The Playboy Rant

Rick's very good friend Keith sent him a subscription to Playboy as a Christmas gift.  The first issue arrived on Friday.  I was not pleased.  Buying Playboy for someone is kind of like buying them a puppy.  It's a lifestyle choice that one should only make for themselves.  I'm no prude but I've always felt that Playboy's attempt at legitimizing the objectification of women by couching it within bona fide interviews and articles makes it much more insidious than a magazine like Hustler, which is at least authentic about what it is and the message it's promoting. 

It just so happened that Friday was also poetry night at A-One with a theme of bitter love poetry.  I didn't have anything new to read and the feelings that the magazine evoked seemed like good motivation for a poem. 

I call it my Playboy Rant.

Stepping from the shower and standing before the evil mirror
I see an old woman standing there
A dismal array of sags and bags and bulges everywhere

Just yesterday I saw her as a well aged woman
whose smile radiated passion and love,
worn but sensuous, with plenty of life left to live and give

But now that the scantily clad lass in her provacative pose
with the Playboy title emblazoned overhead
has taken up the table top real estate where my card to him once set

"You're fabulous it declared - as a friend, lover, partner" I'd added
an effort to keep the romance and passion alive
but my effort feels feeble and fallacious peeking out from

beneath her sumptuos breasts that even I want to embrace
and that figure in the mirror has gone from vintage to
downright grotesque

causing a visceral repulsion that I can't help but think
would be shared by anyone whose memory holds both images
Who knew that perfection could be so depressing

or that a collection of interesting interviews
adulterated with the latest selection of
nubile salacious and seductive females

who in all their beauty are still unable to attain
the flawless perfection that every man feels is his equal
and with a little lengenthing of the torso here

some airbrushing to remove a blemish there
ostensibly intended to offer pleasure and gratification
has the opposite effect on me, evoking

pain and bitterness and overwhelming feelings of inferiority.
even with full knowledge that I'm falling prey
to our male dominated society's plan for me.


How's that for bitter?  : )

More pottery

The tea set is finished and I'm pleased with the finished product.  Teapot, creamer, sugar bowl with spoon cut out and a teacup.  I decided to glaze it in celadon froth and not use any over glazes because I was worried that with layers of glaze it would run and seal the lids.

A couple of coffe mugs.  Mottled blue (left) is my new favorite glaze.  I did a little swirl on

it with pippin (I think).

This started out a pretty boring little dish but after adding the imprints I think it's pretty cute. 

A casserole dish

I've finally got enough relatively similar coffee mugs to fill my mug tree.

The pottery stock is starting to fill up again and Christmas is very far off. 

February 14th

February 14th - 9:30 a.m. - Valentine's Day - Rick just headed out for Arkansas for a consulting job he's been working on.  We celebrated Valentine's Friday night with dinner at the new Hallowell restaurant, Francesba's.  Nice atmosphere, good food, friendly and fast service with lots of extras. 

Saturday Rick played with The NitPickes at a private party here in Belgrade Lakes while I went to the studio for a few hours. 

I glazed the tea set I've been working on, along with some larger bowls and a plate.  Decided to use celadon froth alone on the tea set but I got pretty creative with colors on the bowls and plate.  I'm always anxious to see how glazing comes out because I just never know what it's going to do.  New batches are thicker or thinner than the last, they sometimes react differently in the kiln and vary when you combine them, depending on which color is on top.  I really like the way the glazes on this mug came together and will experiment with this a little more.  I'd like to combine some red glaze with a brown to see if I can get kind of a brownish rust color and get kind of a southwestern feel to it.     

I was pretty nervous after glazing this piece Thursday night.  The green stain I used on the bottom coil and the cover was way too green when it went in the kiln but seemed to diffuse a bit in the firing, or else the celadon and spamboo just toned it down - just about enough. 

Here's a tile I made last November but just got fired last week.

After pottery I visited Betty for a while and then we went down to Hattie's to partake of the Mardi Gras festivities.  Fun parade, good friends, a little dancing music and headed home before 8 p.m.

David Bustin

Betty, David, and me.

Bob and Susan

 

Betty and Bruce

I had to get the goblet I'd just finished for Justin out of my car to use instead of the plastic glasses they were giving us.

And, of course, the parade . . .