February 16, 2014 by suzannesmom
It felt great to get outdoors for my walk today. I’ve been going round and round inside the house instead because it’s just too hard to see the icy spots in the early morning dark. The barista at Main Streets Café, who always waves at me, must think I have wimped out for good.
My husband went skiing (what a good winter it’s been for cross country!), but I went around town to see what I’ve been missing. I especially liked the Valentine tree that a new neighbor put up for the 14th. An idea to keep in mind.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged heart, icicle, new england, photo, photograph, snow, valentine tree, winter | 10 Comments »
February 15, 2014 by suzannesmom
Artist Susan Jaworski-Stranc is having a show she’s calling Water Blues at Centro Restaurant and Bar in Lowell. The exhibit, which includes oil paintings and linoleum prints, runs to March 17 at 24 Market St.
If you can get to Lowell on Sunday, Feb 23, there’s a reception where you can meet the artist, 1 pm to 3 pm.
My husband and I have been to a number of art shows in Lowell, which is quite a creative community. Our favorite Lowell artist is a former boss of mine, Meredith Fyfe Day, who held down a newspaper job while she was artist in residence at the Whistler House. I worked for her at the Harte-Hanks community newspaper chain in the early 1990s.
Here’s the intriguing artist statement from Jaworski-Stranc: “I am a printmaker, specializing in the creation of linoleum block prints. After each successive printing of a color, the surface of the block is reduced while at the same time the printing surface is built up with multi-layered colors. Born from one block of linoleum, my relief prints have the nuance and rich textural surfaces of an oil painting.
“Although Picasso coined this method of working, a ‘suicide print,’ I rather think of this printmaking process as emulating the journey of life. While creating my prints, I am never able to re-visit past stages. I can only proceed forward with the acceptance of all good and not so good choices which were mediated and acted upon with the hope and joy of completion.”
When Asakiyume and I met in December at the Worcester Art Museum, there was an exhibit on printmaking that showed what prints looked like at each of the layering stages. Challenging work. I love that Jaworski-Stranc sees the printmaker’s role as accepting each previous stage and working with it. As she says, “The journey of life.” Another good topic for a poem.
Find out more about Susan Jaworski-Stranc here. And thank you, Vyü magazine, for the lead.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, artist, block, linoleum, lowell, magazine, Meredith Fyfe Day, painting, postaday, print, printmaking, prints, susan jaworski-stranc, Vyü, Whistler House | 2 Comments »
February 14, 2014 by suzannesmom
Today KM added three short poems to my
recent blog post “Do you feel a poem coming on?”
Because of KM and the fact that everyone on twitter seems to be writing Valentine rhymes today, I thought I would point out an Andrew Sullivan post on the connection between poetry and childhood games.
Andrew quoted poet Sandra Simonds, who writes in the Boston Review, “The first thing is that sound itself intoxicates and that we connect sound, rhythm, and rhyme to form very early on, probably from infancy.
“The music of language forms our understanding of the world and that is why it seems so fundamental, in poems, to follow the music and sounds over sense, and to trust that your ear will take you where you want to go.
“We also learn that language is deeply connected to play — riddles, jokes, nonsense, and, for lack of a better word, fun. But it is also wedded to tragic losses, lost time, lost childhood, the loss of the child itself and the body of the child. … As poets, we take [a feeling of childhood] smallness with us into adulthood and turn it into poetry.” More here.
I need to think about that.
And while I’m thinking, I’ll share a rhyme that goes with jumping rope — and also perhaps with Valentine’s Day.
“Cinderella dressed in yella
“Went downtown to see her fella.
“How many kisses did she get?
“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight …”
You are limited only by your jumping ability.
Photo: Luna & Stella, the birthstone jewelry company
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged birthstone jewelry, cinderella dressed in yella, games, jump rope, Luna & Stella, nursery, poem, poet, poetry, postaday, rhymes, Sandra Simonds, valentine | Leave a Comment »
February 13, 2014 by suzannesmom
The City of Boston has a nice opportunity for folks with ideas about making cities more livable.
