New Year's should switch with Labour Day

Fall has been cautious in its arrival this year, with summery sunny days and warmer-than-usual nights for the entire month of September. Yet somehow my inner calendar remembers the season, and I am stepping into the "New Year" feeling that I always have at this time of year.This involves my usual list of thoughts to keep me awake at night, such as: Do I want to go back to school, or just get a new notebook and pen? What fall/winter employment opportunities might be on the horizon? Did I accomplish anything meaningful this year? Will I make (and keep) any "resolutions"? and -most important- How can I manage a trip to somewhere warm this winter?

Well, I'm not sure it's really a resolution, but I do want to try and contribute to my blog more often - even just short updates or a photo with a comment - and most transitions for me involve an intense need to feel organized, hence this new blog address and title. I hope Leonard Cohen doesn't mind me borrowing his song-lyric, but I figure anyone who shares a birthday on the International Day of Peace (Sept. 21) must automatically have a special bond.

Another new thing in my life is my furry little roommate:
Morgan is a 6 1/2 year-old Yorkshire Terrier. She is a retired Show-Dog from Sherwood Park, and so far we have been getting along really well! It's an adjustment to go from living alone to sharing space, even if it is only with a 5-pound pooch! One thing I have learned: show-dogs are not taught to "sit" on command, because you always want them standing to show off their perfect proportions to the judges. So that is one of the things we are working on now. I've never worked with a terrier breed before, but so far I concur with the stereotype that they are smart-but-stubborn - she only follows the commands she wants to, even though she knows exactly what I mean. I'm sure
we're in for a few adventures!

As for all the other questions on my "new-year" list, they are going to have to float around my brain for a bit longer.

Take care, JN

Oops! I wrote this post weeks ago, when fall was gentle warm and golden, and didn't post because I needed to upload a photo of Morgan. Suddenly, it's below zero, the ground is white, there's a snowfall warning, and I'm waiting for Morgan to get a haircut... Which means the photo below is now outdated! Think of it as the "before" picture:

5 Reasons Why I LOVE uppercase Magazine

DATE: 03/13/2012 11:09:25 PM
1. The Concept: How could I not pick up and fall in love with something that describes itself as "a magazine for the creative and curious"? It might as well be "a magazine for Jessie"! Each quarterly publication takes a random theme and stretches it like elastic bands in all different directions. The "eye spy" issue (#12) contains articles and photography about mail-art, vintage cameras, carrier pigeons, artist retreats, origami...
2. Local Colour: Uppercase is born and raised in Calgary! Their head office and gallery-space is located in ArtCentral downtown where inspired and hard-working editor, Janine Vangool can often be found doing at least three of the many tasks it takes to produce a magazine, run a small bookshop, raise a family, and generally be a cool person.
3. Global Perspective: Although made in Calgary, there's no worry about being overloaded with stampede-themed designs when reading this mag. Uppercase takes advantage of technology to connect and represent talented artists, designers, craftspeople and collectors from all over the world! Reading it (and the uppercase blog) makes me feel like I am part of a networked community of friends I haven't met - yet!
4. Abecedaries! Abecedary: adj. Pertaining to, or formed by the letters of the alphabet; alphabetic; hence, rudimentary. noun: A primer; the first principle or rudiment of anything. Each issue of Uppercase contains an "abc list" related to the theme in some way; for starters, issue #12's Abecedary of Maps and Map-making includes Alidade, Bench Mark, Cartography, Diapositive and Elevation. For definitions and the rest of the alphabet, see the magazine!
5. Quality: This is too nice to be called a "magazine". The pages are thick, and printing & design are rich. Only 4 issues per year, and each inch of page space is carefully taken advantage of. There are very few ads, and the ones included are beautiful examples of design in themselves. I have been heard saying I'd like to live inside this magazine; I can't wait for the new issue to arrive in my mailbox every few months so I can disappear between its covers for an adventure of inspiration.
I obviously highly recommend that you take a look at, and subscribe to Uppercase as soon as possible! If you access the Uppercase website through this blog, then I get to save up "referral points" that I can cash in on more lovely issues, so PLEASE click here:
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Occupy LOVE

DATE: 11/20/2011 09:53:43 PM

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Yes, This is a REAL Pencil...

DATE: 10/22/2011 02:55:46 AM ----- 

Every once in a while I come across something that reminds me that we all have gifts - no matter our circumstance, and we need to follow our passion - no matter how obscure. It is truly what makes the world a beautiful place: Waiting for my ride to the airport in San Francisco last week, I watched a man across the street going about his business dressed in cut-off jeans and a leopard tail; it gave his walk a certain swagger and made me smile. In the airport, I bought an activity kit called "The World's Smallest Postal Service" which contains everything needed to write teeny tiny letters and pack itty bitty parcels (including envelopes and miniature packing material for those fragile items) and I felt a special kinship with the person who could create such a wonderful thing. Her name is Lea Redmond, and she regularly sets up her miniature post office at coffee shops and transcribes tiny letters for passersby. At home, I was reading about folk artists and discovered the work of Dalton Ghetti. This amazing man won't sell any of his work (he even keeps a graveyard of pieces that break in-progress) but plans to donate the entire collection to a museum someday; that is one lucky museum! So tell me, what is it that YOU love to do? are you doing it? and if not, what's stopping you?

More of Dalton's work can be seen at http://www.daltonmghetti.com/index.asp

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People's Poetry

DATE: 08/23/2011 03:23:10 AM ----- 
Driving home from my sister's farm last week, Mom and I were listening to CBC describe the veritable plenty of activities to take in in Calgary on the weekend. All of the items on the "things to do" menu sounded great, but it was exhausting just hearing them rattled off one after another; by the time the radio segment was over, I thought I would probably just stay in (as usual).  Yet, as Saturday rolled past,  I started thinking how a lot of the events described on the air were various ways of inviting people to participate in the life of their community, and several of them included opportunities to connect with each other through creative activities; so yesterday I dragged myself out the door to enjoy the Sunday sunshine and I am so glad I did! Out of all the choices that lay before me: ReggaeFest, GlobalFest, the People's Poetry Festival, new exhibits at the Glenbow and Art Gallery of Calgary, X-Fest, Bow River Flow, Calgary Wellness Festival, ..., you can guess which one I chose...
The People's Poetry Festival was conceived as a small "let's do it ourselves" event by a couple poet/artists in town. They wanted to showcase the local poetry and spoken word scene, as well as promote the accessibility of poetry. The main goal of the festival is to send the message that, "poetry is not something mysterious to be left for English majors and sophisticates.  It builds on the understanding that poetry is simply a creative use of words to express ourselves with the potential of connection to other people and building community." Thanks to some generous sponsors for providing supplies and venues, and the Calgary's ubiquitous "volunteer spirit" it was free!
The event lasted for 3 days, and included opportunities to read, write, watch, hear, paint, speak and think about the beauty, fun and potential of words. In the short hour-and-a-half that I was there, I experienced the familar shopping district in a totally new way: I read offbeat poems scrawled on alley walls, pinned a haiku to a poeTREE, added to a poem someone started on a vintage typewriter, spied some folks comfortably "silent reading" on a sidewalk-couch, perused "the People's Journal", and collaged one of my favourite words (GAZEBO) on a wall. I was struck by the diversity of ways people participated: some dove right in, some watched from a distance with puzzled expressions, some asked many questions, and some timidly made their mark; a variety of ages, cultures, and ethnicities played along, and everyone I saw was having a great time!
On my way home, I realized this is EXACTLY the kind of thing I want this blog to be about and I am kicking myself for not seeing more, taking photos, and writing things down. I asked if it was going to become an annual event, and the organizer said "It started as this small little idea, and it just sort of took off! I hope somebody takes it on next year!" I hope so too. - jn
DATE: 08/23/2011 04:37:54 AM
The People's Poetry Festival website can be found at http://peoplespoetryfestival.com
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Random Acts of Knitting

DATE: 06/10/2011 10:28:47 PM -----
Do you know how to knit? Did your Grandma teach you? or did you learn from a friend? Do your co-workers know how? or that person in the grocerystore check-out in front of you? So many people knit or crochet, but even though the pastime has enjoyed a rise in popularity lately, it has remained a solo activity for the most part.
Imagine how many knitting friends you could meet if we all brought our knitting out of the closet and into the world! Tomorrow (Saturday, June 11) is the beginning of "World Wide Knit In Public Day" which, since its inception in 2005, has been extended to last an entire week! Volunteers all over the world have organized to host "KIP"s in their communities, where anyone can come and meet other local knitters. There is a website: http://www.wwkipday.com where people have posted their KIPs so, wherever you are, you can find one to join! I encourage you to host your own KIP or bring your needles and yarn out to the nearest coffee-shop or patio this week. I will be at the Dalhousie Starbucks from 12-2ish tomorrow if you want to join me. And, if you DO decide to Knit In Public snap me a photo and I'll make up a little collage to go with this post!
Happy knitting! - jn
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Welcome

DATE: 06/05/2011 03:47:43 AM -----
Welcome! I've been wanting to try my hand at a blog for quite a while now, but I came across a couple of major obstacles at the very beginning: First, there was the problem of the name. Can you believe 'doodlesoup' is already taken on ALL the free blog sites I could find??? And I just never came up with another name that felt like 'me'. (Sorry to those of you who were campaigning for 'negroponderings' but it just sounded a bit too much like the 'ponderings' of a 'negro' person... which I am clearly not, and I didn't want to lead folks astray. I finally found squarespace, which requires a small fee but hopefully will make up for that with no ads and helpful support people.
Then, I couldn't figure out a topic that would be interesting for more than one person to read and sustainable enough that I would WANT to add to it from time to time. So I gave up for a while, until one auspicious day I decided to look at a few TED talks and learned about a specific project by Aaron Koblin, and I immediately wanted to email everyone I know so they could check it out... and I thought about all the amazing cool experiments in community creativity that are out there... and the idea of writing about participatory art projects was born!
I'll tell you about Aaron's project in the next post. Until then, keep your space creative! - jn