ZOE KEATING

Tonight we saw avant cellist Zoe Keating. What a privilege. Throughout the concert it felt as though she was creating her own universe, layer by layer, and this universe was such an inspiring place to be for a short while. She ended with this song, Optimist, written when she was pregnant with her son. The way she describes it, she wanted to "plant the flag of optimism" for him, his life, the world. It's her music that conjures this optimism from thin air. It was fun to hunt about You Tube listen to how the song as evolved over the months she's played it, from early 2010 to now. You can download the song here (for free!). Also, "The Escape Artist."

ELFRETH'S ALLEY

I had so much fun this weekend playing a tourist in my own city with Lindsay. We headed to the annual Elfreth's Alley Fete day which celebrates the country's oldest residential street. It was a treat to tour inside the beautiful, historic homes. And Maureen from the Philadelphia Calligrapher's Society was on hand with quills and parchment samples from Pergamena. In no particular order: quills, parchment, fife + drum (don't you love the red heart on the uniform?), doorknocker, tops sold in the giftshop, the terrific mix of patterns on the apron, shirt and skirt of a woman spinning yarn, her red foot, yarn, a hankie, an old oven.

PEONIES

As you'll see, there's a new blog header (and new blog header archive in the Portfolio section). I couldn't get over the peonies this year. The insufferable Philadelphia heat hurried them into bloom and the inevitable rapid descent soon followed. The pink and white delight/panic very much reminded me of this Mary Oliver poem, "Peonies."

This morning the green fists of the peonies are getting ready
to break my heart
as the sun rises,
as the sun strokes them with his old, buttery fingers

and they open ---
pools of lace,
white and pink ---
and all day the black ants climb over them,

boring their deep and mysterious holes
into the curls,
craving the sweet sap,
taking it away

to their dark, underground cities ---
and all day
under the shifty wind,
as in a dance to the great wedding,

the flowers bend their bright bodies,
and tip their fragrance to the air,
and rise,
their red stems holding

all that dampness and recklessness
gladly and lightly,
and there it is again ---
beauty the brave, the exemplary,

blazing open.
Do you love this world?
Do you cherish your humble and silky life?
Do you adore the green grass, with its terror beneath?

Do you also hurry, half-dressed and barefoot, into the garden,
and softly,
and exclaiming of their dearness,
fill your arms with the white and pink flowers,

with their honeyed heaviness, their lush trembling,
their eagerness
to be wild and perfect for a moment, before they are
nothing, forever?
                                 -"Peonies" by Mary Oliver

153 - 154: 6.3 + "this is very important"

One of my very favorite paper stores in Berlin was Druckerei J. Müeller (Neue Schonhauser Str. 16) in Mitte. The shop is tucked away in a courtyard and offers a charming mix of very official looking rubber stamps, old metal type, and products they produce in-house. Here, three of my favorite. First, these blind press note cards that I sealed with some washi tape (bought at  R.S.V.P, a reader suggestion -- thank you Surfire!) for gratitude letters 153 + 154. Second, and not a product per se, the stamped bag they give you, in Fraktur font, to contain your purchase. The owner folds the flap, punches a hole and inserts a brass clasp. So thoughtful. And finally, they print these quittungen, or receipt books, on an old mechanical letterpress. I. and I ventured back to the printing area and talked to the man overseeing the production. He took a receipt, turned it over, held it toward the light and delicately stroked the back, where the impression could be seen. "For the people who use these," he said (and by people he means service people, business owners, shop keepers, etc.) "this is very important. Being able to feel these lines, and feel the texture." (And yes, the photo of this dear man standing next to his press didn't come out). The front of the receipt says "Original Letterpress    Druckerei J. Müller Berlin-Mitte." The man said that, even to his surprise, his customers refuse to use mass-produced receipt books because the seonsory experience, craftsmanship and paper quality is so important. This revered labor-intensive process for such an ephemeral product very much reminded me of the letterpress fax cover sheet Emily of EmPrint made for the YU Contemporary artspace (also the location of her studio). Emily, you have a septuagenarian kindred spirit thousands of miles away.

LA VIE EN ROSE

I am so beyond, beyond honored to share February's gratitude winner with you. Projects like these remind me of just how fortunate I am to do the work I do. Back in January I got an email from Stephanie, a 25 year-old cancer survivor who is getting her PharmD. We collaborated to create the design for her tattoo, pictured above.

Stephanie's story embodies all that I hope to celebrate with Project Gratitude and the gratitude giveaways. How lucky we are to be alive. And to have inspiring role models like Stephanie who face adversity with such strength and grace.  Thank you, Stephanie, for the opportunity to work with you, and for sharing these heartfelt words.

