Last winter I painted a vase and a large mug at Color Me Mine, for my sister Marie & brother-in-law Preston.
I thought the vase and mug turned out very well, and Marie & Preston seemed well pleased with them.
Leslie and I have been going to the Color Me Mine studio in south Jersey about once a year for some years now. I have a vase of my own, and 2 mugs, one which I still drink from, and another I've been using as a pencil cup.
partially painted magnets
I found out that there's another studio like this (though not a Color Me Mine), where you can paint pottery, in Clarks Summit, but I've not yet gone there.
In May I started painting wooden watermelons, and making them into refrigerator magnets.
And then I came into some old furniture that had seen better days.
painted coffee table
There was a coffee table and one end table that wasn't in the most pristine condition, by any stretch of the imagination. And 2 small sets of drawers, that were varnished dark, but were light wood underneath.
I had originally wanted to strip & stain them all a yellowish blonde wood colour, because most of my other furniture and all the wood in my apartment is blonde.
But the coffee table & end table seemed to be
painted end table
impossible. I even tried staining over stain. And even the yellowish colour stain I got refused to change the mousy gray-brown wood into something that could have possibly fit in with even my hodge podge decor.
Alison encouraged me to try painting them. So I painted them antique white with metallic inca gold trim. And they turned out rather pleasing, I think.
I'm pretty happy with it because up until this year, I've never before had a proper end table. And I've never in my
drawers as they were
life had a coffee table.
The sets of drawers were both better & worse to deal with.
I stripped one and stained it with a yellowish stain. It took several hours just to strip the old varnish off the darn thing. I had never before stripped or stained furniture, so I had no idea just how much hard work is involved in the endeavour. Particularly when the furniture had been covered in what
re-stained set of drawers
must've been several layers of thick varnish.
I was pretty happy with the yellowish colour stain finish, even though I, by no means, did a perfect job of it. But it looks well in the nook, so I'm happy with it.
However, by the time I was finished with one of them, I was rather sick of it, so I decided to put off stripping and staining the other for awhile, and just put the other one in the part of the living room with some other dark brown furniture items I have.
partially painted magnets & papier mache
I then I decided to try my hand at papier mache.
I had done a papier mache mouse in junior high school art class many years ago, and I remembered it was pretty fun.
I had that papier mache mouse for awhile, but I seem to remember having to trash the poor thing because it had gotten torn nearly totally apart, by, oddly enough, a cat. Though I can't remember what cat got its claws into the poor thing. It either happened when I lived with my mothers' cats Romeo & Julius, or it happened later, after I got my cat, Nikita.
I had all kinds of ideas for papier mache, but I started by making 2 bowls, since I've always been meaning to get more candy dishes. (As is well known, there's always a lot of candy in my home.)
painted papier mache bowl
I got the idea from some web site someone sent me when I had told them I was thinking about doing papier mache. It was a papier mache bowl painted to look like a watermelon. Papier Mache - Visitors' Gallery - Glawen - watermelon
My attempt at papier mache has not been anywhere near as neat and tidy, I must say. And that's because papier mache is harder to work with than you'd probably think it would be. I have a lot of respect for some of the papier mache works I've seen photos of on-line, because obviously a lot of patience has gone into them.
However, back in the summer, I never actually finished painting my paper mache bowls, because by July it had gotten way too hot outside to be doing anything enjoyable on my porch. (The summer in Pennsylvania this year was consistently unusually hot... over 90° almost every day!)
But I finally finished painting the bowls, indoors after all, in October.
By this time I had gotten Amoreena, my new kitten, so you can imagine how much fun it was trying to keep her nose and paws off the painting projects while I was working on them.
Amoreena seemed absolutely fascinated by the papier mache in particular for some reason.
Amoreena with the partially painted gold papier mache bowl
I'm thinking it might be because the papier mache glue is made from flour, which, of course, is more or less food, when it comes right down to it. I had an incident back in the summer where I had left the bag of flour I was using, on the porch, overnight, and some member of our backyard wildlife here got into it. One would think that having mixed the flour with newspaper, moreover newspaper ink would've tainted the scent of the flour though. And I'm hoping now that the bowls are painted and covered in a sealant, that they won't end up the way the poor junior high school papier mache mouse wound up.
watermelons in the nook
And hopefully the cats won't think destroying watermelons a fun sport, because now my place is filled with watermelon type items, in addition to the ones given to me by others.
(My birthday was in October, and so Jeanie gave me a large watermelon bowl, Shelly gave me more watermelon jelly candies, and Alison gave me watermelon candles.)
