spending time

As time has gone by I moved, lived, and met people all over the place. Grew up in São Paulo (living in different cities in the state and different neighborhoods in the city), was an exchange student in Florida (where years later I returned to go to grad school), went to college in Georgia, and tried life out in New York, Maine and Texas, before settling into a college teaching career, which brought me to a four-year stint in Carbondale, IL, and seven-year (and counting) stay in the Detroit-metro area. I have also been fortunate to travel around the US and the world for professional reasons.

Web 2.0 has allowed me to connect with old friends and keep in touch with new found ones. It pains me not to be able to spend as much time with any given person as I wish I could, and for practical reasons the people that live around you get more of your time.

The year of 2012 is a year of change and renewal for me. In many ways it is way more transforming that the mythological year 2000 (perhaps the Mayans seem more impressive than the Jetsons or ones and zeros). This year also coincides with my first ever sabbatical, a much needed break for me. So have I have put to the test my commitment to being an artist and my art, and in this sense I feel that this preview to teaching retirement and art practice full time has been a personal success. I'm so happy to what's to come in the next 20 years or so (or sooner if I can swing it).

Another aspect has been how I decide to spend time, or better yet, with whom I decide to spend my time. I have been making concerted efforts to visit important people in my life whom I have not seen in a long time (and know that if money was not an issue, there would be many more trips). Last March I visited Valerie in E San Francisco Bay area, which was a wonderful experience (she is truly like a sister to me). This quick weekend in STL was spent with Matt, whom I had not seen since 2009. Matt was a student at SIU (not my student though), and I was a young professor (28 or 29), and the first time we met, we went for a walk around campus, and talked about random stuff. To paraphrase him, he knew we were sisters from that first encounter.

So yesterday, as the proposal and purpose for this blog states (in my head, a daily description of events), Matt and I did all kinds of things that to the outside eye may seem mundane and even boring, but which to me sums perfectly the depth and comfort of our friendship. We do our thing and it only makes sense to us. I could describe our visit to the farmers market, eating talking Mexican shrimps with Dan (great to see u Danneta), watching a Loretta Lynn biopic starring Sissie Spacek (where she sang most songs herself), walking Patty (Matt's daughter/dog), and all the weird and silent and comfortable moments that only we could experience together. If you were there you might not have gotten it either. So I'll just sum it up to saying that I spent the day with my good friend Matt, and I already miss him in my life.

Today I will drive towards my sister's home in Dallas. It will be the longest drive, and I hope to get there today, but might stay somewhere halfway if I get too tired.

Of to take a shower now!




- posted via iPad

Location:Saint Louis, MO