A picture and a thousand words

Street Photo this morning was a blast. We planned a trip to the Judean hills (independent of Bezalel) to landscape photograph and to just enjoy the scenery. Apparently Yosef knows some beautiful spots that most israelis have never seen. Today we didn't take any pictures, but our Yosef read aloud some literature about the creative process. He handed us a bunch of pamphlets, many of which I really enjoyed. Here is an excerpt:

"When the good pictures come, we hope they tell truths, but truths "told slant," just as Emily Dickinson commanded. We are spinning a story of what it is to grow up. It is a complicated story and sometimes we try to take on the grand themes: anger, love, death, sensuality, and beauty. But we tell it all without fear and without shame."

--Sally Mann

I am beginning to understand that an experience is a possession, and I must fully own whatever is thrown at me. Today I walked into drawing class and in stumbles a nude woman with raisin boobs. We are life drawing today. Pesach asked me if I had ever done nude drawing before. Does my dog count, I wanted to ask. No, I said. He asked me, what art school did you go to. An arts magnet school. Oh, a college. Which one? It was a High school in New Haven, I said (I didn't even mention I went for writing, not visual art). He gave an, Oh. and then sighed. I shrugged and smiled an I'm-not-here-to-impress-you-I-am-here-to-learn smile.

We drew the model in natural light (or should I say natural dark). It was nearing five-o-clock and becoming harder and harder to see the scraggly pubic hairs on our lovely lady, Chen (pronounced with a chet...not like the popular Asian surname). It was a classic moment, and I enjoyed it a lot. Here are some sketches, and also pictures of painting from yesterday.

On the way to street photography today, I chanced upon a table of free books. Among them was a soft-cover booklet called, "Halachos and Attitudes Concerning the Dress of Women and Girls." I read it cover to cover and found some of it hillarious and frightening at the same time. Here's how Menachem Av thinks religious women should dress:

"Cursed be the man who allows his wife to expose hairs of her head beyond their covering. The woman who allows some of her hairs to be uncovered in order to exhibit them causes poverty to descend on her home, her children do not become the prominent people they could have become, and an impure spirit is caused to dwell in her house. What causes such misfortunes to happen? The hairs that she exposed within her house. If the effect of an indoor exposure is such, imagine what damage is caused by ecposing hair outdoors etc. A woman should therefore see it that not even a single hair is uncovered. Instead of considering a full-head covering as a restraint and restriction, it should b viewed as the crown and glory of the Jewish woman. "

The best part was that I was on the bus reading this book with a tank top on, sitting across from a Hareidi man.

There is a butter shortage in Jerusalem. I thought it was a rumor, but I went to the supermarket yesterday and there was no Land-o-Latkes on the shelves. Maybe it's all those Jews watching their "cuh-less-tur-awwwl".