Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
My friend is so talented. So talented!!
Brandy Somers works all year as a high school art teacher, photographs their creations, this beautiful city, and adventures with her loved ones and publishes it all on FOUR blogs (or five??), heads up a massive portrait show each year, participates in several art exhibits throughout the year, volunteers, raises children… I aspire to be like her in so many ways. She somehow seamlessly weaves all this into her life — a life full of color and texture, people and love, laughter and light. And last week I was able to see her talent in action as she taught a class at Larkin Arts… about something she does beautifully: weaving.
Valerie Smith has been heading up this summer art program for years, only now she gets to host it at her own shop. She put out a call to local artists who’d like to teach a week-long class, assembled a fine group of those people, and sort of let them decide what it was they would teach. Then Valerie worked with the artist/teachers to determine appropriate age groups and ordered the necessary supplies. The twenty-six classes run through August 16 and serve kids age six to fourteen.
My kids and I arrived toward the end of her class entitled “Basket Full O’ Fun” — a week-long seminar dedicated to basket weaving, but which turned into much more.
To start each three-hour session, Brandy had students complete a quick sketch (in their self-made sketch books) centered around a particular topic, like “what was your worst injury?”, “draw your scariest moment” and “your biggest accomplishment”, and “what super power would you most like to have?” Answers, in the form of sketches, ranged from stubbed toes to falls from fences and split chins, from scary moms in masks to creepy cardboard cut-outs of Dale Earnhardt, and from super sniffing and shape-shifting to shooting something you want straight out of your hand (in Ella’s case, a bagel and drink). Pretty much everyone agreed that the pouch baskets were their most recent major accomplishment.
After the sketches, Brandy began the lesson. The week started with making a type of basket called a bean pot. The apt students caught on quickly in weaving these large, sturdy baskets, and in no time, had some gorgeous finished products.
The pouch baskets (like a little purse) turned out equally beautiful but were harder to make and required patience and teamwork. Still, the determined students (and teacher) pressed on and completed the job on day three. !!!
Never fear. This isn’t Brandy’s first rodeo, and although the kids had completed her week-long class in a mere three days, she had more tricks up her sleeve. In fact, she needed sleeves… to make tee shirt rugs using hula hoops as looms. This is where Ella’s super power would have really come in handy. It takes A LOT of tee shirts to make enough strips for five kids to each weave a rug, so what super heroes came to the rescue? Denise and Sean Allen, that’s who. They showed up with a gigantic donation of old tee shirts. Let the shredding begin!
A well-deserved and much-needed break.
And that awlsome project lasted clear through Friday’s class, when I was there visiting. One student was determined to finish her rug as a father’s day gift. Another’s strips kept getting tangled up. This student’s rug was finished and needed to be tied off, while that student still needed more strips of red fabric. Brandy moved with ease around the room, as she always does, helping everyone, as she always does… never losing patience, always speaking kindly, laughing and enjoying the moment, weaving color and texture and light into their lives, at least for one week.
Brandy and I have taught at the same school for years, but it’s not often that we see each other during class. It was a real treat to see her in this element, and I mean that sincerely. Any person — young or old — would be lucky to receive her instruction, or her friendship.
There are still weeks and weeks of classes available to your kid this summer. Many of them still have space available, so now’s a good time to get signed up. They’ll be taught by professionals who love their craft and aren’t afraid to show it… just like Brandy.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
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Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Sometimes doors close for a reason. A beautiful one.
This was the case for Zac Nafziger, a former employee of Rosetta Stone who, along with several others, was laid off after twelve years with the company. He had enjoyed the steadiness of it, the reliable pay and benefits, the friendships forged there. He had enjoyed working in the heart of the city, watching it change and grow, watching the company change and grow from a small business to a formidable global presence. And so, when the layoff occurred, it was like a strange break up — at first, heartbreak and shock, but then a realization that the relationship had indeed changed, and maybe it was instead an opportunity.
Having studied, appreciated, and practiced art since his adolescence, Zac soon decided that the most feasible option for him and his family was to dive headlong into the stained glass business — the selling of it, not just the making of it, which was new and slightly uncomfortable territory. Today, suddenly he finds himself doing just that: he reports to his studio at Larkin Arts each day, makes stained glass, and sells it. And although he no longer has the safety net of a bona fide employer, he’s doing all right. Moreover, he’s a happy fellow.
He packed up all his gear and supplies and traveled 1500 miles to set up ZN Stained Glass in a studio space at Larkin Arts, just a block or two from his former job. Yep, 1500 miles. 15 miles, 100 times. He has a lot of stuff. He does note some important differences between being your own boss and working for someone else. For example, you don’t get paid when you use the restroom, or leave for a quick lunch, or chat with a colleague. No. Now, any sort of break during the day costs him money. If he’s not working, he’s not earning, and that’s an interesting reality many of us don’t know. It might sound great to set your own hours and work wherever you want… the library, a coffee shop, at home… but it takes discipline. As he says, at home there’s always some distraction. The TV, or the Internet, or some household task. Suddenly the day is gone and nothing’s accomplished. Bleeding money. So he tries to work at Larkin as much as possible. There’s really nothing else he can do in his small studio but produce.
