Readers, I have lots to share and wrote a good chunk of it, minimized it 

without saving it, and then during the rainstorms, had power outages and lost it all.  I got discouraged but will try to recapture it all.

In the meantime, I wanted to announce what I’m doing in case it appeals to you.

Thursday, September 6th at 6pm – Leah Yerpe, an artist who 

photographed and drew me four years ago, is exhibiting at Anna Zorina 

Gallery  which is free to the public.  Her drawing of me is called “Echo.”  Here’s a sneak peek part of it.

On Thursday, September 13^th at 7pm, I’m on the line-up at Otto’s 

Shrunken Head, which is a free comedy show. 

On Friday, September 14^th at 6pm, I’ll be sharing poetry at Bob 

Quatrone’s 4 Horse Poetry Reading at Cornelia Street Café.  Cornelia Street between West 4^th and Bleecker Streets. Ten bucks includes a drink.  Great deal.  Lots of thought-provoking and feeling-evoking poetry.  Good people.  Always a worthwhile time.

On Saturday, September 15^th 7-10pm, I’ll be doing comedy at N.A.M.A.’s 

“She Reads” – 107 West 130^th Street.  Come support this long-time cultural institution. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam_Musical_Association

And on Sunday, September 30^th at 6pm, is my show, The Divorced Divas 

of Comedy show at Cornelia Street Café.  This show is excellent!  $10 cover and $10 minimum.  The food is excellent as are the drinks.  It’s a win-win.  Mark your calendars.

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 11:09 PM | Labels: " 4 Horse Readings, "Echo, Anna Zorina Gallery, Bob Quatrone, Cornelia Street Cafe, Divorced Divas of Comedy, drawing of Mindy Matijasevic, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, NAMA, Otto's Shrunken Head | 0 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

So this is a bit late – I guess I took an unannounced, unplanned vacation from blogging.  I left you after two parts of a sort of good karma series.  The last slice is this.  I planned to cut off my long hair and return to a simpler life of short hair.  I figured I’m not going to grow it long again.  (If I move up the financial mountain significantly and can afford others to deal with my hair, I’d consider it.)  So this was my chance to donate my hair to a place that makes wigs for cancer patients who can’t afford wigs.  There are many places, and they have different requirements.  I sent my braid to the Angel Hair Foundation in Oregon. 

  

And now I look like this…        

                                                      

      

Before going to get my hair cut, I played a game of Quick Draw and for hitting none of the numbers, I won five dollars. 

The homeless man in the park, the pigeon on the train, my hair off to Oregon -- all followed by some monetary luck – seemed so connected to me. 

But in general, I am financially f’d.  As I mentioned a couple of blogs back, my second job closed down.  The program doesn’t exist anymore.  And getting from paycheck to paycheck and not getting evicted or services turned off has been very hard.  By the time payday comes, I owe so much of my check to others who helped me get through.  Even carfare to go to free things is an issue.  Luckily I walk to my day job.  And since I work on a college campus, there’s sometimes free food to be had.

So I once again ask my readers to keep me in mind and spread the word regarding:

·        Proofreading – I’ve worked on and off over the years as a proofreader for law firms, financial institutions, advertising agencies, and my favorite: individual creative writers.  I’m willing to pick up and deliver the work.

·        Artist’s model – clothed and nude for fine artists (those who paint, draw, sculpt). Photographers on a case by case basis. I’m not a Twiggy, and I’d be considered “mature.”

·        Paid comedy gigs

·        Paid acting roles

·        Paid poetry featured readings

·        Depending on location, I can attend to people’s cats while they are away. (I do well with cats and dogs.)

On an exciting note, a while back I shared that I did a set for a taping of Comics Watching Comics.  I will be in episode 3.  I have no idea what the comics watching said or how they reacted to my stuff, but I know when I did it, the audience and I had a blast.  Episode 3 will be appearing in parts starting later this week.  I don’t know what part I’ll be in.  I’m excited.  I’m being very brave to share this when I don’t know what they said about my stand-up.  That’s a benefit of getting older – the oh fuck it attitude.  I’m looking forward to this adventure.

https://www.facebook.com/comicswatchingcomics/

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 12:00 AM | Labels: Comics Watching Comics, donating hair, drawing of Mindy Matijasevic, karma, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, need income | 8 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

 

 

 

 

I’m part of a support group called Recovery from Narcissistic Ex-Husbands.  One of the hardest things to get accustomed to initially was the shorthand.  They often call their ex or soon-to-be-ex their ex N or their stbx N.  Of course for the first month roughly, whenever I saw that, I thought of the “N” word.  Other times, they may use the terms narc, ex narc, stbx narc, my narc which of course to me sounds like a narcotics cop.  Whether it’s a shooting, police brutality, a drug bust, or a father brainwashing his child against his mother (and his own heart and sanity) it all comes down to this:

The group can be heartbreaking.  It has also been very helpful.  I do wish I knew of it when I was in mid-divorce.  These women know in detail about this situation more than I’ve heard from lawyers, judges, or court-appointed social workers.  These women, unlike those who seem to get pissed at me, don’t blame the victim.  They really deeply understand.  In sharing their experiences, I understand more about my own. 

