Blog No. 275: Fashion Designer Max Alexander, Phone Addiction And What To Do About It, Trude's Flourless Orange Cake Revisited

Max Alexander: Fashion Prodigy

This amazing. orange creation is made from a recycled parachute. Designed by 10 Year Old Max Alexander.

How many 10 year olds have shown their fashion collection in Paris during Fashion week? If you don’t believe in past lives, this might just change your mind.

At the age of four, Max Alexander announced to his family that he was a dress maker and began to create amazing clothing—-designing, draping and sewing creations worthy of any top designer. Just this month, Max made history as the youngest designer to show at Paris Fashion Week, featuring his collection of sustainable clothing shown here in this YouTube video and an Instagram post.

To see his entire runway show inspired by flowers and sustainable materials, crafted from deadstock, surplus, recycled and biodegradable materials, inspired by flowers and sustainable materials. 90% of his collection was crafted from deadstock, surplus, recycled and biodegradable materials. click here.

Phone Addiction: What To Do About It

Photo courtesy Roddy Bleloch

Click image to hear Jennifer Jolly’s podcast on phone addition and what to do about it…

If you are anything like me, we feel we cannot live without our phones. We get mad at ourselves for wasting so much time scrolling, freak out when we forget where we put it, and feel totally naked without it…Simply put, we are addicted big time to these little devices and feel we cannot live without them, even for minutes…46 percent of Americans say they are addicted and look at their phones for an average of 186 times a day! For more detailed statistics on phone usage, click here. Recent studies and the outcome from this week’s Meta/Google court case have made us realize that this addiction is not really our fault. “The systems running on your phone were designed by behavioral scientists and engineers specifically to be as hard to put down as possible.” Much like the tobacco industry that knowingly sold a harmful product that was manufactured for maximum addiction, the tech industry has done the same.

This week they were actually held accountable, in a case that has serious and wide ramifications. My good friend, tech journalist Jennifer Jolly of USA Today and the Today Show (and her own site, Techish) has been covering the California social media court case, one that normally would have gotten much more attention (if there wasn’t so much madness going on in the news these days).A California jury found that Meta and Google's YouTube were to blame for the depression and anxiety of a woman who compulsively used social media as a small child, awarding her $6 million in a rare verdict holding Silicon Valley accountable for its role in fueling a youth mental health crisis. And it seems that this case is just the first of many…

But it is not all bad news—there might be some things we can do to at least partially cure ourselves: Researchers at Heidelberg University and the University of Cologne have conducted a study—taking 25 young adults and restricting their cell phone use for 72 hours. They ran MRI scans on them before and after and found that just three days (72-hours) produced measurable differences in brain regions linked to reward processing and impulse control…showing that just that short period of time without a smartphone can significantly alter brain activity, similar to breaking an addiction. So folks, for starters: let’s try to put down our phones more often, and leave them outside of the bedroom. In Jennifer’s Techish newsletter this week, she talks about how going back to an old fashioned alarm clock cut her screen time dramatically and led to an almost instant boost in her energy and creativity. I’m going to find a new alarm clock too and have a good old book on my night table in case I wake up, as I often do, in the middle of the night…Being conscious is the first step towards a cure and I am even trying to figure out a time to go for those three days cold turkey…

Jennifer Jolly is a great source for anything tech-ish—not so much gadgets or Silicon Valley, but as a nationally syndicated tech-life columnist and host for USA Today and a regular contributor to The Today Show, CNN, HLN, Time, Yahoo! and ABC among other media outlets. You can read her very informative newsletter Techish on substack and listen to her podcast Techishly Jenn on Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts.

OK GO Band

With Passover coming up, I thought I would republish the most delicious Passover friendly Orange Cake (in memory of Trude Victor). Incorporating the whole orange, rind and all, you don't have to be Jewish to love it.

Trude Victor’s Orange Cake
INGREDIENTS:
2 large navel oranges
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups grated almonds
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
INSTRUCTIONS:
Boil oranges-organic would be good-  in water to cover for 30 minutes or so. I would let it cool for a while, and then process the whole oranges rind included in a food processor

Beat the whole eggs and then add the rest of the ingredients.

Bake in a greased form (I use a round springform- but I don't think you have to)  for 400 degrees for one hour (that might be a bit long)

Let it cool-  She served it with confectionary sugar on top.

For a slight variation on this same recipe, check out RecipeTinEats with cook Nagi Maehashi on instagram.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. Mandala Series: Plaid Yellow Bird 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $1500

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 274: Mr. Nobody Against Putin Documentary, The Poster I Dreamed Of, Ok Go Band (Copy)

I hate to lecture but please please please contact five friends and make sure you all show up for the nationwide No Kings Protest on Saturday March 28th (www.nokings.org to find an event near you). We are the last line of defense to save our democracy and we need to come out IN FORCE with a showing bigger than ever. Please don’t just worry and complain, even if you have never come to a protest… JUST SHOW UP WITH FRIENDS. It might be Now or Never…

Please show up! And so important—bring a friend or two. We need to show up in HUGE numbers and make this the biggest one ever—our democracy literally depends on it! Click image to find an event near you.

Mr. Nobody
Against Putin

I love documentaries. I have my 8th grade social studies teacher, Mr. Green, to thank for introducing so many of us at Byram Hills High School to the world of film. It was one of his passions and like any good teacher, he conveyed that passion to his students and it became contagious. Thank you again Mr. Green, if you are reading this and for being a subscriber to` my substack, and for the A+ grade you actually gave me a while back on it (unsolicited)...

Mr. Nobody Against Putin won the Academy Award for best documentary this year and I think it was well deserved! It is the story of a school in the very polluted town of Karabash, located in the middle of nowhere in Russia, (life expectancy 38 because of the pollution from the copper mines there), and the kindness and passion of one single quirky very popular teacher, Pasha Talankin, a videographer in the school who was in charge of organizing and videotaping special school events. The students gravitated to him, hanging out in his classroom and looking to him as a mentor.

As a result of his invasion of Ukraine, Putin began a propaganda campaign in the schools with the aim of indoctrinating kids to eventually become soldiers, similar to Hitler Youth.

To say this didn’t sit well with Pasha Talankin is an understatement. As someone who was assigned to document school events, Talankin went about his job of documenting this indoctrination process, but with the idea of doing something with the material. Mr. Nobody against Putin, a joint venture between this brave teacher and filmmaker David Borenstein, an American living in Denmark, is the result of this process. Pasha Talankin, with much to lose, is an example for all of us. He stood up to the regime but he refuses to accept the idea that he did anything brave or extraordinary. "No," he told me, "it's just normal.”

The Poster I Dreamed About

Yosano Akiko, Japanese Poet. She wrote the feminist poem that was on the poster: Mountain Moving Day

For years now, I have been remembering a poster I got when I visited my honorary big sister at college in Boston when I was about 13. We did a lot of fun things like buying purple converse sneakers and going to some cool shops in the Cambridge area and one of the things I brought home as a memento from the trip was this cool poster. The image of it has stuck in my mind for all these years and from time to time I have tried to search the internet trying to see it again but to no avail.

Until today!

Upon picking up another poster that I had gotten framed at a local frame shop, I had that other poster on my mind and mentioned it to Darryn, the woman working there. She had a suggestion—describe it to AI.

So ironic! I had just written about AI recently and how I hated and feared it…

Never say never. I went home to my computer and typed in: “I am trying to find a poster from the 1970s out of an art collective in Boston: blue and green silkscreen with an African woman with a baby on her back.” What came up in literal seconds astounded me:

AI: “What you’re describing actually matches a very specific genre of political screenprints from the 1970s—so you’re on the right track. The details you gave (Boston, silkscreen, blue/green palette, African woman with baby) point strongly toward radical print collectives tied to the Black Arts / liberation movements. Here are the most likely leads, based on your description:

The first lead was
👉 a Boston Collective known for its political posters—I had a look at their selections but no luck there.

The second choice said:
👉 Chicago Women’s Graphics Collective (important clue) One documented poster shows A woman with a baby tied on her back
Done in blue/green silkscreen
Strong political / liberation imagery
lornebair.cdn.bibliopolis.com

Then it said: “That description is almost eerily close to what you said.”
➡️ Even though they were Chicago-based, these posters circulated nationally, including Boston activist spaces."

And voila! Here is the poster I have been searching to see again after 55+ years!” And it just literally took a few seconds…

By Lorne Bair

So I guess I am going to eat my words—AI can come be an incredibly useful tool in many ways. But sadly, us humans always will put things to negative use as well and we don't think of implications when we create something new… and that is exactly why we must regulate and set up rules to control artificial intelligence so it doesn't become the death of us…

And below are a few of my other favorite posters from my childhood: 

The “No War Toys” poster is an anonymous or unattributed work from the Vietnam-era anti-war movement rather than something definitively tied to a single known artist.

Artist: Lorraine Schneider

Poster by Ben Shahn for the Gene McCarthy presidential campaign 1968

Not a political poster but one that hung in my room for many years…advertising a Matisse show at the Knoedler Gallery in NYC. The gallery was later convicted of fraud.

Poster designd on very short notice by Arnold Skolnick

OK GO Band

Ok Go is a band, originally out of Chicago but now based in LA, known for their wild videos. I have included my favorite one here-—I featured it in a past blog—but share it again because of its sheer ingenuity and the joy that it brings me…Take a few minutes to watch—it will make your day…And as always, I welcome any reactions you might have about it or anything else in this newsletter...

