Johnny Cash stamp, prison portraits, new Ritter, Bird @ Calvin

I don't know about all of you, but it's been a bit of a wild week -- though I halfway expected that after Monday began with a large runaway dog's appearance in our front yard. Pray for the Johns Day promotion kept me pretty busy until last night, when I decided I could kick back a little. Since the 30 Rock finale was on, I made the rare decision to watch TV ... for all of two hours.

The best thing I did last night was make this soup
(recipe below). Watching TV? Not so much.

By the time I was heading to bed, however, I found myself wishing I'd done something more restful and rejuvenating. Of course, sometimes my endless list of people to knit for turns into a chore, but by and large, I find more sabbath in planning craft projects, cooking or reading something that doesn't require a power plug. Maybe that's because I didn't grow up with much TV.

How might you truly rest a bit this weekend? What would that look like?

New articles:

• From Going Big to Giving Up: Preparing for Lent at, yes, your Super Bowl Party (Her.meneutics)
• Sex Trafficking at the Super Bowl (First Things blog)

In the next few weeks, I get to read and review a few different books on dating in the digital age. What reads have you enjoyed lately? I just finished John Dunning's Two O'Clock Eastern Wartime, which painted an entertaining portrait of radio in its WWII-era glory. I'm happy to loan it out, if any of you want to borrow my copy.

:: events ::

• Festival of Faith and Music: I mentioned this a few weeks ago, but forget to include a link. Whoops! In any case, Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Mich., hosts the event April 11-13. Andrew Bird is one of the headliners, which just might persuade me to go. You can go as more than an attendee, too: through March 1, the festival's accepting paper proposals. 
• Glen Workshop: If you're interested in attending one of Image journal's annual summer workshops, you'll want to start making plans soon. Classes fill up quickly -- especially those with popular instructors -- and often require you to submit a work sample in advance.
• Glen West, July 28-Aug. 4 in Santa Fe. Highlights: Larry Woiwode on fiction, Wayne Forte on painting, Scott Derrickson on film, Ashley Cleveland on songwriting and more. Cost: Starts at $825, but scholarships are available, as is a commuter option.
• Glen East, June 9-16 in South Hadley, Mass. Highlights: Lauren Winner on sermon writing, Over the Rhine on songwriting, Michael Wilson on photography, Barry Moser on life drawing and more. Cost: Starts at $925, but scholarships are available, as is a commuter option.
  

:: tunes ::

• New Josh Ritter: Paste has the new single "In Your Arms Again," off his forthcoming album The Beast in Its Tracks (due out in March).
  
• I haven't read this story of a subway busker yet, but I sometimes wonder who they are and what else they do with their music. I've heard some remarkable music outside my home BART station -- a tall guys with dreds and a voice for opera that nearly reduced me to tears and, more recently, a talented young violinist I keep meaning to talk to.
• Andrew Bird performs songs from his latest EP, Hands of Glory, live at Sunrise.
  
• The youngest and last living Andrews sister has died. Even if their names don't mean anything to you, odds are decent you'd recognize one or two of the trio's hits (mostly recorded during 1940s). One of the covers on rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson's recent Jack White-produced album was first popularized by the Andrews sisters. The Times reports that Bette Midler also covered one of their big hits, "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," in the 70s. Their sound may seem a bit dated now, but I sure do love me a good, tight trio like that. Sometimes I think I'd join a community vocal group if I could sings songs like that...
  

:: visual art ::

• If you click through on just one thing in this email, it should probably be this article on a prison photography project. Really incredible. The interview with the photographer whose new book looks at prison landscapes as the photos from the project. Seriously, this is one of the art stories I'll probably be talking about for a few weeks.
• On a lighter note, the French photographer Sacha Goldberger has created a substantial body of whimsical work featuring his 90-something grandmother, "Mamika." This New York Times interview gives a brief introduction to the work and their relationship or you can dust off that high school French and explore his website. Bonus: instead of arrows, you'll click on large underpants to navigate between pictures. I'm not kidding.
  
• Here's a reason to think about writing a letter next time you're tempted to type a note: Paste reports (via TODAY) that the Post Office will issue a Johnny Cash "Forever" stamp later this year. I may have to stockpile those.
• In related epistolary news, some schools are eliminating cursive instruction. I am an inveterate letter-writer, so you can imagine how I feel about that. Admittedly I don't precisely write in cursive, but I still struggle with the idea that we've passed its usefulness. Interestingly, though, this article raises the question of whether we'll even need to sign our names in the future, given the rise in electronic signatures.
• If you fly through SFO much, you've probably noticed some of the exhibits from their museum. I've actually really enjoyed some of the shows, such as one on sewing and another with art that repurposed other materials (e.g., bottle caps and tires). Well, apparently the museum boasts an unusually valuable collection.

:: your stuff ::

• Last fall, Steve got to do a photo shoot for Southern Oregon University. He recently posted some photos to his blog -- nice work, even if you have no particular interest in the school.

