On My Mind

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Miscellaneous | 11 Comments

Art by Pascale Monnin from the book cover for Create Dangerously

What lurks in the mind of Carine Fabius? Have you seen her?

Several themes have been dancing around inside my head lately. Tiptoeing like a ballerina is the power of art to transform us. A recent New York Times Magazine article on Estonian composer Arvo Pärt described his music as being able to “touch the soul.” It was also described as “…a harmonic stillness that conjures up an alternative to hectic everyday existence;” R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe said that Pärt’s music brings one “to a total meditative state.” The writer said he was surprised at how many of his acquaintances knew of the composer’s work and loved it.

I was similarly delighted to find that so many unusual suspects are fans of Haitian author Edwidge Danticat, whom we recently hosted at our gallery for a signing of her book of essays, Create Dangerously. The response was so enthusiastic I feared having to turn people away. In a world where most people need their culture fed to them in sound bites from celebrities, preferably on television, the author is wildly successful. While her lyrical prose defies conventional storytelling, its simple and gorgeous use of everyday language serves to inspire, horrify and, yes, touch the soul. I like that in a work of art.

I am working on a major exhibition of Haitian art that is scheduled to launch in 2012 and travel to important museums throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. The Haitian Cultural Foundation (HCF), which hired me to curate the exhibition, believes, like I do, that my beleaguered country’s art and culture should be an integral part of the recovery and reconstruction dialogue. Why?
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Obama Thus Far

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Politics | 12 Comments

With more than two years to go, Carine Fabius takes a compassionate look at the president today

I’d rather be in Stalinist Russia, drinking human blood at Satan’s ball than be in Obama’s shoes. It’s been a year and a half since he inherited an America that is only turned on by extremes, sensationalism and exaggeration, along with a people crippled by fear and impatience. Even I, one of his most ardent fans, found myself screaming at the radio during his Oval Office address on the oil spill.

“Say it!” I shouted, “Say it!” I wanted a bold retraction of his previously announced (and obviously dunderheaded) plan to open some offshore waters to oil drilling. I was so disappointed. And then the next day, I heard someone on NPR saying that Obama’s six-month moratorium on deep water drilling was affecting some 50,000 people’s jobs in the already devastated Gulf. Pass the blood, please. Read more

My Lipstick and Me

Filed Under All Posts, Beauty, Carine Fabius | 13 Comments

Popular Science Monthly, May 1939

From deadly poison to feminist statement, Carine Fabius unearths lipstick’s curious history

And now for something really important amidst all the issues in our world… My artist friend David Gibson and I were hanging out the other day when the subject of lipstick came up. He’d noticed several small, colorful bottles on my desk—a new line of herbal lip dyes that I sell through my temporary body art business. Anyone who knows me is aware that I never go a day without lipstick.

Our fearless leader, Cathy Fischer (who started Fifty is the New), likes to tell people about the time she asked a bunch of women gathered at my house to count the lipsticks in their purses. The one with the most lipsticks wins… I clocked in at 17 tubes. (That was then! I only carry one at a time now). I even wrote a recent blog for Huffington Post called Lipstick, I Can’t Live Without You. What can I say? I’m serious about Lipstick. But, back to David. Read more

Thoughts on Passion, Part 2

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Relationships | 11 Comments

Back in May, Carine Fabius posted a blog on Fifty is the New.. called “Thoughts on Passion”, which was an excerpt from her book-in-progress on the subject. The book is still in progress. Here’s another excerpt.

Having sludged through the molten lava of passion and survived, I continue to wonder about the mysterious ways of this disease. It invades the psyches of singles, divorcés and women in long-term relationships, making them question the compromise of magnificent love and searing sex for the security, affection, friendship, sweet love and good sex that comes with the passage of time (men do this too, but that’s another book).

So, I decided to go on a journey of discovery about passion. To probe our yearning to make peace with its fading, while insisting it stay as if it was our birthright. To discover why we hold onto the notion that an illusion might somehow take root, sprout leaves, and become a solid tree that keeps on blooming.

To get to the bottom of all this nonsense, I thought I should go to the source! No, not that strange and mysterious Creative Force, which seems to have hard-wired us to seek the unattainable. I mean all those smart women out there, who keep dissolving into pliable liquid wax once the heat of passion comes a callin’. I figured if I asked enough of them the same questions, I, and by extension, we, might come to a place of knowledge and understanding about that big WHY? Read more

Oh God!

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Miscellaneous | 9 Comments

From miracles to manipulation, nature to nurture, Carine Fabius ponders the big questions.

God has been on my mind lately, but that’s not unusual; God is often on my mind. Maybe I’ve been thinking about God even more because I am from Haiti, and the subject always comes up after a great disaster. You’ve got the typical questions about How can God do this to a people already so down on their luck? And then, there they are, those unlucky Haitians themselves, publicly thanking God for saving their lives (those not crushed to death, anyway). Something bad happens, blame God. Something good happens, thank God! So, who is this entity, that seems to arbitrarily bestow luck on some and tragedy on others? Most likely, no God.

I am not an atheist, but this Judeo-Christian God, who sits in judgment of our tiniest transgressions and promises to deliver eternal damnation if we don’t behave seems downright petty. So, here’s my (still-developing) take on God: Read more

FU Penquin

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Humor | 8 Comments

Wrapping up our fun holiday picks, Carine Fabius’s choice might be just the antidote for the cute overload so abundant this time of year.

Excuse the language, but what I’m groovin’ on is the site called “Fuck You, Penguin, A Blog Where I Tell Cute Animals What’s What.” This may say more about my dark and twisted, and crude-language-loving sense of humor, but I think this guy is funny as hell. His blogs are very short—just a few lines—and they never fail to crack me up.

If anyone is offended by raw language, don’t go there. If anyone is offended by this site, please don’t write me off completely. People tell me there are other, very winning sides to my personality!

http://fuckyoupenguin.blogspot.com/

Independence

Filed Under All Posts, Carine Fabius, Politics, Reinvention | 11 Comments

Carine Fabius is making a dramatic change, a new affiliation that speaks to her head and heart.

That’s it. After being a lifelong Democrat, I am officially changing my party affiliation to Independent.

I like the ring of that word. One of its dictionary definitions is “capable of thinking or acting for oneself.” That’s a pretty accurate description of me. I wish I could be independent of any political party but I wouldn’t be able to vote in primaries; so if affiliation I must have, then I choose to belong to the American Independent Party.

But, Carine, that’s like throwing away your vote! If you’re thinking that, think again. I am not planning on voting Independent for any presidential candidate anytime soon because that would be a waste. For now. A president can only do so much alone, though; that’s how our system is set up. Without the lawmakers, it’s stagnation time. But the only time lawmakers pay attention to constituents is when they fear being kicked out of office. That point was driven home to me while visiting with my pro-Bush father recently when he kept asking me, But why do the people in Obama’s own party keep fighting him? Good question! Read more

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