A couple of weeks ago I asked for ideas for what I might do with my large stack of paint chips. I noticed this cheerful display posted on Things Organized Neatly — a blog I’ve been reading as an antidote to my very dusty, sometimes out-of-control, remodeling life.
 Recently on the bookarts list serv, Richard Langdell announced that “after over 20 years of papermaking I recently sold the wholesale and production side of my business. Now I am focusing on (selling) the 15,000 sheets of paper that I have in stock.” You can see some of the stock here. |
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According to several long-time Santa Feans, the never-ending winter of 2009 was the coldest and snowiest they’d ever experienced. This year has starting off very differently — only one hard frost and one (very light) snowfall thus far. I certainly hope that it was the worst one I’m going to see too — when we arrived here last January, the heat in our “new” house promptly stopped working and we discovered that the water pipes had frozen (I have a very different relationship to and appreciation of water after nearly 3 weeks without it while the pipe problems got sorted out!) But this winter our new heating system is keeping us warm and the water pipes won’t be a problem either. I have a lot to be thankful for this week, especially a husband who has dealt with our move and various challenges here with humor and patience.
To celebrate the beginning of this very different winter, I’m giving away of a set of my coasters. To enter, describe what you like (or don’t like) about winter in exactly 3 lines (doesn’t have to be a haiku) in the comments below. Contest ends Monday November 29th at 7am (MT), when I’ll select a commenter at random.
While I’ve read a fair amount of poetry, aside from the 13th century Persian mystical poet Rumi, it’s all been western writing. Then the other day on the radio I heard an interview with Reza Aslan about his new anthology Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East and the website Words Without Borders, both of which feature English translations of international poetry.
After I got home (because I seem to only listen to the radio when doing errands in the car!) I spent a happy hour reading Rumi translations (for instance, here) and the poetry on Words Without Borders. Here’s a Rumi poem, translated by Shahram Shiva, that I especially liked:
I said, meet me in the garden.
You know the one–
it is called Smiling Spring.
There are nightingales chirping away,
wine and candle lights,
and companions as soft as
pomegranate blossoms.
You think this all would sound so perfect!
But without you by my side,
what use is the Smiling Spring?
And when you are with me,
what use are pomegranate blossoms?
On her website, Annie Vought writes “I have been working with cut out correspondence for the past four years. I meticulously recreate notes and letters that I have found, written, or received by enlarging the documents onto a new piece of paper and intricately dissecting the negative spaces with an Exact-o knife. The handwriting and the lines support the structure of the cut paper, keeping it strong and sculptural, despite its apparent fragility. In these paper cutouts, I focus on the text, structure, and emotion of the letter in an elaborate investigation into the properties of writing and expression. Penmanship, word choice, and spelling all contribute to possible narratives about who that person is and what they are like. My recreating the letters is an extended concentration on peoples’ inner lives and the ways they express their thoughts through writing.” One of her papercuts is to the left, and you can see more here.
National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) began November 1. According to their website, “Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Valuing enthusiasm and perseverance over painstaking craft, NaNoWriMo is a novel-writing program for everyone who has thought fleetingly about writing a novel but has been scared away by the time and effort involved. Because of the limited writing window, the ONLY thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It’s all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.”
The website offers support to participants (called “Wrimos”), including pep talks with advice and thoughts on writing, a discussion forum section, and even tshirts.