Welcome to justthoughtsnstuff

I started posting to jtns on 20 February 2010 with just one word, 'Mosaic'. This seemed an appropriate introduction to a blog that would juxtapose fragments of memoir and life-writing. Since 1996, I'd been coming to terms with the consequences of emotional and economic abuse that had begun in childhood, and which, amongst other things, had sought to stifle self-expression. While I'd explored some aspects of my life through fiction and, to a lesser extent, journalism, it was only in 2010 that I felt confident enough to write openly about myself. I believed this was an important part of the healing process. Yet within weeks, the final scenes of my family's fifty-year nightmare started to play themselves out and the purpose of the blog became one of survival through writing. Although some posts are about my family's suffering - most explicitly, Life-Writing Talk, with Reference to Trust: A family story - the majority are about happier subjects (including, Bampton in rural west Oxfordshire, where I live, Oxford, where I work, the seasons and the countryside, walking and cycling) and I hope that these, together with their accompanying photos, are enjoyable and positive. Note: In February 2020, on jtns' tenth birthday, I stopped posting to this blog. It is now a contained work of life-writing about ten years of my life. Frank, 21 February 2020.

New blog: morethoughtsnstuff.com.

Saturday, 26 May 2012

sfmoma, photography in mexico, romance, iguanas, che, saying goodbye, nostalgia




Visited SFMOMA this morning to see the Mexico in Photography exhibition that by happy coincidence is on just round the corner from the LASA congress.

The exhibition has been assembled from photos held by SFMOMA and covers the 1920s to the present. From wonderful patterned images influenced by European 1920s photographers to edgily poignant aerial shots of contemporary Mexico City and the attempts by Mexicans to cross the desert to the US.

Highlights included the work of Tina Modotti and Edward Watson who lived and worked together in Mexico in the 20s (how romantic is that); Manuel Alvarez Bravo (especially Diego Rivera pintando un mural, 1930s); Manuel Carrillo's extraordinary image of a vast pack of wild dogs, 1975 (thought I could spot Tufty's cousin a few times removed in that one); the photos of Rodrigo Moya, icluding Che melancolico, La Habana, Cuba, 1964; Graciela Iturbide's images of festivals--for example, Nuestra Senora de las iguanas (woman wearing an amazing hat made of iguanas!); and Oscar Fernando Gomez's wonderfully quirky colour shots from the 2000s.

Last visit to the book fair followed. Bought, amongst other titles, Remembering Che: my life with Che Guevara by Che's widow, Aleida March, new out from Ocean Press and already well received. Sad to be saying goodbye to SALALM friends who have been so welcoming.

Seeing the Chilean film, Nostalgia de la luz later--which is about memory, astronomy and archaeology, amongst other things.
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