Happy, & Sweet (but not too much!)

bink & I took the Girlette crew to an apple orchard near Northfield, MN, for their annual Rosh Hashanah apples & honey.

We stopped at a bakery in Northfield, MN, where I was surprised to see challah because I usually only see it on Fridays. (not that I see it often--usually only if I go to Honey & Rye Bakery).

But, "Oh, yeah, it's a holiday," I said as I ordered a loaf.

"A challah-day," the baker said, and we both laughed.

(They are wearing their summer dresses
because it's still quite warm during the day.
But Pensive Bear has put on a striped shirt
because she is "sensitive to cold"--
even though she's from Russia! (handmade by Olga)
___________

Thanks, all of you who've answered my question so far about my recent print. I got some "likes" on FB and IG, but no one answered my question. Blogging remains the best.

Re 32-oz. "Big Gulps"--they are famous partly because of the Big Gulp Ban--a popular name for the attempt in 2012 by New York City mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to ban sales of jumbo portions of soda. It...

"...ignited a global debate over soda consumption.
It also prompted panic among powerful beverage companies, who feared that their products could be widely branded as a threat to public health."   --NYT, 6/27/2014

Also...

"Mayor Bloomberg says that if New Yorkers want to kill themselves with sugar — that's their right.

He was responding to a small protest rally against a ban on big sodas on a sidewalk near City Hall Park — dubbed The Million Big Gulp March."  [--New York (AP)]

The ban was repealed by the courts.
_______________________

"One drop of honey lasts a doll a whole year," commented Frankcolumbo, doll, pictured below dipping a slice of apple in a spoonful of honey.

Oh, that's one of Joanne's handwoven towels--now sticky with honey.

Can you tell…?

Asking for honest feedback, if you would be so kind:

Does this (my latest linoleum-cut print) read? Can you tell what the pink says, and what it references?

Also,  I’ve already talked about it here, so maybe you get the reference – – do you think you would get it if I hadn’t said?

I’m pleased with it but have no idea if it conveys any meaning, or what that would be.

Thanks, ya’ll!

What are we so thirsty for?

I'd left my "Just Do It Badly" tiny prints around in public a couple days ago--mostly tucked in signs outside, but here on a magnets-for-sale board in a fancy grocery store:

I didn't linger. Only when I got home did I register the magnet "Consider everything an experiment".
They don't give credit, and anyone could say that, but pish-tosh, that's Corita Kent!
Rule Four of her Ten Rules. (I'd posted about Kent just yesterday. She's always inspired me.)

Kent, then Sister Mary Corita, created these in the early 1960s in collaboration with her art students at Imaculate Heart College. Calligrapher David Mekelburg lettered the words, and they hung in Corita's classroom.

You can find these at Design Manifestos, and many more suchlike. (But not Bread & Puppets'--see end of post.)

THE ONLY RULE IS WORK

This is what I've slowly, s l o w l y discovered in life.
Do your work. I wrote "Do It Badly" because I find that encouraging--it gives me permission to DO IT; but the point is, really, hopes and fears of good-or-bad results can limit you (me) before you (we) even start.

It's not that those aren't real categories--obviously we consider some of our work pleasing, or rubbish-- but those judgments are for later (if at all).

A couple people let me know they couldn't read my print "just do it badly". That could even be a good thing? I suceeded in doing it badly!
Naw--the point is, I did it, and that's me learning how to do it.

Marz wrote,
"I like it!! It's barely legible which is why I like it!
Looks like symbols but legible! "

Today I am starting work on a BiG Gulp print (inspired by seeing 32-oz. Big Gulp cups all over the druggy alley near Marz's apartment).
Maybe there will be more than one? It will say something like,

"What are you you so thirsty for?"
printed in black on top of a bright "32 oz."

And/or...

Take a BIG GULP of Life Abundant
(and the pursuit of happiness)

 

I seem to be on a role of cheerleading myself! I feel that it's related to aging---break free of crusty old habits.

Heh, that reminds me--I've stumbled onto "oddly satisfying cleaning" videos... Some of them are disturbing (especially the ones of mental illness manifested in people's beyone-dirty homes), but I LOVE the ones of people cleaning up yards. Cutting down years of ivy, for instance, that has smothered all other growing things.

"Blow away the dreams that tear you apart.
Blow away the dreams that break your heart.
Blow away the lies that leave you nothing but lost and brokenhearted."
Bruce Springsteen, ya know. Here, performing "The Promised Land" in Paris 1985.

At the very end, Bruce says,
"You're responsible for the shameful things
and the glorious things
that happen under your flag."

Along with Corita Kent's, I was also inspired by Bread & Puppet's "Why Cheap Art?" Manifesto:  

Rosh Hashanah: for a sweet new year, with justice for all

The radiators are on this morning for the first time this season. The day is due to warm up to 80º F (26ºC), but it's getting cold overnight.
I was going to take the bus up to see Marz, but she's so busy with work and school, I'd mostly be on my own...
I'd love to see her, but I decided to stay home and  job hunt make linoleum prints (yay!).

It's Rosh Hashanah this evening--the girlettes want to dip apples in honey, as they usually do, "for a good and sweet year".
I'm Catholic (Unaffiliated: here for the toys), not Jewish, but always felt a strong cousin connection. The girlettes celebrate all the fun holidays, especially those that involve fire and food. They don't know about politics but say war is bad because "it damages toys".

I found this poster from European Jews for Palestine (EJP): "Jewish New Year: Free Palestine"--for an event at the European Union parliament in Brussels.
In the United States, Jewish Voices for Peace held a Virtual Seder For All:

"As we approach one year of genocide, grief, rage, and action, we take the opportunity to recalibrate with the Jewish new year, recommitting to our political and spiritual calling to build Judaism beyond Zionism and combat despair with hope, and renewing our resolve to end the genocide of Palestinians."

There's also Christians for a Free Palestine:

"Because Christian Zionism drives U.S. support for this genocide, Christians have a responsibility to use our voices as powerfully as possible for the cause of peace and justice."

As Bruce Springsteen said, "You're responsible for the shameful things and the glorious things that happen under your flag."

October: The concept of a plan...

I intended to start serious job hunting in October.
It is October.
Am I starting?
Well, . . . I have a serious CONCEPT of a plan to start.

But this morning, I must start planning my BIG GULP print.
I was thinking of doing something like printmaker (Sister Mary–) Corita Kent did with ads. (She's one of my all-time favorites.)
"Take a big gulp of life" or something.

1964, using a slogan from Del Monte tomato sauce:
"Mary Mother is the juiciest tomato of them all."

Below, not derived from advertising that I know of (though it does look like her prints riffing on Wonder Bread ads), from 1967. Still needed, all over the world.
Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan...