have been seeing some pretty serious new shoe styles on the streets. orange plastic sneakers with cut outs, black and white striped scalloped pumps, bright pink, orange or blue creations. its a new way of thinking when it comes to shoes right now. people are trading in serious stilettos for whimsical heels and skimmers. basic blacks are being swapped for punches of bright jewel tones. mules for flats. simple and clean for acutrements like flowers, delicate chains, brocades. it's a return to the 80's yes, but it is something else as well. a flowering of the next generation's ideals when it comes footwear. the idea that it doesn't have to be so serious as everything is quite transient and ephemeral anyway. and a bit of a cheeky wink to those in this country espousing diligence in all it's necon forms as of late. power of the people through shoes. pleasure of the people through shoes. yes indeed ladies and gentlemen, that is what it's all about.

so as of late i have been doing my cross-village running in the evenings. if i leave the east side at 7pm i make to the pier in time to go up greenwich to 11th street, hit the park and run around both the short and the long piers, all the time taking in the sunset. a beautiful one last night, horizon streaked with red and orange and the most limitless sky above. then i circle back from the long pier and face my gorgeous city, now painted with rosy light, and i run back into it, the mess, chaos and street scenes, of which there are many.

scene: tracey knapp and i are driving in a rented mitsubishi lancer on comm ave towards somerville. i am obessively alternating between fruits of my labor and butterfly.

me: when are mason and lucinda getting hitched?
tracey: i don't know
me: you and i will be the bridesmaids and we'll plan the whole wedding
tracey: yeah
me: all they have to do is show up
tracey: i think mason's already engaged to someone
me:hm. it'll be perfect. and we can be like, lucinda's, friends!
tracey: yeah!
me: and wear really cute bridesmaid outfits
tracey: except then lucinda won't sing such good fucked up heartbreak songs because mason is so cute and nice and sweet
me: yeah, maybe not a good idea
tracey: yeah

and some news that made me alternately cry and scream with happiness, proud to annouce esteemed poet and dear friend, raymond mcdaniel, has won the 2003 national poetry series. go rayray!

i am officially on holiday. well, working holiday SO KEEP THE MANDAL COMMENTARY coming. but anyway, posts may be a bit few and far between.

well, wasn't that beautiful? new york city pitch black with only candles and a brilliant moon for light. i love it when the city is forced to step outside of itself, to introspect for just a moment in it's ever-pulsing pace.

today on the subway, inspired by the woman sitting across from me's black pointed flats with their 80's heel, i fell into a reverie about my gunmetal gray-taupe mia's. WHY didn't i save those? why why why? if i had i would be able to take those wonderful pointy toed, just-so wedge-heeled lovely, cushy, comfortable skimmers to my favorite shoe designer and had them replicated in every color and every fabrication. mia's were THE shoe to have in the late 80's. everyone i knew had mulitiple pairs of both styles: the aforementioned 1/2 inch wedge heel with the pointy toe and the other model, also a flat, not as pointy of a toe, with a regular 1/2 inch wooden heel and a delicate scallop on the right side only. i wore either pair everyday with my catholic girl's school plaid kilts, no socks, an untucked button down of my dad's and lots of attitude. those were the days when a perfect skimmer ran you $30, and new order seemed like the perfect music for every occasion.

matthew simonelli, costume designer and stylist extraordinaire writes in, re: the mandal:

"i believe i have seen the boys of chelsea in peddle pushers and fancy slides, and the boys of the east village wearing their dirty jeans with rubber flip-flops. however, i believe a mandal is a woven leather sandal made by bass or perry ellis. an ankle strap with a brass buckle, worn by people who make significantly more than i do per year. the man who wears the "mandal", is a native of washington d.c., anywhere in the middle west, or just off a golf course at a tropical resort in florida. these men are more commonly republican than not, and have a passion for pleated front pants.

it's not the mandal i hate... i hate it's fans."

so, oh yes you ask, who are the writers? what did they read?

well, jim zervanos regaled us with hilarious tales from the inside of a greek-american family replete with a twisted oedipus plot, a lesbian punk-rock sister, an adult brother who still lives in the basement, another brother who is obtusely oblivious. a beautiful scene where plastic action figures drive an intimate confession.

leslie blanco hit us with the tale of magdalena, a perfectly preserved corpse in a small town in cuba that incites riots of lust among the villagers. the scene where her nemesis drives off the road with her body in his trunk after attempting to destroy it with both acid and his own brute force, and how she prevails, even dead.

speed weed read act I of "errorism" a play destined to give you a chill up your spine. think george bush gone to the land of the absurd,(no even MORE absurd), the self-destruction of language as we know it, the world engulfed in a darkness no communication can penetrate.

i read solipsistic sentimental poetry and talked about shoes.

wow. just back from a weekend filled with amazing readings from some of the most inventive fiction writers writing today, skinny-dipping in beautiful lake ontario, a hike through gorgeous woods with two cute dogs, and some of the best BBQ north of memphis. not that i have had BBQ in memphis but i am projecting. imagining if you will. that's what we do, we writers. imagine things. or even just write them down.

dear reader joe epstein writes in re: mandals:

"I have been following your mandal discussion quite closely and wanted to share my thoughts on the matter. The fact is that mandals are gayer than gay (to the venerable Randy Sklar's point). In today's post millennial, post feminist, post Sept 11th, post gay, post wife beater, post trucker hat contemporary culture, this unfortunately means they will be widely adopted by chest shaving, over gelling straight guys every where as one of the newest and most important
signs and signifiers of male culture (cause normal guy culture bascially exists on the fashion scraps of other overexposed subcultures).

i long for steel toe combat boots. "

then mattie and i came home early last night and had a lovely walk to our new favorite place, westville, for dinner. everyone is so nice there and it's quite packed everytime we go now. (no blueberry pie but apparently she is baking some for today. mmmm. may have to stop by.) i think for some reason this place retains the feeling of a comfortable vacation hangout in visit maine or up north michigan. there is a super mellow vibe (last night's tunes were the allman brothers) which seems to emanate from the food and light walls, delicate green of the cushion along the wall and the open front and wooden bench on the street, perfect for sipping after-dinner lemonade and watching the street go by.

had a very strange run in the hamptons this weekend. saturday was hazy and hot but down by the water it was practically foggy what with the waves and all. did an hour run in haze so thick i couldn't see more than 20 feet in front of me. everytime i happened upon another person it was as if they appeared from nowhere, just emerging out of the mist. saw a woman sobbing, a couple arguing, a family gathering. discrete scenes in the thick soup of moisture, for my viewing only. very surreal. but the water was perfect, and it was good to be so completely free of any signposts or landmarks, the only reality being the immediate of grit of the sand in my feet, the whoosh of salt-water washing up my legs and the moist fractaled air.

i have been ever so remiss in my posts. last week was a bit crazy but had many a letter about the mandals issue, including a tip from tracey cox, who is one of the stylists on sex and the city. he claims the basic black flip flop from old navy in black (2 for $10) is an appropriate style choice for men who must don sandals. simple and clean aesthetic, i do agree. so noted by myself and my faithful readers.