I recently read about the discovery of rare and unpublished photos of Gordon Parks. He's Life Magazine's first Black staff photographer and has an amazing career history. Then, as luck would have it, part of the exhibit was on display in my town. I caught it in its last weekend... just in time. There's a bigger exhibit in Atlanta. Hopefully that one will tour, because I'd love to see it.
More info at The Gordon Parks Foundation
News coverage has times when it can be depressing, but one thing that is always nice is when you get to witness historic moments. I've been in the newsroom for the election of the first Black president, his re-election, healthcare coverage passing and today's ruling that gay marriage is legal in all 50 states. Will you remember where you were when you witnessed history in the making?
Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge were my favorite Judy Blume books as a kid. I heard this public radio story with Judy Blume today and I love it. She walks the reporter through her childhood neighborhood as they discuss the book Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself.
For two school years, shortly after World War II, Judy Blume lived in Miami Beach. She wrote Starring Sally J. Freedman as Herself about that time. Here, she joins WLRN's Alicia Zuckerman, who lives in the same neighborhood today, to revisit that time and place.
“I was making up stories and someone came to my mother and said, ‘She is too old to be playing with paper dolls.’ But I wasn’t playing with paper dolls like a little kid; I was playing with paper dolls with all these really exciting melodramas going on inside my head. That’s what made me a writer.”
A map of Judy Blume's old neighborhood
I haven't read Blume's books for adults, but maybe I should However, hearing her talk about her writing makes me want to go back and read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and Superfudge.
“I’ve always known I wanted to write. It was always a passion of mine — it was peace, a getaway. It was also, even while I was playing, it was kind of an artist mentality. You have a day job, but the art that you’re working on is what you really want to do. ...I knew that when I was done playing, that’s what I was going to do. It was kind of always a thing behind [football], I just didn’t know what to what extent in television or see how it was going to shape up.”
“I wasn’t supposed to walk away from the NFL, but I did. I wasn’t supposed to be writing television, but I am. I’m supposed to be lost after football. I’m not. I’ve reinvented myself. This is my first transformation. I’m supposed to be broke right now, or maybe the statistics say five years from now. Either way, I’m not even close. I’m not supposed to be anything but a football player. But really, I’m just a guy who used to play football. There’s a reason I’m doing this.”
via Business Insider
“The best camera is the one you have with you. ”
via indiewire
Volcano Calbuco erupted on April 22, 2015, for the first time in four decades. We shot timelapses in 8K and 4K with a Pentax 645Z and Canon 6D. On the A7s we shot 4K video to the Shogun using Kingston HyperX SSDs.
via No Film School
A few highlights of what I watched and read this week. Enjoy.
Streamlined Macbeth performance to be staged in cemetery
Toy Story's "Honest Trailer" is here
Two businesswomen become each others "accountability partners"
I want the "Obliteration Room" to come to my city
The Womanist Mixtape
Bubblegum art exhibit