A Life in the Day of San Diego

Who am I? I am someone who inexplicably found herself moving to San Diego in 2001. I think I got here on August 2, 2001. I was at the beginning of serving my time in graduate school for an MFA at UCSD in the Visual Arts. No sooner did I get comfy here, and get to know some of my colleagues, then 9/11 happened, and everything was different. 9/11 forced us to rethink the purpose and meaning of art production, because after 9/11 what good was art? It was so small, so powerless, so insignificant, and so shallow, and so were we. At least that is how it seemed then. Perhaps that is because that is how so many people felt with 9/11 forcing so much perspective down our throats. Now, of course, the shame I felt for being an art maker, and not a doctor, firefighter, or whatever, has faded, and I again see the value in art, sometimes. At any rate, 9/11 was my introduction to San Diego. I was recently talking to one of my classmates and he mentioned he actually moved here on Sept 11! Ouch.

I survived three years of graduate school and existential crisis, and graduated in 2004. And even though I’m regularly told I can’t be an artist in San Diego, I have to be in LA or New York, I’m still here, being an artist my way. Cities need artists. San Diego needs artists. I don't feel like abandoning this place, because I think there is energy here. It just needs to be harnessed. I'm working on that part.

I realized today that maybe I should have called this blog "A life in the Day of San Diego". That might actually be a more accurate description on what this blog is going to become.