thank you to my fellow michiganders for showing up
on the streets of detroit with me
and to all those who showed up anywhere
to make our voices heard
—
‘words empowered by justice can never be silenced.’
-Isabel Ibanez, author
Apr6
Author Archives: beth
Apr5
“get a bicycle. you will certainly not regret it, if you live.” ~ mark twain
i was
so excited
to buy
my brand new
townie bike
it was
cream-colored
and fancy
and
i imagined myself
riding on a beautiful sunny day
into town
carrying spring flowers in my basket
looking at all the sights
along the way
waving to neighbors
i named it
‘white lightning’
because
of it’s beautiful color
and
because
i would ride fast on it
with the
wind at my back
i rode it out of the store
and
because
i’d been in spin class
for a while
and
feeling free
and confident
i took off like a rocket
into the parking lot
and quickly
lost control
and
slammed into
my daughter’s shopping cart
i’d forgotten about
the
‘balance factor’
and
I laid in the parking lot
laughing our
baskets off
as
people walked by
probably
thinking we were drunk
in the middle of the day
but we knew
it was only
the beginning
of
many
bike adventures
to come.
—–
image credits: schwinn.com, flikr.com
(this is a repost, but was triggered by my blogging friends recent post about the challenge of learning to ride a bike and my current bike riding spring fever)
Apr4
enter the penguins.
and somehow
unbeknownst to them
the penguins
living their happy lives
being their best selves
in a place far, far away
have absurdly entered the fray
of american politics
my apologies
but i’m not worried
knowing they look out for each other
and can hold their own
I stand with the penguins.
—
because they aren’t used to danger from animals on solid ground,
wild penguins exhibit no particular fear of humans.- mentalfloss.com
—
‘the answer to every problem involved penguins’
-rick riordan, american author, percy jackson and the olympians series
Apr3
raindrops.
‘There are a finite number of times we get to do anything and after the first time it’s a count. We only get to look at the sky so many times in a life. There are a finite number of rainstorms and seasons that we’ll witness, and the number seems so big until it doesn’t. We never know when will be the last time we taste something or see someone or do anything at all. And for all the money in the world, time is not for sale no matter what the doctors say when we beg for more of it toward the end, finally seeing that we forgot to count the raindrops.’
-Cory Richards, The Color of Everything: A Journey to Quiet the Chaos Within
(Random House)
—
Art credit: David Hockney: The Arrival of Spring, Normandy, 2020
at the Art Institute of Chicago
Apr2
“If America hasn’t broken your heart, you haven’t loved her enough.”
thank you, senator booker
for speaking for 25+ hours in the senate
while standing with no breaks
breaking the previous record
standing for our country
for inspiring all of us
for what is right
for democracy.
Apr1
avril.
April 1st
Happy April Fools’ Day and April Fish Day!
(vintage French postcard)
—
‘April fool.n. The March fool with another month added to his folly.’
-ambrose bierce
Mar31
color?
thinking back to the first couple of times
that i saw ‘the wizard of oz’ on the big screen
it never consciously occurred to me that the film
changed from black and white to color
until suddenly later
when watching it again
it hit me
aha!
it was clear as day
it had changed into color in the middle of the film!
why did I not notice this before?
my mind just accepted it without question
I must have been so into it
as i traveled with dorothy from kansas to oz and back.
and fought off the flying monkeys
that I didn’t even notice this dramatic change
no other explanation.
—
In the 1939 movie “The Wizard of Oz,” the transition from black-and-white to color occurs when Dorothy arrives in the Land of Oz.
While color films were becoming more common in the late 1930s, many movies were still primarily shot in black-and-white. The use of color in “The Wizard of Oz” was a significant and innovative choice that added to the film’s magical quality. The vibrant colors of Oz contrasted sharply with the sepia tones of Kansas, enhancing the thematic elements of the story.
For many viewers, the transition served as a stunning visual surprise, symbolizing Dorothy’s escape from the mundane world into a fantastical realm. The moment has since become iconic in film history, but at the time, it was a creative risk that paid off, leaving a lasting impression on audiences.
—
I do clearly remember the very first time I ever saw color on our tv. It was 1961 and I was 4 years old. We just bought a color tv for the first time and turned on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, which opened with full color fireworks! Wowwwwww!!!!!
—
“colour is a power which directly influences the soul.”
– wassily kandinksy
—
source credits: MGM studios, NBC tv
Mar30
maybe haunted?
noooooooooooooooooooooooo
and how do they know which is which?
and why do the maybe haunted ones cost more?
and aren’t they all maybe haunted?
—
‘dolls with no little children around to mind them were sort of creepy under any conditions.’
-stephen king, ‘desperation’
Mar29
what about bob?
how my desktop computer setup appeared to me back in the day
—
years ago, in another universe
when i worked in the world of advertising
I was in an office setting and used a desktop computer
of course it was often the bane of my existence
but somehow I worked with/around it
getting most of the things I needed to do on my computer done
after a lot of trial and error and who knows what
one day, our long suffering multi-tasking creative/i.t. guy
came into my office after returning from a conference
he sat down in front of my desk and shared something he’d learned there
they had talked about how every office has a ‘bob’
a person who could do things to their computer
that they could not explain or get out of
or their computer got so messed up
that the i.t. person had to fix it
but had never seen anything like it before
they had to try to undo what had been done
the bob could not explain
how it happened
how they got there
what they were trying to do
he said, ‘beth, you are our ‘bob’
he got up out of the chair and returned to his office.
—
‘in my case, there are only two kinds of hope – bob hope and no hope.’
-eddie the eagle
Mar28
rhymes and romance.
I didn't have my glasses on.... 