Holga, My Honey By Starling Root
QuailBellMagazine.com Weighed down by a feast of poultry and seafood, I sank into the sofa. The whole first floor buzzed with Yuletide tales and gossip that had been pented up for too long. Somehow I had managed to squeeze some silence out of the air and fold it onto my lap, where I caressed its soft head in the hope that it would grow loyal toward me. All the noise made my head and heart pound. I had tasted Noël and enjoyed it, yet was ready to recover from its booming chorus of cheer.
My boyfriend also ached for a minute of peace. But he had been daydreaming for only a couple of moments when one of his aunts ambushed him with an unwrapped Christmas gift. The box, boasting a Rainbow Brite color scheme, was a perfect cube. A big picture of a camera filled up one of its shiny faces. The word 'Holga' declared itself in blocky orange print.
Taking it, my boyfriend glanced at the box and then passed it to me.
“Oh, thank you,” he said to his aunt, “But I think she'll get better use out of this than me.” He chuckled as his aunt laughed, nodded, and waved her hand.
“I have some silly little things for her, too. Just some silly little things.”
She removed a couple cases of sparkly stationery from the plastic bag dangling on her wrist. I smiled and thanked her as I ran my fingers over a glitter dragonfly.
My boyfriend turned to me after his aunt had moved on to attack another nephew. “This camera's perfect for you,” he murmured.
I rotated the box to inspect all sides. Everything about the packaging hinted at a combination of 1980s toy marketing and anime: speech bubbles, Japanese translations, rings of indigo, mauve and cherry red set against black. Yet the camera took medium format film—a professional medium. I thanked my boyfriend and placed the box alongside all the other gifts I had received that day.
Months passed before I would touch that box again. Spring was quickly fading into summer. I was perched upon my bed in a cotton tunic, knocked out by the heat but itching to be productive one Sunday morning. My eyes scanned the room before landing on that black and neon box. My mouth cracked into a grin. That day, I would not laze about in bed. That day, I would discover Holga.
I began by opening the box, which was no simple feat. Its flaps reisted my efforts to pull them out. In fact, I almost ripped the box. Once I managed to open it, I perused the sight before me. The camera resembled a child's plaything in its chunkiness. The books could have been album covers or 'zines. I sighed. Compared to most other camera kits, this kit felt so informal. I relished the thought of being able to click and go.
I laid out everything on the bed and began poring over the accompanying literature: a photo book, an instruction manual, and promotional materials. The muscles in my back relaxed when I learned how few settings the camera possessed and when I flipped through pages of samples showing what the camera could achieve.
No art skills required. What do you want this dove to say? Vote! The QB Crew will take the winning response and turn it into a photo comic. Help make art without even removing a lens cap!
Pittsburgh's Newest Pop-Up
By Julie DiNisio & Christine Stoddard
QuailBellMagazine.com
It's raining pop-up stores at Cats and Dogs Coffeehouse in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. A pop-up store is a store that “pops up” in a location for a bit, then moves or disappears. From May 24 through 27, Clowder & Pack, a pop-up bookstore, will be open in Cats and Dogs' back room. All proceeds will go to Assemble, a “community space for arts + technology” located on Pittsburgh's Penn Avenue. Oh, and did we mention that QB's going to be there?
Here, Clowder & Pack's creator Connor Site-Bowen talks about his latest project:
QB: Could you describe the current atmosphere at Cats & Dogs? What attracted you about it and how do you hope to alter it for the pop-up bookstore?
CSB: Cats and Dogs is a wonderful local coffee shop. Blonde wood furniture, vaulting pressed-relief ceilings, clean white walls, and large south-facing windows provide an atmosphere of space and lightness. The art is always local, and changes often. The coffee is delicious and the owners, Mr. Cat and Mr. Dog, are friendly, cheerful, and passionate about making Pittsburgh an even better place to live.
There is a large (15ft x 15ft) back room, usually available for meetings and other reserved events, which Clowder and Pack will inhabit. It will be a store-within-the-store, accessible via the cafe. Readings and the like will take place both in the back room and the general space.
Ellen Schreiber's Teenage Mermaid By Jade Miller
QuailBellMagazine.com I was a bit skeptical about reading something called Teenage Mermaid, especially with a less than promising front cover featuring some very silly-looking font. However, I ended up being pleasantly surprised. You may start the book for the giggles, as I certainly did, but you finish because of nostalgia.
Ellen Schreiber introduces us to Spencer, a 15-year-old surfer dude who is currently drowning. While he sinks deeper into the ocean, (with some pretty coherent thoughts for someone who’s dying, I might add!) he’s saved by a beautiful girl. This girl is described in a way that’s bordering on silly: “golden yellow and sun-fire orange hair…wonderful pink-lipped smile…angelic skin…and piercing ocean-blue eyes.” Spencer comes to on the beach, alive and unsure if what happened really happened or if it was all a dream…until he opens his hand and sees the girl’s locket. DUN DUN DUN!
In the next chapter, you meet Waterlilly, a 15-year-old mermaid who just doesn’t feel like she fits in. She’s flighty, getting low grades at school when she bothers to show up and is obsessed with ‘Earthees.’ This obsession stems from a story about her great-grandfather, who was supposedly an Earthee who fell in love with Lilly’s great-grandmother, a mermaid. They had true love’s kiss and he turned into a merman – very intriguing for a young girl yearning to be in love. The locket Spencer now has was Lilly’s great-grandfather’s and Lilly will be in big trouble if her mother finds out it’s gone.
Lilly spills the whole story about meeting the ‘Earthdude’ (no really, that’s what she calls him) to her BFF, Waverly. Lilly describes Spencer to her friend, and his description also seems a bit on the silly side, as Lilly sighs over his “deep-red clay-colored hair…chiseled jaw and soft melt-worthy lips.” Now, I remember the boys in my high school and none of the 15-year-olds had anything close to what could be called a chiseled jaw. But hey, this is fiction, right?
The story continues with Spencer looking for Lilly to thank her and return her necklace and with Lilly needing to get her necklace back in order to stay out of trouble, she decides to go down to the depths of the ‘Underworld’ where all kinds of bad characters stray, including a…sea witch! Man, this sounds familiar. Lilly barters with Madame Pearl to get a potion to get legs to be human for a day. Did I mention that Lilly gets to this Underworld by way of dolphin? And that dolphin’s name is Bubbles? Cause yep, that happens.
Lilly and Spencer meet up after a crazy day of Lilly trying out school and enjoy an afternoon on the pier and another soulful kiss, as Spencer is “so different…from every soul [Lilly] had ever encountered. [Lilly] felt a connection without…sharing words, a connection just sharing space.” Oh man, intense! Lilly rushes off to return to the ocean and Spencer is left behind. Cue another day and another visit to the sea witch, where you find out Madame Pearl went through the same thing Lilly did but didn’t go back to the man she loved. Lilly knows Spencer is her soulmate and Madame Pearl gives her another potion free of charge. I won’t spoil the ending, but c’mon! You know it ends happily.
Teenage Mermaid may not be the most intellectually challenging for tween readers, but it certainly rings with a truth. The intensity that Spencer and Lilly feel for each other reminds me of my own high school relationships. There’s no dating or getting to know each other, just right away being together and being in love. Immature? Yes. Silly? Of course. Does it feel true? Absolutely. So, pick up Teenage Mermaid. It’s a great way to get a few giggles and a nostalgic smile or two.
Nerds, rejoice!
By Julie DiNisio
QuailBellMagazine.com
Fantasy fans (and most other types of nerds) rejoice, RavenCon is returning to Richmond, Virginia, April 13 through 15. Celebrating Science Fiction, art, gaming, and programing, this year's convention, located at the Koger Center Holiday Inn, will feature events and workshops to highlight the latest goings-on in these areas. Peruse the designated Anime Room and anticipate the RavenCon Masquerade on the evening of April 14 for which participants are encouraged to costume up.
