Archive for the ‘Community’ Category
Friday, March 9th, 2007
March experiment—day nine— Captain Zach and I talked “Army Biz” while we flipped pancakes for Rotary at KSD. When I returned home, I was happy to find a delicious meal, admittedly much more nutritious than what I’d been feeding to others all morning. Something about the full awareness of all the requirements for the Salvation Army banquet in a month, ongoing commitments to the Brass Band Festival, the delicate business of wooing a new client, the necessity of moving Bruce to Danville before the end of March, and everything else I’ve challenged myself to accomplish over the short term—well, it made me feel like I wanted to collapse this evening. Maybe I just need some rest.
Today’s sight bite— Three exquisite watercress salads with avocado and sprouts—c-l-i-c-k—prepared lovingly by Dana and Lee for our lunch in the mild air on the front porch.
Tomorrow— Back to the checklist, after a good night’s sleep…
Posted in Business, Community, Dana, Food, Friends | Comments Closed
Tuesday, February 27th, 2007
Last evening, just as I was preparing to depart for a key presentation to the Danville City Commission, Dana was coming up the stairs and hurt the knee she’s been carefully nursing for a month or more. It was weird to leave the house with her sitting on the floor, the painful joint bundled in ice packs.
In my remarks, I provided a formal introduction to B.I.K.E. | Boyle County and our organization’s purpose and priorities. This was the fourth meeting of the newly composed city government. My friends Bill S and Dave A followed, summarizing our infrastructure recommendations and the diverse benefits of creating a bicycle-friendly community. The Commission voted unanimously to approve the “Safe Routes to School” grant application that we developed in collaboration with the city manager. As we approach the first anniversary of our local group, it was a great milestone for our pro-cycling advocacy.
When I got home I realized that Dana’s injury had taken a turn for the worse, so we decided to listen to Hayley’s tournament game on the radio instead of traveling to Garrard County. The Lady Rebels crushed cross-town rival Danville, with our amazing Belle putting the game out of reach in the second quarter (after a slow start). She ended up scoring 25 points, with a strong free-throw percentage.
Dana is heading down to Campbellsville with Terie to see Jerome this morning, and I’m praying for the best diagnosis. Whatever happens, she’ll be dedicating herself to a natural recovery, and I’ll do everything I can to help out along the way.
Posted in Angst, Community, Dana, Family, Friends, Jerome, Prayer, Public Service, Sport | Comments Closed
Monday, February 12th, 2007
Sometimes these deadline experiences are like chuting down a pipeline—there’s no thought to doing anything but surrendering to the power of the flow, all the time hoping you make it to the end of the tunnel without a disaster. Mombo used to talk about when she was a kid, and they would play in a rain-swollen ditch, letting the water suck them into a storm-water culvert that ran under the street. Long ago that image got stuck in my mind when I realized I’d chosen a deadline-driven lifestyle. So, for what it’s worth, that’s what the suction of a deadline is like for me. (Her story also convinced me that my mother really was a tomboy, in case there’s any doubt about it.)
And, so I made it to the end of the latest chute today, presenting my study for a painting I’m developing to feature on this year’s poster for the Great American Brass Band Festival. The new executive director is delighted with my approach. The idea has a focus on the music makers. I want to illustrate the intensity of the performances with a montage composition. I don’t know why I always have to complicate things, rather than come up with a simple idea, other than the fact that “less is more” is easier said than done. I’m excited about the idea of including Vince prominently in the artwork. He’s always been the inspiration for much of my toil on behalf of the Festival.
Now, all I have to do is complete the final version by the end of the month without getting stuck in that darn storm pipe.
— A Mombonian Correction!
Posted in Art, Community, Creativity, Mombo, Music, Personalities, Time | Comments Closed
Tuesday, February 6th, 2007
Much is going on—my concept for the new Band Festival poster is at critical mass, I’m convening a cyclists’ meeting tonight to discuss our upcoming presentation before the City Commission, and the Medicine Woman is putting her moccasin firmly in the Graybeard Prospector’s hind end. That being said, I’m thinking about Seranus Victor Seitz, who turns 90 tomorrow.
