Andrea Michaels: An Unconventional Life

When my daughter Christina first mentioned Andrea Michaels, she described a woman whose vibrant, multifaceted life seemed almost too extraordinary to capture in a single story. “She’s really cool, Dad,” Christina said, sparking my curiosity about someone whose journey weaves together wit, words, and a deep commitment to community. 

After meeting Andrea this summer, I understood exactly what Christina meant. Coming of age in Minneapolis, Andrea Carla Michaels has lived a life as dynamic and engaging as the crossword puzzles she’s famous for crafting.

From her early days as a chess prodigy and puzzle enthusiast to earning a psychology degree from Harvard at age 20, Andrea’s path has been anything but linear. She’s performed stand-up comedy in Los Angeles, written for TV shows like Designing Women, won a motorhome on Wheel of Fortune, and become a nationally ranked Scrabble player. In San Francisco, she founded Acme Naming, a corporate naming consultancy, and earned the title “Queen of Mondays” for her 85+ accessible, playful crossword puzzles published in The New York Times. Her contributions to the crossword world recently earned her the prestigious 2024 Merl Reagle MEmoRiaL Award, an annual honor presented at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Yet Andrea’s impact extends far beyond her creative achievements. Known in San Francisco as the “Pizza Lady,” she’s been distributing food and clothing to the homeless since 2015, expanding her efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic and even reuniting lost luggage with its owners. Her advocacy for rent control and community service earned her a 2023 certificate of honor from the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. 

In this interview, Andrea shares insights from her atypical life journey—spanning comedy, crosswords, corporate naming, and philanthropy—revealing how her love for words and people has shaped a life of purpose and play.

Ennyman: Growing up in Minneapolis, you developed a love for puzzles and games, even competing in chess championships as a young girl. How did your early experiences in Minnesota shape your creative and problem-solving skills? Did this all play a role in your later career as a crossword constructor?

Andrea Michaels: Minnesota influenced my career in two ways… We had moved there from Florida. I was in shock so stayed inside and read and did puzzles. But I think I got my naming start looking at the sailboats names on Lake Harriet.

I wrote a paper in 10th or 11th grade asking if people liked their name  or would like to change it or if they knew what their name meant and on and on!

EN: You studied psychology at Harvard? Your later work in comedy seems like quite a pivot. How did your academic background influence your diverse career path, and are there specific skills from your studies that you apply to your creative or professional work?

Talking with Will Shortz, NYTimes Games Editor

AM: These are heavy questions I’ve never thought about. I went there thinking I’d study English and Linguistics but was in over my head in those departments. Certainly psychology has played an enormous part when I taught ESL to Japanese businessman… And every naming client one has to deal with the entirety of their childhood and subjective takes on matters!!!! And that is more an experiment in social/group psychology than stand up!

Generally I just like a great story! [I went to] Harvard just becauce I was a very precocious little girl and learned quickly and wanted to go somewhere that no matter what course I chose (at school/in life) that chances are they’d have a good department in it! I was interested in everything and quite the dabbler /dilettante!

EN: You’ve had a varied career, from performing stand-up comedy in Los Angeles to writing for TV shows like Designing Women and appearing on game shows like Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!. What drew you to these entertainment ventures, and how did those experiences lead you to settle in San Francisco and focus on crossword construction and corporate naming?

AM: It’s all connected.  It’s all writing and playing with words. Zero grand plan.

I fell into standup as I like to tell stories and friends encouraged me to do it on stage.

I love Gameshows and thought money was silly and you might as well just win it.

That led to writing for game shows. And as I was doing standup that led naturally into sitcom writing.

I didn’t like LA though and didn’t really watch sitcoms. Didn’t like driving. Longed for San Francisco so I moved back there. Had a friend in branding who’d asked me to help her name things. I asked if I could sit in a corner and name stuff.

Each thing has led to the next. Always solved crosswords and liked trivia so that led to writing them just for fun now and then. 

