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!

New Hamiltonian Fellows

From Hamiltonian:

As we conclude our seventh year of artist-centric programming, Hamiltonian is proud to announce the five new, distinguished 2015 Hamiltonian Fellows to join our five existing fellows.  We are thrilled to introduce:

• Kyle Tata (BFA, Maryland Institute College of Art)
• Nara Park (MFA, Maryland Institute College of Art)
• Christie Neptune (BFA, Fordham University)
• Jim Leach (MFA, Maryland Institute College of Art)
• Rob Hackett (MFA, University of Maryland)

The 2015 Hamiltonian Fellows were selected from a pool of 144 very promising artists. The External Review Panel, comprised of seven acclaimed art professionals, caucused together and evaluated every application based on criteria regarding artistic merit and relevance to today's art world.  We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the panelists for their generosity and enthusiastic support of this endeavor:

• Camilo Álvårez - owner, director and curator of Samsøñ Projects 
• Dadi Akhavan - art collector and patron
• Brian Dailey - artist
• Joyce Yu-Jean Lee - artist and Hamiltonian alumna
• Susan Main - artist and curatorial consultant at VisArts at Rockville
• Sanaz Mazinani, artist, curator and educator
• Mika Yoshitake - assistant curator at The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

Artwork by all five new fellows will be on view in the debut group exhibition new.now., opening at Hamiltonian Gallery on Saturday, September 19th from 7-9 pm.  

Artists: Wanna tour the new Artomatic building?

Wanted to share with you the news about the New Carrollton site for Artomatic 2015 partnership with the Maryland National Capital Parks and Planning targeted for October.

AOM has some tours of the building coming up this Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. The tours are an opportunity to see the space "before" it is turned into a full blown Artomatic which is planned for this October.

Location
8100 Corporate Drive, Hyattsville, MD 20785 
10 minutes walk from the New Carrollton Metro
Lots of parking 

Dates and Times
Thursday the 16th ­ 6 to 7 pm 
Saturday the 18th ­ 10 11 am 
Sunday the 19th ­ 10 ­ 11 am

Lisa Gold to depart from WPA

Letter from the WPA's Lisa Gold:

7.14.15

 

Dear Friends,

 

I want to share with you the bittersweet news that I will be leaving WPA in a few weeks.  

 

Over the past 6 years, I've had the great fortune to meet and work with so many talented and generous people. WPA has been such an important part of the contemporary art landscape in DC and you have all contributed in myriad ways to its success. I'm very proud of what we've accomplished and the course we've set for the organization. I know you'll join me in ensuring that WPA's growth continues well into the future with your ongoing support and participation.

 

At the end of August, I will take on a new challenge as the Director of Public Engagement at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. You can be assured that I will be a fixture at WPA events and I hope you will visit me at the Hirshhorn in the fall.

 

For now, please join me for one last hurrah on August 15 to watch one of my favorite WPA events--the SynchroSwim. Come say goodbye at the Capitol Skyline Hotel pool on Saturday, August 15 at 5:00 and enjoy some of DC's most entertaining performance art then stick around to celebrate this fantastic adventure with me.

 

I thank you all for the incredible experiences that WPA has given me over the years. I look forward to witnessing the next chapter in WPA's storied history.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa Gold

Executive Director

 

Porn in Word Girl?

There we were, my son and I watching one of his favorite PBS cartoons - Word Girl - when the opening credits showed up...

WTF? Is it me, or is the "World's Best Dad" sporting a world class boner?

Mock theft

Cleveland artist Frank Oriti said the National Portrait Gallery in London, England, has assured him that a painting he submitted for an exhibition is safe and in good condition after having been subjected to a mock theft by protesters on Sunday.

 Read the story here.

Art Scam Alert!

Beware of this mutant!

Date: Sun, 12 Jul 2015 08:08:15 -0700
From: mrsmichaelanderson@zoho.com
Subject: Order enquiry

Hi there,

During the last exhibition campaign /competition, I'm just wondering if your gallery would be able to ship to my Country In Europe?And shipping costs shouldn't be  prohibitive for sending paintings overseas

Kindly get back to me with your online portfolio for more information about your available works and price guide list.

