Animator Nina Paley created two dozen sublime early goddess GIFs, including a sassy Venus of Willendorf. We don’t know when we’ve seen so much forthright joy.
Read MoreSlow Thinking is a Revolutionary Act
During a week away where we forgot to check into Improvised Life’s many social media platforms, we discovered “slow thinking”. It is indeed a radical and transformative act.
Read MoreSmall Technologies That Help You Sleep
Over the years, I’ve found some inexpensive analog technologies and simple practices that amplify my ability to sleep.
Read MoreWhat The Trees Do When We’re Not Looking (with Poem)
We love things that find ways around constraints and are committed to being wholeheartedly themselves. On a walkabout recently, we saw a startling example.
Read MoreEmergency Ginger Scallion Sauce for Everything
When I am stressed or blue or just plain tired, I turn to the smallish jar I keep in my fridge of ginger scallion …sauce…condiment…elixir…potion…
Read MoreBig DIY Linen Projects and Room Dividers + Where to Find the Extra Wide Linen to Make Them
In our age of diminishing spaces that have to serve many purposes, linen projects like room dividers, curtains, draped slip covers and spreads hold many possibilities. The logistical question: where to buy really wide linen?
Read MoreCandide Thovex Skis Everything But Snow (With Zen View)
We didn’t know that skiing without snow is possible until we saw Candide Thovex traverse the globe in this magical, thrilling, uplifting two minutes, with unexpected lessons in Zen.
Read MoreCapture Ideas on Sticky Notes to Make Them Actionable, Kanban Style
A meeting with Design Technologist Joe Fraga taught me a dead-simple method of capturing ideas and making them organizable AND actionable.
Read MoreLiving in the Tender Gravity of Kindness (Naomi Shihab Nye + Jenny Holzer)
Artist Jenny Holzer’s words arranged on a marquis of a movie theater in Chicago is the image that we thought of as we read Kindness, Naomi Shihab Nye’s revelatory poem…
Read MoreSimple Best: Brown Sugar Lightning Cake
About the simplest and best cake recipe I learned in my long cooking career is “lightning cake”: eggy, tender and fragrant with a fine texture that belies its ease. Recently a reader shouted out: “Hey Sally, why don’t you post the Brown Sugar Lightening Cake on Improvised Life?”, so here it is.
Read MoreA Strong Sugru-like Adhesive You Can Make
Designer Stephen Johnson’s colorful adhesive dough prototype will bond all sorts of materials, including wood, glass, stone and metal and is strong enough to bond furniture parts together. We wondered if we could make some ourselves…
Read MorePhilip Roth on Age, Being Alive, Talent, and What Creative Work is Really Like
We found several illuminating hunks in No Long Writing, Philip Roth Still has Plenty to Say, a New York Times interview with the legendary novelist, who retired from writing several years ago…
Read MorePeace Writ Large Across War-Torn Rooftops + Bill Evans’ Peace Piece
What are ways that ordinary people can spread light rather than darkness through the day? Lebanese graffiti artists Mohamed and Omar Kabbani, who grew up amidst the brutal civil war in Lebanon, figured out an astonishing way.
Read MorePracticing Martin Luther King Jr’s 6 Principles of Nonviolence
We’ve often wondered at Dr. Martin Luther King ability to maintain his non-violent stance in the face of numerous threats and arrests. Was he born with it, or was it driven by his powerful faith, or was it something he had to work at daily, a practice?
Read MoreCharred, Hot-Roasted Peppers with Pimenton de la Vera
As I get older, my cooking gets simpler. I find myself creating short cuts and innovations on recipes I created years ago, as a way to feed myself and friends more easily. Hankering for the flavors of smoky piquillo peppers I used to love in Spain, I hot roast sliced peppers dusted with smoky paprika…
Read MoreSleuth-Voyeur Dominique Nabokov’s As-Is REAL Interiors are a Joy
Photographer Dominique Nabokov was way ahead of the curve when she started using just a Polaroid camera to photograph the unstyled, unlit spaces of notable people “as close to reality as possible”. They are a joy and relief.
Read MoreWe Found a Way to Be Rich By Doing Almost Nothing
We’ve found novelist Ann Patchett’s Times article My Year of No Shopping to be a potent catalyst for creating wealth.
Read MoreEllen Silverman on Creative Partnerships, Play and Letting the Unexpected Happen
The story of how photographer/filmmaker Ellen Silverman latest photo experiments came about is full of wise insight into the creative process.
Read MoreShort, Powerful Instruction for an Alternative Possibility of Being
We read haiku often for the power they offer in just a few lines; they are HELPFUL, always offering a shift of our thinking and deepening of the moment. Jane Hirschfield illuminated why.
Read MorePlaying in Frigid Times: Ice Lanterns and Globes
Massive blasts of arctic air across the US have people staying in or scurrying through their day bundled up and rushing to warmth. As I do the same, I’ve been wondering what I can MAKE out of the bitterly cold temperature. Can it become a sort of art material?
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