The big goal was not to work too much.  To have a different creative adventure every day. No one asked me to do any of the things I do. I just want everything to be fun.

I lost on jeopardy! Army captain set a record on my show and the final question was on the civil war. :(

EN: More recently you have been labelled or titled or crowned the “Queen of Mondays” for your New York Times crossword puzzles. You’re known for creating accessible yet lively puzzles. Can you walk us through your creative process for designing a crossword, and what makes a Monday puzzle distinct in terms of challenge and appeal?

AM: I think I like to think in terms of catch phrases and idioms from having been an ESL teacher… and it fascinates me how people talk especially when they unconsciously mix metaphors… or talk in cliches.

I also like rhymes and even rap (when not profane or misogynistic) as I like to hear how folks play with words. I never consciously set about to create a puzzle. I’ll just hear something or notice some fun gentle word play and think it might make a cute puzzle.

But then I have to sit down and be conscious of matching word lengths and all the mechanics of a grid which interests me not! (Which is where your lovely daughter* comes in!  She actually enjoys that part which is why I now collaborate all the time.

I like helping others' ideas come to fruition by being “worked out” and then if they LIKE making grids… then yay!) Then I’ll clue just to make sure it is clear and light and hopefully bouncy.

I never specifically think I’m making a “Monday” but that’s just where my ideas fall on the spectrum. They were never meant to be easy or “gateway” puzzles but have been so assigned which is fine but I never intentionally dumb anything down or whatever… I’m just practiced in making them “accessible.” Unlike many creators, I’m never ever trying to stump anyone or be tricky. I’m trying to bring a little smile or trigger a fun memory or say, “Look! Have you ever noticed this!”

 

Related Link

Meet SF’s Pizza Lady: Fighting Waste While Feeding the Hungry

Law and Order Matters: Inner City Retailers Close Doors and Head for the Hills

I don't know a lot about the grocery business, but it's my understanding that the margins are thin. This story about Target crossed through my inbox at the same time as I heard people talking about Chicago discussing the opening of a government run grocery store because six grocery stores have fled the South and West sides over the past two years:

Stocktwits Daily Rip
26 September 2023
Big-box retailer Target continued its precipitous decline today after becoming the latest company to close some stores due to violence and theft. 

The company said it will close nine of its nearly 2,000 U.S. stores after struggling to control crime and safety at those locations. The impacted cities include New York City, Seattle, San Francisco, and Portland. 

In a news release, it said, “We cannot continue operating these stores because theft and organized retail crime are threatening the safety of our team and guests and contributing to unsustainable business performance.” Interestingly, unlike other retailers who have closed stores, Target explicitly called out retail crime as its primary reason for the decision. 

During its second-quarter earnings in mid-May, CEO Brian Cornell said organized retail crime had risen in its stores and that overall shrink would impact full-year profitability by more than $500 million. He also reiterated back then that the company did not want to close stores. But evidently, the problem has become bad enough to close at least these nine stores and likely review others.

* * * * *

Crain's Chicago Business

Supermarket closings are the latest blow to South and West side neighborhoods
The closing of three South Side Walmart stores in the spring disheartened residents who already face limited options for fresh produce, meat and pharmacy goods. It was the latest blow to neighborhoods that earlier had lost two Target stores and, more recently, the Whole Foods in Englewood.

* * * * *

Fox News
17 September 2023
Chicago mayor considers creating city-owned grocery store after Walmart, Whole Foods close stores in the city

Chicago is exploring a city-owned grocery store after several closed in the past year citing millions in annual losses

The mayor’s office said that "Historic disinvestment has led to inequitable access to food retail across Chicago, and these existing inequities have been exacerbated as at least six grocery stores closed on the South and West sides over the past two years."

Message to Chicago: Fix the crime problem and you will have grocery stores.

* * * * * 
San Francisco Retail Scene
According to the San Francisco Standard, over 39 retail stores have shuttered in San Francisco's Union Square area since 2020. This represents a significant decline in the number of brick-and-mortar stores in the city's downtown shopping district.

