moonieandme | adventures with my nude lil' dude | Page 10

Domestic Violence Awareness Clothesline Project

Posted on October 20, 2015 by annierhodeisland

As focused as Moonie is on finding all the joy and color and music and sweetness and shine our world has to offer, even my nude little dude is aware that bad things happen and people feel pain.

Today was one of those days. October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and a local gender equity group brought the Domestic Violence Clothesline Project to the college campus Moonie and I work at in order to raise awareness. Each piece of clothing represents one of the 32 Rhode Islanders who died as a result of domestic violence between 2003 and 2012. The clothesline project is a visual display to bear witness to each of these acts as well as to countless others that don’t result in death, or aren’t reported, but that damage lives nonetheless.

In September 1995, the AIDS Quilt traveled to the campus of the college I was attending in Vermont at the time, and I remember awe falling over me like a wool blanket as I encountered each square decorated in honor of someone who’d lost the battle to that terrible disease. I felt like I knew them all personally by the time I reached the last piece of quilt. Visual displays have a powerful impact, and the Clothesline Project had one on Moonie today. It was the quietest I’ve seen him in months.

Virginia Fitzgerald

Posted on October 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Another participant of Natick Artists Open Studios, the funky person whose funky artwork Moonie had already admired at Renew Arts & Industry, was none other than Virginia Fitzgerald. Virginia is tireless, always chasing opportunities to showcase the whimsy and color and beauty she constantly sees in the world around her. I met her in a photography workshop this summer, but I’d already been familiar with some of her dress sculptures that I’d had a chance to photograph in earlier workshops. Now it was Moonie’s turn to get up close and personal with Virginia’s work, and he was more than happy to run around her colorful studio with dresses made out of every material imaginable – and some beyond imagination.

Some were just Moonie’s size…

…And some were way too big for him.

David A. Lang Studios

Posted on October 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Moonie and I made the most wonderful stop during Natick Artists Open House to see David Lang Studios at 25 Washington Avenue. David is a Renaissance man, with interests and talents in photography, literature, painting, sculpture, and everything in between, and his studio is a haven for scavenged and unwanted items that David gives a second chance by making them part of a narrative or whimsical or unexpectedly elegant piece of art. For adults and children alike, and especially for curious little pink-haired trolls, his studio is part museum, part playground, and Moonie had a ball checking out some of its crazy contents.

Like this motion-activated, sound-filled sculpture.

And this one, “The Swine Flew,” that I’ve seen in museum shows David has done.

And “The Castinetti Sisters.’

Sunday in Natick

Posted on October 19, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Yesterday was Moonie’s first day home, and mine too from being away on a trip, so I asked what he wanted to do. I saw his little mind burn steam going back and forth between music and cookies and dancing and hugging flowers, but he finally decided.

“Art!” he shouted.

“OK, let’s do art,” I said.

“And leaves!” he added.

“And leaves,” I agreed.

Fall is the prettiest season to be in my home state of Massachusetts, so I drove Moonie up to Natick, where the Natick Artists Open Studios was in its second and final day. What a beautiful day to see 70 local artists!

We stopped to take a few little walks at Turner Pond and Middlesex Pond and at Kingsbury Grist Mill.

Moonie Is Home!

Posted on October 18, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Knowing how much my Moonie loves music and color and glitter and fanfare, I fully expected his homecoming to include some kind of parade.

Instead, I heard his little voice appear in the next room and went to investigate. He was trying to tell a knock-knock joke to the kitty.

She wasn’t having it.

Then she gave me a pained look to say, “You mean it came back and I have to share a house with it again?” while Moonie happily babbled away, lying on his back and still trying to hug her.

Moonie’s Mail: Magical Little Note

Posted on October 17, 2015 by annierhodeisland

The tiniest thing can bring the biggest relief.

A magical little note appeared today and made me so happy. I’ve been worried about my little Moonie out there in the world, but evidently he is doing OK and making his way home. (I see he is still drawing little circles over his “i”s, too.)

As requested, I passed on his love to the kitty. She sniffed disdainfully. I don’t think their reunion will be all that tearful.

Me, though – I cannot wait to be reunited with my nude little dude. I’ve missed my flower-hugging, cookie-eating, pink-haired little punk. Friends, we will be back to our adventures very soon!

PRONK! PRONK! PRONK! PRONK! PRONK!

Posted on October 14, 2015 by annierhodeisland

At last, Moonie’s favorite day in the whole wide world was here. It was time for PRONK!

He’d been up all Sunday night making himself a PRONK headpiece, but he’d gotten carried away and forgot how little he was. He looked a little silly trying to balance it on his tiny head, so he made himself a PRONK sign to carry instead and ordered me to wear his headpiece. Yes, sir!

Off we went to Burnside Park for music and merriment!

Ooh, the PRONK sign. Moonie approached it with reverence. A beam of light shone down on him as he posed for a photo, approving of his pronkiness.

Missing Moonie

Posted on October 14, 2015 by annierhodeisland

Oh no. Oh, friends. The worst thing has happened.
Moonie is lost.

ERB Shirt for Pronk!

Posted on October 11, 2015 by annierhodeisland

When we last saw our hero Moonie, he had run out of time to make a Pronk! costume because he’d dedicated Saturday afternoon to making a Planned Parenthood banner for Pronk!.

So you’d think he’d be a little sad, but he wasn’t.

Then I came upon this scene this morning.

“Uh, Moonie? Where’d that envelope come from? And what are you wearing? And who do we know in Thailand? And since when do they deliver mail on Sundays?”

He only gave me that mysterious little smile in return, reminding me that trolls have just a little bit of magic about them.

Then he held up the teeniest little shirt and said he’d be right back.

And, only about 20 minutes later, he emerged from his little troll studio decked out as Extraordinary Rendition Band’s biggest fan.

Pronk! Readiness, Level 5

Posted on October 10, 2015 by annierhodeisland

New Urban Arts is an awesome program in Providence where artists mentor city youth, encouraging them as emerging artists in a safe spot and even helping with homework. But today NUA was a hive of mostly grown-ups as hordes of volunteers, activists, individuals and families attended NUA’s open studios for Pronk! preparations. Those crowds included, of course, our own Moonie.

His new friend Beth from NUA took Moonie aside and gave him two choices. He could make himself something fun to wear at Pronk! – a costume, a crown, a sign, a mask, a cape, whatever he wanted – OR he could help the other volunteers make something for Pronk! for the greater good.

I could see him thinking hard. He so loves the idea of dressing up in a funky little costume to celebrate a festival he’s looked forward to for weeks. But he likes helping people even more, so he chose the second option.

Not that he didn’t have a little fun poking around New Urban Arts’ giant studio while Beth and I gathered materials in the basement. He found all kinds of artwork to hug.

And he seemed to have gotten a bit stuck while exploring the loom.