Modern Gallery Opening at Chicago Art Institute

May 16th marked the opening of the new modern art wing at the Chicago Art Institute.The actual building was designed by foremost museum architect Renzo Piano. The light and serene nature of the architecture creates a perfect setting for viewing modern art.

New Media Exhibit: Girls, Tricky

by Steve McQueen

The New Media exhibit “Girls, Tricky” by Steve McQueen showcased a very raw Tricky producing a song. This is raw, uncut and shows an artist in a mode of true expression. It’s fairly intense. He becomes frenzied especially at the point where he is singing these lyrics:

Girls wish you never had boys
They grow up to be bad boys
Cry Ive never had boys
Never seen your dad boy
Ive never seen my dad boy
Without the roy
And when my career stops kicking
Im gonna stick him”

I’ve got a couple old Tricky albums but I had not heard this song. It was really compelling, and it made me think about all the music videos we watch, where there is a bunch of lip gloss and fancy camera stunts. Then there are the music videos with all the acting that fits a script.  I like watching my music videos just as much as the next person , especially when you get the behind the music run down on the artist afterwards..

tricky does possess a certain je ne se qua

But, there is something really cool about watching a grown man get frenzied at his own song lyrics because you see him actually express himself through his music in a way that is not glossy or rehearsed at all. Mad props to Steve McQueen.

 

Present/Infant by Ani Difranco

What a perfect song Ani Difranco has written for her latest album Red Letter Year. The whole album is good, but this song” Present/Infant” just captures me.  A woman who has spent her life looking in the mirror and worrying about her face, herself, if she’s good enough.  You know the typical things we women often think. She suddenly realizes that she is afraid she is missing out on life….in this way of thinking. The music stays with the old Ani in a sort of simple pattern of chords until the moment when she looks down at her baby who looks just like her , is beautiful, and is smiling up at her, just simply loving her.  In this moment, the music opens up just as her heart does.  That part of the songs is enough to give me shivers everytime. Good shivers, really good shivers. I’ve never had a baby. But it’s amazing and beautiful to me that it is in this moment that many women finally find their strength and power, and most importantly self acceptance.

You can check out a streaming version of her album here, and take a good listen to #3

http://www.righteousbabe.com/ani/redLetterYear/ani.html#home

pps. the concert was AMAZING. my pictures….not so amazing however…

-RC

 

Bill to Reserve Seats for Women in India’s Parliament Debated

A parliamentary committee in India debated a bill on Tuesday, proposing that 33 percent of seats in the legislature be reserved for women. According to Thaindian News, the Women’s Reservation Bill is supported by India’s Congress and one of its major political parties. However, passage of the bill has been pending for 12 years.

The Hindu News reports that initially, no women were part of the committee until Brinda Karat, Najma Heptulla, and Jayanti Natarajan were included. The committee has three months to come to a decision about the bill. The next meeting is scheduled for June 4.

Quotas like India’s proposed bill can help increase the number of women in parliament. Countries around the world have introduced quotas to combat cultural barriers that prevent women from running. According to the Global Database for Quotas for Women, India is just one of many countries that have attempted or actually implemented legislation to bring more equality to government. Only 8.1 percent of India’s parliament is women.

Media Resources: The Hindu News 05/27/08; Thaindian News 05/27/08; Global Database of Quotas for Women

From Ms. Magazine

 

Dogini?

He’s not a yogini- he’s a dogini!

For the last year or so I’ve been slowly studying the yoga sutras. What many of us think of when we think of yoga “the asanas” like tree pose, mountain pose, down dog…are just the precursor to a lifestyle. The real essense of yoga is to know the self , and what better way to know the self than to still the mind.

Still the mind!!! Are you kidding me? I have at least a terabyte worth of life data running through my mind at any millisecond! How can I still my mind….Well , in reading the yoga sutras of Patanjali (this is the guy who decided to sit down scribe yoga-it was taught in person only in the beginning) there are many ways of living our lives that help us to still our mind.

The body movements (asana practice) allows us to get out all that restless energy so we can then practice the other parts of yoga that allow us to go deeper into our true essence. There we learn things like stillness, living in our heartspace, expanding our boundaries, and living in the present moment.

When get to this level in our practice, we feel truly content with life. That terabyte of life data, the junk mail in your mental inbox, just gets filtered out. You feel clear, you feel fresh and here you solve problems and leap tall buildings in a single bound!

So here’s the part where I start rambling a little less and start making my point a little more….

I have watched my Oliver (six year old Maltese with a gentle soul) wake up each morning and practice his favorite asana, downward facing dog! Of course, he would have to pick that one right? Seriously though, today I have been moving , rearranging, packing boxes, and Oliver’s regular places to lounge have been packed into boxes. Yet, everytime I turn around he has found a new comfort zone…an old t-shirt he has wrapped himself in, a new spot under the bed, a cute new shirt with the tags still on it which he is not supposed to sit on but looks blissful and curled up in…he has found a way….Despite the clutter , the hectic process of his pack leader’s frantic gathering and re-arranging of items…he has found a way.

He finds peace and harmony in each room by finding a comfort zone, a place of peace, and takes delight in living in the present moment. As I watched him today, I realized that I have a lot to learn from my sweet little Oliver.

He is a perfect “Dogini”! He does his morning stretch everyday with discipline, he makes his own self comfort and care a priority by finding comfort and peace in an old sweatshirt on the floor, and when that sweatshirt moves or gets replaced, he stays in the present moment and finds the next best place he can go sit peacefully and meditate on his cute doggish ways!

 

Hello World!

Well hello there. It’s me…Rupa*. This is my new blog. The old one got …old.

Rupa(noun)-A strange ethereal blob of 5foot something brown voodoo. Hardly describable. I’ve recently turned 30, so I know that, and now so do you.

I can tell you my hopes and dreams at the moment. I would adopt a little chinese baby girl and call her Agatha or Bernice. She would be really serious and have a furrowed brow. She would wear mini ugg boots striped colorful tights, and she would carry a hello kitty backpack. Just like her mom.

Any thoughts or comments on Bernice or Agatha? Which name is better?

Lastly, we carved pumpkins. Will post pictures soon.