Letter from Anton Chekhov

Letter from Anton Chekhov to Dmitry Grigorovich, Moscow, October 9, 1888:

I have not yet acquired a political, religious, or philosophical worldview; I change my views every day and consequently have to confine myself to describing how my protagonists love, marry, breed, die, and talk.

(Michkel Subotzky)

Letter from Anton Chekhov to Alexander Chekhov, Moscow, May 19, 1886:

There is no need to chase after a crowd of characters. Only two should be at the center of gravity: he and she.

 (saul leiter)

Letter from Anton Chekhov to Alexei Suvorin, Melikhovo, August 24, 1893:

“Nevertheless” and “insofar as” are both bureaucratic expressions. I read them and I spit. The new generation writes in an especially shabby language. Unclear, cold, and inelegant; those sons of bitches write as though they are already dead and lying in the grave.

Love this man. He is simplistic, tender, generous and objective. And has the best advice for a writer.

Advertisements

pad thai and tears

monsoon crashed down after a hot hot week. dancing in prospect heights with cucumber gin, mario battali would like that. lucas foglia takes pictures in appalachia of those who escape our modern living:“little stones at my window” by mario benedetti:

Once in a while
joy throws little stones at my window
it wants to let me know that it’s waiting for me
but today I’m calm
I’d almost say even-tempered
I’m going to keep anxiety locked up
and then lie flat on my back
which is an elegant and comfortable position
for receiving and believing news

who knows where I’ll be next
or when my story will be taken into account
who knows what advice I still might come up with
and what easy way out I’ll take not to follow it

don’t worry, I won’t gamble with an eviction
I won’t tattoo remembering with forgetting
there are many things left to say and suppress
and many grapes left to fill our mouths

. don’t worry, I’m convinced
joy doesn’t need to throw any more little stones
I’m coming
I’m coming.

. (martin parr) saw the triennial exhibit at the ICP and loved it. i am a graduate now munching on brazil nuts and talking to brazilians with orange corduroy pants on the ACEbrilliant photographer taking pictures of the weirdest and most mundane and off-puting things

i like your hair, how do you do it?

oh joao, you help me so

yesterday’s haiku:

a boogie boarder
a crabcake and sea kelp fields
a bougainvillea

ship on a postcard
from grandpa for my grandma
may, 1950

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

it rained cats and dogs yesterday but i made the most of it. went to the moma with sam and saw pleasing roadtrip aesthetic (perhaps americana is the new trend, but there is a reason why it’s so pleasing: anonymity+driving+scape). then we made vietnamese summer rolls- so easy! the only thing that took a while was chopping all the veggies and de-tailing the shrimp. inside we put an arugula mint basil mixture, rice noodles, shrimp, and a mango salsa. and a peanut soy sauce for dipping of course. just remember that cooking wine, sherry, is very good to shrimpies, and that there is no such thing as too much basil.(paul graham)my new obsession, adventure time, for a change in scenery. and steven shore—northwest or midwest?scoop it, smush it, dab it, butter it

feed me tacos tonight.

new york, a good weekend

i had a really amazing weekend. especially because of saturday. i got to spend the whole day with two of my most important people. we started by eating big plump sour pickles at the farmer’s market, they tasted almost effervescent in the noonday sun and cold wind and with softball players pitching nearby. we walked to williamsburg’s smorgasburg and ate vietnamese food and brownies on the grass and watched all the babies (plump too, but not like pickles..more like…chinatown sweet buns) and the water glistening. we somehow made it to the roof of the wythe hotel and our bursting and giggling group sipped on bloody marys and we got day-buzzed off sun stroke and the hint of summer coming up from behind the antarctic front that has been making my knuckles bleed the past 6 months. 

we roamed and roamed with no place to hide, and hours later we came back to my apartment and had a siesta with hubhub. ( henri toulouse lautrec)(viviane sassen)

today a walk through chinatown to buy a mango and spring onion, bokchoy and strawberries. next week will be a week in california

 

(Sky pape)bobby doherty)I somehow have a feeling of

 (Sky pape)bobby doherty)

I somehow have a feeling of being senselessly drawn, wandering senselessly through a senselessly obscene, absurd world. -Virginia Woolf, from a diary entry dated 12 March 1928