Arts

When I think of the play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, I don't think of comedy. How about you? The people who produce the Tennessee Williams Festival in New Orleans each year also would never call A Streetcar Named Desire funny, but they do know how to have a good time and show the renowned playwright some love. And so, when the festival ends this year on March 28, it will culminate with an outrageous tradition, the Stella Shouting Contest. Actually, it's the "Stella and Stanley Shouting Contest," but the Stanleys steal the show. The attention on Stanley may be more about love for Marlon Brando's portrayal of him than any commentary on Stella.

Although the news is frequently disturbing, I still read the newspaper while I eat breakfast. On Friday morning, a news item caught my eye: an art gallery in New York's West Village is displaying a live naked woman. The title told me everything that I needed to know: Hey, Look! She's Naked! But It's Art, So It's All Right.

Next week, the Mom 2.0 Summit is coming to my town of Houston, Texas. The schedule looks chock-full of informative sessions for any mom with a web presence (including blogs, but also any other professional websites). However, if I'm honest, the sessions aren't what I'm looking forward to the most...

Last week, I mentioned that I was flying to Salt Lake City to attend the Altitude Design Summit. I left for the Altitude Design Summit and Salt Lake City really not knowing what to expect; and admittedly, I was a bit intimidated attending a conference filled with people who spent their time studying good design (really, what does one wear to a conference like this?). 

A few months ago, I watched with interest as friends began tweeting about the Altitude Design Summit, the inaugural conference geared toward design bloggers, to be held in Salt Lake City, Utah, January 21 - 23. As someone who follows design bloggers -- both digital design and interior design -- with a considerable amount of fanaticism, I really, really wanted to go. But as someone who isn't a design blogger at all -- I just like to take lots of pictures -- I thought perhaps this conference wouldn't be for me. Boy, was I wrong.