The world’s tiniest bookshop launched this week in Malmö Sweden. The diminutive bookstore, called Frankie & Benjys Böcker, was created by an anonymous street art collective appropriately named AnonyMouse. Their mouse-sized mini-bookshop joins the group’s previous projects, Il Topolino, a miniature restaurant, and Noix de Vie, a tiny gourmet nut shop.
After browsing the bookstore, you can visit the adjoining mini-theater to see an all rodent production of Steinbeck’s play of Mice and Men.
Tomorrow marks the winter solstice —the shortest day and longest night of the year. In the northern hemisphere, the solstice also marks the official start of winter. Here on the east coast of the U.S., the solstice will be happen at 11 AM.
People around the world have celebrated the winter solstice for thousands of years. In many places they even built elaborate monuments to greet the sun and mark the beginning of winter. One of the most impressive sites is in County Meath, Ireland at Newgrange, where fifty years ago archaeologists discovered the purpose for the enormous stone building. At the moment of the solstice, the sun’s rays shine through a 19 meter-long passageway, pass through a window, and illuminate a chamber where ancient local inhabitants interred their honored dead.
Every winter, thousands of people apply for the annual Winter Solstice Lottery in Ireland for tickets to witness the event in person. Few get the opportunity to attend, but we can all view the celestial event streamed on the Ireland Ancient East website.
The Imagine Peace Tower is a dramatic and moving memorial to John Lennon that was built by Yoko Ono on Viðey Island just off Reykjavik, Iceland. The monument consists of a round stone base with the words “Imagine Peace” inscribed in 24 languages and a light installation that reflects a powerful beam 10 meters wide and 4000 meters high. Although it’s possible to visit the memorial all year round, it is only illuminated from October 9th (the date of Lennon’s birth) through December 8th (the date of his murder) and also on the Winter Solstice, New Year’s Eve, and for one week during the Spring Equinox.
What’s a writer with limited financial resources to do when the holidays roll around and he wants to send gifts? For Langston Hughes, during the holiday season of 1950, the answer was to share some of his wit in homemade Christmas postcards.
In one, Hughes wrote:
IF TIMES WERE NOT SO DOGGONE HARD
I MIGHT SEND YOU A GIFT
BUT SINCE I’M BROKE AS BROKE CAN BE,
HERE’S JUST A CHRISTMAS LIFT:
MERRY,
MERRY,
CHRISTMAS!
The draft typescript for this and other cards in a series of Christmas greetings are among the extensive Langston Hughes Papers in the Yale Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. The Hughes archives were given to Yale University by the author beginning in 1941, continuing throughout his lifetime, and including more materials from his estate upon his death in 1967.
The 1950 Hughes holiday cards are all on view in a special pop-up holiday display on the Beinecke Library’s mezzanine in temporary exhibition cases from Dec. 8-20. The Beinecke Library’s ground floor and mezzanine exhibition areas are free and open to the public seven days a week. Visit the library’s website for more information on the exhibit. Langston Hughes Holiday Display: The Thought that Counts.
RUNNING A DEFICIT
THIS YEAR –––
BUT NOT IN WISHING
YOU GOOD CHEER!
The legendary American designer Milton Glaser has created some of the most iconic poster art for New York City’s subway system. He recently released three impressive new works for the School of Visual Arts’s Underground Images campaign. The series is designed to be a powerful counterpoint to trumpism and all that tangerine Mussolini stands for.
Glaser’s poster Give Help depicts a submerged house with an Oscar Wilde quote. He describes it as a reflection on “Trump’s contempt for Puerto Rico, or people of color” and a call to “help our fellow Americans.”
The poster titled To Dream Is Human addresses Trump’s racist immigration policies. While It’s Not About Me, It’s About We critiques “this narcissistic selfish atmosphere that Trump has managed to create.”
I’ve had the good fortune to visit Amsterdam many times, in every season. While I love balmy summer days hanging in cafes along the atmospheric canals or lounging in Vondel Park, there is something truly magical about the city in winter. It’s especially beautiful in the snow. The wonderful short film below was captured this week by local videographer Gosse Bouma.
The catch to getting your free air ticket is that you first have to purchase and play a game. Get Packing is a limited edition board game from JetBlue airline which comes with one free round trip ticket anywhere JetBlue flies. The flight coupon will be valid for the entire year during 2018. The other catch is that the board games are only available for purchase on Amazon, and only on December 18th. So mark your calendars.
Travel Between The Pages 