Horses, Irish Goodbyes and my F/W 24 Artwork.
Like magnets, how do they work?
On the capitalism calendar, tis the top of the week. Hello, everyone.
A recap of what’s been going on in my world since we spoke last and, some tasty things to come.
Okay, okay. I did not fully die. But maybe part of me did? Not in a terrible way, but in such a way that promotes forward movement, little bits of Old Jean have molted. I shed. Shedded? Shod. Sheddaded. With any spelling, this flaking is a terrible visual, perhaps even one worse than saying, “I died.” My bad. Let’s talk about something else.
Two weeks ago, I responded with an enthusiastic YES to my friend John Hodgman’s invite to hang in Washington, DC. Judge John Hodgman: Road Court is (as the name implies) the very popular Judge John Hodgman podcast —— on the road. Tour. On the tours.
I had a fabulous time. Linda Holmes (author, critic and host of NPR’s podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour) and I, joined John Hodgman and Jesse Thorn (two of my favorite people) onstage to chat, for a break in the justice dispensing. To close the show, John and I sang one of our favorite songs to perform together, “Horse With No Name.” Yes, The song by the band - America.
Jesse very rightfully noted that our performance of the tune is far more of a “roast of the song” than a “singing of it” and this is absolutely true. We do like to roast and deconstruct a song. And that particular song is deserving of a roasting. A basting of hating juices, injected into it’s badly written crevices. Its two chords, plucked away from their comfort and set to hang in the town square. Scoffed at and mocked by the townspeople. Scoff, scoff.
The audience was warm, lovely and 10/10 would like to see them all again. It’s always so much fun to be in front of an audience with my friends, and tell some jokes. Every single time I do it, I realize just how much I miss doing it on a regular basis. Even more than that, I miss seeing my friends and being social on a regular basis. If the whole “show” had simply been us hanging out backstage and catching up, sans audience… only us, telling stories and trading quips - it would have been amazing. If it had just been us, rehearsing the song in the green room - that would have been great too. Super shout out to Judge John Hodgman’s show producer, the fabulous Jennifer Marmor. She always brings a smile to my face and runs all aspects of the show - whether on the road, or on the wavs - so efficiently and lovingly.
Oh - I should note that I’ve been a recurring guest bailiff on the show many times over the years. If, for some reason you are not familiar with this fact, OR the show - what a gift of new fun you just got! And there are so many things in the world, it’s hard to know everything that’s going on. The world can be…distracting.
Since I’d taken the train from Baltimore to DC and it was a Sunday night, by the time the show was over, the last Amtrak back to Baltimore had already choo-chooed away. I’d bought a ticket for that train, in case I would have made it to the station in time. For backup, I’d also purchased a ticket for the MARC train. But after all that social energy had been given and received, I opted instead to get an Uber across states. It sounds more involved than it was, and I’ve definitely spent the same amount of time and money it took to get home that night on an Uber from Brooklyn to Midtown Manhattan - actually, more time and money. Plus, y’all - I did an Irish goodbye and I have not done one of those in a looong time. None of us were going to hang out after the show, because we are adults who understand that we all need rest and probably not a bunch of martinis.
I regret that I didn’t hit the merch table in the show’s intermission and get one of the Road Court Weird Dad: hats, but I can rectify that. I think.
Speaking of merch - we’ll talk about it tomorrow. I realize I’ve never actually had Jean Grae merch? With a question mark - because maybe I have? I probably have. I have. But not as GROWN me, who knows what I want and how I’d like to be represented. And not like TOUR merch, but GENERAL ALL ENCOMPASSING NOT PROMOTING A PROJECT merch. I’m gonna stop saying, “merch” now.
Next up, it’s been a very busy painting season for me. Yes, I paint and yes, the artwork is available for people to acquire. For your home, your business, or to gift to a friend. To purchase and set on fire for some reason - it doesn’t matter! After it’s out of my hands and in your possession, you can do whatever you want with it!
I’m warmed (from the art fires) and ecstatic that people already have my works in their homes and businesses. It means a lot to me. This journey is a really fun and beautiful one. To be able to share something that is a continued, visual connection, is so intimate. And the continued visual and emotional connections that I develop while creating in this form have me asking new questions about myself with every piece. When learning new skills, I love developing the deepening ties to myself and the world. The expansion of community building. There are so many cool communities to be a part of, to share magic with. This includes learning new languages as well. The way that all these things can open up the world for us is worth the struggles to become proficient in them. It’s worth all of my panicked moments before attempting to respond in French, or Portuguese. STRESSFUL AS FUCK! But it’s worth it. Well, it is for me.
I’ll wrap up my artwork selling for this F/W 24 Season in December. But before that, I’ll be taking a month off in Paris and Eurobopping around while I’m there. Then, I’ll head to NYC to record my audiobook - OMG, I’m so excited.
Until then, half this season of artwork is on my Instagram already.
The rest will continue to go up piece by piece daily, this week. If things don’t say SOLD on the post, they’re still available. And after they’re up, I’ll do some talks about them on my Patreon. Along with some long overdue talks on that platform as well about all aspects of design.
F/W 24 Season of Jean art is deeply personal and deals with things like: my face and European beauty standards, ridding my life of narcissists (my favorite piece) existing with Ehlers Danlos syndrome/POTS, aging and the gentrification of childhood places. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done. I’m proud of getting things out in yet another form. I’m proud of leaning into depth and texture. I’m proud of being able to dive into a new venture and face the inevitable, “holy shit, am I terrible at this” questioning that always comes. I’m always proud of being vulnerable. So head on over there and see if you might be interested in getting some art.
I’d love for you to have a piece of me in your place- okay, no. Now this sounds like the molting and dying again. Huh. Actually, maybe that’s where the molting pieces of me go. Into the artwork!
Let me just clarify, for legal reasons, that I am not putting pieces of my skin into the artwork, this is purely metaphorical. I mean it! I am also not trapping bits of my soul into each piece - nah… I am. And As a new disclaimer on these newsletters: if there are typos, I am letting them go. Perfectionism is a tool of White Supremacy, so *fart noise* deal with it.
I don't remember putting the word "tasty" in the top of this new post. I really do not. Is this how AI starts dismantling us? GASLIGHTING? Very human design.
Rise of the machines!👀