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Put it here! This is the section for those things we love that refuse to be put in a box :)

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A picture inside a museum. there is a piece of art hanging from the ceiling that is made up of over one hundred white paper birds. There is a dramatic set of stairs in the room and a small child is climbing up the stairs.

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A picture of a yellow desert flower: picture by Jennie Blake

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Welcome! (Topics, tips and using Padlet)

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Welcome! (Topics, tips and using Padlet)

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Hooray! You're here. This is a place for us to share, explore and enjoy things that we've found and love! There are no required topics, and you don't have to post anything--feel free to just enjoy what others have found.

Padlet tips:

To add something new: Click on the "plus" button (right hand corner on a browser, usually the middle of the bottom in the app). You can link out to other items (blogs, images) or use photos/text in the post itself. This Padlet is anonymous (unless you choose to log in), so if you'd like people to know whose post it was, please do include your name!

Please do like (heart) and comment on the posts you see. It is always nice to see people responding to things you love!

Accessibility: Please make sure you use alt-text if possible for all images (you can click on the "alt" in the bottom left corner of your uploaded image).

Questions: just ask! you can find me (Jennie) on our Slack! I'm also at (https://bsky.app/profile/jnyrose.bsky.social) and https://hcommons.social/@jnyrose if you want to get in touch at either place!

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A snapshot of some small yellow flowers. They are quite narrow and on green stems. It is a desert flower.

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I posted about these silly frogs on the Slack, but I am moving them here as well! I sadly cannot track down where I got it from! These frogs make me smile, and it is quite fun to try and figure out what in the world is going on! (Jennie)

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 a set of different illustrated frogs. The text at the top says “which frog are you today?” The choices are:1) a frog sticking its tongue out to catch a fly2) a frog with its mouth wide open making an “A” sound3) a plump frog sitting in the middle of a daisy4) a frog lying down, looking at little flustered5) a very round calm looking pink frog6) a frog sitting down and somehow wearing an enormous pair of tennis shoes7) a plump frog with a strawberry balanced on its head8) a frog in a hot cup of tea

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"[The Dingle, Colwyn Bay, Wales] (LOC)" flickr photo by The Library of Congress https://flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/3751644235 shared with no copyright restriction (Flickr Commons)

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My thing is random public domain images from the Flickr Commons that I have set to randomly appear in my browser window when I open a new tab using the Free to Use Browser extension. It was built in 2018 by a student intern at the Library of Congress named Flynn Shannon, who I later learned is from Kenyon College, making for a nice circle as that is where my good friend Joe Murphy works!

I wrote about this small biut of joyous serendipity as "Every Open Tab a Curioisty Beckons" as invariably I see a location, object, person who captures my interest. The images provide a link to the LOC entry, but I find that if my curiosity is really bitten, finding the photo in the Flickr Commons leads to more curiosity filling bits as more often than not there is extra information provided in the comments.

The photo here The Dingle, Colwyn Bay, Wales grabs me because the date of the photo is 1890-1900 but its in color! Plus I wonder if it is anywhere near where my friends/colleagues from Wales, Maren and Martin live. Hence in Flickr I find the explanation in a comment describing the photocrom technique (new to me)

"A litho stone is coated with a thin layer of purified bitumen dissolved in benzene. A reversed half-tone negative is then pressed against this light-sensitive coating and an exposure in daylight made (taking from 10–30 minutes in summer, to several hours in winter). The bitumen hardens and becomes resistant to normal solvents in proportion to the light. The coating is then washed in turpentine solutions, removing the unhardened bitumen. It is then retouched in the tonal scale of the chosen color to strengthen or soften the tones as required. Each tint needs a separate stone bearing the appropriate retouched image, and prints are usually produced by at least six, and more commonly from 10 to 15 tint stones."

This and what this padlet is doing, is what makes the web still worthwhile to me.

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Looking down a pebbly smooth path in  the woods, that curves out of view in the distance, adjacent to a small creek or canal, with small wood bench on the side. The colors of the trees on both sides are muted pastels

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"Our Dreams Are Interconnected" by Grant Snider

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I am a huge fan of the comic artist GRANT SNIDER (link to his website), so I thought I would share one of his graphics showing a building with 14 different rooms that we can see into through the windows where people are doing all sorts of things, plus an open front door and more people on the street outside; these are the text snippets that appear under each window:

We live in a small place

alone, apart

but interconnected.

