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On Friday evening I saw an old friend that I grew up with that I have not laid eyes on for perhaps 15 years. Perry, a neighbor from my childhood had heard about my cancer through his grapevine and had tracked me down. He came over with a bundle of organic produce and we talked about the paths our respective lives, and the lives of our family members and common friends had taken in the last fifteen or so years.

A few of hours after Perry went home, another friend, Keenan, stopped in to crash at our home, having just made the journey from Madison, Wisconsin. He was being a good son for the weekend and would help his father repair some broken fencing the following day.

Saturday morning JSP planted at least 50 seedling plants in our back garden. I was amazed to walk out in the back garden to see the black soil that seemed almost lifeless the day before transformed into a garden full of green plants. The garden is infused with new vegetable life.

Artists in Northeast Minneapolis have a yearly open door weekend called Art-A-Whirl each spring, and this weekend was Art-A-Whirl. On Saturday JSP, Pat Morgon Mae, Marcos, Jaime, Connie and and I toured the Northrup King Building which houses about 150 artists in four floors of studio spaces. It was a fun afternoon.

We started, without Jaime and Connie, at our home and then went to lunch at The Vegetarian, an unassuming Indian restaurant with a fantastic buffet in Columbia Heights. The food was delicious and it was hard to choose when to stop eating. Palak paneer was on the buffet and I indulged in the flavors that I crave. I was thrilled to see a completely vegetarian buffet where I can choose from anything on the buffet instead of only one or two vegetarian options.

Eventually we connected with both Connie and Jaime and meandered through Art-A-Whirl's largest venue. I picked up a number a cards from artists and got an idea about what artists I might be interested in buying from in the future.

After trekking around the artist studios for several hours we re "arted out." We went to the Holy Land for dinner. I got a plate of tabouli and a plate of humus that went wonderfully with pita bread. My companions chose a variety of food and everyone seemed very satisfied with their choices.

That night I played a thoughtful game of Go with my friend Keenan. One big error on his part late in the game allowed me to take one of his groups and win the game. I love playing with Keenan because he plays Go frequently and improves between each game that I play with him.

On Sunday morning Keenan, Pat and I had breakfast at the Seward Cafe which is always nutritious, organic and delicious. Sometimes I marvel at the number of choices that I have in the Minneapolis restaurant scene in terms of being able to get organic vegetarian food in so many places. I do not take this gift for granted and it reminds me why, despite the cold, that I love Minneapolis. I decided on organic huevos rancheros and organic freshly made yogurt. I was not disappointed as both were magically delicious. My companions again were very pleased with their food choices, and the thing that stands out in my mind is the cold pressed coffee, steamed to perfection, that they enjoyed during our breakfast.

After breakfast and saying goodbye to my friends, JSP and I began our journey to Grantsburg, Wisconsin where our friend Vanessa was graduating from high school. Georgianne, Vanessa's mother, had invited us to come with her to the graduation ceremony and to enjoy the graduation party that followed at their home. After the ceremony, we were treated to beautiful weather delicious filled cupcakes and delicately layered cakes that tempted me to eat them despite the fact that they are not allowed contained lots of refined white sugar and refined white flour. Georgianne and Vanessa showed that they could be fantastic hostesses as it seemed the whole village of Grantsburg filtered through their home over the course of the afternoon.

During our drive back to Minneapolis, we noticed that the silver moon was almost full. The moon is completely full tonight.

Needless to say, JSP and I slept deeply last night.

Labels: art-a-whirl, arts, entertainment, food, friends, friendship, garden, Northeast Minneapolis

The end of the week has arrived. I am certainly happy to have the next two days off of work so as to focus more on the task of getting JayBee out of the hospital. This evening JayBee is resting, and has the company of quite a few people. Several sisters have spent time here today as well as his folks. The room is pretty full right now as we try to comfort JayBee through these last few days of treatment.

Generally JayBee's condition worsens towards the of the treatment cycle. He is more fatigued and his vitals are more perturbed. A number of people have called or written regarding visiting JayBee. He feels pretty uncomfortable generally, so if anyone wants to visit please be prepared for a relatively unresponsive JayBee. He does know of the thoughts and wishes being shared for him and appreciates that. I will try my best to get to the messages and phone calls regarding the status of JayBee.

Tonight Margaret Cho performs at the Orpheum in downtown Minneapolis. I had purchased tickets hoping that both of us could see her. Sadly JayBee is here in the hospital again. In his place I am taking his little sister Julie. We leave shortly, trying not to feel guilty enjoying this pleasure while JayBee wallows through the IL-2 doses. Julie and some of her friends came to Philadelphia to see Margaret Cho when JayBee and I were still living there. And JayBee and I saw her at Northrop Auditorium on the U of MN campus about a year ago. Looking forward to the show.

