I have a cool sister-in-law: Liz Kueneke

RebuildingRome.com

My sister-in-law, Liz Kueneke, is an artist based out of Barcelona, Spain. She is called a psychogeographer and works in cultural cartography, most of her art installations have to do with how people view the space they live in. My favorite piece of hers to talk about is the one she did for the city of Barcelona. I probably don't have all of the facts right but she collaborated with other artists in Barcelona to create a large map of the neighborhood and people would walk by and interact with it. She had markers for people to put on the map, to change the map, to make it their own. Markers such as "I got mugged here," "I fell in love here," "I used to live here," etc. I love this idea. (see pictures of the project here)

Her most recent project is with the city of Rome. She has gathered people's thoughts on various spots in Rome on MP3 and made it into a biking tour of Rome - much like the headsets one wears in an art museum, with a voice explaining each piece. At various spots in the city, a voice will come on explaining what that place meant to them, and how they think of Rome. The picture above is the bike map for Rome. It's an awesome idea.

Liz Kueneke artist page
Eternal Tour - Rome
Rebuilding Rome

decisions, decisions

unrelated photo of my niece in the Florida Keys, shot through my Blu-Blockers

"Over the past generation, economists have paid increasing attention to the importance of norms and rules in economic life.  Ronald Heiner pointed out that as rational human beings we simply cannot make rational decisions at every point in day-to-day life.  Were we to do so, our behavior would be both unpredictable and subject to paralysis as we perpetually calculated whether we should tip the waiter, stiff the cab driver of his fare, or put away a different amount of your paycheck every month in your retirement account.  In fact, it is rational for people to impose simplifying rules on their own behavior, even if these rules do not always yield correct decisions in every circumstance because decisionmaking is in itself costly and often requires information that is unavailable or faulty." ("Social Capital" by Francis Fukuyama in Culture Matters)

My Global Perspectives professor gives his definition of culture as the thing that filters out 99% of the random data we encounter on a daily basis, so that we can make active decisions on the last 1%.

Frag

skineart.com - art from Moleskine notebooks

To read: Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie/The Postal Service) on "The Meaning of Life" in Paste Magazine - thanks, Marty. "Liking interesting things doesn’t make you interesting."

I have to make a website for my Dad's book, does anyone know how to make a website? (here's the one he has already - Douglass and Associates), and yes, I'm an associate, thanks.

word of the day: sinecure - an office which involves minimal duties at full pay

Vogue

Vogue, October 1, 1968

All when I was growing up my Mom would tell me that she used to live with a Vogue cover model and that her name was Windsor Elliot. I've never been able to find the cover until last night. However, one day at the house, they got mail for Virginia McDonald and found out that that was her real name. Later on she married Os Guinness and became Ginny Guinness, and I think they lived at Swiss L'Abri for a little while. Pretty cool.

The gazpacho of your dreams

Where it all went down: the kitchen in Marathon, FL.

My brother Clay is a rockstar in the kitchen, and over Christmas the whole family enjoyed the fruit of his labors. This the the best gazpacho I have ever had (I think I've had one, maybe two others, so my opinion is not very carefully researched, but still). It's from the Williams-Sonoma website, which has wonderful recipes for free!

Nota Bene: don't be a fool and seed the jalapeño with your thumb, it will burn indescribably for the rest of the day. Use a spoon, that's what they're there for. Also- don't go without the jicama. It's weird, but totally makes the dish.

Gazpacho Verde

Tomatillos stand in for the ripe red tomatoes that are the usual base for this cold summer soup from Spain. Toasted walnuts take the place of the bread that thickens the soup. Green tomatoes make an interesting substitute for the tomatillos. For a sweet flavor boost, roast 6 to 8 peeled garlic cloves along with the tomatillos and puree them with the other ingredients.

