6.20.2009

Little Heathens

One thing that I have always admired about my grandmother's generation is how their values and practicality are so deeply embedded in who they are and how they approach everything they do. There is a right way to do things and a wrong way, with not much wiggle room in between. 

While I hope our generation is moving closer to a more open-minded perspective,  I do think we would all benefit from having such strong convictions and the common sense to not take the luxury this advanced era brings us for granted and when to realize it's limitations. After all, the jury is still out on whether my iPhone has made me happier and more productive...or is really just feeding my ADD. (Though that Google Maps widget, really has saved me on many an occasion)

I've always wished that I could read the story of my grandmother's life, so as to possibly glean a few drops of wisdom from her experiences. She is 89 years old, still gardens, drives a tractor, cooks all her own meals, and cleans her house. While she leads a very comfortable life and does these things because she wants to and not because she has to, I am constantly blown away by her ability to do more than I can in a day and usually do it better. 

While I really don't have any desire to carry water in from a well or make my own clothes, as many people of my grandmother's generation did, I was thrilled when I came across the book Little Heathens. It is the memoirs of writer Millie Kalish and what her life growing up on a farm in Iowa during the great depression was like. 

This book is a gem and a must read if you are interested in getting a better idea of what it was like for a rural family in America during that time or if you're at all interested in the 10,000 different ways you can use bacon fat. ;-)

In all seriousness though this is a great little book and I actually learned a lot about how hard work and strong values, whatever yours may be, can bring a family together.

I have included the book in the bookstore. To check it out CLICK HERE.  


How lucky we all are that she had the foresight to write all of these stories down!

6.19.2009

Monelle Totah of Williams-Sonoma Home

Just to change it up a bit I'm linking to this interview with the head designer of Williams-Sonoma Home, Monelle Totah. I found the interview on one of my favorite interior design blogs Habitually Chic. If you like design and don't know about it go check it out now. The writer, Heather Clawson, has amazing style and taste. I've learned so much about interior design for her blog and have gotten hours of amusement perusing the beautiful images of other peoples houses that she posts. I mean, who doesn't like to see how other people do it?? :-)

6.03.2009

Richard Avedon

My husband just turned me on to a fantastic series of interviews between Charlie Rose and Richard Avedon. Once again I find it fascinating to hear someone who has made a life-long career out of getting reactions or moments of "truth" out of other people talk about what that process is like for him. 

Photography, especially portraiture, has always been one of my great loves. Like a good interview those photographs have the potential to express and show rare moments of clarity with the subject. Richard Avedon was a true master of capturing these elusive moments. He had the gifts of not only knowing who was going to be an interesting subject, but also how to draw them out to snap that mili-second where their gaze or angle of their head expressed exactly who they were in that moment. An alchemy that few truly achieve.

This is another marathon interview, but if you are a photography fan these are must see moments with Avedon, who was notoriously shy and gave few interviews. 



6.01.2009

Larry King on how to get what you want out of an interview and why he only wears button suspenders.

Here's an interview with Larry King from CNN/TIME. It's not often that he's in the guest chair, so I thought it was worth posting. 

I think what he says about the interview needing to be 90% guest and 10% interviewer is very important. While Larry King is already a TV icon, I think it's respectable that he knows who people are really tuning in to watch. 

As he says: "I never learn a thing while I was talking."

I wonder what the world of TV interviews will be like when people like Larry King, with old fashioned manners, are no longer around? 

* I've included Larry's memoir "My Remarkable Journey" in the bookstore if you're interested in reading more about him.