BirchLane.org
August
Saturday 31
End of the Summer. I am not saddened by the end of the summer.
The summer ends and we wonder where we are
And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car
And you both look so young
And last night was hard, you said
You packed up every room
And then you cried and went to bed
But today you closed the door and said
"We have to get a move on.
It's just that time of year when we push ourselves ahead,
We push ourselves ahead."And it was cloudy in the morning
And it rained as you drove away
And the same things looked different
It's the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer,
When you move to another placeAnd I feel like the neighbor's girl who will never be the same
She walked alone all spring,
She had a boyfriend when the summer came
And he gave her flowers in a lightning storm
They disappeared at night in green fields of silver corn
And sometime in July she just forgot that he was leaving
So when the fields were dying, she held on to his sleeves
She held on to his sleevesAnd she doesn't want to let go
'Cause she won't know what she's up against
The classrooms and the smart girls
It's the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer
When you hang your flowers up to dryAnd I had a dream it blows the autumn through my head
It felt like the first day of school
But I was going to the moon instead
And I walked down the hall
With the notebooks they got for me
My dad led me through the house
My mom drank instant coffee
And I knew that I would crash
But I didn't want to tell them
There are just some moments when your family makes sense
They just make senseSo I raised up my arms and my mother put the sweater on
We walked out on the dark and frozen grass
The end of the summer
It's the end of the summer
When you send your children to the moonThe summer ends and we wonder who we are
And there you go, my friends, with your boxes in your car
And today I passed the high school, the river, the maple tree
I passed the farms that made it
Through the last days of the century
And I knew that I was going to learn again
Again, in this less hazy light
I saw the fields beyond the fields
The fields beyond the fieldsAnd the colors are much brighter now
It's like they really want to tell the truth
We give our testimony to the end of the summer
It's the end of the summer,
You can spin the light to gold.End of the Summer
Dar WilliamsFriday 30
Rock 'N Roll High School. Fresh Air this past week has been devoted to reporting about music from the 1960's. I heard a fascinating interview with Colin Blunstone of The Zombies and Lenny Kaye talked about Nuggets. And last night on AMC, David Bowie narrated a documentary about music for the 70s and then The Last Waltz was televised.
Thursday 29
Day Trip to New York City.
I went to New York City today for an appointment at Christie's; it went exceedingly well. It was raining all day and the city was teeming people, particularly near Christie's (49th/Sixth) because the MTV VMA Awards were scheduled for this evening. It was one of those appointments that tell me my business philosophy can work---will work. Possibly, it is not so much a business philosophy as a life philosophy. One of the wonderful things about sales is that you can get pick and chose your customers; you can not do business with people that want to only buy price--you can work to find people who want to build relationships based upon education, trust, knowledge, shared experiences and open communications (of course, the trick is finding enough of these people who want to build partnership). It is interesting to note that my "greeting cards' (which I also sometimes send as e-mail attachments) work; she has one as her screensaver. This one:
Wednesday 28
Theories of Nightmares. In college we read a book entitled "On The Nightmare" for our course on "The History of The Horror Film." I searched google today for information on it and found this (in addition to some other interesting links).
Early Views
Early views on nightmares centered around the idea that nightmares involved the visitations of monsters, demons, ghosts, or other evil spirits. In his work On the Nightmare, Ernest Jones (1931) examined the extent to which dreams influenced the development of various beliefs about the soul. He argued that nightmares contributed to the rise of superstitious beliefs in incubi, vampires, werewolves, devils and witchcraft. Jones also cites mythologists who suggested that the belief in all kinds of spirits could be traced to the experiences of the nightmare. For instance, he quotes from Golther (1895) who writes that "The belief in the soul rests in great part on the conception of torturing and oppressing spirits. Only as a gradual extension of this did the belief arise in spirits that displayed other activities than torturing and oppressing. In the first place, however, the belief in spirits took its origin in the Nightmare" (Jones, 1931, p. 74).
Tuesday 27
Creativity and Taoism.
LOOK at it but you cannot see it!
Its name is Formless.Listen to it but you cannot hear it!
Its name is Soundless.Grasp it but you cannot get it!
Its name is Incorporeal.These three attributes are unfathomable;
Therefore they fuse into one.Its upper side is not bright:
Its under side not dim.
Continually the Unnameable moves on,
Until it returns beyond the realm of things.
We call it the formless Form, the imageless Image.
We call it the indefinable and unimaginable.Confront it and you do not see its face!
Follow it and you do not see its back!
Yet, equipped with this timeless Tao,
You can harness present realities.To know the origins is initiation into the Tao.
