Hello, writers! We have officially entered the final week of the Worth Your Salt contest submission window. You have until this Friday, January 31st to get your entry in!
Winning submissions will be published on the Hazel & Wren website, be invited to read at the April 2014 book launch for The Salt Machine in Minneapolis, and receive a literary gift basket chock full of greatness! Said basket includes a free ebook copy of The Salt Machine, the entire Volume 1 of Thirty Two Magazine plus a gift subscription to Volume 2, a copy of Andy Sturdevant’s Potluck Supper with Meeting to Follow from Coffee House Press, a letterpress print from Hazel & Wren, a pocket notebook, a finger puppet (Yes, you read that correctly. A finger puppet.), and the best part: a pint of custom-flavored ice cream from Froz Broz. HOLY SMOKES. And to top it all off, the first prize winner will also receive a $25 gift certificate to Common Good Books.
In honor of these kick-ass gift baskets, let’s continue daydreaming about baskets and maybe write a few words about one (or three). Below are three to get you started.
Anton Bruehl, Untitled (Still-life of Four Roses, Glass of Bourbon, in a Hot Air Balloon Basket), 1930s. Photomechanical print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Suzuki Harunobu, A Woman Sweeping up her Love Letters, Edo Period (1615-1868). Woodblock print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York.
Winslow Homer, Girl Carrying a Basket, 1882. Watercolor over graphite on paper. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
P.S. Special thanks to our friends at Common Good Books, Thirty Two Magazine, Coffee House Press, and Froz Broz for their help in making these gift baskets the. greatest. things.
There’s nothing like a bustling city street to make you feel like you’re a part of something bigger. Or at least make you feel as if you are there, watching life happen. Unless, of course, you’re in a detached mood: then maybe it makes you feel like life is passing you by. Or maybe it makes you feel lost, and small.
A city street, man. It can bring out a lot to write about. Here are three to get you going.
Balthus, Le passage du Commerce Saint-Andre, 1952-54. Oil on canvas. Private collection.
Bertha Lum, Theatre Street, Yokohama, 1905. Woodblock print.
28th Street Looking east from Second Avenue, New York City, on April 4, 1931. Photograph. NYC Municipal Archives.
This past weekend, Wren and I watched two people dear to our hearts get hitched. It happens to be one of several weddings we have on our schedules this year (congratulations, everyone!).
This week’s for the lovers. Feel like writing about a little romance?
Suzuki Harunobu, Young Lovers Walking Together under an Umbrella in a Snow Storm (Crow and Heron), ca. 1769. Woodblock print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Natasha King, Untitled, 2011. Collage. Via flickr.
Stanley Kubrick, Couple playing footsies on a subway, from Life and Love on the New York City Subway series, 1946. Museum of the City of New York.
Foxes are a playful lot, and if folk tales are to be believed, crafty, too. I’ve already posted an edition featuring my all-time favorite animal; this week is dedicated to its smaller, slyer cousin. Let’s write a foxy piece, shall we?
mina_milk, jump, 2011. Watercolor. Via flickr.
Utagawa Hiroshige, New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree Oji, No. 118, 1857, from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. Woodblock print.
Hollie Chastain, Punched Tin Dreaming. Mixed media collage. www.holliechastain.com
And, yes, this is what happens when fox meets wolf. (Apologies for the poor quality. Apparently Fox — as in 20th Century Fox, not Mr. Fox — is a stickler for posting clips online. Crafty bastards.)
