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Baseball mosaic by Bill Slavin |
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End of the season by Bill Slavin |
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Baseball mosaic by Bill Slavin |
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End of the season by Bill Slavin |
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"A New World Where Kindness Matters" |
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Elon Musk's discussion with Joe Rogan about empathy:
https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/05/politics/elon-musk-rogan-interview-empathy-doge
What have you done in the last week to ease the fear, the dread, and the anger you may be feeling as a result of the ongoing horrific attacks on one person, young children, or other groups, by, usually, a solitary individual? We don't have a leader who will stand with others and unite us. Instead, we can depend on our communities and ourselves and do two things at once: be active in our push to keep our democracy, whatever that action might be, and also preserve ourselves by finding ways to let go of the heightened emotional responses to tragedies. A friend recently mentioned the creative activities that she and others she knows do - everything from ukulele playing, ballroom dancing, and quiz nights. Each of these pursuits requires creative thinking and, at the same time, brings together people in community.
I am in the process of making a simple book of watercolor shapes and colors after taking a one-day online class with Amy at Mindful Art Studio. I didn't really need the class for the techniques she offered. What I needed was the art community. The work is meditative and easy, and it was fun to see the work generated by a group of people willing to give art a try.
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First draft |
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Second, with dark rectangles covering squiggles |
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Lettering done with white crayon on top of watercolor |
I am not allowing my critical self to review it. When I paint something I don't like, I change what is on the paper by painting over the section with a rectangular shape. I draw across the shape with a white crayon and add lines of phrases. On another piece of paper, I use a 4-inch-wide cup to make circles. I use a white crayon again to draw small circles, lines, and branches, enclosing them all within the circle.
A circle is a powerful symbol in many cultures, and to me, it represents a sense of wholeness. It is complete in itself, soothing, calming, like the moon. This last week has been a special week in the sky with the Seven Sisters close to the moon. One of my favorite quotes comes from Bill Waterson:
We can step away from the chaos of the news for a while. We can take a deep breath and concentrate on something close at hand, do something creative without judgment, and then go back to standing strong.
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Two observations from this week:
The San Francisco Main Library posted a flyer for the Silent Book Club, which meets weekly at a local food court. For an hour, participants read whatever book they like. Then, they can proceed to have dinner together or not. They can discuss what they are reading with other participants or not. No one has to read the same book. Meeting to read is another form of meditation, isn't it?
One of the joys of belonging to a calligraphy guild is receiving an envelope or a card that looks like these:
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two versions by K. Charatan |
Last weekend, we took a walk. We ended up at Redwood Park. We stared up into the small forest of redwoods towering above us. The cool canopy of 50 redwoods, transplanted from the Santa Cruz Mountains, muffled the street sounds and made the space feel cathedral-like. Adjacent to the park, the Transamerica Pyramid reached above to the sky. Nature and human achievement side by side, competing for space.
We had set that day for the Chinatown Car Show. We wondered how a car show was going to fit on the busy, narrow streets of Chinatown. We walked past small shops brimming with bins of fresh vegetables, dried fish, and cardboard boxes of fruit. We watched as people crowded into a tea shop with its walls lines with various types of teas and into a shop next door full of traditional Chinese medicine. Next to the crowded sidewalks, the cars lined up, one after the other, for several blocks. Car shows have become a popular entertainment in Northern California. On other adventures, we walked through blocks of dressed-up cars in Danville, strolled around a collection of Cadillac CT5s at Cavallo Point across from the City, and watched lines of low-riders follow each other on the San Francisco Embarcadero. We turned the corner at Jackson Street, intending to walk to Jackson Square, but we were sidetracked by the Transamerica Pyramid, newly renovated.
We didn't go into the Pyramid itself, but wandered around the open plaza with its giant planters full of greenery and plenty of places for people to sit. At the back of the Pyramid, we found a small exhibition hall showcasing the contents unearthed from a long-forgotten time capsule from 1974. We looked at news articles, photos, and diagrams of the then-controversial design. We glanced at a sheet of paper labeled We Built This, with the signatures of all the people who worked on the building. We read letters written by artists and community leaders who protested the building's design and its interruption of the San Francisco skyline. One poster showed what the artist imagined would happen to the San Francisco skyline if the Pyramid were to be built. As in the poster, today, the pyramid is almost hidden among the much taller skyscrapers that crowd downtown.