OK GO: Upside Down & Inside Out

OK GO: Love

A Stone Only Rolls Downhill

Poster&Painting of the Week

Poster by Lorne Bair enlarged…

Pam Smilow. 60” x 42”. mixed media on canvas. $7500

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 273: Jean Michel Basquiat, The Iditarod Trail Race, Poet Leonara Speyer

Jean Michel Basquiat
at the Louisiana Museum

Click image to hear Anders Kold talk about the exhibition

Click image to see different artists talking about Jean-Michel Basquiat

Two great things in one place! One of my most favorite artists Jean Michel Basquiat in a wonderful gem of a museum in Denmark.

Basquiat (1960-1988) is an artist I greatly admire and he is now being featured in the Louisiana Museum located in Humlebæk on the Oresund Sound just north of Copenhagen, Denmark. The museum itself is a work of art--designed by Catalan architect Josep Sert, who also designed a number of beautiful buildings including the Miro Foundation in Barcelona, Spain, the Maeght Foundation in Vence, France and an apartment complex on Roosevelt Island in NYC.

The Danish exhibit Headstrong focuses on Basquiat’s drawings of heads that he created between the years of 1981 and 1983, at the height of his career. During those years, he was already exhibiting worldwide and was the youngest artist to ever take part in the world renowned exhibit Documenta in Kassel, Germany. At 22, he became one of the youngest to be included in the Whitney Biennial in New York. He had come a long way from his roots as a street artist from the lower east side of Manhattan and was very quickly noticed by critics, gallerists and artists alike...

Basquiat’s art often focused on the human body (he was given the book of Gray’s Anatomy as a child) combining text and image to explore such ideas regarding social injustice: wealth vs. poverty, integration vs. segregation, racism, while also drawing on his own inner emotional life and experiences. Not all of the illustrations here are part of the exhibition at the Louisiana Museum but the focus on the human head has been a prominent image in the artist's vocabulary. If you can, hurry to see this show before May 17th, 2026.

P.S. Denmark is one of my favorite countries so hit me up for recommendations if you decide to go…

The Iditarod Trail Race

Lance Mackey, champion musher

I have been interested in sled dogs, perhaps first as a result of the statue of Balto in Central Park which I often made a pilgrimage to with my daughter Morgan. She simply loved the story and the statue and the subsequent book and movie about this famous dog. For those who don’t know it, Balto was an Alaskan husky who led a team of sled dogs to Nome Alaska under harrowing weather conditions, carrying crucial medicine to counter a diphtheria outbreak in that town. Their effort ended up saving the day for many inhabitants of Nome.

Joe Redington Sr., known as the “Father of the Iditarod” and Dorothy Page (Chair of the Wasilla-Knik Centennial Committee) founded the Iditarod Trail Race in the 1960s as an attempt to save the dog sled culture and Alaskan huskies, both of which were disappearing rapidly by the introduction of snowmobiles in that state. I have followed the Iditarod from a distance every year about this time…

It seems there are quite a few films that have come out recently about the Iditarod, so I guess I am not the only one who is fascinated by this 1049 mile race through the Arctic wilderness of Alaska. Looking for a documentary to watch today on Netflix, The Great Alone caught my eye. It is the story of Lance Mackey (of the famous Iditarod Mackey family) and the obstacles Lance overcame over the years--from drug addiction, to homelessness and cancer, he came to the conclusion that “life is too short to be screwing up” and set his mind to following in the family footsteps and entering the race...Lance Mackey has an indomitable spirit and just didn't give up, determined to make something of himself and to make his family proud. This is his story. If you are a dog lover as I am, if you love to see the stark, beautiful Arctic wilderness scenery of our 49th state, or you just want a good survival story, this film is for you...

Poet Leonara Speyer

Leonara Speyer, Poet (1872-1956)

Click to download and read the poems in this book.

And Was There Not a King
by Leonara Speyer

And was there not a king somewhere who said:
“Back, waves! I do command you!” I forget
His name, beloved, or his race, and yet
I know the story and am comforted.
The tides will rise, are rising—see, they spread
About your robes, your ermine will be wet,
Your velvet shoes, your dear dear feet! Ah let
Me warn you, sir, the waves will reach your head!

My king, my kingly love, how shall we stay
The bold broad lifting of this lovely sea?
What is the master word that we must say
To bring these roaring waters to the knee?
The other king went scampering away!
Will you so do? Or will you drown with me?

This poem is in the public domain. Courtesy Poem-a-Day on March 1, 2026, by the Academy of American Poets.

Painting of the Week

Portrait of my Uncle Stan, who passed away this month at the age of 96. He was my cool uncle, taking me and my sister Judy around New York City in the 1960’s. I remember the crispy chickpeas on the table of Max’s Kansas City and his afghan hounds Niko, Joffrey, and Boris. He will be missed!

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 272: San Francisco Bay Podcast, Is the Internet Dying?, Music is a Refuge

‍ ‍The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information

Kate and Mike

Mike Herz

Kate Josephs

I am new to small towns, after living in New York City most of my life. I kind of moved up to mid-coast Maine without realizing I was really making a move and now, as I find myself settled in, I realize here I really am!

Maybe I just got lucky but I seemed to have stumbled on a town and area full of really cool people! So many involved in life in deep ways, enlightened, learned, connected, full of a lifetime of interesting experiences. Maybe Maine just attracts these types and has some kind of special allure...

Today I write about two of these people--my neighbors on Water Street, Mike Herz and Kate Josephs, who split their time between mid-coast Maine and a houseboat (an old trawler) in Point Richmond, California. They are the authors of the newly launched podcast Once Upon A Bay, available on the typical podcast platforms: spotify, apple, etc.

Mike Herz is a passionate guy who doesn't sit still. Environmental causes are one of his many passions and his secret to staying young at the ripe young age of 90! As SF baykeeper (in the tradition of Pete Seeger and the Hudson River), Mike has dedicated much of his time to exploring all the myriad of stories around this large tidal estuary, the second-largest estuary on the Pacific coast. HE has made a significant impact on the protection of many west coast waterways through successful fights against pollution and contamination.

Kate Josephs has worn many hats over the years from venture capital and community development finance to political organization and activism. She can now add podcasts to her list of accomplishments as creator and producer of Once Upon a Bay. In many ways this podcast, being released in segments, is a love letter to the San Francisco Bay. From shipwrecks to the wildlife around the Bay, they share so many fascinating stories that capture the beauty and dynamism of this amazing living body of water...

P.S. And one more important piece of information: Mike and Kate are also the parents of my granddog, Frenchy's best friend, Holly, a beautiful and rambunctious foxhound.

Frenchy and Holly

Is The Internet Dying?

I recently heard a statistic that sent chills up my spine on a Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC) podcast called IDEAS: The Internet is Dying. The Internet is Dead. It stated that "slightly more than half the traffic on the internet is non-human activity. Bots. We see the same comments over and over. The same style of response. Near-instant polarization. The humanness of the internet is receding and it's left our online spaces feeling haunted, like a deserted mall where the fountain is still gurgling, the canned music is still playing, but the people are nowhere to be found. When did the internet begin to die? And what will happen to us when it's dead." I can't get that image of the empty shopping mall out of my head...

With all of us here in America asleep at the wheel, being bombarded with all kinds of SH_T from every angle: The Epstein Files, the War in Iran that is rapidly spreading, the abject corruption of the current administration, the attack on our democracy and constitution, ICE, etc. etc. we are being taken over by AI, perhaps the biggest transformation our world will ever experience since the industrial revolution and maybe even bigger... This Canadian Broadcast Corporation IDEAS: The Internet is Dying, The Internet is Dead is a interview between CBC host Nahlah Ayed and Cory Doctorow as they explore what the internet has become and what it could be. Fascinating talk which frames and clarifies a lot of issues that I bet many of us have never even thought about, as seen from a Canadian perspective.

Music as a Refuge

Thank God for music! Here is what I am listening to these days in between activism and trying to run away from the news…

Blues Run the Game Jackson C. Frank

Jersey Girl by Tom Waits

Joan of Arc by Jennifer Warnes

Mr. Tanner by Harry Chapin

Border Reiver by Mark Knopfler

Song for a Winter's Night by Gordon Lightfoot

Painting of the Week

These yoga mats double as kitchen mats. Very high quality, nice and thick, a little pricey due to the fact they are made in America and pass California environmental standards…Worth the price…

Check out the artSHOP on my website for the whole line of products based on my art and that of my late husband, Danish artist Gert Mathiesen.

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 271: A Friend of Dorothy Short Film, Creative Uses of Artificial Intelligence, Ky Dickens Interviews

‍ ‍The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information

A Friend of Dorothy Short Film

Alistair Nwachukwu and Miriam Margolyes in A Friend of Dorothy

Miriam Margolyes as Dorothy

This twenty minute Live Action Short Film entitled A Friend of Dorothy, written and directed by Lee Knight, has been nominated for an Oscar. It is a little gem of a movie: light hearted, touching, kind...just what the doctor ordered. Run, don’t walk to see it…It will counter all the negative vibes around us at least for a bit...