Thanks again for all the calls and e-mails of support as they are being related to JayBee daily.


UPDATE:
Julie and I had a wonderful time at the Margaret Cho concert. It is really fun to see the crowd, thousands of gay, lesbians and fag hags. Margaret was on target as usual, with vulgarity, pop culture and activism...all of which was hilarious. We even saw a bunch of the Orange Crush soccer players who all sent their wishes JayBee's way.

Labels: arts, entertainment, hospital

Last night JSP and I went to the Guthrie Theater to see their current mainstage show, Peer Gynt. We left our home in Northeast Minneapolis about 20 minutes before showtime and arrived only ten minutes before the curtain. This time crunch meant that we did not have time to lounge about in the Guthrie's deliciously modern public spaces and bars. Instead we were herded with our fellow audience members through the halls and into the thrust theatre to our seats.

As we took our seats, we noticed that most of the cast was already on stage. The actors were greeting each other and speaking casually to the audience in typical Midwestern dialects. We could discern that they were talking about a party happening and they seemed happy that we all had made it through the cold to join them. The stage was minimally dressed, but was staged to look artfully like the inside of a barn. The stage floor itself appeared to be made of planks of hardwood. Later in the show the floor would show off a marvelous ability to transform to look like both shifting sands and finally moving water in a tempestuous sea.

The script is based on Henrik Ibsen's construction of a Norwegian Folktale. Ibsen is best known for his play A Doll's House. This translation and script work was done by Robert Bly, a Minnesotan writer probably best known for Iron John: A Book About Men.

The play follows the title character Peer Gynt, a merry prankster of an everyman, through his life. His life is marked by an inability to connect in any real way with women or anything feminine. He is driven by self interest and fear of commitment. The actor playing Peer is charismatic and interesting but even his fantastic acting skills were not enough for me to find his exploits worth savoring. The performances by the entire cast were first rate. However, I was really not very touched by the content of the play. It was a little like using great ingredients to make a mediocre recipe. The play lasted too long and offered little philosophy to chew on.

Some have likened Peer Gynt to a morality play. This analysis falls short because the main moral question in the script is roughly: Is it enough to just be yourself, or is it important to challenge yourself to be responsible to those who love you and to your community as a whole?

I saw a different translation of this play performed at Hill Murray High School when I was in about sixth grade. As a student years ago, I thought that the Norwegian tale of Peer Gynt must be too deep for me to fully understand. By seeing this production I realized that this was not the case. The play is a farce dressed up as something profound.

In summary, the production was very good, but the play itself is mediocre. It was interesting to see that with even the full artistic force of the Guthrie Theater behind this play, it still could not become a better play than it is. I guess we cannot blame Ibsen's Peer Gynt, the play is just being itself.

Labels: arts, Minnesota, Northeast Minneapolis

Circling Around Abstraction, a new exhibition of select works by Georgia O'Keeffe is at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in South Minneapolis. The show is fantastic.

My friend Connie and I spent 90 minutes simply marveling at 42 O'Keeffe images, chosen for this exhibition to highlight the artist's use of circles and circular movement in various periods over her career.

During our time together looking at O'Keeffe's work I pointed out my three favorite images and asked my companion Connie which we her favorites. She could not limit her favorites to only three. I found that after reconsidering the question, I could also no longer limit myself to three works either.

Communicating with my co-workers about my experience at the exhibition last night, I received a response from my coleague Kristeen.

I saw the O'Keeffe exhibit twice with different guides. It was worth going twice.

I have not spoken with anyone who had seen it that was not wowed by the exhibition.

Check out this short but delicious online audio slide show of the O'Keeffe exhibit when you have two minutes to spare.

While going from the exhibition to the cafe in the Minnesota Institute of Arts, we came across a Diego Rivera painting (not the image at right), which reminded me that a Frida Kahlo exhibition is happening simultaneously at the Walker Art Center.

Two of my favorite artists are being exhibited at the same time in Minneapolis, what fantastic luck.

Labels: arts, Minnesota

My neighborhood, Northeast Minneapolis, is home to an incredible event each year called Art-A-Whirl. Since this is our first year in the neighborhood we are really excited to check out the work of local artists. There is even a trolley that will take you from studio to studio so you don't get overly tired while checking out the incredible work of local artists.

Labels: art-a-whirl, arts, Northeast Minneapolis