Welcome back to the . . . Sanctuary . . . where once a week – on Fridays – I aim to preserve my sanity. And maybe yours, too. If you missed my inaugural Sanctuary post (the one where I explained all this), you can find it here.

Y’know, this was one of those weeks where I could just go on and on (and on) sharing little tidbits of peace and joy. But I won’t. I’ll save some of them for another time . . . when perhaps the “pickings” are slimmer.

So. What have I got for you this week? Something uplifting. Something artistic in a public participation kind of way. And something that is really cool.

Ready?

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The Uplifting Thing.

There is a very cool bookstore here in Michigan . . .  Literati Bookstore is located pretty much in the middle of downtown Ann Arbor, fairly close to the U of M campus. Very groovy place. (As you might imagine.) I’ve visited a couple of times over the years. (I actually took a couple of “breaks” there while my mom was in the U of M hospital that tough summer when she was dying . . . but I didn’t know it yet.) If you don’t have a local indie bookshop in your town, I’m sure Literati wouldn’t mind if you adopted them as your own virtual local indie bookshop. Just sayin.

Anyway . . . Literati has a rather famous typewriter.
Here’s its story . . .
(I think you’ll like it.)

EDITED TO ADD: I had a devil of a time with this video. I originally linked the YouTube version here, but it wouldn’t load. So I used the Instagram version, which doesn’t immediately work (for me, at least). What DOES seem to work . . . is watching the next two Instagram videos FIRST, and then you can come back to this first one and it loads. I’m sorry for the hassle. The story is worth it, and I do think you’ll love it. In the meantime, please know that I’m working on a better way to share this story with you. (And who knows . . . maybe it’ll work for you right off the bat???)

If the video won’t play for you, here are some links you can try instead:

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Something Artistic in a Public Participation Kind of Way.

I love public art (artwork created for the general public and displayed in public spaces, accessible to all). Although this particular public art installation by Slovak conceptual artist Roman Ondak is not current (it was at MoMA in NYC in 2009), its message still resonates today. When Ondak asked his audience, “How do we measure the time? How do we measure each other? How do we measure the world?” The answer became clear . . . “We start with ourselves!”

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The Thing That is Really Cool

I have watched this over and over. I’m going to bet you will too . . .

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And that’s it for this week.
I hope you found some sanctuary here today.
At least for a few minutes.

Enjoy the weekend!
Find some joy.
Protect your peace.

Resist, my friends.
Resist.