Co Exist, by Michael Marczewski

I just friggen love this video, especially the mirror scene at the 41 second mark, because they're something about artists being inspired by other artists that encourages the hell out of me. 

No competition. No jealousy or envy. No stomping on others in order to get ahead, just simple collaboration, inspiration, and creation.

I love that.

Coexist from Michael Marczewski on Vimeo.

"Stock footage clips are placed within computer generated worlds in this series of animations. The two coexisting elements playfully interact. Oh... and there is also a cave full of boobs.

This compilation film features some of my favourite animations from my collaborative Instagram series. See more here: instagram.com/michaelmarczewski" (via). 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Art  :  Music

View of Life in a One-Room Home

"For eighteen years, {Masaki Yamamoto's} family of seven coexisted in a one-room apartment in Kobe. His father drove trucks, and his mother worked as a cashier in a supermarket. They and their five children all slept in the same space, a room the size of six tatami mats, limbs overlapping amid a pile of ever-multiplying junk. When you looked up, you couldn’t avoid meeting the eyes of someone else, Yamamoto, the second-oldest of his siblings, said, adding, 'The one place you could be alone was the bathtub.' 'Guts,' his new photography book, is a celebration of his family’s everyday existence in these close quarters (via).

"The power of Yamamoto’s photos lies in this subversion of the viewer’s expectations. Yamamoto is clear-sighted and un-nostalgic about his family’s precarious economic circumstances. When he was eight years old, the family was evicted from their previous apartment in Kobe. They all lived out of a car for a month, and Yamamoto and his siblings spent time in a children’s home before being reunited with their parents. In one photo, Yamamoto shows his mother playing rock, paper, scissors with her husband, to decide whether their money should go to his pachinko games. The camera focusses on the bills clenched tightly in her fist" (via).

Photographs by Masaki Yamamoto

Kinda puts a lot of my life - my needs, wants, expectations, disappointments and fears - into perspective. 

You can read and see more here, at The New Yorker.

For more on . . .

Photography  :  -N- Stuff  :  Ebrahim Noroozi: Iranian Coal Miners  :  Hong Kong in the 1950s  :  Standing, for a moment, with refugees  :  jtinseoul : Loud yet Clear

Kidding, starring Jim Carrey

In his first series regular role in over two decades, Jim Carrey stars as Jeff, aka Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television, a beacon of kindness and wisdom to America’s impressionable young minds, who also anchors a multimillion-dollar branding empire. But when Jeff’s family begins to implode, he finds no fairy tale or fable or puppet will guide him through the crisis, which advances faster than his means to cope. The result: a kind man in a cruel world faces a slow leak of sanity as hilarious as it is heartbreaking (via).

 Kidding reunites Jim Carrey with Michel Gondry who also directed Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - one of my longtime favorites - and is set to premiere on September 9, 2018 on Showtime.

It is also airing, probably somewhat purposefully, a few months after the movie, WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? is released. And I can't wait to watch them both.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Movies :  Jim Carrey

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Cleveland's Balloonfest Disaster of '86

"Balloonfest in 1986 was a fundraiser for United Way and a chance to put Cleveland on the map, busting a record for simultaneous release of balloons set the previous year by Anaheim, Calif., on the 30th anniversary of Disneyland" (via). Instead, it turned into a disaster for the city of Cleveland, otherwise known as "The Mistake on the Lake."

"In the hours and days and weeks that followed,"  John Kroll writes, "the United Way executives who had engineered the feat were reminded of the basic law of gravity: What goes up must come down."

Down, in this case, on Burke Lakefront Airport, shutting down a runway there. Down on a pasture in Medina County, spooking a horse, whose owner would sue and later settle with the charity. Down on Lake Erie, blanketing the water just as a Coast Guard helicopter arrived to search for two missing boaters -- who would later be found, drowned; the wife of one of them also sued, and also settled. Down weeks later on the shores of the lake -- the northern shores, where Ontario residents found their beaches littered with thousands of deflated balloons (via).

I will say, that the initial picture, of the balloons wrapping around the dull city skyline, is pretty fantastic. It's also fairly indicative of humanity: the neglect of longterm ramifications for the pursuit of instant recognition and possible redemption.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Short Films  :  Inspiring Art

Revisionist History : Season 3

Malcolm Gladwell's fantastic podcast is back for season 3!  The first episode, Divide and Conquer: The Complete, Unabridged History of the World's Most Dangerous Semicolon. 

