In Where I Do Artsy Things
In this post, I mentioned the ¡Ban This! event that my library had been planning for a couple of months. In case you don't remember it's a reading/signing of the book ¡Ban This!: The BSP Anthology of Xican@ Literature which was a collabtorative effort by 39 different contributors as a response to Arizona's dismantling of the Mexican-American studies classes at public school. The event was a hit, with over 100 guests including LA City councilman Ed Reyes. It grew so quickly in the amount of contributors and guests coming that we had to move it out into the main library floor instead of the community room.
About 25 contributors to the book spoke about their chicano/latino heritage in different forms, from funny to sad to beautiful and awkward. My camera battery died towards the end of the event, so I only got the first 2/3 or so of the speakers. After the main event, we ushered the contributors and guests into the community room where I had set up tables and chairs in such a way that the guests could line up and walk from author to author to get their book signed. I felt very efficient. Anyway, I had a blast, I met a bunch of really cool people, and the library got a lot of really positive attention.
Here's the photo set. And here's a link to a really great liveblog that was written during the event. We'll be updating our facebook and twitter accounts with youtube videos and more pictures soon.
I'm a little bit nervous because I maybe, hopefully will be showing some of my photographs at an art show next weekend. Recently I have had a number of people tell me that I should show some of my photos at an art show. It's weird, it's as if they all secretly planned to implant the idea in my head rather overtly. I never really thought that my photos were good enough, but the idea kept growing and eventually Eric convinced me to give it a shot. My neighbor Tannis owns a pilates studio in Echo Park called Pilates & Arts where she occasionally has art shows, poetry readings, and other artsy events. She asked me if I'd like to hang some pieces at her next show on September 23. If I can get some pieces printed and framed in time I'll do it. It'll be my first art show.
I'm excited and a little bit terrified because, although I post a lot of my photos online, I've never had to be around a bunch of people staring at it and judging me my work. My stuff still seems very amateur compared to what I've seen at other art shows, and I'm expecting people to be as hard on my work as I am on myself. Chances are I'll be hiding in the corner trying to read lips or analyze the body language of whomever is looking at my stuff, in a very creepy manner. It's not that I'm afraid of the criticism, I actually encourage it, but I can't handle the attention. I'm better at recieving criticism than I am at handling compliments. As soon as any spotlight is on me, I devolve into a gooey mass of blushing cheeks and giggles. Seriously, my brain stops recording and I kind of turn into a blathering idiot. There's a lot of stuttering, head nodding, and occasionally drooling. I cannot maintain any decorum.
Enough rambling, ya'll bitches better be there.