God will rush in

I have a somewhat embarrassing confession. I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Yeah, that book Oprah was obsessed with for a while. I try to avoid things endorsed by Oprah; I don't know why exactly, but it just sort of makes me feel hollow inside, like I've sold a piece of my soul to partake in something endorsed by such a huge mega-diva-celebrity. In my own defense, the only reason I'm reading it is because I really liked this speech Gilbert gave to a room of budding young writers. I related to her bizarrely divine experience of creation - as most of the writers, photographers and other artists I know will probably confirm, the best ideas seem to come not from inside of us, but from out of nowhere, from some external source. I was walking through the MOMA this weekend with my parents when it dawned on me that the word for artistic inspiration is the same word for impregnation: conceive. And as you know, I don't really believe in accidents or coincidences - especially not in linguistics.

Anyway, I'm reading her book - very slowly, because I've been really busy and it's actually kind of boring, shrug - and it's been making me think a lot about art and life and relationships. I've been thinking a lot about my friends and family, and how amazing they all are, and how our lives have intersected and will continue to grow together. I have literally no doubts that the friends I have now are the people I will be friends with for years and years to come. We will see each other through good times and bad, weddings and funerals, hookups and breakups, promotions and layoffs. And this weekend, with Schmom and Schopop B. in tow, I witnessed the first of many such milestones: Jenny Anderson's first photo show.

J and I have been friends since my junior year of college. She moved to New York a year and a half before me, and is probably the most successful 25-year-old I know. She is a truly gifted artist, and the most genuinely good person a girl can hope to know. She was one of the top 20 photographers chosen from a national pool by 3rd Ward, a Brooklyn-based arts group, to show at The Group Show: The Best Emerging Photographers, which opened Friday night. We made the 45-minute trip to Brooklyn to see her photo hanging on the wall of a real-life legit gallery in NYC. Sometimes, if you are lucky, you can actually feel your life changing, and it's truly bizarre and surreal. I have never felt so blessed to be surrounded by artists, photographers, writers, actors, dancers and genuinely amazing, talented people.

Naturally, Z filmed another video of the occasion for his blog And How NYC*. You know, just to prove it really did happen. See below.



"If you clear out your mind, you'll have a vacuum, an open spot - a doorway. And guess what the universe will do with that doorway? It will rush in - God will rush in - and fill you with more love than you ever dreamed." - Liz Gilbert

*good thing some of my fellow bloggers are actually doing some work, because I mean honestly I was so busy and exhausted this weekend that I could not have written anything remotely legible or entertaining