Author: L. Stevens

Classic Holiday Kitsch

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Vintage blow mold holiday decor spotted in a local antique mall. The name comes from the method of blowing melted plastic into a mold, which then hardens into a hollow, plastic shape. The most popular vintage blow molds to collect are made by Union Products, who pioneered the original lawn flamingo. I would have loved to take home the large gravestone seen here, but the $80 price tag was a little out of my budget!

Haibun 4

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I sense the change in the air almost too late. I inhale the scent of frost, decaying leaves, a distant fire and realize the sun has almost set. I quietly slip out my back door, away from my new wife and our little baby. Once I’m out of view of the neat row of houses I race towards the woods. I run until my breath is ragged and the last rays of sunlight fade among the trees. I crouch, hunched over, waiting, waiting, until the pain comes. It shoots down my spine, every vertebrae flexing, and spreads out to every extremity. I feel my back press against a tree limb that moments ago was several feet above me. My hands clench, toes curl, and I scream and scream until the screams finally become howls. cloaked in the blue cold the full moon illuminates an unraveling

Pas de Deux

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For my birthday last year I braved watching Jordan Peele‘s Us in theaters, and it more than lived up to the hype. I laughed, I squirmed, I was on the edge of my seat until the very end. One of the strengths of the movie is the way Peele uses music throughout the film. From familiar songs to the original score by Michael Abels, music added a rich layer to the action on screen. During one climatic scene at the end of the movie, the piece Pas De Deux pairs delicate violin plucks and trills with bass tones and booming guitar riffs to set the tone for a tense fight scene.

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

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The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a place I can visit over and over again. Named after the woman who spent her life collecting the art within it, and commissioned the unique building it is housed in. She personally oversaw the construction of the museum in Boston’s Fens neighborhood and personally arranged all of the artwork. When she passed away in 1924, her will stipulated that nothing in the museum’s galleries would be changed, and no items be acquired or sold from the collection. The museum is known internationally for the shocking theft of 13 paintings by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Manet, and Degas in 1990. One of the stolen paintings was Rembrandt’s Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee (his only known seascape.) If you visit, you will see the empty frames the paintings were cut out of still on display. Visitors can only take pictures of the museum’s intricate courtyard and gardens, but it’s Instagram account shares works of art, museum events, and pages from Isabella’s many journals.