standing still

R is my photo project guinea pig. i met up with her today at SF general medical center for her lunch break. if you haven't checked out my newest project, stillness in chaos, you should. i am currently working on images of people standing still amidst chaos. so far, this project has been in the initial stages; thinking and writing and brainstorming and such. today, i felt things gel more than they have been. walking to the hospital, i was thinking about how, at this point in the project, i need to shoot, shoot, shoot. i got to the lobby a few minutes before R, and i'm glad that i got to be the observer for a minute or two. people rushed through the hall in waves, as the elevator doors opened, as the bus pulled up outside. some people carried balloons, bright colored gift bags. others shuffled in slowly with the help of crutches. more than a few mumbled to themselves, wheeling carts full of belongings. a man napped across from me.

when R got downstairs, she sighed: busy morning. i asked her to take few deep breaths, roll her shoulders a bit. we waited for elevator doors to open and then R stood peacefully as doctors and nurses and therapists and patients and visitors rushed by on their lunch breaks.

here's a sneak peek:

thankful

what are you thankful for?

during our closing meeting at A last night, B asked us to go around and share one thing we're thankful for in our lives. in such a stressful economic climate, it's so easy to get sucked into negativity, but what about all those things we still have? "i still have my job and i am so grateful. so many of my friends have been laid off and i'm still working...i can pay my rent. i have an adorable dog. and i have all you guys."

when my turn came around, i said something to the extent of this: i am thankful for positive thinking. i am thankful for lots of things, but one of the invigorating things about this time that we are living in, is that so many people are taking a step back and reassessing the important things in their lives. we might not be able to live as extravagantly as we want to, we might realize that the material goods we consume (a bit of a cache 22 working in retail...)* aren't our livelihood. we have friends and family. we have creativity. we have the mountains and the beach, the sky and the ocean.

i may have added that last line about the mountains and the beach and the sky and the ocean, but i like it anyhow. i think i said that i am thankful for A, even though I only work there a few days a week. it does give me a tiny bit of structure in my otherwise sporadic life.

i am thankful for B's optimism. thank you, B, for allowing us to be consciously thankful.


*a note about working at A, however. i truly believe that it's a company based on more than a basic consumer culture. the art and atmosphere of the store make the experience something beyond the stuff that fills it's walls, which is very cool.

design*sponge: inspirational AND resourceful

leave it to design*sponge to create a GREAT resource for small businesses and freelancers. i've thoroughly enjoyed the biz ladies series. in existence since 2006, i can't believe i've only just discovered it.

coffee bar

i am a coffee nut. the quality of the beans is important, but even more so: the atmosphere. can i sit here and drink coffee and be inspired for hours on end? yes. enter coffee bar. my new favorite remote office. high ceilings, good light, concrete floors, big industrial lights, a combo of motown and downtempo hip-hop streaming from the speakers. it's crowded and busy, but you have a little space to spread out, sit cross-legged on the long wooden bench. essentially, it's a little piece of freelance heaven. thank you, coffee bar, for existing in my world without an office.

coffee bar, 1890 bryant st, san francisco, CA (415) 551-8100

exhibit c

my situation made the front page of the new york times saturday. not me, personally, though a very familiar story: "tired of looking for work, some create their own," by matt richtal and jenna wortham. definitely worth a read.

the economy: where were you in 2008?

lately, my sentiments about the world we live in have been resonating in a variety of mediums.

exhibit a: thomas friedman's column in the NY times last week, "the inflection is near," echoes a positive spin on our impending economic situation. maybe we've gone too far with...everything. maybe we all need to take a step back and rethink the way we are consuming, the way we are living our lives.

We must have growth, but we must grow in a different way. For starters, economies need to transition to the concept of net-zero, whereby buildings, cars, factories and homes are designed not only to generate as much energy as they use but to be infinitely recyclable in as many parts as possible. Let’s grow by creating flows rather than plundering more stocks.

watching the news and reading the paper, checking blogs and talking with equally concerned friends, i frequently think about my grandmother, who lived through the great depression. she still cleans her plate, among other things, and i wonder what remnents 2008 will leave us with. clearly, i'm hoping for the best, but i do agree that we must take an analytical and critical frame of mind.

exhibit b: i sat next to a woman and her two young kids on my flight from seattle to sun valley last thursday. we chatted the entire 2 hour flight and i somehow found myself talking over my future with her. i've already started to think about different ways to go about making enough money to keep a roof over my head, but talking this over with a complete stranger made me think about it in a slightly different way. i can't exactly pinpoint what changed when i talked to her. maybe having someone entirely removed from my situation re-emphasized my ambitions to go about things differently. the same isn't working anymore, she told me. we have to decide what's important in our lives and find a way to make it work. we can't compromise. we might have to find a different way to make things happen, but we can't let society force us to compromise what we want.