BirchLane.net

December 

Saturday 28

Having Fun with Scanner.

Friday 27

The Scanner from Santa. I got a scanner for Christmas. And today I started to experiment with it; I have thousands and thousands of negatives--many from we worked in New York City and it has been quite thrilling to look through them.

Thursday 26

Success is a Lifestyle. As part of trying out for her college lacrosse team, Danielle had to answer the following questions (along with attaching her fall semester grades and her spring schedule):

1. What class(s) did you enjoy the most during fall semester and why?
2. Do your grades accurately reflect your effort and ability as a student?
3. Could you have done more to prepare academically for each class?
4. Which professor(s) had the greatest impact on your learning and why?
5. Briefly describe a typical weeks study habits including when, where, and how long you spent studying.
6. Which classes are you most looking for to in the spring semester?
7. Please list your academic goals pertaining to each individual class for the spring semester.
8. Using your spring schedule please develop a time management chart for the spring semester. This chart should cover the hours of 8 AM until 11 PM each day including class time, lunch, study, and social time. Block out 4--6 for practice each day. We will sit down and go over your program individually when you return to campus. Please color code your chart for easy use.
9. List three individual goals you have for the upcoming season.
10. Please list three commitments you will make to help achieve these goals.
11. How can the coaching staff best help you attain your personal goals?
12. List three team goals you have for the upcoming season.
13. What have you done since the end of last season to improve and prepare for this season? Please be specific including camps, summer play, coaching, national tournaments, etc.
14. What will you expect from your teammates over the course of the season with regards to academic and athletic responsibilities?
15. What expectations do you feel the coaching staff has for you as a student and an athlete? What role do you see yourself playing on this team?
16. What is your definition of success? Do you consider yourself successful? Would others?
17. Whose ideas about success are you living? What assumptions, attitudes, or behaviors would you need to change to find success on your terms? List two or three steps you could take to move in that direction.
18. Who are your role models of success? Which of their attributes do you admire: Risk taking? Generosity? Resourcefulness? Courage? Self-confidence? Can you find these qualities in yourself?
19. You should be running six days a week and lifting three times a week.
20. Isn't is possible for femininity and physical power to coexist? isn't it possible the more we embrace our bodies the more womanly we become? Embrace you body and find out.

Wednesday 25

Snow on Christmas Day. It snowed all day. 

And late at night I read this quote:

The sacred is here and now. The only God worth keeping is a God that cannot be kept. The only God worth talking about is a God that cannot be talked about. God is no object of discourse, knowledge, or even experience. He cannot be spoken of, but he can be spoken to; he cannot be seen, but he can be listened to. The only possible relationship with God is to address him and to be addressed by him, here and now--or, as Buber puts it, in the present. For him the Hebrew name of God, the tetragrammaton (YHVH), means he is present. Er ist da might be translated: He is there; but in this context it would be more nearly right to say: He is here. --Walter Kaufmann, in his prologue to Martin Buber's I and Thou, pp. 25-26.

I found it here, where I have also found some fine writing/poetry.

Tuesday 24

The Light Returns.

Monday 23

Rest in Peace.

Joe Strummer 1952--2002, Tin Pan Alley, NYC

Sunday 22

Once in Royal David's City. We sung this hymn in church today. It was the first hymn in our "Festival of Lessons and Carols." I get goose-bumps every time I hear this Cecil Alexander song:

Once in royal David's city
stood a lowly cattle shed,
where a mother laid her baby
in a manger for his bed:
Mary was that mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
who is God and Lord of all,
and his shelter was a stable,
and his cradle was a stall;
with the poor, the scorned, the lowly,
lived on earth our Savior holy.

And, through all his wondrous childhood,
he would honor and obey,
love and watch the lowly maiden
in whose gentle arms he lay:
Christian children all must be
mild, obedient, good as he.

For he is our childhood's pattern,
day by day like us he grew;
he was little, weak and helpless,
tears and smiles like us he knew.
and he feeleth for our sadness,
and he shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see him,
through his own redeeming love;
for that Child who seemed so helpless
is our Lord in heaven above;
and he leads his children on
to the place where he is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
with the oxen standing round,
we shall see him; but in heaven,
set at God's right hand on high;
when like stars his children crowned,
all in white shall wait around.

Cecil Alexander is probably most famous for her Hymns for Little Children written in 1848. For many, a hymn that may come to mind, is All Creatures Great and Small, if not because you may have sung it so much, but because you may have read the whole series of books, named after her verses, about the Yorkshire vet, James Herriott, who was so moved by her song! Yes, that is a great hymn. However, I simply love her great Christmas hymn: Once In Royal David's City.