My Uncle Si was born in the midst of the Great War, but the next time the entire world was back at war, he was more than old enough to sign up. Like Dadbo, he went into the USAAF and became a fly-boy. He named his fighter plane after his kid sister. Most of us learned about this only recently. Even Mombo had forgotten about it, and she was overcome with emotion when the fact resurfaced with an old photo. I think it has something to do with Uncle Si scrupulously avoiding any romantic entanglements before he shipped off. Apparently he didn’t expect to survive the combat that faced him. Neither did a lot of others, including the brass. These boys could “do no wrong,” because, hell, they probably wouldn’t make it back tomorrow anyway, so why give ’em a hard time? For example, when Uncle Si buzzed a control tower because some generals were up there and Uncle Luke was watching. I wouldn’t be surprised if that was one of the more tame episodes.
Uncle Si got to the skies of Europe as the Luftwaffe was fading into history. Air-to-air wasn’t the primary mission at that point in the war, so he provided ground support as a tank buster and dive bomber. But don’t be mistaken—the anti-aircraft defenses of a desperate Wehrmacht must have been pure wickedness. On top of that, Uncle Si said that every day he got into the cockpit, he might be sitting behind a new aircraft engine more powerful than the previous one he’d gotten used to. All he would know before takeoff was the numerical boost in horsepower. He told us once about the fine art of blasting a locomotive. The pilot needs to swoop elliptically at a low angle to avoid being caught above the massive steam explosion. You get the feeling he learned that by watching somebody else get it wrong, or perhaps he narrowly missed boiling himself like a lobster the first time he bombed a train. He tells stories like that without braggadocio, but you can always see the intensity in his eyes. Like most WWII vets, he doesn’t think of himself as a hero. In their minds, that word more properly describes all those pals that never returned. I guess you can’t differ with that kind of logic.
Uncle Si is known for inspiring a famous word in the Dixonary: Sicu. Basically it can be defined as a “lame excuse.” The original sicu was the time he said, “We’ll come down one of these weekends I take off.” It was no secret that Uncle Si might go months without taking a weekend off. It bummed us out to hear that, and so we were forced to bestow the dubious honor. Years later, when I was living in Dayton and my brother James was putting in long hours at AdMart, we laughed at my notion, “You’ll take off one of these weekends I come down.”
Uncle Si is one of those uncles that you love too much to ever tell him, and I know that doesn’t make any sense, but you just can’t tell a tough guy things like that because he’s made you tough, too, just because you’ve loved him. Like Mombo used to say, “Luke probably started the fight, and if Bob couldn’t talk them out of it, Si had to finish it.”
Eventually he helped finish the biggest one—over sixty years ago, up in the sky, above the devastated fatherland of his ancestors—but he came back home and made it to his tenth decade, with a sweetheart he didn’t think he’d ever get the chance to find.
God bless him!
Posted in Birthdays, Business, Community, Dadbo, Family, History, James, Mombo, Studio, Technology, Time, Words | Comments Closed
Friday, February 2nd, 2007
— Month of January workout totals: Swim-7; Bike-1; Run-3; Lift-1; Yoga-0
— It looks like Mother Nature took a chain-saw to Florida’s midsection overnight. I need to find out if any of the damaged areas are where we have family. I hope not. Here in Central Kentucky we have our first blanket of snow for 2007. No Rotary Club meeting today. The schedule is tied to Danville Schools, which are closed. I’m going to have to keep an eye on the weather for a few days. The national football holiday is coming up this weekend and that’s when we do our afternoon Super Bowl Sunday mountain-bike “ride around the block” in Forkland. Twenty miles, four knobs, and plenty of time to ponder our own sanity (or lack thereof). It looks to be slippery and a bit on the frigid side. The moment of truth comes after the first climb (Elk Cave Knob), and a rider must decide whether to opt for the 11-mile short route or go for the full deal. I’ve been known to go either direction, depending on how numb my sense of self-preservation has become at this point in the ride.
— For many years, my Clan had a tradition of gathering as a “planning committee” in January. It didn’t make sense in one way, because it was basically the same people who would ordinarily attend a regular Clan Council, but the mood was a bit more “visionary,” and that made it a special annual event. It started out as my idea and I’d always chair the meeting. Back in the 80s we’d sometimes hold it at the homes of various householders, rather than at the farm. This past Sunday we put that era behind us and moved forward into a new one that begins with Mombo’s Trust. Our desire for a more “corporate” structure with a solid legal foundation has been a long-standing family goal. It goes back to the formation of the Clan as we know it. It goes back to a time before the planning meeting. All things must change. Congratulations to the Clan, but let’s hope we can occasionally slip back into that old practice of sharing our dreams.
