It being last day of the year and everything, there are more than enough Top 10, Most Notable and Best of lists to keep everyone occupied well into the next year.
If you find yourself with some extra blog browsing time though, you should read about the story of Stephanie Nielson. Her story from this past year is amazing on many levels – I first read about it on the Etsy blog The Storque, which was a post about how Stephanie (a blogger and Etsian) and her husband were in critical condition after surviving a private plane crash in Arizona. Etsy was organizing a benefit sale (which ended up raising over $12,000) to help the family.
Naturally, after reading about this, you want to find out more about her. This is where it gets a little extraordinary. When you click on the link to her blog, you realize that something a little unexpected has happened. Ever since the accident strangers, fellow bloggers and anonymous people had been re-posting their favourite posts from her archives – and writing about how much she, simply as a blogger, has done to inspire them. Not only that, there are benefits being organized, dozens of people banding together to sell things to raise money. Her sister has taken 3 of the kids and is keeping up a blog of her own.
Her writing, in it’s honesty and simplicity, is compelling. A few more details: Nie Nie is a mother of four who owns a concealed weapon to protect her family and is Mormon born and raised. I couldn’t stop reading her blog – I think I went though several years of blog posts in one sitting.
There’s something great about reading writing that comes from a completely different perspective than one’s own. The Nie Nie Dialogues speaks for itself, even while it’s writer unable to blog. I wonder if some internet historian of the future will come up for a term for this phenomenon of 2008?
I am a huge fan of letterpress. It makes me a sucker for collecting any letterpress stationary or greeting cards that cross my path, and I intermittently scan the classified ads at Briar Press, hoping that a one-armed bandit will become available in my vicinity (it’s all I could even dream of fitting into our house…even a small letterpress can weigh literally half a ton). So far no luck.
In my otherwise fruitless browsing, I came across an ad for a press in Brooklyn that’s for sale:
* For sale or trade in Brooklyn NY
* Posted on 14 Dec 08 (17:08)
The Hennington Press in Brooklyn is for sale. It includes everything needed to run a substantial business. See video below. Please inquire.
The link to the video, which I’ve added below, turned out to be a very moving radio story done on the closing of Hennington Press done by WNYC (New York Public Radio). It’s a sad situation – there must be someone out there who can take over this press?
It’s just a matter of finding the right person, right? Someone who can move to Brooklyn, learn how to operate vintage printing press machinery, and has enough business savvy to make a go of a printing business in this day and age. I guess it’s a lot to ask but this printing press needs an owner, fast!
There are lots of small presses around that are doing great work that seem to be successful. If you’ve never considered letterpress cards you should – most of them do custom work and they can turn your annual family cards into little works of art. I’ve linked to some great small presses below.
We had a nice break from day after day of cold, sleeting rain this weekend when the first dump of snow fell on Vancouver. The good thing about it is that it was sort of sunny and cloudy and it created an unusual looking sky. I really like the dark, indigo colours you can get at around this time (what is it called when it’s just before twilight?) on a cloudy/sunny/day-after-a-snowfall day.
If you’re stuck on what to buy for the guy who doesn’t seem to want anything, there is one fall-back that is easy to get and something most men could use – a visit to an old-school barbershop for a hot towel shave.
In Vancouver, it seems like the place to go is Farzad’s Barbershop in Yaletown. For $25 you can get a Deluxe Hot Shave, which includes a face massage, several applications of hot towels, and getting shaved twice.
