Gone but not lost

Today, I stumbled across a photographer who, much like my beloved Vincent Van Gogh, had brilliant work that was never recognized in her lifetime. Her name was Vivian Maier and she was a nanny in Chicago for much of her 83 years.

Her photographs were discovered by a young history buff named John Maloof who bought a box of her negatives at an auction. John was looking for photos of an old Chicago neighborhood for a book he was working on. What he found astonished him. Hundreds and hundreds of her amazing snapshots taken on Chicago city streets and around the world during her many travels alone.

An acutely private person, most of Vivian's work went unseen -- even by her. Among her belongings were hundreds of rolls of undeveloped film. In a modern sort of Dickensian twist the storage locker company that held her stuff put it up for auction when Vivian could no longer pay the rental fees. John bought these as well and has dedicated much of his time to developing, scanning and archiving her amazing work.

If you're lucky enough to be in Chicago or expect to visit, the very first exhibition of her work is going on right now at the Chicago Cultural Center through April 3. There is also a book of her work due out in the fall and a documentary project. I'm totally blown away by her photographs. What do you think?

White out

It has been snowing here in the Northeast. A lot. The latest storm left in excess of 14 inches on top of the 3+ feet already on the ground. I lived in the snowbelt in upstate New York during two of their snowiest winters back in my youth but this has it equaled, if not beat. We've been averaging two snowfalls a week since late December and we're not out of it yet. There's another storm coming midweek and I'm praying it's just snow, not ice as predicted.

Meanwhile, all of this white is beautiful, if a bit overwhelming. We're running out of places to put the snow. This is from last week's storm. If you look closely, you can see my son's head. To give you some scale, he is six feet tall. Pretty amazing, no?

New things

Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that teach us to look behind the dark clouds of to-day, for the golden beams that are to gild the morrow.

-- Susanna Moodie

"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." -- Leonard Cohen

Wishing you love and light, peace and health in 2011.

December days

"Expectancy is the atmosphere for miracles." -- Edwin Louis Cole

The good with the bad

One of the amazing things about life is how the darkness and the light are intermingled. This is an essential teaching of many faiths and at no other time of the year is it more acutely felt than in December. Right now many people in my circle are going through difficult times and there have been losses that break the heart.

And yet.

At the same time there are small joys and reasons to celebrate. One tiny candle illuminates the darkness and sheds a light that gives us hope. If we can add to that light incrementally, one small candle at a time, we can illuminate the world. If we can be that candle, we can lift one another into the light.

Wishing you light and love this Chanukah.

The attitude is gratitude

"Gratitude is when memory is stored in the heart, and not in the mind." -- Lionel Hampton