13 Thursday: Potters, Poets, and Pain
1. Poetically, I don’t like the word bucolic, the way Billy Collins doesn’t like “cicada.” I think it’s a self-conscious word that sounds like an illness, even though it means an idyllic country setting.
2. I call THIS my Asheville Potterson Josh’s font.
3. It’s the cover of the latest Studio Potter Magazine, an issue on pottery and words. The magazine asked potters for quotes they display on their studio walls. Josh may be the only potter who handwrites his, and it landed him on the cover. I know it’s a quote by renowned potter Hamada Shoji, but because the words wrap around to the back of the cover, I can’t read what they say. You learn more about Josh’s article on wild clay published in The Studio Potter HERE.
4. In an earlier 13 list I said this: If I was made of pottery and the sun was my kiln, my glaze would be freckles.
5. This picture (below) of Josh and me at FloydFest is one of my favorites. Another favorite is the one pictured above of the poet’s after our FloydFest performance “OUTLOUD” being escorted from the Global Village stage back to the festival’s main drag. I call it the poetry bus, but it’s really more like the poetry limousine of golf carts.
6. The history of the FloydFest (our town’s four day roots music festival) as told by property owner…. HERE.
7. On Monday I went to the dentist and then got my hair cut. I felt like a car in the auto body shop, getting a dent fixed and then a touch up paint job.
8. If a filling is the equivalent to a hair cut, then a root canal is getting your hair dyed.
9. When I’m sitting in the dentist’s chair I think about this poem… It’s too late to pretend … that the overhead lamp … is the sun in Tahiti … and the reclining chair … is a floating raft in a blue green sea … The punchline is HERE.
10. I once saw a vanity plate that said "I AM HURT" and wondered who would put that on their car. (A personal injury lawyer maybe?) THIS really hurts me to watch.
11. Health Care as a business is a huge conflict of interest. According to the groundbreaking 2003 medical report Death by Medicine, 783,936 people in the United States die every year from conventional medicine mistakes, says an article titled “Statistics prove prescription drugs are 16,400% more deadly than terrorists.”
12. Have you seen the trailer to Michael Moore’s new movie SICKO? Check it out HERE.
13. And while 1 -12 was going on THIS (first posted by Chrissea) was running loose in the streets of Roanoke.
Thursday headquarters is here. My other 13's are here. View more 13 Thursday’s here.
Comments
Great list and what a great photo!!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Posted by: Laura Williams | August 2, 2007 10:28 AM
I love Billy Collins. Once I think I heard him reading Dean Young's Resignation Letter. When I quit my job (actually, I say that "I was quit") I left a copy of it in my desk. I wonder if they read it.
Posted by: Amy the Black | August 2, 2007 10:31 AM
Colleen,
I have never heard of the Mothering magazine.
Posted by: Laura Williams | August 2, 2007 11:15 AM
I think it sounds like an illness too - I mean, I would expect a doctor to use the word to describe some sort of weird plague going around.
Of course - your blog did expand my vocabulary today!
Mine are up.
Posted by: Heather | August 2, 2007 11:46 AM
That video is amazing! What was that sweet bear(?) Doing running around the streets of Roanoke??
As always, Colleen..I GREAT TT! Love that picture of you and Josh...Very very sweet.
Posted by: OldOldLady Of The Hills | August 2, 2007 12:14 PM
The bear must have run down the mountain from up here in Floyd!
Laura, check out http://mothering.com
Posted by: colleen | August 2, 2007 12:46 PM
What an incredible mind you have? I would never thought of comparing a dental visit to a tropical island poem or compare the hair cut and the dentist. I love you thought process.
Posted by: Lazy Daisy | August 2, 2007 2:23 PM
I hope the bear was ok!
Posted by: Janet | August 2, 2007 2:24 PM
Here's the update story on the bear. Seems he was tranquilized and returned back to the woods. http://www.roanoke.com/news/breaking/wb/67227
Posted by: colleen | August 2, 2007 2:54 PM
I got my hair cut today, in order to face Cable Ch 12 at 7:30 tomorrow morning, LIVE, to promote our upcoming library event & coffeehouse reading. Otherwise, it'd be serious bedhead at that time of day! Sorry you can't make the coffeehouse reading on 8/10, but Fred First will represent Floyd in your place. We'll miss you, but hope to have more coffeehouse readings at Edible Vibe if this one goes well. Love your blog, Colleen. It always inspires me~
Posted by: Marion | August 2, 2007 2:57 PM
Josh is so CUTE!!
Posted by: kenju | August 2, 2007 3:22 PM
He reminds me of Ashton Kutcher.
Oh, and Terri. I didn't see Pat and Tom but I saw Bret, their friend who was in Cedar Key when we were there. I was in ....of all things.... a golf cart when I saw him!
Posted by: colleen | August 2, 2007 3:59 PM
I just watched that trailer and makes me weep.
Your son is so good looking.
Posted by: Nancy | August 2, 2007 4:13 PM
I love the pic of you and Josh! My friend is a hairdresser and she does our hair right here at our home; I love that, because I hate to go to a hair salon...
My TT teaches a geography (and a little history) lesson of The Netherlands.
Posted by: Tink | August 2, 2007 5:53 PM
Colleen,
The picture of you and Josh is great -- and I just love the idea of FloydFest!
Happy TT!
Lara
Posted by: Lara | August 2, 2007 10:18 PM
I know someone who uses the word bucolic in everyday conversation.
Posted by: thebluestbutterfly | August 2, 2007 10:31 PM
"If I was made of pottery and the sun was my kiln, my glaze would be freckles."
I love this line, Colleen! I tell people that I never tan in the summer, my freckles just get bigger.
Posted by: Bonnie Jacobs | August 2, 2007 10:52 PM
I thought "Potter Studio" was again about Harry Potter !! I did some pottery too in the past.
Posted by: Gattina | August 2, 2007 11:10 PM
Love that photo of you two... so great.
Very Thelma and Louise.
I awarded you with a thoughtful blogger award on my page... please drop by when you get a chance, and pick it up.
Best,
Scarlett & Viaggiatore
Posted by: Wanderlust Scarlett | August 3, 2007 2:04 AM
I'm baaackkkkkk! Because I have now awarded you with a thoughtful blogger award on my Words from a Wordsmith page ... please drop by when you get a chance, and pick it up. May you long continue to blog thoughtfully!
~~~ Bonnie
Posted by: Bonnie Jacobs | August 3, 2007 3:35 AM
Bear must have been freaking, wrong-turn-wrong-turn-such-a-wrong-turn.
I know what you mean about bucolic. It's like riparian. It just has the wrong sound. On the other hand turnip has a sound that does good pr for it.
Cool cover and very cool that it's Josh' entry.
Posted by: Pearl | August 3, 2007 7:26 AM
I just recently had to go to the dentist and I sat in the chair and waited for such a loooong time. Right in front of me was a picture of a duck and beneath it read, "sitting duck"! It is exactly what I felt like.
PS I can't wait to see "Sicko"! I think his movies really make the American people think. Remember when they tried to ban 9/11
Posted by: Sherry | August 3, 2007 9:02 AM
Well the filling didn't take and I'll be back in the seat Monday for a root canal and really test my poem. I've been miserable with pain, low grade fever, and a swollen gland.
Did I mention that at my dentist's the chair faces a big window and while your sitting you can watch birds at the feeder?
Posted by: colleen | August 3, 2007 9:08 AM
i agree with 'bucolic'....i don't think i would ever use that word for it's real intent...it also makes me think of bad gas! :)
i keep saying i'm going to come to floydfest someday. when we were in floyd in june, we asked about availability during the festival at the lodge we stayed at, but they were all booked for it. someday!
Posted by: bluemountainmama | August 3, 2007 9:10 AM
Got tents?
Posted by: colleen | August 3, 2007 9:21 AM
I didn't know your son was there...I wish I'd caught a glimpse of him. You know how you feel like you know people from the blog! Great picture!
Posted by: Deana | August 3, 2007 10:29 AM
I am still trying to figure out the vanity plate as well... I think it may belong to a hypochondriac.
The video isn't surprising, but it's certainly disheartening.
I played today (er, yesterday).
~S
Posted by: Shephard | August 3, 2007 2:23 PM
Thanks for the update on the story. Poor lil bear. The forest will seem more tranquil after all that commotion.
Posted by: Pearl | August 3, 2007 8:00 PM
Is anyone going to see Sicko???
Posted by: thebluestbutterfly | August 4, 2007 4:06 AM
Yes, I hope to see it.
Posted by: colleen | August 5, 2007 12:16 PM