Ingredients:

1 lb. tomatillos, husks removed

1 yellow onion, sliced

2 jalapeño chilies, halved and seeded

1/4 cup walnuts

1 green bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped

1 English (hothouse) cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped

2 garlic cloves

2 Tbs. olive oil

Juice of 1 lime

1 Tbs. minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cayenne pepper, to taste

1 jicama, peeled and diced

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 375°F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

Place the tomatillos, onion slices and jalapeños on the prepared baking sheet. Roast until lightly browned and softened, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Spread the walnuts on another ungreased baking sheet and toast until fragrant and just beginning to brown, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Place the cooled vegetables and nuts in a blender or food processor along with the bell pepper, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, lime juice and parsley. Process until smooth. Transfer to a nonaluminum bowl and season with salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours.

Ladle into chilled bowls and garnish each serving with a spoonful of diced jicama. Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Lifestyles Series, Vegetarian for All Seasons, by Pamela Sheldon Johns (Time-Life Books, 1998).

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message "He is Dead",

Put crêpe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policeman wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now: put out every one;

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun;

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood.

For nothing now can ever come of any good.

-Poem by W H Auden

My Aunt unexpectedly died this past week. My Uncle read this at her funeral.

Who Knew?: Kitty Genovese

I learn a lot from road trips with my parents. This is a new one from my Dad. The famous 'Bystander Effect' from the Kitty Genovese murder in 1964 is actually kind of not true. Actually, the first time I heard about Kitty Genovese was from Boondock Saints, the movie. The story goes like this: Kitty Genovese, a 28 year old, was stabbed to death in Queens in 1964, supposedly while 38 people looked on and no one called the police. This case has been in Psychology and Sociology textbooks as the 'Bystander Effect,' and everyone wondered why no one would call the police when they just witnessed a murder. Thanks to my Dad and Wikipedia, here's the full story:

While Genovese's neighbors were vilified by the article, "Thirty-Eight onlookers who did nothing" is a misleading conception. The article begins:
"For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens."
The lead is dramatic but factually inaccurate. None of the witnesses observed the attacks in their entirety. Because of the layout of the complex and the fact that the attacks took place in different locations, no witness saw the entire sequence. Most only heard portions of the incident without realizing its seriousness, a few saw only small portions of the initial assault, and no witnesses directly saw the final attack and attempted rape in an exterior hallway which resulted in Genovese's death.[1]
Nevertheless, media attention to the Genovese murder led to reform of the NYPD's telephone reporting system; the system in place at the time of the assault was often inefficient and directed individuals to the incorrect department. The melodramatic press coverage also led to serious investigation of the bystander effect by academic psychologists. In addition, some communities organized Neighborhood Watch programs and the equivalent for apartment buildings to aid people in distress.
In September 2007, the American Psychologist published an examination of the factual basis of coverage of the Kitty Genovese murder in psychology textbooks. The three authors concluded the story is parable more than fact, largely owing to inaccurate newspaper coverage at the time of the incident.[12] "The since-challenged story of the circumstances surrounding Genovese's death 'continues to inhabit introductory social psychology textbooks (and thus the minds of future social psychologists),' the trio of British university professors write in the September issue of American Psychologist. The result is a lack of research into similar cases, their article maintains".[13]

Ch-ch-ch-Chia!

My mom often gives group gifts, as in, giving each of us one thing. This Christmas, she gave all the ladies Chia Herbs. I was more than excited. What pleased me most were the charming directions, teaching me how to create a "mini-greenhouse" with sandwich bags over the clay pots and warning against "exposing the little buds to their new environment too quickly" when it becomes time to take off the plastic bags.

I feel like I have a relationship with these plants, and I haven't even eaten them yet.

And, yes, that is a Troy Bolton/Zac Efron sticker on my refrigerator.

Coldplay and Barcelona

Sorry, I couldn't resist the awkward 90s band photo. Ouch.

This is kind of old news in the music world, but new for me. I found out in the American Airlines' music magazine that Coldplay's new album (rumored to be called Prospekt) is being recorded (with the help of Brian Eno) in various churches around Barcelona. My brother Clay and his wife Liz live there, so it's extra cool. I love me some Coldplay.

Happy New Year, 2008!

New Year's Eve is by far my favorite holiday. Everyone is happy, there's so much to look forward to, you get to dress up silly, you get to kiss people at midnight, you get to drink, and First Night St. Louis. And you don't have to make an elaborate meal or think up gifts for people. It's a perfect holiday. No one is excluded, except maybe the Chinese and the Mayans - but props to them for sticking to their own calendars in the face of all of the rest of society.

