i've decided to make this journal MOSTLY friends-only, since i find myself talking about things i don't necessarily want everyone and their mother knowing about. this doesn't mean that everything from now on will be locked - i just noticed that i'd been doing it so often that it didn't make sense not to let people know that you had to friend me to get to the good (personal) stuff.

if you want to be added, i still love making new LJ friends! leave a comment. i just want to make sure i know who's reading.

thanks, internet.

love, arielle

p.s. thanks to le_fetish for making this gorgeous custom banner!

Remember how in 2008 I wrote 366 haiku (the SEPTA haiku) as part of a fun-a-day project that lasted all year?

This year, I'm taking a picture a day!

Click on the image above to see my new photo-a-day blog, The Blind Eye Creates.

For your viewing pleasure, I've also created an RSS feed you can follow right from LJ: blindeyecreates. (Don't worry - this one will actually work because I won't change URLs halfway through the year.)

Thanks for looking!

My grandmother (the one in France) sent me photocopied article from her local paper yesterday. It was about me.

...?!

When I was 11 I wrote a poem for my local municipality’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day art contest. It was cleverly titled "I Have A Dream, Too." (I was 11, gimme a break.)

I won, so my Dad translated it and sent it to Mamy. Who then submitted it to her local municipality for their annual celebration.

11 years later, it's still being published in Annecy, France in memorial brochures and being used by local schoolteachers as an example in their poetry lessons.

It's pretty hilarious how grandiose the article is. Mamy is an actual hero - she was heavily involved in the French résistance when she was my age, forging travel papers to smuggle Jews across the border into Switzerland, and she’s a local celebrity for her story. I guess they asked her what I was up to, and they heard I worked at a nonprofit; so there’s a line at the end that reads something like, "the torch has been passed in the Brousse family, and Arielle continues to this day to fight for human rights."

Um. I wrote a poem when I was 11 and now I write grants for a science museum. Which is not quite comparable to standing up to Nazi forces. But, ok, I guess?

Crazy world.

guess what guys this is an almost-everyday thing now. yay.

http://septahaiku.tumblr.com

or for livejournal enthusiasts: septahaiku


photo credit to jayayess1190

final SEPTA fun-a-day haiku
or, why i did this project

i get where i need
to, but paying attention
will take me further.



thanks for paying attention, friends! you can see all of my project by clicking here.

i'm currently thinking of starting a blogspot to keep this thing going. i really liked doing it. your thoughts?

at any rate, i think i'll be exhibiting these at the artclash collective show on february 16, so stop by if you wanna see.

tomorrow is the last day of the SEPTA fun-a-day haiku! i think i will miss it. i wonder if i can keep this up.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #26
she glances at the
window, sees her reflection
in the nothingness.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #27
i like the resolve
of one who farts and pretends
not to have done so.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #28
claustrophobia
was foreign to me 'til you
squished me to the wall.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #29
"he beat the shit out
of reg," she says, and adds, "but
just 'cause he was drunk."


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #30
he startles awake
and looks terrified not to
know where he's going.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #25

his sketchbook spills off
his lap, holding the weight of
future building walls.

no, i didn't forget. yes, i suck at keeping up with a schedule.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #19
on the phone: "i had
a dream he was ready to
accept jesus, yo."


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #20
her hair is waxed and
pinned to look like a birdcage.
let me out, i think.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #21
rush hour crowd and two
preteen girls stumble on. "i
feel cluttered," one says.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #22
boy in a lip ring
pouts and nibbles, pouts again,
not used to its feel.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #23
nothing sadder than
a couple who sit, and stare
ahead, not speaking.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #24
despite the swerves and
chugs, she raises on pointe like
a ballerina.

a very special SEPTA fun-a-day haiku, #18
or, ode to the alarm, which never went off

the thing about the
trolley is you need to be
awake to ride it.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #17

the boy tries to make
even sneezes sound thuggish,
and it's kind of cute.

(sorry, i was ill/in new jersey, so these are backed up - but i didn't forget!)

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #13

boards with a toddler;
restrains him; gets off, next stop.
i'd be that tired too.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #14

you miss the trolley
and flip the driver off. he
can't see, and drives on.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #15

you let me take your
chair, and i want to thank you
for the body heat.


SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #16

old man, hand shaking,
grasps a carnation, wrapped in
plastic, for his wife.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #12

red hair, brown eyes, your
vacant stare; enactment of
dissatisfaction.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #11

the girl cries. mom says,
"it's not a bad grade. you tried
your best." my heart warms.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #10

"can i sit here?" you
look at the mag on the seat.
"that's not mine," you sniff.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #9

grey, brown and black suits,
but you wear neon yellow
'roos. you've made my day.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #8

guys like you push like
you know something, like even
physics bends for you.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #7

thanks for not laughing
when i realized i forgot
my bag, and got off.

thanks to artie i am semi-obsessed with this video. it's so snarky and unnecessarily colorful.





also, today's SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #6:

you fall; only i
help. this place makes it easy
to be a hero.

SEPTA fun-a-day haiku #5
"i was so stoned, i
ate a whole pack of mentos,"
i hear. my teeth grit.

hey, does anyone want my old job? do you know anyone who wants my old job?

it's listed here. have at it! please take some of the double-responsibility off my back!