New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.

You can also listen to a special live taping of Malcolm and WorkLife’s Adam Grant (who wrote one of my favorite books of 2017) discussing "how to avoid doing highly undesirable tasks, what makes an idea interesting, and why Malcolm thinks we shouldn't root for the underdog." It's a great listen. I laughed aloud, thought a ton, and got supper geeked about this coming season.  

Gladwell is a genius. 

Happy listening!!!

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Podcasts  :  Malcolm Gladwell

Also, if you haven't signed up for the monthly news letter, please scroll on down and do so! 

Anyone signing up this month will get a handwritten "Thank You!" card. 

Heretics : What if there is no hell?

Illustration: Adam Maida; Photograph: AP Photo/M. Spencer Green

For the past week or so Reverend Carlton Pearson has been on my mind. I first heard his story on the podcast Heretics by This American Life, and ever since, several people have reached out asking if I'd listened to it and what I think of it. Clearly, it has his a nerve. 

In the 1990's, Reverend Carlton Pearson was a rising star in the evangelical movement, but in the early 2000's, after he cast aside the idea of hell, "everything he'd worked for over his entire life" suddenly crumbled (via). Except his faith. 

Which is why he became a heretic.

There's also a movie, produced by James D. Stern under his Endgame Entertainment banner, along with Ira Glass and This American Life banner, distributed by Netflix.

"One of the moments I’m happiest with in our new film," Ira Glass writes, "is the scene where Jason Segel’s character Henry basically breaks up with his friend. Because his friend has come to believe some things Jason does not" (via). 

Everything Henry say comes down, basically to: “This is breaking my heart because I think maybe you’re going to hell and I love you and it feels like there’s nothing I can do or say to stop you.” 

It’s moments like that which made me want to make this film. Years ago, I became aware that there was a huge gap between the way evangelicals are portrayed on TV and in films and in the news, and the evangelicals I know in my personal life. Who are not like the smiling, intolerant hardasses I see in the media, but complicated, sensitive, funny people who take seriously Jesus’s admonition to love one another (via).

And I was reminded of Originals and the idea of "horizontal hostility."

According to Adam Grant, horizontal hostility is the "minor differences in people who are otherwise alike that form the basis of feelings of strangeness and hostility between them" (pg 117). Like vegans and vegetarians. Compared to much of the world, these two groups are very similar, which is the problem. Because they are so alike, they can often find horizontal hostility because the other isn’t doing it right and therefore, “making us look bad.”

I would venture to say that the existence of hell is no "minor difference," but, shouldn't it be? At least in terms of the greater commission, to love one another? 

If there was no hell, if everyone was heading to heaven because God's love was indeed big and great enough, should that change anything? They we live and speak and think? Shouldn't we be rejoicing that people everywhere get to experience eternity with a loving God? 

If not, why not? 

And if the idea of hell is why we serve and minister and "love our neighbors," aren't we missing the whole point of the gospel? 

But also, and perhaps to the deepest point, why is someone not aloud to question and struggle? To look at what we've been doing for hundreds of years and say, "I don't know. We may be wrong - because we're human."

 Why are those who question considered heretics and kicked out of the church?

When did being curious and wondering outside of tradition become the unpardonable sin? 

What I find most interesting with all this is, in the end, Reverend Carlton Pearson is ministering and loving the outcasts, the "sinners" and those whom Jesus would have been drawn to. Not the righteous pharisees. 

Which, in the end, is why I tend to side with Reverend Carlton Pearson. Not because I'm convinced he's right, but because I'm convinced in his process, in questioning and wrestling and the willingness to be wrong. Even if it means losing everything. 

Except his faith.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  On playing Devil's Advocate  :  Bacon and God's Wrath :  On Empathy

How Millennials Became the Selfie Generation

"The idea that there is this perfect golden you is simply not true."

I really appreciated this short documentary on selfies and the self esteem generation that preceded it.  

Sort of a common theme for people to be setting overly high expectations for themselves and then failing to meet them. And when they fail to meet them over and over again they enter into despair, which can manifest in all kinds of self destructive behaviors. 

This quote resonated with me quite a bit. Not because I'm a selfie kind of guy or anything like that, but because I am definitely an overly high expectations kind of guy. In relationships, personal goals and standards, and family. Most definitely family. Then, when these expectations aren't met, over and over again, the destructive behaviors manifest themselves in a variety of ways, but mostly through isolation. Emotionally, physically, or relationally, it doesn't matter. I just withdrawal and brew. Because it's all about me. And often, you're not allowed in.

What's most interesting though - especially when it comes to my wife - is that I rarely find the solution or peace from within, as we are so often asked to do. Instead, it's when people push in, when my wife pursues and doesn't let me off the hook or when a friend says, "I'm coming over" and we talk and talk until finally the facade is down and the bullshit called for what it is. Then, and only then, do I find peace, when I finally get outside myself, when the world doesn't revolve around me, and when the picture includes so much more than my limited understanding of life. 

This short documentary is based on the book Selfie: How We Became So Self-Obsessed and What It's Doing To Us by Will Storr. Here's a brief intro:

We live in the age of the individual. Every day, we’re bombarded with depictions of the beautiful, successful, slim, socially conscious, and extroverted individual that our culture has decided is the perfect self, and we berate ourselves when we don’t measure up. This model of the perfect self and the impossibly high standards it sets can be extremely dangerous. People are suffering under the torture of this impossible fantasy, and unprecedented social pressure is leading to increases in depression and suicide (via).

I've already added it to my Amazon cart.

Thanks for reading!

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humanity

How a Disney animator deals with losing his wife : A doodle diary

Former Disney illustrator Gary Andrews started to "doodle diary" on his 54th birthday. He was happily married and a father-of-two and wanted to remember the joy and beauty of family. Within 3 years he was a widower. Joy, his wife, had passed away from sepsis.

Struggling with ways to cope Gary "opened up his notebook and let his emotions pour out onto the pages" (via).

I was crying so hard it was difficult to focus on the page. I was drawing through tears. Joy had been my soulmate for 19 years. She was beautiful, kind, generous and funny. We did everything together. When I lost her, I felt half of me had gone (via).

Gary has published his work in hopes of raising "awareness for an illness that is often regarded as an afterthought for many doctors. Its symptoms, including fever, sickness, blotchy skin and dizziness, are often mistaken for other illnesses and not recognized until too late. If captured early on, it can be treated with simple antibiotics" (via).

After spending a weekend celebrating my 35th birthday and considering the many (hopeful) boxes I have to fill in, this story and these drawings had me all sorts of choked up. 

May we treasure the time that we've been given.

This one is my favorite because, as I've heard it said before, "Laughter is the manifestation of hope." I can imagine how often Gary felt heavy and depressed and just so alone - especially when his girls crawled into his lap and cried for Mom. But then, moments like these, and perhaps, seeing a bit of his wife's humor and hope shine through his little girls, his spirit was lifted. 

Brilliant.

You can go here for more of Gary's story and to see a few extra sketches. 

Thanks for reading!

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Life Stories :  Humanity

A Culture of Riots : Malcolm Gladwell Thoughts

This week I've been wrestling with these talks from Malcolm Gladwell.

His ideas, as well as the article he references, "Thresholds of Violence : How School Shootings Catch On", have bothered me because what he is dealing with is at the heart of most all of mankind’s issues: social conformity vs. social responsibility.

Why do bad people do bad things? And why do good people let them do it?

Why do we bully, shoot up schools and neighborhoods, and so quickly and easily destroy? And why do so many seem to sit by and watch, doing nothing and saying very little?

These are hard questions. Impossible questions. But they’re also essential questions.

And I like the way Gladwell approaches them.

"You're not insisting on it,” he states, “You're asking us to consider it."

With that, here’s something else for us to consider, that we, according to Gladwell, are responsible for school shootings.

I don’t disagree, but I definitely don’t fully agree. I just haven’t figured out why. Not yet (the chapter is coming. I promise).

But first, let Gladwell explain.

"Forty years ago he would be playing with his chemistry set in the basement and dreaming of being an astronaut because that was the available cultural narrative of that moment. That would be the cultural narrative appropriate for someone with his interests.”

These ideas are pretty provocative with much to consider, which is pretty typical Gladwell, so if you have any thoughts or questions of your own, I’d be curious to hear.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Humanity : Gladwell : Education

Some English stuff that's pretty cool.

Like, why do we have irregular verbs?

And, what did Beowulf sound like?

I think I got only a handful of those words. But if I listened to it long enough, like most foreign languages, I think it would start to make a bit more sense.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  

23 years of tag has kept these friends together

Tag, set for release on June 15, is a movie about five friends who have engaged in a "no-holds-barred game of tag" since the first grade. It looks pretty typical and fairly comical. 