— There’s street smart, and then there’s street smart. It depends on which streets we’re talking about (right?), and when it comes to Josh, we’re talking about Baghdad. I inquired on Sunday about whether he’s heard anything about possible orders to return, but he just shook his head. He was recently out in Kansas, where he reportedly spent his days waging video war games from a comfortable hotel room. He’s also been asked to spend time with other soldiers on the eve of their overseas deployment, and if I know Josh, he won’t be sugarcoating what kind of attitude he thinks it takes to get the job done and make it home. I wonder at times to what degree our forces find it necessary to blur lines that the rest of us think are always morally hard-edged. I had a talk with Marty about Iraq not too long ago and I posed the question, “Does success in warfare require doing evil?” His reply: “GrandyJohn, that’s the whole point. We can’t. We’re Americans.” Damn good answer.
V & S
Posted in Community, Current Events, Exercise, Family, Friends, Josh, Marty, Mombo | Comments Closed
Saturday, January 27th, 2007
Today I spent a lot of time preparing my application for full membership in the “Layerists” society. Thinking so much about my artistic intentions and work process has my head spinning. Truthfully, it started to whirl yesterday after my friend Captain Zach gave an inspirational speech at Danville’s Rotary luncheon. We talked about making a trip to Dallas in April for the national conference, and I’m pretty sure I’ve convinced Jeannette and Ben to go with us. Zach had his first tour of their home, and that’s always a treat for anyone. So far, that makes at least ten of us locals “thinkin’ Texas.” Then, later in the afternoon, the Captain phoned to share his excitement about the latest development—the youth-group proposal on which he and his wife have worked so diligently (and to which I donated a logo design) has been selected by the Salvation Army leadership for nationwide implementation. Wow! Club 316 is suddenly very big! In other words, “It’s MAIN!”
Posted in Art, Community, Creativity, Education, Friends | Comments Closed
Tuesday, January 9th, 2007
— If you like Howard Pyle, N.C. Wyeth, and the “Golden Age of American Illustration,” Paul Giambarba has put together a smashing collection of biographical notes, artistic comments, and rarely seen images. I just love this handsome stuff, and tip my hat to anyone who would spend the personal time to compile such an extensive reference site.
— I grabbed a few moments of “mind time” in Harrodsburg while Dana got a haircut, thinking LJS would be a relatively quiet place at that time of day, but the music was a bit more electric-70s than I was expecting. I still haven’t given up on achieving a new level of organization, and it’s that time of year anyway. Business development remains priority one. Nevertheless, I find myself pulled continuously in a different direction with so many art deadlines and volunteer responsibilities demanding my attention. I have another milestone facing me within a week as part of my contractual obligation to the Band Festival as 2007 featured artist. And I must make steady progress on preparations for a one-man show in May at the Community Arts Center. If I don’t find a way to more successfully block out my time, there are some intense experiences that I won’t be able to avoid this year. One good new client would take much of the heat off our situation, and that has to be my focus, one way or another.
— We had a full house at the B.I.K.E. meeting tonight, including our newly sworn-in mayor. It was an important kick-off for the year, a discussion of our first major proposal to the city for infrastructure enhancements and repairs. If I didn’t have so many experienced community leaders at the table, I think I’d probably spin my wheels a lot, but they have a way of making sure I keep getting the traction we need (I don’t know if that pun was intentional or not).
— Dana and I continue to chip away at our three hours of P.J. O’Rourke on tape. He says he dislikes memoirs, and so I can only assume he’s never read the extraordinary Paul Watkins book, Stand Before Your God. He really doesn’t like bloggers either. According to him it’s like “what I did last summer” for adults, and he seems to detest the whole phenomenon. As far as this blog goes, it appears we have an every-other-day pattern of entries developing and that suits me fine. It’s half the level of blogging I was doing a year ago, arguably a more reasonable pace for my current situation. If you desire more than that, dear reader, all I can say it this: you must have way too much time on your hands.
