Gallery Window by AnMorgan Curry and Carol Oberton

Big Problem

                                                     AnMorgan Curry

In Praise of Poetry

Canned Peaches for Snack; 360; Legos; My Room; Too Short a Ride; The Squid; Orange; Parking Lot; Crushed; Madre Mia; No; Short Sexy Season; Flight, and 413 others.  Paper, ink.  Various dimensions.  

 Our front window currently houses all 426 entries from this year's Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest.  As I come in to work, I stop and read a few poems before heading up the stairs.  It's heartening to imagine all 426 individuals taking the time to craft these small windows into a moment, a place, a feeling, a person- and then offering them to us freely. 

Look for the winning poems from the 2010 contest inside WTA buses, and outside the walk leading to the library.  Poetry Walk, a collection of the winning poems from the past five years, is on sale at Village Books.  Proceeds help insure the longevity of the Sue C. Boynton Poetry Contest.

Judging for the 2011 contest will begin next March, so now's the perfect time to get writing!

Get Your Creature On

Our current window features the froggy pictured above, a lovely wearable sculpture created by Mindport staff member Carol Oberton for the Bellingham Procession of the Species, a parade celebrating creativity, community, and our connection with nature.

It’s April 2, which means that Bellingham’s Seventh Annual Procession of the Species is now less than a month away.

Carol, one of the creative prompters of the Bellingham Procession from its inception in 2004, has been showing up at Mindport lately with large insect heads constructed from old plastic take-out containers, plumbing bits she’s found in the recycling bins here, and cast-off black mesh.  If you’re bored with staff meetings, try having someone come with an oversized beetle head for everyone to try on.  Works wonders!  (Actually, we are never really bored in Mindport staff meetings – it’s the only time most of us are in the building in the same time, and we have a good time checking in with each other.) 

Anyhow, Carol, who’s been both amphibious and crustaceous in the parade, and the rest of the Procession collaborators invite everyone to join in the fun.  There are Procession workshops every Saturday in April to help you get ideas for and construct banners, creepy creatures, stroller beasts, heads, tails, masks, BIG puppets, and the like.  The workshops are held at the Environmental Learning Center, 514 West Holly and are free and open to all.  Since there are only three simple rules to follow: no motorized vehicles, no live animals, and no words written or spoken, you can really let your imagination go.  Check out the Procession web site for more details: www.bpots.org.  

Once you’ve got yourself ready, just line up Saturday, May 1 at 3:30 behind the library.  You’ll march through the streets with your fellow creatures and wind up at the ending celebration held in Maritime Heritage Park.  We’ll see you there. 

The Bellingham Procession of the Species is a collaboration of the City of Bellingham Parks and Recreation Department and Start Here Community Arts. 

Happy Halloween

No Universal Healthcare?  That's Cuckoo!

AnMorgan Curry

(the label reads Ratched's Embalsamic Vinegar

All I want for Halloween is a "snack-sized" Baby Ruth candy bar, a toothbrush, and healthcare for all.  What a treat that would be.

side note:  Our more "senior" staff members think no one under the age of 50 is going to get the reference.  I, being one of the more junior staff members, argue that One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest has "classic" status and that many folks 16 to 50 are going to get it.   So far the jury is still out. 

Love Your Liberty? Love Your Library.

Bellingham Public Library - one of the most used library systems in the country - is facing severe budget cuts.  This window display evolved out of a staff meeting discussion of the value and purpose of libraries.  Mindport Art Director AnMorgan Curry created the piece.