on the road again

I am off again at the crack of dawn (translation: before 8AM!) for another whirlwind road trip. Before I leave, though, I wanted to at least get some pictures up from the Crazy Ass Courthouse Tour.

(... and I must take a moment here to take a deep breath and be grateful -- I have a million things going on (laundry, packing, worrying that I've pissed off everyone (mercury's in retrograde or something), internet trouble all day) and then I had one too many computer issues and had to force shut it down, which meant I thought I would have to go and re-grab all the photos I'd picked (and lose a bunch of writing, etc.), but when I opened the program back up, they were all here! hooray!)



here's the general area of where I was two weeks ago. I regret not taking pictures as we were going up and over Mt. Hood and for not taking more pictures in the high desert. (Oregon has a lot of desert, believe it or not.)


Prineville! I whinged greatly about having to go to Prineville (it's the Crook County seat, and therefore home to the courthouse) -- last time I was there was miserable. It's best known for being home to a Tire Empire, and it feels that way. But look at this tree! I can't stay mad at you, Prineville. The courthouse was very pretty, as courthouses go.


there was a fountain and lots of pretty pink petals.


Canyon City is an old gold mining town south of John Day, and the Grant County seat. The area between John Day and Canyon City was known as the "fertile crescent" or the "gold croissant" or something like that back in prospector days. I suspect there were a lot of Deadwood-style shenanigans that went on. Anyway -- A LOT OF GOLD in this region. Right near this sign is where I saw a truck all kitted out with Ron Paul signs, including a driver with face paint who was doing a lot of "woooooo!!! Ron Paul!!!" with honking and whatnot. (keep in mind that this was right before the Oregon primary.) -- Matter of fact, I saw very few political signs -- mostly for judgeships and other local governance, although there was a LOT of visible Ron Paul support. (He ended up taking 15% of the Oregon vote, which doesn't surprise me at all.) I was pleased to see big honking huge Obama signs in tiny mountain towns (Lostine, Joseph, Wallowa Lake). The only sign to do with Hillary that I spied (outside of Portland) was painted on the side of a shed in Limbler. It said something along the lines of "No More Scandals/ No More Clintons" (which makes me wonder if they've been awake during the last 8 scandalous years, but I didn't feel strongly enough about it to go knock on the door and ask.)


This old church is in John Day. I think it's very fancy from this angle, and if you look at it just right it could almost be some manner of buddhist temple rather than an old fashioned frontier church.


The strawberry mountains! Aren't they pretty? They're part (the delicious part) of the Blue Mountain range. (if I were a frontier woman coming over in a covered wagon, the Blues are where I would say "you have got to be fucking kidding me." and sit down on the ground and cry for three days.) I seriously don't know how everyone didn't just give up in Missouri.


Inside a gold dredge in Sumpter. (I think this is what the inside of my head looks like sometimes. Blurry, rusted, etc.)


What collection of road trip photos is complete without some out the window shots? This is in Union County. (Union county is very beautiful! But again with the mountains!!)


This is in Enterprise, Oregon (as you head into the Wallowa mountains). Chief Joseph dreams of peace, and of pizza. I might have been hungry when I snapped this one.


Wallowa lake. So beautiful!! We saw this in the morning and by that night I was back home in my bed.

speaking of bed, I have to go there now so I can leap out of it in the morning to go driving around like a madwoman once more.

what Sam said to Bobby applies to us all

Yesterday I was working at one of my all-time favorite library branches and had another experience of Serendipity By Bookdrop. The day after a holiday closure is always busy -- circulation is no joke in this system -- things have to keep moving or the door will be blocked by incoming materials and we'd have to read our way out of it! I was in the work room surrounded by big canvas bins full of books and dvds and cds -- I really do love this part because I get to see everything, even if it's just for a second. Anyway, I saw a familiar pair of eyes looking up from the bin and fished out Sam Cooke's SAR Record's Story 2 disc set. Woo hoo! Nobody had a hold on it so I brought it home, but not before I read the following on my break. This quote is Bobby Womack recalling what Sam told him about the utility of reading:

Sam was always into reading. He read black history a lot, he read Aristotle, he read the New Yorker and Playboy magazine, I mean he read all the time. Everywhere he went he would look and see where he could get a book--he didn't care what it was about, he would get something! He was just so locked into it, and I would say, When does this guy have time to write? But he was telling me,"'Bob, if you read, you gonna write much easier. You can say what's on your mind, because you're not interpreting, you know what I mean?'" He said, "'That's the only way you can grow. Otherwise you're going to write love songs for the rest of your life. But everything ain't about love. If you in a situation that you thought was supposed to be a certain way, you can write in a way where it's like an abstract painting. You can say things direct to people, and they can accept it. Because of the way you put it."