V & S
Posted in Art, Blogging, Business, Community, Dana, Nonfiction, Personalities, Studio | Comments Closed
Saturday, September 9th, 2006
I went to the Leadership Boyle County reunion Thursday evening and I was the only member of the 1990-91 class that showed up; that seemed way too strange. Almost anybody that sees me anymore starts talking about bicycling. This has to be good, but I also remind myself that I don’t make a living that way. I’ve got to balance this out somehow.
So how did I spend my day? I finished writing up bicycle project suggestions for the new Leadership class (as requested), and then I joined a group that rode the 47-mile round trip to Forkland for the “Great Outhouse Blowout.” I won’t even try to describe that event, but it was actually much nicer than I was led to believe, and the live music was outstanding. We were trying to be clever and avoid the rain, but we were just lucky instead. Although we crossed patches of wet pavement, it never rained on us.
Hugh (my friend the mayoral candidate) was at the festival and he pulled me aside to say he wants to talk about the meeting I had with the Danville City Manager on Wednesday about B.I.K.E. Hugh showed up and sat in on the meeting, but I’m not sure what he has on his mind, so I’d better chat with him soon. The subject of the meeting at city hall was the downtown Streetscape Project. We were seeking the formal inclusion of B.I.K.E. in the planning process, but it seems we’re too late to hold an official “stakeholders” meeting with the consultant. We did learn that there will be two public meetings in October, so we’ll plan to show up in force to advocate for a design approach that is bicycle friendly. Much of our group’s effort is now taking place outside of meeting time, and we’ve decided to converge monthly instead of every two weeks, as we’ve been doing all summer. B.I.K.E. now has three committees coalescing to take on the top priorities that came out of our deliberations last month. Maybe this means I can delegate more and start to diminish the time I spend with this activity, but I doubt it. I just need to stay organized and be efficient when I’m thinking about it.
Posted in Community, Exercise, Friends, Music, Priorities, Public Service, Time | Comments Closed
Friday, September 1st, 2006
— Month of August workout totals: Swim-4; Bike-7; Run-1; Lift-2; Yoga-7
— I saw Sheldon at the gym again this morning, well into Brian’s strenuous workout. I’m convinced that Sheldon really wants to get in shape. If Brian was putting me through that routine, I’d be having a tough time of it, too. Sheldon is one of the best fine artists in this part of the United States, but that distinction doesn’t exempt him from his sedentary profession. Good for you, my friend. Health, wellness, and life extension are something we can all be pro-active about, and that’s the service Brian provides. He’s one of the most fit young men in this part of the United States. On Wednesday night he came flying by me and called out, “Hop on!” I was already pedaling hard, but took the challenge to catch his draft at nearly 30 miles per hour. I could only “suck wheel” for a couple hundred yards before I fell apart. Man… Now that’s cycling.
— The Breidenbach 50th Anniversary collage had been sitting on my art board all week, so I set myself to the task of completing it this afternoon. While she was making constructive comments, Dana accidently smeared some fresh ink. She felt terrible. All I could say was “Just leave the area.” I wasn’t sure what to do at first, but within several minutes I managed to clean and repair the damage—with no indication of anything having gone wrong. I flashed back thirty-two years, when I’d doctor the dates on European rail passes. Yes, I could’ve been a master forger… I might’ve even become a David Halifax!
— Hugh (my friend the mayoral candidate) stopped by while we relaxed on the front porch this evening to enjoy the most refreshing air we’ve had in quite some time. We got to talking about the Town House, and tapped his wealth of knowledge about the history of local real estate. Our home on West Broadway was built in the 20s by W.A. Walker for a railroad man named Arnold, who also had a twin dwelling constructed for his daughter on St. Mildred’s Court, close to campus. She married a Bush Nichols, whose brother, one of Danville’s only Republican mayors, lived in the house across the street from ours. The Arnold daughter died at a young age. The second wife and widow of Bush Nichols still resides in the Twin House today.
— We haven’t indulged much network TV in ages, but last night Dana and I found ourselves glued for 90 minutes. We watched three consecutive episodes of “The Office.” Actually, the term “glued” is not correct usage. This might be the funniest show since “Seinfeld.” If that’s the case, it’ll be impossible to ignore.