Creative Uses of Artificial Intelligence

Courtesy Kelly Boesch www.theknollergroup.com

Click image to see Kelly Boesch’s Instagram. Image courtesy theknollergroup.com

I’m not a fan of Artificial Intelligence—in fact I am terrified of it and worried sick over its repercussions for our world but I can’t help but find some AI generated videos fascinating from a creative and artistic point of view. If only us humans would stick to the good uses of this new technology…

I happened upon these video creations by Kelly Boesch and The Knoller Group and couldn't help but be captivated...You might want to follow them on instagram as well

Bite My Lip- Official AI Music Video - 4K by Kelly Boesch AI Music Video

Born to Start Again by Kelly Boesch Official Music Video (AI) - Born To Start Again

"Betrayal” – A Surreal Journey Through Strange Beauty (AI Animated) by Kelly Boesch

The Genius of Kelly Boesch

Tests of Flying by Kelly Boesch

Courtesy Kelly Boesch https://www.theknollergroup.com/

Courtesy Kelly Boesch www.theknollergroup.com

Courtesy Kelly Boesch https://www.theknollergroup.com/

Two Interviews with Ky Dickens

Illustration of Ky DIckens, Courtesy Tetragrammaton

Jay Shetty Podcast

Here are two powerful interviews with Ky Dickens, award winning filmmaker, director and creator of the podcast The Telepathy Tapes, which I have written about previously on this substack. After listening to both seasons of The Telepathy Tapes, I was curious about Dickens, her background, and where she was coming from since so much of what she reports is “out there.” Turns out her journey into the paranormal took a similar path to my own, after losing loved ones and asking basic questions like “where did they go” and “does consciousness survive death.”

The first interview is with Tami Simon, founder of Sounds True, a multimedia publishing house with a mission to disseminate spiritual wisdom. Listen to that interview here.

The second interview with Jay Shetty on his substack podcast gives a lot of insight into Dickens and how as a documentary filmmaker she stumbled on the work of Diane Hennacy and the subject of telepathy amongst nonverbal autistic children (Season 1 of The Telepathy Tapes). Her curiosity and inquisitive mind lead her onto a longer journey into the paranormal and more extensive psi phenomena (Season 2 of The Telepathy Tapes). Highly recommend the interview and both seasons of The Telepathy Tapes if you haven't listened to them yet...

Product of the Week

These yoga mats double as kitchen mats. Very high quality, nice and thick, a little pricey due to the fact they are made in America and pass California environmental standards…Worth the price…

Check out the artSHOP on my website for the whole line of products based on my art and that of my late husband, Danish artist Gert Mathiesen.

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 270: A Lecture We All Need to Hear, For the Love of Animals, Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…

For those of you in NYC on Thursday February 26th , my musician friend Tom DiMenna will be back in the City playing Story Songs of the 70’s including covers of Cat Stevens, Harry Chapin, Gordon Lightfoot, and James Taylor at The Cutting Room, 44 E 32nd St, New York, NY 10016. For those who saw him last time at City Winery, he has increased his repertoire to include some new greats and I guarantee an evening of joy—Click here for tickets

Important Message For These Times

Click image to hear an important message

Image courtesy of Ryan Putnam. Click image to purchase

Nobody likes to be lectured but hear me out on this one. I found this from Jean and the Sisters of Charity on instagram and I think it is a message we all need to hear right now. Please spend the few minutes clicking on the image above and listening to it. If you can, please share it with friends and acquaintances--although the message addresses older people, it is something we all need to hear--there is a lot at stake!

For the Love of Animals

Dedicated to my animal loving friend with the huge heart, Tina Carro.

We all need a break sometimes from the news of the day. If you want your heart warmed, take a few minutes to watch this series of uplifting anecdotes—amazing animal stories brought to you by the kind-hearted Steve Hartman of CBS Evening News. It includes segments on an emotional support alligator, a dog that thinks he is human, and a duck called Snowflake who sleds in the winter and goes trick or treating for Halloween…

If you find yourself wanting more (or are procrastinating from a task you "should" be doing), these extra Steve Hartman stories might just be what you need right now.

Kahil El’Zabar's Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

Click image above to hear a conversation with Kahil El’ Zabar who aside from being a musician, is also a clothing designer and fashionista…

Kahil El’Zabar on multi instruments, Corey Wilkes on trumpet, Alex Harding on baritone sax.

Off the beaten track in Waldoboro Maine, I saw a mind expanding concert last night at the Waldo Theatre. Hard to believe and how lucky we were to experience such an amazing musical event in such an unassuming town…Kahil El’Zabar’s music is very hard to classify. It has been described as bebop, Afro-Cuban jazz, free jazz, hypnotic soul—all over the place… When I asked David Kowalski, owner of Brunswick’s premier vinyl shop Deep Groove Records and one of the sponsors of the event how he would describe this type of music, he called it Spiritual Ethno Jazz Groove. No surprise that no one can actually put their finger on how to define it. Which is what makes it so great—it is so innovative that it doesn’t fall into existing categories. Best description I have come across is simply “a wide open vision of the musical concept” and “a higher consciousness of sound and spirt.”

Kahil El’Zabar is primarily a percussionist—he got his first drum when he was four years old—but aside from a normal drum set, in the performance he played the cajón (meaning box in Spanish), the kalimba (part of a family of musical instruments called Mbira, traditional to the Shona people of Zimbabwe), bells around his ankles, and his voice, used in a different way than I have heard before—“everything but the kitchen sink.” He was accompanied on the stage by two amazing musicians: Corey Wilkes on trumpet and Alex Harding on baritone sax and you could tell they had been playing together for a long time and were in total sync.

For someone who has little experience with jazz music and I certainly don’t profess to know anything, what amazed me the most about the Kahil El’Zabar concert was that it forced me to really listen to the sounds coming off that stage in a new way and to appreciate and isolate the sounds that were coming into my ears. (It reminded me of the first time I ate sushi. It was a different experience…making me eat in a different way—savoring every bite rather than just filling my mouth up with food in an unconscious way…).

The concert began with isolated nature sounds, bird whistles, tiny bells, similar sounds to what I had heard on my morning walk that day when the birds were out in full force. I loved that it began so quietly and forced me into a kind of meditative state. What followed was a feast—“blurring the edges of traditional jazz, Afrocentric rhythms and cosmic expanse.” I am sharing some of the songs that stood out to me:

Compared to What, written by American songwriter Eugene McDaniels. Sad to say it was written in 1966 and is still relevant today

Where Do You Want To Go

Full Live Performance at the 2021 Erie Blues and Jazz Festival

The Timeless Maestro: A Conversation with Sir Kahil El’Zabar

And a short documentary

The band is on tour now and the live experience is essential in my opinion to the full appreciation of this music. Here are the tour dates. Hopefully they will be coming to a city near you...

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. House in Fog, mixed media on canvas, 60” x 40”

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 269: Robert Rauschenberg, Buddhist Monks Again, John Prine Playlist

The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…

Robert Rauschenberg Exhibition

Click image to see a 5 minute film on his work

Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

You still have time to get to Houston and see the Robert Rauschenberg show at the Menil Collection. It closes on March 1st. I wish I could go! Since most of us won't make it there, I thought I would include some photos of the exhibition, which centers on his love of fabric.

Rauschenberg is definitely one of my first and most important influences. I loved his use of bold color, and how he mixed different media and wasn't afraid of unconventional materials. He described his work as "a juxtoposition of images that are hopefully non-logical."

One of my most favorite paintings growing up (and I still love it) incorporated a real log cabin quilt. It is not included in this show but I saw it at the Museum of Modern Art when I was a kid and it will always be engraved in my mind...

Robert Rauschenberg, Bed, Museum of Modern Art

Buddhist Monks Revisited

Photo courtesy Travis Long—click image for his instagram

Photo courtesy Travis Long—click image for his instagram

Photo courtesy Wikipedia

I just had to not let this moment go by without writing one more time about the Buddhist Monks and their Walk for Peace. Their remarkable 2300 mile, fifteen week journey came to an end this week when they reached their destination of Washington DC from Fort Worth, Texas…These monks carry a message that is especially important right now at a time when our country is in such turmoil. We have so much to learn from them and their way of life. I share with you their valuable advice through a couple of the speeches they delivered upon their arrival.

American University Speech

High Point, North Carolina Speech

Meditation from the Lincoln Memorial

John Prine Playlist

Click to read about a book about John Prine by Tom Piazza

Seldom has there been a songwriter who was so beloved, who has produced so many amazing songs and has been covered by so many musicians over the years. I share with you a two hour playlist of John Prine’s favorite hits for your listening pleasure. If you don't have two full hours, Here are a few performances that jump out at me:

Souvenirs

Hello In There

"That's the Way the World Goes Round--Tribute to John Prine with Stephen Colbert

Long Monday

Clay Pigeons (written by Blaze Foley but I just love the way John Prine sings it)

CBS Sunday Morning: At Home with John Prine

Just realized that John Prine was born, like me, on October 10th! We are both libras! And coincidentally, I just read on instagram an entry from astrologer @marcus_vale_that after studying astrology for decades, one sign consistently stands out for bringing together the most positive qualities. According to this guy, Libra balances everything naturally. They are ambitious without being ruthless, social without being fake and confident without arrogance. Known as the diplomat and peacemaker, they make others feel valued and heard. Their charm is genuine, their style effortless, and their presence uplifting…Relationships stay balanced because they understand give and take better than anyone... Their only weakness is avoiding conflict and sometimes sacrificing their own needs to keep the peace…The sign described is Libra, often considered the most balanced and harmonious sign of the zodiac.

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. Flower Power Series: Earth. mixed media on canvas 44” x 90”

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 268: Mon Rovia Music, Takashi Yasui Photographer, New York's Cutest

The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…

Mon Rovia Music

Bloodline, Mon Rovia’s new album just released in January 2026

Quite a while ago I came across the sweet voice of a singer named Mon Rovia on Instagram and his music blew me away. Where had he come from? How was it that I hadn't heard of him before? I wondered whether others felt the same way. It turns out, many people did, including the personal growth expert Mel Robbins, who like me, was really taken by this guy and did an extensive interview with him--so worth a listen.

