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My photo of the M and pink blossoms is being used in a postcard promoting the Missoula Cultural Council's "Meet Me In Missoula" campaign. The web page has a long list of events taking place this weekend, from First Friday to the opening of the farmers' and arts and crafts markets.

I love the postcard. I'm not sure who did the graphic design, but they did a wonderful job.



In related news, I've been researching opening an Etsy store to sell my photography. I don't know why I haven't done it sooner. Stay tuned.

posted by Patia  9:40 PM 7 Comments

I heard this poem read yesterday on campus.

tell me you don't matter to a universe that conspired
to give you such a tongue, such rhythm
or rhythmless hips, such opposable thumbs
give thanks or go home a waste of spark

Full text here: http://www.geocities.com/martyoutloud/body.html

posted by Patia  1:15 PM 1 Comments

posted by Patia  11:35 PM 6 Comments

This image is the featured photo on New West Missoula today.

My Flickr pro account expired a few days ago and I don't have the money to renew it right now. The free account displays only the most recent 200 images. I have a couple thousand.

Everyone seems to love my photography, but I rarely make any money from it. I've been thinking (again) about offering images for sale. But I don't want to invest a lot of time in creating a storefront only to get no response. That happened with the calendars I offered two years ago.

What about prints, framed or unframed? Would anyone buy them? Greeting cards? Note cards? Or how about large images to use as desktop wallpapers for your computer?

Coffee mugs? Tote bags? Blankets? Pillowcases?

posted by Patia  11:42 AM 17 Comments

posted by Patia  1:08 PM 5 Comments

A question for my gardening readers: If you had to plant an entire garden in two whiskey barrels -- one mostly sunny, one mostly shady -- what would you plant? So far all I have on my for-sure list is a tomato plant, lettuce and arugula. (I love that word: "Arugula." It's so fun to say.)

I have gardened in the past, doing much of the weeding and watering in the large gardens my family had when I was a kid in Santa Cruz, and running a fairly successful vegetable plot for two or three summers in my Whitefish backyard. I long to garden again, but my early efforts where I live now were foiled by deer, earwigs and limited access to water. After a few years of watching the precious seedlings in my two flowerbeds perish, I gave up on all but the hardiest plants, mostly natives. Sage does well here; lavender, penstemon, columbine and wild rose have also persisted. My crocuses have leafed out but failed to bloom the past several years, presumably due to lack of water.

For vegetables, I try to patronize the farmer's markets as much as possible. But this year, with the difficult economy and a bit more time and energy, I'm strongly feeling the urge to grow some of my own sustenance, even if it's just a tiny contribution. I don't know what the future holds for me -- whether I'll land a job somewhere on the West Coast and end up moving, or stay here. I'll risk a small garden investment.

I'm going to focus my efforts on the two whiskey barrels on either side of my door, since they'll be easiest to water out of my kitchen sink, as well as to cover with deer netting and surround with diatomaceous earth to ward off earwigs. (I might also try a zucchini plant in the flowerbed that faces west and gets a lot of summer heat.) Both barrels get mostly morning and mid-day sun, although one is shaded by a chokecherry tree.

I'll put a tomato seedling in the sunny one. What should I surround it with? Ooh, maybe basil. I adore pesto and insalata caprese. In the shady barrel, I'll plant a succession of lettuce and arugula, and maybe some spinach. Any other ideas?

posted by Patia  11:20 AM 19 Comments

posted by Patia  1:05 AM 3 Comments

I received my first issue of Mine magazine in the mail this week.

I'd signed up for a free subscription to Mine -- or as Time Inc. calls it, mine -- a month or so ago. The concept excited me right away. Basically, it's this: You answer a few questions, choose five magazines, and then receive a magazine with content from those five magazines, as well as targeted advertisements.

My copy of Mine -- tagline: "My Magazine. My Way" -- contained articles from Travel + Leisure, Real Simple, Time, Sports Illustrated and Golf.

Wait. Sports Illustrated and Golf? Me? No way. Turns out there was a glitch. I received an email explaining the problem and promising to extend my subscription by a sixth issue. I feel bad for them because I know mistakes happen sometimes, despite the best of intentions. (As an aside, this is why I oppose nuclear power.)

I enjoyed my issue of Mine, especially the Travel + Leisure articles about looking out of airplane windows and upscale tent hotels, and Time's profile of the young Tibetan Karmapa. I even read one of the sports stories -- an SI piece about a basketball player who suffered a serious concussion. I think it's interesting that Mine's design seems to have retained each magazine's individual layout style.

I also appreciated that the 36-page magazine has only four pages of advertising -- and no perfume inserts or blown-in subscription cards. The ads are all for the Lexus 2010 RX, a sleek-looking SUV. One thing I thought was a bit strange is that the word Lexus is barely mentioned. But I was charmed by the personalized, narrative style of the ads, even if it is a bit awkward at times:

With more usable cargo space for all your tailgating stuff, and an available Heads-up Display for keeping your eyes on the road because Highway 2 can be tricky on your way to Glacier National Park.

And the back page:

The All-New 2010 RX. Now with more Patia Stephens.

Okayyy.

