You do know the everything bagel.** An impure, adulterated production from the perspective of mavens. Similarly, I often depart from the pure model of blogging, best viewed at Time Goes By. She may ramble in titles, but rarely in copy. Often, as in life, I want to tell more.
Today, like my metaphorical Jewish delicacy, I overfill this small space.
What to do when what you'd like/need is not available? "Start one yourself." That was 1970 reponse from a legislative assistant in Shirley Chisholm's office to my query, "When will a chapter of Women's Political Caucus start in Baltimore?" With two equally inexperienced women, I did it.
Almost fifty years later, my daughter has does similar. Not politics--her focus is different, toward providing unmet service needs in her community. With two of her friends, experienced art teachers, Family Clay began last month. Here they are on Facebook.
Clay had been an important medium in our family, especially for Rachel's brother Nick. She was surprised that this art-focused city had only one children's ceeramics program. Why not use space at her business, Full Life, when it's closed. Now there's Saturday clay-making. Granddaughter Zoe in blue.
More clay on Veterans Day when we went to the opening of "Art out of War" at a new ceramic gallery, Eutectic. First learned of the gallery a few months ago from cards they left at Fressen Bakery which is around the corner. Ehren Tool (talks about the motivation for his work in video) is one of the four artists in the show. We met three years ago, watched as he threw his image-laden, signature cups at the Contemporary Craft Museum.
One of the experienced journalists still writing for the Oregonian, David Stabler wrote a thoughtful article for last Sunday's paper. "A heap of bowls rises from the floor...some bowls have broken edges..." he begins describing the mass of stacked bowls in Thomas Orr's work. The group of four vets from three American wars did the work in the show while in a retreat set up to bring them together. Stabler drew reflections from each on the ways the experience of war has influenced their work--from brutal imagery to bars with gold glaze.
A page away was Steve Duin's review of a new book by Joe Sacco, The Great War. Though he incorrectly labels it a "graphic novel," Duin does get the intent,
"a seamless graphic journey from dawn to dusk, from frenetic staging area to lonely hellhole, from the giddy edge of euphoria to the palid edge of despair."
Oregonian photographer Randy L. Rassmussen props it up to reveal its similarity to a children's foldout book, described by the publisher, "a 24-foot black-and-white drawing printed on heavyweight accordian-fold paper." Sacco, who lives in Portland, has imagined the look of July 1, 1916, the first day of WWI, "war to end all wars."
I have nothing new to share about endless war in my time. My children and their children have lived their entire lives with a background of men's armed conflict over questionable goals. On the way out of the Eutectic Gallery opening, stopped in the shop, admired a sweet cup by Chris Baskin (beautiful website), a fan of Happy Cup Coffee being served that night.
Enjoy your bagel, think about ongoing support to your own community's version of the Returning Veterans Project. Best we can do until women have the bigger voice in politics.
**photo: Henry Higgins Boiled Bagels