Named for his city of origin in Liberia, Mon Rovia was born in the midst of civil war when young boys were being kidnapped and trained as child soldiers. At the age of 7, his grandmother brought him to the home of American missionaries and literally asked them if they would take him in, in hopes of giving him a better life. Thus began his life in the United States…He loved his new family but left behind a brother and sister and in an attempt to cope with life in America and to process grief, trauma and a whole lot of survivor guilt, Mon Rovia turned to music. To say his music is deep, sincere and heartfelt is an understatement.

Thanks to social media, his music, described as “Afro Appalachian” has spread and he now has over 17 million likes on TikTok. He is currently on tour in Europe and has just released his first full album. His most famous and timely song and everyone's favorite is called Heavy Foot but the entire album Bloodlines is great.

Takashi Yasui Photography

I love Substack for the fact that it has the ability of leveling the playing field and democratizing creativity. Anyone can be found and appreciated through their writings, thoughts, and images without having to be “famous."

I came across an amazing photographer recently whose work just spoke to me in such a deep way. His work is all about light. Takashi Yasui's photography epitomizes a word that was very important to my mid-century modern furniture designer dad, Mel Smilow. The word is SHIBUI—there is not really a good translation in English but it is something in-between beauty, elegance and simplicity as I understand it. I share with you some photos that spoke to this concept as well as an essay about how Takashi Yasui became a photographer that he published on his substack.

New York's Cutest

Click image above to see Mamdani’s Press Conference on Universal Childcare

A different kind of politic is happening in New York City these days and I personally am finding it incredibly refreshing. This instagram clip above of a recent Mamdani press conference on universal childcare just might put a big smile on your face and take your mind off of other things for a few minutes…

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 62” x 52”. approx. I came back from California a few months ago with a lot of commissions. This is my second to last one—going to a home in Palo Alto…

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 267: Monks Walk for Peace, Lewiston Soccer Team, Amanda Gorman Poem

The underlined words and many of the images in the newsletter are linked to more in depth information so don’t hesitate to click…

19 Monks:
A Walk for Peace

Click image above to see a brief report of the Monks. Photo courtesy Kaitlyn Ross Journalist’s Facebook

Click image to hear about Beautiful Aloka, whose name means light in sanskrit. Photo courtesy Aloka the Peace Dog/Instagram 

I always had a dream of starting a TV station on a national/international scale like CNN but just with good news. I haven't quite gotten there yet. Ha ha. But what if there was a news programs devoted exclusively to celebrating the good in humankind--switching our focus to inspirational stories, welllness, biographies of heroic figures, etc. etc., the ones Mr. Roger's mom called "the helpers." Sounds kind of sappy but it might also just change our focus and lead us to examples of better ways of living...

There is an event going on right now that is definitely worthy of such coverage and a few stations have taken note. It is happening through rain and snow across a portion of the United States and I am not sure many of us know about it. A group of Buddhist Monks, 19 of them, and a beautiful dog called Aloka are walking from Fort Worth Texas to Washington, D.C. every day, all day, with no regard to weather on a Walk for Peace. Their goal is to raise awareness of peace, loving kindness, and compassion across America and the world and it will take 120-days and cover 2,300-miles. Their intent is a simple yet meaningful reminder that unity and kindness begin within each of us and can radiate outward to families, communities, and society as a whole. Check it out…especially if you need a little relief from the horrible news of the day. We have to continue our fight against the terrible things going on but we also can’t let them take our joy away…

Lewiston
Soccer Team

Lewiston Blue Devils, Lewiston, Maine

One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together by Amy Bass

My grandson Toran

My 15 year old grandson Toran lives in England and his passion is soccer. He won the equivalent of the lottery when he was spotted by a scout while playing on his local school team. Toran is diligent, extremely kind hearted, tall (6'2"+) and with the wingspan of an eagle...This scout introduced him around and gave him the opportunity to be seen by some of the top football leagues in England. Long story short, he is now on the development team of Manchester City and has moved from London to Manchester, going to school there and training every day.

He was here visiting over Christmas holiday—he comes often to the States—and as a gift, I gave him the book One Goal, about the Lewiston soccer team comprised mainly of Lewiston residents from Somali. Toran is of mixed race so I thought the story would be especially meaningful to him as I am not sure he is an avid reader….

I decided to read the book as well…. Turns out it is particularly relevant right now as Lewiston is in the news and I am learning a ton about the history of the town and how it has been revitalized more than once by immigrants. It approaches the question of immigration in a different and personal context--aside from a great sports read, through the book we get to know the players and what they have gone through previous to being repatriated to Maine.

One cannot help but show enormous compassion for what these immigrants have gone through, many of them living previously in refugee camps in Africa under terrible conditions, only to face racism here in Maine as well…

This is a good book for our youth—-it is also a good read for anyone interested in sports and learning first hand accounts of the plight of Somalis and Bantus in Lewiston.

Elizabeth Strout’s book The Burgess boys is a fictionalized version of a true hate crime that took place in Lewiston, Maine

Amanda Gorman
Poems

Illustration courtesy BelenMedinaArt

"For Alex Jeffrey Pretti"
Murdered by I.C.E. January 24, 2026
by Amanda Gorman

We wake with
no words, just woe
& wound. Our own country shoot
ing us in the back is not just brutal
ity; it’s jarring betrayal; not enforcement,
but execution. A message: Love your people & you
will die. Yet our greatest threat isn’t the outsiders
among us, but those among us who never look
within. Fear not the those without papers, but those
without conscience. Know that to care intensively,
united, is to carry both pain-dark horror for today
& a profound, daring hope for tomorrow. We can feel
we have nothing to give, & still belove this world wait
ing, trembling to change. If we cannot find words, may
we find the will; if we ever lose hope, may we never lose our
humanity. The only undying thing is mercy, the courage to open
ourselves like doors, hug our neighbor,
& save one more bright, impossible life.

Amanda Gorman also wrote a poem right after Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed. Here it is:

For Renee Nicole Good
Killed by I.C.E. on January 7, 2026
by Amanda Gorman

They say she is no more,
That there her absence roars,
Blood-blown like a rose.
Iced wheels flinched & froze.
Now, bare riot of candles,
Dark fury of flowers,
Pure howling of hymns.

If for us she arose,
Somewhere, in the pitched deep of our grief,
Crouches our power,
The howl where we begin,
Straining upon the edge of the crooked crater
Of the worst of what we’ve been.

Change is only possible,
& all the greater,
When the labour
& bitter anger of our neighbors
Is moved by the love 
& better angels of our nature.

What they call death & void,
We know is breath & voice; 
In the end, gorgeously, 
Endures our enormity. 

You could believe departed to be the dawn
When the blank night has so long stood.
But our bright-fled angels will never be fully gone,
When they forever are so fiercely Good.

Alex Pretti 1988-2026

Renee Nicole Good 1988-2026

Painting of the Week

Pam Smilow. mixed media on canvas 59” x 87”. $8500

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 266: Lessons from the Danish Resistance, Batsheva Dance Company, Mary Oliver on Resilience

Lessons from the
Danish Resistance

Courtesy Museum of Jewish Heritage, illustration by Sveta Dorosheva

Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA

We have much to learn from resistance movements throughout history. And no better example than what the Danish population did to resist the Germans during World War II. Last August, The Nation ran an article entitled The Danes Resisted Fascism, and So Can We which included lessons we can learn from this Scandinavian country’s resistance to the Nazis.

This ten minute documentary on the Danish resistance movement can also serve as inspiration to us. There are remarkable similarities to what we are experiencing now in the United States.

Under Hitler’s orders, Denmark’s Jews were to be deported on 1 October, 1943 – but in the space of a few weeks, an underground network and the country’s non-Jewish population spirited almost 8,000 people to safety via small boats across the Øresund to neutral Sweden.

Let Denmark be an example to us all…

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

Batsheva
Dance Company

I love dance and in my humble opinion, Batsheva Dance Company is a company worth paying attention to.

Founded in 1964 by Martha Graham and Baroness Batsheva de Rothschild, based in Tel Aviv, the company in 1990 transformed itself under the artistic direction of Ohad Naharin. Naharin is a figure worshipped by the dance community—The New York Times called him “one of the most important choreographers in the world. Mikhail Baryshnikov said that he had “never seen such a combination of beauty, energy and skill.” Dance Magazine stated that “Naharin may be today’s most widely worshipped guru of modern dance.”
Here are a few excerpts of Batsheva dances:
Naharin's Virus
Medley of different dances

In 2014, The Heymann Brothers produced documentary entitled Mr. Gaga based on Naharin and his unique dance methods, released on the occasion of Batsheva’s 50th anniversary; the title Gaga coming from a language of movement Naharin created, based on very small movements, on nuances, and on gesture. The film is not currently available to stream but Gilli Navot, Batsheva continues to produce beautiful choreography and performances…To access their full repetoire, go to Batsheva’s archive website.

Mary Oliver
on Resilience

I came across this entry on Facebook by Sarah Grain. The first part are her words. The second is the poem by Mary Oliver.

Today, I will let Mary Oliver speak for me, and the only thing that I will add is this: In the last 36 hours, I have seen these digital walls flooded with the most beautiful protest art. Poems, sketches, songs … and I’ve reflected on how important art has been in every single movement, every single resistance, every single attempt to dim the light of progress and prosperity. My hope for the next four years from Washington is not much. But my hope for art is great. Artists and musicians have a pivotal role in helping society make sense of the insensible; organize the chaos; disassemble the madness and then reassemble it into an explosive sculpture of color and sound and delight. I cannot wait for the art. Joy is not meant to be a crumb.

