May update

So, I have been taken to task for the posting absence on my blog. And now that I am on vacation in SLC for a few days, I might as well get caught up and appease my minimal fan base.

May 28: Went out to Venice to see Elna Baker perform. An old friend heard her on NPR, thought she was hilarious, and wrote up a little ditty on her. And word got around, and some really cool friends (Film Fan and BackrubS, with some help from Gadget Boy) arranged to have her perform out in LA. In a word, it was a roaring success. I don’t think the LDS crowd laughed in all the same places as her non-LDS crowd generally does, but laugh we did, and very hard at that. As Workman says, it gives some hope for LDS humor.

May 30: Went with a friend to the Culver City Artwalk. Visited whatever art galleries were open when we got there. The best part was my telling him about getting to see a Banksy piece while in Bristol. Then realizing that we had stopped walking right in front of a gallery with a Banksy showing! How crazily fortuitous! My favorite piece we saw that night was Media, which is horrible and clever and relevant.

May 31: Went down to Irvine to hear Chieko Okazaki speak at an LDS women’s conference. After all these years, she is still one of my favorite LDS speakers. She has such a wide open vision of the gospel, she’s a whiff of fresh breath. One of the most touching experiences she related was when she visited the women’s prison in Utah, and how she connected with and related to the LDS women she spoke with. She helps me understand that the gospel really is for everyone, even if the church (especially at the grassroots level) sometimes isn’t.

Afterwards, I hightailed it up to Santa Monica for PTPhD’s baby shower. Haven’t seen her in so long, but her belly is quite round, and she looked radiantly happy.