31.07.07

Blogathon 2007: the wrap-up

Twenty Four Hours in Forty-Nine Thumbnails:
Pick a post at random, or follow the progress from eclipse (start) to fireworks (finish).

Hey! 
If you’re reading this post before Tuesday, July 31st at 9pm Pacific time, you can still make a pledge to the Electronic Frontier Foundation by visiting my Blogathon sponsor page!
 

And now…

29.07.07

49. Fin

Cue the John Philip Souza.
Toss confetti.
Pop open the champagne.
Nah, how about just sleep!
Good night (morning!) everyone, and thanks again to all my sponsors and commenters!

29.07.07

48. Once turned

The ghosts of the forest stand tall though they never have need of sun. They are secretive, travel in numbers, and thrive in dark places. They whistle and rattle, but you won’t hear them. On certain moonlit nights, they turn their faces Westward and sing across the ocean. The echoes in answer [...]

29.07.07

47. A kvetch

Oy. Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Is it over yet? Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy, oy. Oy. Oy,, oy, oy, [...]

29.07.07

46. A caution

Beware the web’s voluminous smile.
Its dewdrops are deceiving.
Its mistress bears the rain with style,
And seldom stops her weaving.

29.07.07

45. Keeping the beaches shipwreck free

(Jason and his countless Argonauts are safe, for the moment.)

29.07.07

44. Late Night Abs

Why does Chuck Norris even bother? Honestly.

29.07.07

43. Elton meets Prairie Girl

Prairie Girl: So, do you actually own a mohair suit?
Elton: Well, yes, but I don’t wear it on stage.
Prairie Girl: Oh… What about the electric boots?
Elton: Don’t tell anyone, but they’re actually gas-powered.
(Special guest star script writing by Chopper. And yes, I really, truly did make an Elton John [...]

29.07.07

42. Eternity

There’s a well-beaten path to this place now. There’s signage. Even parking. For a while, it was lost to all but the few who remembered. It was our secret. The old-timers. The natives. And the ones we don’t talk about.
They’re all gone now, though nobody [...]

29.07.07

41. Balance

Must rocks always remind us that balance is easier than we think it is?
Or is it harder and rocks are just damned clever? I’m beginning to suspect the latter and this is cause for concern. Think about the number of times we say “dumb as a box of rocks.” [...]

29.07.07

40. White Castle

The tiny forest gnomes were incensed! A gnome’s home is his castle, not his burger fixin!

29.07.07

39. Storm brewing

And only a lone tree knows which way is up.

29.07.07

38. Love, true love

Oh, my snugglykins, it does not matter that you are a shark and I am a large unidentifiable furry creature with no ears. It’s love, true love and you simply must teach me how to swim!

29.07.07

37. Motor West

This one’s a beaut. She’ll take you all the way from Amarillo to Barstow. Only driven by a little old lady on Sundays. What’s that? Why’s the little old lady driving around on Sundays when she lives walking distance from her church? Well, hell, young man. Haven’t [...]

29.07.07

36. Columbia Gorge Time-slip

I’m certain the falls were iced over yesterday. Or was that last week? My memory is failing me and I’m certain only that it was the day I went to the library. Or was that the dentist? A gray Suburban sped past, eastbound on I-84. I remembered it from [...]

28.07.07

35. I live by the river

I summon dogs with my karaoke. This is no easy feat, I should tell you.
It goes something like this:
I have tiptoed around the songs of my favorite punk band (the only band that matters, of course) for far too long. They’re raspy and filled with British punk testosterone and sure [...]

28.07.07

34. The visitations continue

First sunflowers, now this. Is there something you’re trying to tell me? It doesn’t have to do with that chip in your neck, does it?

28.07.07

33. After the landing

They get like this and they frighten me. They start to resemble aliens. Can’t you see it? War of the Worlds? Those big pod things on stalks that look like — like street lamps or — or dead sunflowers? Can we leave now? Just take your picture so we [...]

28.07.07

32. I’ve seen better days

Death, just slightly warmed-over, having a bad hair day, not entirely pleased with how that theatrical makeup class is going but taking a self-portrait nonetheless. Death finds this self-portrait years later, notes that at least her hair isn’t quite so stupid, then thinks, boy, I look kind of awake in that shot. Perhaps [...]

