Chicken with a GIANT Egg

Sept 3, 2009
Johnson, VT

I have been scanning film from this last trip since Monday. I came across this image today, I had forgotten about it. There is a GIANT egg in the cage with the chickens. I wonder which chicken had laid that egg, or has any of them tried to sit on it?

Moments.....

July 9, 2009

In transit to Oaxaca, Mexico



I am in the middle of a 6.5 hour bus ride to Oaxaca, so I have sometime to share a bit more w/ you.



Tuesday morning I took the subway down to coyoacan again and walked through the Viveros (park/nursery) on my way to the market.



I came upon people practicing bull fighting in the middle of the park. I was hypothesized, I was mesmerized. There was a young man, 15 maybe, practicing w/ the cape and an elder gentleman giving him instructions. There was another young man practicing and the elder guy who had a set of bull horns so they were both mimicking the rhythm and motion. I don't know how I feel about bull fighting as I have never experienced one. So I will reserve judgment until I have had more experiences w/ it. As I watch these guys practice, mimicking the motion of life and death in the middle of the park, under the mid day sun, the care taken in every turn, the articulation of each motion, the ritual, the sacrifice...I came upon beauty that rendered me speechless.



That same day, I spent the afternoon at the museo nacional de antropologia. I consider myself a curious student of anthropology but I am certainly not very well versed in it, my knowledge is skin deep at best. I must confess that I am not that interested in "objects" of the past. Clay bowls, urns, spear heads, they just don't get me that excited. If there is a way for the spears to tell me about the hunt, the wine goblet to describe the drunken debauchery, then I would be super excited.



Yet at the mueso, I found myself enthralled by all the tiny clay figures and their faces. These figures don't really serve a functional need yet they were made and I think that is part of the reason why I love them. All of faces were different, all of them expressive. I found the faces of history staring at me.



Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

Hi, my name is Charlie, and I am an addict.

July 7, 2009
Mexico City, Mexico

Its been an very pleasant day, in fact, maybe one of my best days here so far. But as the afternoon gets late, I am tired and just want to go back to the apt for a little while. So I opted for a cab ride home instead of taking the metro during rush hour.

I get back to the apt, half way undressed, thinking about either a shower or a nap, maybe both when I realized that I have lost my blackberry. OMG!!! Sheer panic that sets in! I rummage through my backpack, NOTHING! I call Rebecca and have her call the cafe where I was at last, although I am pretty convinced that I have left it in the cab. The thought of being w/o my blackberry is unbearable when I am in the States, much less now when its my life line! Its not at the cafe, Rebecca calls me back. She then calls my 310 number hoping that someone will answer. The cab driver picks up and says that he will bring the phone back to me in 30 mins.

So I go downstairs, waiting at the curb w/ such anticipation and worry that I am reminded of my mom telling me the story of my first day of school. Of how she waited so eagerly at the bus stop in the afternoon for my return. The sheer anxiety. Yes, I do realize that I have just compared my feelings for my blackberry to that of my mother towards me, her only child.
In the mean time, the security guard at Eric's apt where I am staying starts to tell me something about the apt. The best I could make out is that the bathroom is leaking and its leaking down into the apt below. Ok, so we call Rebecca again to translate and see if they would like to come up to the apt regarding the leak.

Now I am in the apt w/ the maintance guy and guard, and I automatically pull the door to my room shut as there are stuff EVERYWHERE. We now discover that there is no water in the apt. Great! I am getting anxious as we are approaching the half hour mark for the promised return of my phone. I put my hand on the door knob to my room only to find that its LOCKED! Of course I don't have a key to this particular door! OH MY GOD!!! Ok, so now I am climbing through the window into my room from the balcony of the apt which by the way is on the fourteenth floor.

Alright, with the door open and reward money in hand for the return of my phone, we all go back downstairs. One thing at a time here. Miraculously, the cab pulls up 5 min past the promised half an hour and hands me back my blackberry. I gladly hand him 100 pesos in gratitude, and thank the lord!!!

Now, there is still no water in the apt and tomorrow I have a meeting w/ a gallery regarding a potential exhibit here in DF. I am a mess and would very much so like a shower before I attend to my meeting tomorrow afternoon. But all is right w/ the world because I have my blackberry in hand and there is nothing I can't do!

