SF Public Works (An Olive Tree for Lawrence) #KeeperoftheDay

Earlier this week, the San Francisco Public Works’s Bureau of Urban Forestry honored poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti with their annual signature tree. Lawrence, who turns 100 on March 24, is being feted all over town. We were delighted to be there for the tree-planting ceremony and to sprinkle some fresh soil (with a gold-plated shovel) onto the luscious olive tree’s root. The tree is just across the street from Via Ferlinghetti in North Beach. On the sunny side of the street, of course. Pay it a visit when you’re next in town.

Listen to the speech from Carla Short, Superintendent of the Bureau of Urban Forestry, at the ceremony.

Happy birthday, Lawrence!

American Society of Cinematographers Camera Museum #KeeperoftheDay

A call from The Keeper Hotline:

“Hi guys, my name is Steve Gainer. I am a cinematographer and curator of the American Society of Cinematographers Camera Museum in Los Angeles. Our collection is probably the most complete camera collection in the United States having to do with cinematographers. We don’t just collect cameras because they’re old and rare. We collect them because they have something to do with our previous members or current members. We have cameras that were used on the Ten Commandments, North by Northwest. And I spent the past ten years completely refurbishing the very early mid-1930s Mitchell camera that Gregg Toland and Orson Welles used to shoot Citizen Kane. Toland also used it on The Grapes of Wrath. It’s an extraordinary piece. We have dozens of these things We have such an incredible collection and I think it’s important for people to know about this as we’re approaching our 100th anniversary of the ASC. Thank you. Bye.”

Lost Children Archive #KeeperoftheDay

#KeeperoftheDay: Lost Children Archive, a novel by Valeria Luiselli
Read a review of this book, longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction on Guardian Books.

The most democratic thing in the world #KeeperoftheDay

“A public library is the most democratic thing in the world. What can be found there has undone dictators and tyrants.” -Doris Lessing

#KeeperoftheDay

Musical Instrument Library #KeeperoftheDay

“There is a guy who wanders the Bay Area in a tricked-out truck handing out musical instruments like some kind of Pied Piper in a pinstripe vest. His name is Jason Cool. (Yes, it is.) His project is called the Musical Instrument Library.”

Read all about this roaming library on BrokeAssStuart.com

Eric Klinenberg, Author of Palaces for the People #KeeperoftheDay

The latest episode of The Kitchen Sisters Present… is a re-broadcast from the New York Public Library’s podcast, The Librarian Is In, featuring Eric Klinenberg, author of Palaces for the People: How Social Infrastructure Can Help Fight Inequality, Polarization, and the Decline of Civic Life.

Klinenberg believes that the future of democratic societies rests not simply on shared values but on shared spaces: the libraries, childcare centers, bookstores, churches, synagogues places where people gather and linger, making friends across group lines and strengthening the entire community. He calls this the “social infrastructure.” When it is strong, neighborhoods flourish; when it is neglected, as it has been in recent years, families and individuals must fend for themselves.

Mark Mothersbaugh’s Instrument Archive #KeeperoftheDay

#KeeperoftheDay – Mark Mothersbaugh’s Instrument Archive

Take a behind-the-scenes look inside the Devo frontman’s studio as he shares some of the weird and wonderful instruments and “noisemakers of all kinds” he’s collected over the years. Via Output.

Images of Empowerment #KeeperoftheDay for #InternationalWomensDay

#KeeperoftheDay for #InternationalWomensDay: Images of Empowerment

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation joined forces with Getty Images for this international photography resource. Photos from the collection “show the connections between women’s work, their families, and access to reproductive health care information and services. They highlight that women around the world share common aspirations to earn a living, have control over whether and when to have a family, and be able to care for their loved ones.”

Read more about this incredible collection here. And explore the site at imagesofempowerment.org

Archiving is the New Folk Art #KeeperoftheDay

“Like quilting, archiving employs the obsessive stitching together of many small found pieces into a larger vision, a personal attempt at ordering a chaotic world. It’s not such a far leap from the quiltmaker to the stamp collector or book collector.”

-Kenneth Goldsmith from his essay Archiving is the New Folk Art. Read the entire piece at poetryfoundation.org

Janis Joplin, Library Volunteer #KeeperoftheDay

#KeeperoftheDay – Janis Joplin, who worked at her local library when she was a teen.

In this clipping from the Port Arthur News, she stands in front of a poster on display at the Gates Memorial Library, one of several she designed for the library. (As the paper notes, she was “named one of the top artists in the ninth grade.”)

On working in the library she says, “It gives me a chance to practice art and at the same time to do something worthwhile for the community.”