His process is interesting yet simple. His inspiration comes in the form of personified ideas that talk to him, usually interrupting him while he’s already working on a piece. So he might sketch that idea just as a reminder, and then draw a full-size picture of it before he starts to cut glass.
He might put on a movie or a series of reruns just for background noise (this is part of Brandy’s process, too), but sometimes he works in total silence. He usually works barefoot, and his work table becomes a glass-shard pricker bush that slices his forearms when he leans into it. (I know it sounds masochistic, but it’s the process, people.) Many of his works, as you can see from the photos, contain circles and geometrics, some that are sort of pattern-ish and some seemingly random, but all somehow adding up to a cohesive, comprehensible, eloquent final product.
This appeals to people because much of his work is beautiful without it having to be something. There might not be a single recognizable object in one of his works, but its arrangement is gorgeous in a way you won’t grow tired of. There’s a quiet, timeless sophistication about his work that cannot be acquired in the home goods section of any store. If my description falls short, which I’m sure it does, just go on down to Larkin and see him at the studio. He’s quite friendly and seems to like talking about his work and current projects; right now he’s working on stained glass inlays for an entire kitchen’s worth of cabinets, plus wine cellar doors.
Other than his artistic abilities, he says his strengths lie in cooking on the grill, solving problems, and being able to see the big picture… which all sorta relate to his craft if you think about it. I mean, you have to be able to see the big picture when you’re arranging a couple thousand tiny pieces of glass. And his latest news is this: he pretty much bought Avalon Stained Glass School in Kentucky and everything inside it, and he’s driving to Kentucky this weekend to get the loot. It’s like FIFTEEN years worth of glass. So he was pretty excited when we were there with him today.
When I first saw the name of his business — ZN Stained Glass — I thought it said “zen.” And then I wondered if his middle name starts with an E, because it would be cool if ZEN were his initials. They’re not. But I refuse to let go of the yin/yang thing going on here… that he lost his job, which seemed like a disaster, but it turned into a blessing lined with luck and hard work and faith. Two sides of the same coin. You know, like a circle.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
On our first official day of summer vacation, it rained, rained. rained. Hopefully this won’t be one of those summers where it stops raining just long enough for me to mow my foot-high grass. Whatever the forecast, our burg has lots of roofed and roof-less businesses ready to show you a fun time! So check the forecast, stash an umbrella somewhere handy, and use our Happynings page to plan accordingly.
Have a great week!!
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Nothing ushers in summer like drinking a giant beer on the taratsa at Dave’s Taverna. And Dave’s has provided that for us for nearly twenty years. Twenty years! A generation. Another impressive statistic?
Three million? That’s more people than the population of Jamaica. Which is another nice place to sit outside and enjoy a meal. And if Harrisonburg’s population hovers around 50,000, then Dave’s has served each and every one of us sixty times over the years. And I, for one, appreciate that hospitality. Greece is also quite hospitable – the number of tourists who visit each year exceeds the number of citizens by a long shot – and it’s one place, during my European hobo travels, I didn’t visit. If I ever get the chance again, I’m going there. For now, I am perfectly content to eat spanakopita at Dave’s, surrounded by people I love.
On this day I was on a “bargain high.” Brandy and I had just come from Duo, where I got three items for like $20. To my delight, it happened to be Tuesday, and kids eat free at Dave’s on Tuesday. AND, Dave’s offers BIG beers for just $3ish. It’s like the God of Bargains was smiling down on us from Mt. Olympus.
We ordered food. I got the Steak and Cheese (Dave’s has one of the best I’ve tried), and Ben and Brandy shared the Chicken Souvlaki and a house salad. We ate, drank, and merrily chatted.
At least once a day, Brandy looks at me, points to her hair, and says, “What’s going on here?” She’s convinced that some piece of hair is out of place or sticking out. I usually tell her, “Nothing. Looks fine.” Heh heh.
You know, sometimes, when you eat outside, you experience some challenges. Like wind, for instance. Or… bees. Now, let me say up front that I have a phobia of bees (and even more, moths – those things will just randomly fly right into your face/eye/ear/mouth). I’ve had several bizarre and scarring experiences with bees, like the time I was fishing with my brother and I sat right down on a hornet’s nest. Egads. So when something buzzed by me, I got a little nervous. My son, knowing my fear, said, “Don’t worry, Mom. It’s just a bumblebee. They have no power to hurt. Bumblebees are just big stuffed-animal bugs.”
Truth. So I relaxed and didn’t see another insect up there at all. But then Cal remembered his own frightening bee incident… when he was two. We were at the Wellness Center for Bree’s soccer game. Cal was sitting in his little chair, and I’d given him half of my egg and cheese bagel. A bee swooped in, landed on the hand that held the bagel, and stung him right on the finger. He promptly dropped the sandwich and howled. He was so mad at himself for dropping his breakfast…
On your visit to Dave’s, you can enjoy dollar pitchers of Natty Light, Virginia Wines, Mediterranean foods like Baklava, a Gyro, or pizza, and American favorites like a good ole burger and chocolate cake, plus a whole lot more. And you can help Dave get to four million served!
Dave’s is located downtown, between Shenandoah Bicycle and Oasis Fine Art & Craft, open 11am to 1am, every day.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
I don’t know about you, but during the school year, I am BUSY. And my kids are busy. The end of the year arrives none too soon, but still shockingly fast, and I often find I’m… unprepared. Come Monday, June 10, I’m going to have that “oh-my-gosh-what-the-heck-am-I-gonna-do-with-the-kids-now” freak out. But this year, I’m determined to be prepared when they ask, “Mom, what are we going to do today?” So I’ve compiled this list — for myself, for you, for everyone who might find themselves in this predicament — of activities, camps and classes offered by Harrisonburg businesses and organizations to keep your kiddos busy allll summer long.
Spitzer Art Center Children’s Workshops
Children ages 5 – 10 can sign up for one of many classes offered at the center. Register one week ahead for topics such as collage, drawing, water color, greeting cards, and more.
Larkin Arts Youth Summer Art Program
Kids ages 6 – 14 can attend week-long, 3-hour classes for $85. Classes include papier mache, sculpture, basket making, drawing, collage, photography, food art, painting, and a bunch of others.
Arts Council of the Valley and Court Square Theater Summer Art Camp
These 3-hour, Monday to Friday classes cost $80 and include acting, characterization, script writing, choreography, improv, singing, dancing, poetry, filmmaking, comic creation, plus many more. Ages 6 – 15.
You Made It! also offers week-long camps, Monday to Friday for three hours, for $185. Ages 6 and up. Classes include clay, canvas painting, wheel throwing, pottery painting, fused glass, and several others.
Explore More Children’s Museum offers 4-day classes, three hours per day, for ages 3 – 5th grade. Topics include LEGO engineering, Jedi training, Culinary Kids, Project Funway, Castles, Crowns and Catapults, Animal Adventures, and Construction Junction, to name a few.
Blue Ridge Community College Learning Can Be Fun
BRCC offers a zillion classes for grades K – 12, including art, music, dance, theater, culture, history, literature, nature, science, technology, sports and outdoor recreation. The classes run Monday – Friday for 3 hours each day, through the end of July.
James Madison University
JMU also boasts a large assortment of camps for summer kids, including baseball, softball, soccer, basketball, volleyball, lacrosse, football, fencing and field hockey. They also offer band camp, diversity studies, poetry workshops, nonviolence seminars, and STEM classes.
Harrisonburg Parks and Recreation
In addition to spending some time at one of our many city parks, like Purcell, A Dream Come True, or Hillandale, your child can enjoy swimming at Westover Pool (open Monday through Saturday noon to 7pm and Sunday 1pm to 7pm) and a variety of classes. Some of their offerings include guitar, mountain biking, water adventure, adventure sports, rock climbing, rafting/kayaking, a ton of dance classes, archery, fishing, jump rope, skate boarding, and pretty much every major sport.
Massanutten Regional Library kicks off its annual Summer Reading Games, but you have to register THIS WEEK to get the free pass to the Massanutten Water Park. Other activities include Baseball Storytimes (Turks read to kids), Crafty Kids, LEGO Club, and Stitch and Knit, plus others.
RMH Wellness Center has full- or half-day camps on a weekly basis, for kids ages 4 – 11. Kids will learn about topics like dinosaurs, medieval times, the ocean, and space, plus participate in activities like swimming, rock climbing, indoor and outdoor games, playground time, crafts, fitness, and sports.
Yes, summer is about relaxing and decompressing after a stressful school year, but keeping your kids active will make them healthy, blah blah blah. Really, it’ll make them SLEEP WELL at night :) So sign up for something today! Consider it an investment in the sanity of your household. You’ll all be better for it.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
It’s the last week of school. We are pooooooooped. But this city never loses its energy, and what a week we have coming up! Something to do every hour, all week. Enjoy your Sunday, and be sure to check the Happynings today!
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Captain American Gladiator!
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
The banana’s in charge.
nice walker!
somebody help him! where are those bandits??
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Copyright © 2012 – 2013 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Oh, suburbs, you’re killing us all.