Peculiar musical choice for political campaign commercial
Incumbent Democratic candidate for mayor of Scranton, Chris Doherty, used music in one of his campaign commercials, from a song called "Dive" by conservative Christian musician, Steven Curtis Chapman.
While outsiders might be confused about who's the liberal in the Doherty vs. DiBileo race for mayor of Scranton, because they're both apparently Democrats who apparently have the support of Republicans... It seems people with the most progressive, liberal, political opinions, seem to be in the most active support of Doherty. DiBileo has focused his campaign on tax cuts and more police & law enforcement, whereas Doherty has been for making the city more attractive to bring higher paying jobs into the area, beautifying the city parks, and passed an anti-discrimination ordinance.
But I think it's also important to note that Northeastern Pennsylvania is highly Democrat, yet many local Democratic party politicians are actually rather conservative. (Paul Kanjorski immediately comes to mind.)
As for Steven Curtis Chapman... While there's no direct evidence of him endorsing Republican candidates or any specific conservative agenda, his concerts' opening acts have featured bands that also performed at the Republican National Conventions.
One active Democrat had this to say about Chapman:
"Steven Curtis Chapman is a Contemporary Christian Rock artist who, while not being a fundamentalist nut-job, certainly is no liberal Democrat like Doherty." -- John D.
Steven Curtis Chapman has also supported "Redeem the Vote", which is clearly a campaign to get out the right-wing conservative Christian vote. 'Redeem the Vote' registers 100,000 young people of faith - (BP)
"Working through record producers in Nashville, Tenn., Brinson and his staff gained the support of 47 contemporary Christian music artists, including Steven Curtis Chapman, Point of Grace, Jeremy Camp, FFH and Jaci Velasquez." Evangelicals endeavor to redeem the vote - The Washington Times - October 19, 2004
"One of the newest groups is Redeem the Vote, the religious community's answer to MTV's secular Rock the Vote. The group is touring battleground states with Christian rock groups and voter-registration drives that organizers say are putting the fear of God into Sen. John Kerry's supporters."
Steven Curtis Chapman is also listed as one of the "Righties" on Celiberal.com, although the link to "see why" doesn't actually mention Steven Curtis Chapman.
(I tried to sign up for the forum there in order to pose the question as to why, specifically, he's on their Righties list, and for clarification on that link, but as of this time, my membership to post has not yet been approved.)
Even if perhaps Steven Curtis Chapman's popularity with conservative Christians is merely due to his deep commitment to supporting affordable adoption (I found no evidence he directly supports any anti-abortion related political groups), and the devout Christianity in his song lyrics (I've not found any specifically political lyrics)... he still supported the campaign to 'get out the conservative Christian vote' (which was highly in favour of Republicans), and his career is obviously fueled by an abundance of politically conservative Christians.
Furthermore, I've seen no evidence that Chris Doherty favours any conservative religious agendas.
So whichever way, it still seems like a bit of a faux pas to use Chapman's music for Doherty's campaign advertisement.
That said, I personally think it's a shame that lately some people seem convinced that Christian and Liberal are mutually exclusive, just as it's a shame some people equate Islam with terrorism.
(Note: This is not an endorsement of any candidate, obviously.) (Note: This is also not an advertisement for Steven Curtis Chapman's music.)
Candidate for Scranton Tax Collector, or Baywatch life guard?
Political campaign sign for Spano, running for Scranton Tax Collector, which reads "When you call... I'll be there."
I thought this was a peculiar tagline for a political campaign for the position of city tax collector. "When you call... I'll be there." sounds more like something you want to hear from say, the Police or the Fire Department.
One-thousand, two-hundred eighteen dead. The lives of families devastated. Sixty-eight years of debate about a suicide barrier. Today, The Chronicle begins a seven-part series looking at the darker side of the Golden Gate Bridge. The conclusion is inescapable: A suicide barrier would prevent deaths.
I'm not sure of the logic in that. There are many other ways people commit suicide... Perhaps they're not all as dramatic or as romanticized, but there's plenty of attention-getting options.
I hardly think someone bent on offing themselves is going to stop and say, "Hey, maybe I shouldn't think my life is total crap because there's a barrier on the Golden Gate Bridge."
They'll likely just be diverted to some other place & other means of suicide.
But maybe that's all the barrier proponents really want -- to make these suicidal people someone else's problem, and sweep the issue off the bridge, and under the rug.
If they really want to help these suicidal people who go to the Golden Gate Bridge... Maybe instead of spending $2 million on a feasibility study, and heaven knows how much on actually putting up a barrier, they could spend that money putting a better suicide patrol on the bridge. That way, these people would more likely to be reached & helped during the intervention, rather than simply quietly diverted elsewhere to carry out their tragic schemes. As well as making the bridge generally safer for everyone.