New Year's Eve in Marathon, Florida, is pretty rockin', I must say. My whole family is staying in tonight, to toast with pink champagne (my parents had pink champagne at their wedding - I thought it was rare, apparently it isn't) at midnight. The reason we're not going out is because all of the residents of the Keys (disdainfully called the "Keysters" by my brother Clay and his wife Liz) are drunk ALL THE TIME - and make no sense ever - and will especially be inebriated tonight.

It's funny being around your family - especially around multiple generations at one time. You see every one's past and future all at once. And all idiosyncrasies and characteristics come out, like obsessive reading. Sometimes during the week I have been in kind of a storm, distracted by all the little details of every ones' personalities and interactions with each other and then suddenly a little chink of blue sky comes through and I see for a split second how normal it all is and how lovely. But that is only sometimes.

Things I've discovered this week:
- my brother Clay believes the 9/11 was a total government conspiracy. He's having us watch Loose Change later.

P.S. - Tonight I beat my whole family (being the 7th wheel I was all by myself on my own team while all the rest of the couples were together) twice at Scrabble. For this I want to thank the Facebook application Scrabulous and Claire, whom I play on a regular basis and is really good.

Also - around midnight my brother Cris and I decided it was a good idea to try to break open the $1 coconuts that my neice Natasha found - to no avail. But - my favorite quote from the night came as a result. I was trying to smash the coconut as hard as I could against the sidewalk outside the place we're staying and Cris advised "yeah, try the sidewalk, or you could throw the coconut against the palm tree which would result in huge amounts of irony."

I love New Year's.

Parties / guys hitting on you / thinking way too much about things / arguments with my mom

I've had an on-going argument with my mom about dressing nicer and more attractively since middle school. Because of the differences in the way we think, the discussion has been frustrating yet informative.

Her argument:
Dressing nicer and more attractively is being a good steward of what God gave you. Not doing so is being ingenuine (is that a word?). But mostly, Marta, you're not going to get a boyfriend if you go out in ratty t-shirts.

My argument:
After being led-on one too many times by guys who make everyone seem like they're the most important thing in the world, I'm a little afraid of being the attractive girl who talks to you but in reality you have a 1% of going out with her. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but it does in my head. Really, I would just rather dress normally and not get hit on than risk getting some guy's hopes up.

So mostly my question right now is how can I give God glory in a situation when a guy I'm not interested in is flirting with me? Does it glorify Him to try to be more attractive, attract guys, and then turn them down? I don't get it.

Just as a final point, my position right now about clothing, appearance, etc. is that it should be an outward manifestation of your insides - like art.

This ongoing argument is also linked to my own semi-internal argument about whether I should get dredlocks or not. Is getting dreds some kind of ticket out of getting hit on for appearances sake alone? Or what? No answers yet.

Carrie and getting carried away with ridiculous travel plans

My friend Carrie is delightful and always eggs on the flights of fancy I have when thinking about trips or adventures I want to take. On the Myers-Briggs, we're both ENFPs and are totally more into the idea of things over the practical. Here's a list of trips that I want to take in the next year, along with the varying possibilities of me actually doing them:

- January: Mizzou has a ridiculous 5 weeks off for winter break. Awesome. There's a website my old co-worker showed me called lastminute.com Also, I want to check out cheapoair.com (I heard about it from a girl in one of my classes - I don't know how good it is). I want to go somewhere for a four days really bad. Maybe Montreal will finally work.
- May: My friend Dan is graduating from film school in Los Angeles a week after I graduate from Mizzou. I haven't seen the Grand Canyon since I was 15 months old. Carrie and I will take my car cross-country. Maybe.
June: various family trips and youth group trips (Illinois, Florida, North Carolina)
July: New York City for the first time ever. Sweet.
August: Beijing for the Olympics? If I go to Covenant Seminary, classes start the last Thursday of August, so that'll be cutting it tight. Three weeks in China. Is it enough?

...and after that is prolonging the wonderful student schedule where I get months off for travel. It's a good life.

