Ghosts


I’ve written about the subject of the slightly obscured quite a bit under the title of intangibility or “in between”. It’s just such a beautiful small notion for me to imagine the things that are completely transitional and unable to be contained. On one hand it seems inconsequential, but applied to a larger view of the world, it draws attention to the overlooked, forces us to form an awareness, gives validity to that which isn’t concretely defined.

Love is this way (don’t write me off for using the words love and beauty—I have a Plato reference—if you want to write me off for that, then okay!). I love how in Plato’s Symposium love is interestingly and insufficiently defined by each attendee of the party until Socrates brings in the reference to another person and beauty. When shared between two people, that’s when love exists. It’s intangible and so delicately dependent. Isn’t that a beautiful concept? I love it, just love it.

I listened to Marion Winik (an NPR contributing writer–or at least she was) often when I was working an office job a couple of years ago. Online radio was my main source of stimulation during 8 hour days in a small, windowless office where I was tethered to a ringing phone. There’s something really beautiful in the way she writes about her mental associations. Listen to “A Girl, a Dog and a Dad: Ghosts in Real Life” by Marion Winik

I saw JoAnn Verburg’s show “Present Tense” at MOMA in 2007. I bought the catalog and have referenced it often since. At first the photographs seemed really simple and elegant, which was appealing; but the more time I spent with them, the more I realized how those simple gestures informed a larger way of viewing the world. Here are a couple of Olive Tree images from the show:

JoAnn Verburg Olive Trees

JoAnn Verburg Olive Trees


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