* * * * * 

When protesters shout DEFUND THE POLICE, one has to wonder how that will motivate retailers and grocers to remain in these neighborhoods. Shoppers like to feel safe, and businesses need to make money in order to pay their staff. In fact, employees need to feel safe as well. No one should have to put their life on the line in order to get a paycheck.

Anybody want to recommend solutions? Leave your comments below.

Why Are Retailers Fleeing San Francisco?

It's not my sole news source but I do follow news on Twitter. I hear something on the radio or read something in an eNewsletter, then go to Twitter and see what others are saying about it. Stories about crime in San Francisco have been crossing the wire a lot the past few years, so I thought I'd see what the impact has been. Here's what I found.

At least 17 big box retailers have left San Francisco in the past 5 years. These include Nordstrom, Nordstrom Rack, Saks Off 5th, Whole Foods, Anthropologie, Office Depot, CVS, Walgreens, and Amazon. In addition to these big box retailers, many other smaller retailers have also closed their doors there in recent years. The exact number is unknown, but it is estimated to be in the hundreds.

There are a number of reasons why retailers are leaving San Francisco. Some of the most common reasons include:

• The rise of remote work: As more and more people work from home, there are fewer people downtown during the day to shop.
• The high cost of doing business in San Francisco: San Francisco is one of the most expensive cities in the world to do business in, due to high rents, labor costs, and taxes. 
• The increase in crime: San Francisco has seen a significant increase in crime in recent years, which has made some retailers, and their customers, feel unsafe. 

According to a May 17 Associated Press story, Target (nationwide) expects to lose $1.3 billion to shoplifting and organized retail crime in 2023. This is an increase of $500 million from 2022. Here's an example of an organized raid on a Nordstroms that cost that this one store $100k in a single shoplifting spree. That occurred this past week in L.A. Nordstroms closed its SF store in 2021.

The National Retail Federation estimates that retailers lose $68 billion to shoplifting each year. With increasingly lax law enforcement I fear that things will only get worse in our home town as well..

DULUTH, MN

One reason I pay attention to San Francisco and Portland is because I do not want to see their crime trends replicated here. If you talk to businesses downtown, many of the problems we see in SF have been quietly festering for some time.

According to the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, Duluth, Minnesota has a higher crime rate than most cities of comparable size in the United States.

In 2022, the violent crime rate in Duluth was 4.6 per 1,000 residents, which is higher than the national violent crime rate of 3.9 per 1,000 residents. The property crime rate in Duluth was 37.9 per 1,000 residents, which is also higher than the national property crime rate of 29.1 per 1,000 residents.

Crime here is not "out of control" yet, though quite a few people don't like the current trends. Personally I don't believe our media paints the full picture. Could it be in part because one of our primary industries is tourism?

There are a number of factors that contribute to crime rates, including poverty, unemployment, lack of education, and drug use. These factors can vary from city to city, which is why crime rates can also vary. What I do know is that there are two agencies in this city that distribute free needles, one of them alone serving up nearly half a million free needles a year. Few of these needle recipients are shooting up with water or vitamins. Common sense tells you that there are drug dealers coming here to profit by supplying goods to meet the demand.

Another factor many people miss is that Duluth has a higher poverty rate than most cities of comparable size. In 2020, the poverty rate in Duluth was 16.6%, compared to the national poverty rate of 11.4%. Duluth also has a higher unemployment rate than most cities of comparable size. In 2020, the unemployment rate in Duluth was 6.5%, compared to the national unemployment rate of 3.5%.

Much more can be said, but I'll leave off here. Make the most of your weekend. Make hay while the sun shines.

National Night Out In Solway

Horst, the man who manages our recycle center, raises alpaca.
His wife knits products with their wool. They brought three
for the kids to see and enjoy.