Examples of the Eames furniture designs:
Even better, the Eames Institute, whose mission is to encourage curiosity and creativity:
https://www.eamesinstitute.org/about/
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™: WarnerBros |
I'm not here to argue for or against the teaching of cursive, other than to say that learning to write by hand is the same kind of practice in mind and hand coordination that origami folding provides. I've read many articles that proclaim that handwriting is dying. But this past week, I found hope.
When I first learned of the SF Pen Show, I thought this event must be for a small group of people interested in writing implements who gather to exchange ideas and to buy new pens. The Show ran last weekend at a local hotel. I walked into a crowded lobby with a line of people stretching from one end of the hotel to the other, all waiting to get into the show. I couldn't believe that there would be so much interest in pens, mainly fountain pens. I looked at the line, and saw people of all ages, oldies, eccentric dressers, and many young people eager to get into the exhibition hall.
I came to the Pen Show because the Friends of Calligraphy (FOC), an active calligraphy guild filled with members interested in the art of calligraphy and letter forms, provided free bookmarks to the show attendees. Many of our members are experts; some of us are students like me. FOC looks for new members by offering classes and workshops, participating in calligraphy conferences, and, for one weekend each year, creating bookmarks at the annual San Francisco Pen Show.
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FOC calligraphers busy writing bookmarks |
Inside the Pen Show hall, I found table upon table filled with fountain pens, paper, inks, notebooks, stickers, pen nibs, boxes and wrappers to hold pens, and a room set aside for nibmeisters, people who have learned to grind a nib back to its first glory. I had no idea that there was so much interest in pens, and therefore, so much interest in writing by hand. Some of the vendors offered vintage pens, others showed a selection of handmade caps and barrels. Some of the pens reminded me of the detailed painting style done on show cars.
I stopped at Deanna Ruiz's table, and she showed me her fine woodworking, which included not only caps and barrels, but a meticulously constructed box to hold a pen collection. She had learned her skills from her grandfather, a master woodworker, and it showed in the way she made the "waterfall" edges on the box. Each change from one side to another matched the direction of the wood grain on top.
Another vendor offered Oak Gall Ink that he processed himself from the galls he collected from oak trees.
One wall in the room contained stickers, marking pens, papers, ribbons, pins, and brushes from Japan. At the end of the conference, an older Japanese man came to our FOC table and asked for a bookmark. He watched silently as the calligrapher wrote his name. With the Japanese tradition of calligraphy, I wished he had time to make a bookmark for FOC in return.
A good source for information about pens and writing. Also, a list of pen shows around the world.
Well-Appointed Desk:
https://www.wellappointeddesk.com/about/
Nib Grinders:![]() |
Window View -- August 2925 |
Some of us met in kindergarten, many of us came together in high school. Almost all of us went our separate ways afterwards. A couple of weeks ago, some of us gathered together to celebrate a significant birthday for all our class. I looked around at the many people in the room and realized I recognized most of them, even without name tags to help me. We stood together for an afternoon and had a good time reminiscing about shared experiences.
High school was our last communal stepping stone. I looked around at the people that I grew up with, and I never imagined the paths we all would take. Some of us became teachers, lawyers, business owners, parents, farmers, criminals, adventurers, journalists, or lived unsheltered. My own life took me to unexpected places. I traveled to Peru while working for a fashion magazine, worked in the personnel department of a tech company for a while, became a teacher, married, had a child, served as a community volunteer, lived in Japan and Paris, and returned to artwork and writing once I retired from paid work. A life full of unexpected adventures.
Every person in the room also lived a life full of twists and turns, leading each of us to be the person we have become. Yet, standing in the group of familiar faces, none of that mattered so much as how we now welcome and accept each other. We are eager to see old friends who knew us when we were going through all the trials, heartaches, and joys of being a teenager. We could reminisce about dances in the gym, doing the Surfer Stomp, parties during Spring Break at Huntington Beach or Bal Island. We could laugh at wearing circle pins with their hidden message, depending on which side of your collar you wore it on, being checked for too-short skirts or for not having T-shirts tucked in, and sitting in tent classrooms because our town wouldn't provide the funding for our school to build more permanent classrooms. We remembered driving down Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena to go to Bob's Big Boy for one of their legendary hamburgers, and we talked of one of our classmates who was notorious for funny antics and disrupting classes. And we also spoke of the ones who could no longer join us, taken by the Vietnam War, cancer, accidents, and just the arbitrary circumstances of life.
