electricsequin

[electricsequin]

March & April 2025

Spring is springing in the Rockies!! Yippeeee!! What that actually means is 45 degrees and lots of rain, but we take what we can get!

We had guests :) H&A have moved out west and are only a brisk eight hour drive away. Everywhere you go home will follow.

My passion for my current career has been reignited. It’s fulfilling to contribute to the community and try to make a difference (however impossible it feels sometimes). I don’t know what I’ll do next but I think I’ll stick it out for now.

March was a month of many firsts.

•first Michelin restaurants

•first Ethiopian food

•first MeowWolf

•first dollar put in strippers g string

There was a power outage in the second club we hit, and some faceless stranger took the opportunity to grab me and disappear into the crowd. In the middle of girls night and all our revelry, we were not safe. He’s probably forgotten already, it meant nothing to him. But I’ll think about it for weeks.

April

Goodbye ski season! I’ll miss you.

My friends and I are talking about getting work/travel visas to Australia. If we’re wrong we can always come home. But what if one day it’s too late?

My current book is A Farewell to Arms. Thought I was getting into a war story and they Trojan Horsed me into a romance novel! I am slowly being won over (poor me).

Alcohol sobriety has been going really well. I only drink on occasions and my moderation has much improved. We will not talk about Big City Weekend.

I can now identify (unaided) Ursa Major, Sirius and Canis Major, and Jupiter. It’s been too cloudy recently but if I follow my marks I can also spot Draco and Taurus.

I am violently ill once more. Japan trip is barreling towards me and I feel deeply unprepared. I had an easier time with Arabic honestly. It got to a point where the letters and vocabulary felt intuitive, but in Asia I think I’ll be stuck smiling and nodding.

Easter was special. I have a little girl cousin who thinks I can do no wrong. She showed me a hiding place under the big juniper tree, and spun me around on the swing until I nearly puked. Eventually I was extracted from the pack of cousins and made to sit in a quiet circle with the adults.

Je vous salue Marie, pleine de grâce, le Seigneur est avec vous.

Vous êtes bénie, entre toutes les femmes. Et Jésus, le fruit de vos entrailles et bénie.

Sainte-Marie, Mére de Dieux, preiz pour nous pécheurs, maintenant et à l’heaure de notre mort.

Au nom du Pére, du Fils, et du Saint-Esprit, amen.

[electricsequin]

February 2024

I am now 24 and full of endless wisdom like, “social media is bad for you” and “be where you are”. I told E that I want to learn French so I can take my foreign service officer test like my Mom wants. She said “you should learn it anyway” and I don’t know if it was the mushrooms or what, but it was one of the more casually poignant moments I’ve shared with a person.

I went indoor rock climbing for the first time and I have the bug now. If I practice enough I might turn into a passable outdoor climber too. It is incredibly gratifying to reach the top of a route, I actually felt proud of myself.

I felt good about my body because of what it can do and not what it looks like. I want to feel that way more. This is a suspiciously familiar lesson.

The same weekend I saw my first ever moonbow. My other new hobby is stargazing which is actually a lot harder than it sounds. My search for Cassiopeia (and any constellation besides Orion the Hunter) is currently ongoing. update: GEMINI SPOTTED

M+L

I think I’m ready for winter to be over. It’s a cute sentiment that my environment doesn’t shape my emotional state (because I’m soooo aloof and stoic) but I’m ready to grow. I am turning my mindset around and embracing my youth. I glow inside myself like a little seed, pulling me face first into life.

I am eternally grateful for the wonderful people in my life, and the lessons we learn together.

Practicing: love, kindness, intentionality

Eating: everything easily

More Feb Highlights: Family visiting, Aspen partying, and my first double black run

[electricsequin]

what is your favorite?

i would have to say it’s definitely

[electricsequin]

[electricsequin]

Ljubljana and Salzburg

🚊 zoom

[electricsequin]

Art in Vienna

The ceiling fresco in the grand gallery of Schönbrunn Palace was painted by Italian artist Gregorio Gugleilm. It depicts the glory of Maria Theresia and Franz Stephan surrounded by deities and symbols of their might. The eastern fresco was damaged by bombs and was replaced with a copy painted by Paul Reckendorfer and Carl Krall in 1947/48.

Kunsthistorisches Museum

Theseus Defeats the Centaurs (1805-19) by Antonio Canova

Heraclitus and Democritus around 1645/49

“Rosa painted this tondo in Florence for his friend, the publisher and art dealer Francesco Cordini. Heraclitus and Democritus - representatives of two antithetical world views since late antiquity - are absorbed in reflection on existence. Rosa places Democritus clearly above Heraclitus, who is weeping copiously over the absurdity and transience of all things earthly.

Released from misery, the youthful Democritus seems to enter a pact of complicity with the onlooker, to whom he turns with a smile on his face.”

So glad I read the plaque. I never would have looked twice at this painting.

The Kiss (1907-1908) by Gustav Klimt is the Upper Belvedere Palace. Pictures do it no justice so I stopped trying and enjoyed the moment. It was so radiant in person.

He did a lot of other work besides his gold period. Some of his other iconic pieces are portraiture and landscapes. They all felt so dynamic and ephemeral, like they could have come from any place in time.

The iconic portrait of Napoleon Crossing the Alps is also here. I was totally shocked when I saw it. It’s one of those that’s so ubiquitous you almost forget it’s a real object somewhere.

View from the Leopold

An incredibly impactful and thorough museum. Some floors I did not care for at all, and some of them I never would have left.

Death and Life (1908-1915) by Gustav Klimt

Another case of lifeless iPhone rendering. I think the skull looks curious. Its head is tilted as if observing, it’s almost sweet. It is also worth noting that Klimt portrayed Life with several distinct stages and facets, but Death is one simple skeleton. Our planets vast array of life is rendered equal in the undeniable end. We will all return whence we came and maybe we never left. This is just another part of the big everything. :)

Also in this museum is the work of Richard Gerstl. His paintings didn’t resonate with me much but he had a crazy life. He was reclusive and didn’t really associate with other painters. His one close friend was the composer Arnold Schönberg. Arnold was married to Mathilde and Richard said yes I’ll have some of that too please. They were eventually discovered and had to stop seeing each other.

Here is what happened next: “Distraught by the loss of Mathilde, his isolation from his associates, and his lack of artistic acceptance, Gerstl entered his studio during the night of 4 November 1908 and apparently burned every letter and piece of paper he could find. Although many paintings survived the fire, it is believed that a great deal of his artwork as well as personal papers and letters were destroyed. Other than his paintings, only eight drawings are known to have survived unscathed. Following the burning of his papers, Gerstl hanged himself in front of the studio mirror and somehow managed to stab himself as well.”

What a sucker.

Egon Schiele has almost an entire floor dedicated to him in this museum. I nearly cried and took no pictures except this one.

Schiele in his letters and paintings likened himself to an almost Christ-like figure. He was obsessed with death and sex and martyrdom. By our contemporary standards he’s a complete freak, and he wasn’t lauded for morality in his own time either. He often painted portraits of teenage prostitutes, anathema to us and his own society for vastly different reasons. His portrayals of them were compassionate and human. Though many of his models and studies are nude they are beyond sex and above porn.

'I paint the light that emanates from all bodies,' he said. 'Erotic works of art are also sacred.'

He was a mentee of Klimt who preceded him in death by mere months. Schiele was 28 when he died of the Spanish flu in 1918.

There is a special exhibit in the Austrian National Library right now for the 200th anniversary of composer Anton Bruckner’s birth. Pictured above is the State Room (painted by Daniel Gran in 1726-1730).

The library has a fascinating and thorough collection of 12th century illuminated manuscripts. These are hardly ever shown because they must be kept under such specific conditions to preserve them. No pics of the manuscripts I was too scared my flash would go off.

Bruckner was one of those artists caught between two vastly different worlds. He came from a devout and rural community and it was difficult for him to adjust in Vienna. He faced harsh criticism which he took very hard, but was still incredibly successful.

Today he is remembered as a revolutionary who faced the impossible task of living and navigating opposing lifestyles and ideas.

Equally important are his many eccentricities. He often proposed to acquaintances (who were half his age) and was always rejected. He called himself “The Musician of God”, drank enormous quantities of alcohol, and compulsively counted bricks and windows.

Lower Belvedere

Papillon Hug by Amoako Boafo

“The people portrayed by Boafo embody the idea of Black identity that draws on its own culture, to be understood as an act of resistance against the racist labels of a predominantly white society. This form of Black subjectivity is expressed in the appearance of the sitters, who confront the viewer as self-confident individuals and often seek direct eye contact.”

