Hoosiers (1986) gets Midwestern autumn exactly right, both the beauty of the landscape and the nostalgic harkening to a wholesome, mythic era that has slipped into the past. I love this film’s quiet opening, from its first image of headlights on a highway marking the predawn beginnings of the main character’s journey toward a fresh start to its close with the bell ringing to signal the start of classes at the high school in the tiny town of Hickory, Indiana, in 1951.
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Who would ever have thought I’d love this combination of colors? I took this photo of the municipal building and the BMO Tower in Milwaukee yesterday afternoon walking back to my office from Discourse, the new coffee shop in the old German-English Academy building on campus. Something about these two colors together both brightens the gray and softens the yellow. We had rain and tornadoes in the metro area Wednesday, so yesterday’s occasional misting drizzle served up a more tolerable kind of rainy day.
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I had an appointment earlier this week and noticed the sunlight in a hallway off to the side while waiting in line to check in. The person at the head of the line was having an extended conversation with the front desk regarding potential dates for their next appointment, which meant I had plenty of time to slip away, take multiple pictures with my phone, and then slide right back into my spot at the end of the line again.
This first picture is what caught my eye, the long line of brightly lit squares of sunlight along the wall of this hallway.
Then I thought I’d try for a photo without the big plant. I liked the symmetry in this second image.
Finally, as the light began to change, I decided to take another, more subdued picture with the now dimmer light.
Meh. Tried cropping it later. Still meh. Plus that plant is looming way too large now.
It was too “balanced” and boring. Decided to give cropping one more try.
Liked this one much better. The plant is still really large, but it no longer dominates the image in the same way. I basically just moved the plant over to the left and cut off about half of the wall from the left side to compensate. Somehow everything seems more balanced when it’s technically less balanced, if you know what I mean. The composition just feels more “right.”
Seems like maybe there’s a life lesson in there somewhere 😀
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Stayed late at work last night, although not quite as late as this darkness would seem to indicate. Sunset is coming earlier in Wisconsin these days, and the Grohmann Museum closes at 5 PM. I took this picture on my way back from the bubbler (drinking fountain, for all you non-Milwaukeeans😄), and I just really liked how friendly and welcoming my office looked, so brightly lit and filled with books and with all my photos I’ve taken of the museum at various times affixed to my door. A cheerful place even when it’s spookily quiet and dark outside.
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I walked into my office in the Grohmann Museum on MSOE’s campus the other day and really liked the golden autumn glow of light reflecting from the locust tree outside my window. Especially appealing was the correspondence between the dead leaves of this student artwork (a dead birch tree branch, wrapped in copper wire, then “planted” in a pot) and the dying leaves just beyond.
Whenever I’m going about my daily life and see something arresting, I routinely take a picture with my phone.
Original photo
This time, as I looked at the image I’d just captured, I was less than enchanted. Hmm, a little crooked. But no worries. I could just use my phone’s editing features to straighten it up so. But that edited version was less than satisfying.
Edited version
Was it possible that the less-perfect original was better?
Original
I decided to get my daughter’s opinion. After examining both versions, right next to each other in my camera roll, she also selected the original, unedited photograph.
Isn’t it funny how sometimes the more we try to fix something the less we like it in the end? The first photo captured whatever “magic” I saw. When I tried making slight repairs to touch up its imperfections, I was left with something that was nicer but was no longer as compelling (to me, at least).
Songwriter Leonard Cohen said it beautifully in “Anthem”:
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering.
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in
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Just a quick photo today. I liked the lines and colors of these two apartment buildings, which I noticed while daydreaming during an extra long stop at the traffic light facing south at Farwell and Ogden thanks to Milwaukee’s train/shuttle, “The Hop” passing through.
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Although we may often think of it in terms of cookouts, summer ending, pools closing, and kids heading back to school, Labor Day is all about celebrating workers and the rise of labor unions (Wikipedia article: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_Day).
The Smithsonian article is a sober reminder of the terrible price often paid by those who fought—or still fight—for workers’ rights.
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My daughter just made some fabulous rice that I want to share with you. The recipe only, that is. The rice itself will be long gone before anyone has time to make it over to my house 😀
Here are the ingredients you need.
1.5 cups of basmati rice
3 cups of water
One teaspoon of minced garlic
One bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Salt, to taste
First of all, be sure to use basmati rice. It has a unique, nutty flavor, and you won’t get the same result if you use a different kind of rice.
Sauté the garlic in the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice, stir around in the oil (medium heat) for maybe five minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower heat, cover, and cook for about 10-15 minutes until rice is fluffy. Keep heat low so rice does not burn. Stir now and then. When it looks like all the water is absorbed, stir in the lime juice. (You can add more lime juice if you prefer a more pronounced lime flavor.) Salt to taste. Stir in the cilantro immediately before serving.
That’s it! And OMG, it is delicious.
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Katherine Wikoff 