The City says, “In Boston, a third of the land is open to the public. We invite you to reimagine that space. How can our streets, plazas, sidewalks, street furniture, and public buildings better serve people?
“The Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics Streetscape Lab is sourcing ideas from designers, makers, artists, and engineers to improve Boston. We are asking members of our vibrant creative community to submit project ideas to make our public spaces simple, intuitive, and literally awesome. Project ideas can be entirely new creations or a new way of using an existing product. The City will review the submissions and may select up to six ideas total to implement in the following categories:
“The Streetscape: sidewalks, streets, medians, plazas, and our other civic front porches. What improvements would you make to space? What is the next iteration of our classic street furniture? Look at the sample locations to get you thinking.
“Boston City Hall: rethinking the indoor and outdoor space, signage, improving service delivery and the user experience. These designs may help inform future improvements to the building.
“Random Awesome Designs: great ideas that defy classification or location.” Guidelines here.
I see no reason you have to be an artist or an engineer. What’s to stop you from sending in a good idea? Go for it.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, artist, boston, city planning, livable, mayor, New Urban Mechanics, postaday, streetscape, Streetscape Lab, urban design | Leave a Comment »
February 12, 2014 by suzannesmom
The FortPointer passed along another great lead by way of twitter. He recommends a blog called We Love Beantown. (Beantown is a Boston moniker that comes from Boston Baked Beans.)
I really liked the post about people racing their couches in the middle of the city. Blog cofounder Jarret Izzo writes, “I laughed out loud when I first received word of the Great Boston Couch Race, an outdoor obstacle course completed via pedicabs/couches/rickshaws, for the awareness and benefit of House of Tsang sauces. …
“It turns out Tsang puts on quite a show and they deserve a thumbs up for a legitimately fun event. The race’s obstacles were so ridiculous that they circled back on the cool-o-meter, from a DVD hunt reminiscent of Supermarket Sweep to tossing vegetables at a teammate with the help of a wok.
“I felt like I was a contestant on Family Double Dare, if it were filmed on a frozen tundra. Multiple flatscreens displayed twitter feeds and a nearby tent cooked up stir-fry on demand. This is apart from the sauce itself, which I know as a staple for confused guys who want add flavor to meat, but for whom the advanced ways of five spice marinade remain a mystery. …
“The crowd was dominated by high schoolers in formal wear: there was a jazz band competition in the Hynes. … But I can only wonder, who chose to come to Boston in February and spend more time inside at a mall? How bad does it have to be where you came from?
“In the Couch Race, those high schoolers would be my downfall. I raced against two girls in town from Cape Cod — a pianist and a singer. We had a huge lead, entering the final stretch under 100 seconds. But pedal mishaps necessitated pushing the bike-couch-rickshaw with our feet, a la Fred Flintstone, costing valuable time.” More here.
Reminds me of a couple silly things from years past. The outhouse races in Minnesota. And the time a 20-something John and his Life is good buddies put a couch on a corner of Newbury Street and sold lemonade from it like little kids. (I think there was a charity involved. I hope it got the money.)
Photo: We Love Beantown
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged boston, Boylston Street, couch, couch race, House of Tsang, Jarret Izzo, lemonade, Life Is Good, minnesota, newbury street, outhouse race, postaday, race | 2 Comments »
February 11, 2014 by suzannesmom
What could be more likely to generate Deep Thoughts than finding 800,000-year-old footprints on the beach? The footprint Robinson Crusoe found may have had more immediate application to his daily life, but this could also stir the imagination.
In case you missed the story, here is Sudeshna Chowdhury’s version at the Christian Science Monitor.
“The earliest known humans in northern Europe have left evidence of their existence on an English beach, in the form of footprints.
“A team of scientists from the British Museum, Britain’s Natural History Museum, and Queen Mary University of London have discovered a series of 800,000-year-old footprints left by early humans in the ancient estuary muds at the Happisburgh site, an excavation site known for preservation of sediments containing ancient flora and fauna, in Britain’s Norfolk Coast.
