Unnecessary Words
August 31, 2008

Silence is one of my favorite seasons. I like it in summer and in winter. I like it during the day and at night. I like it at work and at home. I like it while reading, while playing with the cats, while strolling with a close friend, while making love. I even like it here on occasion so you will find no unnecessary words this week. Enjoy your silence.

This Week . . .
Attention: anyone with an artistic bent. The Koffler Gallery is now open to submissions for The Bookmark Project. In conjunction with the annual Jewish Book Fair, this event offers participants the opportunity to explore the theme, Insert. What is the interplay between the reader and the bookmark in the act of reading. According to the Koffler Gallery:

The reader inserts him/herself into a book, activating it with their emotions, memories, and thoughts. When the reader pauses, the act of inserting a bookmark tangibly signals a temporary exit while simultaneously indexing the point of re-entry into the text. As an insert, the bookmark becomes a place holder for the reader’s hands, eyes, and thoughts, marking territory and preserving their intimate relationship with the book. Denoting the reader’s absence, the bookmark’s presence echoes their memory inside the book. Upon returning, the reader once again replaces the bookmark in order to immerse back into the text. The act of reading therefore proceeds in the continual interchange between the reader and the bookmark, initiated and sustained by the process of ‘inserting’.

During the festival (October 30-November 10) the bookmarks will be on display to the more than 10,000 attendees and until the end of November in the gallery itself. Submission details and applications can be found online at the link above. 

Until next week, read well, read often and read on!

Lauren