ONE YEAR IN PARIS

i just celebrated my one year anniversary of living here.  like, I didn’t celebrate it, persé, but it did happen.  i had some wine, i guess.  

cats on roofs looking at me

important update

important update: my hair is still growing. it's long and carefree because i haven’t cut it since march.  it’s past the point where it’s a novelty for me, so i’m trying to figure out its next steps.  it’s great to have it all over the place and free and people are like yeah i wish i had the courage to do that, but at a certain point, maybe it’s unruly and lazy and unkempt and i don’t want it long without any shape or direction or goals.

and i am definitely just talking about my hair and not my employment situation.

sicily, early august

view from the apartment

i went to sicily for one week.  it was one of the most beautiful weeks of my life.

sicily, yo.  sicily is bananas.  my aunt and uncle have an apartment in mondello, a sort of beach commune of palermo.  in early august, it’s about 85 degrees and everyone is out in very small swimsuits and the sun, yo, the sun -- it’s like a ton of bricks.  luckily, palermitans/sicilians/italians have invented all kinds of wonderful reprieves from the heat -- gelato, granite, cremino, beach clubs.

mid summer, paris

mid summer, paris

the temperatures are dropping below 60 degrees probably to compensate for the canicule that swept up paris just a few days ago.

i am wearing flannel and a jacket in my new office, which is actually a converted warehouse.  the doors are open and i am not sure if they can close.

the offices belong to les pain surprises, an artist collective made up of a label (or two, not totally sure yet), a burgeoning clothing brand, and a film production company.

29 may -- istanbul

two young girls wear the same outfits although they are different heights.  there must have been a deal -- buy in bulk, bulks of two.  cats dominate the city and behave unlike their american counterparts.

i speak with a man has just begun working at a turkish delight stand in the spice bazaar and he gives me samples.  he learned english by reading classic literature.  he speaks with flowery language.  i wish i intended to actually buy his products.

25 may - thessaloniki

(my only notes from five days in thessaloniki:)

(best photo of the trip inside)

22 may - quick advice on how to fit in at backpacking hostels

• be skeptical of official statistics and the policies of world superpowers
• value art and claim a practice
• speak about where you've been and where you're going
• have recently quit a job
• possess abstract philosophical aspirations
• drink
• smoke
• express exasperation with traditional employment
• speak english

22 may - berat, albania

an old man sits with his back to a fence outside a convenience store in an one road, agrarian town.  his face holds deep lines and dark ridges.  his skin is twinkling brown.  he clutches his knees close to his chest and keeps his legs close together.  i wonder what he's seen.  i wonder about his brothers.

his hair is white and pulled back.

other men stand around him; two in suits, two in blue jeans with loose, short sleeved button-up shirts.  they speak and some smoke cigarettes.

berat

i'm published, yo

friends, lovers,

i've been published!  peep it here, along with a real solid author photo.  might be most proud of that.

21 may -- tirana, albania // meeting lorenc

21 may -- tirana, albania

a boy bathes in the river in western tirana.  men and women pack the streets and sidewalks.  older men wear  loose, short sleeved collared shirts and polos.  younger men wear tight t-shirts.  the old buildings are faded.  cherry merchants stand every two hundred meters; a large, bulging plastic bag sells for 110 leke -- 80 cents.