magical mindreading ethiopian jukebox of marvels (and bears)

Friday (post gonging bird tree) I went bike shopping with my friend Blondie. I'd made the mistake of mentioning to her that I was looking to buy one "some time this summer" about 6 weeks ago. I've been thinking about it for a long while (believe it or not, rocketing gas prices had almost nothing to do with it), and mentioned it to her because she used to ride a LOT and I figure why not ask someone who has some information. It wasn't really a mistake, more like miscalculated timing. The crucial detail I forgot is that once Blondie has an idea in her teeth, she does not let go until it has been thrashed into submission. (I am more of a lazy long-term ponderer. A deliberate ditherer (dithering deliberator). But once I've thought about things long enough, I'm generally satisfied with my decisions.) So, by "some time this summer" I was thinking of a month that starts with J, maybe. But no! Every time I talked to her on the phone, she would ask "have you thought about what kind of bike you want? blah blah technical blah blah road resistance blah blah helmet or you'll have brains on the pavement blah blah space age polymers blah blah blah" And I would reply that I had thought about what kind of bike I want, but generally in terms of "I saw this really great TURQUOISE ONE the other day that had tires that were neither too fat nor too thin and appeared to be just right. If I were Goldilocks, I would have signaled for bears to jump out of the bushes and scare the rider right off of her seat." (Blondie did not recall that Goldilocks went quite that way, and reminded me that I do not HAVE golden locks nor ready access to bears who jump out of the bushes to do my bidding, so like all the brown-haired girls in fairy tales I would have to either a) pay retail b) resort to witchcraft.) (oh, alright! maybe she didn't say that last part, but I can't stop myself.)

I digress. She came over and I helped her with some computer stuff, then we were off -- but first, "do you want to go somewhere for lunch?" OF COURSE! I didn't want to go to some crazy outdoor store full of yuppie camping gearheads right before a holiday weekend on an empty stomach. (I would really need bears for that!)

We went to an Ethiopian restaurant that I'd never been to before that is near(ish) my house -- SO GOOD! (also just a few blocks down from a house that had a "hens for obama" sign in the front yard. I will have to return and get a picture. Did you know you can keep up to 3 chickens in your yard without a permit in Portland? I check out a lot of chicken-keeping books to people.) Anyway, it was a hole in the wall type place, but obviously beloved by its neighbors. (rightfully so.) we sat down, placed our order and I noted the music, which was an instrumental 70's soul song. Blondie innocently suggested "they should be playing ethnic music," and I was all "!!!! ...but this is Marvin Gaye!" which of course launched me into Friendly Epic Tableside Tirade #12 (tableside tirades are quieter), about how if she wanted World Music Muzak, maybe she should go to Starbucks. And then, as if to prove the righteousness of this opinion, the music switched to Sam Cooke and stayed that way for the rest of our meal!! (which allowed me to introduce her to my Alexander Hamiltion/Sam Cooke plan, of which she had been heretofore blissfully unaware since she doesn't read my blog.)

Bike shopping was interesting, but not as fun as lunch. Our salesman sussed out pretty quick that we were not serious buyers yet, so we got to hear about how disk breaks on bikes are either like or unlike ball or needle valves in paper mills (!!!???) and various details about how his sister looks just like him, only she doesn't have a mustache in the spirit of Mangy Walrus. (I may have already checked out of the conversation at this point.) Blondie got to torture him with persistent questions about how the structure and materials of bikes have changed in the years since she was a serious rider, and I was informed that my legs were longer than my torso, which I already knew. Anyway! things were learned, and now I feel more comfortable floating my Bicycle By Bear plan the next time it comes up.

my tree is full of birds

I was going to start equivocating about how I can't believe it's friday already and how I have all of these BIG PLANS for future posts (former:true, latter:false),blah blah holiday weekend, but it seems like I've said that at least 345,000 times before and it's boring. (not that I would let that stop me!)

But as I was sitting here I noticed the tree right outside my window is full of tiny little birds. They're not finches (they are brownish and very fat, but tiny) and they are all chirping at once. It sounds like a high pitched gong out there! The tree is even vibrating.