Yours sincerely.

Stari Grad, Zelene beretke 

15A Sarajevo

71141 Sarajevo

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hypocritical art or political art?

Gone are the days when modern art used sex to earn your embarrassed attention. The latest Venice Biennale shows that to get international visibility these days, contemporary art must play with something much hotter: politics.

 Hypocritical art or political art? Details here.

Stolen Rodin recovered in NYC

From the folks at Art Recovery Group:

LONDON, 9 JULY 2015 – A version of Auguste Rodin’s ‘Young Girl with Serpent’ stolen 24 years ago has been recovered in New York.

In 1991, thieves stole artwork valued at over $1 million USD in a series of raids on a private residence in Beverly Hills whilst the owners were out of town. Among a number of high-value works of fine art stolen during the robberies was an edition of ‘Young Girl with Serpent’ by esteemed French sculptor Auguste Rodin (1840-1917).

The residence was left unoccupied for several weeks, allowing multiple visits by thieves whose access had been arranged by the victims’ trusted housekeeper. It is understood that the individual in whose care the residence was regularly left had bragged about his employers’ wealth at a local bar and was convinced to sell a duplicate of the house keys for $5,000 when propositioned by criminals.

Upon their return, the victims described their home as looking as though it ‘had been hit by an earthquake’ and, with no sign of their housekeeper, they immediately informed the Beverly Hills Police Department of his assumed involvement in the crime. A police search identified the existence of a previously-unknown arrest warrant for the housekeeper, issued in his native Switzerland. He was subsequently tracked to a Miami hotel and arrested whilst sunbathing by the pool.

The location of all stolen items remained unknown until Rodin’s ‘Young Girl with Serpent’ was identified when consigned for sale at Christie’s in New York.  Art Recovery Group was appointed by the insurer and led the negotiations with the consignor’s legal representative. With title to the work unconditionally relinquished by the consignor, the sculpture has been offered back to the theft victims in line with the benefits of their insurance policy.

Speaking this morning, Christopher A. Marinello, CEO of Art Recovery Group, said:

“This case was a perfect example of public and private sector collaboration. We are extremely grateful for the steadfast determination of the Beverly Hills Police Department, and in particular the perseverance of Detective Michael Corren, in keeping this case open for 24 years and seeing through its resolution."

Additional artworks taken in the raid remain unaccounted for but the outstanding losses have been recorded on the ArtClaim Database. The last time the Rodin was offered for sale at Christie’s, its value was estimated at around $100,000.

In accordance with the confidential resolution agreed between the loss victim and their insurance company, this work will now be consigned for sale later this year.

Artist's Talk

My good friend Philip Brookman (former Corcoran photog curator, current NGA) has a new book combining his photos and a novella. 

He's speaking at the new Takoma Busboy on July 21st in the reading room named after Communist poet (and suffocater of Cuban voices while he was the President of the National Cuban Writers' Union), Nicolás Guillén.

Brookman will be in conversation with Henry Allen, a former WaPo journalist, poet, and novelist. He won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 2000.
  Details here.

Goslee and Carlson at the Athenaeum

The Northern Virginia Fine Arts Association (NVFAA) has announced exhibitions by David Carlson and Pat Goslee, in the Athenaeum Gallery. Carlson and Goslee are abstract artists whose works "explore the fields of energy and consciousness inherent in their creative process."

Opening Reception: Sunday, July 26, 4:00 — 6:00, FREE

Carlson’s paintings, video and performance pieces have been exhibited in galleries and museums around the world including the Pretoria Art Museum, Wichita Falls Museum of Art, Ludwig Forum, John Cabot University, Korean Embassy Cultural Service, Yacine Art Gallery, Asilah Arts Festival, Musee Des Tapisseries, Tutun Deposu, Arlington Arts Center, McLean for the Arts, and the Washington Project for the Arts. His paintings are represented in numerous collections both private and corporate, national and international. He has taught design, drawing and painting for 25 years at Marymount University and has participated in artist exchanges with Central Asia, West Africa, and North Africa and Europe.

