Category: Poiesis

by jad

Seattle & Atomic Age Art

Today is the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, a good day to share that I’ve been working with the International Uranium Film Festival (@uraniumfilm) to bring the festival to Seattle in April. There are a lot of moving parts, but it’s looking good so far! More soon. This partnership came my way in the midst of several months of reading and research on atomic history and nuclear culture, which is also how I found myself at the UW Special Collections Library yesterday looking at Box 13 of the Fred Moody papers. I read Moody’s “Seattle and … Continue reading “Seattle & Atomic Age Art” →

by jad

Either we have hope within us or we don’t…

“Either we have hope within us or we don’t; it is a dimension of the soul; it’s not essentially dependent on some particular observation of the world or estimate of the situation. Hope is not prognostication. It is an orientation of the spirit, an orientation of the heart; it transcends the world that is immediately experienced and is anchored somewhere beyond its horizons. Hope, in this deep and powerful sense, is not the same as joy that things are going well, or willingness to invest in enterprises that are obviously heading for success, but, rather, an ability to work for … Continue reading “Either we have hope within us or we don’t…” →

by jad

Reflections on Seattle’s Light

I walked through the ghost town that used to be my city during these dying days. I saw a holy man crying with mother Mary – all these dying days. x “As difficult as I sometimes find to admit it, I’m a westerner and even, now, a Seattleite. I love being a resident of a remote state, where (we tell ourselves) we’re disconnected from everyone else and therefore forced to make everything up on our own, feverishly hoping that what we come up with will somehow, magically, prove to be indispensable to the rest of the world which, hemmed in … Continue reading “Reflections on Seattle’s Light” →

by jad

Rituals & Liturgies, Fathers & Sons

The last time I was in this venue seeing this band was also the first time I started imagining myself taking photos in spaces like these. That’s the night I met Dom and Ellie and asked about their cameras; I even spoke to veterans like John whom I’ve seen at nearly every gig I’ve been to since, arm raised, Canon blazing. Michael and I reminisced about that last night; it hasn’t even been a whole year, but it feels a lot longer. In that time, I’ve enjoyed figuring out something like a style and bits and pieces of a technique … Continue reading “Rituals & Liturgies, Fathers & Sons” →

by jad

Nō Photo

I’ve been thinking about the many masks I’ve worn on this platform; I say “masks” because I’ve just started to read a book on ‘Atomic Bomb Cinema’ where the author draws parallels between the act of writing, as literally reflected in his shadowy form on his computer screen, and the method of acting in Japanese Nō theatre: “Before going on stage, the actor sits before a mirror, with mask in hand, and meditates. This creates a state of ‘ma’ or emptiness within him, thus allowing the spirit of the character he plays to fill the vacuum…Through the actor, the tormented … Continue reading “Nō Photo” →

by jad

World Photography Day 2023

Today is #WorldPhotographyDay and it trips me right out to look back on how far I’ve come with whatever this is since last year, when I wasn’t sure why people kept giving me cameras or what the hell I was supposed to do with them. I took photos, of course, but I wasn’t sure if it was “photography” — and I knew I wasn’t a photographer, that’s for damn sure. But I’m not as sure anymore. x Someone who gave me the best compliment I could have ever received* about this silly little hobby of mine posted something the other day about … Continue reading “World Photography Day 2023” →

by jad

Montréal: Kahnawake

St Kateri’s shrine was the reason we’d thought to visit Montreal in the first place, so, as you might imagine, standing here by the quiet banks of the Saint Laurent after months of anticipation felt pretty good. Our Lyft driver’s GPS had been acting up, which meant that I’d get a chance to have my longest exchange in French of the trip (which also felt really good). More significantly, it also led to experiencing this church from this vantage point first. I don’t know what was special about this tree, but it literally took my breath away. Christine was walking … Continue reading “Montréal: Kahnawake” →

by jad

Montréal: Expo Dream

One of the Montreal things that I’d read about obsessively before going was Expo 67, the great World’s Fair that took place here on Canada’s Centennial. It’s a multilayered megaevent that’s still seen as Canada’s cultural “Camelot” or even “last good year,” and there’s a lot to say about it, but during our stay at the In-Terminal Hotel, one thing of that era stood out: I couldn’t help but imagine the excitement that people must have felt as the world and even cosmos seemed to be getting smaller and smaller. You can’t really think of that decade without thinking of … Continue reading “Montréal: Expo Dream” →

by jad

Montréal: Airport Swim

This time last year, I was telling you about our little cocoon of comforts by a lake in Idaho. I hadn’t planned to tell you about this cocoon of comforts on our last night in Montreal exactly one year after I told you about that cabin by that lake, but I’m not surprised by the coincidence. x I told you about that lake of baptisms and the washing away of shame, so it’s only appropriate that, one year later, I’d tell you about a dinky little overchlorinated pool on the eighth floor of an in-terminal hotel where silly people try … Continue reading “Montréal: Airport Swim” →