What One Calls a Mosaic, I Call a Confusion

Either way, onto film, books and obsessions

We are here in the middle of the beginning of the year and in the middle of the country where the skies are grey from clouds, not smoke, and the streets are grey of pavement, not old snow. Speaking of clouds, last night I had a nightmare. I won’t go into the details, but I will tell you that in the dream, a lovely but surprising dark storm cloud was moving its way to the east, when out of its belly, or maybe out of its mouth, because it’s hard to distinguish the anatomy of a cloud, a cartoon lightning bolt zig-zagged its way towards metal; a fork whose tines had been bent in torture, now seeking solace in steel.

Three things. . .

FILM

The Internet Archive is hosting a 2025 Public Domain Day Remix Film Contest with Films made by you! Basically, the two requirements for your 2-3 minute remixed films are that you must use at least one item from 1929, as works from that year officially entered the public domain on January 1, 2025, and that all the other sources you use MUST be from the public domain.

The deadline is January 17, and I submitted my film last night. Twenty-one films have already been submitted, and so far what I’ve seen is captivating! So many of the other filmmakers used video clips from multiple sources, whereas I used clips from only one movie, as well as images and audio, because download speed, or maybe naive lack of knowledge, was an obstacle to me downloading a variety of clips from a variety of long-form films. You can see all the other films here.

While there is no way I will win this contest, I am still enamored by my creation, which you can see here on the Internet Archive. It blends footage from a 1929 harp performance, audio from a Fleetwood Mac song, images from a 1977 French erotic film brochure, Bilitis, and a self-made voiceover from Louys’ poems, The Songs of Bilitis. 

I encourage you to check out my film as well as the others.

OBSESSION

Did you know that if luggage from planes, trains, and busses isn’t recovered after a few months, it is officially unclaimed and heads to Arkansas to be rehomed?! Yes, orphan bags and orphaned items. From clothes and electronics to books and perfumes, it is sold for up to 80% off to people through the Unclaimed Baggage website. What is lost, is found. What is without purpose, is given people.

While cooking dinner in the intimacy of our small kitchen the other night, I was telling Jim about all the discounted items I’d viewed. He told me, in a tone of “I believe you know this already,” that you can basically do the same thing on eBay. But I told him, “No. It’s different. These are orphaned items. Bags and books once loved and now lost. It’s so romantic.” Even though I explained that all items are laundered or cleaned before being sold, what I gathered he was ultimately getting at was that he hoped I wouldn’t gift him something from this website.

I’ve been obsessed with Unclaimed Baggage since I found it. Scrolling through the possibilities and the memories. It is romance at its finest and I will most definitely write about it. Did any of you already know about this website? If not, does anyone now share my obsession?

DISTILLATION OF SELF

My book, “I Won’t Keep You: Short Essays & Little Fictions,” was featured on our local library podcast because the library’s first reading challenge of the year is to read an author’s debut book, which mine is. One of the co-hosts, who I have known for years, said that IWKY is a “book of brilliance” and she said that it made her love essays. But the moment that put me beyond the moon was the way she described me. . . “filter free,” “curiosity without boundaries,” “high energy,” and “sensual.” Amy and I aren’t super tight, but we’ve run in similar circles and known each other for more than a decade - those friendships that some would call peripheral on paper but are tinged with a depth. . . a knowing connection. She is talented at seeing people. At distilling their personality into an essence. Turning my traits into the extrait de parfum of Trilety.

Here’s Amy on the air with my book propped up behind her.

And of course, if you want to purchase a copy of my book, head over to The Curious Word website where you can find options to order directly through me or through a variety of major online booksellers. Or, if you’re in Omaha, it’s in our Public Library!!

The old dog down the street is nearly white with age, which reminds me of the hollow hairs of polar bears that make them appear white and the fact that my mom had both Elisabeth and I convinced that the pelt on her bed was from the polar bear, not because she tried hard to convince us but because she’s so eccentric that neither of us doubted her. There’s a lot to be said there if you think about it. Maybe I will tackle it in an essay about belief, politics and thinking.