V & S
Posted in Art, Community, Dana, Death, Exercise, Family, Fiction, Friends, Home, Political Affairs, Television | Comments Closed
Wednesday, August 30th, 2006
We keep death close by—in our literature, art, news, and entertainment… perhaps most of all, in our humor. We tame it, sterilize it, and box it, so we can sprinkle it like black pepper for a bit of “zing” on the tongue each day. Death is like fire—interesting to watch in a fireplace, safe and familiar at the tip of a waxy stem, but when it decides to run its own course, it can be frightening and devastating, quickly rendering almost anything hideously unrecognizable. When it slips its leash, death’s bite is excruciating, and the pain lasts a very long time.
Martin joined the Wednesday bike ride tonight, and I heard myself utter the typically hollow words of sympathy. It seemed like I was watching myself do it; it was not much different than watching others do the same thing… mouths moving without any words reaching my ears. I found out more information than I really needed to know about his son’s tragic accident at Red River Gorge, but human nature has a perverse way of investigating details when a friend is mourning… God knows why.
Leave it to me to have made unwarranted assumptions about the circumstances, imagining a noble, athletic demise. Leave it to grim reality to assemble a colder, inexplicable scenario. This is how death operates outside of its package. This is what death is like on the other side of the illusory boundary we convince ourselves will contain it, for our insatiable fascination and amusement.
We can be such fools… and we know we are.
Posted in Angst, Community, Death, Friends, Psychology | Comments Closed
Thursday, August 24th, 2006
My picture appeared in the local newspaper again— front page, above the fold, and embarrassingly HUGE. My public image as a local cycling advocate is nearly out of control.
Posted in Community, Public Service | Comments Closed
Tuesday, August 22nd, 2006
After months of organizing, public relations, and preliminary activity,
the B.I.K.E. group
we started last spring sponsored a meeting in the community room at Inter-County Energy, opening the floor to any bicyclist who wanted to show up and suggest ideas, express concerns, or identify issues that need attention. In my remarks I said that our common objective is to find solutions that will enable the community to become more bicycle friendly. I thought we could declare some success in boosting participation in local cycling and increasing awareness of cycling as an emerging trend. I challenged those present to take the framework begun and to build a vision for a community where it is safe and enjoyable to ride a bicycle. Whether we take this groundwork and develop effective partnerships to make improvements happen depends on the interest, enthusiasm, and energy of the cycling community, because the imagination of the general public won’t be sparked unless they see those of us who ride bicycles take the lead to identify, promote, and work for beneficial projects.
Steve did an excellent job of facilitating the session, and out of it came three major and three minor priorities:
Major
• Public Awareness of Cycling Issues
• Bicycle Infrastructure Improvements
• Grant Applications and Project Funding
Minor
• “Share the Road” Promotion
• Safe Routes to School
• Cycling Events
It wasn’t a huge turnout. Many more people routinely show up for a Wednesday ride, but it was a quality group that will become a corps of activists. They took the time to be there and define the projects to which they are willing to devote their volunteer effort. They included a city commissioner who wants to promote cycling at a regional level and a Centre professor who wants to study the economic benefits of bicycle friendly enhancements.
It’s almost as if my flights of fancy from last December finally settled back to earth in front of me…
Posted in Community, Friends, Priorities, Public Service | Comments Closed
Sunday, August 13th, 2006
I gathered with friends at the cabin early for Shared Silence and Milton’s summary of what we’ve learned about Process Theology—how the language of religion and the language of science can be translated into a third, new language that integrates spiritual, philosophical, and metaphysical concepts with the most current understanding of quantum physics and string theory.
I lent a hand picking up litter and trash along our adopted highway, Chrisman Lane (Kentucky 1273). When I first started doing this I figured I was making up for the candy wrappers I tossed on the ground as a kid and the beer bottles I threw at speed limit signs after I turned 18. I don’t know how many garbage bags it took before I figured I’d balanced my karma. Now I do it in tribute to my friend Mack, who I miss every time I travel his favorite road, one of the prettiest in Boyle County.
After sending out an email notice to areas cyclists, I made the drive to Blue Bank Farm. I mowed the Clan graveyard, helped Jeffrey pick garden vegetables, and brought some apples down from the orchard for Mombo. When I got back home, Dana and I finished cleaning up the porch and front yard before munching down on fresh tomatoes.
God — Friends — Community — Family
When it comes to the important things, days probably don’t get much better than this.
