Archive | February, 2010

gater snacks

9 Feb

Chompies! Here’s my Tuesday installment of things that have moved me this week–literally, poetically, philosophically. Enjoy.

{Reel + Tune} Chromeo – Night by Night

Dave 1 can move. Especially at 3:01…and the spin at 3:37?

*fans self*

The song and video make me want to groove. Seriously.

{Photography + Entrepreneurship} OnceMany

I know that I included OnceMany in my very first Gater Snack post. At that point, I had only booked sessions with Shane Rich, the creative, kind smarty-pants behind OnceMany. This past week we met up in Boulder for the shoot. He took really, really awesome photos. Refer to above photos, please. :)

Here’s the deal: He’s doing the 365 photo project with a twist: he’s selling each day of the year for its numerical value (January 1 = $1, December 31 = $365…and print sizes increase through the year). Shane is stunningly creative. He’s a joy to work with. And you don’t have to be local to Boulder/Denver—he can create awesome photography to promote a business or brand, a blog, a message or a special occasion. Check out his work…serious eye candy.

{Philosophical Snack} The Small Man Builds Cages for Everyone

I’m thinking about building cages versus dropping keys. [- From Chris Guillbeau’s The Art of Nonconformity]

{Tune} Straight, No Chaser – Miles Davis and John Coltrane

This track swings. Hard.

{Quotable} Kahlil Gibran

“Give me silence and I will outdare the night.”

{Photo} She Believed

via Bear

As To Be In Plain Sight

8 Feb

Last week I visited the Denver Art Museum with two of my sisters. We wandered through Embrace!, a project showcasing one-of-a-kind traditional, conceptual, sculptural and digital installations from 17 artists.

Lawrence Weiner’s installation, As To Be In Plain Sight, caught my eye the moment we entered the building: enormous bright green letters embellished the white wall between the third and fourth floors of the Hamilton Building. Each time we rounded the staircase to the next floor, I glanced up at the statement. It was absolutely in plain sight.

It was vibrant, unmistakable on the white walls.

I am not in plain sight.

As social a creature as I am, I keep much sheltered in little corners of my personality, heart, life.

I am in one of the most fertile, exciting spaces of my life. Right now. NOW! And I’m holding myself back by not being in plain sight—not owning who I am.

This is particularly true in my search for work. While grad school is my top priority, I still need to work part-time. I’m extremely fortunate because I can be picky about work: I quit a “good” job because it wasn’t in line with my career. I’ve declined other job offers because they weren’t in line with my career. But I’m still figuring out what my life-work looks like. I know it will change and evolve. But boy, do I have the energy right now to be working, building, innovating.

I need to put myself in plain sight.

I haven’t asked for help from friends, peers, colleagues or new acquaintances. In fact, I haven’t even shared with many people that I’m work-hunting. Part of it is fear that I am unqualified for the Super Awesome Work I imagine myself in; part of it is not knowing what the Super Awesome Work looks like.

I know that both of those fears are insensible. I’m highly qualified. And I need to just start working.

I’ve kept my skills, passions and ideas out of sight. How on Earth could I expect to find work that I love if I’m not revealing myself? *sigh* I am so featherbrained sometimes.

The moments, the phrases, the spaces in which I let my guard down and move forward are the times when I encounter opportunity—and when I grow the most…sometimes uncomfortably, but always upward and outward.

My first step is to ask for help. And to share my skills, my areas for growth, my passions. Writing this post on the stone walls of the internet is another step (thanks for reading! :]).

So begins a new intention. Here I am.

As to be in plain sight.