And for now, I remain in an exclusive relationship with a woman who I had abandoned years ago to go down a dark path. 

We are working on forgiving me.  I hope she can.

drawing of me by Leah Yerpe

 

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 12:00 AM | Labels: dark path, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, recovery | 4 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I came home from work one night not in the greatest of moods, and when I checked my email, this awaited me:

 

Hi there!

I wanted to let you know that a drawing of you is featured in the Spring 2014 issue of Drawing Magazine.  You can see larger scans of the magazine on my blog here.

          

  
​
​Thank you again for being such a wonderful model!

Best,
Leah

Sometimes, I really just have to sit back and recognize how wonderful life can feel at moments.  I know it is Leah's success as an artist, but it still feels good to be a part of it.  I actually would like some of her focus to rub off on me.  She's going places.

...

 

Then there are the women who don't want us to go anywhere.

​This was posted on Facebook and many comments followed.  As you can imagine, many people responded angrily and insultingly.  I get it, believe me.  But I tend to really want to get beyond that, so we can attempt to reach across and communicate at some point in some way.  So after comments like "Idiots" and "Stupid is as stupid does," I offered the following:

"They have accepted the old ways of a woman being 'marriageable' as the most important thing, and that means putting us in a position of need (less money), so we will be a bit more desperate and the man can be the hero. Their goal would be to keep that way as the status quo, so from their view, we attack the status quo and they may feel it is a war on them. I really try to understand how women come to believe such bad stuff. They drank the kool-aid. It is very sad. When I was 9 years old, I won a male classmate at a game of checkers. When I happily and proudly skipped to my grandmother and told her, she was upset with me. I couldn't imagine why. I was heartbroken at her face. Then she scolded me that I was supposed to always let the man win. I couldn't get past a nine-year-old boy being called a man.  I'm sure I must've gotten teary-eyed because I so often felt that even when I did good, it was bad. This was just one more thing like that. I remember feeling so shocked that she was already treating me like I was
supposed to be laying  down the groundwork for getting a husband. I was in 4th grade."

...

And now for some fun!  Someone reading this can win a pair of tickets to see THE ANTHEM.

 



 

THE ANTHEM is a rollicking sci-fi musical about a revolt of the young against an evil state lovingly inspired by the classic novella “Anthem.” Hunger Games meets Ayn Rand in a world where individuality is illegal. Prometheus abandons everything to confront the State -- controlled by the overlord of evil efficiency, Tiberius. With a forbidden copy of Ayn Rand's ancient tome in hand, can Prometheus overthrow the system?

 

The Lynn Redgrave Theater at 45 Bleecker

www.TheAnthemMusical.com

45 Bleecker Street 

New York NY 10012

CONTEST RESTRICTIONS: Winner will receive a ticket voucher redeemable for two tickets to

 a performance of his/her choice. Blackout dates and other restrictions may apply.

 

THE ANTHEM - SPECIAL OFFER

If you don’t win tickets, you can still see the show at a great deal!

SPECIAL OFFER:

$39 from May 20 to May 28 (regularly $60)

$45 from May 30 to July 6 (regularly $64)

TO REDEEM: 

IN PERSON: Bring this offer to The Lynn Redgrave Theater at 45 Bleecker

PHONE: Call 866.811.4111 and mention code ANTRRM

45 Bleecker Street (box office opens daily 2 hours before performances)

RESTRICTIONS: Subject to availability. Maximum of 12 tickets per order. Not valid on prior purchase. Offer cannot be combined with other discounts or promotions. Additional blackout dates and restrictions may apply. No refunds or exchanges. Offer may be revoked at any time. Standard service fees apply to all phone and internet orders.
 ​

To enter, all you need to do (in the spirit of keeping individuality legal) is create a word (that does not exist) that you find humorous and send it to me.  You might want to rename a part of the body, for instance.  Just by doing that, you are entered.  Your name will go in a bucket on a folded piece of paper.  The winner will be selected by her/his name being drawn from the bucket.  Though I'm asking for a word, winning is not based on what that word is.  You may enter your word by leaving it in a comment below, by leaving it on my Facebook wall, or by emailing me at mindyinthebronx@gmail.com.  I love being able to do this from time to time.  Good luck!

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 12:00 AM | Labels: Drawing Magazine, free tickets, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, Republican women, The Anthem | 10 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Well readers, I had promised I'd share with you what Leah Yerpe created from the photos she took of me.  She is having a show which opens on January 9, 2014.  I am supposed to be at my evening job on that evening.  :-(  I am contemplating calling in, but we just had a month off (unpaid of course).  Grrrr.  Enjoy this 2-minute fun video of Leah in action.