We were a large group, over 500 students, when we graduated. A core group of classmates organized reunions throughout our lives. Our class has been lucky to stay in touch over the years because of their commitment. Some of us, like me, only arrive for the occasional reunion, while others have maintained their close friendships since school days, meeting weekly for card games or, occasionally, celebrating a birthday, and helping classmates out when they needed support.
Each year, the list of people who have passed gets a little longer. As we get older, each meeting becomes more meaningful to me as these long-time acquaintances seem part of a larger extended family rather than just classmates.
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Raku pottery by R. Kagawa |
Did you ever play in the mud, make mud pies, or squish mud through your fingers?
Delicious feeling, wasn't it?
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Korean Celadon inlaid designs on a vase |
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A roll of different colors of clay |
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Bowl by Jean Gerbino |
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Pottery made with inlays or with different colors of clay rolled together |
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San Francisco by Bill Slavin |
August, and we haven't had temperatures above the 70s all summer long. Unusual even for San Francisco. So the coming of August has been a surprise. Schools are about to be back in session. Autumn activities will soon ramp up, but there is still time to get in a bit of good reading and for taking a walk in the town or city we live in. Moving to the City has made our wandering around the San Francisco neighborhoods a different way to go sightseeing. Bill looks up to the skyscrapers and finds interesting photos in the reflections and unexpected views of old and new. I look down and find poetry and artwork embedded in the sidewalks.
I've asked several friends to suggest books that have been good reads in 2025.
Three books appear on three different lists:
The Women by Kristen Hannah
James by Percival Everett
The Book of Lost Friends by Lis Wingate
The rest of the suggestions sound just as intriguing.
Mary:
An Unfinished Love Story by Doris Kearns Goodwin (Mary rates this one the best of the year)
The Frozen River by Ariel Lawson
By Any Other Name by Jodi Picoult
The Address by Fiona Davis
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
The Women by Kristen Hannah
The God of the Woods by Liz Moore
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
by Bill Slavin |
Marcia:
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger
Zero Fail by Carol Leoni
The Women by Kristen Hannah
The Wager by Davi Grann
The Last Russian Doll by Marina Palmer
by Bill Slavin |
Kathy:
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
Thursday Morning Murder Club by Richard Osman
by Bill Slavin |
Bill:
James by Perceival Everett
God's Country by Percival Everett
The Trees by Percival Everett
Me:
Walking One Step at a Time by Erling Kagge
Silence in the Age of Noise by Erling Kagge
The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate
One last list of mine:
Books that I have on our bookshelves that I probably will never read, but I like the author's subject or the author's point of view, are ones that I want to support.
Learning from the Germans: Race and the Memory of Evil by Susan Neiman
A Theory of Justice by John Rawls
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt (I'm halfway through)
Lady Bird Johnson by Julia Sweig
One of a series of local bird images embedded on the 20th St T platform |
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Two hummingbird nests |
I opened another box and found two small hummingbird nests that I had packed away two and a half years ago. I marveled at their delicate interwoven structure, which included cedar needles and white feathers. Beautiful.
I like small things. I find there is something magical about a small object that has been created by an artist. When we were in England, I purchased four two-inch tin houses. Each opened up to show the house inside. Like a dollhouse, the tin houses could be the start of a story about the people who lived there.
A thoughtful friend gave me two origami cranes, both about two inches in height, that she had made from clear plastic. Look again, and you will see ½ inch cranes inside both of the larger ones. She also put a small piece of paper with the inscription, "The Invisible Peace That Holds Us," referring to the Japanese legend that the cranes represent peace, hope, and longevity. When we were in Japan, I discovered that students there learn origami at an early age. The practice helps them to develop hand-eye coordination. I wish that I had that precision when I attempt one of the origami cranes. I am just off-kilter enough that the last fold doesn't quite create the shape out of a piece of paper that I want. Once again, I remind myself that, like most things, origami takes practice.