Four years ago, at the age of 21, I found out I had Extraskeletal Ewing’s Sarcoma, an extremely rare form of cancer which happened to be attached to a spinal nerve.  I had just completed a difficult semester of pharmacy school, and a tumor removal surgery revealed cancerous tissue.  The next year and a half would be filled with chemotherapy and radiation.  To put things into perspective, every other treatment consisted of six days in a hospital with a continuous infusion of chemotherapy flowing into my body.

I have numerous scars on my body: nape of my neck (from the tumor removal), left upper chest area (port site to administer chemotherapy) and under my left arm (previous collapsed lung).  I’ve had an incredible history of medical issues, including an additional spontaneous pneumothorax with pleural effusion, basically fluid in my lung cavity.  Yet, after all of it, I tend to feel like it was fortunate these things happened to me because someone else may not be able to endure the pain.

I believe in la vie en rose, the French equivalent of “looking at life through rose-colored glasses.”  There’s always a good side to events in one’s life, whether it be for your own good or someone else’s.  The events that have happened in my life may not be ideal, but I know I am unique and stronger because of them.  This tattoo means just that for me.  I wanted to remind myself to maintain my innate positive outlook, and I wanted to put my own mark on my body.  I also secretly insist I was meant to be Parisian, but that’s another story.  La vie en rose reminds me that these marks are beautiful, they are unique.  Some people wish they had interesting scars and marks on their body.. And, at the age of 26, I do - some by chance and one by choice.

Stephanie says she hopes hopes to share health and joy with others through pharmacy and event planning.

Special thanks to tattoo artist Kim Durham, and photographer Denny Kim. Your work is stunning.

As a reminder: I give away --for FREE!-- an expression of gratitude (a letter, a tattoo, a quote, etc.) every month. Please contact me if you have someone in your life who deserves thanks and recognition. I'm without a winner for March - May and would love to hear from you.  

And you can read more about tattoos here.

GERMANY, PART IV

Hello again and very sorry for the absence. Did you follow the stupendous national stationery show coverage? I'm excited to share a little collaboration that debuted there soon. Very sadly, my camera broke the second day I was in Berlin and I've been paralyzed without it ever since. To remedy the situation while there, I bought a Holga camera and used it with mixed results. There were some very key experiences and sights that went uncaptured. Today and tomorrow I'll wrap up what I do have, but I wanted to share this one photo that symbolized the revelatory experience that is Germany. There is a very fantastic chain of drugstores called DM. I. and I visited the one in Oldenburg, which is where she lives (more on that later). After you check out, and before you exit, there is this little wrapping paper station. As you see, it has three rolls of wrapping paper. There is also ribbon, scissors and tape. All free. Something about this was so awesome that I rambled on and on about it the entire day. Something about how generous it was, how the service wasn't being abused, how much happier I would be if there were free wrapping paper stations in the US. More broadly: is gift giving and free wrapping paper the mark of a strong civil society? This article in the NYT about Germany's Ordnungsbehörde, or Department of Order, speaks to some of these points. Are there generous customs in countries you've visited that you've been equally smitten with?

BRITAIN ALONE

I had forgotten about this awesome stamp I picked up in England last summer. I think it's a good counterpoint to two patriotic stamps that have recently been released: William + Kate from the UK and the Statue of Liberty in the US that actually depicts the faux statue in Las Vegas. Let's remember more substantive philatelic decisions, shall we? This series commemorates sacrifices made during WWII, and the quotidian triumphs that led to victory. Including:

"Essential to the war effort thousands of unmarried young women were conscripted to replace men called up for the armed services on farms."

"Local volunteers, often First World War veterans were ready to fight in the event of an enemy invasion. Shown here is Doncaster’s ‘Broomstick Army’ still awaiting their uniforms and rifles."

"Essential to the war effort thousands of unmarried young women were conscripted to replace men called up for the armed services on farms."

And, pictured above: "As on the farms women stepped into traditionally male roles in industry to release men for the armed services."

BERLIN, PART III

I stumbled upon an adorable stamp shop, Reinhard Heinemann Philatelie (Kollwitzstraße 93), where I pawed through their first day of issue covers to add to my collection. The Netherlands really takes the cake for this visit. Above, some favorites. The bottom envelope is just perfect to my mind: the font, the font of the cancelling stamp, the thatched house illustration. The middle one commemorates the lower house of parliament. The top envelope highlights such a wonderful historical statistic: "Erasumus spent 10% of his income on postage." I know the feeling, Desiderius.