Cecil Alexander's husband was Archbishop William Alexander who was the Anglican primate for Ireland. Born in 1818, Mrs. Alexander died in 1895 after a productive life of writing Christian lyrics. Mrs. Alexander wrote the lyrics in 1848. It was put to the music of Henry John Gauntlett in 1849. 

Saturday 19

Protest March. I went Christmas shopping in downtown Northampton today and ran into a protest march. Later, after I posted this photo, I received an e-mail from someone in Europe who knows him. How wonderful.

Large version here.

Friday 20

Roadside Attractions.  I saw this driving to Ithaca to pick up my daughter at college. On the way home, I said to Betsy,  "There is something I want to take a photo of coming up. Here. Stop the car." She said, "Oh, Bruce, do you have to." And I said, "yes."

Large version here.

Thursday 19.

Memorial. This is what my Dad said to me Thursday morning; "Will you photograph this for me;" a World Trade Center Memorial in Leonia, NJ. I said "yes, of course."  My Dad pointed to an engraved name and said "I knew him. I saw him the day before. I showed he and his wife and there two children a new house. Look. Here is his name." And then he said, "thank you, Bruce."

Large version here.

Wednesday 18

Portrait. I went to the Richard Avedon Portraits exhibition at the MET. I walked through the exhibition twice.

Large version here.

Tuesday 17

Art and Language. I received a gift in the mail today from an artist in Portugal. Two startling original and thought-provoking CDs. This is the cover of one of them:

Monday 16

Olive Food. I received a beautiful gift in the mail today from Katharine, the first person who inspired me to build BirchLane. It is a book of her journal entries.

Sunday 15

Christmas Pageant. The Christmas Pageant was held this morning at Edwards Church in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Larger version here.

Saturday 14

Photography. This is my favorite photograph that I have taken recently and it happened completely by accident. I pulled into a gas station and as I parked the car, I looked up and saw this:

Large version here.

Friday 13

A Good Day.  I saw this out of the corner of my eye this morning, jammed on my brakes, made a u-turn, got out of car and "click."

Large version here.

Tuesday 10

The Fourteen Stations of the Cross. Today I saw a contemporary interpretation of The Fourteen Stations of the Cross by Charles Miller at A.P.E. in Northampton, Massachusetts. The paintings were completed between 1977--1982 and measure 72" x 50". Miller writes in the catalog:

Then: 1984 The Stations of the Cross are taking place right now, in the streets of the City. There is no pretty way to murder a man in public, drag him through the streets in front of his friends and his mother and hang him. These paintings are screaming. Every inch is twisted and filled with action because that's the way it is in the streets, in the the city, in the world. The people in the paintings are ourselves as we are now; the Holy Family is as they were in Christ's time. For Christ represents, to me, truth, and truth never changes. It's the idea that there's good and hope and beauty in the world, and yet, we kill Him every day. The man was killed 2,000 years ago, and things haven't changed a whole lot since that day, not really. What may be pretty obvious to everybody by now is that the world is on the brink of extinction. How does that affect me as an artist" It's very scary and very depressing. I have dread in my heart that man just isn't going to learn. It's the brutalization of man, of what we do to each other, that bothers me most. There won't be any war, that's an obsolete word. No war, just annihilation. I almost didn't start the Stations, because I thought what would be the use? There won't be anybody here to see them. Then, I thought, if I give in, that mean all the mad men of the world will have beaten me out. So, I painted them, because I want them to be part of the world movement toward sanity. I think if people see them, a lot of people might agree with me that the same kind of madness that murdered Jesus Christ is just about to murder us all. Success doesn't matter anymore. What matters now, is that we all get together as a race, as a species, and save ourselves and everything else on the planet. We just have to get out there in every way we can and make people know that, and see that. Now: 2002 Looking back at these paintings, now in 2002, I feel now as I did then. From my point of view, I am not making a religious statement. The murder of Jesus Christ was a political act. He was killed because he was a threat to the Roman establishment. The thought of equality, peace, compassion, and freedom for all humankind was not a popular concept with the Empire of Rome, nor the empires of the 21st century.

Bruce standing in front of two of the 14 paintings of the Cross.

Monday 09

A Letter.  Last night a friend from Puerto Rico wrote to me:

The lights, the shadows, a moment of life. You know, I saw this (your photo) on the front page and clicked it and, of course, it was from you. Not unusual that I see something I like and its yours. I read this quote the other day, it made me thing of you: "Too many photographers try too hard. They try to lift photography into the realm of Art, because they have an inferiority complex about their Craft. You and I would see more interesting photography if they would stop worrying, and instead, apply horse-sense to the problem of recording the look and feel of their own era." -- Jessie Tarbox Beals (1870–1942), U.S. photographer. Quoted in PM (New York, April 1941). You know, you record the look and feel of an era and make wonderful art while at it.

Sunday 08

What Lasts?  In church the minister asks, "What lasts?" He says everything visible passes away. (more)

Saturday 07

Soup.

Friday 06

A Birthday.

Thursday 05

Snow.

Wednesday 04

An Old Photo.  I was looking at some old Christmas photos today and when I looked up I saw this photo of Danielle above my desk.

Tuesday 03

Silverama Salon. Before we lived in Northampton, we lived in Weehawken, New Jersey and before then we lived in Hoboken and out our bedroom window we saw the Silverama Salon.

Monday 02

Petah Coyne. I was looking at a few beautiful photos that Petah Coyne took in the recent issue of Blind Spot magazine. In BOMB magazine, Lynne Tillman writes:

Petah Coyne redefines energy, or maybe defines it. I met her in the summer of 1993, when we were both teaching in Bard's M.F.A. program. We lived in the same house but I never saw her. She was the proverbial mouse; I knew she was there because there were traces of her existence, like an empty can of tuna in the garbage. When I did see her, she was rushing out or to her room, to sleep or read. She's a burst of drive, and grace, too; of humor, delight and fun, when you can catch her. Back then, she told me the story of how she met her husband, Lamar, when she was 14. She saw this boy and told him, "I'm going to marry you." Then he ran and hid in the garage. She waited for him for two hours. She called to him, "Don't be scared of me, I won't hurt you." When his mother came home, she wanted to know what Petah was doing hanging around. Petah said, "I'm waiting for the boy in the garage."

When Petah and I spoke the other day, I reminded her of the story. She said, "I loved him. It was one of those instincts. I knew I had to get married. I had to take care of that to become an artist. And I don't know why I thought that."

And I said, "It was either marrying Christ or Lamar." Few artists, or people, generate as much good feeling as Petah does just by existing. And then there's her expansive work. Her usually bigger-than-life sculptures might borrow from natural elements–earth, hair, trees, wax–and hang from the ceiling or lie on the floor. She constructs environments, or habitats, in which single objects act and interact with each other, are entangled in space to compose imagined, fantastic worlds. Her recent photographs of brides are like dreams: concoctions, fragments of moments, moments already lost as they're lived. Petah lives and works in frenetic, long moments, with tremendous discipline, slipping in and out of view. It's amazing to have been able to sit her down for an hour or so, to talk.

Complete article here.

Sunday 01

The Gospel Lesson;  Engaged Alertness. In church this morning we learn that "watchful" living has less to do with speculation about the end of the world  and more to do with engaged alertness, in a way that  makes the date of the end of time a matter of irrelevance. Readiness, or engaged alertness,  has as much to do with being ready for life as it has to do with its end. The lesson is then not to ignore what is happening in the world, but to think about it, to watch, to live in the light of it and in the light of the hope which is beyond it. Jesus’ last words become our first words in the Church’s year, today being the first Sunday of Advent, a call to be awake to what is happening in our world and to be looking for and in tune with the one who comes, whether for the final time – as in traditional expectation of the second advent – or for any time, for now---today. Mark’s point, it seems,  is that the implications are the same.

13:1 And as he went out of the temple, one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner of stones and what buildings are here!
13:2 And Jesus answering said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings? there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
13:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives over against the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew asked him privately,
13:4 Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled?
13:5 And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you:
13:6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
13:7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
13:8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
13:9 But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them.
13:10 And the gospel must first be published among all nations.
13:11 But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost.
13:12 Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death.
13:13 And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
13:14 But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains:
13:15 And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house:
13:16 And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment.
13:17 But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days!
13:18 And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter.
13:19 For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be.
13:20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days.
13:21 And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not:
13:22 For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect.
13:23 But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.
13:24 But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light,
13:25 And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.
13:26 And then shall they see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory.
13:27 And then shall he send his angels, and shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven.
13:28 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When her branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is near:
13:29 So ye in like manner, when ye shall see these things come to pass, know that it is nigh, even at the doors.
13:30 Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done.
13:31 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
13:32 But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.
13:33 Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is.
13:34 For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch.
13:35 Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning:
13:36 Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping.
13:37 And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.