9 January 06
Ping
Late this afternoon I returned from a meeting over on West Campus. Passing within earshot of the ballfield, I heard the ping of an aluminum bat. It’s baseball practice time already! The Aggies’ season begins 4 February, with a home game against Sacramento State.
8 January 06
Printfest
Well, I’m back.
Here’s how you do this: you get some unflavored gelatin and make it according to the instructions on the package (about 4 tablespoons per 4 cups water). You pour it into a mold and allow it to set.
Then you spread ink [water-soluble block printing ink] over the gelatin with a brayer, put something like a feather down on it, and put a piece of paper down on top of all of it. Pulling it up gives you print #1. Pulling the feather off and putting another piece of paper over the whole thing gives you print #2, the ghost print, where the most remarkable detail is preserved, almost photographically.
It’s fast. It’s not toxic. It’s unbelievably cheap. And I made at least 120 prints yesterday…
6 January 06
Dangerous Idea
The online journal Edge annually asks a provocative question of a large number of leading thinkers. This year’s question, asked of 117 scientists, was “What is your dangerous idea?” That is:
The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?
My favorite response was by Irene Pepperberg, who has studied cognition and communication in Grey parrots for over 25 years, most famously working with her African Grey parrot, Alex. Her dangerous idea is that The differences between humans and non-humans are quantitative, not qualitative. As she puts it:
If we do not believe in a clear boundary between humans and nonhumans, if we do not accept a clear “them” versus “us”, we need to rethink other aspects of our lives. Do we have the right to clear-cut forests in which our fellow creatures live? To pollute the air, soil and water that we share with them, solely for our own benefit? Where do we draw the line? Life may be much simpler if we do firmly draw a line, but is simplicity a valid rationale?
5 January 06
Illustrated Letters
Danny Gregory of Everyday Matters announced a contest late last year: people were to send him an illustrated letter and the winner would be sent a copy of his new book. I do covet the book but mostly I love the idea of illustrated letters so I sent him one; it appears in the gallery.
Taking time not only to write to a friend but to include sketches, drawings, paintings: what a luxury. If any of you out there think this might be fun, let me know…
4 January 06
Davis Walkabout
There’s a story in the Davis Enterprise today about Robert Faber, a 79-year old Davis man who has walked every street, land, and path in town. He started this project after a quadruple bypass surgery in 2001, and has logged about 4000 miles total. “An animal lover, he is regularly greeted by the dogs and cats of Davis. Many cats recognize him, running from half a block away to greet him.”
3 January 06
All the World's a Surface...
I’ll be heading to the San Francisco Center for the Book on Saturday to take a one-day class in gelatin printing for artists books.
Whenever I’m getting ready for a session like this—and I expect we’ll get a LOT of prints made—I go into a week of delicious anticipation, seeing things all over the place I could use or bring. I’ve been looking today at pine needles; yesterday I got some feathers and suede cord. I’m looking at objects that are flat and that might work to have ink rolled onto them.
Looking at the world like this gives you glimpses into other things: this morning as I sipped my tea a stray hair on the counter resolved itself into a woman’s bottom, Rubensesque. I wouldn’t have seen it if I hadn’t been looking slightly to the side, which I’m doing because of this upcoming class.
I’ll post some prints from my class here on Sunday or Monday…
1 January 06
Off To The Hindu Kush
I am now on a reading-about-Central Asia kick, and have just finished Eric Newby’s account of misadventures in Nuristan, A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush. It all started with reading Peter Hopkirk’s book The Great Game. Next I have to figure out just what Alexander the Great was doing in those parts, but not before finishing Hogfather! (UP GOUGER! UP ROOTER! UP TUSKER! UP SNOUTER!).
31 December 05
Floods
When we got up this morning water was sloshing at the back door with the rain still pouring, howling gales. The field was a lake. This house is pretty watertight but there were drips near the door… I got a yoghurt container under three of them and sat and waited. We had both electricity and a phone line. In these circumstances they’re normally both out.
I’ve been doing well with losing weight and have begun to increase the amount of activity I’m doing to help in this and general health. So when the rain stopped and the sun came out I decided to go out for a bike ride. South… maybe to the church on Tremont, maybe around through South Davis.
A six-inch flood about a half-mile down the road turned me north. The creek had overflowed all the way to the levees, swirling eddies of blood-red water. I headed to West Campus and saw flooding everywhere: in the cow pasture, in the sheep field… and of course the creek wherever I went by it. Heading north up Olive Drive, pinging hundreds of unripe olives that had been blown down in the night, I once again got stopped by a torrent of water going across the road from west to east.
I’ve never lived by a really BIG river. It must be a terrifying thing when something like the Mississippi bursts its banks…
We will not be going to Berkeley tomorrow. I-80 was closed most of today between Vacaville and Fairfield, and we didn’t hear a train all morning. Hunkering seems called for.
27 December 05
Teff Luck
We went to Oakland to meet Ron Sullivan and Joe Eaton to go to the Baseball as America exhibition at the Oakland Museum only to discover they are in fact closed on Tuesday. (Before doing any more long-distance museum jaunts, do check the website!) We regrouped quickly to fetch up at Cody’s and Moe’s books on Telegraph, and then went for an early dinner of Ethiopian food.
We went to Cafe Colucci near Telegraph and Alcatraz, and having almost no exposure to Ethiopian cuisine, didn’t know what to expect. Thankfully, Ron and Joe served as good guides, and explained what to do with the injera pancakes made of teff grain. It’s not a cuisine for the fastidious, but it makes a very yummy vegetarian meal. Our favorite dish of all was the collard greens (gomen).
26 December 05
Resolving
I’ve never much been one for New Year’s resolutions. They seem ineffective for most people and I don’t know why I’d be any different. Last week as I was pondering the solstice, though, I did come up with some things I’d like to do differently before the next one. These aren’t the normal “lose weight read more exercise regularly get fully prepared for disaster” variety, all of which would certainly be a good idea, but things like “Sing on the bike more. Learn spencerian. See the flammulated owl.”
May you sing on your bikes more or whatever your equivalent is! And may the flammulated owl look at you with its deep black eyes and speak to you of peace in the still places of the forest.