We had a friend of the family staying with a us for a day or two a few months back and he asked me, "Isn't writing a dying profession?" (in light of the internet, etc.). I was considerably shaken, but I am sure that good writing is not a fad. I'm going to school to be a writer and I'm not attached to physical newspapers per se. I realize that communication, and culture in general, is in the middle of a shift, but I hope to be on top of whatever the "new" thing is - I refuse to believe that writing is a dying art. This photo is from Boston Big Picture album titled "scenes from the recession."



Parker's recent India photo installment reminded me of this note I've had in my notebook for a while to look up the Indian festival of Holi. I was watching a movie called Outsourced a few months ago in which there are scenes from Holi and I've meant to learn more about it ever since. From Wikipedia (sorry, couldn't help it) :
There is another story about the origin of Holi. Kamadeva is a god of love. Kama's body was destroyed when he shot his weapon at Shiva in order to disrupt his penance and help Parvati to marry Shiva. Shiva then opened his third eye, the gaze of which was so powerful that Kama's body was reduced to ashes. For the sake of Kama's wife Rati (passion), Shiva restored him, but only as a mental image, representing the true emotional and spiritual state of love rather than physical lust. The Holi bonfire is believed to be celebrated in commemoration of this event. / Holi is a festival of radiance (Teja) in the universe. During this festival, different waves of radiance traverse the universe, thereby creating various colours that nourish and complement the function of respective elements in the atmosphere.
A festival of colors? For really? That is SO awesome to me. I've been exhilerated with words and colors since I was a kid. There's actually this book, I can't think of the name of it off the top of my head - the author groups all these colors together and talks about how they effect human emotion, particularly with the object of successful advertising. It's really fascinating.



I have so many accumulated tidbits to share, but I'm just going to post oneeee more, and then I need to go find something "productive" to do. My friend David from high school/ Beijing days started this band, ApathyEdge, and I'm super proud of him! The new EP, Balloons, comes out in a week and when that happens, you can download it for free (on their myspace? not sure yet) for a week before it hits iTunes. Also, check out out this review of the EP from Indie Vision Music.