“Scientists spotted at least 12 clear footprints, Nick Ashton, a curator at the British Museum, told the Monitor.
” ‘At first we weren’t sure what we were seeing,’ says Dr. Ashton, ‘but as we removed any remaining beach sand and sponged off the seawater, it was clear that the hollows resembled prints, perhaps human footprints, and that we needed to record the surface as quickly as possible before the sea eroded it away.’ ” More here.
I think these footprints call for a poem. Send me one? Even a haiku would be lovely.
Update 2/12/14
We who still know fear,
Thousands of years on, would keep
Your print from the tide.
Photo: Martin Bates
Area A at Happisburgh with detail of footprint surface. Scientists discovered a series of 800,000-year-old footprints left by early humans in Norfolk Coast, UK
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 800000-year-old, Britain's Natural History Museum, British Museum, early human, estuary mud, excavation, footprint, Happisburgh, Nick Ashton, Norfolk Coast, postaday, Queen Mary University of London, Sudeshna Chowdhury, uk | 2 Comments »
February 10, 2014 by suzannesmom
I took one look at the photo and I knew. This story is for me.
Michael B. Farrell writes at the Boston Globe, “Leave it to the tech set to tinker with something so perfect as the nap. Not a group to leave well enough alone, they are coming up with new gadgets — from high-tech masks to wearable pillows to portable pods — to improve on the daytime snooze, bring it from the couch at home to a quiet place in the office, and encourage more people to steal a few winks every afternoon.
“These new gadgets are coming out as the nap itself is enjoying a new appreciation by professionals and amateurs alike. Scientists who study sleep habits say napping makes people more alert and productive …
“There is nap fashion, too. A British design firm sells a wearable, portable Ostrich Pillow — a space-age fashion accessory that lets users ‘take a comfortable power nap in the office, traveling, or wherever you want.’
“One of the newest entrants to the nap marketplace is Cambridge’s Napwell, which recently raised $51,000 on the crowdfunding site Kickstarter to begin making high-tech sleeping masks. Inside the mask is a timer that triggers a built-in sunrise light, which gradually brightens to gently rouse someone from sleep so they do not wake up feeling so groggy.
“ ‘If you happen to wake up in dead sleep, you are going to feel really bad,’ said Napwell’s inventor, Justin Lee, a PhD student studying health technology at a joint MIT-Harvard program. ‘Napwell came out of that. It was the simplest thing to build that would solve that problem.’ ”
More here.
As a person who can sleep for 20 minutes and feel really refreshed, I really regret the loss our the office nap room to an expanded conference center. I would consider the Ostrich solution below but that my office has a a glass wall. Besides, it looks like it would hurt my neck.
Photo: Studio Banana Things
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cambridge, Justin Lee, MIT-Harvard, napping, naps, napwell, ostrich pillow, postaday, power nap, studio banana things, sunrise light | 4 Comments »
February 9, 2014 by suzannesmom
Got this from SmallerCitiesUnite! on twitter.
Rachel Walker writes at PeopleForBikes.org, “How do you get more people on bikes? Go to where they are, open up a ‘shop,’ teach them to build and maintain a bike. Help them earn a bike. Repeat.
“This is the philosophy behind the myriad of community bike shops sprouting up in inner-city neighborhoods throughout the country. Non-profit organizations that cater to the underserved aim to destigmatize and popularize cycling among communities that have probably not heard of Strava or clipless pedals. In these neighborhoods, bicycle lanes, racks, and, most importantly, riders, are noticeably absent.
“And that, according to the forces behind community bike shops, must change—for multiple reasons.
“ ‘For our core constituents, getting a bike and learning how to maintain it is about economic mobility,’ says Ryan Schutz, executive director of Denver’s Bike Depot. ‘Owning a bike lets them travel farther to find work and spend their money on food, instead of on gas or bus fares.’
“Like the majority of community bike shops, Bike Depot puts bikes into the hands of people who otherwise couldn’t afford them or may not choose to buy them. The organization accomplishes this through earn-a-bike programs and by selling low-cost refurbished bikes. They also teach members bike safety and maintenance skills.” More here.
