In posts and emails, I shared the questions fueling Improvised Life’s new architecture and many changes. Among the deeply affirming messages I received from readers, the most interesting was from long-time contributor Susan Dworski. She wrote of the contagious aspect of this sea change.
Read MoreWhen Not Kondo-ing Pays Off (Louise Bourgeois, Susan Dworski, Italo Calvino)
There are many reasons not to follow Marie Kondo’s mission to declutter. Witness this report from Susan Dworski, with Louise Bourgeois and Italo Calvino…
Read More‘When one window closes, another opens’ (Kay Ryan +Susan Dworski)
From an island farm in the Pacific Northwest, Susan Dworski relates her post election strategies and one small miracle, with poem.
Read MoreSnow as Transformation, via Mary Oliver + Susan Dworski
Watching the evening news and the huge white swirl bearing down on the Eastern seaboard, we inhabitants of the West coast’s eternal green dream of the joy of a new snowfall and the ways it can reconfigure our lives.
Read MoreWays to Honor The Mother Trees (Susan Simard, W.S. Merwin)
We have marveled at Susan Simard since we realized she was the model for the fearless, hermetic tree botanist in Richard Price’s wondrous tree-centric novel The Overstory. Her new book Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Ancient Wisdom of the Forest about the intricate underground communication network trees create and depend upon got us thinking about the perfect gift, for Mother’s day or otherwise.
Read MoreSiloing on the Island of Creativity (S.B. Dworski)
S.B. Dworski reflects on the nature of being “siloed”, which most of the world is grappling with, and a new way to think about it.
Read MoreS.B. Dworski on Escape, Noodles, Ecstasy
Fueled by a quarantine fantasy of hiking the Appalachian Trail, S.B. Dworski’s path took her into unexpected territory…
Read MoreS.B. Dworski Ponders “Sonder”
Frequent contributor S.B. Dworski dives into John Koenig’s deeply beautiful concept, Sonder, which has poignant resonance today.
Read Moresimon beck’s snow art + dworski on why we improvise
As a spring snow storm sweeps through the midwest, it seems fitting to post these wondrous snow paintings by artist Simon Beck along the frozen lakes of Savoie, France. He creates the beautiful geometric patterns, some as large as 3 soccer fields, by plodding through the snow in snowshoes for hours at a time. How long the…
Read MoreYour Wisdom App + Clint Eastwood on How Not to Get Old
Frequent contributor Susan Dworski threw this compelling video over my transom, accompanied by her thoughts about the apps she’s been seeing lately selling all manner of salvation. She asks a big question and points to a surprising path…
Read MoreKarl Lagerfeld’s Inspired Ideas
The legendary designer Karl Lagerfeld had an immense talent and sensibility. Our friend Susan Dworski sent us this picture of him at his extraordinarily messy desk, which as with other these other views of his home, provides unexpected inspiration and…permission
Read MoreInstructions from Mary Oliver
Recently, we received an email from Susan Dworski, artist, writer and frequent contributor to Improvised Life. It’s subject line read, simply “Instructions”
Read MoreA Spider’s Lessons about Loss, Resilience and Pressing On, Regardless
In shock after the loss of a beloved tree, Susan Dworski found herself watching a spider at work on her web. It cast her loss in a different light altogether, and yielded an unexpected shift of view.
Read MoreEdward Gorey on the Unexpected in Creative Projects + Morning Mantra
When Susan Dworski sent us this hunk of Edward Gorey brilliance, she also shared her own morning mantra.
Read MoreA Cheap Chic Black Bag to Rival Ikea’s and Balenciaga’s Tote
After the designers at fashion house Balanciaga knocked off Ikea’s iconic big blue 99-cent tote (in leather for $2,145), frequent contributor Susan Dworski jumped into the fray with a chic, cheap black bag that we hacked to perfection.
Read MoreBeing Okay with Not Knowing Where You’re Going
We know a lot of people who are in big changes in their lives. Susan Dworski recently reminded us of a poem that contains simple wisdom about the very complex subject of becoming.
Read MoreOde to Eggs (Let Me Count the Ways…)
Although a lot of people complain about the price of eggs, we think they are a bargain. One or two can still make a mighty meal for under two bucks. And there are ENDLESS ways to cook treat them. To spark egg possibility-thinking, we reprise our edit of Renee Schettler Rossi’s “All Hail the Mighty Egg” that appeared in in Leite’s Culinaria some years ago: inspired ideas fueled by memory, passion and hunger.
Read MoreGeorge Booth, Chronicler of Our Sublime and Oddball Life
When a friend sent us news that legendary New Yorker cartoonist George Booth had died, we realized that his work has provided joy, comfort, and uplift throughout our entire adult life. In a single drawing, he managed to convey the wild complexity of ordinary lives through the simplest of details, embedded with a deeply life-affirming message.
Read MoreDavid McCullough’s Essential Advice About Writing + the Virtues of Analog
When brilliant chronicler of American history David McCullough died recently, two people sent me excerpts from obituaries, so apt was his wisdom for Improvised Life. Here’s his brilliant advice for becoming a good storyteller and why he used a 1940 typewriter to write his award-winning books.
Read MoreOur Hands Surprise Our Head (Francis of Assisi, Tessa Traeger, Bertjan Pot)
A fragment from St. Francis of Assisi got us thinking about hands in a new way. Into our head flew images from photographer Tessa Traeger’s moving series, Voices of the Vivarais, of working people in the ancient province in south-east France. and a video about Dutch designer Bertjan Pot.
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