Did you participate in Tuesday's National Night Out? I decided to see what was shakin' here in our neighborhood. Community leaders organized a Solway Township event at the Munger Town Hall, which is located on the corner of Highway 2 and Munger Shaw Road across the street from the Munger Tavern.

There was live music, free food (hot dogs, chips, cookies, ice cream), a few classic cars, some animals and rides for kids. The volunteer fire department had its trucks and equipment on display. And even a representative from the county's sheriff department was on hand for a bit.

Here's an interesting comparison/contrast. The Solway Township is nearly a square six miles long by six miles wide, just under 36 sq. miles. As of 2018 it had a population of less than 2,000. By way of contrast, San Francisco has a land area just under seven by seven square miles. Its population is 874,000. 

This is the invitation we received.

For even more mind-bending numbers compare Solway to Manhattan. Manhattan is only 22 miles square but they house almost twice as many people as SF. When you compare these three communities it's mind boggling. Solway has zero crime. (Or it seems that way.) No homeless people die on our rural streets. There's never been a riot here. It's pretty quiet here. 

So National Night Out was a big event. Here are some photos. If you're weary of being afraid of vandalism or carjackings in your big city and want to move here, I believe we still have room for you. 

The kiddies had fun on this "train ride." 
Fire hall and recycle center in background.

Why are fire engines red?

First responder vehicle.

Young firefighters learn how to hold and aim a hose.

I should have taken photos of the crowd because it was a nice turnout. I got into a couple discussions about our biggest community issue right now: mail delivery has been spotty lately. 

Did you celebrate with your neighbors last night? Did you learn anything new? 

Let the sunshine in.

Flash Mob Crime a Sign of the Times

Mob: a large crowd of people, especially one that is disorderly and intent on causing trouble or violence.
"a mob of protesters"

* * *

Do you remember Flash Mobs? They didn't appear by accident. They were orchestrated events that were designed to appear spontaneous happenings involving lots of people in a public space. These flash mob eruptions had been taking place in various spaces around the country so that it was almost a fad of sorts. The aim, it seemed, was harmless entertainment. 

We even had one in Duluth, directed by Crystal Taylor who had been designated "Flash Mob Organizer" by Mayor Ness, if my memory is accurate. The event took place in the summer of 2011. The flash mob occurred during Sidewalk Days, an annual event that draws people into town for a week of shopping and real life face-to-face socializing. 

A darker form of flash mobs has been happening recently in San Francisco and Minneapolis. You may have heard about mass shoplifting events in San Francisco in which groups show up and steal as much merchandise as they can then flee. Now the police are saying that criminals are using Snapchat and other apps to organize these stealing sprees. 

On November 20, 90 people showed up to overrun a Nordstrom's store in San Francisco. These were people who didn't know one another, but responded to the announcement of a flash action. Today's Wall Street Journal stated, "The thieves stole more than $100,000 of merchandise in one minute before escaping in 25 separate cars that had their license plates removed or covered, prosecutors said." 

I remember reading about how revolutions in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya were coordinated through Twitter and other social media. If these flashmob robberies were to continue unabated, it could easily result in copycat events around the country. 

How would this play out long term? Would the government use A.I. to gather intel ahead of such events in order to intercept these organized mobs? To do so would require a further intrusion into our privacy in the name of security.

Chicago and Los Angeles have had similar mob crime events as well. It seems to me that if the thieves continue to get away with it, what's to stop it from spreading?

You can read the WSJ story here: Flash-Mob Thieves Use Apps to Plan.

Here is the article I wrote about the Flash Mob in Duluth ten years ago: Flash-Mob Invades Duluth

Here are some videos from various places showing how quickly thieves can snatch and go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b6d5wGaT2Qo (2019)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQclP8fREWk (3 weeks ago)

https://www.foxnews.com/us/repeated-organized-flash-mob-robberies-san-francisco-security-experts

San Francisco's School Renaming Spree Would Be Funny If They Weren't Serious

TRUTH IS STRANGER THAN FICTION DEPT.

