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:
- A report from NBC Evening News about the typewriter at Literati (with insufferable commercials at the start)
- The YouTube version of the video (that I can’t get to load, but you can link to it)
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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.
oh … that typewriter story is pure gold (and the Instagram video loaded just fine for me) – thank you for all that good stuff. Happy Friday!
What a nice start to my day! I love the art story especially.
I don’t cry easily, but the typewriter story has me misty-eyed. Thank you; it’s something I will watch over and over. Just like the origami ballet!
Oh, Kym, that typewriter story should be required reading for everyone. It is definitely what I have experienced throughout my life as a nurse and in my life as I get nearer to the end. Nothing is more important than love, and the only way to truly comprehend that is to lose it. The art story was ingenious, but is that art or philosophy? And the origami ballet is stunning and enthralling. Happy Friday in the sanctuary to you and many thanks for providing the sanctuary. I look forward to it all week!
Replying to add – I need a tee shirt with that saying! I was certainly born to dilly dally, but present times just won’t let me.
I adore that typewriter story! It restores a little of my faith in humanity — it’s reminder that no matter our differences, we all need and want to love. And how cool is that origami ballet?
A thing that lifted me this week was when Marc Elias shared via his newsletter that the current administration has lost 96% of all the lawsuits filed just this month. Yes, just this month… that was amazing and so uplifting! (Marc is an attorney who is in the trenches fighting fascism every day in court!) I did not know about Literati (I don’t think it was there when my Rachel was at the U of M) but I am loving the typewriter story! Thank you so much for sharing it! XO
All of these are just so wonderful Kym. Thank you for sharing. (The typewriter piece loaded just fine for me). The origami ballet is stunning.
Origami ballet. Who knew that could be so fascinating? And the typewriter story is SO true, when we have nothing left at all we still have love. The “height chart” sort of makes that same point, right? That we’re more alike than we are different. I love this. (see what I did there? LOL)
I follow Literati on IG and boy would I like to visit some day. I went to undergraduate and graduate school with a manual typewriter. Those were the days – white out and carbon paper. Yikes. Thanks for lifting my spirits today.