A Busy Week

It has been a busy week, and an unusually public one for me: I participated as a panelist in a discussion of digital media and the changes they have wrought in the art world at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, at a celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of Artscene magazine. Visitors to The Buddha Diaries will recall that I contribute a monthly audio piece, "The Art of Outrage" to Artscene Visual Radio, and it was a pleasure to sit on a panel with my fellow contributors to that site. The event was a great success and a fitting tribute to the efforts of the publisher Bill Lasarow--despite a chill wind that threatened the outdoor dinner in the museum's atrium court, and the performances laid on for the occasion.

Aside from the panel, I had two readings from The Bush Diaries and The Buddha Diaries at Democratic clubs in widely dispersed locations--one well to the south in Cerritos, the other a good way east in San Dimas. I enjoyed them both, and determined to do more of this--in part to do what I can to get juices flowing for the next election. My view--one shared at least by the enthusiastic gatherings I spoke to--is that we desperately need a significant win if we want to get our country back on track.

A note on the environment: Driving out to San Dimas along the 210 freeway was an inch-by-inch, foot-by-foot experience. I thought I had allowed ample time, but it took three times longer than I had expected. The four eastbound lanes were all choked with traffic. As I sat there--trying to practice my best equanimity--trains sped past in either direction on the Metroline tracks, set in between the east- and west-bound lanes of the freeway. I had plenty of time to take my eyes off the road for long enough to note that they were virtually empty--a sad commentary on the adjacent freeway lanes, crammed solid with mostly single-occupant vehicles. Like my own. But mine, at least, was a Prius! That's my excuse.