Chasing ambitions,

confronting fears,

making minor revisions.

Seeking escape,

creating pointless conflict,

staying open to beauty.

Other people remain a mystery;

their lives are stranger than we can imagine,

their dreams as vibrant as our own.

We can't shut out the world;

we live in a small place;

our dreams are interconnected.

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Tumblr is one of those places where you see a mix of the silly, the profound and the fantastic (along with the truly weird). I really do love this post though, as it reframes the question around "the point" of only taking small steps towards change. I often use this screenshot alongside adrienne maree brown's "elegant step" and the 15% solution activity from liberatory practice. (Jennie)

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A screenshot of a text post from tumblr. The original account is SoberScientistLife who is reblogging the account just-shower-thoughts. The post says:When people talk about traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small.This is followed by a response from sonyaliloquy that says “dude”. SoberScientistLife has replied “it is the small things that

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A screenshot of the poem Epic by Patrick Kavanagh 

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I love poetry. I grew up hearing snippets of it quoted by my dad, and I quickly picked up reading it. I was lucky enough to get to talk to Sam Illingworth (who will be part of MYFest!) about poetry recently. I was meant to find a familiar one and ended up finding a new favourite instead! I love the idea of an epic made from “such a local row”.

Jennie

Image description:

A screenshot of a poem. The text of the poem is:

I have lived in important places, times When great events were decided; who owned That half a rood of rock, a no-man's land Surrounded by our pitchfork-armed claims. I heard the Duffys shouting 'Damn your soul!' And old McCabe stripped to the waist, seen Step the plot defying blue cast-steel 'Here is the march along these iron stones' That was the year of the Munich bother. Which Was more important? I inclined To lose my faith in Ballyrush and Gortin Till Homer's ghost came whispering to my mind. He said: I made the Iliad from such a local row. Gods make their own importance.

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a tree, it has orange leaves and it is clearly autumn

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We have now got categories! These are very much a work in progress, and may not stay the same! For now, please do feel free to stick your lovely thing wherever suits you. If you need a new section, drop me a line and I will sort it!

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Sometimes when I have a huge task to get through, I put the videos for the Kennedy Centre Honours on as a treat. They are all amazing, but this one in particular is incredible. The story is that it was a total surprise for Carole King (who was being honoured) that Aretha Franklin came out to sing. Watching Carole King just totally unable to contain her absolute joy at listening to her friend sing this classic always makes me feel so happy!

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MNOW: “MNOW: A MOROCCAN MAGAZINE” A MOROCCAN MAGAZINE

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Aretha Franklin - (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman (Live at Kennedy Center Honors)

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Linocut work by Phoenix, "folkpunk_butch" on Instagram.

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I found this artwork to be profoundly beautiful and wanted to share it here in recognition of Pride Month. Often, queerness is said to be "unnatural" and posited as being at odds with the natural world, but here is a statement that is completely the opposite, that affirms that being trans is as natural as the Earth.

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A linocut artwork of a spotted hyena with the text "to be trans is as natural as the Earth herself" around it.

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Screenshot 2024-06-04 at 20-16-43 Phoenix on Instagram to be trans is as natural as the earth herself

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a photo of a mural being painted on a building

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When I lived in Paris, I absolutely loved the vibrant street art that was a part of the city. When I saw this photo, it immediately reminded me of those murals. It turns out this artist is also French and has painted murals in Paris, Ukraine and around the world. They are all breathtakingly colourful and often joyful. The artist’s goes by the name “Seth”. You can find more

of his art here: https://seth.fr/en/

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the side of a medium height building is being covered with a mural. The mural depicts a child pulling a giant zipper down the middle of the building. As the zipper opens, you can see bright rainbow swirls. At the bottom of the building, you can see someone staring looking up at the artist, who is painting from the platform of a crane.  

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Morgan Harper Nichols on Instagram: "After everything you have been through,
I hope something beautiful happens for you:

May you find bold, unbridled joy 
in a thousand little ways you didn't expect.

May you find new books and meet new people
that your heart never forgets.

May you fall in love with golden hours and sunsets
even while you wait for what comes next

May you take as many deep breaths
as you need to while you wait for
that call
that letter
that text...

Breathe.
Yes, breathe.
And let that be
the most simple,
yet beautiful thing.
Let every exhale
create more room
for letting go,
for release...