This year, guests of honor will include Glen Cook, author of The Black Company series, and Matthew Stewart, famous fantasy artist. Bella Morte will be providing musical entertainment for the event.
Not just a weekend of guilt-free self-indulgence for fans, RavenCon 2012 is heavily involved with several charities. Proceeds from the Charity Auction will go to the American Cancer Society and the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Additionally, they will be hosting a book drive, and guests are encouraged to bring their unwanted books to benefit Books on Wheels.
For more information, including admission prices and how to volunteer, visit RavenCon's website.
Jennifer Tyler-Marks: Jewelry Maker, Business Owner, Mom
By Jade Miller
QuailBellMagazine.com
Entering Jennifer Tyler-Marks home, you know a jewelry maker lives there. A table situated in front of the couch glitters with beads and metal and a half-assembled display shows off recently completed earrings. There’s a notebook with a list of craft shows to apply to and the laptop screen to her right glows with an application to a festival. Only one things seems out of place - the resting newborn on the Boppy pillow to the left, seemingly entranced by the large painting hanging on the wall. Tyler-Marks makes balancing a business and a baby look easy.
Born in Mesa, Arizona, Tyler-Marks was the first of three daughters to her parents. With her father in the Air Force, the family moved around a lot, living in Utah, Louisiana, Alaska and Virginia. Tyler-Marks recalls seeing simply made pieces featuring semi-precious gemstones around her mother’s neck, made for her by her grandfather. This was the spark of inspiration and why Tyler-Marks works with the materials she does now.
Using semi-precious gemstones like tigereye, quartz and garnet, along with wood, coral, freshwater pearls and Czech glass, Tyler-Marks creates jewelry stunning in its simplicity. Each piece lets the stones shine in their own merit and the necklace, earrings or bracelet is merely the platform. Tyler-Marks takes great care selecting all the beads and stones she works with, choosing to use “unusual gemstone finds, ones that you can get lost in when you look at them. I have some blue tiger eye right now that's really subtle and beautiful. The color changes depending on the angle, it's like watching the northern lights.” With such attention and thought being put into every step of the process, it’s easy to see why this jewelry stands out.
If gemstones aren’t your cup of tea, Tyler-Marks has also begun a line repurposing vintage pieces into new jewelry. Still employing pearls and the like into these pieces, the gems are no longer the whole focus, giving a more feminine and edgy feel. To add to their appeal, a lot of these pieces are one of a kind, each necklace, bracelet or earring set it’s own unique entity.
Usually you can find Tyler-Marks’ jewelry online at her etsy shop, RedLintu. However, right now craft show season is in full swing and it will be much easier to snag your own RedLintu piece in person! Check out Tyler-Marks [and meet her baby!] at these shows in the Richmond, Virginia metro area:
Southampton Baptist Church Spring Bazaar & Community Yard Sale
Saturday, April 14, 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
Earth Day Festival at Old Manchester at the Mayo Bridge
Saturday, April 21, 12:00 pm to 7:00 pm
Fort Clifton Music, Arts and Craft Festival at Fort Clifton Park in Colonial Heights
Saturday, May 12, 10:00 am
Grants? Residencies? Workshops? By QB Provocateur
QuailBellMagazine.com Does the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore, Maryland-Richmond, Virginia do an adequate job of supporting its local artists? Does the region offer enough financial incentive, social resources, and emotional help for its creative types? Does the region offer enough artist grants, residencies, and workshops? If not, what can it do to improve? Please discuss!
Pitton the Bucolic Peacock By Christine Stoddard
QuailBellMagazine.com
Mainstream Western society often upholds fashion as frivolous; intellectuals may call the competition inherent to the high fashion world detrimental to one’s emotional health. A clotheshorse is a nincompoop, or at the very least a self-centered and materialistic human being. True or not, fashion forms identity and reveals many social indicators. Clothes position certain cultural markers—masculine vs. feminine, rich vs. poor, educated vs. uneducated, etc. – at face value and help reinforce stereotypes and mythologies. Trite as it may sound, a picture merits at least a thousand words, and the picture an outfit presents is no different.
The narrator in Naipaul’s The Arrival of Enigma recognizes this fact. After all, he spends 354 pages using fashion to make inferences about his neighbors’ socio-economic status, intelligence, values, and ambitions, thus characterizing himself as an ex-patriot desperate to shed his “other.” He is desperate to kill of his old self, but, as he kills, he also grieves in studying tweed, hats, and socks. These are details that allow the narrator to deny his murder of his own self, putting the other murders in the book in stark relief to his own.
The narrator builds himself up in the mind of the reader not by painting a vivid illustration, rich with physical description and a catalogue of personal experiences, but by talking about the social lives and personal habits of those around him. Through his observations of Pitton’s attire in particular, he renders himself as someone who wants to escape the stigma of coming from the margins of empire.
One of his longest mentions of Pitton’s attire begins as follows:
It's All Mine
By Sean O'Hara and Jeff Ocampo of Wide EyesQuailBellMagazine.com Deep Groove Record Shop has been at the top of my list to cover since we set out on our adventure. I have a deep love of vinyl records and music in general. I have been inside plenty of record shops in and out of Richmond, Virginia. Deep Groove is by far my personal favorite. It isn’t the rows of vinyl, or the posters that cover it’s walls, or even the fair prices. It is due to the owner and resident sage, Jay Leavitt.
I turn on my receiver and listen to that warm hum while I turn up the volume to -3 decibels. I flip Al Green’s Still In Love With You album over in my hands. I pull the plastic sleeve from the cardboard cover. I hold the record between both of my index fingers and eye it’s surface. I set the record on my turntable and set the needle down, gently. There is that familiar low static and repetitive clicking as it enters the grooves. A wave of sound comes out of my speakers. I close my eyes and stand up as I listen to the velvet voice of the Reverend Al Green. I grab my computer and watch the record spin as I jump back to Jeff and I, heading to Deep Groove.
Jeff is driving us down the cobblestone streets of Monument. Yellow and orange leaves are scattered across the road. We were looking for possible shooting of The Lincoln project. After a few minutes of scouting we shake our heads and turn towards Robinson street. We park right outside of Deep Groove. The air is a bit brisk and a cool wind makes me raise my shoulders. I push the door open like I have a hundred times before. There is a jazz record playing in the background. From behind the counter, Jay lifts up his head and looks over the reading glasses that sit at the end of his nose. He squints his eyes and nods as we enter. He greets us with a voice that is always the same. His voice never changes in tone. It never raises in volume. The speed and tempo are always slow. His words come out calm and relaxed. I picture the ends of his sentences with an ellipsis rather than a period. We get through introductions and explaining what we are going to do. He just nods and smiles and goes back to putting prices on a stack of records.
Quails in Art!
By QB Curator
QuailBellMagazine.com
Looks like we're not the only ones captivated by quails! The curators at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, Virginia chose this quail tea set as one of their favorite picks in the museum:
Made of silver and ivory, the tea set is housed in the museum's South Asian collection and is specifically from India. Part of a larger collection of 91 silver pieces, Tea Service in the Shape of Quails, created by Oomersee Mawjee, Jr. from a family of famous silversmiths, helps make up the largest Colonial Indian silver collection outside of India.
During the British Colonial period in India in the nineteenth and early twentieth-centuries, the two vastly different countries influenced one another's art. According to the VMFA, “Silver made for British-Colonial tables explores the interplay of European and Indian aesthetics, production, and patronage through objects that are at once approachable and exotic.”
Starting on June 30, the museum will be showing its exhibit entitled Indian Silver for the Raj in which Tea Service in the Shape of Quails and other silver pieces will have special prominence.
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