Saturday, May 30, 2009

Travel Haikus: Thursday & Friday, May 28 - 29, 2009

Andorra

In the mountain lies
An oasis in the midst.
Our hearts found shelter.

Museu Picasso

Picasso's art evolved
From detail to the abstract.
His genius transformed.

El Desbande

Un piso duro;
Un abrazo ligero;
Un baile lindo.

A hard wooden floor;
The light touch of an embrace;
A beautiful dance.

Último Día

When the dancing stopped
Our last day had just begun.
Can we make it last?

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Travel Haikus: Wednesday, May 27 2009

La Campeonata

When victory came,
A deafening roar rang out.
History was made!


Parc Güell

All throughout the park
Laughter drifted to our ears,
Brilliance to our eyes.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Travel Haikus: Tuesday, May 26, 2009

The Black Virgin

Her spirit lives on
Resting in this holy place.
We take it all in.
=====================
Sitges

We can take a chance;
Pack our things, move by the sea.
Leave our lives behind.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Travel Haikus: Monday, May 25, 2009

MACBA

An atomic kiss
For the one I desire;
I am not his yet.

Inspired by "Atomic Kiss" (1968) by Joan Rabascall and "Packing the Hard Potatoes: Words by Plath and Lorca" (1974) by Oyvind Fahlstrom

Monday, May 25, 2009

Travel Haikus: Sunday, May 24, 2009

Las Ramblas

Off the beaten path
Every corner a surprise
Our journey begins

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Travel Haikus: Saturday, May 23, 2009

Saturday Stroll

One
man in the square,
Dancing for the love of it.
His joy becomes ours.


Razzmatazz

When the music stops,
We pour into streets like wine.
A city at dawn.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Travel Haikus: Friday, May 22, 2009

Flying and waiting.
Beautiful Barcelona,
You are worth the wait!

Beautiful places
How do I live in Raleigh
When the world beckons?'

On a quiet street
Church steeples pierce the dark sky
Everywhere is here.

Monday, May 18, 2009

Crimson

The pungent smell of strawberries filled the emptiness.
Mashed chunks of crimson bled so deep into beige carpets
They would have to forfeit half of the security deposit
To return the apartment to move-in condition.

He was not home when he said he would be.
She called the cellphone twice, then once again.
Each failed attempt brought sharp pains to her chest,
Shed light on evidence she had chosen to ignore.

The credit card bill for meals she did not consume;
His muffled voice through doors and walls at 2 AM;
Printouts of directions to places she had never been,
Where he had never taken her.

She had convinced herself to believe his claim -
He was being a friend in the time of need -
Until his friend showed up at their door
Carrying his child, killing their love.

She contemplated ways to move past this indiscretion
Forgive him now, hope to forget in time
But her anger, like his unborn child,
Grew until it could no longer be held inside.

Quotes of the Week: May 11th - 17th

"I like to run toward the destruction."

"Sometimes it is easier to do what you are told."

"It's the lust part I can't help you with."

"I'm not used to being awake all day."

"He did what you did, but he did it all wrong."

"The pickings do get smaller when your standards become higher."

Quote from a movie (Is Anybody There?) "Regrets stick to you like old bruises."

Monday, May 11, 2009

Quotes of the Week: May 4 - May 10th

"It was done, and then she said, 'Sayonara, suckers!'"

"They're gonna be so be transparent, we won't even know they are cooperating."

"I find it best to use fake names."

"We don't have speed bumps in the cafeteria - that was my foot."

"The help tool is not helpful."

"I like helping other people spend their money."

"Life isn't an accident - it is a summation of choices."

"Your pelvis is your powerhouse."

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Preening

She stood in front of the mirror
Showered and patted dry from a long plush towel.
Geometric shapes in lime green and melon
Matched the concentric swirls of color
Dancing under pedicured toes.

She lathered her skin in slow rhythmic circles
With honeysuckle-scented shea butter,
Traced fingers from instep to inner thigh,
Making pit stops at the roundness in front and behind
Before proceeding to the juicy bend of her neck.

She fastened a ruby red padded bra over C-cups,
Slid the matching hipster over her bottom,
Pausing to admire the fruits of her labor.
The v-neck top and jeans followed -
Hugging curves as if to justify their existence.

The doorbell signaled his arrival.
She took another long look in the mirror,
Rotating the view from all angles.
Her lips parted in a soft smile
As she wondered how he got so lucky.

Monday, May 4, 2009

Quotes of the Week: April 27th - May 3rd

"He usually does his confession in the morning."

"We've got forms!"

"The people we deal with either own one, have a family member that owns one, or has a friend that owns one - and all of them are friends with a legislator."

"Yelling at me won't help me understand."

Friday, May 1, 2009

The Tango Embrace

The Tango Embrace: The Influence of Traditional and Non-Traditional Gender Role Attitudes (Taylor, Gebhart, Boggs and Omarova, 2009)

This study examined attitudes toward gender roles and how such views support or conflict with the traditional roles of male as leader and female as follower in Argentine tango. We hypothesized that dancing partners with congruent gender role attitudes would be more likely to have a favorable experience of the tango embrace. The Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered among participants attending a tango festival western North Carolina (N=100) and used to categorize participants into traditional and non-traditional gender role attitudes. Four males and four females scoring as highly traditional and highly nontraditional were randomly selected from the group of participants to dance with each other (N=16); the partner order was also randomized. After each dance, individuals rated the embrace on several factors: comfort, sense of connection, musicality expression, line of dance navigation, and likelihood of partnering again. In addition, tango instructors were asked to observe couples as they danced and rate each couple on the same factors. Analyses controlled for the following factors: height difference, weight difference, race/ethnicity, age, level of overall dance experience, and level of Argentine Tango experience. Results indicated that male gender role attitudes influence the experience of the tango embrace. Couples with a traditional male leader and traditional female follower had the most favorable rating of the dance experience, followed by a traditional male paired with a non-traditional female. A non-traditional male paired with a non-traditional female had the lowest rating. Looking at the dance experience for individuals, females rated dances with traditional males higher than dances with non-traditional males. The dance experience rating for males was not related to the gender role attitudes of their partners. Observed experience of the tango embrace was not related to the congruence of the couple’s gender role attitudes; only the level of Argentine tango experience was positively correlated with tango teacher observations of the tango embrace. Future research should examine whether these findings are generalizable to individuals having androgynous or undifferentiated gender role attitudes and same-sex tango couples.