Friday December 4, 2009

Yo necessito practicar Espanol porque voy a Miami en 14 dias!

So there's a lot to catch up on isn't there.

I live in Somerville, MA, just outside of Boston and beside Cambridge. I don't attend Harvard, yet.

I live in a house with a Chinese girl named Sali and we are looking for a new roomate for the small room. I'm excited to find a girl who likes to play music and will participate in Performance Art nights. I want our house to be a little Portland.

I made taco pasta for lunch yesterday, my own recipe. I cook for Rene, and with Rene often, and am getting a couple of standby recipes. My salmon recipe has gotten some rave reviews.

I just finished the second Do It Your Damn Self Film Festival, and a little sad to not see the teens I saw so often at the Art Center. An organization named Dot Art wants me to teach for them, so I'll meet some new kids to love and lose. That part of teaching is hard. Still ache a bit for my kids in Korea.

I have a boyfriend name Rene. It's a french name and he is Peruvian and Cuban. He's a private kind of guy, this is funny since I am so open, we are like opposites that way, and in a few other ways too. But because of his privateness, I feel like I can't share too much of our details, to tell the truth, I don't know which ones are okay to share and which aren't. I mean I generally know, but boundaries have never been my talent. I need somewhat explicit instructions. And then another complicating factor is that I am an artist, or that is a function of my extreme openess, but being an artist kind of makes you put your private thoughts and feelings out for others to feed on and connect to. It requires honesty and makes you the focus of scrutiny. I have often reflected on this function of my art, is is all just an egotistic display for attention? Or is it actually making the world more beautiful. I have finally given up the idea that my art is going to change the world or someones life, or help starving children, but it can make a little spot on the globe more beautiful. My spot on the globe more beautiful and real, because unfortunately what is inside isn't always beautiful, but wow, I'm off topic. Rene is beautiful. He is teaching me new things, this is something I always always want. To learn new things. He is foreign enough to always intrigue me, and yet he is tender enough to never alienate me. I trust him. I love him. Is that okay to share in public?

I am typing this on my early Christmas present. A new MacBook. It's white and pristine. Like a temple. :) I haven't been to the temple for a while... I'd like to go soon.

My father was in the hospital for a few days, and should be getting out this afternoon. He is much better than when he went in, and I'm praying for his health. My mom and I are establishing better boundaries, difficult and worth it. Like running. I haven't run for a long time. Reading my old blog posts about that make me want to do it again though. Today is a perfect day for running, a sunny december day.

I am working for my brother's company 6one7 Productions. I do the guestlist at the door for Rumor Tuesdays. There is some artistry to it all, the DJ is the main artist in the room that I can appreciate, but there are some lifestyle artists there as well, showing their talent through their clothing and hair, and their dancing. Ace practices the art of schmoozing, and I don't use that word as a belittlement, he is so good at what he does. He is extremely confident, and again, revered by a lot of people. He's like the High Priest of the Club, people practically bow around him. Everyone kisses on the cheek when they see each other, it's kind of strange to me, I like it a lot, I love it when people touch each other in America, but it's strange that it's done at the clubs, sort of like some sort of mafia or something. There are sometimes fights at the club, and there's a lot of alcohol and breasts and some sleaziness. I like the music and the energy and getting to see my brother in action, but I often wonder what the heck I am doing there. I feel myself being influenced by it, wanting to dress more seductively and often wanting to drink the pretty drinks they are all drinking. The beautiful bottles that alcohol comes in is particularly attractive to me. But my father once said to me, "Alcohol is the worst drug out there, I have seen it destroy many lives. I don't want you to touch it." and that always stops me. That and my religion of course, Mormons don't drink. But I like to make my own rules as a Mormon, and if I felt like drinking was an important part of being alive, I would do it, actually I have before, I wanted to know if it was an important part of being alive, and I did it, and it was fun, and it's just too dangerous for me. I have problems with boundaries like I said and alcohol blurs those boundary lines even more. Rene doesn't let me drink either. I see Ace more than ever because I do some work at his office too, and that's where he is most of the time. He won't agree to meet me for dinner or a movie except on major holidays, so I decided to go where he is. I don't know what the future of our relationship is, should I stay in Boston forever to be nearby him and my parents or am I free to go now that I have pilgrimaged here?

I got my credit report in May, when I was working as a waitress, and started to rehabilitate my credit. I have been so irresponsible in the past. Being 31 is good for my life. Rene is teaching me about the importance of paying off my credit card every month, using it to buy things to build up cash-back points, but paying it off in full every month. I watch my net worth go up. My best friend Emily Potter and I created 2010 as The Year of Wealth. We will find out what wealth really means. The first insight Emily had is that it is the buildup and accumulation of lots of small things.

Okay, it's time to log off.

That's the update for this Friday, Dec. 4, 2009.

