ZETEO

Bicycle Art Everywhere at Brooklyn Museum

October 9, 2014 by William Eaton

This post is a variation on Zeteo is Reading. Here, Zeteo is Looking. On the first Saturday of each month, the Brooklyn Museum is free from 5 to 11pm. Viva Brooklyn! was the theme for October’s First Saturday with thirteen free events throughout the museum from panel discussions, gallery talks, to hands-on art making for all ages. On the program were three different Latino music groups that alternated in the 1st floor Pavilion and three bicycle art projects outside the […]

Categories: Gayle Rodda Kurtz, ZiR

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Of Courtesans, Concubines, and Exemplary Women

October 7, 2014 by William Eaton

Men’s ideas for women in another time and place By William Eaton, in conjunction with Heather Luciano Review of Courtesans, Concubines, and the Cult of Female Fidelity: Gender and Social Change in China, 1000-1400 by Beverly Bossler (Harvard University Press, 2012) [print_link][email_link] “This book, the Introduction explains, “traces changing gender relations in China between the tenth and fourteenth centuries by examining how writings about courtesans, concubines and exemplary women developed changes over that period.” Some readers might come to such a book looking […]

Categories: Review • Tags: China, gender, History, poetry, prostitution, women

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Pernickety

October 7, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

Last week, I posted a poem by Marge Piercy about male-female relationships that immediately sparked comments from readers, both positive and negative. The topic clearly does not get old. This week, Piercy tackles heavy themes like faith and justice, via nature’s impartiality and indifference. An equally timeless theme, I would say, although one that is likely to provoke less dialogue. Here is the lovely poem, one of my favorite pieces by Piercy: The Pernickety Plum Tree The fourth […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: books, literature, poetry, reading, writing

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Fireworks and small towns: Octavio Paz’s early taste

October 6, 2014 by Alexia Raynal

In Octavio Paz’s book Essays on Mexican Art, we learn about the childhood experiences that marked Paz’s artistic education. In order to really “see”, one must compare what one is seeing with what one has seen. Hence seeing is a difficult art: how to compare if one lives in a city without museums or collections of art from all over the world? The traveling exhibitions of great museums are a recent phenomenon: when I was a youngster all we had available were […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: childhood, children, literature, Octavio Paz, taste

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Voting in the South: Gender and Politics

October 4, 2014 by William Eaton

[print_link] [email_link] Today just a brief thought about my new life in the South. Elections Matter! Having lived in New York all of my voting-age life, I have developed a particular (admittedly luxurious) sentiment about the polls: that I could comfortably vote for a third party candidate that has a platform I believe in, despite the candidate’s minimal to non-existent chance of winning. Those of you who are tuned into the upcoming elections have probably heard the pressure that is […]

Categories: Caterina Gironda, ZiR • Tags: gender, North Carolina, politics, voting

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Aftermath – contesting gender equality

October 3, 2014 by William Eaton

[print_link] [email_link] I approached Rachel Cusk’s Aftermath (2012) like someone visiting a fortune-teller at a fairground. In the book, she was to describe the break-up of her ten-year marriage and her struggle to restart life after the divorce. I wondered if I would see my own future written in her story. Cusk’s husband was the kind who’d given up his job to help look after the children and be a home-maker, letting her get on with her writing and work […]

Categories: Catherine Vigier, ZiR • Tags: gender, literature, parenting, women

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The Man is a Teapot

September 30, 2014 by Ana Maria Caballero

For those who favor such categorizations, Marge Piercy’s poetry can easily fall under the label “Feminist Poetry.” As such, her poetry wouldn’t be an obvious first choice to bring along during the famous Carmel Car Week in August. For some reason, though, her book “The Twelve Spoke Wheel Flashing” ended up in my carry on, and I read her poems while accompanying my husband during the car shows. I will share a few of the pictures I took of the poems, […]

Categories: Ana Maria Caballero, ZiR • Tags: automobiles, California, literature, poetry, writing

Discovering Kandinsky’s ethnographic art

September 29, 2014 by Alexia Raynal

Every now and then I like to pick up books “blindly”—choosing them for their cover, title, or shape. This has certainly brought boring books back home, but also deep and unexpected findings. My most recent “blind pick” was a book I borrowed from my school’s library, titled Kandinsky and Old Russia (Yale University Press, 2012). What I didn’t notice then, as I quickly skimmed through my options, was the author’s specific discussion. Thus, sitting in my living room that evening, I was thrilled to discover the subtitle: “The Artist as […]

Categories: Alexia Raynal, ZiR • Tags: childhood, children, ethnography, folk art

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The Day Testosterone Disentangles From Masculinity

September 28, 2014 by William Eaton

Last week, I returned to my high school to talk to a group of 50 students about being a transgender man. It’s only been a decade since I was their age, yet, in essence, it’s been a lifetime. Back then, I didn’t have the language to describe being a “trans man”—being someone who was told they were female, but knowing inside I was male. Today, I have plenty of language. Indeed, there’s a proliferation of language—articles, essays, books—on transgender lives, […]

Categories: Mitch Kellaway, ZiR

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