Discover an Artistic Prodigy

During my time in Oregon this year I had the privilege of watching my sister Toreah complete several art pieces, expertly - and seemingly effortlessly - turning ideas into concepts and sketches and finally finished, tangible oeuvres.  At age 17, her ability to capture soul-stirring emotion while telling a story in her work is incredible.

When VANS shoe company solicited designs from high school students across the US, Toreah submitted a design under the "Local Taste" theme and, along with 4 of her classmates, has made it into the semifinals!

It takes 1 click (and no registration) to put your vote in, so check out some of Toreah's work below and then follow this link to support her by voting by Friday, May 9th for North Medford High School in VANS' popular vote contest.  She could win a trip to New York City, see her shoe design manufactured, and win $60,000 for her school's art program!   

Barcelona Street Performer

I ran into this gem of a street performance while walking along the boardwalk / seafront. It seems that this amazing gal belongs in Cirque du Soleil!

P1150309 from shirah-eden on Vimeo.

Bamboo Heaven

This "Green Village" in Bali hosts one of the most incredible spaces I can imagine living in.  The more I learn about bamboo, the more I love it! DesignBoom did a great blog post on this community. Be sure click & scroll through all the photos. The sunny disposition of the place is magnetic.

Don't be surprised if my next trip takes me to Bali... ;)

I think we'll be seeing a rather sunny theme emerge here on the NJW blog as it grows darker and darker every day in Finland! 

Nepali Fabric Shop - a photo blog

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Jackie Evancho

Everyone knows I have a soft spot for child prodigies.  The raw talent of these individuals blows my mind on a regular basis.  This little girl simply takes my breathe away!

Miniature opera sensation Jackie Evancho was discovered on America's Got Talent a few years ago. Here's her latest performance - at the Wall Street Journal's Christmas Party. Here's the catch: She's 11 years old!

Want to see more?  Google "Jackie Evancho" - and prepare to be amazed :)

Where Children Sleep

Every so often a book comes along that really captures the soul of its subject.  James Mollison's Where Children Sleep does just that, and in an unconventional way -- by photographing the bedrooms of children around the world.

I read this NYTimes article about Mollison's new book, and, after browsing through the sneak peek photo gallery, look forward to purchasing a hard copy of the tome.

P.S.....I hear the cover's glow-in-the-dark.  All the more reason to add it to your library!!

How well do you perceive color?

Take the Hue Test and find out.  I scored a 4.
It's interesting to see which areas of the spectrum you have problems perceiving.

A perfect score is 0 and the worst possible score is 1520.

St. Petersburg Center: A Guided Tour

Last week one of the coordinators from the School of Russian and Asian Studies, named Sergei, led Sarah, Hillary, and I on a walking tour of central St. Petersburg.  It was a warm, clear day and perfect for walking.  It turns out Sergei is a professor at one of the universities in St. Petersburg, and he is a wealth of great information.  Beyond simply knowing an immense amount of information about Russian culture and history, he is able to detach himself from his Russian identity and talk about issues objectively and in a global context.  

"Dom Knigi" ("House of Books"), otherwise known as The Singer House.
It was the first building built in St. Pete by an American company,
(Singer Sewing Company), and at one time it even housed the
U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg!

Helsinki: The Door Collection

I love doors.

The entry to a home or business flavours your entire experience in the building. 

Here are some of the flavours of Helsinki.
(Just click a photo to enlarge)

A Fairytale Come True

You can't imagine all the fun I've had at work this week – I really do have the best job in the world! The U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg is a major sponsor of the International Dance Open Ballet Festival, and this year was the 10th anniversary of the festival. Our Consul General gave two speeches – at the opening press conference and the awards ceremony – and I went along as a Consulate representative in support of her. Of course, we had fantastic seats for all the performances! There were several American dancers who had come to compete in the festival, and one group, called “The Bad Boys of Dance” came as crowd energizers. The first night we were in the Alexandrinsky Theater, a very famous one built in the 1800s. Everything seems to be covered in either gold or red velvet; I felt like a queen! We were sitting front and center, with the jury who was judging the festival! I got to sit next to the Artistic Director of the American Ballet Theater in New York; that alone was amazing! The best part about sitting with the jury is watching and listening to their responses to the dancers. One poor ballerina slipped on something that was on the floor right as she was landing a jump, and ended up flat on her back. She was okay, fortunately, and kept dancing. But it was interesting because the jury gasped before anyone else knew anything was wrong. They know ballet so well that even the slightest deviation from proper form immediately allows them to project what's going to happen next.  The next night we had equally great seats for the gala concert, this time at the Oktyabrysky, a brand new theater that seats 4,000 people.  The entire place was packed! I really appreciated being able to drive up in the official car, complete with the diplomatic American flags. Everyone got out of the way and we just got to zoom on in – no waiting in lines! But the real highlight of the night was the awards ceremony afterward. Only about 100-150 people were invited: the dancers, trainers, judges, and sponsors of the festival. The ceremony was held in The Marble Palace and it was truly incredible, right out of a fairytale!  The Marble Palace

The VIP Lifestyle

I could get used to this.