Which reminds me that I was sitting here at my computer the other night and three canada geese flew by in front of the full moon. The moon was far, the geese were near, and it was spectacularly weird and strangely moving. (I don't know about you, but I rarely see geese flying in the middle of the night.) Okay, okay. The gonging tree full of tiny fat birds compels me to tell you that I could distinctly HEAR the geese (you must admit they have a distinctive sound), and I could see the moon do this stuttering/fluttering thing where it flapped in and out of visibility, but due to the tree I couldn't really make out the geese. (but I know they were there!) Flying geese in front of a full moon is probably an evil omen in chinese lore or something. I hope not. Please don't tell me if it is.

and now the birds are off gonging another tree, and I am off to the next part of my day.

election day!

It is FINALLY primary day here in Oregon, hooray! As usual, I have waited to vote until election day. Yes, it's too late to mail in a ballot (mail in ballots are how all voting is done in this state), but it just so happens that every branch of the library is also an official drop-off place, which makes it extra easy to 1) vote on election day 2) stick it to the man. (the man who wants 42 cents postage for me to vote, which I find outrageous. OUTRAGEOUS. It's not the money, it's the principle.)

Anyway, I don't know if you saw the pictures on tv or in the newspaper, but Obama was here on Sunday and drew the largest crowd (75k!) for a primary election event EVER. I wasn't there, but it was a heartening thing to behold even in photographs.

It might have even made my grinch-like political heart expand a couple of sizes. The Oregonian has an excellent photoset of the event on flickr.

(television aside: Bones -- seriously?? wtf!)

it's very green right now

I am tired and road-weary (STILL) from my mom's crazy-ass marathon courthouse birthday road trip. (details to follow after I upload my pictures. it was fun!)

Since I don't have those pictures ready, I thought I'd post some photos of what's blooming right here in the neighborhood right now.(Actually, these pictures are from last week and we just had a "heat wave" -- that means it got up into the 90's for more than one day -- so some things (like the rhododendron) are maybe not as fresh as they look here. But it's close.)


oooh! But first, picnic vision: I had a rooftop picnic with Leslie on Wednesday. The weather had just turned nice that afternoon (it was v. cloudy in the morning), and it's always fun to look out across the city from a fresh vantage point. Double extra fun to do so with a friend!


this is one of the pink hawthorns I walk by every day. (I also walk by white ones, but the pink one was prettier.) Here's what the druids have to say about it. (apparently, Hawthorn is popular with the faeries!)


Dogwood are blooming everywhere. Most are pink or white, but I really like this green one.


This gigantic rhododendron is across the street from the park. It is old and HUGE, as you can see. Rhododendrons do really well here as they like the rain and whatnot.


...and because I just can't stop, another tree silhouette! Don't worry, I'll have to stop taking these once they've fully leafed out since there will be a lot less light available.

what the helen of troy is that?

conundrum: What is going on with Lou Dobbs' teeth? They look like they are carved from a single piece of porcelain. I can't look away, although I can and do mute the sound.

favorite misheard lyric (this week): Swing like a wrecking ball/ with a heart of gold -- from Page France's Chariot. It's actually Swing like a wrecking ball/ like the heart of god. But there's something that appeals to me about a wrecking ball with a heart of GOLD. Like if this wrecking ball is knocking you down, you probably have it coming! it wouldn't do it unless it was really necessary. (now I have completely anthropomorphized this wrecking ball. It feels bad, but wrecking is its business! Maybe it will run away and become a cannon ball for the circus.)

my love for the new five dollar bill: knows no bounds! It's purple with stars!! What's next? I hope Washington and the one dollar bill get made over with unicorns or rainbows or something. Woot! (Hamilton looks dashing as always on the remade ten.)

Speaking of Hamilton... I finally watched Children of Men, which was very good and not at all what I was expecting (future blog post, topic of: The Unreliable Nature of My Expectations). BUT, that's not what this is about! This is about me finally figuring out perfect casting for my exciting imaginary Alexander Hamilton/Sam Cooke crime fighting premium cable project. (which you may or may not remember was a brief obsession of mine Last August.) Anyway, back to this perfect casting: Hamilton: Clive Owen (!!! I KNOW! he could really pull off a powdered wig, and we already know he can play a badass.) Cooke: Chewitel Ejiofor! So perfect I can barely stand it. I really loved him in Talk To Me (and every other thing I've seen him in). He would be so great as Sam Cooke, even if it were in something other than Sam Cooke and Alexander Hamilton fighting crime, breaking hearts, vigorously defending civil rights, singing songs, arranging duels, making sweet sweet love to the ladies (they were both notorious), and of course conducting important (and exciting!) Department of the Treasury business and managing their own musical careers.

