Ai Wei Wei at Alcatraz

this valentine's day we took a trip to Alcatraz to see @Large, an Ai Wei Wei exhibit. Ai Wei Wei is a chinese artist and activist who focuses on freedom of expression and human rights. if you're unfamiliar with his work i'll bet you can recognize one of his contributions. he was a designer and consultant for the Beijing National Stadium for the 2008 Summer Olympics. you know, the giant birds nest. yeah, that's him. i've never seen Alcatraz used as an arena to showcase art, so when this came up i knew i had to see it. @Large consists of seven different art installations be it visual, sound or mixed media, displayed all over Alcatraz in many of the areas not usually open to the public. you can read the descriptions on the For-Site Foundation page. 

With Wind

the dragon represents personal freedom and other kites around the room represent nations that restrict their citizen's human rights. 

Trace 

made up of Lego pieces, these are the faces of activists who've been imprisoned or exiled for their beliefs.

Refraction

made to resemble the wing of a bird, this represents freedom in confinement. 

Yours Truly

an opportunity to write to activist prisoners

Blossom

porcelain flowers fill the bathtub, sink and toilets of the hospital portion of Alcatraz, offering "comfort" to prisoners. 

Stay Tuned

poems, songs and spoken word from a variety of activists all over the world are heard while sitting in a solitary cell. 

Illumination

(not pictured)

Tibetan chants are heard in an area of the hospital meant for observing the mentally ill. 

Alcatraz Night Tour / National Corn Dog Day

does anybody know why tourist attractions even bother trying to sell these photos anymore? i'm pretty sure most people whip out their cell phones and take a picture of the picture, saving themselves $22. they're really wasting a lot of natural resources with all of the unpurchased photos.

so, the awesome guy you see pictured above leaves me for eight long months to work in Beijing. before doing so, we thought it might be a good idea to make a "Before Beijing Bucketlist" full of fun activities in order to not get bored with each other. just kidding guuuyyss! i couldn't get bored with this character of a person. we crossed off one of those activities last night when we went on the Alcatraz Night Tour. yep! we put our tourist hats on and checked out The Rock. if you haven't been in a while or have never been, this is a good way to go about it. the crowd is less than that of the daytime trips and at night you get to see the span of the Bay Bridge (with it's new LED light show! so awesome!) and the city skyline in it's entirety. seriously, even if you're not interested in seeing Alcatraz itself, it's worth it just to go to see that view and all of the twinkling lights on a clear night. but the partial guided, partial audio tour of Alcatraz is a pretty awesome thing to do at least once anyway. 

leaving the dock around 630pm

Le Rock

i heart SF so hard! 

sunset from Alcatraz

creeeeepy! i don't know what it is about cracked and peeling paint, but it creeps me the f*ck out! this was somewhere in the hospital portion of prison

operating room of the prison

hmmm you can't really tell but this is the x-ray room. as an x-ray tech, it was necessary for me to take a picture in it. 

aaaaahh pictures (especially from a cell phone) do this view no justice.

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today is National Corndog Day. i'm not even kidding. it's a legit thing, folks! so Soma Streat Food Park honored the day with various trucks serving up their normal food as well as corndogs or corndog inspired things. between the two of us we shared a bacon wrapped corndog, hotlink corndog, chicken apple sausage corndog, and some tater tots. it doesn't sound like it would be enough to make you feel like you literally had a brick in your abdomen, but i assure you it does. still, that didn't stop me from heading to Mr. & Mrs. Miscellaneous for some ice cream to round out an incredibly gluttonous saturday.