28.07.07

31. Golden years

Not just the sun and sky. Not just the ocean. Even the rocks. They held hands. She turned to him. “Perfect,” she said.
“Which planet was this again?” he asked.

28.07.07

30. Our house

     
1BR, SPEC LK VW, PRIV, DOCK AVAIL, PETS.
  

28.07.07

29. An appearance in the garden

She wasn’t expecting the elf to appear that day. After all, she had her camera with her, and elves are notoriously shy. Her elves, anyway. Her neighbor’s elves — they were another matter. They’d pull stunts to get in the school paper. They dressed in orange. With polka dots.
This [...]

28.07.07

28. Lost world

I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe. Narwhals in formation off the Laurentian Abyssal. Colossal squid in a dark ballet, lit only by the bioluminescent glow of their subsequent prey. Sea horses leaping coral reefs in tandem. All those moments, lost in time, replaced by beach balls and so much [...]

28.07.07

27. Keepsake

The best part about the wedding was nobody minded that their clothes had no hems, or that the groom was barefoot and the bride had a rubber band for a belt. It was perfect. They were both radiant, so much in love, and their smiles never wavered.

28.07.07

26. Gone fishing

I caught a tire once. Put it on my bike and rode off, just like new.

28.07.07

25. Stop! Not that one!

It’s the bone one! No, the abalone! No, the one with the anchor on it! Agggh, I don’t know which one! Too many buttons! We’re all gonna die!
(This completely frivolous moment brought to you by someone who really needs a nap.)

28.07.07

24. Look what’s crawling up my wall

Boris was fond of microscopes. He thought, if only I could just get under one, hang out on a petri dish for a tick, then everyone could see and admire my luxurious fur. ‘Oh!’ they’d exclaim, ‘That Boris! He wouldn’t make a half-bad pet!’
Unfortunately, Boris was quite wrong.

28.07.07

23. Revenge is the easy answer

“…wilt thou kneel with me?
Do, then, dear heart; for heaven shall hear our prayers;
Or with our sighs we’ll breathe the welkin dim,
And stain the sun with fog…”
—Titus Andronicus, III, i
(Alan Waldock as Titus and Debra Ann Lund as Lavinia. The first full-length play I directed out of college. A razor’s edge, a crazy [...]

28.07.07

22. Watch the skies

Because orange is such a friendly color, no one ever suspects them until it’s too late.

28.07.07

21. Imaginary Friend

When she paints her face, she slips into a second universe. Her garland grows black with wanting to go home, but the girls there, they need imaginary friends too. They shout and squeal and she says, “Shhh. Later, when it’s dark as roses, I’ll slip from my hiding place and be the thing [...]

28.07.07

20. Back away from the rodent

Look. I’m serious. You do not want to mess with me. See those waves back there? You think they’re just crashing against the shore because they’ve got nothing better to do? No. Those waves are trembling at my presence. So, I’m giving you one last chance. Set down [...]

28.07.07

19. Ground Control

Time for a brief check in!
For those of you joining in for the first time, this is Blogathon 2007, and I’m blogging for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. But, since I do a terrible Jerry Lewis impersonation, I’ve chosen not to spend time writing about the cause, but rather just spend time doing art. [...]

28.07.07

18. A postcard

Having great time.
Sandcastle contest a blast.
Kite flying weather perfect.
Come soon.
Bring boat.
(Long Beach Peninsula, Washington.)

28.07.07

17. Drift Away

And after she set them free, they floated on a breeze to a far off land where all was good and buoyant, and nothing ever popped.

28.07.07

16. Jackson Pollock had a swamp

The early morning sun turned the water to a golden mirror and I, with only black and white film at hand, turned the swamp into a scribble.

28.07.07

15. Pickett’s Last Fence

Four years before the Charge, and on the other side of the continent, he built a fence. No one knew quite what it was supposed to keep out. The rabbits had their run of the place, and folks knew all too well what happens when you try and fence in a pig. [...]