DON’T HESITATE
By Mary Oliver

If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,
don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty
of lives and whole towns destroyed or about
to be. We are not wise, and not very often
kind. And much can never be redeemed.
Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this
is its way of fighting back, that sometimes
something happens better than all the riches
or power in the world. It could be anything,
but very likely you notice it in the instant
when love begins. Anyway, that’s often the case.
Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid
of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.

Paintings of the Week

My friend Terrie Frisbee carrying a poster she made at a candlelight vigil for Renee Good.

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 265: 1963 Children's Crusade, Know Your Rights, History Teacher Unlearn 16

1963 Children's Crusade

Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA

On the occasion of America’s national holiday celebrating the birthday of the great civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., I share with you a 2005 documentary made by the Southern Poverty Law Center about the Birmingham Alabama civil rights marches in the 1960s, highlighting the bravery of young activists involved in the 1963 Children’s Crusade. The film won an Academy Award in 2005 in the category of Documentary Short Subject. This is a chapter in American history that many of us might have heard about but without being aware of its extraordinary details.

When Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put out a call for people to go to jail in the fight against segregation (he himself was jailed for a period of time), much to his disappointment no adults responded—it was the high school students who volunteered and stood up, willing to go to jail in the fight for freedom. There was much controversy around that and protest from many of the parents but the children were unstoppable and the movement grew secretly and almost overnight. When King was confronted about allowing children in this role, he stood his ground and calmly spoke: “Don’t worry about your children. They are going to be alright. Don’t hold them back if they want to go to jail for they are doing a job for all America and all of mankind…”

about the Birmingham Alabama civil rights marches in the 1960s, highlighting the bravery of young activists involved in the 1963 Children’s Crusade. The film won an Academy Award in 2005 in the category of Documentary Short Subject. This is a chapter in American history that many of us might have heard about but without being aware of its extraordinary details.

Know Your Rights

Important information on ICE
from former law enforcement officer, Kramer Hammy):
"It is clear that US citizens' ignorance of federal laws and law enforcement duties, procedures, and limits of authority is getting to the point where it is deadly. I spent probably 3 hours watching and re-watching, and finding every single video and angle I could of the situation in Minnesota yesterday and came to one immovable conclusion based off of what I saw and what I know from a professional standpoint. This is long, but please give it a read.
"As a former officer, let me make something clear: ICE agents ARE NOT police officers, deputy sheriffs, or troopers. They are not local/state law enforcement. They are not federal criminal law enforcement. They have an INCREDIBLY limited scope of authority, and that scope of authority exists in detaining and arresting with probable cause and/or SIGNED WARRANTS those investigated and suspected of being in the US illegally.
"They cannot just pull anyone over for a traffic violation or because their car is in a place they don't want it. They have NO authority to pull people over for ANYTHING other than immigration enforcement- and even then that involves probable cause, such as a known vehicle of someone they have been tracking, or a warrant. On very rare occasions they have the legal authority to pull someone over if they are threatening the lives of others, but that was not happening in this case. They do not have the training nor the authority to pull ANYONE else over. They cannot arrest legal citizens. They cannot detain legal citizens without probable cause to believe they might not be legal. They have ZERO authority to be attempting to force entry into a vehicle- without even identifying themselves, without a warrant, without exigent circumstances such as a life being directly threatened- that is trying to drive down the street without probable cause in relation to IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT. "This ENTIRE situation in Minnesota was outside of the scope of legal authority from the get go. None of it was done within the scope of authority of ICE. Every single behavior those agents made was procedurally incorrect, done without proper authority, and was based off of intimidation and the assumption that people do not understand the law and their rights in regards to interactions with ICE.
"On no planet should an officer, agent, or any human being ever step in front of a car in 'drive' that is actively trying to leave and use their body as a shield to prevent a person from LEGALLY LEAVING a situation in which they are not legally being detained. It takes maybe a week of any kind of actual law enforcement training to understand that under NO CIRCUMSTANCES do you ever place yourself in front of a vehicle in 'drive.' That agent had every single opportunity to simply take two steps to the right and not be standing directly in front of a vehicle attempting to conduct their legal right to drive away. "You can see the wheels are turned, [Renee] backed up and turned them to the right, moved forward a bit to leave, couldn't because an agent was standing in front of her, and continued to try to leave by TURNING HER WHEELS TO THE RIGHT and moving forward. He continually chose to stand there and not allow her to legally leave as she had every single right to do.
The officer pulling on her door and banging on her window and swearing at her had ZERO authority to order her out of her vehicle or attempt to make entry into her vehicle. NONE. A single day of actual training of the legal scope of authority and the LAW would've prevented that from happening.
"You now have a frightened citizen being blockaded by immigration agents (with another person in her vehicle) who had zero obligation to follow legally invalid orders from that agent, being blocked in and having a fully grown, masked man attempting to make entry into her car. If this were reversed, every single person would immediately feel she had every reasonable expectation to fear for her safety. It doesn't matter if she knew it was ICE because the agents weren't even acting in their scope of authority anyway.
"Whether or not she made the right decision by very CLEARLY- based off of how hard her wheels were turned and how low and to the driver corner windshield that shot was fired- trying to drive to the left of that agent is IRRELEVANT in the picture as a whole. None of this would have happened if those agents had done even one single thing correctly. Not just correctly, but within their legal scope of authority. Every single moment of that interaction was escalated by untrained, unprofessional, procedurally inept "agents" who not only had zero control of themselves but everything around them. And not because they are helpless, but because their actions that did not fall under their scope of power CAUSED this. Their tempers, lack of training, and the knowledge that they can get away with violating their own scope of authority caused this.
"I will always be the first to defend law enforcement when lethal force very clearly is required. But this was not even remotely the case, and as an actual TRAINED professional in that field with experience and understanding of both the law and procedures, there is no justification for this- and it would benefit EVERYONE to actually read up on the laws, scope of authority, and use a single shred of common sense to see that this situation was started, escalated, and caused by the ICE agents involved. I have zero respect for those in power who are ignorant of the scope of their authority and abuse it at the cost of lives around them." (courtesy Tom Hoefling's substack)

To make a Know Your Rights zine to distribute, click here

A Wonderful
History Teacher

I have a new hero--her name is Joanna--a history teacher par excellence--she is Unlearn16 on tiktok. This person is pure dynamite!

In clear, succinct, and simple terms, she walks us through the history of Venezuela and shows the role of the world and most specifically the United States' role in that country. Needless to say, the picture is not pretty.

She has produced many more history lessons on video--go find her on tiktok.

Here is another of her teaching sessions--her lesson on inflation that I found very informative...

Jumpstart Your Creativity

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Source: old-age-young-at-heart-chorus-mark-nepo-no...

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Blog No. 264: Nuremberg the Film, Poem by Fatimah Asghar, Eggplant Recipe

Nuremberg

Courtesy National Archives, College Park, MD, USA

I can't say that the film NUREMBERG will leave you feeling uplifted. Quite the contrary. But I recommend it wholeheartedly because it is an important film to watch at this point in history, given the circumstances of our day. For those of us that warned back in 2016 that T was a Hitler, thank you for recognizing the big picture ahead of most of us...

Based on the the 2013 book The Nazi and the Psychiatrist by Jack El-Hai, NUREMBERG is centered on the army psychiatrist Douglas Kelley who was hired to evaluate the characters of the top ranking Nazis in order to gauge their competency for trial and gain insights into their personalities in preparation before and during the trials. One leaves with a robust portrait of these characters, especially Herman Goering (played brilliantly by Russell Crowe). In addition, we gain a broad picture of the messy ins and outs of the international negotiations that led up to the trials, and insight into the key American and European figures who played the role of prosecutors. Douglas Kelley, played beautifully by Rami Malek, is a particularly poignant figure.

The film serves as a warning against those whose psychological tendencies mirror the Nazis in our world today. Perhaps this knowledge, seen through the lens of history, will enable us to do something about the current actors before it is too late...

NUREMBERG is available on Apple TV, Fandango at Home, Prime Video and YouTube Movies & TV.

And as an aside and a warning, I never thought I would be quoting Jesse Ventura, ex-governor of Minnesota, but listen to his admonition and urgent call to action.

Poem by
Fatimah Asghar

Photo courtesy Mercedes Zapata

IF THEY SHOULD COME FOR US
by FATIMAH ASGHAR

these are my people & I find
them on the street & shadow

through any wild all wild

my people my people

a dance of strangers in my blood

the old woman’s sari dissolving to wind

bindi a new moon on her forehead

I claim her my kin & sew

the star of her to my breast

the toddler dangling from stroller

hair a fountain of dandelion seed

at the bakery I claim them too

the sikh uncle at the airport

who apologizes for the pat

down the muslim man who abandons

his car at the traffic light drops

to his knees at the call of the azan

& the muslim man who sips

good whiskey at the start of maghrib

the lone khala at the park

pairing her kurta with crocs

my people my people I can’t be lost

when I see you my compass

is brown & gold & blood

my compass a muslim teenager

snapback & high-tops gracing

the subway platform

mashallah I claim them all

my country is made

in my people’s image

if they come for you they

come for me too in the dead

of winter a flock of

aunties step out on the sand

their dupattas turn to ocean

a colony of uncles grind their palms

& a thousand jasmines bell the air

my people I follow you like constellations

we hear the glass smashing the street

& the nights opening their dark

our names this country’s wood

for the fire my people my people

the long years we’ve survived the long

years yet to come I see you map

my sky the light your lantern long

ahead & I follow I follow

Eggplant Wrap Recipe

I love eggplant and I am including this Eggplant Wrap recipe (courtesy @DianeMorissey on instagram--it seems like a perfect and healthy recipe to start the new year. It can be totally vegetable based (or you can add some sort of meat) but it looks delicious. Here is the recipe and a video to go with it:

VIRAL EGGPLANT WRAP

Preheat oven to 350F.

