"Stranger In My Home"

this summer i started doing some creative writing again. almost forgot how good it feels. i'm in an open, tender sort of mood tonight, so here's something i wrote one night about two weeks ago. the next step is to maybe record this as spoken word, since i kinda wrote it to be read aloud. ideally i'll put some type of original music behind it (without falling victim to the cliche corny open-mic-night-with-bongos-vibe). until i tune up my guitar and launch my garage band application, feel free to read a few lines. and yes, i recently listened to "people are strange" by the doors. :)


Seems that I’ve let a stranger into my home
I opened the door with immediate regret
Pawing through my things
He leaves nothing unchecked
I look on helpless
A stranger in my home

Seems that I’ve let a stranger into my home
He won’t sit down, nor will he leave
He stares out the window
Then stares back at me
Pacing awkwardly
A stranger in my home

Seems that I’ve let a stranger into my home
Too intimidated to kick him out
Hoping if he stays long enough
He won’t seem so strange
What length will it take?
A stranger in my home

Seems that I’ve let a stranger into my home
Doesn’t steal, just asks if he can have stuff
Feeling like a gracious host
I agree
Like the idea came from me
Not the stranger in my home

Seems that I’ve let a stranger into my home
Months have passed but he’s still strange nonetheless
Still intimidating
Still unable to get rest
In my own bed
A stranger in my home


All words/lyrics copyright Julia Cocuzza 2011.

Walter Benjamin's "Outmoded"

Gonna get nerdy one last time..

My final paper of graduate school for mona hadler's art criticism and theory class. Felt like I was running around with a paper bag over my head while working on this thing, but somehow it turned out pretty decent. it's an analysis of benjamin's ideas on obsolescence, dialectical images, profane illumination, surrealism, and hashish. click link for PDF.

email if you're interested in reading Walter Benjamin's "Outmoded"



for more about walter benjamin in general, click here.

"storm wafted air"

my "build a piece of writing" assignment for vito.. because it's fun! :)


Storm wafted air

A storm wafted the air

A lurking storm wafted the dank midday air

A lurking storm pensively wafted the dank midday air

In East Flatbush, a lurking storm pensively wafted through the dank midday air

While I idled on a stoop in East Flatbush, a lurking storm pensively wafted through the dank midday air

While I idled on a stoop in East Flatbush, a lurking storm pensively wafted through the dank midday air as I waited for inspiration to strike

While I idled on a stoop in East Flatbush, a lurking storm pensively wafted through the dank midday air as I waited for inspiration to strike, but dude never responded to my last text message.

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I idled, wafted, waited for dude.

History of Public Art, Spring 2010 Papers

after one tough semester, i am happy to present in all my dorkchop glory the three papers i wrote for the CUNY Grad Center's History of Public Art in the US class. if you'd like to read any of these, drop me a line.

MTA’s Arts for Transit: The Most Public Museum’s Problem of Publicity

(arts for transit website)

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Louis Delsarte: Transitions (2001), Church Avenue 2/5 Subway Station, Flatbush, Brooklyn
(click each image to view larger)




(more info from louis delsarte's website)

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Keith Haring’s Subway Chalk Drawings: Graffiti’s Social Intervention of the Early 1980s