Month: May 2008

My undergraduate degree is in fine arts, and while I was a student my fellow male students were always asking the girls if they could draw or paint them, naked of course. Hey, I don’t blame them for taking a shot, and some were sincere, but come on. It was about getting to see girls naked. I always said no. At the same time, I wasn’t against the idea, and I was too modest and wanted to get past that. So when an artist named Craig McPherson who was older and a little further along in his career asked I went to an old ice factory in Washington Heights and took off my clothes.

Sometime later my friend Chris saw this drawing and said, “That’s Stacy Horn’s butt!” I’ve always loved that part of the story. We’ve been best friends since we were 12–I guess she’d seen my butt enough to know it, even transformed in another medium.

I don’t believe I ever saw Craig again, but he emailed me a couple of weeks ago and generously sent me the drawings he made that day. I am just so thrilled to have them. I absolutely love them. Isn’t this beautiful? The second one was too big for my scanner, but it’s lovely, too. Here is Craig’s website. I love his work. I am patting myself on the back for having such good judgement. I’m drawn to the same things he is visually, he sees the city as I see it. This dark, industrial, smoldering, clanking, fiery city. He has a mural down at the World Financial Center (commissioned by American Express) that I have to go see. A detective that I was talking to when I found out said he knew it well. Craig also has a show up right now at the Frick in Pittsburgh, if you’re in the area.

Thank you so much for these drawings, Craig. As I said, I will treasure them. Thank you.

They don’t usually cuddle like this. Normally they just hang out in the same general area, like in the photograph below this one.

This is what they usually do, hang out a foot or two from each other. It’s like they’re saying, “I like you, but I don’t love you. Let’s keep this straight.” But secretly, they love each other.

I couldn’t stay very long this year, I was meeting some old friends for lunch, and I missed my favorite part, all the hip hop dancers, but here are some dancing drummers I liked.

I didn’t watch the first few seasons of American Idol, so I missed Fantasia’s season. And whenever I saw her on something I never got her. This week I got her. I mean, my jaw just dropped her performance was so great. I know some people were “wtf” like Simon, but she just blew me away. Her and her smoking hot back-up girls. Everyone else, the other contestants, now seem like lifeless, personality-less, walking dead zombies next to her, I’m sorry to say. I’m not sure it comes across in this YouTube video, but it was just freaking amazing.

The video I linked to has been taken down, alas.

“Oh, did you want to work here? My sitting on your laptop isn’t working for you? Oh, you mean now? Move now? Me? You’re reaching for me. Maybe you just want to pet me. Or play. Maybe I just need to flip over on my back. Here. On your laptop. No, I’m just messing with you. I know you want me to move. Hey. Check it out. Look how big I am. I cover the whole laptop and more.”

Tonight my choir rehearses with the orchestra. Love this part. I don’t totally love where I’m going to stand. I’m the first person on the left in the front row. I like being surrounded by singers. But maybe the few people around me will be great singers and I will love my spot. Besides, there’s over 100 of us and sometimes you get a great spot, sometimes you don’t. It’s the luck of the draw, you win some, you lose some. The good part is being right up against the orchestra.