However, it's based on a true story - a brilliant story - of nine buddies who have refused to let time and distance come between their brotherhood. And their story is the antithesis of typical.

The Guardian first wrote about it in April in 2013.

"As teenagers," the article starts, "a group of friends and I spent every spare moment at school playing tag. The game developed into more than just chasing each other round the playground; it involved strategy and cunning. But when I failed to tag someone in the last moments before school broke up for summer – he'd locked himself in his car to avoid it – I resigned myself to for ever being "it".

Until their 10-year reunion.

Everyone had moved off to college to the games had sort of "fizzled out," but when they reunited once more, someone suggested starting it up again and everyone agreed. "We had busy lives and lived hundreds of miles apart," so they came up with three simple rules: 

1. The game could only be play in February
2. You are not allowed immediately to tag back the person who's tagged you
3. You had to declare to the group that you were "it"

Over the next 23 years, these friends kept finding new and creative ways to tag their buddies. "Eleven months of the year are spent planning. Collaborating with a friend is where the fun is – we can spend hours discussing approaches."

I love that. How a simple game of tag kept friends in touch and connected with each other - something we all deeply crave but have little time for. But these guys make time for it, spend money on it, and make it a priority of life. Even if, at times, it means avoiding your friends. Like Patrick does.

"Patrick," the article reads and the movie portrays, "who does everything he can to avoid being caught, sometimes spends February in Hawaii." When he learned that his buddies were there, at the airport waiting for him, he "hired a man to hold up a card with his name on it in arrivals, so one of us would wait near it. Then he slipped out of another exit."

Brilliant. 

So too was "one of the most unexpected tags" because it was at a funeral . . . of a Mike's father. "During the service, {Mike} felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to find Joe mouthing, 'You're it.'" And Mike didn't even care, because he knew his father "found our game hilarious."

Daring. But brilliant.

I'm terrible at keeping up with old, good, and great friends. Just terrible at it. And it's not because I don't care because I really do. It's just hard is all, and I'm really not sure why. There's Facebook, email, text, phone calls, and old fashion letter writing. Yet, I never seem to make it happen. After reading this article, I've begun to wonder if the ease of communication prevents me from doing it - because it's always there, and I can just do it later, no problem. 

Tag, over hundreds of miles, takes effort and collaboration. It takes intentionality and time. Which, unsurprisingly, are the same ingredients for great friendships, as these now old men have discovered. 

"The best thing about the game is that it has kept us in touch over all these years – it forces us to meet and has formed a strong bond between us, almost like brothers."

Anyone up for a game of tag?

The Most Crowded Island on Earth

So, this is pretty crazy.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff   :  Great Big Stories

On making paper and writing letters

The Papermaker is a short documentary about Gangolf Ulbricht, one of the last handcrafting papermakers in Europe. He "makes unique tree- free papers by hand for international artists, conservators, photographers, printers and many more.

He learned his uniqe craft in Germany, Japan, France and England" (via). 

The Papermaker from Kings&Kongs on Vimeo.

Paper has character. You can tell from the product whether there are things going on beneath the surface . . . paper can have the power of life and death. Paper can be the bearer of emotions. A love letter comes to mind.

Author Simon Garfield says that the art of letter writing is dying, and for obvious reasons: Email. Email has transformed our world, making communicating much faster, much easier, and much more efficient. But what these emails lack, according to Garfield, is depth and emotion. They tend to be much more factual and functional, rather than personal. We read, write, send, then move on and read, write, send – quickly forgetting what we read, wrote, and sent.

Letters, however, take time. And not just to write, but the whole process. There’s the finding of the address, writing it out, finding a stamp, stamping it, then getting the letter to the mailbox. All the while, we could have written over a dozen emails. Emails that, over the course of just a few hours, will have been lost in the shuffle, deleted, or ignored.

I could possibly say the same for journals. When I used to keep an actual paper journal, I did a lot more doodling, more comic style writing (I'm in no way an artist, but I would feel the freedom to try, because who would know?). But then I would forget the journal on a plane, in a taxi, or wherever else journals are forgotten. That's even why I started blogging, which I've learned to truly enjoy, but still. Something personal seems to be lost. 

