I must have been eight or so when my father took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City to give me a seminal lesson about art that resonates more than ever.
Read MoreWe Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day, with a Navajo Blessing
A number of cities now observe Columbus Day as Indigenous Peoples Day, in honor of the people who inhabited America before Columbus. We’re mindful of them both, while turning to this Navajo blessing to celebrate a new day.
Read MoreWeekend Playlist: 4 Decades of Bob Dylan (and What Was Happening in the World)
Our favorite thing to do is work on projects while listening to music. We plan to do a lot of it this long Columbus day weekend accompanied by a chronological playlist with four decades of Bob Dylan’s music (along with a timeline of what was going on in the world).
Read MoreDebra Rapoport’s Powerful 111-Word Philosophy of Living
We haven’t got a thing to add to artist Debra Rapoport’s perfect, powerful 111-word philosophy of living (except to make a big loud sign out of part of it):
Read MoreLittle Inventors Take the Power of Imagination Seriously and See Where It Leads
Designer/imagineer Dominic Wilcox applies a unique philosophy to encourage kid’s to invent things. Grownups can use it to spark their creativity.
Read MoreA Lost Computer’s Lesson in YES
When her laptop got marooned for a week in Grand Central Station’s Lost Luggage Department, book editor and writer Harriet Bell discovered what it is like to live without it.
Read MoreGratitude To The Unknown Instructors
A poem found at random got us thinking about all the teachers we’ve had who never called themselves that, or even thought of themselves that way…
Read MoreScraps, Wilt & Leaves: Sublime Trash Cooking with a Michelin Chef
I am inspired and smitten with Scraps, Wilt & Weeds: Turning Wasted Food into Plenty. Michelin star chef Mads Refslund weaves a powerful philosophy of ecology into his cooking that has led him to create gorgeous, do-able dishes out of the foods we routinely throw in the trash.
Read MoreHow You Can Help Puerto Rico + Defy Indifference
A week after Hurricane Maria left 3.4 Americans without power, cell service and running water, our government’s slow response has been stunning. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t ways you can help, tangibly.
Read MoreGuggenheim’s Clever Baltic Birch Tables and Chairs
While wandering through the Guggenheim Museum, we stumbled on its cafe with Bauhausian tables and chairs made from Baltic Birch, one of our favorite materials. The stylish simple furniture would be easy to make ourselves.
Read MoreA Practice of Letting Go of Obsessive Thoughts You Can Do Anywhere (John Cage + Huang Po)
There are twenty-one post-it notes in my copy of Where the Heart Beats: John Cage, Zen Buddhism, and the Inner Life of Artists: each an illuminating and useful tool. Here is a favorite.
Read MorePat Steir’s Artful Collaboration with Chance and Gravity
This 2-minute film is a lovely entree into artist Pat Steir’s beautiful work and very unique process, which is all about giving up control.
Read MoreListening to Scents, Falling Asleep to Their Descriptions, Laughing
Deciphering the fragrance notes in the perfume samples I order from Twisted Lily is akin to listening with every sense. It is incredibly fun, as is reading their dreamy descriptions, and the New Yorker’s brilliant riff.
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Glass Walled Bathroom in a Bedroom
Were we not in the real world, this glass enclosed bathroom might seem lovely and airy. But its ‘reality sandwiches’ are daunting.
Read MoreHi/Low: Round Porthole Mirrors for a Haiku-like View
You have only to search MIRROR on Improvised Life to find evidence of an obsession. Not to look at one’s self. But to angle them in such a way as to SEE a bigger view. Take these port-hole mirrors, for example…and Basho’s haiku…
Read MoreHow to Unhook from Email Paranoia
Thought Catalog’s 10 Ways You’re Making Your Life Harder Than It Has Top Be did a great job of identifying some really common disruptive thought patterns I share with about a million other people. One in particular really hit home.
Read MoreJohn Ashbery’s Internal Tailoring
Before he died poet John Ashbery compared his work to tailoring, and told why a poem, like clothing, needs to be “slightly off”.
Read MoreEssential: The Art Filled View from Cassini (You Really Need This)
I was pretty oblivious to the absolute marvel of Cassini until I saw this curiously moving video. Its story and the astonishing images and data it recorded will splash your day full of wonder
Read MoreApparel for Living: Roz Chast’s Survivalist Cargo Pajamas
We totally relate to this perfect Roz Chast cartoon in this week’s New Yorker.
Read MoreAnnals of Bad Design: Fitting Room Mirror Stenciled with Busy Signage
How nice to have a sign in a fitting room that says: If you don’t find what you are looking for, we can order it online. UNLESS that sign is printed in bold right in the center of the mirror you’re trying to see yourself in.. That is what I found at Zara, a store…
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