More photos from Louisville

Obama cookies from Plehn's Bakery, Since 1924.



Lucy was honored alongside fellow UofL grad and Basketball Hall of Famer Wes Unseld.



Wonderful type at Standiford Field in Louisville.





Portland.

Photos from Louisville

I flew to Louisville a couple of weeks ago to see my sister Lucy receive an award from the University of Louisville.
My brothers and I have gotten our hair cut at Xavier Nally's since the '60s.

Trinity High School, home of the Fighting Shamrocks.

Mr. William P. Bradford II, the artistic director of the Trinity Theatre Department for the last thirty-six years, and an important teacher for me.

Art director gene

Leo arranged his haul from trick-or-treating on the living room floor tonight.

Mumbledy-peg

Last January, Luker and I bought knives for the people in the creative department we believed were leading the way forward. We had a few knives left over, and tonight I dropped one deep into my right foot.



It went through my leather shoe, sock, and sank three quarters of an inch into my foot, somehow missing any tendons.



Susan sewed it up. Since it's Halloween, she was dressed up as, I think, a Police Crime Scene?




Good as new!

It must be Halloween

I've already seen jack-o-lantern pancakes, made of fruit leather, dried blueberries and an apple wedge, and wings on the barista, made of crow feathers, spirit gum and medical tape.

Happiness under the rug

After lunch David Neevel and I stopped into a small market in Chinatown and I bought this delicate handcut paper with the Chinese symbol for happiness.

Later, Stephen Giém from 12.5 stopped by for a visit as I was trying to figure out where to put it in my space. Stephen suggested, "Why don't you put it under your rug."

"Under the rug?" I asked. "Why?"

"Because then one day, when you move the rug, you'll say: there that is."

Tree tunnel

On the way to school each morning, the boys and I get to drive through what we call the Tree Tunnel, a long section of NE Knott where the trees from each side of the street grow together over the road. That drive is like pizza. I will never get tired of it.

Goodbye W+K!

W+K threw us a little going-away party last night at La Merde. It was nice. I really appreciate that so many people took the time to show up.



Michele LeFore got Michael Illick, an ex-W+K copywriter famous for his painfully pointed caricatures and inappropriateness, to make the poster.

It is difficult for me to find pants long enough.

Poor Lula's friend

Leo's logo

Told Leo I am working on a logo for Grandfather Mountain. He gave me this.

Motivation

I'm almost embarrassed by how much I am enjoying Imprint, by Daniel Eatock. I can feel my heart beating faster. Creating something, putting it out there in the world, inspiring a reaction, a connection, from some other human being: that's it for me.

Next would be the process of creating. I love it so much.

Next would be how you can employ all of the stuff above to solve problems. Particularly motivating is solving hard problems for good people, people who create value for the world, open people who value creativity.

Next would be working with talented, smart, open people to do all of the above. Collaborating in all of this. Having to work hard to keep up. I love that.

I'm not sure, but I'm optimistic

My office is just a few blocks from the best bookstore on earth. Today I picked up a funky old copy of Alicia Bay Laurel's Living On The Earth. I also saw another piece of 12's promo campaign for Wordstock: a simple, elegantly straight forward idea: shelf signs promoting the 200+ authors appearing at Wordstock, each sign located underneath that particular author's books.

Also saw this picture of Tibor Kalman on the side of a bookcart.

Drawn to vote

On election day, 12.5 is holding an art show at Backspace gallery called Drawn to Vote.

For the show, people were invited to create a personal commentary on voting directly onto their election envelopes. I was nervous about having my vote disqualified, but 12 checked with election officials and were told that people are welcome to use the envelope as a canvas as long as the message is non-partisan.

I hope this counts as non-partisan. Lately I've been listening to Stephen Mitchell's incredible translation of Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, and I typed a few chapters related to leadership and governance.

There goes a house

On our way to the downtown farmer's market today we noticed an old house moving down SW Columbia. It was the historic Ladd Carriage house. When it was threatened to be torn down so they could build a parking structure, preservationatists quickly assembled and the next thing you know, they move the house, build an underground parking lot, then move the house back to its original location on top of the garage. I love Portland.

The house made it through its move without a scratch. This sign post, not so lucky.

Guerrilla mktg at the labyrinth

I walked the labyrinth at Stark and SE 47th today.

On the way out, near the enormous tree at the western side of the labyrinth, I noticed a spraypainted hunk of stone. It was a piece of brand advertising for the Oregon Bus Project, a progressive pro-democracy nonprofit started by Jefferson Smith.

I thought it was pretty nice - subtle and artful - and then I turned the stone over and found this.

A collaborative effort between the Bus Project and Ann Sacks tile? Co-op advertising to inspire you to get involved in democracy and then pick out new kitchen countertops? Genius.

Fly wakes up in PDX, goes to sleep in LA

I flew down to LA today with this fly to meet with Stacy and Doug at Epoch Films.


They are starting a new production company called Grandfather Mountain. I'm working on their brand identity and talking to them about directing for them as well.

"English First" in Nashville

There's a group in Nashville trying to make sure that if you can't speak English, you can't receive social services. They call themselves English First.

My brother Ted asked me to come up with some sort of counter-point he could post at his Nashville business. Jimm Lasser and I, along with translation help from Elisa Silva and others, came up with this. It's gotten good response. The Kurdish community is translating it for a version for themselves.

God heard hope, money, weapons

Since I've left 12, it's changed the nature of my relationship with my former students, some for the better. A few have dropped by in the couple of weeks I've been gone, and it's been nice. Since the roles have changed - no longer formally teacher/student, nor ECD/W+K employee - the conversation has become much more direct and open. Neither of us want or expect a thing from each other other than honest listening, maybe encouragement. Feels more like being a grandparent than being a parent maybe? Or maybe brother.

One student came by last week and took this photo of me in my studio, which he dubbed my monastic cave.

While he was here, we translated his name and came up with this. I've always felt that studying the meaning of your name gives you a clue as to what your path is in this world.

Coffee and treats for the neighbors

I invited my third floor neighbors and a few guests for coffee in my studio this morning.

Jayme and Simon, the guy who built the shelves in the space.

Rob Heppler from 12.5, and Byron Oshiro, account director of 12.

Kathleen stopped by to make sure people liked the pumpkin bread.

The nun's story

The Nun's Story, starring Audrey Hepburn. The cover makes it look like kitsch but when Jeff Williams recommends something I watch it and I'm always glad.

Audrey Hepburn is great, but it's the story of the nun's ritual that is so bizarre and fascinating and humbling. Early in the movie, Sr. Margharita, Mistress of the Postulants, tells the new nuns, "We constantly strive toward perfection by inner silence. The ultimate goal of this silence it to make possible constant conversation with God. Therefore we do not talk loudly; nor do we engage in useless conversations."

Maybe this is my problem. Blogs are too often useless converations. I think I'll be quiet for a while until I have something to say.

Birth/death

Documenting the size of the exhaust duct for our new dryer, to take to the guy at the hardware store so I could buy the right kind of venting, and I take a second look at the photo and thought to myself, this is the most beautiful photo I've ever taken in my life. Printed huge on an Epson printer, it'd look gorgeous. If I can find a little oomph, I'll do that.