Hooray!

...my new ONA camera case just arrived in the mail today! Not only is it a perfect fit for the soft totes I always carry but it also serves as a purse organizer. I wanted something beautifully made yet inconspicuous to carry my camera in however, all the simple, pretty camera satchels I found are quite beyond my price range. Discovered through Cup of Jo, this is exactly what I've been searching for - pretty, protective and well-priced.

(ONA also has some incredibly handsome camera bags - like their Brooklyn SLR satchel)

California Dreaming

Again I have to start off by apologizing for the blogus interruptus. I've just spent the last four days visiting family in California, MO. That's right, my California, pop. 4,005, is located at the intersection of Route 87 and Highway 50 and is surrounded by green yellow pastures.

Sure, in my California there exists a single Chinese restaurant, the weekend's big event is the Annual Ham & Turkey festival and everybody knows everybody else's business. But I love it all the same. In my California, people look you in the eye when they talk to you, folks were growing their own produce before it became a "thing" and everybody cares to know everybody else's business.

Some photos from my weekend, below...

More Mutatoes, Please

Check out this fabulous, funky produce! Would you buy one of these if you saw it in your neighborhood supermarket? These imperfect but beautiful fruits and veggies are the subjects of Uli Westphal's mutatoproject, which celebrates nature's oddities and diversity as our society continues to strive towards standardized, season-less produce. Though I'm sure I enjoy many genetically modified fruits and vegetables without my knowledge, I think it's so important that we seek to retain at least some of the mystery of Mother Nature's intentions.

Nothing emphasized this to me more than my recent read of Oryx and Crake, by Margaret Atwood. This is my second time reading Atwood's dystopic novel about a world driven by (and eventually destroyed by) the exaltation of bioengineering and technological innovation and it still gives me shivers.

"When any civilization is dust and ashes," he said, "art is all that's left over.  Images, words, music.  Imaginative structures.  Meaning--human meaning, that is--is defined by them." 

 - Jimmy, Oryx and Crake

United We Progress

"It was a test, Zeitoun thinks. Who among us could deny that we were tested? But now look at us, he says. Every person is stronger now. Every person who was forgotten by God or country is now louder, more defiant, and more determined. They existed before, and they exist again, in the city of New Orleans and the United States of America... He can only have faith that will never again be forgotten, denied, called by a name other than his own. He must trust, and he must have faith. And so he builds, because what is building, and rebuilding and rebuilding again, but an act of faith?" 

Living in D.C., there have been constant reminders that tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Amped up security in the Metro as well as the news constantly replaying coverage of that morning ten years ago that changed the course of America. Comparisons between Then and Now are common - photos of Ground Zero ten years ago, dusty, rubble-srewn wreckage and today, a construction site showing signs of rebirth and rebuilding.

What I'm curious to see juxtaposed before and after this decade since 9/11 is the portrayal of and attitude towards Muslims, particularly those within American society. So complex is America's relationship with its self-acclaimed status as the great melting pot, a multicultural society, I feel there are numerous instances where for every step towards a more open, understanding tie to the "Muslim World", we have seen one or even two steps backward.

What do we envisage when we think "Muslim"? Or what about "Muslim American"? "Muslim World"? Do we tend to hold certain conceptions of Muslim women and men shaped by the media? After 9/11, my South Asian male friends would half-joke that they always had to do a real clean shave before boarding any flights. Have we seen a reduction in racial, or religious, profiling? Or have we just gotten better at concealing it? I'm still mulling over these and other questions. If anything, the ten years since 9/11 has at least brought us the recognition that we will continue grappling with these questions.

"As he drives through the city during the day and dreams of it at night, his mind vaults into glorious reveries - he envisions this city and this country not just as it was, but better, far better. It can be. Yes, a dark time passed over this land, but now there is something like light. Progress is being made. It's so slow sometimes, so terribly so sometimes, but progress is being made." 

- Quotes from Zeitoun, by Dave Eggers

(photo credit: Greek-Indonesian photographer Eirini Vourloumis has captured wonderful segments of Muslim life in America - from her focus on Latino Muslims to sharing the experience of Great Muslim Adventure Day.)

Cupcake Wars

Georgetown. Baked & Wired. Hello Cupcake. Cake Love. Red Velvet. Where do you cupcake? Though the cupcakes from Georgetown, of DC Cupcake fame, are certainly tasty and cute (example, above), my loyalty lies with Baked & Wired. B&W is down the street and it has a shorter line. A variety of sugary goodness (hippie crack, hand pies, smores bars, homemade jams, in addition to cuppycakes) served up with less tradition and way more 'tude.

See for yourself...

DC Street Art

Hi folks, sorry I've been a little MIA lately. The last week has been a busy one with work deadlines, friends in town from Singapore and preparing for my parents' upcoming visit to DC (hooray!). But I thought I would put together a compilation of various types of art I've happened upon in the streets of DC. There are some others here and here.  

 (anyone know where can I get a copy of this sticker?)

(the three previous pictures feature an installation that is no longer in existence. It has since been painted back to the drab rear wall of Whole Foods it once was. However, the artist has since added the art in the following picture to add some more flavor to the building's exterior. I believe this is the work of Shepard Fairey, a guerilla street artist known best for his Obey campaign as well as his iconic Obama poster). 

Have you seen any of these, or other provocative/fun/colorful street art around DC? Do you think it's distasteful or a necessary form of expression?