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

Big planets, small planets

July 6, 2009

Mexico City, Mexico



I went out this evening to a local cantina with a friend of a friend, an ex-pat of 15 years. He knew the bartender and some of the patrons. Pepe is a local and a friend of my friend. We are a couple of drinks in and talking about how I plan on visiting the museum of anthropology tomorrow after I am done w the markets.



Pepe then offered up his theory of "evolution." From what I could understand, and Pepe spoke the Queen's language well, that he does not believe in Darwin per se, but that there are big planets and small planets. On the big planets, there are very evolved humans who could levitate, practice tele-kenethisis, and alike and they are the ones who reproduce. Earth is too small of a planet for us humans to have evolved from a single celled organism to where we are this fast in such short span of time. Pepe does not believe that there is a missing link.



Pepe believes that we are put here on earth by the humans on the big planets. They drop humans off on other planets and are doing so w the hopes that we will be able to populate other smaller planets in time. But Pepe does not think we will be able to do that because earth is too small of a planet and that we have major disasters coming that will end life on earth. Pepe is predicting a north american tsunami that will take place north of Oregon state.



All the mean while, there is a drunken Mexican lady next to me at the bar, yelling to no one in particular, or yelling at my new ex-pat friend from time to time.



There is always something surreal just beneath the surface.

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

As you wish

July 4, 2009

Mexico City, Mexico

Elevation 2240 Meters



Market day. One in particular has all manners of animals for sale. Chickens and various varieties of poultry, baby chicks, pigeons, goats, turkey, rabbits, puppies, kittens, turtle, iguanas, finches and other birds, mice, rats, guinea pigs. Lots and lots of animals all alive and in cages.



Now I am getting confused. Are these animals for sale or for eating? The chicken, poultry and goats seems like they would be for food but the puppies and kittens doesn't seem to be quiet for the Mexican palate. So, I call my friend Rebecca and ask her if she could ask the shop keepers what is the purpose of these animals, food or pets. I hand the phone over to a man who was just trying to sell me a chicken moments before and patiently wait for the answer.



Apparently, the man had told Rebecca, the animals are for whatever you want, dinner or pets. What is most important is that they are fresh.

Charlie Grosso

www.charliegrosso.com

310-592-0895

My Mexican Father

July 1, 2009
Mexico City, Mexico

I meet a very nice elder gentleman on the flight. He is a professor at the university of mexico, some sort of corn, fungus,research based field. He has been teaching there for 40 years. He first started asking me about my travels (I was reading my LP guide on the flight) and when he found out I was by myself, he gave me his number and his daughter's number in case I ever needed anything. After a long nice chat on the flight, He insisted on taking me to the apt in a cab, paid for the cab fare and also gave me 500 pesos cause he didn't want me to visit an atm at night. He wouldn't even accept my US greenback in exchange for the pesos. He also decided that he was gonna adopt me and be my Mexican father and wanted me to come and stay w him and his wife next time.

Its times like this that makes me think there is still hope for humanity.

Charlie Grosso
www.charliegrosso.com
310-592-0895

Setting Forth

July 1, 2009
Los Angeles, CA

I am setting forth again.

I am heading South today, starting in Mexico City and then further south. Much has happened in these last 9 months and since some of you are not quiet comfortable with naked prose, I will leave you instead with verse in the style of Monday Mash Ups....

Be it no concern
Point of no return
Everytime I fall I Keep
Setting forth in the universe
Damn the illusions of redemption
And the hopes that held me here
With this hope inside of me
I will not defy what I would become

There's nothing left to be concealed
Moving on a scene surreal
Sure as I am breathing
Sure as I'm sad
I'll keep this wisdom in my flesh
I leave here believing more than I had

The paths that I once tread
Have all but gone
Only embers now smolder
Where bridges once burned
I feel alive and yet I fear
What may happen now
I know I can't return...
Such is the way of the world
I can never know
Just where to put all my faith
And how will it grow

I have no restraint, no fear
watching from faces I'd assumed.
my purpose set. My will defined.
Give me time I will be clear. Given time you'll understand..
I'd only come here seeking peace.
I'd only come here seeking me.
It seems I came to leave

A stranger here reborn it seems
Awaking wonders deep in me.
If nothing's ventured nothing's gained
So I must seize the day.

Have no fear
For when I'm alone
I'll be better off than I was before
I've got this life
I'll be around to grow
Who I was before
I cannot recall
I've got this light
And the will to show
I will always be better than before

Through my eyes stare into me.
I bear my heart for all to see.
With my face turned to the sun there ever standing still.
Out here, realigned...