It did seem that the info was unusually revealing. We'll just forget we heard anything. Meanwhile, enjoy the anonymity.

Enjoy your new -secure undisclosed location- ! (wise move but it is sad it is necessary, I've certainly learnt here of the incredible depths of hatred some people harbour towards Mexicans) I imagine a huge secret base full of ninjas, jetcopters and a lake of chocolate (it can't be all work, work).

Congrats on your new home - and I'm sorry it's sadly necessary and wise for you (or anyone) to have to remain in an undisclosed location for safety. Still, welcome to your new home - may you find peace, laughter, love, and joy within your new walls.

And I loved the designs with this entry - they're wonderful. :)

Welcome back. Hey, much good health and wishes to you and your family in your new home.

[comment originally posted 2007-07-01 09:13:21]

Reminds me of my old place, it also looked over a parking lot and dumpster, but it was my place and I loved it.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:13:52]

Nez, sounds like you're settling into the new digs nicely and with a lightened heart. :-D It must feel kinda refreshing to switch out the swastikas for a bit of melanin. And the dumpster documentary sounds kinda interesting...just as a slice-of-life thing, a different angle on the daily grind, just to see where it takes you, ya never know what you may learn or stumble upon in the darnedest tucked away corners of the world, ya know?

Anyway, good to hear from you, 'mano.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:14:21]

Damn, man, I can hear your spirit stretching. And it sounds like music. :)

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:19:54]

Beautiful post and graphics. Thanks for sharing. Glad things are transitioning nicely.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:23:52]

It's clear that being in a safe place is releasing your pent up creative energies. What a beautiful and engaging journal you've produced! Let me know if there's anything you need.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:30:41]

Trust Nezua to take the most mundane of tasks (I just HATE moving) into a work of art. And I just love Lil 'Nita's labelling system.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 10:58:45]

you said it, rafa.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 11:13:02]

An amazing post, your graphics and words are a welcome sight to the Monday Morning Blues.

Hey I understand. Wish it where not so, but the Long War continues.

thanks, kai. i appreciate that.

you know, this was my thought, too!: let's see where it leads. i think i will. it's beautiful access (camerawise). i peer out at them rooting through the dumpsters and think "damn. it's as if i built this for my filming benefit." so how can i resist this?

[originally posted 2007-07-01 11:14:48]

thank ya, manny.

thanks sylbia. it's funny you say that. not funny-"ha ha" funny-"there that prescient woman goes again!"-funny.

--

thank all of you for your words, laurafern, will, NL, RickB, all muh blogmigos. it's a warm greeting, and it makes arriving here all the more sweet. like a virtual housewarming party! did you know i first read of a Housewarming Party in a Spiderman comic? it was peter parker's. i loved the idea right away. it reminded me of the "potluck dinners" my family and the community would have every sunday for a while, all friends brought food, and chilled. on the regular, just because...

i gotta get back on my Sunday Skillet Blogging! or something. Snacky Saturday, maybe. maybe that's a more reasonable category to maintain. jeje.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 11:20:38]

So you escaped to *[edited out]* ... ? ... cool, I'm fond of it despite certain limitations ... shouldn't there be, somewhere there, some sort of community garden, though? Felicidades y saludos desde el DF, casi.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 14:24:27]

You are in [edited out] now? I have never been there, but many friends went to school there and liked it very much. My personal mania, trees, seems to be one of yours too. It's amazing how much better anyplace becomes immediately if it just has nice trees. So nice to see your new digs and keep on with the climb!

I would vote that you check out the dumpster and not just get all artsy with the film, which is OK too. Don't be shy, those dumpsters have lots of great things inside if it's a [-edited out-] dumpster. You can get stuff there that you may not personally want [edited out] and go feed it to fish and turtles at the park.
And since you have the ring side seat, you can pretty quickly figure out when the good stuff goes in there. The documentary problem is that you need releases from people who may be too embarrassed to give them.

Congratulations on winning the race for space. Disfrutelo!

[originally posted 2007-07-01 14:30:44]

I see a lot of possibilities for container gardening...