Sounds like a variation on Bike Not Bombs, which started in the Greater Boston area several decades ago, refurbishing donated bicycles and sending them to poor countries.
Here’s what Bikes Not Bombs says on the website: “Bikes Not Bombs uses the bicycle as a vehicle for social change. We reclaim thousands of bicycles each year. We create local and global programs that provide skill development, jobs, and sustainable transportation. Our programs mobilize youth and adults to be leaders in community transformation.”
All good stuff.
Photo: People For Bikes
The Community Cycling Center in Portland, Oregon, offers bike camps to local kids.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged bicycling, bike depot, bikes, Bikes Not Bombs, Community Cycling Center, inner-city, oregon, people for bikes, portland, postaday, Rachel Walker, Ryan Schutz, SmallerCitiesUnite!, training, underserved, urban | 4 Comments »
February 8, 2014 by suzannesmom
I like reading about — and sometimes initiating — little stealth projects like buying a box of Georges Seurat note cards and putting them one at a time on shop shelves so folks will get a subliminal clue that the Players are putting on the musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”
In 2012, I created the Stealth Poetry Project. Read about that here. I have also blogged about the reshelvers, who move bookstore volumes around (if they think a politician’s autobiography belongs in the fiction section, for example).
So imagine my delight when a website I subscribe to, Good.Is, sent a message about an international group of people doing similar projects. They call themselves Creative Interventionists.
“The League of Creative Interventionists,” says an e-mail I received this week, “is here to insert the creativity and unexpected back into our cities. The League is a worldwide network of people working to build community through creativity. We create shared spaces and experiences in public space that break down social barriers and catalyze connections between people and communities.
“Each month we will get people together to carry out a creative intervention around a theme. We will also share our inspiration and the template for others to replicate the intervention or create their own intervention in their community.
“The League is launching in San Francisco on February 12 with an event and group creative action around the theme of love. We will be creating an installation in public space where we will share the stories of our first love on postcard-sized stickers. Random passersbys will be able to enjoy these stories and participate by adding their own story. We will also place these stickers in random places to be discovered by unsuspecting strangers who will then be invited to add their story to the installation.”
More at www.Good.is.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged creative interventionists, poetry, postaday, san francisco, stealth | Leave a Comment »
February 7, 2014 by suzannesmom
In “Resurrecting the Book Market of Baghdad” at Narratively, Aditi Sriram writes that Baghdad’s Al-Mutanabbi Street once “appeared to be made of books: they littered the sidewalks, waved from tables and carts, sat on shelves inside bookstores, and peeped at passersby through the windows.”
In 2007, a bomb destroyed the street, and far away in San Francisco, bookseller Beau Beausoleil read about it.
“My bookstore would have been on that street,” he says.
He didn’t raise money. Instead he energized his contacts and their contacts in the literary and artist community to make broadsides and art about what had happened, give poetry readings, and spread awareness.
In addition, writes Sriram, “after several years of trying, Beausoleil finally got through to the director of Baghdad’s national library—which he described as a ‘gigantic moat around a public figure’—and was delighted when Dr. Saad Eskander immediately understood his hope to take the Iraqi people’s suffering ‘into ourselves and acknowledge it, and respond to it.’
“Beausoleil’s voice lightens as he recalls Eskander’s positive reaction. ‘He said, “I want these broadsides for the national library, for the archive. I think it’s important that the Iraqi people see this work.” ‘ …
“The 130 broadsides [will] start to be exhibited at the national library in Baghdad in late 2016 and anniversary readings [will] take place every year all over the U.S. and U.K.”
More here.
Photo: AP/Khalid Mohammed
Iraqi men look at books displayed on Al-Mutanabbi Street in December 2007, nine months after a bombing. 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Aditi Sriram, Al-Mutanabbi Street, baghdad, Beau Beausoleil, book market, broadside, iraq, Khalid Mohammed, postaday, Saad Eskander | Leave a Comment »
February 6, 2014 by suzannesmom
For a trip down Memory Lane, check out this Narratively essay on Jason Liebig’s candy-wrapper collection.
