Traveler and photographer Sean O’Cairde creates a unique work-in-progress through his travelogue as he visits many of California’s historical lighthouses (and one with a rich past located in Ireland.) Plenty of people are inspired by lighthouses as an artistic subject, visually and metaphorically – everyone from American master landscape painters to modern Irish folk singers. But O’Cairde goes a step beyond creating photographs and artistic representations of the places he visits with his brother – he details his experience journeying to each locale, who he meets, what he observes, any little vignettes which occur along the way. So the process of selecting subjects and taking photographs becomes artwork in itself, as much as the finished products.

We read funny anecdotes concerning asking for directions and finding one’s way through the Irish countryside, descriptions of local people and families, the history, look, and feel of each place in a way that interests both history buffs and average travelers. The spectacular photography available on the website encourages people to purchase O’Cairde’s work and to go beyond ‘fingertip travel’ on one’s computer and visit the lighthouses in person.

You may read about his journey and find more information on the artwork here:

http://lighthousesofcalifornia.blogspot.com/

Emerging author Sharon Woodward Jacobson’s From the Heart: Prose and Poetry reaches its best when she turns out unusual twists of phrase or reveals unique or complex aspects of her story. The book combines poetry, prose, and a cartoon, and reveals a thoughtful soul who, together with her close and supportive family, faces questions with no easy answers.

Her “Tribute to Grandfather” describes her memory of the man who raised her: ‘Into the past my mind wanders/like rolling waves dancing through thunder.’ The mixed metaphor conveys a sense of strength which is powerful, frightening, yet at once fluid and adaptable. In prose we learn of a grandfather who constantly taunted Sharon, born with cerebral palsy and to a mother who died of a heart attack during labor, that she would never amount to anything and who made her run up a hill near their country home while he followed in his Ford.
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My name is Giorgio Borroni,31, and a mixed media artist. I draw using traditional pencil and ink, then I colour everything using Photoshop and add some digital effects. Many of my techniques I have conceived by myself. My art is a mix of dark, science fiction and melancholical mood with some ingredients belonging to comics, my favourite reading since I was 8.

I would like to show my stuff around, since creating could be fun or relaxing or tormenting or simply a waste of time but what I am looking for is feedback, people telling me ‘you suck’ or ‘you are good’ or ‘find another hobby.’ That’s what I am looking for.

You can see my complete gallery here http://gorgeousgiorgio.deviantart.com/gallery/

and my myspace is: www.myspace.com/bladejob

I usually don’t take commission, but if someone is interested in publishing or using my stuff as a CD cover or art book they can get in touch with me here: gb1977[at]gmail.com

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“…Paris in the dark seemed covered by a dusky skin, almost as though it were living. The arches in the facades were the curve of a throat, the street corners elbows, and in the silence Bern could almost hear the warm thumpings of some heart deep beneath the residue of civilizations.”

                So begins the title story of Lauren Groff’s new collection, Delicate Edible Birds, with this female war correspondent’s evocation of occupied France. As with Bern’s view of wartime Paris, the stories in this collection reveal their inmost ‘hearts’ and layers of meaning through a variety of interlocking subplots and themes. Indirect references to conversation and action, the use of childhood and memories, the casual passage of large, undefined amounts of time between moments of dramatic tension, and eccentric motifs (stuffed exotic birds, divers) all give the pieces a dreamlike, poetic feel. However, the plots all contain enough suspense – actually heightened by the understatement – to keep one reading.

                Motherhood presents itself in various ways throughout Delicate Edible Birds. In the first story, Lucky Chow Fun, the main character, a bright teenage girl who loves literature and swimming, reflects upon fairy tales. “What most of the stories have in common is both a very good, absent mother and an evil, present one. [They] are not like real life in all its beautiful ambiguity. There are no semigood semiabsent mothers. Or, for that matter, semipresent very good ones.”

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Quillpens normally conjure up associations with scholars in monasteries and old white-wigged gentlemen scratching out the Declaration of Independence. However, they were once, and can still be, both practical materials for ordinary writers and objects of craftspersonship and style. Kelsi Dick, artist with The Brilliant Quill (www.thebrilliantquill.com) discusses her work as a modern-day quill pen designer: the making of the pens, what got her interested, the potential art of ordinary objects, the business aspect of marketing a craft.

I think I am more of a crafts person because I am so in love with art that is functional.  I can appreciate paintings on the wall, but I don’t want to make that kind of art myself.  I love to see people use what I make.  It’s a shame that often, just because something is useful, people think there’s no point in making it beautiful.  The “crafts” seem to embrace this idea more than the “arts.”

Susan Maciak’s Job Shopping: Don’t Settle for a Job that Sucks exemplifies creating literary lemonade out of the sour economy. She brings cleverness, snappy language and design sense to the employment guidebook market, incorporating advice on how to identify and market one’s skills into a gentle beige and light blue, dark green and purple color scheme. Graphics and the multicolored text and layout of each page draw readers in and focus their attention on the information presented, while the content is detailed enough to provide real information but short enough to avoid wordiness.

                Maciak’s upbeat tone empowers while sharing straightforward truth. Those working through her career program take practical action every step of the way, listing skills, developing written goals, evaluating and choosing options. The curriculum engages participants, keeping them involved while helping them put the concepts to memory.

                Job Shopping includes information useful for all ages, and goes beyond the traditional skills checklist/resume and interview pointers to offer information on how to work a room and talk with a variety of people, how and where to find job leads, and how to market oneself as a product, with a concise pitch describing skills and career interests. The comprehensive nature of this resource will come in handy in the modern economy, where one must increasingly promote oneself: simply filling out applications and sending resumes and being willing to work will not go far enough.

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Welcome to the February issue of Synchronized Chaos! Happy Chinese New Year/Martin Luther King Day/Valentine’s Day/Black History Month!

This month we’re exploring various aspects of the primal and modern heroic journey. What would a hero, or heroine’s adventure look like in modern society? Do we still have frontiers, wide open spaces, places to challenge and find oneself in the wilderness? What does it mean to be a hero in these changing, uncertain economic times, when many people find themselves less capable of risk-taking or altruism than they expected?

We received a good number of submissions this month, some from previously published authors who wish to continue as part of the Synchronized Chaos family, which we strongly encourage, and others from talented newcomers.

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