“It’s been exactly a year since The Items We Carry, a flickr group, was started by designer and photographer Naz Hamid. It’s for photos of the small things we put in our pockets or on our persons — the essentials we need to function daily at a basic level.

This week, we’ve invited Naz to JPG, to run this interesting challenge within our community. So empty your pockets and show us what you have! We’ll play by his rules—if you don’t have pockets and say, are a lady, then your purse may serve as your pockets (no bags otherwise)—and Naz himself will be guest editing this challenge!

If you did this challenge on flickr last year, do it again, and link to your original photo. What’s changed since then?

This challenge will be open for one week and will close on July 30, 2008.”

Do it!

Update: The selections I made have been posted which are also available as a PDF download. Thanks to all who participated.

Last evening, I attended the Field Tested Books: Live in Chicago set of readings (NYC, Monday!) and had a great time. I’m not the biggest fan of readings depending on the pedigree of the reader or readers at hand and there are certainly some who delve into Freebird jam-band territory¹ but last night’s readings were on point.

The material at hand helps: short, brief, concise narratives held together by a common topic with a relatively similar structure. Easily digestible, easily enjoyed and no wankery.

That said, some writers are born to be writers and not readers. Or rather, public speakers — in the sense that there could be some showmanship involved. Years of live music and good showmanship have spoilt me in that regard. There were some definite highlights though: Bryan Bedell’s delivery and humour, John Tolva’s phoning it in from Ghana, Jonathan Messinger and Wendy McClure as always knows how to close a show down.

Much props and love to the Coudal crew as always.

My photos from the event are here on Flickr, as I field tested the rented Nikon 18-200VR lens (which I am decidedly not fond of) and the noise and blurriness get worse as the light gets super low. Apologies. My prime 28mm f1.8 should have been on deck.

¹ A zinester reading a few years ago scarred me when the reader used a candle to emphasize her point by lighting it then diffusing it. Bleah. ↩

Waiting in the parking lot two weekends ago. Hampshire, IL.

The Girl™ taught me how to sew. I’ve wanted to learn for years. My mother tried teaching me when I asked as a very young child but was far to complex for my 11 year old mind at the time. I’d watch her make a variety of things over the years — anything really. As the years have gone on, it’s one of the skills I’ve always wanted to add to the toolkit. From my own selfish reasons¹ to other exploratory ones².

With much joy, I learned how to thread the machine, insert the bobbin, and go to town. We’ll see what comes about.

¹ I’ve hemmed a lot of my t-shirts — I wear smalls in shirts but am not as tall as your average American male and so I find most stock t-shirts too long for my liking and torso. ↩

² Making bags, wallets, containers, things that I’m curious about.  ↩

While this is from Stephen King’s On Writing, I think it applies to the digital realm equally as well, especially given that the computer itself provides a variety of distractions in the same place.

If possible, there should be no telephone in your writing room, certainly no TV or videogames for you to fool around with. If there’s a window, draw the curtains or pull down the shades unless it looks out at a blank wall. For any writer, but for the beginning writer in particular, it’s wise to eliminate every possible distraction. If you continue to write, you will begin to filter out these distractions naturally, but at the start it’s best to try and take care of them before you write. I work to loud music — hard-rock stuff like AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, and Metallica have always been particular favorites — but for me the music is just another way of shutting the door. It surrounds me, keeps the mundane world out. When you write, you want to get rid of the world, do you not? Of course you do. When you’re writing, you’re creating your own worlds.