Scratch a Match and Sete, France

"Madame Li's Home Care Worker", Sete, France, September 2009. Juliana Beasley

Hi All!

I thought a last note might be a photograph from my new book called "Sete 2010". I lived and photographed in Sete, France during September 2009. I learned a lot during the residency. Hard lessons learned, but now the book is being laid out and it will be out in the Spring of 2010.

It was a difficult journey but in the end, I feel like I came away with a lot.

So, here are a couple of images that are about an aging Vietnamese woman living in Sete.

"Madame Li Holding Photograph of Herself as Young Woman", Sete, France. 2009. Juliana Beasley

"Madame Li's Slippered Feet", Sete, France, September, 2009. Juliana Beasley

Happy New Years....

Suggestion:

Write a list of the resolutions you want to bring into the New Year and then write a list of what you want to leave behind in 2009.

Scratch a match and light the list of things you want to put behind you. Do this is in a safe place, don't use fuel such as gasoline.
I like to do these ceremonies over my aluminum sink. Let the smoke take it up to the universe and say, "So, long suckers!"

Peace and love and compassion in 2010!

The Last Days of the Decade

As I've walked the streets of Jersey City, headed to my overpriced gym which has become a necessity in my mental wellness, I have mulled over many things that I would like to write on my blog as we reach the New Year 2010.

I've thought of my friend, Brian who died several weeks ago in the Rockaways and how going out there won't be the same. I've thought about all the dear friends, new and old that came into my life over the last year and how they really got me through some rough patches. And they are still there.

I thought about my lack of motivation to post anything at all unless it was seamless... which as you know it never is... it's always full of grammatical and spelling errors.

So, this is lame but all I could come up with was a groovy tune. And it made me wonder what my life would be like without music. The music that makes me dance and sit and just listen.

So, I toast to good vibrations and hope to send them out and maybe they'll come back to me in 2010. And to you too.

Sad Sad News

I'm back!

I was taking the light rail from Hoboken to Jersey City, listening to my messages on my cell phone. 

It was Michelle from the Rockaways.  Bryan died in his sleep a week ago. I'll miss him and his sun glazed body, riding down Rockaway Boulevard.  Summer won't be the same with him or will the rest of the year. 

I plan to post some pictures of him that I took of him 2 years ago. For now, I just wanted to send my blessings out to all of those whom will miss him. He was only 39. 

He brought sunshine and laughter into my life.

Irish Christmas.... Ode to the Rockaways

"Untitled 1", Rockaways, NYC, 2008. Juliana Beasley

"Untitled 2", Rockaways, NYC, 2008. Juliana Beasley

"Untitled 3", Rockaways, 2008. Juliana Beasley

"Untitled 4", Rockwaways, NYC., 2008. Juliana Beasley

Untitled for now. Later date. Tomorrow? Maybe, I'll have words coming out of my fingers.

My Nails Have Improved...Now My Feet!

A quick post here! I am please to make note that my nails now look more feminine. But, one thing is holding me back. My nature of my genetic makeup, I have my mother's veiny hands. They look like peasant worker hands.

So, be it! I work with my hands. I have fashioned them short, now using a nail clipper instead of my incisors. I am pushing back my cuticles the ol' fashion way, in the shower with my thumb nail. No, painting. It's just too much of a commitment!

Now, on to my feet. The first thing I do after I get some kind of health care--please, make this happen soon-- and get to the gynecologist is go and get my bunions chopped off. Another genetic flaw. Some things are just out of our control.

Like how I feel right now, this moment. Feelings, you win me over and you fail me. Too many feelings, too little time. Maybe it ain't so bad after all to focus on manicures and pedicures.

Or what I find doing this morning, popping out my anti-depressants out of weekly sample packages that my new psych (more than half a year) gave me to last me through the month. Nice simple meditative work...with every push of the pill through the thin aluminum shield comes the hope for a better day.