funnystrange.com

We got the application for the Durham christmas parade. Those losers! There's a $100 application fee for everyone except nonprofit organizations who only walk (i.e. no cars or floats). And every entry has to illustrate the parade theme, which is some lame platitude like "united together under the stars" or something, I forget. What do they think this is, the Macy's parade? It's Durham, for crying out loud. The christmas parade in a sleepy tobacco town. Let's try not to put on airs, shall we?

In retrospect, I wish we had spent more time talking with other artists after the parade. There were a lot of people there that I wanted to meet. But at the time, all I could think about was the heat, the noise, the crowds, etc. I'm not really into crowds under the best of circumstances, and being tired and hot makes me cranky. So by that point, I was probably no fun at all to be around.

OK, Artscape. When I left off, I was just saying how nice it was to double back and drive past the other cars. It gave us a chance to check each other out, and gave us a little taste of what the parade must look like to spectators. After that was time to park the cars. And that, I have to say, was the only part of the event that seemed poorly (or at least inconsiderately) planned to me.

Finally I find a free moment to write up the end of Artscape! But first I want to mention that I got my packet yesterday from Charlotte Shout. It's very exciting! The packet came FedEx, wow so official. Turns out that it's not just an art car parade. It's a big Labor Day parade with floats, marching bands, all that stuff, and art cars. I hope all the art cars drive together! I'm sure we will. It wouldn't make any sense for them to spread us around. We'll have more impact as a group.