Daily
Scrawled grocery lists
and Friday afternoon traffic jams,
the smell of lumber in a big box hardware store
and sprinkles on sundaes.
Toothpaste splatters on a 6am mirror
and yearly performance reports.
Separate fibers
overlapping,
spinning,
weaving day by day
such a warm tight
swaddle of flames.
Does San Francisco have its own fashion aesthetic and sense of style? While not as well known for its fashion industry as, say, Paris or New York, the city houses a number of emerging clothing and accessory entrepreneurs. Many would say that San Francisco is creating its own scene rather than emulating the more established areas.
At the invitation of Owen Geronimo, founder of the San Francisco Fashion and Merchants Alliance, I attended the opening reception of 2015’s Fashion and Tech Week and a panel discussion on personalizing the retail experience through technology.
The opening reception included displays of clothes, jewelry, scarves and purses from several designers. Highlights included a line of leather purses made to fit inside each other so one could bring all of one’s belongings, including one’s laptop, to the office and then remove a smaller interior purse with only one’s cash, cards and ID at lunchtime. Another designer created a display that resembled a wooded cabin lodge and explained how her leather was sourced humanely, harvested from cows who had already died of natural causes.
Several people at the event pointed to other cultural influences that have shaped San Francisco, including startup and small business culture, environmental consciousness and the do-it-yourself ethic practiced here and highlighted at the annual Burning Man festival. During the festival, which now takes place in the Nevada desert but used to be hosted at San Francisco’s Baker Beach, participants camp for a week in the wilderness, relying on food and water and other supplies they have brought with them. These cultural ideas have brought natural and recycled fabrics, acceptance of creative re-use through consignment and thrifting, and a more individual and personal sense of style into San Francisco’s aesthetic.
The following night several entrepreneurs, software developers and bloggers discussed technical and business methods for tracking and anticipating retail customers’ preferences when they buy clothes and accessories. In addition to being able to target marketing to the individual consumer, small and larger retail businesses hope to eventually incorporate customer preference into a feedback loop guiding product design. So, customers would become co-creators to some extent with the companies who produce and design fashion items.
I was not able to make it to the remaining three events of San Francisco Fashion and Tech Week, so I talked with Alexius Kaitlynn Baker and others there about what was planned for those nights. Alexius invited me to read her blog Divine Imperfection where she reviewed and posted photos of Dapperhood: The Evolution of Menswear, Fashion Bloggers Connect with SheTalks forum/Women in Tech, and WearTechCon: Art and Style of Wearables.
From what I read in her blog, these three events further illustrated how technology and entrepreneurship influence San Francisco’s fashion scene while showing off the work of many creative designers. While designers are still honing the balance between technical function and elegance when it comes to consumer products, the diverse ideas reflected through the product demonstrations show rich promise for the city’s developing aesthetic.
The Waking of Spring
Today seems different as we venture outside
And a lonely shovel lies on its side.
There is a fresh and scented wind today
And I see many children out to play.
What is that coming up from the ground
With pretty little flowers I have found.
I hear sweet chirping and their songs fill the air,
There are melodies of joy for all to share.
The green grass is soft and beautiful to see,
And there is no other place I would rather be.
There is work to be done in the days to come,
Planting, watering and our chores have begun.
We smile and we’re happy to see the beauty of spring
And our days will bring pleasure for the gifts it brings.
Double Wow!!! This is the second book in the Ambrosia Chronicles. As soon as you start reading it, it will be like you never even put down the first, it flows right into it. In the Initiation we are introduced to Regina the evil one who gave Lucas his powers and her assistant Anna. Emma and Alex are both brought to Mytholia whee they can train and become much stronger with their powers. Alex discovers she has many powers and cannot yet control them, so they must be filtered at first. Alex and Emma both learn of their past and their families. The Initiation is a whole lot of gripping thrills and suspense and possibly a bit more growing romance. It can be read as a stand alone, but so much better after having read the first book of the series. The Initiation will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very last page. I absolutely loved the book. I personally hope it is made into a movie. What a great movie it would make!
Karolina Simos’ Ambrosia Chronicles may be ordered here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ambrosia-Chronicles-Initiation-K-Simos-ebook/dp/B00PKE08YO/
The first two books are now available and the third in the series will come out soon.
(cover photo will be available soon)
This is the third and last book in the Ambrosia Chronicles, and it does not disappoint the reader at all. This book will keep the reader on the edge of your seat until the very last page. It is very exciting. I absolutely loved all three of them and highly recommend them for the fantasy lover’s personal library.
In this book, it comes to the battle between good and evil. The full amount of powers of Alex and Emma are revealed. The battle is in the land of Mytholia and on the grounds of the school. The students who do not have their full powers or haven’t trained enough are evacuated and the others stay there to battle the Rogues and Regina. The battle is so exciting you will not be able to put it down until the very last page. If you love the Harry Potter series, you will love the Ambrosia Chronicles.
Save Dr. Jekyll and Destroy Mr. Hyde is a Christian self help book that makes sense to anyone, whether you are Christian or not. It teaches us how to determine whether we should take someone’s advice or adhere to their opinions. It also teaches us to think things through and how to really listen to what God wants for us. For example, if someone is telling you one thing but deep down you know you should not heed their advice, then most likely God is telling you not to follow that person’s advice or listen to their opinion. This self help book is written in such a way that we can all understand. Pastor White uses many examples from the Bible to show us how God can speak to us and the consequences of doing things on our own. I highly recommend this book for everyone’s library.
