July 2010
1 post
WatchBut do you think we can start a family, a family…
and a family tree stretchin for centuries, and centuries…
June 2010
1 post
6 tags
The Ride
I had an inspiring talk with Frank Warren of PostSecret today, who has become a friend and mentor to me following a recent collaboration. In the midst of the meandering conversation, he reminded me to do a very simple thing.
Enjoy the ride.
As much as I love my work, it feels relentless. I am never satisfied with the things I make. I am never content with the current set of challenges I face....
May 2010
23 posts
6 tags
His Stage
Spend any decent amount of time in Williamsburg when the sun is up and the kids are out, and you’re likely to spot one of the neighborhood’s many bizarre but memorable characters; a bubbly middle-aged man who circles the area religiously in his red SUV, blasting oldies and belting along out the window.
His charade might not sound very impressive, but in the 6 years that I’ve...
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In praise of standing still →
bobulate:
Jonathan Harris:
When you move around so fast and so much, bits of you flake off and stay everywhere you stop, and if you go too fast you get thin and confused and it’s hard to remember who you are or where you’re from because you’re so many people in so many places at once, all of them blending into each other and all of them blurring into nostalgia, and to get yourself back you need...
Starved for Attention - Coming June 2 →
doctorswithoutborders:
Next week Doctors Without Borders and VII Photo Agency are launching Starved for Attention, a multimedia campaign exposing the neglected crisis of childhood malnutrition. Starting June 2, you can be part of the campaign to rewrite the story of malnutrition and demand that 195 million malnourished children get the attention they need and deserve.
Tumblr, can we count on...
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Ira on the Story
I sometimes wish every story in existence could go through some sort of This American Life ‘golden story’ machine and come out shining like the stars. I love this series of videos in which Ira Glass shares some of his secrets for great storytelling, with equal doses of humility and self-respect for his mastery of the craft. Here are a few excerpts, but be sure to watch them yourself.
...
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Berger _ Two Excerpts
John Berger, And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief As Photos
One
Once In A Song
A singer may be innocent never the song. With its instantaneous eyes opened on to the world and its heart laid bare, the song is brazen, the song is newborn. Only when it has quietened can listeners resume by habit the innocence of their age.
Two
When I open my wallet to show my papers pay money or...
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Current Crush: Text Playlist
I’m crushing on Frank Chimero’s Text Playlist concept and plan to make my own list soon. I’ve done this kind of repeated, pick-me-up reading via a smattering of bookmarks and saved excerpts that I continually revisit. I think it will be fun and helpful to codify some of these things and approach the reading more deliberately. Thanks Frank.
viafrank:
A lot of designers and...
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“As designers, as people, adjust the boundaries of your place. It is there you’ll...”
– This morsel from Liz Danzico via 52 Weeks of UX in her post, Makers of Frames. I’m thinking about how to create the space for a certain spirit of interaction in the context of small (actually, tiny) networks forged around interpersonal (i.e. one to one) communication. I keep bumping into Liz.
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WatchLife will get harder. And life will get better. I don’t just mean a swing between the two. They go hand in hand.
David Rawlings, Method Acting / Cortez the Killer from the album, A Friend of a Friend:
‘Cause I don’t know what tomorrow brings. It’s alive with such possibility. But I know that I feel better when I sing. Burdens are lifted from me. That’s my voice...
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“The central mistake of recent digital culture is to chop up a network of...”
– Jaron Lanier _ You Are Not a Gadget
Tonight I began reading this in tandem with The Timeless Way of Building, and there’s an unmistakable dance between them that has my mind fizzing. Written three decades apart and in completely different contexts, both serve as manifestos for richer human...
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Liz + Zinsser →
Liz Danzico’s bobulate has become, for me, a regular destination for waking up and thinking about things worth a damn, which hopefully translates into making things worth a damn. And it really does feel like I’m singing when I try to make those things. Thanks for sharing this Liz.
William Zinsser on finding enjoyment in making things:
You should paint like a man coming over the top...
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Being Alive
I have been reading and re-reading Christopher Alexander’s The Timeless Way of Building for over a month now and am thinking about the implications for digital world building. I just got another copy of the book (after returning one that I had borrowed previously) and don’t expect to put it down anytime soon. Today’s excerpt:
The search which we make for this quality, in our own...
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“I get lost all the time. On my better days, I get lost intentionally. Lost can...”
– From my recent article, Lost and Found, via the Crush + Lovely Field Guide.
1 tag
I am learning magic.
Only magic can do these things.
Make the downs look up and the ups look higher. Make all logic seem irrelevant. Roll it up so tightly and throw it out into the shade where it will fall asleep until we decide to find it there again, if ever. Take a distance and fold it, twice over and twice again, like a sheet that becomes no bigger than our hands as they meet to match the corners, each to each.
...
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“For many years, I have been moved by the blue at the far edge of what can be...”
– Rebecca Solnit _ A Field Guide to Getting Lost
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Taking Aim. Some Aimless Thoughts On Age.
I recently wrote this for a friend, on the occasion of her birthday.
I love youth. The thing is certainly not to be messed with, although it can be a bit messy. Some smiles have a way of saying everything that could ever be said on the subject, and much more. The funny part is that the owner of the smile can defy the message. They can be old enough to fold their youth ten times over or young...
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This is me.
I smile, usually. I am honest, mostly. I can be a friend to anyone, not always to myself. I wake up to work and I love the work, every day, except when I can’t face it. I will create the space for you and yours, but it won’t be perfect. I am a deluge of confidence, until you pierce me. I give freely, until I take. I need nothing, but I want everything. I have family, but I...
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“To you, mind of no mind, in whom the timeless way was born.”
– Christopher Alexander _ The Timeless Way of Building
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January 2009
4 posts
3 tags
1 tag
“Pull this one loose thread. Pull hard, and pull again.”
– Ben Ehrenreich _ The Suitors
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December 2008
3 posts
1 tag
“I and this mystery, here we stand.”
– Walt Whitman
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October 2008
1 post
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March 2008
1 post
2 tags
“They used to be called ‘physical’ appearances because they belonged...”
– John Berger _ The Shape of a Pocket