28.07.07

14. Hey, Little Sister

Oh, Billy, Billy, Billy, don’t ever change.
Those other Idols, they’re just idle. They’ve got nothing on you. You don’t have to warble, sing five notes when you only need one, strain yourself with inappropriate covers of Celine Dion doing inappropriate covers of some other singer we’ve all only heard at one a.m., karaoke [...]

28.07.07

13. Hello, Kitty

Felines have disrupted my work flow. They threaten me with trips to the zoo to meet their larger cousins.

28.07.07

12. Expanse

Breathe. The day is wide as sand, but not beyond reach.

28.07.07

11. Dad, Gandalf

Dad, Gandalf, — yes, I know you hate it when I do that (I can’t help it, wise, bearded one) — don’t go yet. You’ve still got secrets to whisper in my ear, and I — well, I was stupid. I didn’t listen often enough. I yawned at stories. Left [...]

28.07.07

10. Jaws held shut

When the words don’t flow, imagine only that the words can’t flow, that restraints contain you from all sides, that you’ve been denied expression. Jaws held shut. And one little thing screams to get out. A simple idea, as simple as reaching up to a clothesline and hanging a blouse in [...]

28.07.07

9. Bleeding Hearts

A flower blooms for each one she’s left behind. She’s lost track now. The centuries shamble by. The garden riots. Foxglove and nightshade cry for attention, but always, always the bleeding heart wins.

28.07.07

8. Home

A block away from the theater building at Portland State, in a space we all shared. Stop. Talk. Listen. Oh, the stories.

28.07.07

7. Weathered

I’m feeling it — weathered, that is — already.
The project: sort, scan, blog old photos.
But, sadly, far far too many of my photos from this early era are failed experiments in the darkroom, photos damaged by the ravages of a leaky basement, and photos discovered only in contact sheet form. I have many [...]

28.07.07

6. Confidential

They’re all trying to make deals with the devil. Sometimes the light hits just right, and those chords ring out, and you have to wonder: successful, yes? Oh, hell yes. And you say, thank you, Mr. Devil, for being such a damn good dealmaker, and then you kick back and enjoy the [...]

28.07.07

5. Smokey Helen

I had to look twice. Photo so beat up, so grainy, you’d think it was from Krakatoa, not St. Helens.
We missed the big one. Our whole class was down in desert country, Malheur, bird watching. I remember the teachers filing into the cavern where we’d gathered for lunch. I remember the [...]

28.07.07

4. The Candidate

When you first see the harbingers of the candidate, you have trouble counting how many eyes they have. Maybe it’s the rain, slick, too shimmery, or maybe it’s how tightly they move in formation, or how they blink in unison at every corner.
Seven, you think it is. Red, blue, two orange, two a [...]

28.07.07

3. Yes, Virginia

There is a Santa troll.
What he’s doing out and about in July is anyone’s guess.
(I have a hunch he’s here to help me with a few housekeeping duties. Do you think trolls know how to make coffee? Tinker with Wordpress templates? Cook eggs? Stop time? I’ve heard rumors…)

28.07.07

2. Kaiser on the stairs

Kaiser Wilhelm stood at the base of the stairs. “This fuss. It was about this, yes?”
His clerk nodded. He brushed a bit of rabbit fur off his sleeve and made for the first step. The Kaiser held him back.
“No, no,” he whispered. “I want to gaze at it a while. [...]

28.07.07

1. That shadow

That shadow, I remember it.
Flew over the hills like — what was that horse?
Secretariat.
That’s the one.
All of us filled with oohs, aahs.
Yawns, too.
It was early, wasn’t it.
Even for a school night.
Tuesday. I think it was a Tuesday.
English teacher made us write poetry.
Mine sucked.
Mine too. I rhymed “penumbra” with “slumbah.”
Got a picture. Don’t [...]

27.07.07

Blogathon 2007: Changing the world, 30 minutes at a time.

We lost someone close to us this last week, and all too young. On that Monday, when we gathered to celebrate her life, the joy she brought to everyone around her overflowed. It burst through the walls of the church and tumbled home after all of us with a playful whisper — an [...]

26.07.07

Oh no she isn’t!

Oh, yes she is.
Details in a jiff…