The first pieces I saw from this exhibit are in the Upper Belvedere. They are a total departure from the classical paintings they’re displayed next to. It was that sudden contrast and finger painting that honestly.. grossed me out.

The full Proper Love installation took me completely by surprise. I was so taken with them, they felt like real people that I was interacting with. The nature of these portraits is so intimate and confrontational that at times I was overwhelmed. The finger painting which at first made my skin crawl, lent the subjects character and spatial depth.

Papillon Hug is housed in the Volta Pavilion (DeRoché Strohmayer 2024), which was designed specifically for the marble hall. The wood was harvested from the Volta River in Ghana as a nod to the Boafa’s heritage.

[electricsequin]

December 2024 recap

Time is flying past me. Another lesson in extreme highs and lows.

Homo erectus survived for 1.5 million years, the longest of any human species. We shared caves with a different species of human not even 20,000 years ago. You gotta wonder if they made a lasting impression.

It’s unlikely that we’re going to be around any longer than Homo erectus. Some expert on a podcast said we have about a thousand years left. In the grand scheme of things that’s NOTHING.

I’m reading Parable of the Talents currently and it is harrowing. The next thing I read is going to be light and silly so I can think about literally anything else. Multi faith altar save me!!

I must absorb as much of life as possible! I want to move to Denver, but I’m worried I’m just jumping into the void. I’m not actually chasing anything, I’m just impatient. I need to stay in the valley for a little longer. I’m not done here yet.

I love the holidays. I wrote letters to my friends and bought my boyfriend fleece lined gloves. We went to see It’s a Wonderful Life in the theatre and it was so sweet I got all choked up.

I’ve been off social media. Thank god for friends who care enough for the hard conversations. And you know what? I feel amazing. Social media has been rotting my fucking brain out and turning me into a paranoid, anxious, obsessive wreck. (Even more of)

Christmas was lovely, T is a quarter century old, and my flight is tomorrow.

take care

Xoxo

[electricsequin]

November Recap 2024

Okay well, not off to a great start.

I’ve been struggling in my principles recently. I live by loosely defined ideals of compassion, respect, and shared humanity. I’m still working on that and what it means, but I’m not about to let anyone take it away from me. I think biggest personal takeaway from the election is similar to lessons from my interpersonal woes. To me there is no better way to honor the people who have loved and showed you kindness than to imitate them. These are the people who have influence over who I am and how I move through the world.

I’m going to be traveling alone in Europe over the new year. I’m honestly really nervous, but I need to learn to be alone. I need to practice my self sufficiency skills. It’s a little like throwing myself in the deep end of the pool but I deserve a good challenge. I think when I get back I’ll find a class to take.

November has been quiet and cold. Winter always pushes me to get creative battling malaise. I think that’s when I have the most fun because it forces me to be present. I’m trying to be present even when I don’t have to.

Ski resort opened yesterday, now sick in bed. T made pancakes. See you in December

Xoxo

L

[electricsequin]

September/October Recap 2024

September was all polarity. There was very little middle ground. There was utter desolation, and also best night of my whole year on 9/18!

This is also the month that I started taking my sobriety from alcohol a little more seriously.

The leaves started to change :) last year I didn’t get to fully appreciate fall in the valley. This year it feels like home.

I’ve been seeing my family a lot recently. They make me feel grounded and human.

I made some silly early 20s mistakes recently and they really came through for me. I don’t know what I’d do out here without them.

I went back to Denver in October to see the Sweat Tour. I stayed with a friend I hadn’t seen in over a year.

Enough time has passed since Seattle that I wasn’t nervous. But I’m still dealing with the fallout. I don’t want to let negative experiences inform my outlook and decisions more than positive ones. The world is whatever sort of place you make it.

I have been running a lot more recently. It’s teaching me patience and self discipline. I have this idea that the work I do to improve myself will someday amount to perfection. It’s kind of a relief to confront that idea. I get to improve every day for the rest of my life and no one expects me to be perfect.

Over the last part of October I visited A in Arizona!! It feels so good to get out of my little town and cut loose. Routine is so necessary but also so stifling. New environments are a welcome personal challenge. Who am I? How do I relate to others? What does it take to fit in or stand out? October went on forever because Halloweekend was a complete drunken blur. Alcohol sobriety restarts yesterday.

Xoxo, L

[electricsequin]