GJ Willis' Art Notes

The above is a picture of, Jose Rodriguez, who stands hooded cloaked and wired in front of the home of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in an imitation of the infamous photographs depicting Iraqi prisoner abuse. He was amongst the protestors gathered to demonstrate against the treatment of prisoners in Iraq and to demand Rumsfeld's resignation.

I seem to have caught a head cold, at least I hope it’s a head cold. I hope it wasn’t something I caught from visiting my father the other day. All in all, it’s most likely a head cold. I’m mostly just sneezing.

Lately,I’ve been sleeping with my fan on. I always have it pointed at me feet. I point it there because my father always told us that you should never point a fan in the direction of your face while sleeping because you might end up with a head cold. Well, looks like I now have a head cold.

The first thing I did when I got home was take eight Echinacea tablets and some cold tablets. I then fell asleep. I didn’t wake up until it was time to get to work. Thus, I didn’t publish yesterday’s blog post until today.

Today Donald Rumsfeld is in Baghdad to allegedly boost the morale of the troops. I say he’s there to save his ass. Why is this guy still Secretary of Defense? If this were another administration he would have long been gone.

This last week has made me embarrased to be an American. I’m actually thinking about applying for Australian citzenship. To the best of my knowledge no country has a grudge against them.

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Yesterday, Don Geronimo of the syndicated, Don and Mike Show, raved out when newsman Buzz Burbank told of the beheading of an American by a group of Iraqi’s. I have to say that I agree with him. Why the hell are we still over there?

We originally went over there to find weapons of mass destruction. No weapons were found and yet were still there. Next we were told that we would remain there until things stabilized. If anything nothing has stabilized. Instead, violence has increased in it’s intensity. I say we should get the hell out of Iraq.

Everyday you hear of nameless Americans being killed over there. Sinclair Broadcasting a Baltimore based group of television stations headquarted in Hunt Valley, Marylad,refused to air an episode of Nightline where they named the names of our servicemen who were killed in the war. They saw it as being somehow unpatriotic and against the war effort. Since when is naming those who died defending our country unpatriotic?

Today there were more Iraqi prison photos released today. However, they were only on view for Washington senators. From what I hear they are worse than the ones previously released. They also involve the same prison guards seen in previous photos.

I’m sick of this bizarro age I’m living in!

The above is a picture of a totem pole that is in my father's neighborhood. I'm not sure but I think the property owner might be an artist or an art collector. All around his property are these large full scale avant garde sculptures. I love walking by his house because you'll never know what you'll find.

Yesterday, after work I visited my dad. He’s been ill with a chest cold. He’s well now. However, he is still coughing a lot. When he had the chest cold he was coughing up phlegm. Now he is coughing up nothing. I think all he needs now are cough drops to make him stop coughing needlessly. I know what it is like. You get so used to coughing to get rid of the phlegm that it becomes like a reflex. You cough hoping to pick up phlegm but know that you won’t because the cold is gone. But you can’t stop. Thus, it becomes a vicious cycle.

One thing I learned is that Alexis is dating a guy who has two small kids, a girl and a boy. He had them over the house when I came over. I’d say they are about 4 and 6 years old. Shay was very sad when they left. She had the most saddest look on her face. She also looked sad and tearful when I left. I had no idea I had that effect on her. I’m not exactly Miss Personality. I kind of feel sorry for her. The poor kid has no one to play with. Hopefully, this will all change when she enters Kindergarten or Prekindergarten this fall.

Walking down the hill towards my dad’s house wasn’t too bad on my right leg. Walking up the hill was an entirely different matter. Half way up the hill I wanted to stop and call a cab.

In work news I was on time for work today despite the presence on the light rail of the fish faced man. I’ve noticed that if I get on the bus with him it signals curtains for my timeliness. If I see him on the light rail it means he must be running early this morning. I think he’s due at work at a later time than I am. I know it sounds silly that I base my timeliness on the presence of one person on a bus. As Walter Cronkite once said, “...and that’s the way it is.”

The above photo is of a church on Eastern Avenue. I took the photo with my digital camera because I liked the unique Arabic look of the building. Also my mother was really into things like The Arabian Nights and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves. Ali Baba was her favorite fairy tale and movie. Therefore I felt it was fitting to attach it to today's post.

Yesterday, was Mother’s Day. A holiday I no longer have to celebrate since my mother’s death a few years back. I feel sad about this of course because my mother is gone. Mother’s day has become for me a solemn day of remembrance of my mother, Mazzelle Willis, may she rest in peace.

On the art front I think I may be entering a piece in ebsq’s monthly art show. This month they are doing a show on vessels. You know stuff like vases, boxes, things you put stuff into. The catch is that it can not be a painting it has to be the creation of a three dimensional functional vessel. Since I’ve done a few things with polymer clay I would like to give it a go.

