Gravel & grace
hello world
I'm your wild girl
- the runaways
Simplement Deux.
a brief ballet
at Bay-50 St. in Brooklyn
LIFE BLEW UP
So I started taking pictures.
I’m a complete amateur. A brazen unabashed bona fide amateur.
I don’t know anything about photography except that it helps me outline a story that might make sense one day.
And if things never make sense, well, shit.
All the better.
What is a story anyway…but that which we tell ourselves.
Here we meet. I’ve hit gravel. Rock bottom. Dirt sandwich.
Picking things up with all the grace I can muster.
Thanks for visiting.
Even if only for a staccato-like jump before the next ephemeral moment.
February 21, 2026
Took the 7 train to Flushing on the day of the Lunar New Year parade and saw a few things. Didn’t see the actual parade.
Not sure if I like Flushing. I bought a pair of sesame balls that weren’t so great because they didn’t have that crispy outer shell. The outside just blended boringly with the inside. That’s not supposed to happen. These balls were not spectacular. I’ve had better balls. The pineapple bun I got was super mediocre. I’ve had much better buns. This one oddly lacked crust and tenderness. I may have just gone to the wrong bakery, but in my opinion, there should be no such thing as a bad bakery in any Chinatown. I judge bakeries by their balls. If they don’t nail that crispy outside paired with the satisfying chewiness of the glutinous starch-bomb inside, its other selections are likely not great.
The 7 train is also a huge hassle. I’m decidedly not a big fan of the 7 train for so many reasons.
I’ve never had a bad pair of balls in Manhattan. Taking the train to Manhattan’s Chinatown is going to continue to be my go-to 🙂 I also have so much history there, so yes, I’m a little biased.
One of the best moments of the day was not captured in a photo. Smushed in the 7 train by the door, I watched a woman with four daughters board the train and congregate around a middle pole. They were all smiling, a pleasant presence, which is rare for kids ranging from 5 to 13 who don’t have a seat on a crowded train.
They were all so precious, particularly the oldest daughter. It was apparent that mom relied on her to help keep the little ones in line. She’s a beautiful girl, and I noticed that whoever cut her bangs did it with so much love. They framed her face perfectly.
Feeling someone looking my way, I looked up instinctively, and there was the oldest daughter observing me. She did not look away. Instead, she held my gaze, two pairs of brown eyes decades apart, locked in for a millenia and a moment, and we smiled at each other with an unnameable knowing.
I’ve met this lovely soul before, and I’m sure we’ll meet again <3
February 20, 2026
Year of the Fire Horse comes only once every 60 years.
We waited in the raw, icy cold in a line around the block to see DJ Gia Fu spread salsa, mambo, love, and Canto-pop in celebration of the Lunar New Year.
She’s breathtakingly gorgeous. A blaze of light that warmed every heart in the house. This has been an exceptionally long winter for NYC, but it’s the best one I’ve had in a long time, and everyone else seemed to feel that way under her musical mastery. What I didn’t record was the end of the evening when, with tears in her eyes, she told us that salsa saved her life. She is a cancer survivor.
I’m at a stage where some things are too precious to be recorded, or I have a hard time deciding whether to capture a moment or be in a moment. This particular moment felt so intimate. I chose to just be, so my recollection of her describing that is all I have. As I continue to grow in my relationship with images, I’m assuming I’ll know how to finesse those moments with greater decisiveness and clarity.
Year of the Fire Horse rewards riders who are ready to capture opportunities that present just as quickly as they’re gone. I’ve been building up to this. I’m ready for this.
Ikimashou.
October 8, 2025
My silence
and compliance
dealt you
many, many
Stay Out of Jail Free cards
but it turns out
I’m the one
truly free.
I did it.
Finally.
I will forever love October.
AUGUST 22, 2025
Heartbroken
but still dreaming
still dancing
still remembering a future
Stillwell my heart.
I love Coney Island.
I love the way it clears my mind when the only way I can meditate is by bright lights and a sea breeze. I love that people are always having so much fun here. I love how the Thunderbolt thrills so intensely that you can barely hear anyone scream on that straight drop down because it takes your breath away.
I love standing here watching, one ride after another, because I’m still too chicken shit to go on the Thunderbolt. I’m thrilled for them, though, and smile like a lunatic through the gate.
crossing Nathan's
Do not lean on door
Do not text your ex
Just don’t
august 21, 2025
I love when dancers suddenly catch the spirit on what seems like an ordinary sidewalk on an ordinary day.
When life exploded, shit flew everywhere, including me. Initially, I landed in California. As soon as those plane wheels sparked that Pacific-side pavement, I felt like a cat in a bath. All claws and frantic will, but no match for the slippery porcelain walls that spell failure with every attempt to climb out.
I missed New York City. Immediately. Horribly.
I belong here. I want my shot.
So a good friend who’s a really good person – like Salt of the Earth type of person – let me crash with him until I can fly again.
I look out of his window a lot like Grandma wondering when the parents are finally going to come scoop up the damn kids.
During one of those random looks out the window, there was the dancer, and seeing this spontaneous burst of creative expression completely made my day.
You never know how your gifts spread so much joy by giving light and hope to someone you’ll never meet.
So keep dancing.
august 20, 2025
The first night of the time of my life. I thought I was stuck on the West Coast, until I stumbled off a plane and rocked out with Joan Jett and Billy Idol at The Garden the next day. “Welcome home!” the city screeched. And I looked back in its face with tears drenching mine. “I was a fool to ever think I could live without you.” It licked my cheek with a spontaneous mist of summer rain, splashed me with dirty dog water, and off I went to rediscover its streets, smiling like a lunatic.
I thought I was going to be the only person at this concert completely solo, but it turns out the guy in the seat right next to me also came to The Garden alone.
He said he liked my jacket and dipped into small talk. Told me his accent was from his birthplace in Switzerland and that his parents met at a Led Zeppelin concert. He was so unassumingly cute. And didn’t know much about Joan Jett.
I’ll never forget him, how he also hollered like a lunatic and yell-sang his ass off just as loudly as me when The Idol opened with “Still Dancing.” We went absolutely bonkers, surfing the same wavelength of the favorite song we didn’t know the other liked just as much. The most wholesome fun one can ever have with a permanent stranger. I went bananas. I laughed like I was with a whole big group of friends, and so did he.
It’s practically my theme song at this point. Dancing and singing badly while trying to record video as I was doesn’t yield the best results. So here’s someone else’s video. Posted by @GuitarClassics on YT. For posterity, for me. It’s almost a month after this concert as I write this and I’m still stupidly high from that opening that sent shots of cosmic fire through my veins. Still thrilled from having been there. Still dancing <3
Little brazil aka 46th st btw 5th & 6th avenues
I don't know how to organize my photos yet so here we are.