But I think we, as a society, need to better understand, or at least better address, the phenomenon of suicide.
I'm no psychiatrist, but one thing I'm very certain about... suicide is definitely not just a "crime of opportunity".
People commit suicide because they are not happy with their lives, believe that their lives are not worth living... They are suffering, are terribly unhappy, believe (usually irrationally) that there's no hope for things better.
I believe it's usually a tragic illness that leads to suicide.
Yeah, of course people terminally ill or in chronic pain commit suicide, but more specifically, I'm talking about brain chemical imbalances, mental illnesses, clinical depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction.
I doubt people decide to end their lives because of a breath-taking vista, or because they get the idea that the waters will embrace them in a beautiful death. Unless they're seriously delusional - which again, is a psychiatric issue...
And can easily explain "The Werther Effect", "Grandeur", & "Joining the Herd".
Healthy, happy, rational, people don't suddenly think ending their life is a good idea because there's a "suicide landmark" of noteriety.
I myself was very much amazed by the beauty & grandeur of Yosemite National Park, but it didn't give me any urges to plunge to my death on the park grounds, nor have I gotten notions to do so either time I've been on Golden Gate Bridge. But people who are depressed get more mundane ideas of suicide, just about anywhere. Should we ban cars, streets, & highways, because a suicidal person might get the idea of running out into traffic or driving their car off the road?
In 1978 Seiden published a study of 515 people who were prevented from jumping off the bridge. He found that only 6 percent went on to kill themselves.
Yeah, because the intervention was likely a catalyst for that 94% to get some kind of help, or at least a prompt to take time to reconsider, and think more rationally about their decision. Not necessarily because they would not have done it any other way than on the Golden Gate Bridge.
And that's the problem. There's often not much of an intervention or incentive for people to get help, or even stop & take a reasonably logical stock of their situation.
Terminal illnesses like bipolar disorder, alcoholism or clinical depression do not generally have blatant symptoms like a tumor or a bleeding wound.
They also have a very bad social stigma attached to them. Stuff like this seems to be treated as more shameful than AIDS, among the broad scope of society.
Jose Maldonado, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford, says suicide "is one of those things people don't talk about, especially when it has to do with matters of pride, especially with people in your own family. That can be extrapolated to society at large. People in San Francisco don't want to talk about suicide in their own city."
So while people would urge their loved ones to go to a doctor if they saw a growth on their arm, or would rush their friend to the ER if they had a bleeding wound -- the same people are slow to suggest their comrade might have a drinking problem, or ask their friend if they're feeling hopeless & urge them to see a psychiatrist.
Indeed, it's an insult in our culture to suggest to someone their booze intake is unusual or harmful, or that they might benefit from "professional help".
So when it comes to serious health issues, like drug addiction or mental illness; the person themselves, as well as those around them, seem doomed to glossing things over in denial, or simply pretending everything's normal.
Putting up a barrier on a bridge, in my opinion, will do little more than to just shove these people's deaths into further obscurity.
It'd be a diversion, not prevention.
And I think this is an inaccurate and unfair comparison...
Whereas officials at the Eiffel Tower, Empire State Building and other suicide landmarks recognized a crisis and erected suicide barriers, the Golden Gate Bridge still offers a welcome mat to someone in search of a quick exit.
People jumping off the Eiffel Tower & the Empire State Building, have a very good chance of potentially harming other people & destruction of property, a lot more than someone jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge into open water. There's also probably a lot less area to cover with a barrier on those structures than on the Golden Gate Bridge.
So let's not make it sound like San Francisco doesn't give a shit about the suicide issue, while NYC & Paris are oh-so-much-more concerned about the lives of suicidal people.
I'm not necessarily saying "don't put up a barrier on Golden Gate Bridge".
But I'm wondering if it's really the best way San Francisco, or anyone, can spend money.
I am very skeptical of the motives, and of the reasoning behind the stated motives.
And I happen to think better education, more social awareness, and better mental healthcare is far wiser than trying to toddler-proof everything in the world that's potentially deadly only to the willfully self-destructive.
If there were a lot of cases of accidental deaths off the Golden Gate Bridge, then I'd think there was a safety crisis.
But this isn't a safety issue.
It's a public health issue.
And suicide barriers, gun bans, & blunted butter knives aren't going to make sick people well.
superficiality >>If the facade is what's important to you, all you wind up with is an illusion. Disillusionment is the gift of substance.
-- Chloe<<
(more)
