Manifest my Destiny (shopping list)

Since arriving on the west coast, I have been overwhelmed by the spiritual 'vibrations' so common in the vocabulary of pedestrian speech. For example, on many occasions I have been told to 'manifest' what I want to experience in my life. I was instructed to be specific and ask for exactly what I want from the universe.

With critical awareness of spiritual capitalism, I have laughed for and with the people who bought commercially successful products including the book and video called 'The Secret' -- with the hope that they could break a hidden code of mind over matter. I like the notion that people desire to feel such freedom, responsibility, and control in their lives. Also, I don’t want to miss a great opportunity to get all the stuff I want, so I thought I would try out this potential new tool.

As a way to get settled in my new neighborhood, acclimate to a new culture, and to remain efficient, I installed a shopping list on various electric poles and trees on my new block. The shopping list varied from posting to posting and included between 10 and 20 of the needs listed below.

I designed this posting with respect to hidden indigenous codes, so I intuitively offered the passerby ‘freedom of response’. In the ‘spirit’, I listed two ways for people to help me manifest what I need through donations or through the gesture of burying a tab to help me get what I want. I also gave an option for needy people to wish for what they need by using one of these tabs for themselves.

Here is the entire list of needs as displayed on the posters:
1. old analog or electric typewriter that works
2. working sewing machine
3. excellent boyfriend who bikes
4. electric kettle that works
5. good haircut (I have a terrible one in need of repair)
6. cordless drill with a good battery
7. nice old couch
8. good writing desk and chair
9. rich soil to start a garden
10. crock pot or rice cooker
11. new bike seat
12. old manuals or how to books with illustrations
13. old chandelier (working or not)
14. battery powered hot glue gun
15. house plants
16. tea pot
17. car repair services
18. small and medium size wheels for a bike trailer
19. copious amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits
20. a friend to go exploring with
21. water proof fabric/sail fabric
22. saw horses
23. old wood
24. record player
25. baking pans for bread
26. a great travel mug
27. battery powered lighting
28. ancient books of poetry with illustrations
29. magic lessons
30. light, aluminum 6 foot ladder

rock

The word poet in this professorship of poetry is a very general term for a person who puts things together in an era of great specialization wherein most people are differentiating or "taking" things apart. Demonstrated capability in the integration of ideas is the general qualification for this professorship.
Buckminster Fuller
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V

The most notable distinction between living and inanimate beings is that the former maintain themselves by renewal. A stone when struck resists. If its resistance is greater than the force of the blow struck, it remains outwardly unchanged. Otherwise, it is shattered into smaller bits. Never does the stone attempt to react in such a way that it may maintain itself against the blow, much less so as to render the blow a contributing factor to its own continued action.
John Dewey
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TODAY

Oh! kangaroos, sequins, chocolate sodas!
You really are beautiful! Pearls,

harmonicas, jujubes, aspirins! all
the stuff they've always talked about

still makes a poem a surprise!
These things are with us every day
even on beachheads and biers. They

do have meaning. They're strong as rocks.
Frank O'Hara

Grad school advice from Facebook

Gradschool? San Francisco? Opinions please!
February 20 at 2:49pm Only Friends · Comment · LikeUnlike · View Feedback (16)Hide Feedback (16)
Neil Freeman
Neil Freeman
Yes. Yes.
February 20 at 3:12pm ·
Matthew C. Wilson
Matthew C. Wilson
insufficient information for opinion generation
February 20 at 3:22pm ·
Paul Tyree-francis
Paul Tyree-francis
once you told me that you hated san francisco because it was like disneyland. i think you may like it there, however. especially the ocean and the dinosaur botany. but grad school? i always recall the verseless animal collective song with the chorus 'you don't have to go to college'. which school?
February 20 at 5:14pm ·
Carissa Carman
Carissa Carman
whoot whott. It's great! there!
February 20 at 5:35pm ·
Jon Byler
Jon Byler
only if they are paying. not worth the time if they make you pay. someone will pay for talent like you.
February 20 at 5:47pm ·
Jenny Zhang
Jenny Zhang
return on investment?
February 20 at 6:02pm ·
Erin Marie Sickler
Erin Marie Sickler
I think the MFA is essentially the carving out of significant time and space to perform the following activities:
*doing a whole lot of work badly, or, if not badly, without the pressure of being good
*engaging with a supportive and critical body of peers
*establishing a relationship with a mentor(s)
*getting a seal of approval from an institution... See More
*being able to put more emphasis on core art practice versus day job (perhaps setting up unrealistic expectations about life after grad school)
*being given an edited, and therefore more manageable (or censored), depiction of the relevant strains of art right now

If you don't want these or can get them without paying for it, no need. If you want them or cannot, might be a good idea.

