Just Exploring Lebowksi Fest

I have a confession to make. 

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A Walter (from St. Louis) with this year's Best Dude (from L.A.)

I have still only seen The Big Lebowski once. Even now, after attending my first Lebowski Fest, I've only seen the film one time. Does that make me a poser? Yes. Did I have fun anyway? Let's see... 

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March Madness Marching Band

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March Madness Marching Band dancers

I talked to visitors from Kansas, Missouri, California, and Michigan. I saw three new-to-me bands (and got to see the March Madness Marching Band, again).  I saw awesome costumes, sat on some Michaganders' rug, had my picture taken with two giant bowling pins (one was Lebowski Fest founder, Will Russell), and spent half my weekend surrounded by happy nerds. Did I have fun? I don't think there's any other option.

You can see more photos here.  

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Yours truly with two giant bowling pins. It helps when the photographer doesn't cover the lens with his finger, but you know. 

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#FriFotos - Boats

I learned a few things from my first visit to Stow Lake. There are some spots along the lake where two people can easily board someone else's boat; however, management will notice that your party left with two and returned with four. Stow Lake's paddle boat management also disapproves of standing in the boats as you attempt to make a triumphant return to the dock. 

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"Silence Kills People"

I have been sitting on a blog post about the Trayvon Martin verdict since Sunday. Then I decided that I wouldn't write anything, because many people are saying many things, much better than I can. For example, this blog post. It is perfect. Read it. 

But, as Prout so eloquently says, "Silence kills people. Ideas kill people." So. Here I am.

I went to a rally on Sunday, because updating a Facebook status or tweeting felt insufficient. There, a teenage boy told those gathered, "I don't know if it makes me more sad or mad, to people, I just don't matter." That is the message this verdict sends. A man can kill a child (and yes, at 17, you are still a child. You may be legal for some things at 18, but think about exactly how mature you were at 18) and go home. 

I have work to do. On myself. On my own reactions. I can be better. And happily, there are ways to get involved in Louisville.  

1.  Anti-Racist Actions for Trayvon Martin (Louisville) - this is currently the Facebook event that was Sunday's rally, and is being updated with more events. There be trolls there. 

2. Louisville SURJ   (Showing Up for Racial Justice) - "Louisville SURJ is a local effort to organize white people for racial justice." That would be me. 

3. Louisville Celebrates 'Collective Liberation' - on July 28th, from 3-5 p.m., this event celebrates what would have been Anne Braden's 89th birthday and the release of "Toward Collective Liberation: Anti-racist organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building," by Chris Crass. The book includes a chapter by Louisville's Carla Wallace (who founded #2, and co-founded Louisville's Fairness Campaign). There will be cake and punch, and surely some interesting conversation. 

If you know of other, similar, local groups or events, please leave it in the comments. 

#Frifotos - Smiles

In 2011, I tried to take a picture of a stranger every day for a month. I did not succeed, but I approached a good number of people I did not know. These are the smiles people give to a stranger asking to take their picture. For more photos from the Strangers project, visit here. 

Just Exploring Crabbing

I feel like I got in more touch with my grandmother's side of the family last week.

I have vague memories of crabbing at a 1989 family reunion in Virginia Beach. I would have been five, almost six, and my memory of floating in a rubber dinghy, crab line in hand, is either real or derived from photos. But I know this part of family -- my grandmother and her siblings, their offspring, and their offspring -- crab. 

Photos show a grinning cousin holding up a bushel basket filled with blue crabs; my father and uncle, waist-high in the water with lines; my grandmother and great aunts and uncles sitting around a table covered in newspaper and boiled crabs.

Apart from that family reunion, I have crabbed maybe once on the Outerbanks, out of shallow, reedy ditch. We threw back everything we caught. It was based on this little experience, emailed instructions, and some YouTube videos that I lead my husband and friends on their first crabbing experience. 

I tweeted my concern about our expedition, to which my brother replied, "How hard can it be? Twine + fence post + ocean = crab."

Turns out he was right, although that equation is missing "raw chicken" and "fishing weight." We caught 14 crabs and cooked and ate six of them that night. 

Here are a few things I learned from my first grown-up crabbing venture: 

1. 7 Elevens do not sell twine. Walgreens does. 

2. You can use kite string (on a handle or a spool) for your line. 

3. Apparently, leaving your chicken necks outside over night increases the nibbles.  

4. You can simply stand in the water with your net and line. A low dock would probably decrease the chance of a crab running across your feet. 

5. You'll know when there's a crab on your line -- there is a definite tug. 

6. Putting blue crabs in fresh water for 30 minutes doesn't drown them. 

7. A crab can crawl out of a plastic colander 

#FriFotos - Hikes

I'm half Swiss and have hiked all over the Bernese Oberland. Every few summers, my American grandparents met us in Switzerland for a week of walking. Our most recent visit together was in 2009. For the first time, we hiked a little slower. Spent a morning on a boat instead of walking around the lake. Took the bus up the mountain and walked back down.

My grandfather still runs 5 and 10k races, but 2009 may have been the last summer of hiking together. Here they are, walking up a rocky trail, lead by my dad. 

Bacon Ball 2013

I'm not a bacon freak. A year ago, as a pesco-vegetarian (bad vegetarian) I wasn't even eating bacon. So I wasn't going to attend the Louisville Visual Art Association's third annual Bacon Ball, but my husband wanted to go, and I love food and bourbon. This event promised both, on a farm. To Bacon Ball we went (I typed "Bourbon Ball." Wishful thinking).

Here's Oxmoor Farm. I was really looking forward to seeing the actual farm part, but we only got to see the side of the house (very nice) and some old stables. ​

​It's always handy to have a drink while waiting in line

​NABC chefs preparing their Bacon Ball offering

​There was a lot of standing in line at this event, but once we got drinks, that became bearable. We left full of pizza, pork, and pig prizes Gabe acquired from the silent auction: a cookbook, a gift certificate to a butcher, and two noise-making toy pigs (one is a keychain flashlight that oinks). And just in case you might forget about where all that meat was coming from, this guy was around to remind you: 

#FriFotos - Steps

In January, I got to photograph the UCI Cyclo-Cross World Championships. It was my first cyclo-cross event, and the first time I got to shoot something like this. I spent the day running around the course at Eva Bandman Park, trying to find the designated photographers' areas. I figured out early on how to get to the various areas around these steps. 

I was so impressed by these athletes. I can walk up stairs. And I can bike. And I can carry my bike up and down the eight steps from our basement -- but to ride miles on an insane course in snow, sand, mud, then run your bike up and down steps requires a special kind of madness.