O'Keeffe at Philips

Moving is maybe a test of what you care about: how much effort you're willing to put into keeping material goods. This move proves I am still pretty bad at recognizing the ephemeral and impermanent nature of life and the material world. Twenty-four boxes, two suitcases, a backpack and a laptop bag I demand Delta recognize as a purse later, I am done. The clothes, the class papers, the peripherals and the wall art are shipped or sold or trashed or recycled. I tried to throw out half my work tchotchkes and two gift cards with the hangers. Nine years of tax records are in a box between DC and SF. The interview suit is taking a chance in checked luggage, with half the clothes and various expensive hair care products. The passport, family pictures, earrings, external hard drives and laptop? Carry-on, and likely to spend seven hours in my sweaty palms.

I have an excel spreadsheet detailing which numbered box holds what, and I think I forgot stuff. I had minor hysterics Tuesday morning, and then I had breakfast. My playlists are Muse, Eninem, Three Doors Down, Kanye West, Metallica, and acapella pop covers, but the Song of the Move is "Bad Romance".

I had occasion to be on the metro today, and reflect on my impending departure. I am filled with joy and no regrets. Okay, I never made it to Wegmans, or the war memorials. They aren't going anywhere! I am 100% okay with leaving DC right after the health care bill has been rammed through the House. People ask when I am coming back to visit, and honestly, it's not happening before 2011, and I'd really rather get people to see me. I am filled with positive adjectives about this move (despite the occasional box-related trauma), and look forward to living somewhere with fog and no snow. I intend to celebrate this on Thursday by making plans for Thursday evening,

Tuesday I went to the O'Keeffe exhibit at the Philips Collection with cathydalek and it was awesome. Half a floor stuffed with O'Keeffe's abstracts, plus occasional letters and Stieglitz nude photography. The letters were more interesting than the pictures: I was there for the O'Keeffe, not the O'Keeffe as posed by Stieglitz. The paintings were best of all: a lot of what I love about her art is in how she handled the paint, the texture and the canvas of it, and that doesn't translate to a shiny, printed small-scale reproduction. Some of the organization choices were, um, interesting, but they did reassemble some of her series of paintings on a particular subject and show the evolution of her approach in different paintings. (Best example: jack-in-the-pulpit series.) The focus was on O'Keeffe's abstracts, so it was interesting to see what snuck in from non-abstract phases as examples of abstraction impacting her approach. I liked getting to see some of her canvases that don't get as much press, and would totally suggest other people go see this.

After seeing the exhibit, cathydalek and I wandered through the rest of the museum, and found (in addition to many other paintings) an easter egg O'Keeffe elsewhere on the third floor. Go us.