Recommendations
By checking my “Clustrmap,” I can see that my blog has been viewed 1,568 times since June 22. Who are you in Hawaii? In Rome? In Greece? In Northern Canada? In the UK? In West and South Africa? In Australia? Who are you in Las Vegas, New Orleans and Kansas City?
And more importantly, who are you in Spartanburg? It seems that here is my highest concentration of readers outside my home cities, Miami and New York, which is strange, because it took me a lifetime to develop support systems in those places. Here in Spartanburg, the support is there, but I wouldn’t say I really “know” more than a handful of people.
I have never been a “blogger” or even a MySpace member, and as such, I am still getting used to the idea that I am out there on the world wide web– current thoughts, activities, photographs, work– and people can just drop in on me, and I will never ever know them, and what they are doing, and what makes them happy, and what makes them afraid, and if they like cats or dogs, and how they like their coffee in the morning or if they don’t drink coffee at all. So here is a request: drop me a note if you hit this site and I don’t know you. I’d like to know you. I’d like to know everyone.
And here is another request and one especially for Spartanburg visitors to this page: please help me be worthy of your interest. I have learned from experience that it takes time to begin making artwork in a new place. It takes more time if the place is hard to get to know. All smaller places are such places. Help me know Spartanburg. I am taking recommendations, any and all recommendations– things to do, things to see, places to eat, places to visit, a good view, a good place for people watching, an event, anything. (And please don’t say “trivia,” whether it be at the Nu-Way, Sonny’s or anywhere else. We’ve done it. And also, I am a vegetarian, so bbq recs, while appreciated, would fall on deaf ears.) Tell me about the things that make you grateful, comfortable, proud to live here. I am also taking recommendations for the kind of art you’d like to see in this community. Tell me what you want me to do, whether it be a general and conceptual creative need or a small and concrete creative exercise; I will try to do it. Make me active, make me create, get me out of my room. For godsakes, HELP ME! I am begging for your help.
And if you have just stumbled on this site and your are in Nepal or Guinea or wherever you happen to be in this wide world, drop me any kind of recommendation, in the broadest sense of the word. I am a person without a permanent home, without a project and, largely, without my established support systems. I am, in all ways, open to suggestions.
Posted in Blog
July 21st, 2007 at 5:58 pm
Hmm.
I suspect some Kansas Citians come to you from my blog. I used to live there, and I still have some readers from that town.
Spartanburg:
* Cottonwood Trail.
* Papa’s Breakfast Nook for waffles.
* The whole Hampton Heights neighborhood (where I live).
* Trains (in general).
Call me. Let’s explore.
July 22nd, 2007 at 8:43 am
For a good animal-free lunch, try Taco Dog’s vegetarian corn dogs and/or hot dogs. They’re only a couple of miles from the Showroom and well worth a visit. I’m sure some people watching could be done there … or you can go behind Taco Dog to the cemetary and watch all the folks who seem to enjoy walking around the cemetary for exercise. Not sure this is common in other cemetaries or other cities, but it’s always struck me as an odd.
July 22nd, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Glendale Shoals. But see if you can get someone else to drive you, because form what I hear, they key cars there.
July 23rd, 2007 at 11:00 am
arielle, get with me to go to glendale shoals. it’s one of my favorite places in town. anderson mill is another great one, and both have water for cooling off in. there are some old mill ruins to explore and photograph as well. also, brad and i know where there’s a really awesome bamboo forest…we should definitely check that out.
as far as restaurants go: there’s five spices (indian) bangkok cafe, lime leaf and thai taste (all thai), miyako, wasabi and sake grill(all sushi). justin’s steakhouse has a couple of AMAzing vegetarian appetizers that can serve as a meal in and of themselves, the hare and hound in landrum is a fabulous neighborhood bar and grill (NOT like applebees or ruby tuesdays), deli korner on the eastside has excellent reuben sandwiches (w/o the corned beef, obviously), elizabeth’s on main is a great place for a fresh lunch in a nice sunny location, wade’s has great vegetables and yeast rolls, mcbeezy’s in woodruff has some downright amazing home cooked southern food (vegetables too!), Garner’s on the eastside has good, fresh vegetarian options…that’s about all i can think of at this moment that hasn’t been mentioned or that you don’t already know about.
there are also some fabulous places in the upstate and in western nc that are definitely worth the trip. waterfalls, outdoor scenery, old peach factories, country oddities, and a ridiculous number of thrift stores. i’ll see you this week and we can talk about any of this stuff..there’s lots to see and do here.
artwork we’ll have to talk about in person =]
talk soon!
July 25th, 2007 at 9:44 pm
Hi Arielle,
Per your request, I, a stranger, am dropping you a line.
I applied for the Artist in Residency program this year, and was one of three finalists for the creative writing slot. As you can see, I didn’t make the cut, but I’m still very interested in what y’all are doing at Hub-Bub. Thus, I read your blogs from time to time. Now you know how I came across your unique and very reasonable request for responses. I just wish that I could honestly say that I live Reykjavik.
I’d love to meet you and the rest of the crowd one of these days. (By the way, Rachel is an excellent poet, very talented, and I’d love to see more of her poems). A co-worker of mine is from The Spiz. We decided a few weeks ago that we’ll have to visit Hub-Bub in the next few weeks. A live show or the latest exhibit sounds like it’d make for a good Friday or Saturday night.
Until then, enjoy this poem by Czeslaw Milosz, a Polish poet you probably know. I explicated this poem for my Bible as Lit class in grad school, contrasting it with chapter 24 of Isaiah. It goes without saying (though I’ll say it anyway) that I share your fascination with the End Times.
Let me know what you think of the poem.
A Song at the End of the World
On the day the world ends
A bee circles a clover,
A fisherman mends a glimmering net.
Happy porpoises jump in the sea,
By the rainspouts young sparrows are playing
And the snake is gold-skinned as it should always be.
On the day the world ends
Women walk through the fields under their umbrellas,
A drunkard grows sleepy at the edge of a lawn,
Vegetable peddlers shout in the street
And a yellow-sailed boat comes nearer the island,
The voice of a violin lasts in the air
And leads into a starry night.
And those who expected lightning and thunder
Are disappointed.
And those who expected signs and archangels’ trumps
Do not believe it is happening now.
As long as the sun and moon are above,
As long as the bumblebee visits a rose,
As long as rosy infants are born
No one believes it is happening now.
Only a white-haired old man, who would be a prophet
Yet is not a prophet, for he’s much too busy,
Repeats while he binds his tomatoes:
There will be no other end of the world,
There will be no other end of the world.