The prophet would have been 70 today. We miss him.
Happy to see that my version of ‘Instant Karma’ has just been called out by Cover Lay Down as a worthy tribute.
Instant Karma by John Lennon October 9, 2010
Parenthood – So Much to Look Forward To! May 19, 2010
Just two weeks until our official due date! A coworker turned me on to this website, where parents share their fondest moments of their children. Highly entertaining. I can hardly wait to see how quickly my beautiful blue couch gets the ‘kid treatment’.
Helpie McHelperson was helping us pack because we were moving.
Just Kids February 23, 2010
Well, I am six months pregnant now and loving every second of it. I have a stack ten high of baby, parenting and pregnancy books and feel that I must spend every spare moment learning something about this little lady inside of me. But then I got hooked by an excerpt in the latest Rolling Stone mag – Patti Smith’s new book, “Just Kids”, about her relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe. I ran right out and bought the book. What a fabulous read. It is so satisfying to read a great artist’s recollections of her youth, of her first creative stirrings. So many beautiful and hideous skeletons, so much providence and magic. I am inspired by the story of Patti and Robert, and it makes me cherish my own memories, journey, transgressions and achievements. So many stories I’d like to tell, but hesitate for fear of who they might expose, embarass, upstage. All in good time. I have faith there is time for everything.
Right now is the time for creating my own flesh and blood, and I have never felt clearer or more alive. I like to think of this little kicking, dancing, flipping creature as my greatest masterpiece.
144 BPM December 3, 2009
I suppose I am really beginning to believe that I have a life growing inside me. So many miracles happening in our lives. This one is such a gift, I am humbled beyond words, but hope that in the months to come I’ll be able to express this experience in detail and with eloquence. Baby deserves that. Thank you baby, for coming into our lives just when you did.
Art and Love November 2, 2009
Well, aside from getting engaged last night ( best Halloween ever! ), the second most enthusiastic news I can share is that we visited the SFMOMA today and I was mighty delighted by the multi-media works of Candice Breitz. With ‘Mother’, six different video screens orchestrated clips of 6 famous actresses in roles portraying the often difficult mother/child relationship. It was funny, disturbing, and totally engaging.
Plus, I had a really handsome fiance by my side. 
20 Years: All That’s Changed is Everything and Nothing August 15, 2009
I’ve just returned from 10 glorious days in Kodiak, Alaska for my 20 year high school reunion. I captured 8 hours of video, wrote 3 new songs, and took scores of photos. Best of all, I reconnected with classmates and THE WILD. I can still smell the smoke from the driftwood fires, the fish rotting in the creeks, the salt air cleaning me inside and out. Here are the lyrics to a song that I penned with my pal, Jennifer Beardsley. I performed it at our 20 year reunion party at El Chicano’s. It was written for our classmates, to the tune of a certain Guns ‘n Roses song that we all loved. 89 is FINE!!!!
Julia and Jennifer on the float plane from Larsen Bay to Kodiak, AK. 8/5/09
EVERYTHING AND NOTHING
Lyrics by Julia Francis and Jennifer Beardsley
Copyright 2009 No Shrinking Violet
Shed a tear, I was missin’ you, my class of ’89
It took all my airline miles to get here
Some lost weight and some lost hair, but there’s one thing that we all share
20 years roll back with a shot and a beer
Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing.
Too young for the bar, so we drank Luckies in our car
Cruising the road to Chiniak
She puked on your pants, before the teen center dance
Got the evil eye from Mr. Kubiak
Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing.
He touched me out of bounds, late one night at the Rodeo Grounds
Straight up now tell me are you really gonna love me forever
He said let’s just be friends, thank God there was no Facebook then
I was a sucker for any guy in leather
Enough Bartles and Jaymes’ and you won’t care what their names is
Coastie says ‘Hey baby, you got a nice rack’
You got spew on your shoe, at the VFW
Tomorrow morning your boat leaves for Afognak
Everything and nothing….changes…
Everything and nothing….changes…
Scorps had a really cool truck, but did he ever get a single fuck
Larry Ledoux tellin me what do to, and I’m breaking own my own curfew
I just want to fit in, I’m waiting for my life to begin
Everybody’s cooler than me, I’m as morose as Morrisey
I want you to see me, I want you to know me
I want you to hold me, just hold me, please hold me…
As I look around the room, I see the story’s the same
We did what we had to do to make it
New friends may come and go, but only you and I know
Our special strength and how this island shaped it
Where were you when you lost it?
Where were you when you tossed it?
All that’s changed is everything and nothing.
Narcissism. The Last Frontier? July 29, 2009
I’m headed to Alaska next week for my high school reunion, and am thrilled at the tining of political events, so pleased to know that Sarah Palin won’t be raining on my parade.
Seattle’s Pepper Schwartz has authored a biting and thoughtful blog about the Lipsticked Pig, titled, Why Sarah Palin Fascinates (and Horrifies) Me. Let me know what you think.
……”I know women are not immune from [narcissims], but I am always startled when I see it. After all, most little girls, including myself, were told to be nice, play fair, and support others. Even those of us who rebelled and went after our own best interests usually retain some of the “people pleasing” aspects of our early childhood personality. When you see a woman who appears to have no desire to please others, unless she is benefits from her actions, it is a bit breathtaking. So Sarah leaves me quite breathless. She is grandiose, high maintenance and extremely selfish and therefore deluded about her qualifications. She is used to charming the socks off of most people (and especially men), and she has a certain contempt for everyone as a result of getting away with it a lot of the time. Her speech about “Not being a quitter” just because she was deserting the governor’s office in mid-term, was a miracle of contempt for her audience. Her desire to stay on the road and in the spotlight without consideration for her large young family, a special needs baby and a teenage mother of her grandchild, is ambition without the slightest nod to other’s needs. She is as ruthlessly self-indulgent and narcissistic as any man ever born. She reconfigures my previous thinking about gender and narcissism….” Read more.
California’s Going to Pot July 23, 2009
Well, our East Bay neighbor Oakland has just stepped up and demanded a tax on its medical marijuana clinics. My beautiful homestate’s finances are going down the toilet faster than you can say ’4:20′, and the idea of fully legalizing and taxing the Weed statewide seems more and more possible.
Might be time to start your own P patch, folks. I mean, if you haven’t been furloughed yet, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll need some way to keep a roof over your head.
And have you heard – we may also soon have 140,000 inmates released from our prisons to help manage the budget crisis. Maybe they can all start their own drug rings and bring in more money for the state!
It was the highest of times, it was the worst of times.
Read on, homies.
Happily Ever…..Something June 16, 2009
Vancouver BC-based photographer Dina Goldstein has created the ‘Fallen Princesses’ series – a collection of dark and funny photos of all the major Disney princesses, living less than happily ever after.
As she explains, “As a young girl, growing up abroad, I was not exposed to Fairy tales. These new discoveries lead to my fascination with the origins of Fairy tales. I explored the original brothers Grimm’s stories and found that they have very dark and sometimes gruesome aspects, many of which were changed by Disney. I began to imagine Disney’s perfect Princesses juxtaposed with real issues that were affecting women around me, such as illness, addiction and self-image issues.”
'Snowy' by Dina Goldstein
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