San Francisco--unequivocally thumbs up!
February 20 at 6:14pm ·
Neil Freeman
Neil Freeman
Erin - I think that's a really good summing up of any grad school, and especially MFAs.
February 20 at 6:38pm ·
Jesi Khadivi
Jesi Khadivi
Where? CCA? Are you there now? I have some artists to recommend that i just discovered. I think one of them just completed an MFA there. Maybe she has insight? Why SF?
February 20 at 6:39pm ·
Carolyn Soling
Carolyn Soling
I agree with Neil and caressa. Yes yes. San Fran is wonderful.
February 20 at 6:52pm ·
Beat Valley
Beat Valley
have christine put you in touch with jess wallen, she's trying to get in a program for curation at CCA right now
February 20 at 6:54pm ·
Sofía Olascoaga
Sofía Olascoaga
wow!! tell us more! i'd love to retake erin's critical bullets and work on... which school/program? say say besos
February 20 at 7:23pm ·
Diego Leal
Diego Leal
nope.
February 20 at 10:44pm ·
Cassie Thornton
Cassie Thornton
ok. it's CCA MFA in social practice... thanks for all the opinions! i just applied on a whim last weekend, late, and the welcome mat rolled out for me. i think the decision depends a lot on what happens with funding.
February 21 at 1:09pm ·
Matthew C. Wilson
Matthew C. Wilson
Hope everything works out w/ CCA, but, if not, check out Portland State's MFA in Social Practice... might be cheaper. The program is less established, I think, but as a city, I'd take Portland over SF any day.
February 21 at 8:01pm ·
Maya Erdelyi-Perez
Maya Erdelyi-Perez
for selfish reasons, yes> for you...could be really good but difficult too. I like Erin's breakdown. She sounds like she knows whatsup. we will talk more.
February 26 at 6:26pm ·

Advice is beautiful

How do people get into Whitney and Guggenheim for free? Do they offer secret artist memberships like MoMA?
9 hours ago Only Friends · Comment · LikeUnlike
Jesi Khadivi
Jesi Khadivi
press pass. with the whitney there is also a pole around the corner where people put their stickers when they leave. not sure if anyone is still doing that, but they were when i lived in nyc!
9 hours ago ·
Neil Freeman
Neil Freeman
Or you have an old employee card from another museum. Then you lose your wallet so that you don't have it anymore.
8 hours ago ·
Matthew C. Wilson
Matthew C. Wilson
museum admission hacking...

when walking to the whitney, look for other people walking on the street with whitney stickers and ask if you can have their sticker. good call on the pole -- ppl also leave them on the wall outside of the bldng.

the whitney is usually pretty cool about not having your museum id w/ you. just tell them you are an intern at museum X. and when they ask you what department have your answer ready.... See More

guggenheim, more difficult. they want a picture id to go w/ your museum id that just has your name (not that hard to make one if you want to use mine as a template :). if you go w/ someone else who has an id, they can probably get tickets for you both.
8 hours ago ·
Mario Hinojosa
Mario Hinojosa
i used to work at the financial arm of the Guggenheim, when you get back let me know and I'll get you some tickets...
7 hours ago ·
Diego Leal
Diego Leal
the pole isnt there anymore, err. the pole is but they clean the stickers off now. but you can always just tell the people coming out that youre an artist and would like their sticker. they are always happy to give it to you!
6 hours ago ·
Akiko Ichikawa
Akiko Ichikawa
These suggestions are all really great!
3 hours ago ·
Akiko Ichikawa
Akiko Ichikawa
@Jesi, Matthew, Diego: As of two days ago, the Whitney was using a photo of the pole on their website as an advertisement for the Biennial, to show how popular it was, how many people were going (and so how you should too. Advertising 101: bandwagon tactic.) As of today, it's no longer up. The Whitney probably realized how outré they would seem, promoting the use of the pole they are now careful to clean off everyday!

Douglas Paulson
use your union card and secret handshake. if it doesn't work threaten that the union will get kick their asses. if that doesn't work: GENERAL STRIKE

The art movement of education?

Elizabeth Warren

So the awesome facts in this video: we spend less on food, clothing, and technology now than in the 70's.
Parents would rather live near a nuclear test site than a bad school district. People are buying into schools.