picked up on a whim: I was working the other day and Death of a Ladies Man came across my path. I'd never heard it (I know), so I brought it home. I know it's considered to be somewhat controversial, I know that Phil Spector is a maniac, but it was still so not what I was expecting at all! (this is a theme lately.) However, this is exactly the way I like to be surprised. It made me laugh (in a good way, sometimes in an astonished what did he just say?? way, which is one of my favorite things about Leonard Cohen). Plus, dig the cover -- he's looking right through to the back of the viewer's head. Leonard Cohen can probably read thoughts from 50 paces. (maybe he could consult occasionally with Sam Cooke and Alexander Hamiltion.)

Bones: FAT PAM, the stalker??? You've got to be kidding me! There was so much about this episode that was fun (including the totally disgusting body at the beginning) but the whole fat stalker thing made me nuts. It seems like yet another example of this show (which I like a lot) trying to have its cake and eat it too. (cake: fat stalker cliche! but she's not FAT, she's just "slightly overweight." eating it too: "but we will call her 'Fat Pam' because that's what the dead asshole called her.") BAH! What next? Magical Negro? Hooker With a Heart Of Gold? But I still love Sweets, even though it's more and more obvious to me that his purpose is to give Bones and Booth something to be united against. The whole stalker/shooter story felt rushed, but I get the feeling it might have played out over a longer period of time if not for the strike.

May 15: is my mom's birthday. In honor of this, my sister and I are accompanying her on a demented roadtrip to parts of Oregon rarely visited (by me, anyway). I'm expecting to see lots of interesting political signs -- it's a whole different world once you leave the liberal corridor of the Willamette valley. Maybe I'll even get a sunburn! I think I will leave my computer at home. (I know!!) It's only a few days, and the very fact that I am feeling so equivocal about leaving it behind is an argument for not taking it. Feel free to send me hilarious emails to be read upon my return, however!

check it out:

Woo Hoo! Yesterday I got to pick up not one, not two, but THREE holds waiting for me at the library. They were all quality, too. First, The Invention of Hugo Cabret -- this is one I'd had out once before, but I put off reading it for too long and ran out of time. It's as big as a brick, but I saw that it was mostly pictures and underestimated how much time I'd need with it. The library has 65 copies and I still had to wait over 6 weeks to get it back again. (never underestimate the power of a caldecott medal.) This time, I'm not fooling around! I'm reading it first.

Second, The Rabbi's Cat 2 -- I quite enjoyed the first one, and am looking forward to this quite a bit. (click the link to see an excerpt.) I also just finished one of Sfar's other graphic novels, The Professor's Daughter. If you think you might enjoy an adventure/romance featuring not only The Professor's Daughter, but an egyptian mummy in a tailcoat and top hat, check it out! (double crossing! disguises! tragedy! triumph! tenderness! the aforementioned tailcoat and top hat! POISON! etc!)

Third, The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes. I believe this is culled mostly from McSweeney's Internet Tendency, much like Mountain Man Dance Moves, only one presumes with fewer unicorns. I know collections like this can be pretty uneven, but while flipping through it I laughed an embarrassingly loud laugh several times. SEVERAL TIMES. John Hodgman wrote the introduction. He imparts much wisdom, including the true secret of why books are funny.


obviously this isn't a book from the library, but instead a tree from the park.

bibliomancy with bob

Today I stopped by my home library branch to pick up some holds and take back stuff; stuff other fools had the temerity to request so I couldn't keep it. (283 other fools in the case of The Wire, season 4 [so good!]) This is my sentimental favorite branch, the branch I have used since I moved back to the city, the branch where I used to volunteer, etc.

I took a spin around the stacks to see if there was anything I couldn't live without (beyond the books I came to pick up). This usually involves a trip back to the 800's (poetry, essays), a trip over to graphic novels, a quick perusing of DVDs and CDs (although I have too many of each right now), a stop in the craft section (I currently have out about 6 beautiful books on crochet, even though I haven't crocheted in months), film/music/television, gardening, fiction, new books. I didn't pick up anything extra today, although I made out pretty well when I was there last week. What I did find was an old friend on the shelf. When I used to volunteer and work on the paging list (pulling materials to fulfill holds), I would always look to see if certain books were in. Bob Dylan's Chronicles was one of them. Our branch has two copies -- sometimes they both were in, usually they both were gone. But when it was there, I'd always pull it down and open it up at random and see what Bob had to say. I guess it's almost a form of bibliomancy. According to my old pal Wikipedia, the traditional method is as such:

1. A book is picked that is believed to hold truth.
2. It is balanced on its spine and allowed to fall open.
3. A passage is picked, with the eyes closed.

