cocolatta

lady gators vs. uconn tonight...dreamin' of a victory for my hometown gators

florida's sha brooks two years ago when the gators ended an abysmal season with a first round SEC tourney win over mississippi state. i covered that tournament at gwinnett arena and wish i could be in storrs to cheer for the gators today.

the gainesville sun has a preview of the game with a classic quote from geno auriemma about the tennessee's shocking loss to ball state in the first round sunday night:

“(Pat Summitt) wants to kill herself,” he said. “Any coach would. I think it’s a reminder that none of us are entitled to this.”

read the article: What's in Storrs for UF at GatorSports.com

update: gators lost. bummer. score: 87-59. at least they had the lowest loss margin of any other competitor against uconn this year who beat everybody else by a minimum of 30 points. somebody has gotta challenge the huskies.

will my hometown continue to do the right thing? vote today on lgbt equal rights.

Gainesville, Fla., votes on gay discrimination

from: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090324/ap_on_re_us/potty_privacy

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Voters went to the polls Tuesday in an election that could strip the local government's anti-discrimination protections for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender residents.

The fight began after the city commission last year revised Gainesville's anti-discrimination ordinance to protect transgender people — those who are born one sex but identify with the other. That allows the city's approximately 100 transgender residents to use the public restroom of their choosing, along with protecting them from job and housing discrimination.

The charter amendment on Tuesday's ballot would void the city's ordinances barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. [Full story on Yahoo! News]

If the town votes against this heinous amendment and the Lady Gators beat Connecticut tonight, everything will be all good in Gator Country.

selena 4ever

selena quintanilla-pérez, saw this tattoo on the cedar springs "strip" in dallas on 3/23/09.

bristol avenue face

detail from faded mural on the corner of bristol avenue & w. lovers lane, dallas, tx

QotD: Change for the Better over a Decade

How are you a better person today than you were ten years ago?
Sponsored by Nature Made.

1. much more secure with myself

2. don't take shi*t from anyone for any reason

3. can enjoy the weekend without feeling like i have to go out (although gettin' dressed at midnight to go to da club is always fun)

4. at peace with the fact that some parts of my body just don't "snap back" like they used to. lol.

5. don't care about chastising my nieces/nephews and the fact that it may jeopardize my "cool aunt" status. sometimes they just need to be hit upside the head 'til the white meat shows. ha.

6. more deliberate about spending time with nieces/nephews/lil' badass cousins.

laundry day

 
one sunday morning
mlk blvd., austin, texas

last nite texas almost gave me a heart attack

last night i watched texas play missouri in the first round of the big 12 playoffs at big12sports.com.
with two minutes left in the game, texas was down by 7 but in amazing show of defensive prowess,
they made some steals and got themselves back in the game and came away with a win. hey texas,
you all are in the ncaa's but please don't go down early on in big 12 tourney. and pleeease,
play 40 minutes of basketball and not second half catch up. you can do better. you can even win the big 12.
love, your loyal gator country fan in central texas....

and to earnesia williams....whew! kudos to you for playing so great after all that you'd been through in the twenty-four hours before the game.

After surviving a scary, rollover crash on her way to her internship a day earlier, Williams was the point person for the pressure that guided the 23rd-ranked Longhorns to a 62-59 victory against Missouri in the first round of the Big 12 tournament Thursday night

"I'm glad to be here and alive and just to play like that for my team and help us advance to another game is just a blessing," Williams said, fighting off tears.
....
Williams said she was driving on a wet stretch of winding, hilly road in Austin on Wednesday morning when she lost control of her car and it slid across the center line and then back across her lane into a rock wall before flipping over. Two passers by had to pull her out of the car, which came to rest upside down.

dusk coffee

lift cafe, 215 s. lamar, austin, tx
austin has had some moody weather of late, reminding me of living in seattle.
monday things will warm up. then all the folks on teh intarnet starship that is sxswi can
enjoy some fine texas sunshine.

my little blue lacie lego holds like a jillion tracks of music.
last tuesday, i deejayed a cocktail party fundraiser for the austin museum of art and soulforce.org. i had a great time playing classic jazz as well as some new takes on old standards by fantasia, beyonce, patricia barber and cassandra wilson. barber and bebel gilberto’s voices/tunes were the hits of the night. it was nice to play joão gilberto followed up with a tune by his talented songstress daughter bebel. i also slipped in “green eyes” by erykah badu and after the song played someone came over and raved about how much he loved that song. that and all other positive feedback put me on a deejay’s cloud nine.

and on sunday, the performance group that i’m a part of will be participating in…

The Edge Walkers Present a Night of Award-winning, Cutting-edge Theater
See 4 Amazing Short Plays in One Night!