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Origami cranes |
As part of my artwork, I create small books using color and hand lettering to express one idea. My college senior project was a book about the sun. When I started doing letterpress, I turned my printed pages into small books. I find that mixed media collage also gives me the chance to experiment with design and lettering. Some of the books I've made are big enough to fit in two hands. Others are no more than two inches and feel delicate just because of their size.
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"What the Sun Said" by Martha Slavin |
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A one inch book with Lao Tsu quote, "Every step is on the path." |
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A yet-to-be-finished triangle book (2 inches tall) |
At 5 feet 2 inches, I have spent many times looking up at people, especially now that people over six feet are more common. And I'm shrinking. Maybe that is why I like small things, something that I can hold in my hand, turn easily, and marvel at its ingenuity.
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This summer is the 80th year since World War II. Many sad events happened during that war that we cannot forget. Please read Ellen Newman's thoughtful post about her trip to Hiroshima.
https://hidden-insite.com/2025/08/06/hiroshima-a-survivors-story/
It's the end of July when I look out our front window down onto the circular driveway of our building. The pavement below is wet. Since we are in our dry season, the normal summer fog has persisted all through July, but I was surprised by rain on several mornings. It wasn't a hard rain, just enough to dampen the concrete driveway and the street beyond. Some days the fog cleared by noon; other days, fog hung like wet laundry over us. It was still a treat to feel the mist on our faces as we walked up the street.
A drizzly day seems like a good time to discover an unusual museum. When I have found other small museums, they were typically dedicated to one person's obsession. One of my favorite museums in Tokyo was the Kite Museum, started by Shingo Modegi in Nihonbashi. The rooms are crowded with many beautifully hand-painted kites created in Japan and other countries. They show 300 at a time, but there are many more in their archives. Another small museum in Asakusa was the Taiko-kan Drum Museum, an interactive place that allowed me to play with most of their collection of drums from around the world. Nearby is a new interactive museum called the Samurai Ninja Museum, where you can try on samurai armor and practice ninja moves. If you have seen the TV series Shogun, you know how fierce and menacing the armor can make someone look. The Japanese still honor Takeda Shingen, a powerful daimyo (leader of a group of samurai) from Kifu, with a festival where they re-enact events in his life.
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Designing a typeface |
Paris is crowded with museums, but my favorite places there were the antique clock shops, such as La Pendulerie in Rive Droite, which displays extravagant, intricate clocks made for wealthy families of bygone eras, and the auction houses at Hotel Drouot at Place Saint-Germain-des-Prés. The auction houses allow you to view items that have been tucked away in someone's attic for many years. Just don't raise your hand while you are looking.
In our San Francisco neighborhood, we walked to the Letterform Archives, a hidden gem that began with Rob Saunders' collection of numerous examples of typography, graphic design, and lettering. In the last 10 years, the collection has grown to 100,000 items. As their website states, "We're open to all who love letters." The space is both an archive of works that emphasize type design and classrooms where students can learn how to design an alphabet/typeface. We wandered through the exhibit, "10 X 10 for 10," and found 100 examples of letterforms, including calligraphy from centuries ago and present-day protest posters.
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Practice pages of different type designs |
The Letterform Archives is housed in the American Industrial Center, which is a blocks-long rabbit warren of mostly small creative companies. Bill and I got lost when we got off on the wrong side of the elevator, but discovered in the building a small eatery with an outdoor patio, people busy working in a bakery's kitchen, a cooking school, a clog manufacturer with a store at the corner of the building, and a grocery store along with several architectural firms.
Saunders' inclination to collect letterforms mirrors my own decades-long collection of type and graphic design, some of which I have kept even after downsizing, just because they inspire me. What inspires you to be creative?
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Check out the Kite Museum in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, Japan. The website shows an array of beautiful kites from all over the world:
https://artscape.jp/artscape/eng/ht/1008.html
Check out the Tokyo Samurai Ninja Museum:
Shingen-ko Matsuri celebrating samurai:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingen-ko_Festival
Check out La Pendulerie in Paris:
https://www.lapendulerie.com/en/
Letterforms Archive in San Francisco:
Walk through the American Industrial Center to see small businesses in action:
Don't miss Kalligraphia at the San Francisco Main Library until August 31: