perspective on: patience

i know, i know. the first day of spring was a while ago. and over where i am, it feels like the middle of the hottest summer i've ever known. but it's may!!! which means spring! which means i have just one more month of work here before i can start packing it in and begin to make my way home. so even though i'm a sweaty lump in my office chair, trying to get some work done, i'm choosing to indulge a bit today. i'm treating myself to the above photo.

(photo via cute overload)

perspective on: religion

Sister Corita, somebody had to break the rules, seriograph , 1967

perspective on: happiness

alas. i am not in a land that believes in ben & jerry's. but for all of you who are, find where your nearest ice cream shop is, and take advantage of this. please.

lilly mcelroy is a performative photographer who, literally, throws herself at men. brilliant, and quite funny.

perspective on: music

for a while now, i've been hooked on m. ward. a one man wonder, his music is comforting and soothing, making it perfect for long car rides and mellow afternoons. and now ward has teamed up with zooey deschanel to present she & him and their first published collaboration, volume one, from merge records. this is good stuff people. good stuff.

perspective on: loss

i recently learned about charlotte salomon and her beautiful, heartbreaking work. i'm now on a bit of a mission to find out more about her. if anyone knows anything, please send it my way...

boosting my mood

sometimes, like these days, i'm forced to take some serious action to boost my mood. the stand-by combination of sugar (in lieu of sour patch kids, i opt for fruit mentos here in india,) peppy music (diana ross usually does a good job, ditto roy orbison, with whom i'm newly acquainted,) and gym workouts just doesn't cut it. so i was thrilled when my sister sent me this article on mindy kaling: writer/producer/actress of the office, dartmouth '01, and overall sharp, snappy girl. thanks laura.

stationery

nice stationery really does wonders to my mood. which was why, during my recent trip to mumbai, i was elated to (finally) make it to chimanlal's. a paper institution that has been around for over fifty years, this store has beautiful handmade paper with traditional indian themes for ridiculously low prices. for those of you who aren't actually in india or who don't want to place a bulk order, send me your requests asap.

spine lamp. for the doctors in the house?

poetry pick

On Turning Ten (Billy Collins)

The whole idea of it makes me feel
like I'm coming down with something,
something worse than any stomach ache
or the headaches I get from reading in bad light-
a kind of measles of the spirit,
a mumps of the psyche,
a disfiguring chicken pox of the soul.

You tell me it is too early to be looking back,
but that is because you have forgotten
the perfect simplicity of being one
and the beautiful complexity introduced by two.
But I can lie on my bed and remember every digit.
At four I was an Arabian wizard.
I could make myself invisible
by drinking a glass of milk a certain way.
At seven I was a soldier, at nine a prince.

But now I am mostly at the window
watching the late afternoon light.
Back then it never fell so solemnly
against the side of my tree house,
and my bicycle never leaned against the garage
as it does today,
all the dark blue speed drained out of it.

This is the beginning of sadness, I say to myself,
as I walk through the universe in my sneakers.
It is time to say good-bye to my imaginary friends,
time to turn the first big number.

It seems only yesterday I used to believe
there was nothing under my skin but light.
If you cut me I could shine.
But now when I fall upon the sidewalks of life,
I skin my knees. I bleed.

perspective on: whimsy

i'm really loving this "i love your utensils" set, available here.

perspective on: darfur

kristof's article in the nyt today regarding sudan and steps to make improvement in the situation is impressive. clear and relatively succinct and fewer than ten, this list makes it nearly impossible for bush to make excuses.

perspective on priorities

this morning my dad sent me a link to randy pausch's lecture. before that though, i had read a nyt article about his work, had seen a blurb about him on lifehacker, and had perused his website. sometimes insight and perspective arrives just when i need it most...

joining the likes of andy goldsworthy, whom i adore, is jim denevan. beautiful, beautiful work.

sodalitas art

take a minute to check out sodalitas