If I could afford a new car, I'd get another Subaru, not a Lexus, but the ads certainly did get my attention.

I've been convinced for a while that personalized news is the wave of the future. We want what we want, whether it's international news, national headlines, local news, politics or entertainment. Some worry that by allowing people to pick their own news, they'll miss out on things of importance. But I think it's possible to empower readers and still let gatekeepers do their jobs. The sports section has always been wasted on me.

Get your subscription to Mine magazine here.

posted by Patia  10:47 PM 3 Comments

This photo is featured on New West Missoula today.

posted by Patia  11:39 AM 1 Comments

posted by Patia  12:31 PM 1 Comments

I was tagged with this meme on Facebook by my friend and former lit crit classmate Kristen:

You have received this note because someone thinks you are a literary geek (and I am curious about your responses!). Copy the questions into your own note, answer the questions, and tag any friends who would appreciate the quiz, including the person who sent you this. If you don't want to, there will be no bad luck or evil vibes, just me sending you my best. ;)

1) What author do you own the most books by?
Barbara Kingsolver. I got 'em all.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I own two copies each of "The Truth About Beauty" by Kat James, "Breaking Clean" by Judy Blunt and "FAT!SO?" by Marilyn Wann.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Yes, a little.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?
Loyd with one L in Barbara Kingsolver's "Animal Dreams." Dip me into the hot spring pool and I'll be yours for life.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
Probably "My Side of the Mountain" by Jean Craighead George. I was obsessed with that book when I was a kid.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
See No. 5. Also the entire Black Stallion series.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year?
Oh, do I have to admit this? It was a romance novel -- horribly written, filled with sexist cliches, but utterly escapist and addictive.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year?
Umm, maybe "The Daily Coyote" by Shreve Stockton. It was a Christmas gift and I read it in about a day. It's not exactly high literature, but it really makes you think about the nature of human and animal relationships.

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?
"Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver. Also "The Truth About Beauty" by Kat James.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for literature?
Me. Ha haha ahaha ahhaha haaa ha.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?
I don't know.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?
Any book I love.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.
I don't remember my dreams very well, sorry.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult?
Probably the aforementioned romance novel.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read?
My literary criticism textbook.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen?
I don't know. The Taming of the Shrew?

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?
The French, I suppose.

18) Roth or Updike?
Roth.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?
I've never read Dave Eggers. I enjoy Sedaris.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?
Shakespeare.

21) Austen or Eliot?
I've actually recently discovered that I love Jane Austen movies. I have yet to read any of her books.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?
The classics.

23) What is your favorite novel?
"Animal Dreams" by Barbara Kingsolver.

24) Play?
I don't know. Does Cirque du Soleil count?

25) Poem?
"Hope is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson.

26) Essay?
Er, I don't know. I'm supposed to have a favorite essay?

27) Short story?
This is hard. I'm not a big fan of short stories. Maybe Pam Houston's "Cowboys Are My Weakness."

28) Work of non-fiction?
I have a lot of these: "A Natural History of the Senses" by Diane Ackerman; "Breaking Clean" by Judy Blunt; "Aphrodite" by Isabel Allende; "Bird by Bird," by Anne Lamott; "The Truth About Beauty" by Kat James; my art history textbook, the road atlas.

29) Who is your favorite writer?
Barbara Kingsolver, followed closely by Tom Robbins.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?
Elizabeth Gilbert. But I'm probably just jealous.

31) What is your desert island book?
The Oxford complete works of Shakespeare.

32) And ... what are you reading right now?
I just finished "Writers on Writing: Collected Essays from the New York Times." Also re-reading "Small Wonder" by Barbara Kingsolver and "The Art of the Personal Essay" edited by Philip Lopate. (I know. Hard to believe I don't have a favorite essay, isn't it? I'll work on that.)

posted by Patia  8:16 PM 7 Comments

No pink and green here. Soon.

posted by Patia  12:24 PM 1 Comments

Yes we can ... imagine a world without nuclear weapons.

Have I mentioned lately that I love this man?

posted by Patia  10:33 PM 0 Comments

Facebook has a new app, Living Social, that's kind of fun. I'm surprised how many choices and pictures it has. I wish it had a badge option for exporting to blogs and websites; these are just screen shots.

My first two celebrity crushes are getting old. I guess that means I'm getting old.

posted by Patia  9:09 PM 2 Comments

In the late 1980s and early '90s, I made several trips between Oakland, California, and Havre, Montana, on the train. I also drove a few times. I was afraid to fly back then. (Not anymore!)

It was about a two-day journey by train. I mostly loved it. There were occasional annoying delays and things could get dicey in winter -- I remember one trip where the toilets on the train froze, another where we had to be bused around an avalanche and a kid barfed on my purse -- but most of the time it was a nice way to travel. It was relaxing, I met interesting people, and the views were great, especially along the Columbia Gorge.

I wish Missoula was still on a passenger train route. I think the last passenger trains ran through here in the '60s.

posted by Patia  9:52 PM 7 Comments

From I Can Has Cheeseburger? via Big Fat Deal.

posted by Patia  10:41 AM 1 Comments

posted by Patia  4:01 PM 9 Comments