Three things on a Friday

[asakiyume]

Ed Ou: The North

I've been wanting to share the amazing photo essays of Ed Ou--in particular, one of life in Nunavut. Never have I felt I got to know life in a distant place so well merely from pictures as I did from looking through this collection. Warning: There are scenes of hunting and its aftermath in this--which is part of life in Nunavut--so don't go to the link if that will upset you.

Ed Ou: The North


Ed Ou: The North


The choices Ed made in who to photograph, and where, really give such a whole, compassionate, intimate picture of life in the Arctic. I loved them. And we're having our own Nunavut-like temperatures here this weekend, so--well, it's a tenuous sort of connection, but a connection.

Here's my own photo of our bright star, caught in the trees and not conveying much warmth this morning



Rhysling nomination

I was so moved and touched to receive a Rhysling nomination for my poem "The Peal Divers." It's been so long since I wrote poetry--that was one poem that came to me in the midst of my poetry desert. With just one poem to my name in 2014, it never occurred to me to even consider awards. And yet someone, some member of the SFPA, remembered it and nominated it. I'm humbled and grateful.

Pop Sonnets

popsonnets.tumblr.com recasts pop lyrics as sonnets. Very fun. Here's "Baby Got Back."

Comments

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

I was so moved and touched to receive a Rhysling nomination for my poem "The Peal Divers."

I'm very happy to hear the poem was nominated! I remember it's first incarnation here on LJ. :D

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I was so surprised! And very happy--and yeah, LJ is a great place to develop a poem.

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

Urrk, *its*.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I didn't even notice! And I make this sort of typo all the time. No worries, I know you know the difference :-P

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Those are wonderful photographs.

And made me think of my friend Richard Grassick's photos of hill farmers in the north of England (http://www.amber-online.com/exhibitions/people-of-the-hills?show_all=true) - nothing near as dramatic, but a similar warmth in the depiction of people living a hard life.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, absolutely a similar feel--these are wonderful photos too; thank you. My husband will want to see them too.

[cafenowhere.livejournal.com]

Also, have perused some of Ed Ou's work, and hunting polar bear for food looks like a LOT of work. Glad I don't have to do it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, serious hunting is serious business, looks like.

Interesting to see those photos, and then the ones of the supermarket, all eerie with its fluorescent lighting. Loved that one for the babe asleep on mom's back.

[sovay]

I was so moved and touched to receive a Rhysling nomination for my poem "The Peal Divers."

Congratulations!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[larryhammer]

Pop Sonnets is good at that. Sweeeet.

Almost as sweet as the nomination.

---L.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I love those pop sonnets so much :-)

[gwynnega]

I'm so glad "The Peal Divers" was nominated! I love that poem.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you! And congratulations to you, too--yours was a deeply moving poem, and I'm really glad it got nominated, too.

[gwynnega]

Thank you!

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

Congratulations on your nomination!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the photo essay link. It looks very interesting!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

It really is. I feel like I know the place now. I realize that's an illusion, but I do feel like I've had *more* of a look at it, seen more things, than would typically be possible in a mere half-hour of time. A picture really can be worth a thousand words. (But of course I value words, too!)

[ericmarin.livejournal.com]

That's a very cool poem. :-)

And thank you for sharing Ou's photos.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome on both counts. I really wanted to share Ou's work.

[scallywag195.livejournal.com]

If my mom saw those pictures, she'd die. She hates hunting and guns and all such things. But for Natives, it is their culture and way of life. Who are we to say it's wrong? Alaska Natives are allowed a certain number of whale kills every year. That is how they've lived for over a thousand years. Some animal rights groups get all hot and bothered by that, think they should become vegetarians. They simply don't understand subsistence living. Or the cost of transportation of food to places where there are no roads and no shipping lanes.

I loved the fact that your poem was nominated. My daughter recently had a poem published in Cirque, A Literary Journal for the North Pacific Rim. A few years ago, she was invited into one of LJ's poetry groups and I think she posts a lot on that board. The feedback has been really good for her. It gave her a real boost in confidence that she can write and write well enough to be noticed.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

LJ has been ****amazingly*** supportive and an amazing community. I doubt I'd be writing now if it weren't for LJ.

Re: life in Nunavut . . . yeah, subsistence hunting doesn't bother me at all, but I understand people not wanting to see blood and death if they're not in the mood for it.

Three thoughts on a Saturday

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

1) that Ed Ou photo essay is intriguing and inspiring. I wasn't able to look at all of it because my connection is agonizingly slow at the moment, but it makes me think about people and places a bit differently. Well, to be more specific makes me think of photographing them differently, as in not getting a, to use the vernacular of our times, pinterest-perfect shot but a real shot.

2) Moving and touching, yes, and also well-deserved! Congrats!

3) Hehe. that sonnetized (sanitzed? :P) version makes me think of a high school English class when we studied "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time."

Re: Three thoughts on a Saturday

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

re (1) yeah, I really love *real* shots--though these shots all have tremendous artistry. Like that second one: with a square of light up above and a square of light from the open fridge, and a figure up above, and a figure in the fridge light. And the bareness of that fridge speaks to the necessity of the hunting. *GOD I love this photo essay*

... I can't even articulate why it struck me so fiercely.

re (3) mmmmm, rosebuds :D

(and thanks)

[syomsong.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! It is wonderful to have such a nomination!
Happy Valentine's

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Happy Valentines! And thank you.