Picture This

It's become a cliché to say that a picture speaks a thousand words, but after visiting this exhibit at the Ohio Historical Society yesterday, I would say the adage is completely true. The exhibit is made up of Pulitzer winning photographs from the last 50 years. It's an intense visual journey through history.

Several things struck me about the exhibit. To begin with, these are 11x20 or larger prints of the photos. Usually when you see a great example of photojournalism, you see it on grainy newsprint and in a small box above the fold. The size of these photos really brought the emotion they were depicting to life. Pulitzer prize winning photos tend to show raw emotion, but are composed perfectly.

As you are walking through the exhibit, it's important to read the accompanying text as the words work together with the picture to put it in perspective. Without the text, it would sometimes be hard to understand the photo. Some of the images, though showed such heartbreak you didn't really need the complete story. Fear, pain and suffering is the same on the face of a starving child as it is on the face of a civil war embattled widow.
It's also interesting to see how the technology and the focus of the photos have changed in the last 50 years. The accompanying text for the early photos tells of photographers changing flash bulbs at just the right moment to get the shot. The text also told of photographer in the 70s and 80s, smuggling film out of war zones. The photos eventually switched from black and white to color and then some back to black and white as the format changed to digital. It also seemed the early images were more national in subject while the more recent are international. All are powerful.

Some of the images, such as the soldier being greeted by his family in the 70s and Babe Ruth's last game in the 50s, were familiar. A few of the images, such as the fireman carrying the baby out of the rubble of the Oklahoma City bombing in the 90s and the little Vietnamese girl with her clothes burned off in the 70s, were painfully identifiable. There were many pictures of war and famine. A lot of the images dealt with the civil rights movement, a lot more dealt with the Vietnam war and several of the images were of places and times most Americans wouldn't know about if the photographers wouldn't have traveled the world.

Many of the images and related text moved me to tears. The exhibit is laid out with a large reflecting room in the middle. It has couches and plenty of Kleenex and is mostly a visually devoid space. I skipped the reflecting room, but maybe shouldn't have because I did feel rather overwhelmed after walking the exhibit. We had only planned on being there for a little bit, but ended up staying for almost two hours. If you're local, it's worth the trip. If you're not local, don't be so quick to dismiss the photographs on the front page of a newspaper, as they could be telling an important story. I know I won't be so fast to dismiss the next piece of photojournalism I see.

In the Who Knew Catergory

I make it a point to learn a new thing each day. I do this so I am a more interesting person and so I won't develop Alzheimer's. On Sunday, I learned two things I wasn't quite ready for.

It began when Chris and I took a road trip to Delaware, Ohio. It's only about a 30 minute drive, but to me anything longer than 15 minutes is a road trip. So when we stopped for gas on the way, I made sure to stock up on water and lottery tickets. Wouldn't want to get dehydrated or bored during the trip, now would we? We were heading to Delaware because I wanted to test-drive a Prius. We'd been researching them online, but before I went any further, I wanted to see the colors in person and make sure the driver's seat has comfortable lumbar support. Yes, that is how I choose a car. Of course, there are Toyota dealers within the Columbus city limits, but not Toyota dealers who were offering a $50 gift card to Buca for test driving the Prius. So off to Delaware we went. And, yes, I see the hypocrisy of driving out of our way to test drive a hybrid car. If it makes you feel better, I planned some trips in the area (we'll get to that later).
Little did I know, the Prius is so popular since the recent increase in gas prices, that the dealer had no cars to look at or drive. Not a one. Not even a Hybrid Camry. Only plain old gas guzzling cars were on the lot. The salesman thought he had a used Prius we could see, but, no even that one had been sold earlier in the day. I knew the Prius was a popular little bugger, but I had no idea it was waiting list, can't keep the cars on the lot, popular. And, oh yeah, you usually can't pick your color (if you really want one, you get what they have) and you pay sticker price (or at some dealers a little more.)

So after not getting to test-drive the car, we backtracked to the Polaris area to go to The Great Indoors. The Polaris Fashion Place is only about 15 minutes from our house, but it is outside of 270 and so I very rarely go there. We were headed to the Great Indoors because a very nice person had given us a gift certificate from there for our wedding. We didn't need anything, but it was $50 not coming out of our checking account and we were there, so gosh darn it, that $50 would be spent. We looked at doormats, I drooled over the Le Creuset section, and then we pondered how much use we would actually get out of a margarita maker. As we were wandering around the store, wondering again why we aren't rich, we saw the huge selection of faucets. Then we remembered, oh yeah, we do need a faucet to go with the new granite counter tops coming later this month. But, seriously, why are faucets so expensive? I was dripping(!) with sticker shock. Needless to say our $50 gift card barely put a dent into the faucet purchase.

