Lux Lotus

Ring Ring

Remember me, your erstwhile operator? I've gotta go get it together for the Virginia Festival of the Book. While we're on the subject, books I'm publicizing this spring: Have You Found Her (out now), The Drop Edge of Yonder (out next week), Free Food for Millionaires (out in paperback next month). I'll be back next week with the Windowlicker of our dreams...

LUX LOTUS 'ROUND MIDNIGHT POETRY HOUR

"MEDITATION

I suppose I really
should be out defending
human rights somewhere/feeding
the hungry (apart from my
street offerings to the
homeless people),

somehow improving
the condition of the world/ but
then, it's not such a bad thing, after-
all, to take a peaceful walk down
14th Street, in NYC, listen-
ing to the way the people
talk here & looking
around,

'THIS YEAR I'M GONNA HIT
ST. VALENTINES DAY
WITH A PASSION'

he said
on Avenue
A."

POEM SOURCE: from Guru Punk by Louise Landes Levi.

In Other Words, Other Worlds

Today I considered going to: Valencia (see: here, here), Verona, an ashram (as ever). Also, “I always had this romantic idea of sleeping in a tepee...”

In the meantime: Who wouldn't want to share that with me?

Windowlicker

I'm workin' on it...

[Frankie Say Relax White T-Shirt, $15]

Windowlicker - from the French for window shopping: faire du lèche-vitrine - appears on Tuesday and Thursdays at 10am EST-ish.

The Smart Set

...is up at Atelier M. Newton, and guess what? I totally phoned it in.

Special thx to B. for the snapshot.

8:30AM Dance Party

Above: Santogold, L.E.S. Artistes.

The Weekend Report

Things I have learned in the past 72 hours:

1. People, men especially, are very enthusiastic about my new black leather hood by Kostas Murkudis from Project No. 8 (it's sort of Rudi Gernreich meets Betty Catroux, I suppose), high heels and Carnal Flower. See also: Every moment, and Payless, is full of surprises.
2. One day in yoga class (possibly, but probably not, tomorrow), I will do "Sideways Crow." Why? Because I have always loved crows.
3. Emailing with friends is nice, but it's even more enchanting to see them/you in person. And, work-wise, it's doubly charming to have so many reasons to look forward to Monday and the start of an exciting week! See you Tuesday? Come and have a drink with me, pretty please.
4. I love literature; like, I WANT TO MARRY IT. My sister told me this afternoon that she admired my ability to "get lost in a book for an hour," which she says never happens to her, and I was like, "Get a good book." I'm so deeply enamored of the projects I publicize; each one has bewitched me for a lifetime. Not too long ago, my pal Marco linked to a post where people added meaningful lines. I like the ones that I remember for no particular reason at all; just the idea that my brain has chosen to store such utterly random bits of information makes me laugh. For instance, today I recalled, from Black Swan Green (which I read for pleasure, not work, while out in the country last year): "Dawn Madden’s got cruel eyes like a Chinese empress and sometimes one glimpse at school makes me think about her all day." Or similar. Can you top it?

Pictured: Yours truly, front & center, at Janice's event at Bluestockings on Friday night.

Escape Me to the World of Politan

My holiday planning agenda has not progressed much due to my own ambivalence about taking time off. Tonight I told myself to pick any destination that piques my curiousity and just do it, as it's only a few days and I enjoy the lure of the undiscovered. Noted with chagrin: Capri takes too long, as I can't imagine how exhausted I'd be after two flights just to get to Naples (despite the enchanting air of Shirley Hazzard's memoir of her friendship with Graham Greene on the island and of course the "Jackie Look"). Everywhere I've looked at in the Caribbean seems unbearably cheesy or exey or both. The two strongest contenders so far, sadly ruled out for various reasons but amusing nonetheless:

Greyfield Inn, Cumberland Island, Georgia: "You will see many horses on Cumberland Island and some will be grazing right by the Inn. Remember, these are wild horses. They may appear tame but they are not. Observe them from a distance."

Penzance Arts Club, Cornwall, UK: Even the uniformly terrible reviews are charming!

Sounding better all the time: "My House in Marrakech."

And so the search continues...

P.S. If you spend 99 cents today: Nellie McKay's Politan (see also).

Notes From the Field

(Alternate title: God I fucking hate this war). My father called me last night to say he hadn't heard from me in a while and to remind me of the staggering expectations that pass for small talk in my family. Afterwards, as I walked the rest of my way home in a blue mood, I wondered if I would be destined to always have difficult relationships with people I care deeply for. And then just now as I was sitting in the backseat of a car on the FDR, en route to an event for work, I saw a helicopter hovering over the East River and thought of my dad flying reconnaissance missions in Vietnam, younger than I am now, trying not to die.

Are you still busy?

Just now I had a call for work and I was like, Oh your name is Valerie? Have you heard the Amy Winehouse Zutons cover? I am totally resisting my impulse to sing it on the phone right now. And, since it was confession-time, it turned out much to my surprised delight that I was (once again) on the phone with a Lux Lotus reader! I really should have serenaded her.

Many thanks for your comments! I have such a crush on each and every one of you today.

Pictured: Amy Winehouse, "Valerie."

UPDATE: Who did I run into just a few hours later and recognize from her blog? Jessica from Dilettantsia, who has such a fab look, like Jean Seberg in Breathless channeled through an Almodóvar film! We crossed paths once and then twice at the National Arts Club, where Wayne Koestenbaum read from his very Lux Lotus book, Hotel Theory (I am a new fan!), as part of the PAGE series. I was on a whirlwind tour of the nabe with Kathy Daneman of FSG (we're publicizing Roxana Robinson's new novel, Cost, together later this spring) that was so smashing I very nearly left my new Martin Margiela grey suede cloven-toed pumps at W hotel bar, but I didn't. On my way home, I ran into another friend who told me a story to warm the hearts of Joy Division fans everywhere. And now, sleep; I need it.

Previously: Windowlicker.