Also another interesting thing that happened was that I got a mail art chain letter. When I’m not writing, painting, or crocheting I do mail art. I’ve participated in a few shows. I guess sooner or later I would get a mail art chain letter. It seems to have been started by some artist in Italy. I’m supposed to photocopy it, add something on to it and then mail it back to him. The whole thing was very odd. Inside the photocopied letter were clippings and stickers. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to send them back to him or send it out to someone else who then sends something back to him? Anyway, the letter I got was sent out to me from someone in California. Who knows maybe this works like a regular chain letter only you put a piece of art on it and send it on then the next person adds art to it and sends it on. I’m not 100% sure. I suppose I’ll have to search around mail art sites to see how this is supposed to work.

In work news my day started out bad. When ever I get on the bus with this fish faced man that works in the warehouse I know I’m going to be late. I don’t know his name. He’s tall. He has gray 1970’s style hair and buck teeth. Li Jie seems to know him well. However, I’ve never heard her say his name. He’s always patting her on the back or giving her sales advertisements on Fridays. Maybe he’s one of her in laws. I don’t know. Well, when I see him it’s usually the harbinger of lateness for me. Fish faced man on bus equals Gail will be late today.

Also I think that the buses are on a new schedule. I say this because for the past few weeks I haven’t seen Gary or Arthur on the bus in the morning. Arthur and Gary are these two old guys who have been catching the bus with me in the morning ever since I started working where I am now. Who knows maybe they finally decided to throw in the towel and retire. I know that Arthur has a daughter my age. I’m not quite sure what Gary’s story is. I only know he’s in his 70’s and works at the airport. It could also possibly be that they are taking an earlier bus because I’ve noticed that the #20 has been arriving later than usual. I hate when they switch drivers. Now I’ll have to get used to a new drivers routine. Either way my goal is to be on time every single day at least until October...

It turns out I’ve been late a total of 10 times since January. I found this out when Brian called me to his desk this morning. I thought I had made an error on something. If anything I thought he called me because I’m not up to standard. However, later in the day I was surprised to find out that I made incentive for going over the standard. All in all I’m not quiet sure what my numbers are like. Every time I go up to check my stats I get depressed because they weren’t as high as I thought they would be. For sanity’s sake I’ve since nixed checking my stats. I have no idea from day to day if I’m working above or below standard. I just work as hard as I possibly can and hope for the best.

In a larger perspective 10 days late isn’t all that bad if you consider that when I was in school I was late every single day. 10 days comes out to roughly 2 days late a month. Which isn’t half bad if you consider my previous track record. I don’t know maybe 10 days late since January is an unusually high number. Maybe I’m on the verge of being fired....

Friday, May 7, 2004

I had no intention what so ever of watching the series finale of Friends which came on last tonight. Rachel, Ross, Joey, Chandler, Phoebe, and Monica, are Not My Friends!

However, sadly, I watched anyway. I hadn’t watched the show since the early nineties. As far as the series finale goes it wasn’t all that great. The ending was very predictable. Rachel finally ended up with Ross. The only unpredictable thing that happened was that Monica and Chandler’s surrogate mother had twins.

I still can’t believe all the un called for hoopla around the series ending. The show was lame when it started and SURPRISE, it’s still lame.

Today on Oprah she will be having a Friends cast reunion. A REUNION ALREADY!!! The series ended just yesterday! You’re supposed to hold reunions several years after the fact not the very next day! That’s not a reunion it’s hanging out together.

The one prediction I will make for the up coming Fall TV season is that the Joey show will fail. The network suit that felt compelled to build a series around Joey should be horse whipped. It must have been the same person who gave Kramer his own show right after Seinfeld. And we all know how well that show went. The Matt Le Blanc aka the guy that plays Joey must have great blackmail material on who ever is in charge of scheduling at NBC because that’s the only reason I could think of of why he would be the only Friend’s cast member getting his own show.

Thursday, May 6, 2004

I got up an hour earlier than usual this morning. I couldn't fall back to sleep. When this happens I usually go through my e-mail and browse around web sites. So when I surfed the web this morning I was surprised to see that the poster I made is now up on the Sowebo Arts web page. In case you’ve forgotten mine would be the one listed under Gail Willis It’s the very girly pink and blue one.

The only other major goal I have is to buy a new pair of glasses I used to have two pairs. The ones I’m wearing now are my auxiliary pair. I hate them. The frames are red and the paint on them is pealing. The glass in my primary pair came out last summer so now I’m stuck wearing the ratty pair. Maybe, if all works out well I could get another set by the end of summer. I like to buy my glasses in sets just like I buy earphones in sets. If one breaks down I’ll have a spare to immediately replace it with.

I am really disgusted about the prison abuse in Iraq. I am shocked that President Bush has not apologized for the abuses. It’s as though he condones the actions that the military has taken in their treatment of prisoners. This in my opinion is yet another reason why Bush must be voted out of office.