Posted in Community, Dana, Family, Food, Friends, Home, Jeffrey, Mombo | Comments Closed
Saturday, August 12th, 2006
— David and Lee scheduled an appointment to look at a house on the 400 block of West Broadway, so we tagged along. I had a bad feeling about this. Californians bought the house last summer, and it seems as though they had more money than good sense. Workers and dumpsters suddenly vanished a few weeks ago. Our look through the property confirmed my worst suspicions. One of Danville’s finest historic homes had been hung up and gutted like Duke Brian in “Gorky Park.” Reportedly, the owner can’t be located. To add a ludicrous element to the whole thing, a daughter is now asking prospective buyers to pay an even higher price than her mother paid for it—a perfectly livable home that was stripped, raped, and left for dead.
— Analysts are predicting that the demand for refurbishing Web formats may soon overtake the need for new site designs. Prices for domain names are dropping, a clear indication that the market for original sites is slowing down. Some agencies and firms are staffing specialized divisions devoted to economical “creative makeovers.” Deep within his Sanctum of Fortitude, Website Makeover™ Man is contemplating his fate.
— Watched a copy of “Broken Trail” last night, which Terie taped for us (before our vacation with Marty), because we no longer pay for channels like AMC. It was interesting to study the similarities and differences in Duvall’s performance, compared to “Open Range,” along with the contrasting directorial styles brought to similar subject matter. And speaking of contrasts, the radically different character that Church personifies, versus his memorable Jack in “Sideways,” is worth the viewing. As much as I liked “Broken Trail,” and as much as I admired its aura of authenticity, the screenplay does suffer unfortunately from what I’ll refer to as presentism. For the most part, in my opinion, Costner managed to avoid presentism when he made “Open Range,”—an impressive personal achievement, quite frankly, since his indulgent first western reeked of it. Nevertheless, who doesn’t like the entertaining “Dances,” in spite of its PC tone?
V & S
Posted in Business, Community, Friends, History, Movies, Personalities, Technology, Television | Comments Closed
Friday, August 11th, 2006
I had a city commissioner, our tourism director, and the lead economic developer look to me to suggest some bicycle-pedestrian language for the Bluegrass Area Development District’s “Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy” document. Admittedly, had they done that last fall I might have totally freaked, but today I was able to come up with something in short order, essentially off the top of my head. Hmmm…
Posted in Community, Public Service | Comments Closed
Tuesday, August 8th, 2006
An important thing happened at my
B.I.K.E. meeting tonight. The people that showed up took the bull by the horns and put my idea of holding an open forum back on the table. The difference this time is that it’s going to be for bicyclists only, by invitation, and not promoted to the general public. An experienced facilitator agreed to moderate the event. The consensus was that it’s time to put our organizational framework in front of the cycling community and see what they want to do with it.
I think that many who were there felt a bit uneasy about moving things sharply away from my proposed agenda items, but I was pleased with the development. My goal all along was just to provide enough leadership to get a team of volunteers moving forward with their own defined priorities.
Posted in Community, Friends, Public Service | Comments Closed
Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006
Tonight we had over 30 cyclists show up for our ride from downtown Danville, a new record. Most of us would agree that it has a lot to do with the outstanding bicycle coverage provided this year by the Advocate Messenger.
B.I.K.E. has had a goal of boosting participation in regular group rides. A turnout like we had this evening causes us to intensify our focus on safety. Another priority for us is to increase awareness of the “Share the Road” attitude. I’m hoping that our advocacy organization can work my connections at the newspaper to develop a story idea that better explains the issue of motorists and cyclists coexisting on local streets and highways.
Posted in Community, Exercise, Priorities, Public Service | Comments Closed
Friday, July 28th, 2006
It might have been one of those ideal days, had I not left up in the air my potential plans to attend a rifle match with David. Eventually the uncertainties seemed to resolve themselves by default, and I was able to focus my creative attention on preparing artwork for the Layerist exhibition scheduled this autumn in Lexington. At lunch there was an enjoyable Rotary program with bright, bubbly representatives from the “graduating” GSP class. Tonight we had a delightful dinner with Joan—lamb chops, sweet corn, plus Fron’s tomatoes with basil and cheese. To that we added red wine, soy yogurt over mixed berries, and good conversation about how our families ate when we were all kids.
