Enigmas of Cuban Spanish

Anthony T. Rivas starts his entertaining "Enigmas of Cuban Spanish" by noting that "Non-Cuban Spanish speakers have occasional trouble understanding fast Cuban speech. While less educated Cuban speakers can be difficult to understand, as with speakers of other dialects of Spanish, better educated speakers of Cuban Spanish can also exhibit speech sounds typical of "careless" or relaxed speech." 

Ahhh... my own experience, especially around the DMV (where most "native" Spanish speakers are from Central America, and in my neighborhood from Argentina), is more like a perplexed look... this chart (from his research) exemplifies the nuances, even within Cuba, of Cuban Spanish.

Old Oriente Province	Rest of Cuba	English Meaning
cutara	chancletas	slippers
papaya	fruta bomba	papaya
balance*	sillón	rocking chair
balde	cubo	bucket
rallado, rasco-rasco (Matanzas)	granizado (Bayamo and Santiago)	ice cone
macho	lechón	suckling pig
pluma, llave**	faucet	tap
túnico*	vestido	dress
hallaca	tamal	tamale
guineo	plátano (fruta)	banana
fana	fanoso	good-for-nothing/cheapskate
tienda ***	bodega	grocery store

* Also used in Camagüey Province
** "Pluma" and "llave" coexist in Camagüey Province.
*** In Havana, "tienda" with no modifier denotes a clothing store.

Another tree falls

My gentle and kind aunt, (my father's sister) Tia Cuca, passed away in her sleep in Miami this morning, and yet another tree falls in the silent forest of the bitter exile of the Cuban Diaspora. 

She was born in the countryside, near the city of Guantanamo, in the Oriente province of Eastern Cuba, the fifth daughter (of six) of Galician immigrants to Cuba.

In the 1960s, Cuca and her family escaped Cuba (via Spain) and settled in Brooklyn, in the six apartment brownstone owned by her sister, my aunt Nica.

When I was a kid in Brooklyn, Tia Cuca lived in the apartment above ours in that house, and no matter when I'd pop into her apartment, she'd always sit me down at the table and would start feeding me - and she was one of the best cooks ever! There's no cook on this Universe who ever made a better black bean soup!

My Campello aunts in the 1950s - Tia Cuca is the second from the left in the top row.

I never saw her angry, and she had the most contagious laugh on the planet! Don't get me wrong, Tia Cuca was also tough as nails, but her toughness came in a brilliant and pliable form - she would bend, but never break, as the saying goes.

We will miss you, Tia.

Why?

Now in its ninth year, the $50,000 Black Swan Prize has attracted a record 375 entries...

 Are you serious? Only 375 entries and that's a record for this Aussie prize? Details here... 

Why am I yapping about an Aussie prize? Because I am always dumbfounded by the low number of entries to most visual art prizes and opportunities - especially the "free" ones, such as the DC Arts Commission's various grants and buying calls...

Artists' Websites: Anne Cherubim

Anne Cherubim is an abstract contemporary landscape painter. She works predominantly in acrylic. Her art is rooted in real life images and textures, with a modern abstraction, often in a limited colour palette.

Her art is a reflection of contemporary art as portrayed by someone who is a product of a myriad of cultures: a Canadian girl, born of Sri Lankan parents, now residing in the US. 

This unique 'lense' through which she sees the world informs her work, undeniably. ‘Tolerance’ is the word we use to talk about being open to, and welcoming of, one another.  

Anne believes ‘embrace’ is a much better word for talking about cultures, and the ways in which we can coexist. Art and music transcend language - among other barriers- and create commonalities, harmony. They are universals that can be appreciated no matter where you come from, or what language you speak. 

This is the type of experience Cherubim hopes that her art allows for.

Though she has been an artist for many years, her professional pursuit of it began more recently.  

Anne has exhibited her work locally around the DMV and internationally. She currently resides with her husband and children in the USA, and is a Resident Artist at Artists & Makers Studios in Rockville, MD and later this year at the Affordable Art Fair in New York City.

Her work can be seen at: www.cherubim-arts.com

The touch of darkness

Every once in a while, the possible terrifying touch of evil passes by, leaving behind a wake of fear and also (in this case) relief that it just went by.

A few days ago a man approached our five year-old-son while he was playing in our front yard.

My wife had just gotten home about five minutes before, and she was unpacking grocery bags inside while our son was playing soccer on the front lawn.

A man approached in a dark gray 4-door sedan on the opposite side of the street, closest to where my son was playing. He rolled down his window, called my son over and told him about "a boy who lived down the street and who had a tiger in his house" and asked if my son knew him.

My son's inner alarms went off and he ran inside and told my wife, and when she came out, the car was gone.

We called the police and provided the following description based on what my son could see from the yard into the man's car: age 50s, black straight short hair, white skin, brown eyes, and fat (this is a 5yr old's description!).

My son  also mentioned that the license plate had an American flag on it, and then pointed to one of the Maryland plates with the American flag in our neighborhood as an example.

We shared the information with our neighbors via our listserv, and discovered that just down our street, a couple who has a three year old son, has a giant stuffed animal tiger in the boy's play room; a tiger that could easily been seen by someone walking around their house and looking into their windows. 

Disturbing beyond belief. 
 

2015 Trawick Prize Finalists

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and the Bethesda Urban Partnership will showcase the work of The Trawick Prize: Bethesda Contemporary Art Awards eight finalists in a group exhibition. The exhibit will be on display September 2 – 26, 2015, at Gallery B, located at 7700 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite E.

2015 Trawick Prize Finalists

 

Selin Balci, Annapolis, MD

Lynn Cazabon, Baltimore, MD

Catherine Day, McLean, VA

Jason Hughes, Baltimore, MD

Timothy Makepeace, Washington, D.C.

Sebastian Martorana, Baltimore, MD

Jonathan Monaghan, Washington, D.C.

Nara Park, Washington, D.C.

The award winners will be announced on Wednesday, September 2, 2015. The first place winner will be awarded $10,000; second place will be honored with $2,000 and third place will be awarded $1,000. A “young” artist whose birth date is after April 7, 1985 may also be awarded $1,000.

The public opening reception will be held Friday, September 11 from 6-9pm in conjunction with the Bethesda Art Walk. Gallery hours for the duration of the exhibit are Wednesday through Saturday, 12 – 6pm.

 

The 2015 Trawick Prize jury includes Stefanie Fedor, Executive Director, Arlington Arts Center; John Ruppert, sculptor, Professor and former Chair of the University of Maryland’s Department of Art and Richard Waller, Executive Director of University Museums for the University of Richmond.

 

The Trawick Prize was established in 2003 by Carol Trawick, a longtime community activist in downtown Bethesda. She is the past Chair of both the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District and Bethesda Urban Partnership, and also the Founder of the Bethesda Painting Awards. In 2007, Ms. Trawick founded the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation to assist health and human services and arts non-profits in Montgomery County.

The Trawick Prize is one of the first regional competitions and largest prizes to annually honor visual artists. To date, The Trawick Prize has awarded $175,000 in prize monies and has exhibited the work of more than 100 regional artists. Previous Best in Show recipients include Richard Clever, 2003; David Page, 2004; Jiha Moon, 2005; James Rieck, 2006; Jo Smail, 2007; Maggie Michael, 2008; Rene Trevino, 2009; Sara Pomerance, 2010; Mia Feuer, 2011; Lillian Bayley Hoover, 2012; Gary Kachadourian, 2013 and Neil Feather, 2014. 

For more information, please visit www.bethesda.org or call 301-215-6660.

Elise Campello nominated for best actress!

Congrats to my Klingon daughter Elise L Tor-Cam, who just got nominated for "Best Actress" in a South Sound (Tacoma, WA area) theatrical performance during the 2014/15 season!
Details here.

Naomi Wolf on Vocal Fry

Young women, give up the vocal fry and reclaim your strong female voice...
   ---  Naomi Wolf

Read it here.

Bader Fund

The Franz and Virginia Bader Fund invites grant applications from visual artists who are aged 40 years and over and who live within 150 miles of Washington, DC. Artists working in performance, video, and film are not eligible for Bader Fund grants.

To download an application form, visit the Bader Fund's website.

In 2014, the Bader Fund awarded eight grants totaling $120,000.

Details: 202-288-4608 OR http://tinyurl.com/oaejhvb OR grants@baderfund.org

Your artwork on a billboard

Embracing Our Differences is accepting submissions for its 13th annual outdoor juried art exhibit celebrating diversity and inclusion to be displayed spring 2016 in Sarasota, FL USA.

42 artists will be selected. National and international submissions accepted.

Final selections will be made by a 3-judge panel. $3,000 (US) in awards. There is no submission fee nor limit on the number of entries. Details: 941-404-5710 OR http://embracingourdifferences.org OR Info@EmbracingOurDifferences.org

The two Laurens and vocal fry

A while back I accidentally discovered the curious case of vocal fry, a unique vocal affectation which is common to most American (and apparently only American) women.
 
As I noted, it has affected my listening habits, especially radio listening, as I now eagerly await the throaty sentence ending staccato of the affectation.
 
This morning, WAMU's Lauren Ober (the very talented reporter for Metro Connection) was in full swing (in a really interesting report on swimming and DC African-American kids) with what I've now catalogued as partial vocal fry. That is when about a third of the sentences are delivered in a "normal" voice and the rest have the characteristic feline vocal fry ending.
 
Then Lauren Landau came on with an Art Beat report (I wish that they'd just let Ms. Landau talk and get rid of the annoying background 1960s beatnik-type music). Landau has a very elegant, soothing voice, but even she dives into vocal fry land once in a while - maybe in a third of her sentences - which is also interesting in that some women are 100% vocal fried, while others, such as Ms. Landau, seem to be able to float in and out of it.

"Paint the Town" Mural Project

"Paint the Town" Mural Project

Deadline: July 31, 2015

Receive $15,000 to transform the Capital Crescent Trail Retaining Wall!
 

"Paint the Town" is an initiative to promote more public art murals in downtown Bethesda. The first public art mural project organized by the Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District is the Capital Crescent Trail Retaining Wall located on Arlington Road, by Bradley Boulevard and across from the Safeway grocery store.

The Capital Crescent Trail Retaining Wall is more than 400 feet in length, and artists are encouraged to focus their proposed mural on the 150-200 feet in the middle of the wall. The height of the wall is approximately 10 feet in height.

$15,000 will be provided to the artist to pay for supplies and the artist's time. The deadline to apply is Friday, July 31, 2015. Interested artists should visit www.bethesda.org for more information and the application for consideration. The project must be completed by Oct. 15, 2015.

3rd Annual Artist Material Market

SELL, BUY AND TRADE ART SUPPLIES AND MATERIALS AT
THE 3^ND ANNUAL ARTIST MATERIALS MARKET
Torpedo Factory Art Center
Saturday, August 22, 10 am – 3 pm

WHAT	Artists from the greater metropolitan area are invited to sell and swap their gently used art supplies, tools, materials and ephemera for sale or trade during the 3nd Annual Artist Materials Markets.   In addition to helping to purge extra items, it’s an opportunity to find great bargains on new supplies and network with other artists from the region.
WHEN	Saturday, August 22 Public sale: 10 am – 3 pm Vendor hours: 8 am – 4 pm
WHERE	Torpedo Factory Art Center 105 N. Union St; Alexandria, VA 22314
WHO	The event is organized by the Torpedo Factory Artists’ Association, The Art League and the Torpedo Factory Art Center.
HOW	There are approximately 20 tables available for purchase at $25. Visual artists from all media are encourage to participate. All spaces must be reserved in advance and are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservation deadline is Wednesday, August 19 at 5 pm.   For information or to reserve a space, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artist-materials-market-tickets-17754108015 or contact admin@torpedofactoryartists.com.

Opportunity for Artists

IMPLICIT BIAS: Seeing the Other - Seeing Our Self

 

This exhibition will be presented by Joan Hisaoka Healing Arts Gallery and Busboys and Poets. It is scheduled to open Friday, September 18 and run through Saturday, December 5, 2015.

Deadline for Applicants is: Saturday, August 20, 2015

Description of the exhibition is as follows:

 

IMPLICIT BIAS - Seeing the Other: Seeing Our Self is an exhibition that seeks to explore the unconscious racial bias that affects our decisions, choices, friends and beliefs about others. The growing body of social science research suggests that each of us harbors unconscious beliefs and values about race (as well as gender, age, etc.) that are often at odds with our conscious beliefs about our values.  At the heart of discrimination lie powerful unacknowledged biases about the Other, which affect our decisions and choices, and all too often have adverse affects on the lives of others.
 

Given recent news events in Charleston, Ferguson, Baltimore, New York and several places across America today, how do we find solutions?  One suggestion is to begin with ourselves and look at our own bias. With this emotionally charged subject matter, we want work that squarely addresses the issues of racial disparity in our country, as well as work that helps us visualize what an equitable future might look like. We're looking for work that addresses the need for greater self-awareness about our own biases, beliefs and consequent actions. The work does not need to solely imply an introspective view of Bias, but can extend to more prevalent matters, such as injustice in all its forms: Police, judicial, education, voting rights and urban planning for example.

 

We are living in important and dangerous times, where racial bias has stepped into a place that can no longer be ignored by the powers that be. IMPLICIT BIAS - Seeing the Other: Seeing Our Self is an exhibit that wants to reflect these matters with honesty, integrity and an urgency these times deserve.

 

"Maybe, we now realize the way racial bias can infect us, even when we don't realize it.
So we are guarding against, not just racial slurs, but we are also guarding against the
subtle impulse to call Johnny back for a job interview, but not Jamal."

 

-President Barack Obama's Charleston eulogy at the funeral of the Rev. Clementa Pinckney

 

 If you are interested in participating in this powerful show, please click HERE for further details and submissions.

There will be a $5 submission fee for this Exhibition.

Thank you and we look forward to reviewing your work.

Spencer Dormitzer

Gallery Director

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this cockroach:

From: fowwler flint - fowwlerflint2@hotmail.com

Good day,
I am Fowler Flint,A realtor of international estate management,I like to help my client beautify his new purchase home with your art and wish i can get a beautiful one from you ,Can you please email your website or send me an attachment of available artwork with pricing and details and you may please copy me a response to my private email :fowwlerflint2@hotmail.com
Thanks
FOWLER

The Wonderful life of Andy

Dulce Pinzon's The Wonderful Life of Andy is a series of documentary – fictional photographs concerning the life of the beautiful Andy, a young contemporary woman who passionately lives the spirit and aesthetic of the '50s.
 
Andy's peculiar lifestyle has turned into an inspirational example for a generation of Mexican youth – a life that, next to her son, Maximiliano, and Vincent, her husband ( lead singer of Rebel Cats), is closely observed.
 
The marvelous life of Andy is a fictitious series based on the reality of a couple whose musical involvement in the Mexican scene has begun solidifying aesthetic guidelines. Dulce notes that "I find it deeply engaging and thus important to document."


Andy Barroca


Babydoll


Roadtrip


Natural Beauty


Catfight


Wedding


Peluqueria Retro


So Tired


Housewife


Bautizo


Eloisa y Abelardo


Vincent

OZ: THE WONDERFUL LIFE OF ANDY

Todos Behind


How Scary


Hada


Shoes


Andy + Hojalata


Andy + Hada


Bruja III


Lion


Bruja

Andy

Elissa Farrow-Savos at SOFA Chicago

You can get this wonderful piece by Elissa Farrow-Savos now instead of waiting for it to be exhibited at SOFA Chicago later this year. Send us a note.



"to hell and back"
c. 2015  Elissa Farrow-Savos

22 x 10 x 12

 

Bicycle Stories Collaboration Project

From artspace:

Dear Artists,

artspace is collaborating with Richmond Young Writers in a project called "Bicycle Stories." artspace is pairing professional artists with young writers to illustrate their short written pieces about bicycles.

The stories and artwork will be displayed in the Plant Zero Hallways Project Space from September 18 through October 18, 2015. The opening will correspond with a closing event for the August/September artspace gallery exhibitions and is the day before the World Bike Races will begin in Richmond.

We are planning a meet up with the Young Writers on Saturday, August 8, 2015 to determine which artist will illustrate which written piece.

If this sounds interesting to you, please contact the gallery by email: artspaceorg@gmail.com or call (804) 232-6464. Feel free to share with other local artists you think might want to participate.

Thank you,
Dana Frostick
artspace President

The curious case of Vocal Fry

A while back I wrote about the hypnotizing voice of the new NPR ads voice over person, and even postulated what the owner of that melodious voice would be like (somewhat like Parmigianino's Madonna dal Collo Lungo).

Of course, several of you constant readers researched the issue and identified the voice in question, and not surprising (at least to me), she is almost exactly as I described her, based on her voice. She is also a vastly talented actress, by the way.

Case closed; listen to her amazing voice here.

However, in the process of obtaining that last unrequested bit of information, I've also discovered the uniquely young American female phenomenon of "vocal fry", and now I'm afraid that my radio listening habits have been profoundly affected.

If you don't know what vocal fry is, I would recommend that you avoid finding out. If you can't resist, then click here.

Now I hear it everywhere! Especially with younger NPR female correspondents, and it has somewhat affected my listening ear, as I tune to detect it.

Another interesting voice in the air is that of WMAL's Maria Leaf. While the NPR ad voice over person is generally anonymous and her voice is a like a drink of 100 year old port, Maria Leaf's recognizable 150 MPH voice is like a high dose of caffeine mixed with a lot of enthusiasm for the job!

Her voice wakes you up! The manner in which she drags the "L" in the station's call letters (WMAL) at the end of her reports is a thing of beauty, as is when she pronounces the name of traffic guy Matt DeFazio... she drags "De Faaaaazio" as a sport announcer would describe an amazing B-ball three-pointer!

Listen to Maria here.

If you can't resist the vocal fry challenge, then see the below video.

SOFA Chicago

The biggest thing in the 3D art fair world is SOFA... they're the ABMB of the art object universe... and in 2015 they've decided to take on the big boys and girls of the art fair circuit and "add" 2D art to their offerings.

And guess who is a "plank owner" in the first SOFA Chicago that allows paintings and photographs and prints and such other 2D work?

We are!

See ya at SOFA Chicago!