Using a mandolin or a sharp knife, slice an eggplant thin (I used one that was on the thinner side).

Arrange on a parchment lined baking sheet in a rectangle, being careful to make sure the ends of each circle are touching.

Season with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil.

Sprinkle with 1 cup shredded mozzarella .

Bake for 25 minutes or until the cheese is golden.

Remove from oven.

Invert it and flip it over.

Fill it with whatever you want! .

Jumpstart Your Creativity

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 263: Zohran Mamdani, Power to the People, American Bald Eagle

Zohran Mamdani
Mayor of NYC

Zohran Mamdani, Mayor of New York City

Zohran Mamdani with his wife, artist Rama Duwaji

I'd like to invite you to listen to Zohran Mamdani's inauguration speech as he was sworn in as Mayor of New York if you haven't already. Even though I am spending more and more time up here in Maine, this week I am definitely a proud New Yorker! I've had a tough few days, but this speech put a big smile on my face...And in the words of Zohran Mamdani, "we will do something that New Yorkers do better than anyone else. We will set an example for the world."

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams also delivered a beautiful, emotional speech, which is also well worth a listen. And I would like to salute my cousin's son, David Kahn, who works for Jumaane Williams in the capacity of Community Organizer for Environmental Justice and Infrastructure. As a young person, David has a very strong moral code and has worked hard and stayed engaged over the years to promote liberty and justice for all...So proud of him!

People Have The Power

Patti Smith singing People Have the Power Choir Choir Choir

This is not the first time I've played this song but I couldn't think of a better way to start the new year than with a dose of Patti Smith singing Choir Choir Choir. Sing along at the top of your lungs to feel invigorated and empowered to continue to resist and continue the fight in 2026. Nos ganaremos..

American Bald
Eagle

American Bald Eagle

Every time I see an eagle I take it as a sign of good luck and it always makes me feel privileged to be able to observe these amazing birds soaring high up in the sky. I see them more and more--often on a daily basis--and they are definitely making a comeback after near extinction. Their increasing numbers are a direct result of the power of conservation and the results of the Endangered Species Act passed in 1973.

Here are two stories from the instagram account Haunted Conspiracy, a site full of touching stories about animal rescues.

An eagle asks for help

A friendship between a horse and an Eagle

An interesting fact: The "bald" in bald eagle does not mean hairless in this case. The name derives from the Middle English word "balde" which means shining white, referring to its bright white head and tail.

Paintings of the Week

Pam Smilow Tree Tops, Detail of my Tree of Life Series pieces, each tree measurimg 60” x 22” mixed media on paper

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

---

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 262: Architect Frank Gehry, ICE Protests, Roots of the Americas

Architect Frank Gehry
(1929-2025)

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

Walt Disney Hall, Los Angeles, CA

Most of you know that I am a big fan of Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture, especially since I grew up in Usonia, New York, a community founded by that notable American architect. So what am I doing honoring Frank Gehry, an architect who couldn't be more far apart and diametrically opposed to the principles and organic forms of Frank Lloyd Wright. Can I like them both for different reasons? I am much closer to the aesthetic of Frank Lloyd Wright but admire the pure audacity, daring and innovativeness of a Frank Gehry. What can I say, I have eclectic taste...

I got permission from fellow substacker Cool Stories About Art to include this AI video as normal buildings morph into Gehry's vision, with the help of NASA software.

If you want to dig deeper, here's a piece CBS Sunday Morning produced on the Canadian architect and a great documentary entitled Sketches of Frank Gehry on his life and process.

IAC Media Building, New York, NY

Louis Vuitton Foundation, Paris, France

This is the Way to Do It

This is the way to do it! Protesting ICE across the country:

Priest says No

ICE Out of New York City

Rockland Maine says no to ICE

Ohio's way of doing it

Minneapolis police resistance

Blocking ICE from exiting a parking lot in New York

"To read an article in The New Yorker about how Orange County is resisting, click here

Roots of the Americas

Here is a very important reminder from Martin McSweeney's substack Truth Matters @politicsusa46 about the roots of the Americas lest we forget:
With special thanks to Indigenous Revolution 🎥 TikTok

"We are not the past of this continent—we are its future."

A last minute Hanukkah video (a little late) with Mandy Patinkin and family and our new mayor Zohran Mamdani, who they tried to paint as Anti-Semitic…

Collage of the Week

Pam Smilow Heart and Soul mixed media on handmade paper

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

---

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 261: Michelle Obama, Poem by William Carlos Williams, Holiday Songs from the Whitt Brothers

Michelle Obama The Look, Winter Trees by William Carlos Williams, Holiday Songs Playlist by the Whitt Brothers on wrfr.org

Michelle Obama

How could I not write about Michelle Obama after hearing her interview with Jonathan Capehart on ms.now (formerly msnbc.com). There are not enough positive adjectives to describe this gem of a woman. This was her first sit down interview in a long while and she was relaxed, chatty and open. Most of all: real! A real person. Not pretending to be something she wasn't.

Full of amazing photos, The Look brings readers behind the scenes not only to reveal how her most memorable looks came together but also to tell a story about how we present ourselves, the values we reflect through the clothes we wear and how as the first black lady in the White House, she was in a race against time to define herself rather than let others, misogyny and racism tell that story....

I get the feeling that part of the reason Michelle wrote the book, in typical modest Obama style, was to celebrate the designers, the dressers, the braiders and hair stylists, the estheticians, the make up artists....voices of the people who have helped make her look possible... She mentions by name Meredith Koop, Obama’s trusted stylist, as well as her makeup artist Carl Ray, hairstylists Yene Damtew, Johnny Wright, and Njeri Radway, and many of the designers who have dressed Obama for notable events over the years.

Michelle Obama is unabashedly a clothes hound with great style and has been ever since she was a young girl. It was so fascinating to hear the story of her navigating the many roles she has had throughout her life: schoolgirl, lawyer and as the most important woman in America, while staying true to herself and her image. I personally had so much fun admiring the myriad of looks illustrated in "The Look. and hearing her thoughts on so many issues related to fashion, hair and identity.

Poem by William Carlos Williams

Winter Trees
by William Carlos Williams (1883 –1963)

All the complicated details
of the attiring and
the disattiring are completed!
A liquid moon
moves gently among
the long branches.
Thus having prepared their buds
against a sure winter
the wise trees
stand sleeping in the cold.

Holiday Songs

Brothers Bill and Eddie Holm, The Liner Notes by the Whitt Brothers

My friends, brothers Eddie and Bill Holm, host a weekly radio show on a local community radio station in Rockland, Maine entitled Liner Notes with the Whitt Brothers (Dim and Half, as stated in their typical self-deprecating humor). They have been producing it for over three and a half years and I usually try and tune in when I am home on a Tuesday night. They both love music and have a huge library between them of favorite songs, musicians, and genres, playing a true eclectic mix of songs. This is the playlist they put together last week for the holidays and I enjoyed listening. Maybe you will too and it might get you into the holiday mood... Their two hour show is on wrfr.org every Tuesday night, 6-8pm, for the best in music and story...

And just because Christmas is a season that Jews often feel left out of, I have included two of my favorite
Chanukah songs:

Maoz-Tzur

"Sevivon

The Menorah my Dad, Mel Smilow, made for our family. Simple, elegant, very mid-century!

Painting of the Week

Flower Power Series: Purple mixed media on canvas 55” x 97”

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

---

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 260: Costco's Founder Jim Sinegal, Snowy Night by Mary Oliver, Winter Songs Playlist

Snowy Owl in the Maine Woods41.25” x 29.5”, Watercolor, Gouache, Matt Medium, Embroidery on Rives BFK Paper

Costco Co-Founder Jim Sinegal

Jim Sinegal, who co-founded Costco

When I was a kid, one of our neighbors, Marty Scheiner, gave away his very successful electronics business to his employees when he was ready to retire. I remember my Dad making a big deal out of it, saying what a beautiful thing that was and how kind and unusual it was...As a result, I have always had my eye on CEOs and bosses who realize that if not for their workers, they wouldn't be where they are today...
I think Jim Sinegal is that kind of guy. Co-founder of COSTCO (together with Seattle retailer Jeff Brotman), he is an example of a leader with a strong sense of humanity, placing employee and customer satisfaction over profits and shareholder interests. And despite offering his workers a living wage, it has still paid off for Wall Street... According to wikipedia, "Investors who bought $10,000 of Costco stock in 1992 found it worth $43,564 just 10 years later — a return of 354% (15.855%, annually). From 1985, when Costco went public, to 2020, the company's stock value increased 19,000%."

Sinegal, born in 1936, started at the bottom, beginning as a bagger at a grocery store in San Diego, California. Over the years, he found he loved the retail industry and made his way around it, ending up in 1983 as Costco's president and CEO. Sinegal always had a broad vision and his ideas and innovations created the first big box "warehouse club", selling a large variety of products including clothing, eye glasses, tires, food, electronics, pharmaceuticals, etc. His approach was hands-on, and he made it his business to visit every Costco store across the country in order to stay in touch, ensure good quality control and worker satisfaction. You can kind of tell when people are happy in their jobs and I get that vibe there--when workers feel they are treated respectfully by their employers. Quoting Sinegal from a Wall Street Journal article, "You can't say people are our most important product then treat them like shit...If you don't mean it, it is reflected very quickly. The same thing is true about the quality of the product you are selling. Your customers and your suppliers are going to see you don't really mean it..

For all the reasons above, he is a target for our current president...All the more reason to frequent and support Costco over other big box stores...I hope like me you are trying to avoid Target, Home Depot and Amazon as much as possible.

Snowy Night by Mary Oliver

Diana Arcadipone, mixed media on paper

Photo courtesy Peter Ralson, A Warm and Cozy Winter Break, available on his website www.ralstongallery.com

SNOWY NIGHT
by Mary Oliver

Last night, an owl

in the blue dark

tossed an indeterminate number

of carefully shaped sounds into

the world, in which,

a quarter of a mile away, I happened

to be standing.

I couldn’t tell

which one it was –

the barred or the great-horned

ship of the air –

it was that distant. But, anyway,

aren’t there moments

that are better than knowing something,

and sweeter? Snow was falling,

so much like stars

filling the dark trees

that one could easily imagine

its reason for being was nothing more

than prettiness. I suppose

if this were someone else’s story

they would have insisted on knowing

whatever is knowable – would have hurried

over the fields

to name it – the owl, I mean.

But it’s mine, this poem of the night,

and I just stood there, listening and holding out

my hands to the soft glitter

falling through the air. I love this world,

but not for its answers.

And I wish good luck to the owl,

whatever its name –

and I wish great welcome to the snow,

whatever its severe and comfortless

and beautiful meaning.

Courtesy Peter Ralston, Going By, available on his website at www.ralstongallery.com/winter

Winter Songs
Playlist

Photo courtesy Billy Heyman to accompany the song River written by Joni Mitchell

My first full December up here in mid-coast Maine. It's cold and I am feeling the need for some winter songs to keep me warm...

Here goes:

The River Joni Mitchell

Valley Winter Song Fountains of Wayne

Reindeer King Tori Amos

Quiet, The Winter Harbor Mazzy Star

Song for a Winter's Night Gordon Lightfoot

Winter Lady Leonard Cohen

Snowstorm Galaxie 500

Hazy Shade of Winter cover The Bangles

The River (again--I love this version!) cover Robert Downey Jr.

Painting of the Week

House im Snow, mixed media on canvas, 54” x 80” $8500

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

Book of the Week

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 259: Graham Platner/Mike Herz, Artist Diana Arcadipone, Heated Toilet Seat

Artist
Diana Arcadipone

Fast friends Frenchy and Holly

I love the way artist Diana Arcadipone interprets the world around her. I often feel that nothing gets close to touching nature in its raw form--so why even try and represent it through art--too tough an act to follow! And in Maine, landscape rules the art scene and it often leaves me "snoozing". I am sure many of you will think less of me for that statement but it's the truth from my eyes...

I feel differently about Arcadipone's work. My criteria for falling in love with art is when I find something that I would have loved to have created myself. And something that sends me right back into my studio all inspired. Diana Arcadipone's art has that effect on me.

She lives deep in the woods of interior Maine with her partner Scott and is content to lead a simple life. She swims twice a week, takes good care of her body with a personal trainer, is an avid cross-country skiier in winter and otherwise produces the most stunning of nature paintings. She has a complex of buildings on her property--one devoted solely for her art, another where they live in a very handmade kind of way, and a hip guest house for when she has visitors...Most of the construction work and interiors she and her husband have put together themselves. So in a way, her life is a piece of art in and of itself. What she produces in the studio reflects her simple life and appreciation for what surrounds her.

Her mixed media Tree Ring pieces, lovingly and painstakenly embroidered by hand, send my heart rate up...each piece more beautiful than the next...Her deer paintings combine a variety of media--gouache, pencil, handwriting, embroidery, beading, the kitchen sink (just kidding)...Enough said: have a look for yourself.

And if you feel so inclined, I would encourage you to visit her website and if you can, support living artists. We exist in the world because of supporters like you.

Graham Platner/Mike Herz

click image to hear Platner speak about his candidacy

One of the reasons I moved up to Maine at this time in my life was that, aside from needing more nature around me, I felt I could make more of an impact politically up here. New York City is so vast--I didn't always know where to start, and you don't see results like you could in a small town...Mainers are politically active, at least they are in my small town of Damariscotta--people are out protesting once or twice a week, every week and they show up at local town meetings, confront police departments and county jails on racial profiling and their relationship with ICE, and generally feel the importance of being a participant in our system of democracy.

The drama of American politics is playing out in Maine right now with the race for U.S. Senate. Graham Platner, an ex-soldier and oyster farmer is trying to take over Susan Collins' seat for the U.S. Senate. Collins, a republican, has been in office for 29 years, much to the chagrin of many. (She is a worm to put it in kind terms.) Platner represents a new generation of Democrats, fighting not only against Trump and the republican establishment but also the ensconced, old school, Democratic leadership.

89-year old Mike Herz, known as a "lifelong leader for change", has been active in democratic politics his whole life, and embodies that fight. Danish TV, as they do, found their way to him and the town hall in my small town of Damariscotta to familiarize themselves with Graham Platner and the American issues of the day...(I make a joke that when I want to hear about what is going on politically in the U.S., I ask my Danish sister-in-law Hanne, who is likely more informed than I am through Danish media!).

He shared this interview they did with him which aired recently on Danish TV (complete with subtitles)--as usual, leave it to the Danes to always be one step ahead of the rest of the world, in seeing a clear picture.

P.S. Mike is a new friend up here--he and his wife Kate live down the street from me and we have been having regular playdates for our dogs: my daughter's dog Frenchy, who is on an extended visit and their newly rescued beautiful, cheerful Holly...

Heated Toilet Seats

What? Is she really writing about heated toilet seats on her substack newsletter Things We Love?!? And bidets!! Has she gone completely crazy?

Curiously, on my recent trip to the Bay Area, there was one thing I literally found in every house I visited except one: a heated toilet seat/bidet! My guess is that California is ahead of the trend in this case too and pretty soon this will be coming to a town near you.

Sitting on a heated seat, much like the heated seats in cars, was a particularly pleasant experience for me. I never realized the toilet seat was cold until it wasn't and it felt great. Not in a sexual way, just in a cozy, I'm warm way...Here is some info on how to choose one from the Chicago Tribune, complete with a comparison of prices and companies if you want to get on the bandwagon early.

And by the way, if you are interested in the history of the bidet, which originated in France and spread to Japan, click here.

Paintings of the Week

Tree of Life Series I, II, III mixed media on paper 60” x 22” each

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 258: Dopamine Decor, Story by Rachel Macy Stafford Over A Leaky Toilet, Achievement

Dopamine Decor

When I told people I was going to paint my new kitchen bright yellow, the almost universal reaction was pale yellow, right? When I assured them I was going to go all out with a bright sunshiney lemon yellow, I think most people thought I was kind of crazy and maybe a bit tasteless...And then the next question was, "your landlord is going to allow that?!"

The truth was that I remembered Irmi Selver's Cape Cod kitchen from when I was a little girl and that bright cheery space stuck in my mind for sixty years! Even my Dad, who was Mr. Brown Beige Guy, loved it! So when I dared ask my really nice landlords, and they said "go for it," (the current kitchen was depressing dark navy blue walls and navy blue cabinets), I jumped at the occasion.

Turns out, who knew that the term Dopamine Decor is a current trend. And it is consistent with the theme of this newsletter. Joy! Happiness! Color! Positive Energy! Even Elle Decor has written about how Dopamine Decor can affect your whole being and it is neurological...

Story by Rachel Macy Stafford Over a Leaky Toilet

I came across this story by Rachel Macy Stafford on substack and felt in her a kindred spirit. It is about Arthur, a plumber she connected with when he came to fix her leaky toilet. This touching story about simple human connection felt so familiar to me that I wrote her and asked if I could share it on my substack newsletter too. This was her reply: "I am so honored by your request! I love the common themes of our work. Yes, you may absolutely share the story about Arthur in your weekly newsletter."

Here the story about a simple every day encounter in its full glory, including the poem inside the story that touched Arthur and prompted their connection:

GET OFF THE SCALE
by Rachel Macy Stafford

Get off the scale. It cannot measure the depths of your heart.

Put down the measuring stick. It is not long enough to assess your worth.

Ignore the score. It does not show your true potential.

Don’t get hung up on the salary. It doesn’t even come close to showing your value.

Ban the mirror. It cannot reflect how much you are loved.

Ignore the critic. It has no idea how far you’ve come.

Instead, look for evidence of a day well lived:

I made someone smile. I gave a tender kiss. I hugged and wasn’t the first to let go.

I encouraged. I laughed. I believed. I forgave. I lived. I loved.

What is most important in life cannot be measured, but instead felt through the hands, heart, and soul of each life we touch.

-Rachel Macy Stafford, Only Love Today, (p. 55)

Simple Lesson re: Achievement from Winnie The Pooh

Here is a simple pep talk from Winnie There Pooh--and a big reminder that it all comes down to kindness towards oneself and forgiveness...

Painting of the Week

Equinox Health Club, East 61st Street, New York, NY

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 257: Andrea Gibson Documentary; To Make You Smile; Some of My Favorite Stores

Andrea Gibson Documentary

If I told you that this documentary COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT, about the death of poet and activist Andrea Gibson, is full of life and joy, you probably wouldn't believe me. But it is!

Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2021, the film documents the last year of the Poet Laureate of Colorado's life."