Walking into my favorite 24-hour hangout, "Kofe Hauz," a few minutes ago, I passed a billboard advertising the two biggest events in St. Petersburg this weekend.  Thanks to my amazing internship and a great new friend I made at a concert a few weeks ago, I have VIP passes to both events at no cost to me. I'm really having the ultimate St. Petersburg experience.

A Night at the St. Petersburg Grand Philharmonic

One of the really neat things about working at the Consulate in Public Affairs is the opportunity to get out and about around the city for all sorts of events.  Last night I was given a ticket to the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic, and it was amazing!  Not only was this a first-class, world renowned group of musicians, but to listen to them play on the very stage from which Tchaikovsky often conducted was an all-around spectacular experience. 

St. Petersburg Philharmonic Grand Hall

This is what the hall looks like today.  I was sitting in the center left section, eighth row back, and it was both a nice view as well as good acoustics. I borrowed this snippet about the history of the hall from the philharmonic website:


"This Hall, where today is the Philharmonic, was built in 1839 by the architect P. Jacot (the facade designed by C. Rossi) for the Noble Assembly of St. Petersburg.
The first-class acoustics hall, built to hold more than 1,500 people,  became a center of musical life in St. Petersburg since the late 1840's. There were well-known musicians of the nineteenth century: Liszt, H. Berlioz, Wagner, G. Mahler, A. Rubinstein, K. Schumann, Pauline Viardot, P. Sarasate and others. Here we first heard many of the writings of the classics of Russian music by Borodin, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and more."

If I were a Princess, Aljaferia would be my Palace of Choice

This may have been the most relaxing visit to a new country I've ever experienced. I succomb far too often to the pressures of seeing and doing everything possible while traveling, and I just can't do it anymore. It becomes exhausting and unenjoyable, and it causes me to lose sight of how blessed I am to be able to make the journey in the first place!

Dutch Architecture: Colonial Style Meets Post-Modernism

Amsterdam & The Hague

I could spend hours telling you about how beautiful this city is, but I'll just let the photos speak for themselves...

More around Brussels

This sketch of Le Grand Place is very similar to the one I bought there yesterday for my mom.  I think she'll like it a lot.

I wanted to share a few more photos from the last few days....

This first one is the park Tervuren in Brussels - one of the many immaculately manicured parks around Brussels.

These next photos are close-ups of some of the decorative façades in old town Brussels.

 

La Place Royale

 

I love that there is room in this intersection for at least 5 lanes, and yet no one sees any need to paint lines.
Perhaps they are simply well aware that no one would respect the painted lanes anyway, and so have saved themselves the time and paint.

Adjacent to La Place Royale. Walk to the end of this street, turn left, and continue one block, and you'll arrive at the US Embassy.

It's difficult to tell, but this is a very old, crusty and rusted, intricate and ornate steel spire.

A group of casual statues, looking very statuesque. 

TED Talk: Political Cartoonist Patrick Chappatte

Using clean, simple pencil strokes, editorial cartoonist Patrick Chappatte wields globally literate and to-the-point humor on world events -- the tragic, the farcical and the absurd.

12 Reasons to Smile

1. It's the middle of October, and still 80 degrees in Nashville!  I'm soaking it in, and trying not to think about the Moscow winter ahead of me.

2. I've recently rediscovered Fido, the best coffee shop in Nashville.

I've been craving music lately.

It sounds strange, I know.  But I've felt this irrepressible desire to connect with music in a way that I haven't experienced before.  There are a lot of songs that have come up recently that I've just latched onto and haven't been able to give up.  I find myself looking them up online, playing them over and over, savoring lyrics, enjoying harmonies, and swaying to melodies. 


Maybe it's something about being back in Nashville....  :)





And this is another of my favourites....

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On

I have waaayyyy to much to do and I should NOT be watching videos like this.  But I couldn't help myself!  This is so adorable...

Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp

Marcel is voiced (untreated & unenhanced) by a genius named Jenny Slate

Written by Jenny Slate + Dean Fleischer-Camp

www.deanfleischercamp.com