Leah Yerpe in action!

 

If you are interested in attending the opening on Thursday, January 9th, here is all the info from Leah's website:

Stellify at Dillon Gallery

Date: Exhibition: January 9 - February 11
Reception: January 9th 6 - 8pm

Location:

Dillon Gallery, 555 West 25th St, New York, NY

 

Dillon Gallery is pleased to present Stellify, a solo exhibition by artist Leah Yerpe.  This exhibition will feature several new drawings, including three large pieces never previously exhibited.

Phoenicis | 72×103 | charcoal on paper | 2013

Stellify means to change or be changed into a star.  Creation myths of nearly every ancient civilization include stories of humans transformed into constellations.  Some of these transformations were acts of mercy, some of honor, and others of terrible punishment.  The drawings in this exhibition are inspired by the persistent relevance of these ancient myths; they span time to express our collective values and experience. 

The figures in my work are multiplied in different poses, twisting, floating and falling in a space purged of contextualizing marks. I never pose my models; they have free reign to move in an immediate, improvised dance. This fluidity contrasts with a fastidious drawing process, where every tiny gesture and wrinkle take on great significance.  The bodies carry a sense of contradiction between harmony and discord as they push and pull each other, forming constellations on the paper’s surface.

In his ancient poem Metamorphosis, Ovid writes about the creation: “When all the other animals, downcast looked upon the earth, he gave a face raised on high to man, and commanded him to see the sky and raise his high eyes to the stars.”  Recently, the Voyager spacecraft became the first man-made object to leave our solar-system. Thousands of years of human progress reaching toward the heavens.

Everybody Is A Star

 

Please share this with someone who you think would like to know about such an exhibition.  Thank you.  Here's to 2014.   

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 6:10 AM | Labels: Everybody Is A Star, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, Stellify | 4 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Some years ago, when I was in a show at the Limerick House, lots of women attended who had been in a play with me.  Also a woman who was having a crush on me came to the show and sat beside me.  Some young guy was on stage doing his set.  I was sitting in the unlit section of the room, and I assumed the privacy that came with that.  I had no idea that the guy on stage could see my face.  I wasn’t making faces or anything, but I probably looked like someone looks when their entire gender gets spoken of as if stupid and put here for men’s use.  I felt badly that my guests who came to support me were getting this crap that isn’t funny if you don’t share the values and just plain bad for female morale.  I felt self-conscious that the gay woman was seeing the misogynistic milieu called comedy.  So my face must have showed that without me realizing or thinking it mattered.

“Could you stop looking at me all judgmental like my mother?!” he said pointing to me.  I was so off guard.  I went hysterical laughing.  That may have been the funniest moment of his set.  I was absolutely hysterical.  I had to give him credit.  He was in the moment, he reacted to what he saw, and it made us laugh.

Last Friday night, I was supposed to be judgmental.  I was judging a comedy competition.  I’d never done that before (except privately in my head, at least I thought it was private).  I didn’t know if I was going to be the only judge.  That thought made me nervous.  I didn’t want everyone’s fate in my hands.  Once there, I was told to sit at the table where the judges sit.  Plural.  Whew.  Then I wondered if I’d be the only female judge.  I imagined each comic who wouldn’t win blaming it on “the cunt.”  To my surprise, there were five judges, and we all were female. 

The judges:  the woman in the purple top, me (in the black and looking judgmental), the woman with the white blouse, the one in the red pants, and the one in the gold top.  Without any conferring, we each were to hold up a card from a stack that was numbered one through ten.  The highest and lowest were dropped.  The three middle scores were added.  There were many contestants; each had three minutes.

The place was Le Poisson Rouge on Bleeker Street in the Village.  In the photo above, you can see the large drawings on the walls.  Those are from Leah Yerpe’s show.  If you remember my blog of 2/19/2013 called “Body Art,” it talked about my experience posing for her.

However, I posed after she put her pieces together for this show.  I liked that I knew the artist whose work hung in the space.  It helped me feel at home in a way.  When she creates her work of me from the photo session, I will share.

They put a comic on first who was not competing.  It was for us to set the bar in terms of scoring.  I found that as I drank, the jokes were not necessarily funnier.  I also discovered that I was one of the tougher scorers.  The judges all seemed to take their role seriously and responsibly.  They were artists of different sorts – poets, singers, actresses, etc.  Before the show, some comics looked at us nervously.  I had hoped it wasn’t because their set was based on us being bitches, sluts, and cunts.  That would be something to go up there with and face a panel of five women judges.  I am pleased to say that I don’t remember feeling repulsed at any time during the show.  I understand being at different levels of development as a comic, but I can’t stand listening to one’s hatred and prejudice portrayed as a given, as a premise with which we all begin our day.  I was glad this show offered true attempts at comedy, some more successful than others, of course.  I enjoy watching people develop their art.  There was a man who did his stand-up upside down.  He stood on his hands and delivered his set.  Most contestants made us laugh.

