Museum Rats

We love taking the kids to museums. We'll admit it; we're art nerds. And more than that, I guess we're history nerds, culture nerds...you name it. Now that we've got two little ones, though, you just can't beat a museum for a day out, especially when it has added perks.

Take the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, for example: not only is this the spot where we got married, but Aki's Jiji (grandpa) is a docent there. Every month or so, JANM also has a free family day (sponsored by Target), full of cool arts and crafts activities, etc. And along with every other museum in So Cal, JANM is participating in the Pacific Standard Time show spearheaded by the Getty.

In Wonderland at LACMA

One of the highlights of JANM's contribution to PST is a gorgeous set of prints by Bob Nakamura, including intimate shots of some of the key figures from the Black Arts Movement in the '60s and '70s, including one of Betty Saar. Admittedly, I would know exactly jack about the Black Arts Movement if it weren't for the art seminar I'm currently taking, but there you go. The value of education!

Speaking of which, our class got a private tour of the new In Wonderland show at LACMA (featuring works by women Surrealists, including Frida Kahlo, Dorothea Tanning, and Louise Bourgeois), and it's pretty effing amazing:

The Sky Above the City (1945), Alice Rahon

I was totally blown away by several artists whom I'd previously never heard of, including Alice Rahon, whose painting I shot here (mostly I got the frame; I'm still learning the ropes with this fabulous SLR Sean gave us for Xmas).



Of course, we're always suckers for the Huntington, and it's worth every penny (well, almost) for a membership if you live close enough to get there often, especially if you have little ones who can enjoy the spectacular Children's Garden.



Here's Aki's favorite hiding place in there; you have to duck your way through a hedge maze and some low-hanging rafters. Tristan is starting to love the place too!

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Once More Unto the Breach

How to jump back in?

Nothing jams up blogging like falling behind on posts, and having so much happen that eventually you just drop it cold and write nothing down at all.

The funny thing is that I've been grinding out words like a dog in between classes, diapers, and crosstown traffic (notice I didn't include sleep). I'm thoroughly content as far as that goes (except that I wish I could freeze time like Hiro Nakamura so I could finish two novels, a poetry manuscript, and another screenplay) but blogging is different.

For us, this blog has been a way to slow down and more fully process whatever we happen upon, whether it be a picture, a song, a meal, or a developmental milestone. But Yuri's second pregnancy, the reboot of Chris's teaching and fiction writing, the birth of our second child, and Aki's transition from toddler to preschooler have, in a nutshell, kind of kicked our asses!

The fact that the blog has also been a lifeline to our loved ones who live far and wide compounds our guilt about failing to write. But I think it IS important to keep this up, as hard as it is with so many balls up in the air, because it helps both of us sort out the carnival which has become our lives, which, by the way, we wouldn't trade for all the coffee beans in Colombia.

So, once more unto the breach, even if we're playing to an empty room: our second son, Tristan Naoki Sean Santiago, was born the day before Thanksgiving. Yuri is home with him, reading Pride and Prejudice between feedings. Aki has become a sharp and bombastic big brother, and I'm teaching a poetry writing workshop at USC and taking a class on global contemporary art at LACMA. On the way back home from the Westside last night, my car filled up with that late January/early February bouquet of night blooms that makes L.A. delirious and giddy and young.

After a big day at Jones Coffee, the Dinosaur Farm, and a picnic at the Huntington, the boys are crashed out and I'm doing this and reading an article on the Shanghai Biennale. My sister-in-law has pointed out that there's nothing more insufferable than the status update "Life is good." Instead, we'll say our little corner of life is rich and complicated and startling and exhausting. Everything anyone has ever told us about it is true. And everything anyone has ever told us about couldn't even come close.

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