positively positano

Sarah was invited to read at Sirenland, a writers' workshop hosted at Le Sirenuse in Positano (on the Amalfi coast). S. was invited by Hanah Tinti, a friend of hers from Breadloaf, amazing author of Animal Crackers and The Good Thief.
Once there, we also got to meet and spend some quality time with Dani Shapiro, Michael Maren, their son, John Burnham Schwartz, Aleksandra Crapanzano, and their son. Dani had taught at the New School while I was pursuing my MFA there, but I never got a chance to take a class with her. However -- speaking of the New School -- we got the super-extra-bonus of being reunited with one of my favorite classmates, Jenny Moore. this was totally unexpected and wonderful.
And, speaking of wonderful, we were only supposed to be there for a couple of days, but out gracious hosts, Antonio and Carla (owners of Le Sirenuse) invited us to stay the duration of the conference. The hotel alone was an amazing experience; the food, the views, the service, the facilities, the company, etc.
All in all, it was one of the best times we've had in Italy. check it out.

Flavio Lunch

The artists at AAR were invited to participate in a group of shows called Beware of the Wolf. The loosely themed shows paired AAR artists with local Roman artists. This was a great way to both reach out to the Italian artistic community and to get us to hang out with local artists. Lisa Sanditz, Lisa Switkin, and I were paired with Flavio and Corrado in a show loosly based on landscape. Before the show, Flavio invited us over to his apartment for a magnificent lunch.

colossal wonder

In an attempt to address my backlog of photos/memories/entries I'm going to try to make a new post every day for the next couple of days. This will also serve as an excellent way to procrastinate.

So let's start with March and S and my trip to the Colosseum.

Feb. Parental Visit

My mom and Cliff came all the way from Hawaii to visit. They spent a week or so here, went to Sicily, and I didn't take nearly enough photos.

Presidents' Day Party

We had given a public party for Halloween, but we didn't really get into it. Thus there had been a lot of talk amongst the other academies about how the Americans didn't know how to throw a party. So we decided to throw a grand fete celebrating whomever the next President will be. It was heavily Americana-themed with drag queens, DJs, presidential movies, hot dogs, grain alcohol punch, noise bands, Randy Newman songs, etc.

February

So, I realize that I've been somewhat negligent in updating this thing. But that doesn't mean that I haven't been doing things.

For instance, the Academy hosted a dinner to honor Alice Waters and our amazing kitchen staff.

S. had a birthday

And we were house and dog-sitting for Z. and N. so we had Tim and Lisa over.

Renaissance Art History

I have difficulty remembering when everyone lived. So I made a table. Check it out.

Andycation

Andy Ryan came for a visit. Jessica Findley came too. We did stuff. Then I spent two days making a blog post. Stupid blog.

New Year's Eve in Rome was very very cold. It was also a 3 hour fireworks show. Near as I can tell, everyone who wants to hold their own high-powered fireworks display. Which, I suppose, is a type of coordination. The point being that because of our perch on the top of the highest hill, we could see the entire city lit up with the myriad explosions. And then, Lisa and Tim returned in the nick of time with sparklers for everyone!

Murmuration

One of the projects I've been working on involves the swarming murmurations of starlings that roost in Rome. One of the major roosting areas is in the EUR, on the sourthern outskirts of the city.

Before I came to Rome, I'd been talking to a fellow about the swarms of starlings which migrate through north Texas, and was planning a trip when I got back. So, I was pretty excited that Rome has it's own murmurations.

A month or so ago, Richard Barnes, a photographer who was here a couple years ago, did a big project with the starlings, and was kind enough to show me one of their homes in the EUR.

The EUR was created by Mussolini in the late 30s/early 40s and planned to open in '42 to celebrate 20 years of Italian fascism at the World's Fair. Certain events prevented Mussolini from realizing this dream, but we're left with this strange, coldly geometric fascist architecture development.

Watching the swirling organic forms undulate over this setting is part of the magic of the experience.

In these photos, every single gray spec is actually a bird. I have no idea how many of them there are. I would guess in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps in the millions.

The forms are created as a reaction to predatory hawks. Every once in a while, you get to see a hawk chase and catch a starling. Though it's much rarer than you'd expect; especially given the odds. Each day, the formations and where they form is different, depending on the weather, the number of hawks, and other variables.

Check out the first set of photos to get a taste, and the second (larger) set if you're into it.