Daniel Slotnik writes, “It’s seven p.m. on election night, yet a steady flow of pedestrians are still streaming in to the London Candy Co. … Beneath the Upper East Side shop’s Day-Glo paintings and amid its colorful displays of Chupa-Chups and shelves stocked with Curly-Wurly bars is Jason Liebig, shuffling through a sampling of his personal collection of candy packaging—bright plastic and paper wrappers that most would consider trash, or at best a tease.
“Liebig, 43 … selects a glassine folder from the pile, containing several examples of Kit Kat wrappers dating back to the candy’s official incarnation in 1937, two years after its introduction under a different name.
“One of the wrappers is uncharacteristically blue. Liebig begins an enthusiastic disquisition on Kit Kat history, explaining that the cobalt wrapper dates from World War II, when the chocolate-and-wafer confection was impacted by rationing. …
“For Liebig, the London Candy Co., on Lexington Avenue at the corner of East 94th Street, is more than a sweet shop—it’s a treasure chest, an archive and an art gallery all rolled into one. Liebig is a die-hard candy packaging collector whose sprawling personal trove includes some 10,000 wrappers and boxes spanning from decades past to last Halloween’s special promos, stored entirely in his one-bedroom Astoria apartment. By his estimation, he has the largest, and possibly only, such hoard in New York City. …
“ ‘I figured out certain ways to open candy bar wrappers without ripping it,’ Liebig says. ‘And one of those ways is running it under hot water. And I’ve never questioned my sanity, but when I’m at the sink running hot water over a Snickers wrapper and my hands are burning, I kind of think, “What am I doing? There have to be more productive ways to spend this time.” ‘ “
More at Narratively, a great place to read about curious characters you would likely never know about otherwise.
Photo: Brad Horrigan
Select pieces from Jason Liebig’s candy wrapper/box collection
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged brad horrigan, candy, daniel e. slotnik, Jason Liebig, London Candy Co, narratively, postaday | Leave a Comment »
February 5, 2014 by suzannesmom
Suzanne sent along a cute story by Steven Kurutz in the NY Times. It’s about a Valley Stream, NY, couple in their 90s who have become popular performing in a television commercial.
“ ‘I was retired for 30 years, until at the age of 90 I got swept up in this commercial bit,’ Morty Kaufman said.
“He was referring to the popular TV spots for Swiffer, the maker of household cleaning products, which he stars in with his wife, Lee. In a series of unscripted 30-second ads, the couple discuss their blissful 44-year union and their division of household labor. …
“In one spot, Mr. Kaufman addresses the camera, saying: ‘There’s only two of us. How much dirt can we manufacture?’ He and Mrs. Kaufman answer in unison — ‘Very little’ and ‘More than you think.’ …
“He remains mystified by their popularity. ‘I look at commercials very casually,’ he said. ‘It’s very hard to let it sink in that people are interested. My reaction was, “Why?” ‘
“For her part, Mrs. Kaufman found it strange to be recognized when she and her husband would go to Woodro Kosher deli and other local spots. ‘I didn’t understand why people would be looking at me, I really didn’t,’ she said. ‘I looked down. I thought my pants fell off.’ “
Their daughter, Myra Allen, had a friendship with a casting director, says Kurutz, and that “led to the couple’s unlikely late-life career as pitchmen. …
“Ms. Allen … said she has observed the way they readily compromise. ‘Each one at any given moment is willing to let the other one take the day,’ she said. ‘I don’t think anyone has a vested interest in standing their ground.’ ”
More here.
Photo: Robert Wright for the New York Times
The Kaufmans in their living room in Valley Stream, NY.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged cleaning products, commercial, elderly, lee and Morty Kaufman, Myra Allen, postaday, Robert Wright, seniors, Steven Kurutz, swiffer, valley stream | 2 Comments »
February 4, 2014 by suzannesmom
Mary Ann put this trompe l’oeil art on Pinterest, bless her heart. She’s an endless source of cool stuff.