Raindrops on Tulips

Spring Sprouts

A weekend summer ritual for us is walking or biking up to the Clintonville Farmer's Market each week, stopping for Starbucks and picking up some goodies. It's a great way to start Saturday mornings and I simply love the idea of buying produce and other goods from local suppliers. After the long winter months without our local Market, I was so happy to welcome the tents back to High Street this morning.

As it's still early in the season, this week's Market featured sprouts and seedlings as well as a couple of early produce choices (greens and asparagus). I didn't know about the Sprout Sale last year, but this year I was really excited to take part. It is great to know where my seedlings came from and how they were produced. Also, I think the sale was a bargain - for about $30 we bought five different varieties of heirloom tomato plants, a sweet pepper seedling, basil and tarragon plants, a bag of organic fertilizer and my favorite purchase of the day: two hanging baskets of green beans (one is for my parent's house).

In other garden news: our lettuce is just about to the point where we should be thinning it out, there is one healthy volunteer fennel plant and I threw down a few more seeds to even out that row. The grape vine we are foster-parenting for our friends Jacqui and Brad is starting to come back nicely (would have felt bad if we would have offed that guy).

Circling

For as much as I cried my way through 10th grade geometry, I've always loved shapes. Of all the shapes, the circle is my favorite. I like the perfection of them. The roundness and the gentle curves of an even 360 degrees. Circles often appear in our daily lives and I find comfort that, like a wedding band, there is no end and no beginning. Circles just are. There are many common idioms about circles: circle back, full circle, circular reasoning. Most of all I like circle the wagons. The phrase originates from the prairie days when wagon trains heading west would stop for the night. In a long, grueling crossing, often not knowing what the next day would bring, these overnights were probably a welcome break and a chance to relax, plan and enjoy the other traveler's company. The wagons would be arranged in a circle with livestock, women and children in the center. The wagons then formed a protective barrier around the core.

Consequently, I've taken this saying to mean to protect what is important while taking the time to figure out what comes next on the journey. This site has a different take on it, which I don't find half as endearing. And there goes the simile I had in mind for this post, huh, will just go take a walk now.

A Bet I'll Take

I've enjoyed reading, thinking on and talking about Michael Pollan's Omnivore's Dilemma and An Eater's Manifesto, so when this article was forwarded to me earlier in the week, I took the time to read it. And it did take some time to digest it it, but it's worth the read.

Most of what Pollan's work takes a little bit to read (less so with Eater's Manifesto as opposed to Omnivore's Dilemma). Writing style is one of the reasons why Pollan isn't a quick read, subject matter is another. The nutrition and food chain mess we have gotten ourselves into doesn't have a quick explanation or an easy solution.

However in this latest article, Pollan talks about the simple act of planting a garden. The task of producing some of your own food puts the industrial food chain into a new light. It's also one small part we can take to deter climate change. Plus, it helps with the recent high prices at the grocery store.

Ever since we have had this house, we've had a garden and have found it to be really rewarding.
Currently our lettuce is in the micro form, we have a few seedlings of volunteer fennel from last year and we put peas in this afternoon. Later we'll add tomatoes, cucumbers, beans and peppers. It's not a big garden, but it will help a little with the grocery bill. And it will connect us more to our yard and the earth.

When in Doubt: Shrug

After the fourth and final trip to Lowe's, Chris finally got the new dishwasher installed Monday night. I would like to say alls well that ends well, except that upon filling the dishwasher for the first time, we discovered our dinner plates do not fit in the bottom rack (or the top for that matter). Our dinner plates are over sized and as such I try not to use them much. We use the salad plates much more frequently, which fit fine as they are a normal portion size. (Note to self, do not buy Emeril brand dishes and think these are normal sizes).

Much more disappointing to me, is that the wine glasses don't fit in the top rack unless it is in the lowered position. Before the whole leaking thing, I really just wanted a new dishwasher because I hate to hand wash wine glasses. And the wine glasses in our home do get put to good use. Thank goodness for the stemless.

As Chris was finishing up the dishwasher project, I put my excess energy into cleaning out my closet. It always feels so good to pack bags of no longer worn clothing off to Goodwill! This year, I took my repurposing of clothing one step further and decided to make an old tee shirt into a cute little yoga shrug. So cute and so in the spirit of the Earth Day. I can't find the link to share the directions, but the project was easy and sewing-free. I'm looking forward to trying the technique again. This was my first effort: