We join our neighbors-in-noise as sundown approaches.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
What are your mornings like?
Wow. Since it’s been raining everyday and it’s about the same bleakness morning and night, I thought I would just do some audio recording this morning. As much as I like the convenience of the little movie camera, it really doesn’t sound great and I miss paying attention to the sound. The other morning I was so preoccupied with getting a nice image that I just jangles the bells to fill the space and it sounded exactly like that- mindless noise making.
So this morning I was all prepared to sit and just ring 2 of my favorite little bells for a while. Sound recording only. I thought it would make a nice change and I expected more of the same kind of cold rainy landscape when I woke up.
When my alarm went off, I was stunned. This was the first morning this year that the sky was as intensely colored as any of the few really pretty sunsets we’ve had so far. I was so excited. Yellow! I don’t remember any yellow in the mornings yet this year.
I’ll save the audio recordings for other days this week. It turns out that today was a short reprieve from the storms. Rain is expected all next week.
How about people in other parts of the country? What are your mornings like?
Friday, January 25, 2008
What are you doing?
I know I said I would stop documenting the daily ringing, but I can’t. Not yet anyway. I am compelled to do it, so I will continue until the time comes that it doesn’t feel necessary.
HELLO MERIDIAN INTERNS!!! Finally some media besides mine. Check out their youtubes
Come on- let’s hear from you other ringers out there! Don’t be shy. Words, images, movies, sounds, links to anything you think is relevant.
SUNRISE 1/25/08 Rain
Another rainy morning. What's it like at sunrise where you live? Send links to your movies.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Bell Clubs Anyone?
I know there are at least a few people out there who have joined this project and are ringing bells at least once a day. What if you asked a friend or two to join you? Publicly. Maybe just once a week. Regularly. And that friend could invite one of their friends and pretty soon maybe you could have a small group of people who got together once a week at sunrise or sunset and rang some bells together.
It could be very nice. See how it goes. Send a photo or a description or a sound file and I’ll post it on the blog. Or send a link to your own address.
Little clusters of bell ringers. How about it?
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Meridian Interns Program
The Meridian Gallery Interns rang the bells at sunset this evening. “The Meridian Interns Program (MIP) is a paid internship for low-income teens from all over San Francisco in which Artist Instructors integrate art-making workshops with training in job-related skills”. I have worked on and off with this program for the past few years, and I love it. I was invited to come by the gallery this evening and tell the interns about the dailybell2008 project and to invite them to participate.
Watching the sun rise or set is not a typical urban activity, especially for teenagers, so this could be fun. MIP finishes at 6:00 PM so eventually the sun will set after they leave for the day. In the meantime, the interns have agreed to ring bells at sundown everyday at the Meridian Gallery (or a nearby location in the neighborhood) until it’s no longer possible. This should happen around the end of February.
CLICKHERE TO WATCH THE MERIDIAN INTERNS' SUNSET VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE!!!!!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
SUNRISE 1/22/08
It’s been so cold and rainy here. (I know people who live in the East and Midwest would laugh at the notion of cold here). However, it is a little nasty first thing in the morning. Today I barely made it to the bell in my car where I had parked it across the street from the streetcar stop. I was too cranky to ask people to ring with me, so I just ran to the car, opened the hatch, quickly snapped off the bungees and rang the bell a few times. People were waiting across the street where they are every morning- watching. So when I finished closing up the car, I waved good morning and just went home.
Monday, January 21, 2008
SUNRISE, SUNSET 1/21/08
As the year progresses, it would be interesting to follow the movement of the sun as it travels North and South. Since it’s only possible to actually see the horizon in the West as the sun sets, I’ll find a fixed point to periodically take photos of the setting sun. Then we can watch it travel through the seasons this year.
SUNSET
This old compass is also an ashtray that Norman has had for decades. Good combo- compass/ashtray.
SUNRISE
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Reflection and Request
Ringing the bell everyday has become a regular part of my life. Much of the morning bell ringing has been in solitude with a few exceptions. Maybe the Monday trough Friday crowd at the streetcar stop will join me. Maybe not.
The evening ringing has been a bit more social. In any event, it’s much easier as I am awake and usually in the middle of doing something. It’s always a surprise and I look forward to it each evening.
Documenting and posting to the blog each day has become a very time consuming activity. Maybe unnecessarily so. I have established a rhythm, both for myself and in terms of “reporting”. Many of the mornings, I ring the bell by myself somewhere around my house or I try to engage the people waiting on the corner. I will continue to do so. However, as far as posting these activities to the blog is concerned, I will only post things that are unusual or deviate from this normal activity. Perhaps I will simply post the audio for a while. Either way, you can use your imagination.
Also- how about anybody else out there who is ringing a bell? Please send a photo or text or soundfile. I would love to post other experiences than my own. COME ON!!!
We’ll see how it goes in the evenings. I expect to handle the documentation in much the same way, as I will for the sunrise ringing. And if I manage to entice others to ring with me, I will post that movie to the blog. Otherwise, I may simply post the audio or a photo of something in my field of view.
Hopefully this will free up some of my time to devote to other aspects of the project. I would like to organize some large bell ringing events to coincide with the upcoming Equinox and Solstice. I would like to find out about any eclipses that are happening this year. This is a leap year and February 29th would also be a good occasion.
But as my friend Taylor reminded me, it’s really the ordinary days that are the most important ones to notice and to honor. We have so many more of them.
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