First Aid Kit - King of the World

I went to see First Aid Kit recently and didn't get to hear this song live, but I've been enjoying it an awful lot in my car. I dare you to listen to it and not move. Go ahead.

National Ignore The Olympics Night: Clintonville

In case you didn't know it, tonight is National Ignore The Olympics Night. It is a night for neighborhoods and communities to turn off yet another beach volleyball match and reclaim their lives, to avoid watching Michael Phelps accepting more gold medals than some of the small countries competing. It's a night to ignore the scandalous twitter posts of athletes who have worked for years for this moment only to destroy it with 140 characters or less. It is a night to put aside national pride in favor of hot dogs, mac-n-cheese and frisbees.

Okay. Not really. It's National Night Out. It's when neighborhoods come outside to play and eat and listen to live music and fight crime by being outside. Or maybe it's both.

Jack & Benny's

I've been making some progress on my latest project, documenting some special things about my neighborhood, Clintonville. No such project is complete without a visit to Jack & Benny's, a breakfast joint that always has a line out the door. To get a good seat, I arrived when they opened at eight this morning. It's nice to see regulars shaking hands with the wait staff and calling everyone by name. The gals tending the grill were quiet but skilled. I could hear the sound of chatter over newspapers, and plates clanking against the counter. I ordered my coffee and heuvos rancheros and relaxed. Welcome to Sunday morning.

Blackie's Dead - Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johnsson

Hi folks. I've been dancing to this in my car on my way to work this week. It's weird, yes, but I like it anyway.

Joyeuse fête de la bastille!

Pairings

I've been having  fun pairing images lately, seeing what sorts of things work well together and create a new, interesting story by putting two or three images together. I like the sorts of things that you wouldn't immediately think of together, and watching a sort of energy emerge. I wonder what story can  be told by looking at these pictures?

Happy Birthday, America!

Unless you live under a rock, you know that the Midwest was hit by tornadic winds Friday night (sans the tornado) which, predictably, knocked out power for hundreds of thousands in Ohio alone. When you lose power for days at a time, in the middle of a heat wave, you have to rethink how you do everything; you have to slow down. First, you look at the list of things you'd hoped to achieve over the weekend and mentally cross things off. Making pesto with a mortar and pestle seems a bit laborious these days. You gather your flashlights and candles together, you get ice and empty your refrigerator into a cooler. You make grilled cheese sandwiches on the stove, which you really shouldn't wait until there's a power outage to do. Eventually, you throw out a lot of the food you can't eat quickly enough. You take pictures of the neighbors' handsome boy eating peaches. You fire up the grill, invite a few friends over. You exchange bags of ice, cups of coffee, and the latest news on which neighborhoods have had power restored.

It's interesting to see how people deal differently with the inconvenience. With tree limbs, or entire trees, fallen everywhere, the world smells like cut trees. Some neighbors are quick to offer help. Another neighbor driving by, amidst the noise of a chainsaw, lowered his window and yelled that he would be grilling and serving beer all day, so c'mon over. I love this neighborhood. Rumor has it that there was a line of ninety waiting for coffee at our local Speedway. Let me repeat that. A line of ninety for Speedway coffee. I count myself lucky that I have a gas stove and a French press, so I never reached that panic state.

We had several traffic lights that were out. People tend to be patient enough to wait their turns early in the morning, but as the day grows hotter patience wears thin, as do manners.

You learn quickly which stores and restaurants have power. If you don't hear it from a neighbor, all you need do is drive by. Either there are no cars, or the parking lot is packed and a line is trailing out the door.

It takes a few days to get into the new pace, which I only managed on the same night that power was restored. I was enjoying my latest issue of Kinfolk on the porch with a glass of wine when the electrical world suddenly came back to life. What do you do next? Put the flashlights and candles back in their cool, dark drawers, put what remaining food you have back in the refrigerator. And make ice cubes.

Feist - The Bad in Each Other

I went to see Feist last week. It was sort of sweet to see that she has a few of the selective OCD tendencies I do. When she plays a song that she really get's into? She'll play it again, and move around the stage in the same way she did the first time. I wonder how she feels about weeding the garden.

Happy weekend, folks!

Deep Play

I'm not antisocial. Really. But when the guy on the plane next to me wanted to talk about reflexive nouns, I politely smiled and dove into my book, which had nothing at all to do with reflexive nouns. But I have to wonder how Diane Ackerman, who seems capable of drumming up an enthusiastic interest in anything, might feel about reflexive nouns. Would she regard linguistic forms as a kind of deep play? I suppose, in the right hands. For me, photography is my current form of deep play. My projects, which start with a simple idea and grow like weeds over time, are deep play. They say if you find something to do that you love, you'll never work a day in your life. Some people are lucky enough to be fairly happy doing just about anything, but deep play involves the boundaries of time and place. It has specific rules and rituals. It involves getting so entranced in the thing you are doing that the rest of the world falls away.

What do you consider 'deep play'?

My Neighborhood, Clintonville

Okay, I'm back for a bit. I have a project to tell you about. Actually, it's a project that's been brewing for some time without my knowing it. I've been telling you about my neighborhood for some years. It's a special place filled with old houses, two ravines and many parks, interesting people and inspiring shops and businesses. Our monthly Happy Hours have become a place for lively conversation, culinary bravado, a lively variety of adult beverages, much laughter, and many stories.

In my daily travels around the neighborhood, I hear many stories. I want to capture these stories, show off those small businesses that make my life easier, my meals taste better, and my clothes cleaner. I want to champion the people who live and work in my community in their daily vocations and avocations.

This is where you come in. Do you have a favorite dessert or cocktail you're willing to make for me? Do you own a business that's been here a long time, or just opened one here because Clintonville is the perfect place to grow? Are you part of a band? Are you particularly proud of your garden, the coffee you serve, or the flowers you arrange? Or do you know anyone who fits any of these categories? Or any other categories I haven't considered? Help me tell your story. Or pass this along to someone lives in Clintonville that you think should play a part in my project, will you?