February 26, 2006 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Birthday calendar 3
I haven't gotten to see much of this year's Olympics, but in spite of all the political hoopla that gets attached to them, I am in love with the fundamental spirit of the games. They're all about unity, which I think we as a planet are greatly lacking. While it is easy to recognize yourself in the other (the good traits only, of course!), it is often difficult to see the other in yourself - to try to not set yourself apart, to not deem yourself to be somehow on a different level than your neighbor, but to know that at the very core of things we are all the same. This is the March page of my birthday calendar. It is acrylic, tempera, and charcoal on paper.
posted by Mahi at 5:04 PM
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February 25, 2006 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Quiero sonrisas!
I want smiles! shouted the overly wound up director of the ladies' dance group that pulled up in the middle of the street alongside a pickup truck outfitted with a whomping sound system and a cooler full of refrescos. She appeared to be the only one in the bunch who was taking things very seriously. The casually chatting ladies were getting ready to perform for us, unsuspecting guests at a small dive that serves only roasted chicken, beans and rice or spaghetti noodles for lunch. Until that moment, carnaval in Isla had seemed very elusive to me. I had heard through the grapevine of a parade, which turned out to consist of one float with loudly playing music followed by a series of golf carts carrying quietly seated dancers. The whole thing passed me by before I could say That's it?, and a walk downtown revealed nothing but a town square full of empty chairs and tables gathered round an empty stage. But the smiling women in their elaborate flamingo-peacock hats and lovingly sewn bright ruffled dresses showed up right in front of my face when I least expected it. They had good fun dancing to three musical numbers and then moved on, out of our street. When we emerged from lunch, the whole town was covered in randomly scattered groups like these, with celebrating dancers in all shapes and sizes. It was a sight to see, and tonight the stage in the town square is going to be used for more fun. I can't wait!
posted by Mahi at 5:51 PM
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February 12, 2006 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Shiny things
Here are a few more of the shiny things I've been making recently. The first three pieces are called Splash, Scratch, Swirl. They are sterling silver with clear quartz, sponge coral, labradorite. The fourth piece is called Caterpillar, and it is sterling silver with amber, peridot, green garnet, and jade.
posted by Mahi at 4:00 PM
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February 9, 2006 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
The cutest monsters
posted by Mahi at 8:11 PM
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The beautiful miss Sarah Coleman is showing her cuter than life tiny plush dolls as part of a group show for Plush Week at Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles. So how about one of these little monsters for a valentine? They are so very infinitely more adorable than the doily-hearted drugstore i love you now hug me before we both gag bears and bunnies! Better hurry if you want to see them - the show ends on valentine's day!!!
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February 2, 2006 - Isla Mujeres, Mexico
Introduction
Like the fish?
posted by Mahi at 4:43 PM
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Usually this question is accompanied by a wide grin. Disbelief. What kind of parents would name their daughter after the catch of the day at every single seafood restaurant in the United States?
Yes, I nod and smile back.
This gives pause. Then the grin gets even wider.
Like Mahi Mahi?
Mischief has joined disbelief and the mood now borders on playground taunting. You poor traumatized child, is really the main thought. At least I like to think it is. Still, there appears to be a measure of satisfaction in doubling the awkwardness by saying it twice. The fish fully named, first and last.
Yes, like Mahi Mahi, I say.
I smile again.
It's my nickname, I add, almost apologetically.
This sets the mind on an entirely different track. When I agreed to be called by this name I had never been in the States and thought Mahi Mahi was a dolphin in the Flipper family. I never dreamed Mahi Mahi was a kind of dolphin fish that people eat. But it feels silly to bring that up. Besides, the wheels have already rattled into place, and if the association hadn't been made from the very beginning, this does the trick. (Nickname? Oh my God, why?) Discomfort shows its face briefly, but the Freudian slurs are usually kept in check. More movement of thinking wheels, followed by sudden, elated incandescence. (The accent. Her features. No wonder I couldn't place them!)
You must be Hawaiian!!!
This obvious solution brings merciful release from further cerebral wanderings through muck. Mahi is a Hawaiian word. It must be a perfectly common name there. And if you squinted until you could see your eyelashes and avoided looking directly at me, well I suppose anyone could think I'm from Hawaii.
No, I'm Dutch.
I smile once more. Puzzlement. This option had been far beyond the perimeters of consideration.
You're from Denmark?
Keep smiling.
No, I'm from Holland.
I've given up referring to my native country by its official name, the Netherlands, because this often evokes questions like Is that in Amsterdam? (No, it’s the other way around.) or So you speak Danish? (No, I speak Dutch.) (But that’s German.) (Dutch is a Germanic language, but it’s not German. The German word for the German language is "Deutsch". The Dutch word for the Dutch language is "Nederlands" - note the similarity to Netherlands. Unfortunately, when you add the English language into the mix, everything gets jumbled - Holland, Netherlands, Dutch, Deutsch. Not to mention the damn Danes. Those would be the people from Denmark, who also happen to live in the general northern European vicinity and who speak Danish. Trust me, I completely understand the confusion, and I‘ll spare you my soliloquy on the Dutch word for the German language and the Dutch national anthem.) I don’t blame anyone for this. I have lived in the United States for 15 years, and I still can't name the capital of Rhode Island, which I've been told is a state comparable in size to the Netherlands. Who has time to remember these things? Holland pins down the customary geographic imagery for most people. Windmills. Tulips. Wooden shoes. And it leads to more puzzlement.
But you don't look Dutch!
This is a fact. Typical Dutch women are amazons. Tall, blond, steely-light-eyed, fair-skinned, well-endowed amazons. I am none of those things because my father is Indonesian and my mother is a Dutch woman of the shorter, darker-haired variety. Which I explain. Then I try to quell the increasing bewilderment as best I can.
Mahi is my nickname because it sounds like my real name, which is Margriet.
Frowns at the guttural snake that just slithered out of my mouth. Meet my mother tongue.
Mahreet?
You are so wonderful for trying. Really, I mean that.
Ma-r-g-r-iet, I repeat slowly.
To tell you the truth I have a hard time saying my own name. The human mouth was simply not designed to produce such underhanded acrimony.
Just act like you have to spit!
I joke. But you do.
Macchhhreet!!!
This is as close as you will ever get, and I'll take it.
That's pretty good, I say, gently trying not to be too encouraging.
You’ll keep trying if I am. No need for this mutual torture. I know you agree.
I think I’ll stick with "Mahi"!
You laugh, relieved you now have a legitimate excuse to call me that. Like the fish.
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