What's in a name?

The number one question asked me when I meet someone new, "Are you related to the The Hankin's? " The short answer is NO.

What I have always wanted to ask is, why would you want to know? Do you want an easy way to judge me and my worth? Are you looking for a brush with fame or a handout?

This is a local phenomena because there are many Hankin's around the world. It just seems that here there are some rich ones and some poor ones.

It is not the question that bothers me so much as the idea that people need a way to figure out who someone is. We live in a culture where it is hard to establish identity. There are few personal connections. Financial institutions spend vast amounts trying to figure out who people are, they have a credit score which is their only way to know. What that really means is that we don't know who you are, so how can we trust you? Is this a reliable way to build a society?

I read today that the Bush administration is going to reevaluate the strategy on the war. What this means is that they don't know who the enemy is any more. Have we won and they don't want to tell us? Will they keep secret the truth so they can keep us in fear? They seem to want to change the name of the enemy, who will it be?

This is in memory of my father who died when I was eight. He served in both WWII and Korea. Was an Eagle Scout and believed that truth was all that mattered.

Dead End

When life becomes too hard, two words seem to say it all. Combined they have an absolute finality to them. Not Dead Dead or The End but rather an end that can go no further. Like the Nuclear Option avoided tonight by the Senate can the country avoid the precipice of war and greed. What will bring us back from the edge? Who will give us the hope to move forward? Will we have health care and a secure old age? Did the Senate feel the end was near?

Will I find a reason to make art with hope where there seems to be none? I feel drained by the conflict and poverty in this world. Put on the brakes and turn around before it is too late.

MoMA

Yesterday I was in NY with a friend who had a meeting. We stopped in to Pace to see the Chuck Close show and loved it. The perceptual structure of his painting was amazing. There is no way to see it in photographs. In the late afternoon we made it to MoMA for a quick visit. The new space is daunting. I felt disorientated by the pathways through the building. It might take several visits to feel comfortable in the space. Two things impressed me. We were looking at a Seurat and a guard came running up and yelled at us for "being too close and breaking their rules" pointing dangerously at the painting. We were close and were commenting on the similarity to pointillism and the Close show we saw earlier. The thing that is funny about this is that the guard thought we would harm any painting. The second thing that struck me was the way the guards yelled that they were closing. They kept it up with no realization that many of the guests seemed to not understand English. I guess that it would be to difficult to teach guards to make announcements in several languages.

It was great to be in the city I love.

My favorite painting yesterday, Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie at MoMA, also related to the painting of Close.

test score

You scored as Cultural Creative. Cultural Creatives are probably the newest group to enter this realm. You are a modern thinker who tends to shy away from organized religion but still feels as if there is something greater than ourselves. You are very spiritual, even if you are not religious. Life has a meaning outside of the rational. Cultural Creative 63% Modernist 56% Materialist 56% Idealist 50% Postmodernist 38% Romanticist 25% Existentialist 19% Fundamentalist 0% What is Your World View? created with QuizFarm.com