Letters though, good thought provoking and sincere letter make an impact and are not easily forgotten. They are personal and a physical manifestation of how much someone means to you. Which is why they are found pinned to caulk boards or placed carefully inside our favorite books, so that they can come back to life, over and over again.

Just like Gangolf Ulbricht's paper.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  : On Writing  :  Open Thoughts

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The Other Half : February

Ideas, articles, videos, and others things I've found interesting but never posted. 

Films:

You Are My Friend - a film based on the life of Jim Neighbors (Mr. Roger's Neighborhood) is currently in the works with Tom Hanks taking the lead roll.  Production will begin this fall. And I'm more giddy about it.

Edith and Eddie - Nominated for an Academy Award®, Edith+Eddie is a devastating film about the country’s oldest interracial newlyweds. Edith and Eddie are deeply in love, but that’s not where the story ends.

Field of Vision: Concussion protocol - a extremely well crafted, short visual documentary on the viciousness of the NFL, and the dangers that hide behind every highlight hit. "It’s not a headache. It’s not 'getting your bell rung.' You don’t have a bell. It’s a traumatic brain injury. Every single concussion is a new traumatic brain injury. In addition to the torn ACLs and MCLs, in addition to all of the horrible broken bones, the NFL diagnosed at least 281 traumatic brain injuries this season" (via).

-N- Stuff:

Enjoyed listening to this conversation with Jay-Z about race, music, the benefit of Trump as president, and the power of conversation. He isn't perfect - by any stretch of the imagination - but I appreciated the conversation, and the conversations it should inspire.

The 2018 Underwater Photos of the Year are out! Which is a little strange, because it's mid February, but I digress. "The standard of this year's entry was even better than last year... and that should in no way belittle last year's because they blew us away then!" Peter Rowlands, Chair of the jury 2018.

Outdoor LIving:

Dabney and Alan decided they wanted to live in a Fire lookout so they built one in the mountains of Oregon. And it's pretty friggen amazing. 

On Pancakes:

These are not the images of the moon you're looking for. Because they're pancakes. 

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A Gun's Life : Why we should expect more shootings

Today, I woke up, read, drank some coffee, slipped on the ice outside our house, then drove to work. As usual. 

When I got to my classroom I prepped for the day, made copies of some PDP notes for the novels my students are reading, then checked my emails. As usual.

When students began to walk the halls and fill their seats, I found it difficult to carry on the day, as usual.

So before each class, we talked about the shootings, the problems and solutions, and why it seems to happen so damn often (Since 2013, there have been nearly 300 school shootings in America — an average of about one a week - via).

We had more questions than we did solutions.

During lunch, I came across this video:

Guns Found Here from MEL Films on Vimeo.

There are more gun shops in the US than Starbucks, McDonalds, and supermarkets put together.

That statistic was startling to me, terrifying actually, because if you want to know what a person, community, or country loves, look at where they spend their money and you will find the gods they serve.

We’re sacrificing America’s children to “our great god Gun”:

The gun is not a mere tool, a bit of technology, a political issue, a point of debate. It is an object of reverence. Devotion to it precludes interruption with the sacrifices it entails. Like most gods, it does what it will, and cannot be questioned. Its acolytes think it is capable only of good things. It guarantees life and safety and freedom. It even guarantees law. Law grows from it. Then how can law question it?

I'm not convinced that guns are the problem and that if we are to only get rid of them, all problems will be erased. However, I am convinced that if in fact getting rid of guns would prevent 100% of the shootings in schools, America at large would still cling to their rights, their freedoms, and their guns. And that shootings would continue.

But not so, in Japan.

A Land Without Guns: How Japan Has Virtually Eliminated Shooting Deaths:

The only guns that Japanese citizens can legally buy and use are shotguns and air rifles, and it’s not easy to do. The process is detailed in David Kopel’s landmark study on Japanese gun control, published in the 1993 Asia Pacific Law Review, still cited as current. (Kopel, no left-wing loony, is a member of the National Rifle Association and once wrote in National Review that looser gun control laws could have stopped Adolf Hitler.)

To get a gun in Japan, first, you have to attend an all-day class and pass a written test, which are held only once per month. You also must take and pass a shooting range class. Then, head over to a hospital for a mental test and drug test (Japan is unusual in that potential gun owners must affirmatively prove their mental fitness), which you’ll file with the police. Finally, pass a rigorous background check for any criminal record or association with criminal or extremist groups, and you will be the proud new owner of your shotgun or air rifle. Just don’t forget to provide police with documentation on the specific location of the gun in your home, as well as the ammo, both of which must be locked and stored separately. And remember to have the police inspect the gun once per year and to re-take the class and exam every three years.