I didn't place it on it's spine (I'm more of a flip the pages and stop kind of girl), and I don't point at the page with my eyes closed, but rather just see what my eye falls on first. My eye fell on the passage below today, which I found comforting in a strange way. I have been having one of my weirdest up and down months on record. It's not that anything is wrong, per se, just that everything is shifting and I don't know how it will land.

Anyway, beyond Divination by Dylan, I recommend this book! Maybe you're not a very big Dylan fan and think there's nothing there for you, but I found it not to be so much about Bob Dylan the legend (Bob Dylan the author is thoroughly bored with that topic), but more about really good writing (he's a really good writer) and the mysteries of creative drive and fire.

"Sometimes you know things have to change, are going to change, but you can only feel it--like in that song of Sam Cooke's, "Change Is Gonna Come"--but you don't know it in a purposeful way. Little things foreshadow what's coming, but you may not recognize them. But then something immediate happens and you're in another world, you jump into the unknown, have an instinctive understanding of it--you're set free. You don't need to ask questions and you already know the score. It seems like when that happens, it happens fast, like magic, but it's not really like that. It isn't like some dull boom goes off and the moment has arrived--your eyes don't spring open and suddenly you're very quick and sure about something. It's more deliberate. It's more like you've been working in the light of day and then you see one day that it's getting dark early, that it doesn't matter where you are--it won't do any good. It's a reflexive thing. Someone holds the mirror up, unlocks the door--something jerks it open and you're shoved in and your head has to go in a different place. Sometimes it takes a certain somebody to make you realize it." -- Chronicles Volume 1, Bob Dylan

you always end up in the ci-ty

There's all this stuff I've been wanting to write up forever (books, movies, projects, tv, etc), but I kept putting it off because I was busy or having a crisis or you know, just lazy. Then it (the heretofore mentioned "stuff") became a giant MOUNTAIN that seemed way too tall to climb without sherpas or mountain goats or alpacas or the steely ponchos-in-prison determination of Martha Stewart. (I don't have these things!) It was a problem. But then a lightbulb switched on and I realized that I don't have to do it all at once -- some of it I don't even have to do at all. (a pretty dim lightbulb, but sometimes any illumination helps.):

TV: I have this new TV watching plan that makes me feel like I have discovered penicillin or invented the mini-marshmallow. Are you ready? I am trying to only watch shows that I really want to watch. It seems so obvious, but my habit for far too long has been to park my butt on the couch with my laptop and simultaneously read, answer email, and watch tv. This is no good! I've decided to pay more attention to the shows I enjoy (and also to watch more movies -- more on this later), and if I'm not watching something I like, then get up and do something else. Like... read a book! or sew! (although I have taken to doing hand sewing while watching TV, which is less distracting than the computer.) Anyway -- it's not a perfect plan, but I'm trying to be more aware of my time and make sure I'm doing things I want to do.

So, last night I watched Bones and sewed patches on my vintage quilt. Oh, Bones! I missed you when you were gone. Here are some of the things I like about this show: 1) great ensemble (hey, look -- functional yet imperfect people working together!) 2) I love the Booth/Bones relationship -- they come at the world from completely different ends, yet respect and care for each other -- seemingly unheard of in this post Bush/Gore environment. 3) the crime of the week is never the main point of the show, the ensemble is the main point of the show. (although this week it intertwined since Brennan's father was on trial.)

That being said, the very things I love about the show also worry me since I'm a worrier: 1)If everyone gets along so great, where's the tension? (They've handled it well so far, but this is something I can see becoming an issue.) 2) Bones/Booth: to quote Giles from Buffy, the subtext is rapidly becoming text. I like to see their relationship developing as it has been (they have crazy chemistry), but I think it's important that they don't push it too fast. That tension is so delicate and balanced at this point -- it's one of the few things that really separates this show from others of its ilk. 3) That courtroom scene this week was incredibly unbelievable. Like Boston Legal unbelievable. Ally McBeal unbelievable! I don't mind because that's not what the show is about for me, but even I noticed. 4) I love Sweets! But I did not love the insane way they decided to tell us he could stay on the show -- he gets to continue studying Booth/Brennan and why they get along when they should not, but since he no longer has a Legitimate Sanctioned Reason, he's doing it in exchange for "profiles on demand" which sounds pretty lame to me, and like I've said before, I'm no procedural purist. (but I love him and am glad that he'll be on more. He is A-dorable.)

