Significant and Insignificant in Austin

Austin is hot in August; it is so hot that you would never slip on a banana skin, because it would be dry like an autumn leaf. Austin is big all year round, not only in August. Austin looks like Tehran for its highways and wide streets. It has an open sky like Tehran but it is a bit more humid than Tehran.

We finally moved to an apartment that satisfies us and our stuff just got here on Saturday. Unpacking goes very slowly because of my classes. But things are good overall, except for my books, my lovely and previously clean undamaged shiny books; they are damaged, slightly but damaged, and that was the most upsetting part of our move, even more upsetting than my dead plant (one of them died).

This reminded me that a month or two ago Roya invited me to the game of “Insignificant Sensitivities” which kept me thinking about my little sensitivities; the problem was which one is insignificant. My books are the one subject I am very sensitive about. I like to buy books and own them and their well being is very important. I don’t like them to be bent or damaged in any way. Many times I make paper covers for them to keep them safe and shiny. I also like them to be read by others and I consider myself very liberal when it comes to lending books. Now here, if I want to be rational I should count my book obsession as insignificant sensitivity, especially compare to my broken and damage office desk and my broken office bookcase. Right? Wrong: I am not at all upset about my damaged desk and bookcase and I can hardly control my tears when I look at my ripped and bent Harrison and Wood books. OK. That’s enough complaining for one post. Let's get to some real and more significant stuff.

I have to run to the health care center and then I have to go to the Art Department Party which is sort of a required event for new grad students. This semester I have three courses which are totally out of my comfort zone and it will be a challenge since my area of focus has always been on Euro-American Modern & Contemporary art. But it is like me; I am a challenge magnet and I have learned to survive it and even welcome it.

My classes are: Art Journals and Magazines (Chicano & Latin American Art), Museums and African Art: Case of Egungun Masquerade and The Orientalizing Phenomenon in the Greek World of the Early First Millennium. I am really excited about them.

Also in Austin there are two museums that I will visit regularly: One is the Austin Museum of Art (AMOMA) and the other is The Blanton Museum of Art, which has a new facility now.

The Blanton Museum of Art, August 2008, Austin