To Read & To Write

“If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.” – Henry David Thoreau As it turns out, Henry David Thoreau, considered by many to be a quintessential American writer, is not as quaint as I may have originally believed. My initial impression of Thoreau was just that – an initial impression - which did not keep me from reading one of his most famous works, “Walden”, even when I came across his more personally disagreeable ideals. The best places to go are places where one does not have to purchase any new clothes, he writes, or the idea that one should maximize (if you will) the concept of minimalism itself. I love clothes as a form of expression as do I love objects (particularly related to artistry), so his ideas seemed *quaint* to me. However, as I started to really contemplate Thoreau’s “Walden”, it became clear that Thoreau actually set a great example in that he came at the world, and the peop...

“Hold Still: A Memoir With Photographs” is the gripping true story of Sally Mann, the renowned American photographer. While some may not have heard of her yet, reading this book, which recently won the Andrew Carnegie Medal For Excellence In Nonfiction (2016), more than suffices as an introduction to her work. There are four parts to the book, each of which ties in her life and philosophy and how these have informed her art. It is fascinating to read Sally Mann’s skillfully and beautifully written account of her childhood: her unconventional parents and her love for horses, her home: in the farmlands of Virginia, wrought with a violent history, the story of her mother’s life: she was a descendant of a Mayflower pilgrim, and her beloved father, a reserved man compelled by death and it’s imagery.  The book is more than just these stories, because “Hold Still” reveals Sally Mann’s innermost desires, weaknesses, her most private of thoughts, her sometimes unorthodox viewpoints (she...