~Lao Tzu (Ch.XIV)
Monday 26
Deadly Narcissism. Julia writes:
Dear Bruce, I am very sorry for this belated email, but traveling got the best of me with 3 weeks in Ireland and Paris. 15 rolls of film later and jet lagged, I have gotten my photo site together. Of course, without a scanner and only a very poor digital camera, the pictures I am sorry to say look quite retched. They are merely ghosts of what the originals look like. I am hoping one day to scan them in and also print some of them over, but I do believe what I have up will give you an idea of what they are like. When you have a moment to spare I would love it if you would go take a peek at them and tell me what you think. All the best to you and your family, Julia
Sunday 25
After Chardin. A mouse on our sidewalk this morning; it reminded me of the paintings of the French artist Jean Simeon Chardin (one of the greatest exhibitions I have ever seen; last year at the MET).
Saturday 24
The Trip to Ithaca. We woke at 4:00 a.m and were out of the house at 4:45. It rained on-and-off during the 4 1/2 hour drive to college. But by the time when we unloaded the car in front of her dorm, it stopped raining and we only waited about 20 minutes for an elevator to bring her stuff up to the ninth floor. Here is a view out her dorm window:
We spent five or six hours helping her get unpacked, arranging furniture and then re-arranging and re-arranging again. We had lunch and made two trips to Staples and Wegmans (absolutely the most amazing supermarket I have ever been in; wow.) We helped her get internet access; actually she did it herself. Here she is with her brother, who asked if he could just skip high school and start college now (he is almost smart enough!)
Saying goodbye was bitter-sweet. There were few tears then; the tears came later and came again the next day (I am writing this entry on Monday). For the first two hours we hardly said a word in the car; I think the three of us were seeing images, movies in a sense, of the past few years in our mind---I know I was; the bike rides, the softball strikeout pitch, the soccer championship, the church concert, the little girl in the driveway or on the front lawn waiting for her dad to come home, the car accident with the bear (the bear hit her car and destroyed it!), when she spoke as president of the national honor society this year and made everyone in the audience laugh; so many movies, so many memories.
What was hard was coming home. Not hearing her voice. And she called late that night and was lonely, but she does have two friends there and on Sunday she went to the gym with her room-mate and sounded better.
Yes, it will be strange for awhile. It is a life-change. It is a new plateau. We are all proud of her having entered a five year masters physical therapy program; some regard as the best in the country. And today (Monday) she is going to try-out for the soccer team as a walk-on.Friday 23
Goodbyes. Danielle's best friend, Tiffany, came over tonight to say goodbye.
Thursday 22
What We Saw. Nantucket. Many years ago. Betsy and Danielle. What we saw was not this day soon upon us; taking Danielle to college, saying goodbye; returning home without her.
Wednesday 21
Fire and Rain.
Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone
Susanne the plans they made put an end to you
I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song
I just can't remember who to send it to
I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
Won't you look down upon me, Jesus
You've got to help me make a stand
You've just got to see me through another day
My body's aching and my time is at hand
And I won't make it any other way
Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you again
Been walking my mind to an easy time my back turned towards the sun
Lord knows when the cold wind blows it'll turn your head around
Well, there's hours of time on the telephone line to talk about things to come
Sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground
Oh, I've seen fire and I've seen rain
I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end
I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend
But I always thought that I'd see you, baby, one more time again, now
Thought I'd see you one more time again
There's just a few things coming my way this time around, now
Thought I'd see you, thought I'd see you fire and rain, now"Fire And Rain" James Taylor
Tuesday 20
Sun Porch. For years the Sun Porch was where all the children's toys were kept: the dollhouse, the blocks, the balls, the puzzles, games, and books. It is where they played. Now it seems so quiet and unused. Daisy sits on the love seat or chair. The children stopped playing the piano a few years ago. It seems to be mostly used as a window to the outside--to Birch Lane and the wildflowers.
Monday 19
A Gift From Alaina. An issue of BirchLane featured the photographs of Alaina Burri-Stone. Today I received a signed copy from her along with three photographs (including the one here). She writes:
Brucey,
thank you for this. yr super wonderful. great love always.
Alaina
xoxo
I love her work. I think she is one of the most creative photographers working today. I want to get her a show in New York City. She deserves it.
Sunday 18
Plum Island. Betsy, Danielle, Daryl and I went to Plum Island today. The photo is from another time, many years ago, when Betsy and I went. It was windy and nearly impossible to light the charcoal; thus, the rare hamburger. We went today as a final "family" outing before we take Danielle to college on Saturday. Her imminent departure has not yet quite hit me.
Saturday 17
Wedding. Today we went to a wedding in Cambridge. It got me thinking about our wedding. And, of course, the years between then and now. The events of the years. The trials and the tribulations. The joys. The sorrows. The laughter. The tears. The love.
Friday 16
The Tunnel. After my appointment yesterday at American Bible Society, which is an appointment I always enjoy--she is one of the few people who actually like to engage in a conversation about spirit, love, religion, children, right and wrong, life; I walked through Central Park on my way to the MET and came to this tunnel which I entered and walked through.
Thursday 15
Conversations with God. In church last Sunday our minister talked about the wisdom of Solomon.
Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba, and he succeeded David as king of Israel, ruling for about forty years in the middle of the tenth century BC. Solomon headed a large commercial empire, accumulating 700 wives (according to I Kings), many of whom represented diplomatic alliances. He was famous for his wealth and wisdom and for building the Temple in Jerusalem. When two women asked him to settle their dispute over a baby they both claimed, he ordered the child cut in two, then gave the child to the woman who preferred to lose the child to seeing it killed.
The poetic Song of Solomon is credited to him, as are the aphorisms in the book of Proverbs. However, the WISDOM OF SOLOMON appears only to use him as a literary figure, while wisdom is personified as feminine. Scholars agree that the WISDOM OF SOLOMON was almost certainly written by a Jew in Alexandria in the first century BC. It is one of the apocryphal works written between the Old and New Testaments, but it was included in the ancient Greek edition of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. The original text was probably written in Greek, and Greek fragments were found in the Essene library at Qumran in Palestine. (from here)On Wisdom, he writes:
I too am mortal equal to every human
and descendant of the first-formed earthborn;
and in a mother's womb shaped into flesh
in ten months' time built in blood
out of the man's seed and pleasurable coming together in bed.
And being born I sucked in the common air
and fell down on the sympathetic earth,
the first sound just like the crying of everyone;
I was wrapped up in diapers and cared for.
For no king was different at the beginning of birth,
and everyone comes into life and goes out the same way.
Because of this I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called upon it, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
I preferred her to scepters and thrones
and wealth I believed nothing in comparison to her;
nor did I liken a priceless stone to her,
since all gold in her sight is a little sand,
and silver is considered as clay before her;
above health and beauty I loved her
and I chose to have her instead of light,
because her light is unsleeping.
And all good things came to me along with her
and uncounted wealth in her hands;
and I enjoyed all, because wisdom leads them,
not knowing their origin to be her.
What I learned without deceit I share ungrudgingly,
nor do I hide her wealth;
for it is an unfailing treasure to humans,
who acquiring it are fit for friendship with God
because of the gifts of education being allied.
God grant me to speak according to knowledge
and to infer conclusions worthy of what has been given,
since it is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise.
For both we and our words are in its hand,
all understanding and knowledge of working.
For it gave me unerring knowledge
to know the structure of the world and operation of elements,
the beginning and end and middle of times,
change of directions and transition of seasons,
cycles of the year and the constellations of stars,
the nature of animals and the hearts of beasts,
the force of spirits and considerations of humans,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots,
both what is secret and what is visible I learned;
for the builder of all things, wisdom, taught me.
For in her is a spirit, intelligent, holy,
singly born, of many parts, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
manifest, harmless, good-loving, sharp,
unhindered, doing well, humane,
secure, certain, unworried,
omnipotent, watching over all
and moving through all spirits
intelligent, pure, and most subtle.
For wisdom is more mobile than every motion,
and extends and moves through all by purity;
for she is a breath of God's power
and an emanation of the unmixed glory of the all-ruling;
because of this nothing tainted steals into her.
For she is the brilliance of eternal light
and an unstained mirror of God's energy
and an image of its goodness.
One being can do all things
and remaining in herself she makes all things new
and each generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets;
for God loves nothing as much as those living with wisdom.
For she is more beautiful than the sun
and beyond every constellation of stars.
Compared with light she is found brighter;
for this is succeeded by night,
but evil does not prevail over wisdom.
Our minister said we need to set aside time for prayer or meditation. I know I need this time. As Solomon said:
Because of this I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called upon it, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.Wednesday 14
A Favorite. I call this photo "Memory, With Ghosts." (poem to come)
Tuesday 13
Solitary. Is this what happens? You turn fifty and you start (well truth be told you started years ago) thinking about life and death. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? What exactly have I done? Have I done anything to make the world a better place? Sometimes I feel like this man in the photograph I took (all the photos are taken by me unless noted); alone on some abandoned city street; it could be right after a war, something I seem to think about a lot, especially if I read the headlines in the New York Times or watch FOX news.
Monday 12
Danielle's Birthday. Today Danielle turned 18. Where did all the years go. I made her favorite dinner: shrimp and pasta (often called Mountain and Sea), and we had sushi first! I am speechless now. I guess I am really sad and just can't find the words to express what I really feel--she leaves for her first year at college in two weeks. Gosh.
Sunday 11
The Allen Sisters. This afternoon, my father and I went to Historic Deerfield to see an art exhibition, "The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920". In addition to being moved by the photos, we were both quite surprised by the abundance of art and crafts we saw. I was happy because he had a good time. And so did I.
"We use the camera simply as a quick way of sketching, and regard all the technical part, which comes after the exposure is made, as a necessary evil…. In pictures, artistic excellence is usually entirely at variance with what is called a perfect photograph. The eye cannot focus itself on every object in its field of vision at the same time. If a photograph does this, the effect is hard and unnatural. But there must be method in this madness. A picture is not necessarily beautiful because it is blurred, and there's need of all one's technical skill, even after a good negative is made, in adapting the print to its peculiar individual qualities."
From an article in Friday's New York Times, entitled "Intrepid Sisters Whose Lenses Traced Memories."
Long before there was Sturbridge Village in Massachusetts, the Winterthur Museum in Delaware or Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, there was Deerfield, a small western Massachusetts farming town and early colonial outpost founded in the late 1600's. Summer visitors and tourists have flocked there for more than a century, many drawn by magazine photographs celebrating Deerfield's picturesque farms and its lone leafy street lined with fine 18th-century houses.
Many of those idyllic images were taken by Frances Stebbins Allen and Mary Electa Allen, two maiden sisters from Deerfield who took pictures together for half a century, beginning in the 1880's. With titles like "Mowing at Evening," "Last Furrow" and "Day's Work Done," their photos evoke a colonial Eden. More than 50 of the Allens' platinum prints are on view through Oct. 31 at the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association's Memorial Hall Museum in Deerfield (www.deerfield-ma.org), a handsome 1798 building that was part of Deerfield Academy until 1878. In 1880 it was designated a museum "to preserve the records of early days in New England."
The museum's curator, Suzanne L. Flynt, organized the show and wrote the catalog, "The Allen Sisters: Pictorial Photographers 1885-1920" (Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association/University Press of New England, 2002). Next June the show travels to Winterthur; in 2004 it will go to the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University and the Columbus Art Museum in Ohio.
The Allen sisters and their two siblings were born in the 1850's to Josiah Allen, a successful Deerfield farmer, and his wife, Mary. The sisters attended Deerfield Academy, then college. Both became schoolteachers, and they might never have taken up photography if they hadn't both lost their hearing in their 30's, possibly because of a hereditary disorder. Unable to continue teaching and needing an income, they drew closer and by 1884 had taught themselves photography.
Though isolated, the sisters were fearless. Smart and frugal, they developed their own prints in a darkroom behind their house, a 1700's saltbox on Main Street. It is now a house museum, bought and restored in the late 1940's by Henry and Helen Geier Flynt, the grandparents of Suzanne Flynt's husband and the founders of Historic Deerfield.
The Allen sisters never had much money, but they saved enough for photo safaris. They toured Britain in 1908. In 1916 they decided to visit the American West, camping in the Grand Canyon and Yosemite as they snapped away. Mary attended President William McKinley's inauguration. Frances went to the Armory Show in New York in 1913 to see art by Picasso, Matisse and Duchamp.
They were also good businesswomen. From 1904 to 1920, they issued seven catalogs of landscapes, figures, country life and costumes, children and Old Deerfield. In 1904 a customer could choose from 217 photographs; by 1913 the list had grown to 616. A 6-by-8-inch print cost 75 cents; a portrait sitting, $10.
One of the Allens' best-known images is "Constance," an 1897 platinum print of a woman standing by an open window. "Constance Charnely was a music major at Smith College who spent many summers in Deerfield," said Ms. Hawks, who identified her. "She was engaged at age 34, took a trip and tragically died." Another picture, "Gatherer of Simples," depicts a woman collecting medicinal herbs in a meadow. "That's Caroline Ray, a woman who arranged flowers at the Brick Church every Sunday for years," Ms. Hawks said.Saturday 10
A Hike in the Woods. My father, Betsy, and I (and Daisy) went for a hike near Smith College today. These are the fields on the old State Hospital grounds.
