On Twitter the night of the Golden Globes, people were tweeting about the celebrities, the fashions, the awkward moments, the strange occurrence of Americans with British accents, and all I could come up with was “I despise this Calvin Klein commercial.” I don’t know why it rubs me the wrong way. Best I can figure, I loathe the minimalism, the monotones, the idea that we’re meant to aspire to a lifestyle of infinity pools, glass houses, private jets, expensive cars, fast boats, or men with girls who look like they’re fifteen. If you’re in the One Percent and that’s your life, you’re not reading this blog enjoy!
It made me contemplate what places I do like to visit and why. And it always comes back to anywhere there’s creative energy. Galleries. Little shops where people sell their hand crafted arts. Places where the air vibrates with street musicians. Watching street performers. Watching people paint. Looking at people’s paintings. Seeing people on their laptops and imagining they’re writing great stories or poems. Or seeing older people sitting comfortably around wood stoves or on front porches telling stories. You can find these moments and people and places and objects anywhere–large cities, small cities, small towns, barely villages.
One such place is Yellow Springs, Ohio. When I took the time after Christmas to organize my decorations, ornaments, lights, and such, I opened what I thought was an empty box in a bin and found these.
Items handcrafted of clay, painted, and fired. I shot them with a quarter to give an idea of their size. The date on the quarter, coincidentally, is 1994, the first time I ever visited Yellow Springs with Debby, Mother, and Tom. I loved all the stores there–jewelry, art, books–and I remember eating great pizza. This was one of the years we traveled at Christmas. I don’t like leaving home at Christmas, so the only compensation is seeing family. Like here, in this 1994 shot, while Josh tries to nap on the floor after a big Christmas dinner, Sarah upholds the family tradition of sneak-attack Bunny Ears.
I bought the little clay pieces on a subsequent trip to Yellow Springs, with the idea of turning them into ornaments to give as gifts. Somehow they got misplaced. That was also the year I saw a flyer in one of the shops protesting censorship because of controversy over a new book everyone was talking about. I sure hope they kept Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone from being banned. 😉
If you follow the Yellow Springs link above, you’ll see that the town has an interesting history. Or you can learn more about it on their web site. I feel like I’m way overdue for another visit there.