Dime Day, Resonant Kiss, Rona's Turd Sculptures and the Dirty Art I Keep in the Back Room

Dime Day:

Rebecca forwarded me an email regarding Dime Day:

No one knows who originated the "Not One Damn Dime Day" protest.
By Greg L'Heureux, USA TODAYIt's called "Not One Damn Dime Day," and it means just that. Proponents urge Americans not to spend any money on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day, to protest President Bush's policies in Iraq and the estimated $30 million to $40 million cost of the inauguration.You might already have received the plea in your morning e-mails. If so, it probably was sent to you by friends or family, because the e-mail encourages everyone to share the contents with as many people as possible. And people have.The message is simple: "Those who oppose what is happening in our name in Iraq can speak up with a 24-hour national boycott of all forms of consumer spending.


You may have figured out that I don't have anything against a good protest. That's exactly what this would/will be, even at its most successful. Let's say 3 million people refrain from spending a single penny on Jan 20. Jan 20 - Feb 20, maybe we see a little something. If I hold off buying diapers or Dinty Moore or socks on Jan 20, it just means I'll buy those things on the 19th (being me) or I'll buy them on the 21st (being someone else). Even millions of people not buying for one day will be a statement, nothing more. It's success will be determined by the media reporting it. And....who controls the media that would report our Dime Day boycott? I'll tell you----NOT THE PEOPLE WHO PARTICIPATE. Still, I'm going to 'observe' Dime Day, because I believe in statements and would love to be amazed by this one. But I'm not counting on it:
If you've ever tried to get ten people together for dinner at a restaurant at a particular time, imagine the difficulty in getting millions of people to participate in any kind of boycott. The masses are a fickle bunch. Remember all the flags and ribbons and stickers EVERYWHERE after 9/11? Remember watching them fade and tatter and disappear over the following three months?
Yet GUILTY and Calvin peeing endure..... If we really want to boycott something, we pick one thing and boycott it...for good.
If you got to pick the one thing, what would it be?

I must go and help a restless toddler fall asleep and then shall return

As I return much later. Heh---I fell asleep too, which actually is a very good thing.

From Kensgirl:
Whilst knocking about your site, I stumbled across a picture of the piece you did called "Resonant Kiss." What inspired you to make this piece? Because I wrote a poem almost six years ago that was an ambiguous and sensual- if clumsily so- description of playing the cello... So the piece resonated with me. ^_^ Ha!Your work is beautiful, and fascinating!

The foundation for this piece was there already, in my love of classical music. My instrumental affair is with the piano, but the emotion is the same. Anyone who plays and loves it knows that at some point after warming up (or during) the instrument becomes a living thing. Back in Georgia, several years ago, my son was just learning to play the violin. He was terrible at first, but in those early days, once in a while he and the violin would produce a tone that would fill the air with distant, ancient longing. We lived in a house that had been a school in the early 1900's. The acoustics were incredible. He had one of those moments when the bow and strings and the physics of sound were lined up like planets. He kissed his violin and said "I love you." And went off to make something with Legos.
Neil Gaiman wrote a story for Resonant Kiss called "Every Good Boy Deserves Favors". EGBDF will be all too familiar to many of you. It's a very good story. Once in a while I put one of the castings of the piece on ebay. Once somebody bought one, once someone not familiar with Neil thanked me for pointing him out. I have done well with a drawing I did from the sculpture. I'll put one up in a bit.


Laura didn't post---bad, bad girl---but emailed to say the artist who sculpted the bronze turd was probably Rona Pondick.

Rona Pondick After a little checking, I would tend to agree that Laura is correct. Rona has been making art since then and apparently, still is. Interesting stuff too.

The Naughty Stuff in the Back Room: Just so you know it wasn't an empty tease---I'll get to that tonight, when it's not so bright outside----and in here...