A Quick Recap of Our Conditions

We are sentient beings trapped inside leaky bags of salt that will eventually fail us. At the same time, we are presently trapped on a big rock hurtling through mostly empty space at 67,000 miles per hour. Our quest, simply enough, is to change at least one of these conditions.

—Mitchell Hegman

A Few Pluses

Here are a few pluses in my life at present:

• I’ve had a woodstove in the house for over a year now and have not burned myself.
• Last time I checked, both of my feet still reach the ground.
• We have enough caramel popcorn to last at least another week.
• The coffee maker has not staged an uprising in well over a month.
• I opened the fridge, forgot what I wanted, and still found something snack-worthy.
• I’ve learned to accept phrases like “limited lifetime warranty” and “free with purchase.”
• I’ve finally lost enough hair that I no longer need to worry about where to part it.

—Mitchell Hegman

In the Abstract

Photography, at its heart, is nothing more and nothing less than painting with light. An extremely tight focus, tipping the lens at a weird angle, extending the exposure, using a soft focus, or playing in the shadows: a multitude of tricks can reshape familiar things. Before long, the camera turns honest scenes into soft mysteries and outright abstractions.

Today, I’m posting one of my favorite abstractions. It’s a tight shot of water beading on the cover of my hot tub, captured in directional light.

—Mitchell Hegman

When Playing the Accordion Is Cool

The accordion is something of a latecomer as far as woodwind musical instruments go. It originated in Germany in the early 1800s, but was quickly adopted throughout both Europe and the Americas. When growing up, I knew a few kids who (usually pressed by their parents) learned to play the instrument.

But most kids in my era drifted toward guitars and rock and roll. Let’s be honest, nobody thought you could rock an accordion.

Well, we were wrong about that. To prove it, I’ve posted a short video of Vivaldi expressed on the accordion.

—Mitchell Hegman

Video Link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRWuEnjfYTE&list=RDkRWuEnjfYTE&start_radio=1

Something Herbert Hoover Said

Herbert Hoover served as the 31st President of the United States (1929–1933). He entered office with a reputation as a humanitarian and skilled administrator, but his presidency was defined by the onset of the Great Depression just months after he took office. Though often portrayed as inactive, Hoover did pursue relief measures: public works projects, loans to banks and businesses, and other forms of federal intervention. At the same time, his deep belief in limited government, balanced budgets, and voluntary cooperation kept him from embracing large-scale, direct aid. His policies, combined with poor public communication, made him appear out of touch with widespread suffering. Today he’s viewed not as uncaring, but as a capable and principled man whose philosophy proved mismatched to an economic catastrophe of unprecedented scale.

Following are three of Hoover’s quotes:

—"All men are equal before fish.”

—"About the time we can make the ends meet, somebody moves the ends.”

—"I'm the only person of distinction who has ever had a depression named for him.”

—Mitchell Hegman

Notes to Self

• Find more than one way home.
• Add something sweet.
• Don’t feed the monsters on Sunday nights.
• Use respect as your starting point.
• Don’t dress yourself so you look like a bee.
• Take more sunrise pictures.
• Borrow an old muscle car and spin a doughnut.
• Use smaller nails on trim.
• Own the days when you do everything and own the days when you do nothing.
• Use your words as thoughtfully as you would use permanent ink.

—Mitchell Hegman

The Quilters

Desiree and I watched a short Netflix documentary about a unique quilting club of sorts. Titled The Quilters, the thirty-some-minute movie reveals the operation of a quilting club within a Missouri maximum-security prison. The prisoners in the club design and sew beautiful, personalized quilts and give them to foster children and charities.

All the materials are donated, and inmates can participate in the program only if they have no prison infractions on record. Several of the inmates in the club are convicted murderers serving life sentences. Most have been incarcerated for several years. No matter the path that led them to the quilting club, they are, to a man, dedicated to doing their best work when producing the complex and often quite stunning quilts.

The work done by this quilting club is impressive and worth replication, and the film offers a brief but meaningful look at what such a project can accomplish.

I’ve posted a short trailer from the movie.

—Mitchell Hegman

Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1j8RoIiMi8