more random thoughts

My community group (Crow Hill Community Association) is sponsoring this installation/fundraising project that focuses on bringing the community of Crown Heights together in the wake of the shootings last Labor Day. Its purpose is to create an awareness for youth in our community that art not violence can be your voice.

The KICKSTARTER campaign which will provide the initial funding needed just launched.

Please consider donating to help us make this project a reality.

some things are too cute not to share…

(Source: caturday, via christopher-walken)

Happy Holidays 2 All

I am honored to have 3 large scale photographs
in this tribute to my brother-in-law
the amazing Flawless Sabrina,
hope you can attend.

***PRESS RELEASE***

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art presents:
Tribute to a Queen: Flawless Sabrina
Curated by: Inbred Hybrid Collective
November 15th, 2011 (5:30-8:30pm)
24 Wooster St, Soho NY (between Grand & Canal)

The Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian Art in New York City, the United States’ first and only museum of LGBTQ art, invites you to an evening tribute celebrating a legendary American artist and cultural icon, Jack Doroshow, aka Flawless Sabrina.

A one-night event, this will be a rare glimpse into the life and mind of a creator whose multi-decade influence on queer identity will continue to capture the imaginations of artists for years to come. Featuring paintings, photographs, outfits, wigs, video, readings, and ephemera, this event will also offer a rare screening of the seminal 1968 film, “The Queen.”

The event will provide a historical context for Flawless Sabrina for the purpose of educational entertainment, beginning with early activism, which has continued throughout Flawless’ career, and, where possible, actual documentation from the archives will be displayed.

This will include press clippings, scribblings, paintings and photographs. This pioneering legend is still going strong, and there’s no better time to show the triumphant performer at her peak. Flawless will read from her soon to be published book, accompanied by writers and performers including Brandon Olson, Inbred Hybrid Collective, and Rami Shamir.

Program:
5:30- 6:40 - Presentation of the film, “The Queen”
6:40- 7:00 - Gallery viewing, sales table open, wine bar,
7:00- 8:00 - Readings by Rami Shamir, Inbred Hybrid Collective, Brandon Olson, and Flawless Sabrina, followed by Q&A
8:00- 8:30 - Gallery viewing, sales table open, wine bar,

Partial list of artists whose work will appear:
Diane Arbus, Pearl Bailey, Madame Bertha, William S. Burroughs, Curtis Carman, Jimmy De Leo, John Destmone, Ken Don, Zachary Drucker, Johnny Dynell, Neil Edwards, Ron Fortunado, Maurice Gaulmin, Michelle Handelman, Joe E. Jeffreys, Robert Keenan, Jill Krementz, Pierre Manciet, Tom Markee, Math-you, Nina Meledandri, Brandon Olson, Ves Pitts, Francesco Scavullo, Rami Shamir, Niko Solorio, Mark Trainer, Andy Warhol

superamit:

Two weeks ago I got a call from my doctor, who I’d gone to see the day before because I’d been feeling worn out and was losing weight, and wasn’t sure why.

He was brief: “Amit, you’ve got Acute Leukemia. You need to enter treatment right away.”

I was terrified. I packed a backpack full of clothes, went to the hospital as he’d instructed, and had transfusions through the night to allow me to take a flight home at 7am the next day. I Googled acute leukemia as I lay in my hospital bed, learning that if it hadn’t been caught, I’d have died within weeks.

—

I have a couple more months of chemo to go, then the next step is a bone marrow transplant. As Jay and Tony describe below, minorities are severely underrepresented in the bone marrow pool, and I need help.

A few ways to help:

1. If you’re South Asian, get a free test by mail. You rub your cheeks with a cotton swab and mail it back. It’s easy.
2. If you’re in NYC, you can go to this event my friends are putting on.
3. If you know any South Asians (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, Maldives, or Sri Lanka), please point ‘em to the links above.