:: reading/food for thought ::

• You could argue that this piece on a book's re-release is a little self-serving -- it focuses on the work of an erstwhile NYT editor -- but the author raises interesting questions about republication of books. In particular: what do you do when a book's claims have subsequently been discredited or significantly reframed due to subsequent research? Must you somehow bracket the new edition?
  

:: food ::

• You can now get your food-truck fix every Friday night in Oakland: Off the Grid comes to the Oakland Museum of California from 5-9 weekly. And you can get half-price Museum admission if you're not already a member. 
• I printed this Caldo Verde recipe out a while ago, but finally made it last night -- with very tasty results. It's relatively economical, too. The main expense is the chorizo (you need 10 oz.) and kale; the other major ingredients are onion, garlic, potatoes and chicken stock. Makes a little over 2 qts.

Symphony sale, a Banksy fake (?) + googlestalking

I wanted to get this out before the symphony sale ends, so accept my apologies for any typos in the following. Just one new piece since last time: a look at intimacy in the age of googlestalking, which became much more timely after I pitched it.

And in a follow-up to my #workhaiku piece for Books and Culture, Amy L. Peterson has a nice meditation on everyday art and community.

Lastly, I'm still madly at work on Pray for the Johns Day promotion, so any and all help spreading the word would be greatly appreciated. The Facebook link I shared last time now works, but I've also created a during-game prayer guide you could share with friends (especially people hosting Super Bowl parties!). Yes, I know that probably sounds like the most culturally obtuse suggestion possible ... but read up on it a bit and see what you think. Could you take even one bathroom or commercial break per quarter to pray?

:: tunes ::

• Symphony sale: Thru 6 p.m. tonight, you can get tickets to the San Francisco Symphony's spring season for as little as $20.
• The Atheist Hymnal - journalist Tony Carnes highlights a funny musical skit with Steve Martin.
• I wish you could have heard the radio interview that introduced me to this guy, but he's a Martha's Vineyard-based drummer who does some really cool therapy with people who have Parkinsons.
• One of my favorite radio stations, though I've never actually heard it via the dial, has lost its signal. MVY is currently fundraising to transition to a solely internet-based stream. I've been enjoying their nightly Blues at 8 show (on at 5 p.m. Pacific time, Monday through Friday), but they also play a lot of other music you're unlikely to hear on most other stations. Find them in iTunes under "eclectic" radio stations or stream from MYVradio.com.
• On the lighter side, I kind of liked this piece on the inauguration lip-synch kerfuffle, which gave one professional musician cover to nerd out on the sound technicalities of live performance.

:: visual art ::

• A Sandy update: more on hurricane recovery for NY's artists.
• How did Americans look at their land during and immediately after the Civil War? The NYT reviews an art show at the Smithsonian exploring that question. Worth checking out if only for the slideshow. The museum's website feature many more images from the show, as well as more background on the exhibition.
• HuffPo reports a new street sketch in LA commenting on Lance Armstrong is not the work of graffiti artist Banksy. But the person is a pretty good faker, if that's the case.
• Brett McCracken ponders filmmaker responsibility in this post on Zero Dark Thirty and Django Unchained, in which he wonders: Is depiction endorsement?

:: your stuff ::

• Laura guest posts on the Writerland blog, with a meditation on the struggle to create: Are you listening to all the wrong voices?

:: reading/food for thought ::

• Image editor Gregory Wolfe responds to a recent article claiming fiction has lost its faith, in this piece for the Wall St. Journal.
• I don't know this writer, his "10 Lies Artists Tells Themselves" was shared by the International Arts Movement Twitter account, which has yet to disappoint me in its recommendations.
• I'm always fascinated by things attain the popularity they do, so this analysis of current TV hits' narrative appeal was intriguing. Also, I finally started watching Downton season one, which this discusses.
• This piece on our habitual avoidance of death is worth meditating on for various reasons, but I was especially struck by his summary of how we tend to envision life's trajectory. I've wrestled with that a lot -- the sense that singleness might deprive one of life's key drama and events, but also that the "settling down" marriage often entails commences a downward slide from the narrative peak of one's life. I don't actually think that's true -- my parents' lives providing a strong counter to such a notion -- but this author's comment suggests that notion is deeply ingrained in our culture.

:: food ::

• I had a really fantastic meal and drinks at a place in downtown Tucson last weekend, so if you ever get out there, check out 47 Scott. They no longer serve the "Smoke Signal" that first caught my attention, but the bartender's off-the-cuff attempt to reproduce it was might tasty. The moral of this story: if you're patronizing a bar with a decent bartender, you might get a very tasty result when you ask for an off-the-menu drink.
• Hankering for a homemade meal, but don't time to cook? A friend of Nate, Laura and Steve's has a small meal business called Shira's Kitchen, which offers affordable, tasty dinner options. Check out her Facebook page to see this week's menu.