Mona Leonardo

            On Thursday afternoon I did the second half of a two-week pose for Bob Berger at OCADU. He was telling the class that someone has a theory that the Mona Lisa was actually Leonardo Da Vinci in drag. She has superimposed a Da Vinci self-portrait over the Mona Lisa and supposedly it fits perfectly. I don’t know. In my experience as a model, I find that even very good painters often unconsciously make me look like them.

            He talked of a modern master who refuses to take on students that have not traveled for two years beforehand. One of Bob’s students exclaimed, “That’s so unfair!”

            After class I was chatting with Bob when one student on her way out the door said to me, “Thank you for posing!” I said, “You’re welcome!” She was almost out but then she opened the door again to tell me, “You have a really nice nose for drawing!”

            On the way home I stopped at Freshco where I bought Clementines, grapes, bread, apple turnovers, cheese, flavoured and plain yogourt, margarine, and canned peaches. Male cashiers are very rare in supermarkets. I’ve seen a couple at Freshco but there’s one guy named Jeremiah who is often working there when I shop. He’s much more personable than the most of the female checkout people but in addition to actually being actually friendly, his face seems to be structured in such a way that it looks kind of frozen into a permanent Mona Lisa smile.

            That night the singing guy passed my window, this time doing a very strong version of “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.

            Friday was an uneventful day. I stayed at home and got caught up on my journal entries. Then I got back to making notes for my Canadian Poetry essay.

            There’s a reference in El Jones’s poem, “Light Skinned Girl” to how “Beyoncé dances at the front and the dark girls dance behind”. I assume she means in the Destiny’s Child era and she’s obviously implying that Beyoncé is more successful than the others because of her lighter skin tone. I wonder if it’s true. I guess it could be. I know that Beyoncé’s father micromanaged the group right down to the choreography though and it wouldn’t be surprising that a father would want his daughter out in front. But in terms of crowd appeal Beyoncé’s lighter skin could very well have given her a larger fan base.