My Own Cindy Sherman Movie Stills, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Life Imitates Art

I can’t seem to keep from sorting boxes of old photos, even though I know it’s more practical to leave them until last. My first thought when I saw this one: Oh– my own Cindy Sherman movie stills!

Composition-wise, I like all the triangles, first, my white scarf and its echo in the white V of my shirt, then the sign behind me, and of course the fins!  I’d forgotten about cars with fins.

Here’s another, even more reminiscent of a movie still…

In photographer Cindy Sherman’s early series The Complete Untitled Film Stills, she often worked in black and white, recreating the atmosphere of B-movies or foreign films, and posing and dressing herself as an actress in their stories.

Moving on to black and white, here are a couple more “film stills” from my own collection… I’m not in these, but they remind me of that B-movie vibe.

Here’s an even earlier one – I recognize the steps of our hometown school, but I don’t know who the boys are.

I know I have big projects that I should be finishing, but taking a photo-break from time to time is lots more fun, especially when it involves life imitating art, or, in this case life imitating art imitating life (and that sentence could go on indefinitely).

Which do you see most often — art imitating life, or life imitating art?

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Here’s a Cindy Sherman pinboard I found…

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Where to Donate School Supplies, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Time

I owe this one to my friend Susan. When she told me to check with the Atlanta Food Bank for information on donating school supplies, I thought it seemed like an odd connection. But here it is on the Food Bank’s website: Kids in Need, a free store for teachers in low-income schools to come to for school supplies.

School Supply Store – Atlanta Community Food Bank

My stack of donations…

That was at least a year ago, but I’ve been sorting out supplies as I unpack boxes, and over time I’ve amassed notebooks, folders, binders, binder clips, sticky notes, and other office supplies that I thought might be useful for classrooms. I even had extra dictionaries (remember those?) and books on English usage. Then, a couple of weeks ago — surprise — I found chemistry class supplies…

I love it that Bob kept so many things in these gorgeous cigar boxes.

I wondered how long they’d been packed away, then I got to the box with the flasks wrapped in newspapers. First I got to be amazed by the prices …

And then I found one with a date…

Newspaper, Salina KS Journal, September 20, 1972.

I called ahead to see if they wanted both the paper supplies and chem class supplies, then Sam drove me to the donation site last Saturday. These things have waited a long time to find a home. I can’t begin to say how good it felt to find a place for them. And who knows, maybe I’ll be able to donate there again before I’m finished.

How to use your downsizing-time wisely? Don’t discard — donate!

P.S. I kept the cigar boxes (for now) — wouldn’t you?

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Time

Theater Programs, My Goofy Collections Part 2, and the Weekly Photo Challenge: Vibrant

Now that I have my own copy of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (thank you PaperBackSwap.com) I took another look at it, and realized why I didn’t finish discarding my theater program collection — I didn’t get them ALL out at once. So now the cabinet has disgorged the rest, and as directed, I’ve handled each one, appreciated the vibrant colors and clever illustrations, and though they all “sparked joy” most have now gone on to the great Theater in the Sky (via the recycle bin).

Sometimes it’s as easy to ignore what I should be doing as it is to ignore blogging about it… but something about getting every one of the programs out did seem to help. Still, it’s embarrassing to think about how long it took me to do this.

I found I still had 204 theater and opera programs. That’s after 77 went out on the first round of tidying.  And that’s not counting the art museum programs I’d started keeping a few years ago.

Even though I know that experiences are more important than stuff, I still managed to keep all this stuff to remind me of my experiences. It’s a trap!

It was tempting to try to figure out the cost of all the tickets those programs represent. “What if you’d invested that money all those years?” a friend asked. I have to admit that occurred to me as well, but back then I’d considered it an investment in the arts. After I thought about it, I realized there’s another answer — if I’d invested instead, I’d have more money to spend on experiences now, but I’d be missing the richness and background of experiences then.

I will admit, I kept programs from a few favorites. I’ll go through them again when I move, or maybe I’ll make a collage or two like my TWA travel-buddy Donna did. And yes, I’ll be seeing another play later this week, but I’ll be leaving the program for the next audience.

When is your next theater date?

More on the Weekly Photo Challenge: Vibrant