Tuesday, May 25, 2010

5/25/10

My Scarlett O'Hare approach to life ("Oh fiddle dee dee, I'll worry about that tomorrow") has finally caught up with me. My office is a train wreck and it took the McGuire Family Reunion to put it into sharp focus. The reunion is 4th of July weekend and I vaguely recall getting something in the mail regarding events, t-shirts etc. Jerry sent out a family email regarding plans and I have searched and searched but I can't find a thing. So I have admitted to Matt my severe disorganization, conceded defeat and like Scarlett have thrown the ball in his court. I have a feeling that if I don't get some of my act together soon he's going to really regret being so competent while I was up at Mayo.

Chemo today and I'm off next week. Creatinine still at 3.2 like last week and as far as I'm concerned that's good. Anything below 3.5 makes me pretty happy. DTS (Desiree Tucker-Sorini) was my chemo pal today. Can you believe Kahan threw me over just because her mom is in town for George's graduation? I mean come on where are her priorities? I thought her mom really enjoyed Rush last week.

Traffic was horrendous! Is it really too much to ask that the state of Illinois leave us at least one route into the city that isn't under construction? We had seriously bad driving karma today on the way in but DTS was a saint because I was fretting over an appointment I thought had been moved from 10 to 9:30 (later found it hadn't been moved)and being a side seat driver. The ride home was much smoother. The chemo went pretty well except that towards the end I got really tired. Usually the steroids have kicked in by then but DTS said it looked like all the air (she did not say hot air thankfully) had gone out of me. We had made arrangements to meet Karen at the Grapevine in LaGrange for lunch and DTS thought maybe we should cancel. Are you kidding? I rallied in no time. My Tuesday reward lunch at the Grapevine was not going to be denied. Once again a fab meal and great conversation. A silver lining perhaps??

I don't know if I mentioned this in one of my last posts and I'm too lazy to try and find it so excuse me if I'm repeating myself. A few weeks ago when my mom was in town we met this darling man Francisco Mendoza and his nephew James. For privacy reasons I won't go into Mr. Mendozas reason for being at the clinic but suffice it to say he is amazing and I get strength from seeing him. The reason I mention him (maybe for the second time) is that he is an art teacher and muralist from the Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago. While obscure to most Chicagoans, he is well known to Pilsen residents who have seen his numerous student collaborations on murals at the old Orozco school and the Blue Line's 18th Street "L" station. He spent quite a bit of time explaining to DTS and me the process by which his mural are made. They are hand-set Venetian glass tiles and the 17 mosaic murals on the front of the new Orozco Community Academy are an ambitious addition to the Pilsen neighborhood's status as one of Chicago's best outdoor galleries. The mosaics, which can be viewed from Harrison Park across the street, represent perhaps the best work yet of Mendoza. For Chicago Public Schools, the artwork is "the most refined" of any mosaic mural in its 600 schools because of the professional work and materials. In all, the 2,100 square feet of mural panels--including six as big as 7 feet by 27 feet--pay homage to, among others, the Mexican neighborhood's character, the importance of education and Mexico's prominent muralists, namely Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco, after whom the middle school is named. Currently he is also being featured in an exhibit at the Mexican Fine Arts Museum called Translating Revolution: U.S. Artists Interpret Mexican Muralists. This unique exhibition examines the influence of Mexican muralists on U.S. visual culture and the subsequent re-invention of the mural movement in the U.S. I believe he said that exhibit would be open through August. He suggested that anyone interested should call the Mexican Fine Arts Museum and He said they set up walking tours of the mosaics in the neighborhood. As I start to feel better this is definitely on my to do list and DTS says she'd love to do it to.

Meeting this remarkable man is definitely a silver lining!!

2 comments:

  1. I know Francisco Mendoza! (well, not PERSONALLY like you, but I've seen his murals and they are worth the trip). I might even have photos of them when I was last at the museum which is just across the park...I'll check. Way to go on 3.2! XOXOXOX

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  2. I'm in for a walking tour! That would be so cool!

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