The online magazine Feel Desain has the story.
“In Potsdam, Germany, street artists Daniel Siering and Mario Shu have recently created a clever piece of illusion that depicts a surreal hovering tree. After wrapping a part of the tree truck with plastic sheeting, they made an amazingly detailed and realistic spray-painting of the surrounding landscape on it.
“The result is a brilliant illusion that the tree has been sawed through and is floating in mid-air over its stump.”
Watch the video showing how it’s done, here.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, Daniel Siering, feel desain, germany, illusion, Mario Shu, postaday, potsdam, street artist, surreal, tromp l'oeil | 4 Comments »
February 3, 2014 by suzannesmom
Lately, I have been following a very artistic art consultant on twitter called Liz Devlin.
Here is what her website says about her: “Since launching FLUX. in 2008, I have provided an online resource for local artists and Arts enthusiasts in the Boston area, and beyond. Through weekly event coverage, artist interviews, Open Studios recaps, and educational posts, the site enables readers to feel informed, engaged in, and connected to the pulse of Boston Arts.”
Here’s the part that floors me: “My 9-5 is in the corporate world as a Financial Analyst.” Gosh, how can she possibly have time for it all?
She continues, “My downtime, in-between times and restless nights are spent actively pursuing and supporting creative endeavors.”
A reason to follow her on twitter is that she keeps up on everything in the Boston arts scene for you. You can also check out weekly lists of events — with commentary — at her website. For example, here.
I especially like the nostalgic, off-kilter look of this piece in the current Montserrat exhibit.
Art: Andrew Houle’s “Leaving East Gloucester.”
Montserrat College of Art Galleries, 23 Essex St., Beverly, Mass., through February 14
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged art, artist, boston, flux, gallery, liz devlin, montserrat, postaday | 4 Comments »
February 2, 2014 by suzannesmom
Of the various articles written recently about the elderly Koreans hanging out in a McDonald’s in Queens, the one I liked best and learned the most from was Michael Kimmelman’s at the NY Times. He asks an intriguing question.
“Why that McDonald’s?
“The kerfuffle started when word spread that the police were repeatedly evicting elderly Korean patrons from a McDonald’s in Queens. The Koreans have been milking their stays over $1.09 coffees, violating the restaurant’s 20-minute dining limit. The news made headlines as far away as Seoul. Last week, Ron Kim, a New York State assemblyman, brokered a détente: The restaurant promised not to call the police if the Koreans made room during crowded peak hours.
“Still, the question remains. The McDonald’s at issue occupies the corner of Parsons and Northern Boulevards, in Flushing. A Burger King is two blocks away. There are scores of fast-food outlets, bakeries and cafes near Main Street, a half-mile away
“So, in the vein of the urban sociologist William H. Whyte, who helped design better cities by watching how people use spaces, I spent some time in Flushing. What I found reinforced basic lessons about architecture, street life and aging neighborhoods.” Read it all.
My key takeaways: older people, especially those with canes, think two blocks from home is OK, but not four; elderly people like picture windows and a busy street corner with a constantly changing scene; they like looking in to see if people like them are inside (the McDonald’s on Main Street has older Chinese, not Koreans); they like little nooks where a group can gather comfortably.
As a longtime booster of walkable communities, I find it all makes perfect sense. If such naturally occurring communities continue to appear, perhaps they should be encouraged, with some kind of compensation for the business owner. What if the city redirected some money for senior programs to a business that provided space in downtimes? Crazy?
My husband frequents a coffee shop group where folks hang out but not all day. That group has had its differences with the proprietor, goodness knows. There ought to be ways to make everyone happy.
Photo: Damon Winter/The New York Times
Picture windows, lively traffic and easy access for the elderly: the McDonald’s at Northern and Parsons Boulevards in Queens. 
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged flushing\, korean, mcdonald's, Michael Kimmelman, new york, Northern and Parsons Boulevard, postaday, Queens, restaurant, Ron Kim, urban design, William H. Whyte | 3 Comments »
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