debbie sterling, goldieblox + catapults

My daughter is the kind of girl who loves math and science. She loves building things with Legos, Lincoln Logs, Tinkertoys, and anything she can find in the recycling bin. When I heard about GoldieBlox, the engineering toy for girls, I ordered one immediately. She asked to watch the Kickstarter video over and over, and when it finally arrived, she loved it.

My daughter is the kind of girl who gets things pretty quick. The downside is that when she has to work hard for something, she sometimes gives up too easily. When I found this TedX talk, I knew I wanted to show it to her. I thought maybe she’d be more receptive to the “don’t give up” message if she heard it from the woman who invented one of her favorite toys.

My daughter isn’t the kind of girl who will sit still for a 17 minute video. I was surprised that — except for one quick break to grab her GoldieBlox toy — she watched the whole thing. Watching her was amazing.

My daughter’s eyes lit up as soon as Sterling talked about engineers being creative and artistic. I could see the wheels turning in her head when Sterling talked about inventing and designing things. “Mama, what’s a catapult?”

When I tried to talk to her afterward about the “work hard” message, she was already tuning me out. I’m pretty sure she was wondering how to get her hands on a soda bottle, string, paperclips and foam core.

I hope Bright Lights has a summer camp for ME101.

GoldiBlox website. GoldiBlox Kickstarter.

alice munro: busy mom and short story writer

‘I’m probably not going to write anymore.”

A few months ago I read an article about Alice Munro’s retirement and decided I should read more of her short stories. One of my favorite books of all time is Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and was given to me by a dear friend. As is usual with me, I got distracted by other books sitting on the shelf at the library.

Then another article popped into my news feed, this time about Munro winning the Nobel prize in literature. Did you know
-she is only the 13th woman to win the award?
-her first short story was published when she was 37?
-her writing was squeezed in during the time her children were napping?

“In twenty years I’ve never had a day when I didn’t have to think about someone else’s needs. And this means the writing has to be fitted around it.”

Munro the person is as interesting as her characters. This time I’ve pulled her book from my shelf to reread. I’ve also put a few books on hold at the library. I wonder if winning this prize will tempt her out of retirement?

Are you a Munro fan? Which of her stories are your favorite?

Three articles that may convince you to pick up one of her books, as well:
Alice Munro Puts Down Her Pen to Let the World In
Alice Munro, ‘Master’ Of The Short Story, Wins Literature Nobel
Alice Munro, Cinderella Story

pascal dangin: the man who makes everyone beautiful

I have a love-hate relationship with photo retouching. I think those who do it well are amazing artists, especially those who work on people. Skin and body proportions are so easy to screw up — and so terribly obvious when wrong. At the same time, I’m not comfortable with the retouched reality in which we live. It’s redefined our definition of beautiful and is used to sell us products that “help us” get closer to an ideal that doesn’t really exist.

Pascal Dangin is one of those artists who amazes me with his talent and frustrates me with his work. The New Yorker did a piece on him in 2008 that I happened to stumble upon while researching Dove’s Real Beauty ad.

I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked. “But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.”

See, right there? Both sides of me are conflicted by just one sentence.

People in his industry describe him as “sort of photo whisperer, able to coax possibilities, palettes, and shadings out of pictures that even the [photographer] who shot them may not have imagined possible…he is a translator, an interpreter, a conductor, a ballet dancer articulating choreographed steps.”

I’ve done plenty of photo retouching in my career and know how hard it is to get right. I am definitely better with things than people, but no one has every compared my work to the grace of a dancer. Maybe that’s why I look at what Dangin does with such awe. He’s just that good. Maybe he’s too good.

The article is a fascinating read on Dangin’s life, work, and style. It describes his creative space and process, as well. Pixel Perfect: Pascal Dangin’s virtual reality.

cool sandwich bag art

Graphic designer and illustrator David LaFerriere kick starts his creative juices in the morning by drawing on his kids’ lunch bags. This makes me wish we didn’t use bento boxes and fabric snack bags.

Full article here. LaFerriere’s flickr page is here. He’s drawn over five years worth of bags!