Let yourself dream and have hope
for your journey ahead
just like you would have hope for the future
of a beloved family member or friend.

Let every sunrise remind you:
through it all,
you have not
reached the end.

Through all of the mountains
and valleys you have found,
may you find the rivers, too...

After everything you have been through,
I hope something beautiful happens for you.

MHN"

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117K likes, 724 comments - morganharpernichols on August 17, 2023: "After everything you have been through,
I hope something beautiful happens for you:

May you find bold, unbridled joy 
in a thousand little...". 

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View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Morgan Harper Nichols (@morganharpernichols)

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My dear Aunt passed away last year, after a long season of Alzheimer's. She was always so independent and strong. It was hard to try to navigate it all, especially through COVID, when we were unable to see her for such a long stretch.

This poem reminds me that even when she was in the midst of needing care for even the most basic of life's activities, she was of use...

~ Bonni Stachowiak from Teaching in Higher Ed (podcast)

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The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

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To be of use by Marge Piercy | Poetry Foundation

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One of many parts of the world to see and listen to sounds of forests vis tree.fm

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I love the idea and global explorative experience of Tree.fm where you can explore, randomly a photo and more importantly, the sounds of forests from around the world. It's a community driven site/project where people upload the content, and all of it is licensed under creative commons.

It can be a calming break to listen to the sounds of a forest far away.

In a similar vein, I am a huge ran of radio garden that provides a global map (and random) way to explore radio stations around the world. For me, audio is an under appreciated means to communicate and connect

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Valley of green forested hills that looks father away to more hills and a far mountain peak. The top is the word "tree" and on the web site, you would see an audio file to hear the sounds

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One of the things that is most amazing to me about people getting to really dive deeply into something is how often that lets them experiment and innovate. Daniel Champagne put together this three minutes of improvised guitar, and it is just one of the most amazing things. (Jennie)

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Daniel Champagne - The Pursuit (Official Video)

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Yesterday, my son played in a string orchestra concert, and The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson was one of the pieces they played. It's a very entertaining piece, and I thought perhaps others might enjoy it, too. (Heather)

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I am in Montréal, Québec, Canada for a few days and found this very large ring suspended between two buildings. I find it somewhat mesmerizing for some reasons, and enjoy watching birds fly through it!

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A very large metal ring suspended between two buildings, attached to each on the sides. Below it is a set of stairs with a zig-zagging ramp interspersed within the stairs, going up to an open-air large square between the buildings. 

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A fabulous concept / activity for writing a creative text description of yourself! (Can we have a web site or other category for the described "other ephemera"??)

"'Alt text selfie' is an open term. Our understanding of what an alt text selfie might be is always shifting and changing. Selfies and self-descriptions are often visually focused, but, to us, an alt text selfie doesn't need to center around visuals, or literally describe an image. As the selfies gathered on this website exemplify, alt text selfies can blend smell, taste, touch, sound, and more. At their core, alt text selfies are an access practice, tools for connecting across sensory experiences and distance."

For example https://alttextselfies.net/selfies/self-saboteur/ and more in the gallery

A nice companion to the work Mia Zamora did a few years ago on the "Selfie/Unselfie" project

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An alt text selfie is any written self-portrait. This project takes a well-known practice-the selfie-and approaches it through a disability lens.

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Another random public domain image my browser tosses me just for opening a new tab, this a photo from 1910-1915 with a priceless expression. Visit the photo in flickr for more comments left as "hotspots" on the photo.

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Vintage era photograph of an infant with a huge smile, surrounded by adults we see only from waist down. She sure looks happy with summer.

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I wanted a logo for my new group. I’m not good at digital graphics so I picked up a pen and paper and drew this character. I think it’s funny because it’s so far away from the theme represented. Ink on paper. My hand put it there.

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Back in the heyday of blogs (which maybe we sort of are getting back in with newsletters?), there were loads of just...random places people put things that intrigued them or that they enjoyed (a bit like this Padlet!) One of my favourites was this blog, which is just a record of books that only exist in other books. It's just an endless list of people being creative inside their creations.(Jennie)

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A regularly updated catalog of books that exist only within other books–a Borgesian invisible library.

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a picture of a small female blackbird--she is actually dark brown with a yellow beak

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I am so lucky that we have a very lively garden. This year, we have two separate nests of blackbirds. There is one specific young female that seems to like hanging out next to the window when I am in MYFest sessions, and it always makes me smile.