Alicia Kachmar's Blog, page 6

One little giraffe

For better or worse, there's nothing more motivating than hearing "I bet you can't do that" when you're trying to achieve something. I came across the endeavor known as One Million Giraffes from a fellow determined and creative soul (and friend) by the name of Ashley Albert, of kids' rock band The Jimmies fame.

The mission of One Million Giraffes begins:

"My friend, Jørgen, doesn't believe I can collect one million giraffes by 2011. I'm gonna prove him wrong, but I need your help. You can...

Happy Mother's Day…

…to the mom who knew I'd be "trouble" the moment I was born when my hair was so maroon it looked purple under the hospital lights (surprise! never a dull moment from the get-go!) and later when I learned how to walk at 9 months, before there were shoes tiny enough to fit my feet (Ahead of the curve! I'm ready!)…

…who taught me how to bake from scratch, who made a lot of our clothes…

…who made all of our Halloween costumes…

…even the ones we regretted then (ahem, me) or would regret later...

Re-working reality

"'To re-work reality' I had written somewhere: temeritous, presumptuous words indeed–for it is reality which works and reworks us on its slow wheel." -Lawrence Durrel, Clea

Um, where did April go? April was a cruel month in some ways, staying true to the T.S. Eliot poem, but let's focus on the positive. When everything seemed to be going wrong (was going wrong), my parents decided to schedule an Easter vacation. Destination? Carolina Beach, N.C. Sign. Me. Up. During a tear-filled phone call...

Lit-ography (#2)

"'Do you know, master book-lover,' he asked me, 'this line of Paul Desjardins?'

Now are the woods all black, but still the sky is blue.

'Is not that a fine rendering of a moment like this? May you always see a blue sky overhead, my young friend; and then, even when the time comes, which is coming now for me, when the woods are all black, when night is fast falling, you will be able to console yourself, as I am doing, by looking up to the sky.'"

-Marcel Proust, Swann's Way

Lit-ography (#1)

Bachelard, the French philosopher and Sorbonne professor known for his constructivist epistemology and history of science studies (are you excited yet?) once started a lecture with the following:

"On your way here, did you look only straight ahead of you, or did you look up at the sky, and at the left of you, and at the right, and behind you?"*

In general, do I? I think so. Do you? I hope so. The above quote is like the question version of that "the journey is the destination" saying, even...