The host, Advocate of Wordz (that’s his name), was a funny man from the Bronx.  I liked his style.  I guess we both speak Bronx in a way.  When we met at the bar before the show, I told him I was so excited to finally be asked to be judgmental.  He laughed and used it on stage. 

The winner of the night’s competition was… Sarah Hartshorne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can find Sarah on Facebook.

I definitely would do it again.  I had fun.  And a bonus – one of the other judges, K Fhox, gave me her CD, Light Shines Through Me.  You can find her on Facebook and at youtube.com/kfhox.

When I got home and was hanging out with myself, answering email, and thinking about being a contestant in the next competition, it hit me how late it was getting and that I had agreed to attend an all-day teacher conference starting at 8:30 Saturday morning.  It all sounded good when I registered.  The job was picking up the fee.  There were many choices of interesting sounding workshops to take.  I enjoy learning and expanding my teacher repertoire.  But late on Friday night, I looked at the time and said, “Why did I think this was a good idea?”

 

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 5:44 PM | Labels: Advocate of Wordz, comedy competition, judging, K Fhox, Leah Yerpe, Michael Geffner, Mindy Matijasevic, Sarah Hartshorne | 3 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |

Body Art

 

On Saturday afternoon, I was stretching and crawling and searching and escaping and reaching and embracing and sliding all over a clean Brooklyn apartment floor in my jeans and a tank top with my hair long and loose while being photographed and videotaped.  It felt so free and fun in that creative way like when handed a big lump of clay to mold any way one wants.  I’m not trying to imply I have that kind of flexibility, but it was that free.  Unlike posing for the actual drawing, I didn’t need to hold any position for more than a second or two.  So the choices were many.  The artist told me to make shapes and do whatever I wanted.  She would not direct.  With clothes on, all kinds of leg lifting felt comfortable.  It reminded me of the safe comfort of being in those flannel footsie pajamas as a child.  She put on music.  I started to feel I was in a silent movie telling a dramatic tale with my body and face, but mostly my body.  I felt free to choreograph, which felt new to me and fun.    

                                                                                                                           

On Valentine’s Day, I had found a posting on craigslist for a one-time gig.  An hour at most.  A female artist needing a clothed female model to photograph for reference shots.  Her process would be videotaped for possible inclusion in a show in March.  The payment was fair.  I applied with photos and a description.  She got back to me with a link to her site and wrote that she’d love to work with me.  She needed natural light which meant a daytime meeting.  We set a time for Saturday, she gave me good travel directions to her part of Brooklyn, and she included her number if needed.  I’m usually convinced that on craigslist, like anywhere, more folks are not murderers than are.  (Sex offenders – that’s another story.)

In about a half hour, we were done.  I had crawled, rolled, writhed, and really stretched.  She had taken between 500 and 700 shots.  I had a unique and somewhat therapeutic experience, a combination of dramatic acting  and re-visiting toddlerhood.  She seemed very pleased with the shots.  That matters to me.  It never feels good to me if I don’t feel that I did a good job.  She handed me the payment for an hour’s work.  I now was able to put money on my metrocard, and I will get to payday.

Leah Yerpe is having a solo show at Le Poisson Rouge in the Village on March 6th.  Drawings of me won’t be in this show as the work has already been selected.  I’d be honored if drawings of me are in a future show.  I like looking at her work.  I like the whole idea.  For those intrigued, below are her words and a sample of the work that will be exhibited.

an exhibition by

leah yerpe

The Gallery at LPR, on March 6th 6:30 - 9:30pm. This solo exhibition features 12 new artworks, including 5 new pieces never previously exhibited.

Stellify means to transform or be transformed into a star or constellation. Creation myths of nearly every ancient civilization include stories of humans transformed into constellations. My favorites are those in which a god, noticing one of our ancient ancestors fleeing some terrible danger, takes pity and saves them by placing among the stars. There is something simultaneously beautiful and terrifying about this concept. Much of my recent work was developed with these stories in mind.

                            There will be refreshments and an open bar serving alcohol, so we ask that guests be 21+.

The Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge is located at 158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Sometimes, not only is the person not a murderer, but they are actually who they say they are.  And a collaboration of sorts can take place.

 

Posted by Mindy Matijasevic at 12:00 AM | Labels: art exhibition, body art, Brooklyn, craigslist, gig, Le Poisson Rouge, Leah Yerpe, Mindy Matijasevic, modeling, not a murderer | 5 comments | Email This BlogThis! Share to X Share to Facebook |