By any other name...

My cousin visited me over the weekend and, as usual, provided me with a chance to laugh and reflect. She is an amazing woman who has the ability to be at once ballsy and brave, and then, just as quickly, be sensitive and shy. On her flight down from Bris-Vegas, she was seated beside a gentleman who seemed to have no issue with inappropriate disclosure to a complete stranger. Her reaction was simple. She responded with, "You should meet my cousin. She is hot."

But a couple of things during the weekend provided "Moleskin Moments*".

While driving through the CBD on Saturday afternoon, we spied a gentleman walking a very cute puppy. Our thoughts were the same, the puppy was cute, the guy, even cuter. So with a sly look to me, my cousin's thumb ventured to press the "down" on the window, and before I could stop her, she yelled out, "Excuse me, what sort of puppy is that?". He responded with its breed, and then we asked after its age. Before pulling away into the traffic again, my cousin, in an amazing display of brazen-ness, declared, "That dog makes you look hot."

After guffawing with laughter and cringing with embarrassment, we ventured to the Picasso exhibit currently at the International NGV. It features the work of the Picasso during the period of 1935 to 1945; his time with lover Dora Maar. Their passionate affair played out in their works of the time, but none moreso than the work "Dora Maar and the Minotaur". I passed by the painting, and my eyes were drawn back to it - rather in the way of a traffic accident. I was dumb-founded by the raw sexuality of the picture. My cousin was a few steps behind me, and after a few minutes, caught up with me. In hushed tones, she expressed her shock at the same picture. Clearly we decided that the only difference between pornography and Art is the addition of Picasso's name on the picture.


*I carry a Moleskin notebook with me all the time, to record anything that strikes my fancy.