one of my favorite things is to hear a child tell a story.
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image credit: nicolette sowder, wilderchild
Feb9
Monthly Archives: February 2021
Feb8
most obvious.
should we swim or play ice hockey today?
luckily this sign helps to make the decision easier.
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“i try not to go the obvious route all the time,
but sometimes the most obvious is actually the best.”
-al yankovich
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image credit: jim grampie, at gallup park, ann arbor
Feb7
poetic.
last weekend
at the 44th annual ann arbor folk festival
5 live streamed hours on saturday night
every kind of music and performance
big and small
i once again
heard beautiful poems played
by my favorite pianist
george winston
whose song ‘thanksgiving’ i heard for the very first time
many years ago on the radio while on a road trip to toronto
having no idea who it was or what the song was
being very moved by it
not knowing if i’d ever hear it again
serendipity stepped in
when driving back home
with a windham hill artists’ compilation cd
an unexpected gift from my host
on which he was a featured artist playing that very song.
“music is the divine way to tell beautiful, poetic things to the heart.”
-pablo casals
Feb6
weekend.
happy to tell the kinder
there would be 2 stay-home days – a weekend
saturday and sunday
we’d all be back together again on monday
one asked –
‘do you know that friday is already the weekend?’
indeed
i love that way of thinking
this one will live a long and happy life.
—
when does your weekend start?
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“every day is a gift. but some days are packaged better.”
-sanhita baruah
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image credit: google images
Feb5
ahead.
one of these folks has been around for awhile and has always been ahead of his time.
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“ideas shape the course of history.”
-john maynard keynes
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image credit: british medieval history
Feb4
magic all around you.
One hundred years ago this month, the magician P.T. Selbit ushered his assistant into an upright wooden box, sealed it, laid it flat, and got down to business, sawing the box right down the middle. The show, according to magic experts, was the first time a performer ever sawed someone in half. Why has this trick survived, when so many others haven’t? If you ask magicians, NYT writer Alex Marshall spoke with six — they eventually land on one answer. “It’s just the simplicity of it,” said Mike Caveney, a magician who’s writing a history of this trick. “Magicians say a good trick is one that can be described in a few words, and ‘sawing a lady in half’ is very few words,” he added. As for being the assistant, “When you’re doing it you’re not a passive person,” one magician said. “It’s claustrophobic, and quite noisy, but such fun!”
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” i believe your reality is what you make it, what you choose to see, and what you choose to allow yourself to do.
there are possibilities all around you – magic all around you – no matter what situation you’re in.”
-keke palmer
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Story credit: Alex Marshall, NYT- Image credit: Nolan Pellitier
Feb3
oneself.
my favorite self portrait of the season
looks back at you eye-to-eye
confident and unapologetic
something about it – so open and joyful.
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“self portraits are a way of revealing something about oneself.”
-eric kandel
Feb2
phil.
puxatawny phil with some other (less famous) celebs.
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it’s his big day, and one of my favorite fun holidays
no matter what he predicts
about the coming of spring
(*not sure about his accuracy)
i love his spirit.
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*the national climatic data center compared U.S. national temperatures from 1988 to 2012 to determine the accuracy of Phil’s predictions, and he’s only been proven correct 39% of the time — significantly worse than chance.
Feb1
take art leave art.
WDIV-TV shares a recently discovered local treasure –
When glass artist Shawn Bungo and his wife moved to Ann Arbor from Knoxville, Tennessee six months ago, they knew moving to a new city during a pandemic would be a challenge. No stranger to community collaboration, Bungo decided to engage with locals through virtual scavenger hunts for small glass works he would hide across town — and they were an overnight hit. He originally started the tradition while going on walks with his dog, Leo, in Knoxville.
“Being a glass artist, you have a lot of pieces that don’t come out, so that’s what started that,” said Bungo. “When I moved up here, after the pandemic started, I started doing that again where I would just go around and randomly hide things and put my card with them — typically in downtown Ann Arbor. I really connected with the community with that.”
Nowadays, his items are claimed within hours of his posts — and in some cases the people who find them share a photo of them collecting his works.
On his many walks, Bungo became fascinated with the city’s numerous Little Free Libraries. He shifted his scavenger hunts to showcase the various library boxes around town — which inspired him to relaunch a project he created in Knoxville.
Bungo constructed a Take Art Leave Art box and gallery outside his home on Ann Arbor’s south side. The concept is a free art exchange between community members.
“I just recently put it back up two weeks ago and I shared it with the Ann Arbor Townies group on Facebook,” said Bungo. “As soon as I did that, I almost immediately got people involved in it and it’s been really fun.”
He said he’s received about a dozen miniature paintings and other small items in the 12×12-inch box, some with handwritten notes. “Over the years, I’ve gotten poems, photographs — I’m open to everything,” said Bungo. He said it has served as a fun way to engage with other Ann Arborites during the pandemic.
“With people being so isolated right now, I think it’s the perfect time to do something like this, “ he said. “It allows me to connect with people because we haven’t been able to.” Bungo was supposed to show at the Ann Arbor Art Fair last summer, and with the event being canceled, he felt like he missed out on a true introduction both to Ann Arbor’s art scene and its residents. For now, keep an eye out for his latest adventures with Leo and his front yard gallery. You might just find a tiny treasure — if you look close enough.
story: wdivtv,clickondetroit, meredith bruckner – photos: shawn bungo, bungo glass
“art is too important not to share.”
-romero britto
I didn't have my glasses on.... 