Seems like a small price to pay to save our children, our classmates, our teachers, neighbors, friends, parents, and . . . fellow man.

I hear the argument, that we shouldn't blame those who aren't the problem - the responsible gun owners, and that creating more laws is only hurting the law abider, not the law breaker. I get it. But I also don't. 

More than a few of my friends are recovering alcoholics. I, however, am not. But, no matter how much I enjoy a cold drink on a summer evening with the taste and smell of the grill wafting through the air, when they are present, I don't drink. Even though I don't have the struggle, even though I can drink responsibly, I forgo my right to have and drink in my house because I want what's best for the other person. Not just myself. 

This, more than the actual guns, seems to be the bigger more predominant issue - individual rights over the community wellbeing. Japan and other Eastern countries not only have stricter rules and regulations, they also don't have a problem with them being implemented, because they are more of a group society, whereas Western countries care more about the individual. 

Dan Hodges said it this way, "In retrospect Sandy Hook marked the end of the US gun control debate. Once America decided killing children was bearable, it was over."

That sounds harsh, and I can think of more than a few gun loving friends and family that this doesn't quite relate to, but that doesn't steal much away from the stark truth of the sentiment that the discussion has come to a close. And if we're unwilling to even discuss the possibility of change, nothing ever will. 

In the meantime, expect more shootings. 

(for more excerpts on the United States of Guns, visit Kottke.org).

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Taking of a Buddy :  Hatred in America

Red Gerard wins gold, in slow motion

Inspired by Curtis Jackson, here is Red Gerard's gold medal run, in slow motion, and to the tune of Aaron Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man.

There's something about watching a seventeen year old young man accomplishing such a massive feat under intense pressure that makes me question many things in life. 

Yet, there is something to this as well that is truly inspiring. 

You can watch Red Gerard's run in real time here.

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Inspiring Art  :  Rock Climbing to Sigur Ros :  Chinese Dancers to Modest Mouse

The Sound of Black Ice

This small lake outside Stockholm, Sweden, emits otherworldly sounds as Mårten Ajne skates over its precariously thin, black ice. “Wild ice skating,” or “Nordic skating,” is both an art and a science. A skater seeks out the thinnest, most pristine black ice possible—both for its smoothness, and for its high-pitched, laser-like sounds (via).

So cool. Yet, so terrifying. The scene around the 2:08 mark, where the ice is cracking beneath his skates is really a remarkable sight. 

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Inspiring Art  :  The Art of Flying

Ludovico Einaudi : Elegy for the Arctic

On the Arctic Ocean, with a grand piano floating on a platform and against the backdrop of the Wahlenbergbreen glacier (in Svalbard, Norway), Einaudi plays an original piece composed in the hope of protecting the Arctic (via).

I just love the scene, near the minute-thirty mark, when the glacier seems to respond by casting itself into the ocean, like it's trying to reach him. Like it's trying to reach us.

Is anybody listening?

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Inspiring Art  :  Classical Music

How to hide a yawn

How To Hide a Yawn from Daniel Koren on Vimeo.

"Everybody needs to know this." And it's true, because we've all experience this, intimately. On both sides. 

I'm definitely a mouth closed, jaw clenched, nostril flaring yawner, but I'm fully considering the, "clean your face with your shirt" option. Because it's golden. Clearly.

Which are you?

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Short films

"It doesn't say, 'America.'"

Sadie did not attend school beyond the second grade. Instead, she worked. Like many of her should-be schoolmates living in Lancaster, South Carolina. Hine photographed the mill school, and the public school where non-mill children went.

Lewis Hine caption: This is where the mill children go to school. Lancaster, S.C. Enrollment 163– attendance, usually about 100. There are over 1,000 operatives in the mill. These are all that go to school from this mill settlement, which is geographically a part of Lancaster, but on account of the taxes has been kept just out of the corporate limits. Nov. 30/08. Location: Lancaster, South Carolina.

Lewis Hine caption: This is where the other children go to school. Public School: Lancaster, South Carolina, November 1908.

In a time where the America is in constant pursuit of making itself great again, one has to question, if the image of Sadie didn't say America, what did? And what does?

For more on . . .

-N- Stuff  :  Sadie's Story  :  Photography