#AugustBreak2019

#SeeYouInSeptember

If you enjoyed Susannah Conway’s #AugustBreak2019, please consider joining us for a month of show-and-tell. 

#SeeYouInSeptember is about creating new connections, and seeing the world through different lenses. It’s easy-peasy: Just translate the daily phrases into photos, and then upload them to social media with our hashtag. No need for costly equipment–a cellphone camera will do. Think of it as recess for your imagination, which always wants to play.

Skip a day or two, if you wanna, but remember to add the hashtag #SeeYouInSeptember. That’s how we’ll find each other! Reveal to us your magic tricks/apps, if you’re so inclined. And psst, don’t forget to add the daily word/phrase!

Sound good? Let’s do this! Here’s a quick example, to help get you started:

I’m reading…several books at a time. And you? #ImReading is the prompt for Day 2 of the #SeeYouInSeptember photo challenge (I snapped this with my iPhone and added a fun overlay with the Rhonna Designs Magic app.)

(Thanks, Pamela Celeste Reese, for co-creating this month’s challenges with me. Can’t wait to see where this one leads us, and to meet new friends along the way!)

HOPES

She said, I don’t care what you do for a living.
She said, I don’t care what kind of car you drive.
All I want to know right now is what do you believe in
And what it means to you to be alive.

–Don Henley, “Everything is Different Now“

It’s a siren song, social media. We post glittery images on Instagram, obsess over our likes and mentions. We chime in on trending Twitter threads, not realizing in those moments of self-righteous fury, that we are, in effect, choosing chaos over positive action.

I’m worried, dear readers…worried that we’re drifting away from the ideals that we’ve always believed in, as individuals and as citizens of the world. I’m concerned that, in focusing our energies on the here and now, we’re losing sight of the dreams that we’ve been working toward, for ourselves and the greater good. So when today’s prompt, HOPES, came into focus, I saw it as an opportunity for introspection. Maybe also, a non-confrontational, open dialogue about the things that matter most.

Beyond your hot-takes on Twitter, deeper than your filtered selfie snap…all I want to know right now is what do you believe in, and what it means to you to be alive.

(Sunday, Day 11 of  #AugustBreak2019)

Buttons and Lines

Piglets at the County Fair. Cute as BUTTONS, aren’t they?

The crowds are bigger at the pig pens than almost any other attraction at the fair. And no wonder: Is there anything cuter than wriggly pink piglets, kicking up sawdust as they run circles around their mama?

#AugustBreak2019, Day 4…The theme of the day is BUTTONS, in case you haven’t guessed. I was going to post a photo of my Nana’s button collection, but it’s been a rough 24-hour news cycle. Two mass shootings within 24 hours… 29 fatalities and multiple casualties. I mourn their loss and speak their names.

I feel, as you do, the gravity of this moment. But I believe we are better served by optimism than resignation. Joy in the morning, and lightness of being. So for today’s prompt, I chose silly over serious. To wit: Pink-snouted, snuffling piglets to the rescue! Think of them as a gift, aka a “happy,” with curly ribbons as tails. #JoyInTheMorning

P.S. Yesterday’s prompt was LINE. In this news photo, El Paso residents are waiting in a two-hour line to donate blood for the victims of the first of two mass shootings in a single day. (Image via CNN. I was too teary-eyed to take photos.)  #AugustBreak2019, day 3

Pink

I believe in pink. I believe that laughing is the best calorie burner. I believe in kissing, kissing a lot. I believe in being strong when everything seems to be going wrong. I believe that happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day and I believe in miracles.–Audrey Hepburn

Today’s theme for #AugustBreak2019 is PINK. Susannah Conway founded this event several years ago; and while I’ve always enjoyed the artistic challenge, I love best that when I scroll through my social media feeds, I’m meeting up with creatives who, like me, are exploring ideas and techniques that move them past their comfort zones. Not to mention, it’s so much fun to peer through their windows on the world!

Here’s the deets…wanna join us? Just create a photographic image that somehow illustrates the theme of the day, and then share it on your favorite social media networks. Easy-peasy. No need to use a high-end camera–a cell phone snap is totally fine! Simple or abstract, fancy or straightforward…you get to translate the daily prompt however you want. It’s group play, but even better, because you get to make up your own rules!