I like the blog today, very artistic, great pictures. Having somewhere you can relax is a gift.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 15:12:39]

Congrats and many welcomes to you new abode....new breath,..release nice
paz nez

[originally posted 2007-07-01 15:50:07]

this has been the best and most unique blog post that I've seen in a long time.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 18:27:23]

yeah cero thats where we ended up altho really the plan was just to get into a place. it's not too bad for [remaining comment edited]

--

thanks pat. yeah, container gardening, and tho i didnt post it, there actually is a small soil space that the landlady told us we could plant so hey! not too shabby.

--

thank ya jerry, i appreciate that.

--

sir jorge, that's great to hear. thank you, man.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 18:35:24]

hey RC, i hear you. plenty "respectable" people dig through the dumpster...i'm not "shy" about it (hey...see my logo above! ;) but i can't really bring myself to do it yet. it just reminds me of a time when i had to be eatin out of worse containers some nights just to feed myself i was so out of food and hungry and broke. and it's not actually a pleasant memory. so i may just stick with the camera this time around and be grateful i don't need to hovering over that thing to live. :)

i am very glad to see so much [edited out] treats avoiding a wasteful fate, though. waste like that bothers me, again, because i know what it's like to wish i had just any damn thing to shut up my cramping belly.

i dont think i need releases if i'm not charging money for the film, and especially if its just stuff i'm taping out my window, not really a "film" by any means yet. just the view out my window.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 18:43:50]

Soil space is even better yet!

[originally posted 2007-07-01 18:47:30]

Que padre, nezua.

This is the most stunning and beautiful and heartfelt thing I have ever read on the internet

[originally posted 2007-07-01 20:25:47]

Just based solely on the spirit shown in your most recent post, you made good decisions a good move. Your readers, y amigos are happy to have you back. It's symbiotic. Suerte my friend. Welcome back in many ways.

[originally posted 2007-07-01 21:18:25]

Happy housewarming Nezua! Looks beautiful from here.

I thought about you and your family as I helped my brother and his family move yesterday. I hope for them that their place feels as great as yours seems to, and I hope for you that in this new space, you are more often in the feeling of how many people love you, and seldom if ever bothered by anyone who lacks the good sense to be among us.

Congratulations, or whatever the proper term is, on finally getting out of the skinhead junkie abode. I finally sent you a little moolah; I hope it's useful.

My reaction to the dumpster thing is, why doesn't the bakery just leave the stuff out where people can get to it without rooting through garbage? Maybe they just don't know what's going on. That might be an interesting part of the documentary. Tell the bakers that people are hopping into their dumpster for food, and see if that changes anything. If they keep throwing everything away, what's their rationale? Do they get angry and possessive of their trash? I don't know, I just think that could be an interesting angle, too.

I just mentioned the release idea because at NYU we got plenty of warnings about needing them and also, in several cases where I had made documentaries, the first thing potential buyers or distributors asked was: did I have all of my releases? If not, the unreleased peeps had to be cut out.
For just personal use, you don't need anything, but if you ever decide to show the work anywhere, for profit or not, the privacy issues arise UNLESS the person is a celebrity or other public figure. If Britney Spears is in the dumpster with George Bush {doing whatever}and you film that and show it to the public in any forum and claim it was shot in a public place, you are probably OK, but they might try to sue anyway. Depends on the laws there in your secret location. We'll be waiting to see BS and GWB on YouTube groveling for Napoleans.

So relieved that you have exscaped. And very cool blogging style. Take care.

Love the pretty, pretty pictures! Congrats on the move. In college I was forced to share tiny dorm rooms with some outlandish ass white women, but never an actual skin head. And the fact that boy had the nerve to junkie on top of that...damn. glad you and your family don't have to deal with that nonsense anymore.

I feel your relief at seeing another person of color. Even if dude turns out to be a real jerk, you know there are some types of obnoxiousness you won't have to deal with. I'm about to move back to Chicago after a year in rural Illinois (been doing some dumpster diving of my own, just for boxes though.) I can not wait to be surrounded by black people on the regular. I don't plan on setting one foot off the south side for at least six months.

