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August or Bust!

I did not expect August to be such an eventful month, or I should say I did not expect to be so tuned in to the events of August.
The Olympics were exciting and a truly curious event for me to root along with. It wasn't so much a feeling of global inclusiveness but a fascination with the intricacies of how the competitions work. Is it some sort of voyeurism to enjoy watching how a pole-volter warms up? or listen to the technical language of divers (not to mention the robotically precise tiny movement the make up the dive being talked about)? or seeing how China navigates a marathon through it's facade of a toxic waste site?
I know they cosmetically hid the unwanted people, neighborhoods and propaganda... but we were not fooled, it was all there behind the cheap walls they built. We were also not fooled by those poor 12 year old gymnist girls. What a weird scenerio it must have been when some chinese governmental official was yelling at them "You're 16 now!... You're 16 now or you go to re-education labor camp!!!" And Michael Phelps... okay, the guy can swim fast. According to the NY Times his contraversial 7th gold medal race (which I saw) was nice and fixed at the end by OMEGA - the official time clock company of the the olympics and ALSO Michael Phelps sponsor. Whoops.

Next the Democratic convention. Hope you watched it on PBS or all you saw was prime time coverage after Dancing with the Idiots or I can't believe I lost my dignity on a japanese game show. WNYC has been absolutely amazing with its presence and involvement with the convention during the last week. They have aired extensive interviews with everyone who has spoken - 9am or 9pm. Well, except for Obama I guess. Last night I watched his speech right along with the rest of America.... I hope.
Nuts and bolts- he could stand a little editing here and there. Between the content, the foder about defining America is the equivelent of saying "ummmmm" or the dialogue between the kung-fu fights.

I want Obama to be our next president but I'm voting independent (3 elections in a row). We need a third party - that would be real change. I'm glad Obama defined his methods of what change will be. Unfortunately none of them aside from cheaper health insurance will effect me directly. I will not get the tax breaks or benefits or credits as I have no wife or children - in other words, "middle class family". I hope he can secure social security because I've been paying in to it since I was 17!
I hope his lecture on individual responsibilty reaches the masses that need to be told. Unfortunately most of those people were probably playing video games, or watching FOX news, or driving around in SUV's at the time.

I thought Gore rocked! He's miles ahead intelligence wise. His speech was all content. Thank god he's not a politician anymore.

Next is the Republican-mega church-big tent event. I'm even more interested in this than the Dem's.

And finally the US Open. I'm old school and I have such fond memories of John Mcenroe.
Here is a little taste: (including an appearance of Yo La Tengo on his short-lived tv show)

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The summer of the state of things.
Taken in Brooklyn, August 17th, 2008.

14

The Paper Trail is Painted.
If you try to find the exhibition Yellow in Chelsea, you won't because it's not there anymore. It was a 12-day group show in an ephemeral space that closed yesterday. My friend Katy was in the show and I was really happy to see it because her work is beautiful. You can see images of her work at her website: Katy Krantz

Here are a few images from the show: