WHAT I DID
Sunday
At dinner last night, there were little mussels and clams with homemade bread, tomato soup and baked potatoes, homemade cinnamon rolls, dandelion wine or, I think it was dandelion at least. This was a menu inspired by Dorothy Day and when Dorothy Day made wine in her Staten Island cottage in 1924 it was brewed from dandelion. The wine is from The Hudson Valley, here. The bathroom is wallpapered in copies of The Catholic Worker Newspaper.
Dorothy Day is a patroness of Cracks in Pomo - “ her life story exemplifies our “agenda” – of diving deep into postmodern culture and finding God hiding within its cracks,” Stephen says.
“Dorothy Day is an unusual candidate for sainthood,” her granddaughter writes. Because she was disorderly and in love and gave birth out of wedlock and then converted to Catholicism, dedicating her life to serving the poorest of the poor, maintaining humor and laughter and an ability to light up any room.
And I acted a little crazy last week and there's the tendency to come to gasping for air, make all things new, make all things pure, I'm walking quickly on the treadmill and I am telling you how soon we'll find all things transformed.
In the afternoon, in the street, my friend says my name and I jump. We’ve been floating all around hologram world today, you see, and you don’t see me, and I don’t see you, and then so it goes. We begin to walk along, my friend and I, and she tells me about the visions, delusions, the hypothesis, the fish market. My friends are very lucid when they tell me very strange stories. They are very lucid when I respond all high strung.
"My Confession is that I removed myself from the organ donor registry," I told my table mates at the Cracks and Pomo dinner. They've seated me with the astrologers, a nice young writer who also knows very few people here, a few friends of David's, a few friends from the orbit of KGB Bar, and they are enthusiastic about my proclamation. This is a good evangelizing cause, one of my table mates says, and I say oh well I'd feel a bit bad if I evangelized people off the organ donor registry, but I was just thinking about the purgatory of the soul and I can't risk it. My table mates reassured me; most people don't think about this enough.
Monday
Everything was chaos, really, and I got nothing done for days and then I sprung to life on Sunday all I’m-All-New-Like, and what a whirling Sunday it was, stretching gently running fast confessing not at Church but confessing lots at KGB Bar, becoming, no, reverting back to I’m-All-Exactly-The-Same by the time it was past midnight. And I should have gone home earlier, obviously. And there’s some decadence in these worlds I immerse myself in, or not the worlds so much as in me, me within these worlds, the way I react to them. And so there’s no one but myself to blame, really. But I do blame myself. And I am Actually new today. Or, at least, I Know things now.
They are talking about songbird soup in my Irish Literature class. I’m zoning out, honestly, and then I zone back in because I hear them talking about “songbird soup” and it sounds so beautiful, I really perk up when I hear this thing about Songbird Soup. But then the next thing they say is songbird soup was where they would literally net three hundred song birds and boil them all up, and it was a symbol of indulgence, it was a symbol of grotesque decadence and a symbol of ounee. Songbird soup was the illness, and wild whimsical lovely Ireland was the cure. And here I was only perking up because I wanted to guzzle down some songbird soup. And here I am thinking about myself again.
Tuesday
Rules for clarity are: a long walk and methylene blue and if you have vertigo then just go home, because you can’t fight through vertigo, storming through manhattan, all these bright lights will just make you spin.
I like alcohol when it is like a potion. You drink an elixir and then things become a bit brighter and more glimmering and shiny and light but, I think how the body reacts to alcohol can be indicators of other things. I’m trying to treat this like a blessing . If I drink alcohol and the potion works opposite and I become sleepy and forlorn and my face turns all red, then it’s like a hack to knowing things about the state of myself. You can know these things by noticing reactions more generally, but I have not been too perceptive. And reactions are only a hack if you act accordingly. I am trying to think of things in very simple terms like, I am reacting to this potion badly these days so, I will try different forms of alchemy, instead.
I get to the party early today and the plan is: I will help wash the fruits before the guests arrive.
"you going to wash those fucking vegetables or not?" M. says, when I arrive. "very wifey. Is that the most you've ever cooked?"
He's right, really. I ordered avocados on this app on my phone right to my doorstep today. You eat foods whole. You try to walk in the sun to collect these ingredients, though it isn't always possible. It really is that simple.
Sunday
And then, there are other things too. Another party, this one in an Italian restaurant that is far too crowded for the occasion but fun nonetheless. The opera later, the opera this weekend which is good, nice, the set design of the Moby Dick opera is quite impressive but the whole ordeal is a bit much, the ushers and the $27 bad champagne and I was kind of a bitch because David got a double shot of whisky and the opera people thought he said double shot of espresso because who does that at an opera, and then he said no I meant whisky, and then I said oh my god David, in a really bitchy way. Standing in this weird room being weird and judging everyone else. But we stayed for the second act on principle, no one really wanted to, but we can't become people who chug whiskey and leave the opera early. We can't become, in other words, deeply unpleasant people.
And it’s deeply pleasant in the morning. And I’ll find myself back at godforsaken KGB Bar in a few days, I presume. I'll find myself back in sparkly sunny strange El Salvador in a week or two.
WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
Wednesday, March 12
From 6pm - 8pm at Anton Kern Gallery — Love Poems opens; a group exhibition curated by Chris Martin.
From 6:30pm - 9pm at Nine Orchard — Lolita hosts a backgammon tournament.
From 7pm - 9pm at Ace Hotel Brooklyn — Byline presents the opening of Larissa Lockshin’s latest installation in The Gallery at Ace Hotel – “Strawberries and Other Secrets.”
From 7pm at Seventh Heaven — Language Arts (friend of the letter) is hosting their first reading. Language Arts is a substack by Sophia June and Layla Halabian about “books you actually want to read.” Readings tonight by Rayne Fisher-Quann, Camille Sojit Pejcha, Ryan Peterson, Rob Franklin, Sarah Sharp, and Matt Star. Photos, jelly snacks, karaoke all night after the event. | RSVP here
From 7pm - 10pm at KGB — Lucky American Films x Uncensored New York presents a Brutalist Couture Party - “a crossroads of the New York underground everything.” Music by The Suede Hello, Death Dance Music, and Christian Cail. Hosted by Drunken Boat, Angel Landing, One Man Army, and Crackhead Barney.
From 7:30pm - late at St. Dymphna — Matthew Danger Lippman and Page Garcia return with another reading: The Beautiful Angel Convention. Hosted by Annabel Boardman, Betsey Brown, Abi Yaga, and more. Readings by SweetAdeline, Cassidy Grady, Michael Crumplar, and more.
From 10pm - late at Paul’s Baby Disco — Sandra + Cassidy + Sasha are hosting. Music by Orson + Harkness.
Thursday, March 13
From 6pm - 8pm at 360 W 11 — Casa Del Popolo presents Michael Alexander Campbell: Sovereign Lapse.
From 7pm at Gonzo’s — Alex Arthur hosts The Indie Sauce Party.
From 7pm at KGB Red Room — Riley Mac and Montana James Thomas present the latest installment of Straight Girls, ft readings by Erin Pérez, Molly Soda, Gideon Jacobs, Benin Gardner, and Jordan Franklin.
From 9:30pm - 1:00am at Chino Grande — Meg Spectre hosts Karaoke with Meg (now a permanent fixture on the second thursday of the month) - “cherry cocktails, crooning moments, and fun fun fun.”
From 10pm - late at Roxy Hotel (2 6th Ave) — Ebecho, Muslimoa, and Julia Cooke host Art Party at Paul’s.
Friday, March 14
From 6pm - 9pm at Market Gallery — Mayan Toledo celebrates the release of “Can you not” – a 240-page hardcover book by Rizzoli, showcasing artworks and photographs that highlight the relationship between Toledo and her collaborator Erin Magee
From 6pm - 9pm at Beverly’s — Peer Review, Vol. 3 celebrates the official publication launch party. Peer Review/ is an experimental publication of reviews for artists by artists. There are many wonderful artists contributing to this issue.
From 6pm at Lubov — A 48 hour haircutting event begins. Haircuts offered by over 70 artists, gallerists, designers, musicians (none of them, as far as I know, stylists by trade, so attend at your own risk) - including Annie Armstrong, Emma Stern, Jamian Julian-Villani, Vita Hass, Sam Falb, and more. Organized by Masha Gaze and Timmy Simonds. Music by Gabriel Hollis, Marika Thunder, and more. Readings by Nick Dove, Sierra Armor, Tess Manhattan, and more. A Club Chess popup, screenings, cigarettes, quests (?). There’s too many people involved to list them all, but you have a full weekend to attend and see what you discover for yourself.
From 8pm - late at Time Again — Spoiled Child x Jeremy Scott celebrate Drop 2 Release Party. Music by DeSe Escobar and Lumia Nocito.
From 9:15pm at Roxy Cinema — Castration Movie Pt 1 is screening, followed by a Q&A with director Louise Weard.
Saturday, March 15
All day and all night at Lubov — the haircut marathon continues
From 7:30pm - 10:00pm at Brooklyn Center for Theatre Research — Vanya on Huron Street closes. If you haven’t seen this production, now is your last chance - “an adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s timeless classic with a new translation by Albina Aleksandrova. Directed by Matthew Gasda.”
From 10pm - late at Rash — leg5, besarta, katja, and more host Salvation Party
From 10pm - late at Shinen — Faith Fuentes is having a birthday party.
From 10pm at 154 Scott BK — Club Chess x Dese Escobar x Toni Bakalli x YWGI are throwing a party. Cocktails upstairs. Movement Below.
Sunday, March 16
Through 6pm at Lubov — You can still visit the CODA hair cutting extravaganza.
It’s not Sunday without Confessions
At Earth Los Angeles from 4pm - 8pm — Montez Press Radio & Earth present the first in a series of collaborative shows in Los Angeles. KILLING TIME features author Tom O’Neill and investigative journalist Christian Hansen in conversation about American murder cults. Readings and DJ sets to follow. Attend in person, listen on https://radio.montezpress.com/#/, orlivestream on Earth’s Youtube.
Loved it loved when you were a bitch at the opera 🥂