*NEW* Organize a donor drive near you (the most helpful thing you could possibly do!) email 100kcheeks@gmail.com. They’ll send you kits, flyers, tell you what to say, and make the whole process easy cheesy.

jayparkinsonmd:

My friend Amit Gupta founded my favorite photography site Photojojo. A few weeks ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia. Amit is one of the nicest, most genuine, most creative people you could ever meet. Prior to founding the awesome Photojojo, he also co-founded Jelly in 2006 in NYC, a coworking community, that’s now spread to 60 cities across the world and helped spark the coworking revolution. It looks like Amit will need a bone marrow transplant quite soon. We can help him with that.

tony b:

Unlike blood transfusions, finding a genetic match for bone marrow that his body will accept is no easy task. The national bone marrow registry has 9.5 million records on file, yet the chances of someone from South Asian descent of finding a match are only 1 in 20,000.

This is where we come in. We’re going to destroy those odds.

How? By finding and registering as many people of South Asian descent as we possibly can.

Tests are easy– a simple swab of the cheek. If you’re a match, the donation involves an outpatient procedure. It’s not fun, but it’s not dangerous either. And doing it could save a life.

We are encouraging anyone of South Asian descent to take a test to see if you’re a match. 

You can get a free test by mail, or, if you’re in New York, you can join us Friday, October 14th for a special party to rally support.

We’ll have test kits on hand at the party, as well as music, booze, and maybe even a photo booth. It will, for the first time, combine a House 2.0-style party with a New Work City-style party, and if you’ve ever been to either, you know they are always something special.

Please spread the word and please do everything you can to help Amit beat leukemia. He’s a superstar.

Much thanks to Tony and pals for organizing this event, and EVERYONE who’s been tweeting and reblogging.

Please help get the word out any way you can. My life quite literally depends on it.

did a search on MOMA
and gosh darn if tim burton doesn’t come up…
for a show in 2010!!!

file under: where search engines fail

9/11/11

10 years,
it’s hard to believe
and
it was hard,
hard because
10 years ago,
instead of feeling the fear, helplessness and loss,
i threw myself into activity;
at first helping to prepare food for those working at ground zero
then by creating/maintaining theARTproject;
a site for people to respond with images to the events of 9/11 and its aftermath.

i was briefly tempted to reactivate theARTproject
for the 10th anniversary, but it didn’t feel right
mainly because i felt it would become too political.

in those weeks and months after the attacks
politics were in the background,
passion & compassion were the primary motivations
behind the work that was submitted.

but it’s 2011 
and i myself couldn’t imagine responding in a way
that wasn’t politically motivated
so i figured the same would be true for most people.
and quite honestly,
i wasn’t in the frame of mind
to create a forum for propaganda
of any sort.

because art can be a way of preserving emotion
one of my main motivations in creating theARTproject
was to make a place for remembering;
remembering the horror, the pain, the grief
remembering to protect us from returning to our boorish ways
remembering so the lives lost would not have been in vain.

but we don’t seem to have learned very much at all
and that is wrenching.
the only bright light that burns from that devastation
is the spirit, generosity and selflessness
of those who rescued, salvaged, cleaned, cleared and comforted
during a time of true crisis

and that is what the tribute in light has always symbolized for me
the strength, resilience and beauty that individuals can exhibit
i was never a huge fan of the towers
as a native new yorker
they seemed plopped down
out of context
a giant icon of capitalism run amok
i hated doing anything around the plaza
the inhuman scale made me uncomfortable
and i always felt like a tourist there

so the lights for me
replaced that looming weight
with twin beacons
of pain and generosity
of ghosts and spirits
of loss and love

tonight
i had to go see them
and the view from brooklyn
despite the fog
was lovely
and i wasn’t alone
a steady stream of people
came to photograph them
it was a very sweet end
to a very difficult day

Our Lives Our Laws

makes my ❤ skip a beat

(Source: ferr)

(Source: thenearsightedmonkey)