A lot of people were probably surprised when mobs began tearing down statues in several cities around the country. What surprised people wasn't that statues were being torn down, but the kinds of statues being destroyed or defaced. It was no longer just Confederate generals, but presidents and people considered heroes in many quarters. 

Against this backdrop I was not surprised to learn that the San Francisco school board was renaming as many as a third of their schools because they were determined to be no longer acceptable. 

Yesterday I came across this disturbing article from The Atlantic titled The Holier-Than-Thou Crusade in San Francisco by Gary Kamiya. Here is the story lead: 

San Francisco has issued its latest grand moral decree, and bad ex-presidents would be quaking in their coffins—if they could stop laughing.

On January 26, the San Francisco school board announced that dozens of public schools must be renamed. The figures that do not meet the board’s standards include Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, Robert Louis Stevenson, Paul Revere, and Dianne Feinstein. A panel had determined that the 44 schools—more than one-third of the city’s total—were named after figures guilty of being, variously, colonizers; slave owners; exploiters of workers; oppressors of women, children, or queer and transgender people; people connected to human rights or environmental abuses; and espousers of racist beliefs.

The lively writing is filled with zingers like this one:

The more than 70 million Trump supporters whose most extreme caricatures of liberals have now been confirmed...

and this one:

The city’s move to rename schools will provide invaluable ammunition to Fox News.

* * * 

Evidently the School Names Advisory Committee was assembled in 2018 to address the issue of inappropriate names for the schools in their district. Once they realized the power they had been given, they threw caution to the wind. Kamiya writes:

In keeping with the incorruptible, Robespierre-like spirit of our revolutionary times, the committee decreed that one sin (being a colonizer or slave owner, using an “inappropriate” word, and so on) was all that was required to send a figure to the guillotine. Once that decision was made, the severed heads rolled into the gutter of history.

I encourage you to read the article to see what got Robert Louis Stevenson cancelled. It's so absurd that it defies comprehension? Then again, this has been my biggest concern about PC and Cancel Culture: No Mercy. And the corollary: Facts don't matter.

You should also check out the misinformation that passed as fact which expelled Paul Revere from another school.

As Kamiya puts it, "This debacle is just the latest example of 'progressive' cultural censorship in a city once renowned as a bastion of free speech."

READ THE FULL STORY HERE:
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/02/san-francisco-renaming-spree/617894/

* * * 

THE ACRONYM ISSUE

As if the above story weren't disappointing enough, the following is the one I was looking for when I stumbled upon the Atlantic article. This story, by Andrew Chamings, apeared in the SFGate. It is titled:

After renaming debacle, SFUSD says

acronyms are a sign of 'white supremacy culture'

Now I'm not afraid to tell you that acronyms can be a problem. For years I taught a class on writing in which one section was devoted to Acronyms. In that class I showed how every industry has its own set of acronyms. Since the goal of communication is to communicate, we should not use acronyms without explaining them. API means American Petroleum Institute in the auto industry, for example. 

I do know how demeaning it can sometimes feel when people use unfamiliar acronyms and you don't know what they mean but are afraid to show your ignorance. I get it. But to call it white supremacy seems a bit of a stretch. Is LGBTQ a white supremacist power play? I don't think so. 

The SFGate article begins with the re-naming of schools that has been taking place. Then it slides over to the issue of acronyms. 

Some in the district have now taken the confounding stance that acronyms are a symptom of "white supremacy culture" and are working to remove them from buildings.

Evidently the arts department, which has formerly been VAPA (Visual And Performing Arts) is now going to be the SFUSD Arts Department. Go figure.

In a Newsweek story about the acronym issue, Dem congressman Ted Lieu took to Twitter to say "This is stupid. Acronyms are not a symptom of white supremacy culture. They are shorthand to make communicating more efficient. For example, CAPAC stands for Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus. Much easier to say CAPAC. Or ACLU. Or NAACP. Or NASA."