Stephen White’s Save Dr. Jekyll, Destroy Mr. Hyde can be ordered here: http://www.amazon.com/Save-Dr-Jekyll-Destroy-Hyde/dp/1621366979/
Review of My Razzle Dazzle
My Razzle Dazzle is the memoir of Mr. Todd Peterson. He gew up in the midwest and at a very young age knew that he was different. As a young boy he endured being beaten up, taunted, mocked and called names. When he discovered that his difference was that he is gay, he was afraid. He would even pray for God to make him strainght. Back in the 60’s gays would be given shock treatments because they were thought of as mentally ill. What a horrible time that was! When he came to San Francisco, California to be in the Roller Derby, he was able to embrace his differences. Mr. Peterson has written My Razzle Dazzle in such a way the story pulls you in. It is funny, sad and very deep. You will not want to put this book down until you have finished it to the last page. I absolutely loved it. The shame and pain that young Todd had to endure will make you feel like crying. This is an important book to let people know that everyone is different. Everyone deserves to be
treated with respect and dignity. I very highly recommend this book.
a dance for the dead
the trees looked like matchsticks
waiting for the spark
to light up the night
& illuminate the living
& their dance
in spite of death
Christened
For Laurie Byro and Laura M. Kaminski
Baptism by fire is more tenacious
than water. It does not run
down skin in tickling rivulets, vanish
as though evaporated from our minds—
it’s a brand that reminds
with an eternal searing. I was
five when christened beneath
the coals. My backside sizzled
with the sound of grilling meat.
It reeked of roast fowl. Even now
I can smell the stench of that day, hear
those embers frizzle in their fount
before toppling onto me. At night
mother would pull my white garments off
as one rips away packing tape.
No ointments or pills numbed me. I’d cringe
from her smiles while she labored
stripping my skin into something she might love.
Family
We used to be fused
like Pangea—
simply one shoreline, one
ocean pressing it all in. Years
have wrenched us apart. I may
now drift upon some other sea
but you still wear the scars
where you ripped from me.
Jos Market
after another bombing in Jos, Nigeria on Thursday, 26-February-2015
it’s cold outside
in our house
close to the window
I keep a grand bowl
filled overflowing
with the children of trees —
mangoes, plantains
papaya
this bowl
is a sun
Nigerian sun
my sun
my arms and hands
wrap around the whole of it
my body
embraces it
mercy
mercy, it’s
cold
–Laura M Kaminski
A Mother’s Prayer
Will you allow me
To educate my son
As a mother does
Boko Haram
To give good example
To the sons of others
Or will you take him
To be taught
In your way
Boko Haram
To kill others
Without mercy
For God is merciful
The son of Ibrahim
Was spared
The son of Abraham
Was spared
No human sacrifice
Was required
In return for belief
In God
Faith
In God
For God is merciful
Be merciful to me
That is my prayer
Boko Haram
Not my way
Not your way
But God’s way
— David Subacchi &
Laura M Kaminski
Dust on Our Hands
It’s not straightforward
Or maybe it is
Culture, past and civilisation
Should not be erased
With sledge hammers
And power drills
The architecture
Of minorities
That has endured
Thousands of years
Should not be shattered
As an act of warfare
The precious treasures
Of an ancient heritage
Should not be looted
Fragile manuscripts
Should not be burned
To erase identity
A bulldozer
Driven by militants
Should not level
To the ground
Nimrud’s statues
Walls and castle
Far away in London
Curators carefully clean
The great stone lions
And magnificent bulls
That were taken in 1847
To an empire’s museum
You should not
Pulverise the past
In an attempt
To control the future
But perhaps we all have
Some dust on our hands.
–David Subacchi
Call Me Down the Rain
work-song honoring those attempting to return home
to territory reclaimed from Boko Haram
I must dance a circle
bring the monsoon
call me down the rain
pray like someone greedy
give me give me give
more than my share
of this year’s water
bring it bring it bring
the water, carry me the river
call me down the rain
and flood the plateau, bring
rags and buckets to me
you will find me on
my knees and scrubbing
more than red dust
more than harmattan,
I must scrub the northland
clean down to the bedrock
how can we return
to farm and village, how
can we plant new crops
in this earth from which
we’ve lifted the broken
bodies of kin and country
washed them, taken them,
them all, to mourn and bury?
how can we till land
charred from bomb-blasts,
how can we plant when
we keep finding bullet-
casings in the soil?
our lips will not permit
yam and cassava grown
in blood-soaked dirt
to cross them, our bodies
will refuse such tainted
nourishment. no. you
must carry the Benue
here, bring bring me
water, call me down
the rain so I can first
scrub the stains
of blood and bitterness,
scrub until there’s
nothing left but dancing
here, until the stain is
gone from memory,
from sole and soul —
call me down the rain
–Laura M Kaminski
David Subacchi studied at the University of Liverpool. He was born in Wales of Italian roots and writes in English, Welsh and sometimes in Italian. Cestrian Press has published two collections of his poems. ‘First Cut’ (2012) and ‘Hiding in Shadows’ (2014).
Laura M Kaminski (Halima Ayuba) grew up in northern Nigeria, went to school in New Orleans, and currently lives in rural Missouri. She is an Associate Editor at Right Hand Pointing; links to her published poetry are available at arkofidentity.wordpress.com
