alec and alexandra joked around but also had informed/interesting things to say about art. i mostly had ‘potty humor’ or ‘durr…i like it’ things to say about art. we walked around an exhibit about ‘the dandy.’ it was cool. it was mostly outfits, standing headless and mannequin-like, donated or purchased or reconstructed from some ‘dandies.’ i liked seeing how big the people were, like truman capote and john waters. i didn’t know there was an official thing called ‘dandy,’ or that so many people fell under the category of ‘dandy,’ but it made sense. there was a drag ‘dandy’ woman from the 1920’s i felt interested in…small picture of her with a bald head…head cocked to the side, not smiling, arm on her hip…a big white space before the frame…wrote ‘claude cahun’ in iphone. couldn’t tell if i was sexually attracted to her or liked something else about her. the plaque said she wrote things. think it said ‘surreal.’ alec and alexandra came up to me and i said ‘she’s cool.’ they looked. we talked about how people in the olden days probably stood for pictures expressionless, slouched with hands on hips, because it took so long to take one picture and they wanted to be comfortable.

broke away from alec and alexandra for an amount of time. read a lot of the plaques. a woman was showing alec and alexandra a picture on her phone from the opening of the dandy exhibit. the picture was of a ‘real life socialite,’ dressed like scarlett o’hara. the woman was really excited. alec was asking her a lot of questions. i liked the woman so much. she had an accent but i couldn’t tell what it was. she was smiling and so excited about the exhibit and other paintings. she liked andy warhol. when we were at the exit to the exhibit, the lady said ‘you know the wicked witch of the west? andy hunted her down for eight years, tried to get her picture for eight years. and she finally let him.’ i said ‘from ‘the wizard of oz?’ she said ‘yes!’ i said ‘the actual person?’ she said ‘yes, the wicked witch! that’s his picture of the wicked witch,’ smiling really big. she said they had a warhol painting that wasn’t included in the dandy exhibit. alec said ‘it should’ve been.’ the way she said it, how he said that, and her reaction felt like if alec had said ‘your son was a brave fighter. he should’ve come home to you. i will always remember him.’

after the museum we walked around providence. walked downhill on a sidewalk made of asphalt, with a lot of potholes. felt a little preoccupied about food…or just like, wanting something…i kept saying things about ‘the sandwich place’ near where we parked, but didn’t really want to eat there and dreaded feeling ‘sandwich stomach,’ and sitting in the place (it had a trendy name, like ‘[something] fat sandwiches,’ a black storefront, and what i imagined…i don’t know…felt like i could ‘smell’ the atmosphere of crumbs on tables and ‘artisan soda’).