What I'm Cooking, pt. 6: Baby Jesuses

My sister in law, Kara, makes Baby Jesuses for her family. I think that they're amazing. Yes, technically they are mini pigs-in-blankets. But for me and mine they are Jesus in swaddling. It's magical. They're my favorite thing to make and bring to events when I have to make and bring something.

Recipe:
croissants + lil smokies

Wonderful. I recommend them with Ranch. No religious symbolism there.

My So-Called Quarterlife Crisis

My parents used to watch the show 'My So-Called Life.' They wouldn't let me watch it because I was too young. My parents have always picked the most random shows as 'their' shows. From what I can remember, they have been: ER (until after George Clooney left, my mom had a crush), Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and 24. Of course, 'My So-Called Life' being outside the boundaries of what they would let me watch, it has always held an appeal for me.

Well, now they have it on ABC.com (here). The first two episodes, anyways. It is a good show. The writing is fantastic, and Claire Danes rocks my face. They talk about amazing things. I wish I could have been friends with her in high school or be a youth leader and work with her now. She's brilliant.

Looking around Slate.com today, a video started playing that talked about the new online-only mini-drama called 'Quarterlife Crisis'. Apparently it's from the creators of 'My So-Called Life.' The quarterlife crisis is an interesting idea in of itself. People freaking out at age 25 (or younger, I guess, it's right after you stop school, so 22? or 18?) about all the choices ahead and how they are going to get a house that looks like their parents'. My favorite book on choice in today's global society is The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz which talks about how as humans we can't deal with infinite choice. We need boundaries on our possibilities. It's great, skim it.

But don't look up the webisodal 'Quarterlife Crisis.' It looks like it sucks. But do look up this Current video on the crisis, it's interesting: 'The Quarterlife Crisis'

ooo...cool! Kindle

I went on Amazon.com this morning to buy some boots (weird) and on the front page they announced Kindle. It's kind of like one of those flat laptops where you can write stuff on it. Except with this you read books. Kind of like an iPod for books.

Years ago my brother (who kind of always makes incredible predictions about the future and technology) said that one day we will all have one piece of paper (or a full newspaper is what he actually said) that will change from day to day and update itself to the news for the day. Maybe this is progress in that area.

Reuters article on Kindle.

I'm on MyMissourian.com!

When my brother and sister-in-law were in town this past Sunday we were playing out on the quad and a Journalism student came up and asked us if we had any Autumn/Thanksgiving recipes that she could put in on the mymissourian.com website.

I gave her one from L'Abri that rocks my face off. It's a Chestnut Soup recipe from Edith Reitsema, a worker at English L'Abri.

Here's the link to the article: (mymissourian.com - Chestnut Soup)

Now that I'm writing this, I hope that Edith doesn't mind that her recipe is in print.

Capitalism: Root of All Evil

In my never-ending and constantly evolving journey to figure out what is wrong with the world (besides the obvious Sin), I'm beginning to look to Capitalism.

When my brother Steve was in college (or just out) we were talking about something like American culture around the dinner table (I can still remember where he was sitting) and I said something or other that I thought was a pretty original idea about American culture and he said "Well, that's because American culture is completely formed by Capitalism." I had never heard of this idea before and only had a vague notion of what Capitalism was in the first place and so just became quiet and still thought I was right.

Well, it turns out that I think Steve's right. At least I think so. I'm not completely sure, but here's a oft-quoted passage from Marx and Engel's The Communist Manifesto:

"Constant revolutionizing of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober sense, his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind."

The last part is bolded for effect; mostly because it's so dang powerful. I think what is so relevant is the phrase "...all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify." I think it speaks to the sense of temporariness in our current culture - especially in personal relationships.

So maybe our culture has just come out of our relationship with money. After all, that is where our hearts are. Jesus said: "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Also, in the process of figuring out all of this I have seen more and more in my life how I actively participate in capitalism/postmodernism/etc.. What is this? Is it bad? Understandable? More on this later, but I've begun to read a book my mom gave to me a year ago while they were visiting me at L'Abri in England called Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence and which I haven't had an interest in picking up until last night. In the introduction it talks briefly about how part of taking a break from the world is to engage in Spiritual Discipline because it aligns ourselves with a different style of living. Interesting.