Posted in Angst, Art, Community, Education, Family, Food, Friends, Joan, Wine | Comments Closed
Wednesday, June 21st, 2006
The pro-cycling community action group I helped organize raised its profile with a front-page story in Danville’s Advocate Messenger. In the print edition they used a quotation box with my cropped face. Dana thinks the expression looks “sour.” It wasn’t something over which I had much control, but I probably need to learn to smile more.
Most of what’s happening to make Kentucky more bicycle friendly is gaining momentum in the major metropolitan areas. It’s driven by municipal leaders and professional coordinators. That’s not true elsewhere in the state, and there needs to be a mechanism for harnessing the enthusiasm of local volunteers to promote shared byways and stimulate the planning, funding, and creation of bikeways, bike lanes, and multi-use trails.
B.I.K.E. | Boyle County may prove to be an effective model for smaller population centers and rural counties, but first we need to achieve something significant here at home.
Posted in Community, Dana, Public Service | Comments Closed
Friday, June 16th, 2006
Rotary Club was unusually interesting today. I was called upon to make an spontaneous appeal in support of The Salvation Army Summer Camp program. Then we heard from a hometown gal who’s taking Pioneer Playhouse by storm this summer, and that got me thinking about my young chum Andrew. Holly Henson, daughter of the Playhouse founder, gave her pitch about next year’s Raintree County 50th Anniversary Festival. She made us realize that in 1956, it was the most expensive domestic motion picture ever made, and that 40% of it was shot in and around Danville/Boyle County. She made what I thought was an amusing remark— “What if 50 years later everyone had forgotten that the movie Titanic was filmed at Herrington Lake?” Later in the afternoon, I had coffee with a rookie staff writer for the local newspaper to promote the “Share the Road Rally” in Frankfort next Saturday. I’m also in the process of raising the profile of the bicycling advocacy group that a few of us local cyclists have organized this year. We have some lofty goals, and decided it was time to “go public.” We’re committed to a long-term effort and agree it’s too late to put on the brakes now. We’ll press on and see what happens. After that, Dana and I cruised to Lexington for the Gallery Hop, grabbed dinner and a glass of wine at Alfalfa’s downtown eatery, and settled in for an Altman picture at the State Theatre. What a day!
Posted in Art, Community, Dana, Food, Friends, Movies, Personalities, Public Service, Theatre, Wine | Comments Closed
Sunday, June 11th, 2006
It was our 17th Great American Brass Band Festival, and maybe the best yet for us. It will certainly be one of the most memorable.
— This year I composed the second poster in a commemorative series which will continue to highlight local artists, working closely with Phnomphone “Paul” Sirimongkhon, a popular painter in town. He’s a native of Laos and a graduate of Berea College. He works for Centre College as a graphic artist. I designed the souvenir pin and t-shirt with images derived from his featured artwork. The pin sold out halfway through the Festival, which has never happened before. The shirts, produced at the 10th Planet, sold well, too. (Oh yes… I found out that I’m to be the Featured Artist in 2007, so I get to play with myself—I mean, collaborate with myself.)
— We had a double table at last night’s picnic celebration, and our theme was a fitting tribute to South African guests Roger and Marcia Ingel, visiting from Durban. A maximum effort was made by all, including Janet and Jerome, and (sonofagun!) we earned the table competition’s “Best of Show.” I don’t think the picture does justice to how cool an impression it made, to tell the truth. Guess you had to be there. There were so many ingredients to the overall effect— the flowers, the place settings, the decorations, the food, the wardrobe, the signage. I created the graphics, and I hope it was an effective promotion for Dixon Design. In any case, although I was resistant at first to the idea of going all the way with our preparations, it turned out to be a lot of fun. I suppose we just love this aspect of the Festival as much as any.
Posted in Art, Community, Family, Food, Friends, Studio | Comments Closed
Saturday, June 10th, 2006
• It looks like the GBP has temporarily usurped my persona, and he won’t release his hold until the studio situation has returned to normal (whatever that is). He chipped away with his hammer at the Gallery Hop (non-Stop) in downtown Danville last night. No opportunity was missed, commencing with the Band Festival sponsor reception, held at Central Kentucky Federal Savings Bank. As he earnestly panned for gold dust with a representative of the new aircraft brakes manufacturer in town, his Woman was across the lobby, working her Medicine with the executive’s wife.
With this kind of team effort, something is bound to give, wouldn’t you say?
… graybeard prospector …
Posted in Business, Community, Priorities, Studio | Comments Closed