I'm painting again.

a ship, carrying me and my grandma and my great grandmother across an ocean. I'm also moving into a small house, that's very unfancy, possibly uncomfortable, to save money for the future, the big future. I'm creating the grandmother my grandchildren will stare at in photos, i hope they will wonder how I had the guts to dream so big.

31 years down, 50 to go... I can't wait to be a Grandma!!!

IMG_1819, originally uploaded by luminainfinite.

IMG_1816, originally uploaded by luminainfinite.

IMG_1815, originally uploaded by luminainfinite.

My Grandmother

IMG_1813, originally uploaded by luminainfinite.

Tere Bine (I still wish I lived in a different country)

DIYDS!! 08 Trailer

DIYDS Film Festival 2008

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 27, 2008
Contact: Lumina Gershfield (617)868-7100 x17

NATIONAL TEEN FILM FESTIVAL CELEBRATES 12th ANNIVERSARY

(CAMBRIDGE, MA) - The award-winning Teen Media Program (TMP) of the Community Art Center, Inc. proudly presents the 12th Annual “Do It Your Damn Self!!” National Youth Video and Film Festival on November 14-15, 2008 at the Boston Public Library and M.I.T.’s Wong Auditorium. The DIYDS!! Festival was created in 1996 by four inner-city teenage girls who felt misrepresented in the media and wanted their videos seen by a wider audience. It now serves as a tool of empowerment for youth to gain important leadership and public speaking skills as well as express their vision of the role they play in society.
The festival has also become a nexus in the growing youth media field. A School Screening at the Boston Public Library attracts hundreds of students and teachers from media production classes all over Massachusetts. This year, Cambridge teens screened over 100 entries and selected the final 13 films based on 5 criteria including technical quality and strength of message. Film selections for DIYDS!! 08 include:

The Y Project (Teen Media Project, Cambridge, MA)
A creative narrative about questioning assumptions inspired by Ralph Brancaccio’s Y-Project sculptures erected at various locations installed in various Cambridge parks.

Racism in Espanola (Espanola High School, Espanola, NM)
A documentary about the racism experienced by people around our country in which teens ask why Mexican-Americans are discriminated against.

Hard Knot Life (Truce Harlem Children’s Project, Harlem, NY)
This documentary takes a realistic look at ghettos and substance abuse in Harlem.

Applying for Change (Community Television Network, Chicago, IL)
A narrative of two brothers, one hustles his way through the streets, one wants to go to college.

Filmmakers from around the country will arrive in Cambridge Friday Nov. 14th to participate in a panel discussion at the School Screening at Boston Public Library from 10am - 2:00 pm. Over 300 students and teachers from the Boston area will attend the screening and workshop. On Saturday families and children are invited to join the first ever CommUNITY Media Day at Central Square Theater from 1-3 pm, featuring workshops for families, a screening of the new DIYDS Jr!! features films by 6-12 year old filmmakers and The Chickens of Ventura Fabien, directed by Nina Hasin. Saturday evening brings the ticketed public Premiere Screening to M.I.T.’s Wong Auditorium. A moderated discussion and Q&A session with filmmakers allows the audience to interface with the films in a unique way. Celebration follows at the Premiere Party at MIT’s Morss Hall from 9-12 pm. Tickets for the Premiere Screening or Premiere Party can be purchased online at www.diyds.org.
To schedule interviews with teens or festival staff, call Lumina at (617)868-7100x17. For more information visit www.diyds.org. DIYDS!! 08 is hosted by MIT and the Boston Public Library with major funding from United Way, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Draper, Novartis and 484 Phi Alpha Foundation.

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DIYDS Film Festival film "Holla back Dubai"

http://vimeo.com/1424442

When I see you smile

On Saturday, I went to Monticello, New York and saw my Grandma Anne for the first time in about 7 years, I was surprised to find out that she is in a nursing home right now due to some health problems. At first she sat with closed eyes and locked arms for a long time. Then after we stopped hugging her and asking her to open her eyes, and just sat by her quietly, she opened her eyes and smiled at me. And there she was. Her shining spirit trapped in her old worn out body. Her smile is bright, bright, bright. She would look off in the distance, knit her brows, and press her fingers together the way she always used to. Then when she looked back at me, she would shine on her incredible smile and laugh and I would laugh and we would just laugh together. She can't speak anymore, but she was trying, and I swear she was talking in Yiddish, definitely not English. At one point, I leaned in to give her a kiss on the mouth, and I guess when she saw something coming towards her she thought it was food, cause she opened her mouth and stuck out her tongue! Don't worry, I figured it out in time, but remember that old joke from 5th grade?

"What's grosser than gross?
When you go to kiss your Grandmother and she slips you the tongue!"

What's sweeter than sweet?
To hug and kiss your Grandma Anne as many times as possible in 2 hours.
This is one reason I came home.
My Grandma is the cutest grandma in the whole nursing home.