Blah blah blech

I've only posted this Elina Brotherus photo once before on this blog, but for years now it has been my go-to mental image whenever I feel stressed or creatively stagnant (conditions which not only come hand in hand, they're usually makin love in the green grass behind the stadium). I don't blog about work, but I will say that there's overwhelmed and then there's out of my mind. I would be the latter.

I consider myself a creative person, so it's particularly frustrating when I am busy to the point of a survival-mode existence. I've finished two amazing books recently (Angelina Jolie's "Notes From My Travels" about her work with UN refugees, and Jannette Walls charmingly messed up memoir "Glass Castle") but haven't had time to compose ISBN posts (which I really enjoy doing). I'm scattered at best with my First Friday Film posts, even though I've recently seen movies worth talking about. I also want to post about my work with Tabesha and have only done so a couple times. It's not that I feel any superficial obligation to keep this blog current - the lack of posts is merely symptomatic of the fact that I'm not indulging my creative side. Ultimately, that's what's bothering me lately.

Lights at the end of my creatively-stagnant tunnel? Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman. If I can't road trip around the world right now, I can at least enjoy watching them do it. The Family Diversity Project that I've been wanting to see for a long time is now on display in Salt Lake. The Present Tense exhibit about the work of local artists on the 337 Project is open at Salt Lake Art Center. And if nothing else, for the first time in a long time, I have substantial vacation plans on the horizon.

I know myself well enough to know that these events will pull me out of my stress-induced stupor...so hopefully the posting will resume soon.

20 January 2009!

While absolutely hysterical, I do wish they had provided actual statistics. The damage, though parodied well in this video, is unfortunately quite real.

The Girl Effect

The Girl Effect: The powerful social and economic change brought about when girls have the opportunity to participate in their society.

From The Girl Effect website: "Why Girls? Because there’s poverty, and war, and hunger, and AIDS, and because when adolescent girls in the developing world have a chance, they can be the most powerful force of change for themselves, their families, communities, countries, and even the planet. But while those 600 million adolescent girls are the most likely agents of change, they are often invisible to their societies and the world."

I have possible pipe dreams and/or possible career goals that involve living/working internationally. Specifically, focusing on community organizing and the empowerment of women. There's a theory of international development that (rightfully so, in my opinion) claims that when you involve women in the building of communities (politically, socially, economically, etc.) then you exponentially increase the chances of those initiatives taking hold and truly transforming the community. It's a generalization , but men tend to channel power and influence to their singular advantage, where women channel power and influence to the advantage of the children, the village, the collective.

Check out this fantastic video:

The John Mayer Concert Experience...

...as relayed via Facebook status updates. For those not familiar with the completely unnecessary and completely addicting social networking site known as Facebook, status updates are a tool intended to keep your close friends, random family members, and complete strangers that friend (read "friend" as a verb) and poke you and who you think you remember from high school but aren't quite sure, abreast of every single mundane detail of your rather ordinary life. Posted to your profile sequentially, updates are meant to be read bottom to top.

Matt is living my dream

You may think it's corny at first, but wait for it. Wait for it. It will make your entire day bright and shiny.

If you want to watch a high-resolution version (I don't know why the embed quality is low, visit YouTube directly and click "Watch in high quality" in the bottom right hand corner of the video)

Quintessential Wyoming

Details | Hand-painted boot

Details | Glittery or rusty...spurs are hot

These boots were made for walkin'

This is by far my favorite memory of this trip to Cheyenne. When my plans for a shopping spree went bust, I decided to wander the streets with my camera and see what I could see. I saw these boots. I love these boots. They are kitsch kitsch kitschy. They are fabulous. They are everywhere.

Old brick. New brick. Gorgeous.

Other side of the tracks

This abandon building in Cheyenne wouldn't make it two seconds in Salt Lake. Before it was turned into a $400,000 intentionally-unfinished loft that actually looks remarkably similar to the original structure. Minus the Starbucks in the lobby, the IKEA couches with no arm rests, and the Vespas parked out front.

Crossroads of the West

Wyoming Shopping Spree

My meetings ended a bit early and I was a free woman, ready to hit the town. Grab my camera, my cash, my creativity, and head out for photo ops and shopping sprees.

Or not.

Hee Haw Downtown Cheyenne!

Lincoln Theatre | Cheyenne, Wyoming

I've always been fascinated by Main Street theatres. I would love to take a cross country road trip with the express purpose of photographing this iconic nugget of vintage Americana. True, I could simply purchase one of the many coffee table books that already had this idea, but that's no fun. Someday (when gas isn't $18.74 per gallon) I'll cruise the small towns and create my own collection.

My Morning Star Minutia

So I'm on a Boca Burger kick lately. On my recent trip to the grocery store a spicy black bean burger caught my eye. I already had avocados in my cart and I thought to my self, "Self, how serendipitous." The burgers are completely vegetarian and completely fabulous. I'd had plenty of Morning Star varieties before, but never noticed the spicy black bean thing. I highly recommend them, with their chunky bits of spicy corn kernels and mashed up beans, the spice is perfect with cool avocado. Yum-my.