Friday 09
Question.
Thursday 08
In New York City with Daryl. On the roof garden at the MET. Daryl came with me to NYC today. I had a few appointments. Then we went to the MET, walked back to Times Square through Central Park and ate at ESPN Zone, saw "SIGNS," went to the video arcade BARCODE, watched break-dancers, bought ice-cream----it was the beat day I have had in ages. Peace. And love.
Wednesday 07
Reading, Again. I have been reading about Man Ray and Thomas Eakins; tomorrow I take Daryl to the MET to see the Eakins exhibition.
Tuesday 06
A Bear. I am working at my desk and have for the past few hours; about an hour ago a bear walked through the yard. I ran to get my camera, Daisy started barking, and I caught it walking across the street; albeit, a bit blurry.
Monday 05
Not Too Far From Birch Lane. There are these two old trailers and a dilapidated house. I have always wanted to take pictures of them; today I did.
Sunday 04
I Went For A Bike Ride. I took a few photos along the way. This was in our backyard.
It was very hot and I passed by a "members only" swim club.
Saturday 03
Pond.
Friday 02
A Reason. One of the reasons I like the internet is receiving e-mails like this, which I received yesterday:
Hello,
My name is Julia and I guess I should start at the beginning. I found your site through 20 days, 20 things. I was quite taken with the beautiful photography I was able to view on your site when I stumbled upon it. I loved the high contrast, and often depressing views of women that although were set up photos, had some bewildering quality to them. With that in mind I guess I should switch over to talking a bit about myself. I was chosen to
take a grueling Early College program this summer to prepare myself for the world that is art school. 1 of 30 young adults selected from all over the US, I was faced with a chance to take Photography as an elective for 3 hours a day for a month. Having very little experience with my camera, and no darkroom skills whatsoever it seemed a bit overwhelming to even consider it. However, having playing around with a digital camera for about 2 years and taking over 600 self portraits, and with a new manual camera I had dabbled in taking 'real photos', I knew I had an uncanny ability to 1: make myself look completely different in each shot (a bit like Cindy Sherman) and know what sides, angles, positions I looked good in and 2: a subconscious ability to take well composed shots of just about anything, I
could handle a photo class. Now with my month coming to an end I have a final concentration being produced. This is where your birchlane and my photo class come together. I have always been thought of a shy, timid and sweet girl (an often wrong misconception) and I thought, I am sick of taking photos of just random objects, I want to do something that will shock everyone and show that I really am not that timid. I wanted to do something that I love in photography and show a side of me that is hidden most of the time, the loud and shocking side. Then I thought of the portrayal of women in birchlane, they are never weak, but the way in which they are shot are so depressing (to me at least). I also have a strong love of fashion, so with those things in mind I wrote up a proposal of my idea, it was along the lines of this: Dark, depressing, stark, high contrast, fashion photography with models dressed in hand made outfits and put in to odd scenes. What I got, was more than I bargained for. With friends that were willing to model, and my ability to make them feel comfortable enough to do things I never dreamed of, I got high class debutantes gone wrong. As my teacher told me " I have an uncanny ability to make women look dead, yet at the same time so beautiful." With photos that are sometimes too much to even look at and others that make the girls seem almost virgin suicides like, I was perplexed at my ability to do this to very normal, almost cheerleader like girls. The series has an almost childlike-fairytale view to it at times and others very teenager anger and sadness, like the whole world is against them. I named it Deadly Narcissism with a phrase that overlooks it all: Narcissistic by nature, fashion photography is largely composed of meaningless reflections and melodramatic episodes that--in all honesty--bear no relevancy to anything whatsoever except (of course) to the life of the subject. So with that, I'd like to say thank you, Birchlane helped me generate an idea that was completely out of my norm, and something I have wanted to do or a long time While it shocks me from time to time that I was able to even make these photos, I am proud of myself to even have the courage to show a different side to me. This is just a letter of thanks and if you have any comments, questions, or even want to see the photos, please feel free to email me back, I would love to hear from you. I would just like to state my gratitude again, thank you.
Julia H.
Thursday 01
More Than Entertainment.
The New York Times recently had a story about Merce Cunnigham. It ended with this quote: One of his favorite memories is of an early lecture-demonstration that he, Cage and the company presented at a Midwestern concert. . "There was one man in the audience who asked interesting question, but in an irritated manner," Cunningham recalled. "And John answered, as he always does, and he was extraordinary. Finally. this man sighed and said: "Well, I'm so glad they brought you. Ordinarily, they bring us things like piano concerts and all we are is entertained."