Exactly. 

You can read the full SFGate story here:
https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/school-renaming-SFUSD-acronyms-racist-15919053.php

Five Minutes with San Francisco Poet Jerry Ratch

Here in the Twin Ports one becomes quickly aware that the visual arts scene and poetry scene bleed into one another in a variety of ways. The art supply store Pineapple Arts hosts poetry readings. Similarly Beaners Central displays the works of local artists and hosts a weekly "open mic" on Wednesday nights and monthly poetry readings on the third Thursday.

So it was not a surprise to find that Sherry Karver, whom I interviewed in September, is married to an author/poet. Jerry Ratch has generated an extensive body of work since his Puppet X was published in 1973. His novel Wild Dreams of Reality gained a favorable acknowledgement from Richard Ford. And of one of his books, Lawrence Ferlinghetti wrote, "A gritty and valiant story... I would be glad to recommend it."

For the past few weeks I've been dipping into two of his recent volumes of poetry, A Bend in the Road and How the Other Half Lives, seeking diversion but finding a few morsels I thought could be shared here. I've selected a piece titled "Everybody Needs A Soul" which you will find interesting.

EN: It's been said that more people write poetry than read it. Why do poets write poetry when the audience is so narrow?

Jerry Ratch: We keep writing poems, maybe, because we can’t help it. There certainly isn’t much of a paycheck involved in it. Also, we have high hopes, yes, high hopes, that someday someone will wake up to it, and be positively impacted by it. Or maybe we all just have a good sense of humor. Or worse, none at all, and keep writing out of a deep-seated mistrust of things out in the world. Things like politicos, etc.

EN: When did you discover or choose to become serious about your poetry?

JR: I began writing out of a desperate need to save my own life, after being dumped by my first love. I discovered I had been naïve about everything. I was 20 and started writing when I began “hearing and seeing” for the first time as an adult. Then it took about five or six years before I achieved my own voice, and wrote my own first real poem, no longer influenced by Dylan Thomas. I also started writing prose as well as poetry about 25 years ago, when I met my second wife, the artist Sherry Karver. So far I’ve written 16 books of poetry and six books of prose. Most are available for practically nothing as Amazon Kindle books for download to any computer.

EN: The poet Pablo Neruda was an ambassador to France. Robert Frost was a farmer and then a teacher. What's been your career path while producing your many volumes of poetry and assorted books?

JR: For the past 35 years I’ve been selling real estate in the San Francisco Bay Area. I write between appointments. I just have learned how to “switch hats,” as it were, without thinking about it too much.

But in the past before that I did the following jobs: Gas station jockey, pizza delivery, teacher for a year, cart wrangler at a discount store, paint store clerk, paint factory worker, warehouse packager.

I did what I had to do to stay alive and feed people. I guess you have to have an MFA in Writing to get these kinds of jobs. The teaching just didn’t work out at all.

* * * *

The following originally appeared in The Bend in the Road, Any Puppet Press, copyright 2014.

Everybody Needs a Soul

They are running the bulls in Pamplona
this afternoon and they have no idea
how to do this and they are
way too old for this
and they want to relive their youth
and run with the bulls

They want to drink like Ernest Hemingway
and run the bulls with his crowd
and live raw and wild
as if they were young again
and see life as though for the first time
and be alive again

Running with the bulls within inches
of their frail lives in the heat
of the afternoon in Pamplona
And they have no idea how they
will do this but they will do it
anyway because they are afraid
of being old and weary and run
down by life

* * * *

To read more of Jerry Ratch, visit JerryRatch.com.

Writing about poetry makes me want to share my own. You'll find a few of these at my original website on these pages here.

Meantime, life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Street Art In the Bay Area and Big Apple

This building in SF caught my attention a few years back.

Last week when I shared examples of L.A. street art it brought to mind some of my San Francisco meanderings a couple years back and the street art I saw there. The building at the right here was striking because I'd never seen anything like it. Instead of graffiti or bright murals, it was a living sculpture with furniture falling out from all the windows.