song stuck in my head: Myriad Harbor by New Pornographers. I know it's from last summer, but I'm loving it so much RIGHT NOW it's making me crazy. I woke up and had to hear it 10 times. (10 times is a lie! it was more times than that.) It makes me want to dance around in my pajamas, sing it in the car, go somewhere, do something moderately stupid just because. I love that it has a specific, evocative setting (NYC) yet captures that universal everywhere feeling when the sun hits just right and you're with your friends wandering around talking to people and doing stuff for no particular reason. Things are not perfect, troubles from yesterday will be there tomorrow; there's no plan and you'll probably get into at least one argument over nothing -- yet there's a certain buoyancy as the day unspools. It sounds like a warm weather song to me -- not that it's currently warm here, but I have faith that it will be warm again. I need to hear it 3 more times, right now.
I took a plane, I took a train/ (ah, who cares, you always end up in the city)

not a gravy expert

make up your mind, sidewalk! If you're going to dictate my state of mind, at least have the decency to indicate whether it should be THIS (see above), or THAT (see below). Both on the same day. Same sidewalk, even. Good gravy. ( Good Gravy! I don't know what's up with that -- I was overcome by the desire to say good gravy! I'm no gravy expert, but I feel secure in saying that no good gravy ever came out of a can.)



I have to say I much prefer the sunnier hot-pink message of the second photo, so I'm going to make that the logo of my new Good Gravy brand gravy, available at fine grocers everywhere! But not in a can! or a jar! you have to hold out your hands or something. (...still working out the details.) (I realize some hippie has probably already been selling Good Gravy brand gravy that you hold in your hands for 15 years already, so maybe it's time to let those good gravy dreams go to that Some Hippie Thought of it First idea gravy graveyard. Good bye, Good Gravy!)

and now, a picture, some links and a video:

click here to read about this picture -- a picture that should make you smile unless your heart is made of stone or is pumping a gravy-like substance. (it looks like some mad wizarding experiment. I guess it kind of was!)

oh, this made me laugh too! it's a collaborative effort to write an old-school style Harlequin category romance, The Unfeasibly Tall Greek Billionaire's Blackmailed Martyr-Complex Secretary Mistress Bride: chapter 1. I don't know that I'll read the whole thing, but the instructions made me laugh and laugh, as did the following bit of dialogue: "I've got to go, Sasha" he drawled. "I need to be at the airport in thirty minutes. I'm flying to Athens in my luxury private jet for a global hummus conference." HA HA HA! (caveat: may not be funny if you've never read an old-school category romance with an Unfeasibly Tall Greek Billionaire and his Blackmailed Martyr-Complex Secretary Mistress Bride. What I want to know is why I never hear about these global hummus conferences in the news.)

And finally, Stereogum has video of an interview and performance by Feist on the Colbert Report. (it's funny!) Watch the first video to hear Stephen Colbert's advice on what will make your loved ones "twitch with joy," and hear Feist say what I think a lot of us are thinking: "as long as you call me, Stephen Colbert, you can call me whatever you want."

Watch the second video to see her acoustic performance of I Feel It All.

and because I still love it, here's the video for 1 2 3 4.

eight pages in one

Thursday some friends came over for crafty night and we made zines. Kinda. I really don't know what the hell I'm doing, so I hesitate to say we actually made them, but we did glue stuff in little books made from a single sheet of paper that could then be photocopied. I've been mildly obsessed with the idea since attending a zine workshop during staff day about a month ago. (exactly a month ago!) I have been fooling around with some collage type stuff for a while now, but the idea of using only ONE sheet of 8.5 x 11 paper to make an 8 page booklet really piqued my interest. I think there are two reasons why this spoke to me: 1) I'm cheap 2) I work better creatively when I have some limits in place. one sheet of paper is a good limit.



I also love that they can be about whatever floats your boat! Stories, drawings, recipes, poems, photos only -- one of the most fun things about Thursday night's experiment is that we were all working out of the same pile of supplies, yet all came up with completely different finished projects. Mine doesn't really make any narrative sense or have a point -- it was more like 8 little mini-collage pages (some of which I will work on further, but I wanted to see how the color would look when photocopied.) Anyway, good times! I will be fooling around with this further I think. It's an awful lot of fun.


In other news, Everything is green like crazy right now. I love this tree!