I first saw the film at the Camden International Film Festival a few months ago. Andrea's partner, Meg Falley, was at the showing. It made a huge impression on me and I 've been waiting for it to come out to the public so I could recommend it--and it was just released on Apple TV for all to see.. I would go as far as to say that Andrea Gibson and COME SEE ME IN THE GOOD LIGHT is a manual of how to live a good life, even in the face of death...As they realized, When I accept it (their death), all of the sweetness trickles in....then I get to be with life." And they realized, "whatever you are feeling right now, whether it be fear or sadness, just call it love..."

Their partner, Meg Falley, in addition to their own substack, is carrying on their legacy by taking over Andrea's substack and they have found a beautiful way to continue to celebrate Andrea's beautiful life...I recommend, if you are interested, to delve into the lives of these two extraordinary human beings, who meet unbelievable challenges with strength and grace...

A Few Joyous Moments to Make You Smile Today

These very short clips, taken from instagram and facebook, will make you smile and celebrate the beauty that is human...We all need to focus more on this--after all, kindness and compassion are traits that the majority of people have--the news is just focused on the wrong things...

This one little kid turned a whole subway car into pure joy: Pure joy

Beautiful at a grocery store We could all do this, at least once in a while, at the grocery store

Story about a biker and his daughter. You will thank me after reading--it is really an unbelievable beautiful story...

Sweet wonderful dog story

Local Shopping

I am trying my hardest to stop shopping at amazon unless I am totally desperate for something I just can't get up here in Maine. But for the holidays, I have vowed to just shop local and I am going to share with you my favorite stores in Damariscotta, Newcastle and Wiscasset, Maine. Although they may be far away for many of you, I think they are available for online orders and if not, let this serve as a reason for you to shop local too in your area...

BEACH PLUM

BEACH PLUM, 77 Main St ste b, Newcastle, ME 04553, (beachplumcompany.com) Love this store, full of a lot of fun and unusual items, all in excellent taste with an eye for the playful, the colorful and the modern. Items I had my eye on last visit were these really cool shaped animal rugs, unique rice paper jelly fish and star lamps, great dishware made in Portugal, fun puzzles, beautiful local jewelry, all kinds of candles, ornaments, and a very big of variety of very Christma-y- things! And as a bonus, Amanda is a true artist in that creates out of paper mache amazing giant window displays that go with the seasonally...

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THE KINGFISHER & THE QUEEN!

THE KINGFISHER AND THE QUEEN, 79 Main St, Damariscotta, ME 04543 (www.thekingfisherandthequeen.com) I always find really interesting things in this store--an eclectic combination of vintage inspired and new products, many things from Scandinavia and France. For this time of year, they transform their already beautiful store into a European Christmas wonderland complete with carefully curated items from the other side of the pond! They have a great children's section too--nice wooden toys (you won't find plastic here), really cute, high end children's clothing, and some of my favorite children's authors (Swedish Elsa Beskow, Astrid Lindgren's Pippi Longstocking, and Jan Brett to name a few...The store is scattered with literary references, handwritten quotes and often features a poem a week in the window.

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ROCK PAPER SCISSORS

ROCK PAPER SCISSORS 68 Maine Street, Wiscasset, ME 04578 (rockpaperscissorsmaine.com) is one of my favorite stores in the world. I have a long history with this place--it was a yearly tradition that we could stop by on our way back to New York from our vacation in Maine on Labor Day weekend and Morgan would get to choose her school supplies for the upcoming year. They carried the coolest folders and pens, some of it from Japan, and this ritual brought my daughter a lot of happiness and excitement about going back to school. The selection in general here is amazing--dishware, children's toys, wonderful stationary, jewelry, a huge choice of not your run of the mill cards, textiles, ceramics, arts and craft books, and on an on. Wonderful stuff!

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IN THE CLOVER

IN THE CLOVER, 85A Main St, Wiscasset, ME 04578 (inthecloverbeauty.com) also in Wiscasset, right across the street from Rock Paper Scissors, is my clothing store of choice up here. They carry a great selection of women's clothing--the kind of stuff I like to wear--as well as jewelry, lots of bodycare products, scarves, and an abundance of terrific sweaters right now...They also have a carefully curated choice of a few books, all worth reading. The owner haw great taste and I go in there at my own risk--I can't just go in to browse--I always come out with something I love...

Paintings of the Week

Dress Series I, II, III each mixed media on paper 30” x 22” $1500

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.

Blog No. 256: Laura Lynne Jackson, Guided: The Secret Path to an Illuminated Life, The Telepathy Tapes Season 2

Laura Lynne Jackson

Today I devote this blog to an extraordinary human being and I am proud to say, my friend: Laura Lynne Jackson. She is a psychic medium, and one of the most tested mediums in the entire country, most extensively by the Windbridge Research Institute in Tucson, Arizona.

Beginning at the age of 11, Laura knew something about her was different--on a hot day in the middle of July, swimming in the family pool, a feeling came over her and she insisted on going with her mom to visit her grandfather, even though her mom tried to convince her to stay home to stay cool in the pool... She knew right then and there that her grandfather was about to die and that this would be her last chance to see him one more time (he hadn't been sick previously). At that early age, she thought she was a freak and it made her very uncomfortable and ashamed but thanks to her wonderful mom, she explained to Laura that it was okay, there was nothing wrong with her--in fact it was a great gift that actually ran in the family...

Jackson's first book is entitled THE LIGHT BETWEEN US, and for anyone curious about mediumship, this is the book to read. No woo woo here, Jackson explains about her life and in a very clear way what it is like for her to receive the information she does and how it works in her mind...This is a great book for starters and an introduction to the paranormal...

Her second book entitled SIGNS: THE SECRET LANGUAGE OF THE UNIVERSE (you might have seen it around as it is extremely popular), explains her belief that we all have the ability to connect with our loved ones on the other side and through many amazing examples, shows how ordinary people can ask for certain (nothing is too outlandish) signs and they will receive them. Very comforting for those who are going through grief, her books are also mind expanding about the nature of reality and even the most skeptic of all skeptics has to at least entertain the idea that there is something more here...

Jackson's third book: GUIDED: THE SECRET PATH TO AN ILLUMINATED LIFE, another extraordinary book, was just released on 11/11/2025. I write more about it in the next segment...

click image to hear an interview with Laura Lynne Jackson

Click image to hear an interview about SIGNS: The Secret Language of the Universe

Guided: The Secret Path to an Illuminated Life

Laura Lynne Jackson and me at the launch party of her new book Guided

Some of the people whose stories are included in Guided: The Secret Path to an Illuminated Life

It is my great honor and with enormous gratitude that I share with you that I am included in Laura Lynne Jackson's latest book: GUIDED: THE SECRET PATH TO AN ILLUMINATED LIFE (Chapter 17). The book features people that the author felt guided towards and I had the amazing fortune to be one of those chosen. Through anecdotes and descriptions of our individual experiences, Jackson illustrates and shows examples of what it is like to listen to one's intuition, what it means to be open to the universe and what existence has to offer us beyond our frontal lobes...

I first met Laura Lynne Jackson when I attended a workshop of hers at the Open Center in New York City quite a few years ago. In it, she showed the participants that our souls live on, that the energy does not dissipate, and that everyone is able to connect with their loved ones if one remains open to it. We did various exercises to show that we all have powers well beyond what we experience in the day to day. The one exercise that stood out to me was with very rigid, long parfait spoons that she handed out. She explained that with the group energy of 100 people in the room, we were to concentrate on bending our spoon, even though the task seemed impossible because they were extremely rigid and not bendable at all...I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't done it myself but every person in that room bent their spoon, mine into a horseshoe and some people's spoon released more than once into a pretzel..That workshop opened my mind and in many ways changed my life...

I am at a time when things have just synched up from different aspects of my life: art and creativity-wise, my understanding and acceptance of myself and who I am, what I want to focus on in the future, and I am able to see more clearly the meaning in my life.. The synchronicities, which I used to think of as just coincidences, just keep coming on a daily basis. My Jungian therapist called this "being in the Dao"--experiencing a flow like the ins and outs of our breath... I have to say this is one of the reasons I am enjoying getting older... The chapter on me in GUIDED actually contributed to a better understanding of myself in a more wholistic and cohesive way...Thank you Laura for that and I also would like to acknowledge and thank Alex Tresniowski who worked with Laura on GUIDED and helped me also to see myself in a new broader light... ..

I can't say enough about the book or about the fascinating stories and people that are featured. Laura Lynne Jackson is the real thing and all of us have a lot to learn from her...

The Telepathy Tapes Season 2

Some people say we are on the cusp of a big change--that those who embrace love will survive and those who insist on our current path of disharmony and hate will stand to lose...The Telepathy Tapes Season 2 for me maps out that change--the acceptance that the world is not what it seems and that there are amazing things going on that defy the current model of what we think life is.

After losing my husband Gert in 2013, many of you know that I set out to try and figure out where he went, what death was all about and whether consciousness survived our bodies...Season 2 of The Telepathy Tapes covers and spells out very clearly so much of what I discovered over my ten year research on death and dying...So much of what they talk about will blow your mind. If there is one podcast I highly recommend, I can guarantee you that if you embrace it, and as far as I can see, you have no reason not to, it will change your life...

And as synchronicity would have it, I came at the Telepathy Tapes totally independent of Laura Lynne Jackson, but she is the focus of Season 2, Episode 2 of Ky Dickens Telepathy Tape Podcast...

Paintings of the Week

My newly painted studio in my newly moved in space in Damariscotta, Maine. Still not totally inaugurated and looking a little pristine…Thank you Michael Gorman for doing such a great job tranforming the space by painting the walls white…

Charity of the Week:
ACLU

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About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.