Muntu
Written and performed by Natalie Marlena Goodnow. Sponsored by Teatro Vivo. Music by Travis Jeffords and Josh Casiano. Artistic Direction by Cliff Miller.
http://nataliemarlena.com

The Walls are Alive (with the sound of)
Written by Jen Margulies. A theatrical experience. Co-directed by Matt Richardson & Jen Margulies. Featuring Stacey Glazer, Rosalie Oliveri, Dino Foxx, and Dara Allen-Trainer. Visual design by Wura-Natasha Ogunji.

‘by a quiet sea’
by Wura-Natasha Ogunji - Spoken in six languages, ‘by a quiet sea’ tells the story of 8 women whose paths cross on their way to market. They must navigate both Death and The Road on their journey through the place where Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Nigeria and Brazil meet.
http://wuraogunji.com

T.A.G. - by Stamp Lab (Cheryl Coward, Ana Lara and kt shorb)
A story about about shifting family values, restless youth, cranky bulldaggers and the ghost of an afro-future past.
T.A.G was a ‘Best of Week’ and ‘Best of Fest’ selection in last month’s FronteraFest Short Fringe.

Details:
Sunday, March 15th at 5:30pm
The Dougherty Arts Center Theater
1110 Barton Springs Road
Austin, TX, 78704

Tickets: $15
****Reservations: edgeboxoffice@gmail.com

For more information visit:
http://stamplab.org
http://nataliemarlena.com
http://wuraogunji.com

————————————-
Muntu, The Walls are Alive (with the sound of), by a quiet sea and T.A.G. are funded and supported in part by the City of Austin through the Cultural Arts Division and by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

march madness begins

yesterday texas ended its regular season with a loss to rival oklahoma. by halftime, it looked like no. 15 texas was gonna end up getting their azzes handed to them by the no. 3 sooners but the longhorns rallied in the second half and came out with a respectable loss margin (74-62) and not a blowout to the relief of old-timer fans who blasted the amazingly bad ref calls throughout the game. "we're gon' take up a collection so you can go to lenscrafters and get ya some new glasses."

longhorn ashley lindsey vs. ok's courtney paris. ashleigh fontenette in the background.

the longhorns also stopped courtney paris from achieving yet another double-double but danielle robinson was having a great game and texas couldn't contain her offensive output. that girl has some amazing moves. conference playoffs are in full swing now and the ncaa brackets will be out soon. oh, i love march madness.

four figures + 25 figures + one painting =

seen last week when i visited the modern art museum of fort worth. they reminded me
of these figures i saw a little over a year ago at the joan miró foundation in barcelona.
and like those figures did, these stopped me in my tracks. what is it about these nearly
life-size carved out figures?
(Stephan Balkenhol, 4 Figures, 2000, Painted wood)

an installation at fundació joan miró in the exhibit "red aside: chinese contemporary art
from the sigg collection." barcelona.
(believe it or not, i walked most of the way to the one of the highest points in the city
to get to the museum, whew.)

seeing art, especially in museums, galleries and on the surfaces of urban canvasses (graffitti/stencils) is like breathing in inspirational air. it rejuvenates and gives me the energy and motivation to continue creating my own work. it is addictive. the more art i see, the more i seek out, always on the lookout for some artist that i've never heard of. it is mind-blowing fantastic when you turn a corner in a gallery or an undiscovered alley and see something so magnificent it makes your heart race from your chest to dance all around you in joy. and tonight i look forward to being inspired again when i get to see brazil's amazing grupo corpo perform. tgif!