Country Roads...take me home

Wyoming Skyline

This may seem repetitive, but I fell in love with this cloudy day and took way too many photos. I was in the campus parking lot and slowly panned the horizon, snapping photos as I spun around. In other words, what I'm sayin to ya, there's nothin out there. Nothin.

It used to make me anxious and bored, but this time around, I thought the Wyoming horizon was really beautiful.

Antique Vanity Lights | Nagle Warren Mansion

Radiator | Nagle Warren Mansion

Charming Victorian | Nagle Warren Mansion

It's fussy and lacey and stiff and when done right, oh so charming. You'd never catch me living in Victorian decor, but I can appreciate the period when it's well done. The Nagle Warren Mansion Bed & Breakfast in Cheyenne, Wyoming is well done. Jim, the owner, was very methodical about the remodel and the details are incredible.

My first memory of the mansion was my visit last year when Jim picked me up at the airport, ran an errand on the way back to the mansion, and then gave me a tour of the grounds before taking my bags to my room. There was something so personal and small town about it. Charming.

When you make your reservations, they work with you to accommodate your diet at breakfast, there are fluffy robes and slippers waiting for you, along with a hand-written card from your housekeeper, and the bath products are yummy imports from England. In other words, the service is wonderful.

My favorite detail has to be the original doors, locks, and skeleton keys.

On the Road Again | Cheyenne, Wyoming

I've been home from Wyoming about three weeks now, my Flickr is finally updated, and I'll start a posting stream with photos from the trip. It was a business trip, but I had half a day to wander about Cheyenne on my own and, well, it was plenty of time.

I mean to say that it's a teenytiny town, not that it is an uninteresting town. In fact, I appreciate Wyoming in a whole new way this time around (for the same reasons I now appreciate the Arizona desert, actually). When I was there last year, sans camera, I wasn't digging it at all. It's amazing, the perspective you gain when you see art in minutia and details in the mundane.

On that note...on with the posts.

Ramblings from the Route | Drop in the ocean

I love The Onion. I love the dry wit and biting sarcasm and satire. I love that last week they posted a story that gets right to the heart of my frustrations about trying to live more eco-consciously.

So I set a goal last year to ride public transportation to work once a week. How's that workin out? Not so hot. I've had bus days. I had one just last week, in fact. I've enjoyed my bus days. I can, however, count those bus days on two hands and perhaps one toe. I can blame my schedule. I can say I needed to quickly get multiple places in a short amount of time and that necessitates a car. I can wine about how hot/cold it is (ironic complaint, re: my initial motivations for public transport), even though I *have* done it in the rain and snow and heat. Regardless of all these excuses, it's not good enough. I have friends who ride the bus all day every day and I know it can be done. In the meantime, I just keep spouting off that if Salt Lake were a true urban environment, more dense, better routes, blahblahblah.

On that note...The Onion: "I'm doing my inconsequential part for the environment..."

By using mass transit or riding my bike whenever possible, I may not be able to influence greenhouse-gas emissions standards or reduce mass global addiction to fossil fuels one iota. [...] Restricting my household energy use to non-peak hours does not make me capable of reversing temperature changes in the gulf stream that even now have begun to throw the world's climate out of equilibrium. The question, however, is not "What can't I do?" but rather, "What can I do?"The answer: next to nothing. (read more)

My absolute favorite desert photo

Shocks of Color | Desert Botanical Gardens

Just when you think it's nothing but sand and blah, you turn to corner to stumble over these incredible flowers. And if you're me, I do mean stumble. over. these. flowers. It was two days later than the cactus sticker poker thing finally made its way out of my finger. Graceful.

Desert Creatures | Desert Botanical Gardens

Desert Botanical Gardens | Phoenix, Arizona

I'm a water person and for all the things Salt Lake is not, I do miss the mountains when I travel. Combine these facts with my intolerance of heat and it's fair to say I'm not a fan of the desert. The red rocks of southeast Utah are beautiful, spiritual even, but when I think of Arizona...I cringe.

Then I went to the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. Maybe it's because they squish 139 species into 50 acres, making the vast stark quality a little less vast and stark, but by the time I left I had a new respect for the beauty of the desert. I experienced the raw power of the desert, the forceful power that demands respect. They had exhibits about the different cultures that live(d) in the desert and you have to stand in awe of the strength and creativity it would take just to survive from one day to the next.

I was also able to spend the day and share the experience with friends...adding to my new-found good mood about the desert. Memories are always sweeter when spent in good company. Who wouldn't love hiding out in an Apache Wickiup waiting out a rainstorm (of all crazy things to be happening in the desert).

Details | Camelback Spa

Relaxing, sensual memories from Scottsdale, Arizona.