I love the art you bring to this blog Nezua. It's always going to keep me coming back.

thanks tom.

--

frankye, yeah, there's no guarantee the fella is not a real jerk, either. but some kinds of Jerk i can deal with better than others. so far he seems okay. but some days it just hit me so hard recently, "man, do i miss seeing lots of non-white faces around me. man do i miss nyc." and i mean all kinds of non-white faces. i just feel safer, the more of a mix there is—given i can't be going to a place analagous to your return to the south side of chicago, that is. at least not yet.

whenever this topic comes up, i think of one of my favorite poems and the lines "I withdraw to the safety within the circle of life -- MY OWN PEOPLE." there come times in this land when this feels absolutely essential to your own sanity.

--

i greatly appreciate that, kyledeb.

gracias mil, mariacha mama.

[originally posted at 2007-07-01 21:22:59]

Nez definitely put the "grafik" in "xolagrafik" today. The American Dream one is trippy. I like. I really like the last three, too.

And yeah, I'm only poking my head back in 'cause I saw something about food. Phonographs and hors d'oeuvres. Sounds classy enough for a bawd like me! ;-D

Methinks you should throw a housewarming in the Cantina.

[originally posted at 2007-07-01 21:24:23]

thank you, sir peasant.

[originally posted at 2007-07-01 21:26:29]

oooh the cantina! now there's a thought.

[originally posted at 2007-07-01 21:34:30]

Nez:

Congrats. I hope this is your abode of peace for whatever time you need it.

It's been a while since I read up on it, but depending on whether the use is for journalistic or commercial purposes, whether the pose is "demeaning, denigrating or deragatory" and whether or not you are in a public space or way or private property you may or may not want to nail down releases. Getting them up front makes spontanaiety impossible, getting them after the fact is often difficult.

well i sure had a few lessons with release forms back in the day. i could even tell you a story about when Upright Citizens Brigade filmed a scene (unknown to us at the moment) of one of their improv actors/comics messing with me and my friends, of course i bugged out and told him to get the f--- out of our faces (he was basically acting like an aggressive crazy person, i didnt know he was acting on camera, nor that we were) and then i laughed at the awkward, groveling PAs/production help who trotted up afterward and tried to get our sigs on release forms by dangling the idea of us BEING ON TEEVEE in front of our faces, but i told THEM to get the f--- out of my face. not verbatim, but lectured them on documentary method (boy, Stoney would have had a few things to say about the impact on your subjects in that particular incident but its a new day of TV) and then told them to get lost.

probably one of the few themes that wound through every single course in NYU Film/TV was the release form. i certainly have talked and been talked to about it. permits and releases, permits and releases. script, social engineering, permits, and releases....

i appreciate everyone looking out for the dumpster divers. but i'm afraid they are now the subject of an informal roll of raw footage. or reel. or casette. THEY"RE ON CANDID CAMERA yo! and really, people oughtta get used to it. i think we are on camera way way way more than we think we are when in public, and guess what? nobody's gonna ask you to sign a release. all those security cams, all those phone cams, all those secret videotapers who catch Rodney King type incidents...its just a fact of life now. when you go out today, just think "what do i want to be wearing on camera?"

I always forget to shave and put on my pancake makeup before I go dumpster diving.
Thanks for reminding me.

Yeah man, what's up with everybody jumping all over Nez about legal release forms? I mean, if it comes to that I'm sure he can take care of it all on his own, but in the meantime we're just talking about shooting a bit of video out his own damn window and seeing where it goes. I know we live in a litigatious era but I'm pretty sure we can still afford to do some creative fiddling in our own home in a marginally quasi-underground/extra-legal manner without sweatin it. Instead of throwing down legal impediments to creative musings, how bout some supportive rebel spirit, yo! ;-p

Aaahhhh rebel music...

that's why you read me, my friend. i'm here as a reminder that all food-looters must whip out the clown smile and fuzzy hair halo, thank ya, xolagrafik-demille.

thank you brother. i mean, you know?