly obsessed with Liberia to Nashville musical artist Mon Rovia
Friends, I got back from Dhaka on Friday and marched with tens of thousands of you glorious antifas in NYC on Sunday (see my stories and @joshsteinbauer ’s recent post). Let’s keep showing up.
In an effort to curate joy in my timeline, here’s this beautiful rug Josh got in Dhaka that makes my eyes happy every time.
#abolishICE #nofascistUSA
