One of the things I like best about cities in this country is the amount of public art like this mural in New York City. It’s by Japanese street artist Dragon76. Located near the Oculus at the World Trade Center, it is a show stopper.
The colors are vibrant and it looks like the horse could leap right off the wall. I found it inspiring and I marveled at the idea someone could create such a magnificent larger-than-life thing.
Go look for art, friends. It will brighten your day!
Location is everything according to this fabulous sign at the Mecca Motel in Colorado Springs. The motel dates to 1930 when its traditional motor court design was popular with a growing group of tourists who had automobiles and leisure time,
The sign, though, is classic mid-century. My only regret is that I had to snap this picture from the car while snow swirled around us on a very gray morning. I would love to see it on a blue sky day.
But you get the gist. Ain’t she a beaut?
In case you’re in the market, you can still stay at the Mecca. Book your room or get more info here.
The Cincinnati Art Museum is one of my favorite places to roam. There’s always something to discover and plenty of beauty for the grand total of zero dollars admission.
There’s one room with an enormous wooden bench where I sometimes sit to just appreciate the space. Truth is, that bench is my favorite thing in that room but I never really thought about it’s origins. In that room, my fella especially enjoys a painting called Alexander the Great and the Fates by the Italian Baroque artist Bernadino Mei. It’s a compelling work of art where two of the three Fates who control the tread of life spin and measure Alexander’s life thread. The third goddess grapples with Alexander, preparing to cut the thread and end his life. There’s much more to it than that and I always see something new.
I usually go in and plop down on that big bench. It’s a great place to rest a moment and appreciate Alexander the Great before continuing on through the maze of galleries. On our last visit, I noticed there’s a card on the end of that bench. It reads “Palace Bench, Florence Italy, 15th Century, Walnut, Museum Purchase 1953.156, PLEASE SIT.”
Holy cow. How many times have I sat here without knowing that it’s more than just a pretty bench?
How many people have sat on this bench to pray, to mourn or to celebrate? How many museum goers have, like me, wandered through without noticing that we were sitting on a piece of history?
Here’s my advice for today. Don’t be afraid to look around and to admire things in a museum. Stand in one spot and just take in your surroundings. Study the painting you don’t understand. If you think it’s interesting, Google it while you stand there so you can understand what’s happening. Pay attention to the things that no one else looks at. Read the card discreetly placed on the thing everyone sits on.
There’s usually a story!
One of the things that surprised me most about the Buffalo Bill Center of the West is the vast array of items they have on display. They have so many interesting things that it’s difficult to know where to start but the thing that surprised me most was their collection of pop art.
To be clear, pop art isn’t what I would call my thing but there’s a lot to be said for the talent and creativity that goes into this style and I want to show you some of my favorite pieces from.an exhibit called Pop Goes The West.
First there’s this oil painting called Fall Scene which Robert Seabeck created in 1979. It shows a red Ford truck pulling a blue and white travel trailer in a scene that is absolutely striking. The artist called it a contemporary representation of the covered wagons that early pioneers used to access the American West. It is as fresh and relevant today as it must have been almost fifty years ago.
I also liked this one called Fool’s Gold by Rachel Mosely. The man, in traditional western garb, looks like he could step off the canvas and launch into a story about the stick horse that he’s holding. I don’t know if it was intentional but this 2020 piece reminds me of James Dean’s character Jett Rink in the movie Giant.
Then there was this piece from Jane Deschner’s Silhouette Series that’s a collage of vintage photos. She uses snapshots of strangers to tell stories that explore our shared human experience. I found this one especially interesting because these snapshots remind me of the ones I collect. Old black and white photos are easily found in junk shops and antique stores, long abandoned by descendents of their subjects. She has hand stitched these photos together, a symbolic reminder of how we are all connected by the human experience.
Here’s a closer look.
I perhaps liked this one best of all.
So, the next time you’re about to go marching by something because it’s not your thing, I urge you to stop for a quick look and maybe you’ll see something that makes you want to linger.
Learn more about this museum here.
One of my favorite contemporary writers is a southerner named Sean Dietrich. He also uses the moniker Sean of the South for his blog and a one man show he performs all over the United States. He uses music and humor to make folks feel good.
But he’s more than a southerner and more than a writer or a musician. He’s a storyteller whose message and everyman themes stretch across geography, generations, denominations and all the other imaginary lines we humans like to draw around ourselves.
My gateway into his work was this video where he talks about a kind librarian and the difference she made in his life. Go watch it and come back. I’ll wait. It is lovely, heartfelt and worth your time.
Because of this video I discovered his daily essays and podcasts before finally reading one of his books and then another and another. I have not read everything he’s written but I’m working on it because his writing inevitably makes me feel better about the world.
Searn writes about people who are kind or who are doing something good in this world. He writes about his dog Thelma Lou and about how church ladies run the show. He writes about his own origin story which he justifiably still wrestles to understand.
He writes stories that prove there are still good people in this world. What he doesn’t write about is politics, religion or anything else that might divide us. His writing is a study in seeking out the good, looking out for one another, and in creating the family you need or, maybe, that needs us.
He’s a modern day Mark Twain and is said to be the south’s answer to Garrison Keillor. He’s a man of profound words and many talents with a sense of humor that ranges from smartly witty to canned corn. And for someone who regularly stands in the circle of a spotlight, he seems a humble man too.
My fella and I built a long weekend of books and fun around seeing the Sean of the South stage show in Cincinnati earlier this month. I’m a fan of the advice to never meet your heroes because too often we find that talented humans are still just human. They’re never as good as we hope.
I’m thrilled to say that Sean Dietrich was exactly what I thought he would be and more.
Sean performed in Ohio for the first time as what must have been a sold out audience welcomed him to the 20th Century Theater. His wife Jaime meets and greets folks at the merchandise table where you can buy books, shirts, and music cds.
His stage show is a fun medley of storytelling and music. He tells jokes and funny stories using music sometimes as vehicles for the stories and sometimes like props. It’s a high energy show with few lulls and no time to get bored. Sure, there were some men in the audience who clearly were there because their wives demanded it but the rest of us were thrilled to spend a couple of hours with his wit and melodies.
When it was over, Sean Dietrich stood by the front door and greeted every person in line. He signed books, hugged people, posed for pictures and talked with folks. We had second row seats so we were near the end of the line and waited about an hour to have our turn. Friends, there are few people on this planet I would stand in that kind of line to meet but I was so grateful for the opportunity. We accepted hugs even though I’m not a hugger but it’s sort of a when in Rome moment. He signed my books. Best of all, he answered my question about writing in a way that was so gracious and kind I was actually surprised at how much thought he put into it.
I thanked him for his daily essays, a bright spot on social media which feels more like a cesspool sometimes than a place to find inspiration and light. I told him to be careful going home and he told us to watch out for deer. We rural folks like to remind everyone of the ever lurking dangers of deer in the road.
It was like chatting with an old friend.
In fact, everything he puts out in the world feels like a chat with an old friend and that’s something we badly need these days. We need someone in our life who will remind us there’s still good in this world despite what the algorithm shows us. We need talent and creativity and someone to inspire us to be kind to a stranger, to share a funny story or to flex our creative muscle even if it’s just for ourselves.
By the way, his father committed suicide when he was only eleven years old. While this horrific event helped to shape him into the person he is today, it didn’t break him and I don’t believe it defines him either. If a child can survive something so terrible, it seems like the rest of us will be ok too.
Read his books. Follow him on Facebook for daily essays. Listen to the podcast. Go see the show. You won’t be disappointed. Get started at his website.