Goslee’s work is included in the permanent collections of the National Institutes of Health, the Children’s National Medical Center, the US Embassy in Ethiopia, the US Embassy in Nepal, the Wilson Building (DC City Hall), the Washington Post, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the University of Georgia as well as in many private collections. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Washington Arts Museum (WAM) and the DC Arts Center (DCAC), and the Advisory Committee for International Arts & Artists’ Hillyer Art Space. She received a BFA in graphic design from the University of Georgia and an MFA in painting from Catholic University. She has been a visiting artist lecturer at local institutions including American University and the Corcoran College of Art + Design.

 

The Athenaeum Gallery, 201 Prince Street, Alexandria, VA  22314  703 548 0035   nvfaa.org

Campello at Auction

This art school drawing of mine somehow made its way to an European auction house and will be at auction July 16.

Check it out here - going for a good price.

VMFA FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM

VMFA is committed to supporting professional artists and art students who demonstrate exceptional creative ability in their chosen discipline and, as such has awarded more than $5 million to Virginia's artists since the program's creation. This year marks the 75th anniversary of VMFA's Fellowship Program. 

A dedicated microsite and documentary to the 75-year history of the program is at http://vmfa.museum/programs/75th-anniversary/.
 
VMFA offers $8,000 awards to professional artists, $6,000 awards to graduate students, and $4,000 awards to undergraduate students.  Applicants may apply in the disciplines of Crafts, Drawing, Film/Video, Mixed Media, New/Emerging Media, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture, and Art History (graduate students only).  All applicants must be legal residents of Virginia and student applicants must be enrolled full-time in degree-seeking programs. Applicants' works are reviewed anonymously by distinguished jurors and awards are made based on artistic merit.  
 

The deadline for Fellowship applications is Friday, November 6, 2015. Full eligibility criteria can be found at www.VMFA.museum/fellowships.  

Artomatic baby!

Stop the press!  Artomatic is moving ahead in its efforts to arrange for a 90,000 square foot space in Prince Georges County in partnership with the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNCPP), who are our hosts.

 

MNCPP Tours - want to see the space? You're invited to check it out!

 
LOCATION:
8100 Corporate Drive
Hyattsville, MD 20785
 
The site is a 10 minute walk from the New Carrollton Metro station, and there is lots of parking at 8100 Corporate Drive.
 
Thursday July 9th - 6 - 7 pm

Saturday July 11th - 10 - 11 am
 

Got questions? 

Call George Koch at 202-607-0879 or email him at george.koch@artomatic.org

Opportunities for Howard County artists

The Howard County Arts Council is now accepting submissions for Art Howard County 2015.

If you are a visual artist, 18 years of age or older, who lives, works or studies in Howard County, MD, you are eligible to apply to this biennial, juried exhibit. 

The juror for Art Howard County 2015 will be Paula L. Phillips, Community Artist and Professor at Maryland Institute College of Art. Details for entry are included in the prospectus and entry form, available for download on the ‘Exhibits’ page of the Arts Council website, for pick-up at the Howard County Center for the Arts, or by mail by calling 410-313-2787 or emailing info@hocoarts.org. The deadline for submissions is 11:59p.m. on Monday, August 31, 2015.

 

Art Howard County 2015 will be on display in Gallery I at the Howard County Center for the Arts from October 30 through December 11, 2015. A free public reception on November 6 from 6-8 p.m. will include juror remarks as well as the presentation of a minimum of $500 in juror awards. 

 

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10AM - 8PM, Saturday 10AM - 4PM, and Sunday 12 - 4PM.  To learn more about HCAC programs and exhibits, call 410-313-ARTS (2787) or visit www.hocoarts.org.  

Studio gallery's 50th!

Congratulations to Studio Gallery, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary! In gallery years that's longer than the Roman Empire!

More details here.

AAFNYC

We will be at the Fall Affordable Art Fair in NYC next September! 9th year in a row.

Showcasing work by Anne Cherubim, Ned Martin and Sang Joon Park!


"Bread and Butterfly" Oil on Aluminum by Ned Martin 24x24 inches, circa 2014


Excitable Cells  Acrylic on canvas by Anne Cherubim 20x20 inches, circa 2013

Untitled
Ceramics by Sang Joon Park
Dimensions variable, circa 2014

Happy Fourth!

Blue Mountain Family Restaurant

We usually drive from DC to the Poconos via I-81, but as there was construction going on... this time we took I-78 and discovered this great family owned restaurant... From now on we will be taking this route just to eat at this joint; If I could give them 100 stars I would!

The Blue Mountain Family Restaurant in Shartlesville, PA.

Super friendly staff to start with... they employ an army of people, so there's always someone within eyesight! When we got there around fivish, the place was fairly empty; by the time we left around six, it was packed to the gills.

We had the buffet, which was spectacular. The salad bar was well stacked and included two kinds of cole slaw - both delicious and fresh cut up fruit and several kinds of rolls... Also hot bacon dressing, which must be some kind of Amish or German delicacy, but I passed on that.

At the buffet, everything looked home made... The oven baked fish plate was excellent, there was a ham carving station and a stack of the largest ribs that's I've seen in ages. 

There was also a sweet potato mash to die for... Just good old comfort food! 

Also a large variety of desserts, with two kinds of German chocolate cake!

Bottom line: If you're driving on I-78, stop for chow at the Blue Mountain in Shartlesville, PA!

How to eat a mango

For TBT: Originally published in 2011:

Here's another peek at some of the writing that I've been doing about my early childhood in Guantanamo, Cuba. This particular chapter has a section which deals with the art of mango-eating which I think you may find of interest.

The chapter in question essentially describes my neighborhood and the below segment picks up on a house up the street from my grandparents' house which had a huge mango tree:

Next to Mongo’s house was another walled house where Enrique “El Manco” lived. His nickname was slang for someone missing a hand, although Enrique had both hands, but was missing several fingers from one of them. His front yard boasted a huge mango tree. It was easily the largest tree for blocks around, and during mango season, the huge branches, loaded with fruit, that hung above the street were an unending supply source of mangos for everyone with a good aim to knock some of them off with rocks and then pick them off the street.

But soon all the mangos from the branches that over hanged onto the streets were gone, and then we had to actually sneak into the walled garden and climb the tree and knock some mangos to the ground, climb down, grab them and scram back to the street before anyone in the house noticed the intrusion. This was nearly impossible, as it seemed that every member of Enrique’s family was always on the lookout for mango thieves, as the mango tree was a source of income, since they sold them by the bag-full from the side of their house.

The art of eating a mango deserves some attention.

There are several ways. The first one, and the most easy to perform by amateur mango eaters, is simply to take the mango, cut into it with a knife and slice off the meaty parts, peel the skin off and eat the hard slices.

Seldom did a mango knocked off Enrique’s tree make it to any house to be eaten this way.

Once you knocked off a mango, and provided that no one grabbed it before you got to it – as there was always a group of mango rock throwers, and anytime a mango came down, it was always a debate as to exactly whose rock had brought the fruit down. Cubans love to debate just about anything, and the mango debates provided very good training on this art. Anyway, once you had a mango, then you ran to either the shade of my grandparents' house’s portico or the bakery’s veranda to enjoy the fruit.

Here’s the proper way to eat a mango.

First roll it back and forth on the ground, a tiled floor is perfect, to mush up the inside of the mango. Then, using you fingertips, really liquefy the mango pulp by gently squeezing the mango over and over. Once that pulp is almost nothing but juice, with your teeth puncture a small hole at the tip of the mango.

You can now squeeze the mango and suck the juice through that hole. It’s sort of a nature-made box drink!

Once all the mango juice is all gone, now comes the messy part. No one, not even the British, has ever discovered a way to eat a mango without making a mess.

Once the juice is gone, then you bite the skin, strip it away from the seed, lick it clean and then begin to bite away all the strands of mango fiber still attached to the seed. By the time a good mango eater is done with a mango, the mango seed looks like a yellowish bar of used soap, slick and fiber-less.

Of course, your face and chest area are now completely covered in dried up, sticky mango juice, so then you'd usually head back home to clean up with the garden hose and drink water to quell the thirst that the mango sugar causes.

That’s how one eats a mango – at least in my childhood neighborhood.

Confederate Cubans

 In view of recent events...

"A Cuban woman who moved to New Orleans in the 1850s and eloped with her American lover, [her name was] Loreta Janeta Velazquez, fought in the Civil War for the Confederacy as the cross-dressing Harry T. Buford.

As Buford, she single-handedly organized an Arkansas regiment; participated in the historic battles of Bull Run, Balls Bluff, Fort Donelson, and Shiloh; romanced men and women; and eventually decided that spying as a woman better suited her Confederate cause than fighting as a man.

In the North, she posed as a double agent and worked to traffic information, drugs, and counterfeit bills to support the Confederate cause. She was even hired by the Yankee secret service to find 'the woman . . . traveling and figuring as a Confederate agent' — Velazquez herself."

This is sort of a Cuban-Southerner-Confederate "Fidelio."

Loreta Janeta Velazquez along with Cuban Confederate Colonel: The Life of Ambrosio José Gonzales by Antonio Rafael de la Cova and "the definitive biography of a Cuban and Confederate rebel", are two curious examples of Cuba's alignment with the South during the Civil War.

Get the book here.

The Cuban dictatorship

If you think that the Castro brothers and their band of criminals will ever let loose their strangle hold on the Cuban people's neck, then as Dostoevsky so elegantly puts it in The House of the Dead:

Tyranny...finally develops into a disease. The habit can...coarsen the very best man to the level of a beast. Blood and power intoxicate...the return to human dignity, to repentance, to regeneration, becomes almost impossible.

Warrant arrest for Shepard Fairey

And then there was this:

Detroit police have issued an arrest warrant for the artist who created the famous "Hope" poster in support of President Obama during the 2008 election, it was revealed Wednesday. 

The Detroit Free Press reported that Shepard Fairey faces two felony counts of malicious destruction of property.... In an interview with Esquire magazine published last month, Fairey said Obama had not lived up to the expectations he had when supported his campaign.

 All the details here.

Homage to a beautiful voice

The other day I was driving around the DMV listening to NPR when the voice of the new lady who does the credits for NPR came on. I reached for the knob and turned the volume up just to hear her voice.

It wasn't the first time that I had done that in the last few weeks, but this time my brain became aware of what I was doing: I was turning the volume up on the radio just to hear the voice of an unknown person... just to hear her voice... and she was essentially doing an ad!

What the heck? That's a little weird, right?

But then the sound waves of her hypnotizing voice flowed over the 88.5 WAMU airwaves, and it captured me once again. This time, aware of what I was doing, I awaited the tiny "ehh" sound that she makes as she skillfully breathes in between long sentences, as words, like tiny silk webs, flow out of her throat. That little "ehh" somehow was able to make me smile.

I don't know who the anonymous voice over for NPR's funding credits is, but I do know that she has the most beautiful voice on the planet. I would bet that she is somewhat tall (a voice like that needs an appropriate vehicle) and I just know that she has a long, elegant neck. Not as long as Parmigianino's Madonna dal Collo Lungo (Madonna with Long Neck), but she'd make a perfect model for a contemporary interpretation of that Mannerist masterpiece. It takes a breath-taking neck like that to deliver the melody that is her voice.

Whoever and wherever you are: thank you for giving me such a wonderful and unexpected pleasure on a daily basis.

Opportunity for female Artists

Call For Entry: CREATING CONNECTIONS
A Commission & Print Replication Project

Application Deadline: Saturday, August 1, 2015

MAP, in partnership with CyberPoint International is pleased to announce an open ‘Call to Artists’. As an extension of MAP’s annual IMPRINT Project, MAP is working with CyberPoint to offer a unique opportunity to female visual artists of the greater Baltimore metropolitan area. Collectively, MAP and CyberPoint wish to commission and license the image of a new work of art. The image of that artwork will be reproduced in a limited edition and presented to the guests of CyberPoint’s Women in Cyber Security reception on November 19, 2015.

The selected artist will receive a $750 Cash Award, increased visibility of artist’s name and artwork through press announcements and be highlighted on MAP and Cyberpoint's websites. Print production sponsored by CyberPoint.
Download the full application and guidelines here.