Monday, July 29, 2013

Waste Land

Almost every week I have a date with my ironing board, which I set up in front of our tv in the basement. I put in a dvd and start in on the shirts and handkerchiefs (that's right, I don't like the no-iron version - not absorbent). This week I finally got around to watching a much-recommended documentary, Waste Land - and I had to stop ironing and sit down to watch with full attention.

Waste Land is about a famous artist, Vik Muniz, who made his way from Brazil to New York and became wealthy from his success as a sculptor and visual artist. After a time he decided to return to Brazil and work on a project with the pickers of recyclable materials that he met working in a huge garbage dump outside of Rio de Janeiro. He took some wonderful photographic portraits of some of the most memorable pickers. The story of how he collaborated with them to create very large versions of the photographs constructed entirely of stuff collected from the dump was life-changing for everyone involved - reminded me of the story of Pinocchio. The project helped the pickers to see themselves as so much more than human "garbage." A film like that always makes me feel larger.

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Little Train Fan

We live just 4 blocks from a station for Metra, the commuter rail system in the area, and two of our grandkids live 4 blocks from the station two stops north of ours. The little one loves to watch the trains from the library windows just across the tracks from that station, and I've taken him there in his stroller just to watch the trains at rush hour - one every few minutes. Every so often he'll get to ride the train down to our house for a short visit, then back again - a great delight! So, when he turned two just last week, I knew just what to get for a birthday present. Where to get it was a bigger problem. No luck on Amazon or the nearby costume store. Enter the Chicago Costume Company - just across the street from the main DePaul Univ. campus along our old route to Grandma's. 


They told me they had one hat left, so we rushed over to get it. The little conductor looked very proud to wear his hat at his birthday party, and I'm told that it will be part of his Halloween costume this year. A good time was had by all!