What triggered my memories of SF was an article at ARTINFO.com on the 20 Best Spots to See Street Art in New York City. As the slide show demonstrates, the New York street arts community is quite talented, and busy. Personally I hate most articles that claim to designate ten or twenty things as the best of everything else, like the best actors of all time and top ten Dylan songs of all time. Usually it's just a person speaking authoritatively about his or her own opinion. Nevertheless, these kinds of articles do cause buzz or a bit of chatter amongst friends who get a chance to say, "Well, what about...?"

It used to be that graffiti artists worked on walls beneath underpasses and other out-of-the-way spaces because the work was unsanctioned. (i.e. illegal) Today's graffiti artist is now a street artist and their work is receiving a much higher level of recognition. Certainly building lathered with color are more interesting than abandoned structures that have been condemned but are yet to be dismantled.

I went to a Vegas auto show party once in which two dozen graffiti artists had been flown in from Detroit to create a wall of art during the course of the evening while suited executives sipped cocktails and talked about the industry. It seemed an odd juxtaposition.

For what it's worth, we have some really exceptional walls in Duluth and Superior, and I'm looking forward to seeing more in 2013.

The images below are from a wall in SF circa 2010. I wake earlier than everyone else so I walked the streets with my camera. How many times I've wished my eyeball were a camera, but there are a lot of fairy tale wishes in life that just ain't gonna happen.

San Francisco Street Art

Over Christmas Susie and I flew to California to see our kids who are currently living in Santa Rosa. We spent four days there before heading down to The City to spend a couple days in San Francisco. It really is a unique city.

Years ago, when we lived at the top of Duluth's Central Hillside, I came home from work one day to find an artist seated in front of an easel painting a landscape through the trees there. He was from Hungary I believe, and I asked what he was doing there. He said Duluth was one fo the three most beautiful cities in the world for artists because of the way the city steeply sloped to a body of water and how the light played off that setting. The other two cities were one in Switzerland and, of course, San Francisco.

Perhaps the beauty of the setting is what attracted so many artists, for there is art everywhere here. It seemed fitting to share a few of the images that I discovered on the walls and in the streets of San Francisco last weekend. This first was taken from a sidewalk while looking up at the corner of Sixth and Howard.

CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE

Storypeople

While in San Francisco last year with my family, we spent a little time going into various shops and stores in various sections of the city. There is a lot of art and creativity in this crazy town, as you can imagine.

In one store we came across some line drawings that had pithy or thought provoking sayings, whose simplicity enabled one to connect, but with a reflective depth that made an impact. We all liked the cards very much, and the book... and the art.

Well, I discovered that they also have a website, and a daily email with a drawing a very short story each day. This one here is one of the longer ones, but it gets to the heart of what Storypeople is all about. I hope you will check out their site... maybe even subscribe to their daily uplift like I do. It will encourage you to maybe find a creative way to make your own daily input to make this world a better, more thoughtful place.

This one in particular reminded me of a couple of my own haiku which, like Storypeople, is an "idea" boiled down to its essence... simple yet containing more than the sum of its parts. Enjoy the haiku and then take in Storypeople.

White paper, black ink.
Words form sentences that make

no sense. Mysteries.

White paper, black ink.

Words define truth and obscure it.

Sublime engima.

Often, I write all day long with white ink on white paper, late into the night, until it is all I can do to feel the letters curving to earth from the tip of the pen & then, I fall asleep. Dreaming of running, or maybe driving in a car the color of water & I wake the next day remembering nothing & I gather the stack of paper & a pen of black on the desk in front of me & the words begin to dance over the page like long legged insects across a still lake & the words in white whisper behind & underneath the new day. If there is any secret to this life I live, this is it: the sound of what cannot be seen sings within everything that can. & there is nothing more to it than that.

Visit STORYPEOPLE here