The invention of suburbs was one of those “seemed like a good idea at the time” developments of the modern era. People could move out of those crowded, noisy, dirty cities and into a larger home on a sizable lot and enjoy peace, quiet, relative privacy. It sounded divine at the time and was quickly accepted as “a good idea.” But, as humans are wont to do, we didn’t think about the consequences… longer commutes in the car, more gas, more time, more water and other resources all for the sake of having a slice of real estate all to yourself. And the cities, vacated, simply fell apart. Businesses left. Factories closed. Crime increased. What a mess.
Then postmodernism came along and showed us that we don’t know jack. We have no foresight. We bulldoze along without thinking of ramifications down the road. At least we started to become aware of our lack of awareness, right?
And now we’re in some kind of post postmodernism where we’re trying to stem the tide of all those bad consequences. For example, we woke up to the fact that cars use too much gas, and the hybrid was born. Yay — fuel conservation! But what do I do when the battery in my Insight poops out?? I can’t just throw that thing in the landfill… And plug-in electric cars that require no gas at all — what a great idea! But if you’re plugging it in to an outlet fueled by coal, then… there’s not much environmental advantage. These are the problems we now see and are trying to fix… but when we fix them, will we finally have developed some foresight so we don’t create yet another new problem?
Problems like this reach an apex, where they’ve been worsening at an exponential rate and they start to double-back on themselves… and the only option is to start over. Get back to basics. We probably all recognize, on some level, that we can choose to simplify now, or we can wait until conditions deteriorate so badly that we’re forced to. Here in the burg we’ve been working on simplifying for some time. We have a number of community farms, like Port Road Community Garden, Collicello Gardens, and Our Community Farm, to name a few. The folks at The Natural Garden will actually arrive by bike to work in your yard. We’re a town of co-ops and collectives and local businesses and farmers markets. All of these endeavors underscore Harrisonburg’s desire to get back to basics: to reduce urban sprawl and make it easier for people to ditch their cars and walk or bike to work and school. To spend money locally. To undo some of the damage we’ve caused and try to conserve a little here and there. And to work as a community to solve our own problems, rather than leave those solutions in the hands of strangers. Slowly but surely, this community is gaining ground.
To that end, it’s Bike Month in Harrisonburg, kicked off on May 3rd with a Costume Bike Parade downtown. As I headed to the Turner Pavilion to meet Brandy, I saw the first cyclist of the evening: Noel Levan, sporting Kermit The Frog socks and a clown nose, among other silly items. Little by little bike enthusiasts started rolling in. Some of the costumes included a Banana, Mario, and a shiny metallic sword-bearing Robot (Nate Shearer). Some type of fox-like animal, which might have been a kangaroo because I heard him refer to himself as marsupial. An old man in a bathrobe, a spring fairy, and a cat with a bull horn. A cow wearing a boa, a butterfly, and a disco sompn-or-other.
There were a dozen or so kids — a little Spiderman, Pebbles, a doctor, a knight, a couple of fair princesses…
And there were a few scoundrels — one who looked like Captain America but might have been a sinister Gladiator… gun totin’ Blue Bullet and the Bandits (they actually had a horse head on the bike)… and <eeek!> Jason.
And let’s not forget Tony Lopez being assaulted by Dark Spiderman!
After the parade, participants attended Singletrack High and the Adventure Seen Cycling Film Festival at Court Square Theater. What a night!
But that’s not all. The month of May is full of bike-related events to bolster support for our ever-growing cycling community. Just last week Harrisonburg enjoyed Bike to Worship, Bike to Work, and Bike to School events, as well as the annual Ride of Silence. Still to come, an Ice Cream Ride, Sunday the 26th at 2pm at the Wolfe Street Kline’s, and if you donate to the Northend Greenway this month, you could win a bike with accessories! And the burg has lots of long-term bike initiatives in place, including Rocktown Trails, Bluestone Trail, the Northend Greenway, and the Bike-Ped Plan, all in the name of improving safety and accessibility for cyclists and pedestrians.
When we look at the world, or rather, our corner of it, it’s easy to see the problems, the destruction, our detachment from nature, other people, and ourselves. But little things, like this event, start as a seed of hope in one person’s heart, germinate into an idea hatched among friends over a few cups of coffee or mugs of beer, grow into a community event, and then evolve into a movement. Action. Awareness. Progress. I moved here nearly twenty years ago. I was a 21 year old wearing a huge set of blinders and didn’t know squat about art or the environment or social consciousness. I essentially grew up here; most people do mature a great deal between age 21 and 41. But this city made me evolve; it made me aware; it woke me up. This is where I learned to care about things way bigger than I. I am so grateful my kids are learning, too. So grateful this is my community. So grateful for all of you.
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers.This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
Last week was a great week in the burg, even if the weather was nutso. I scraped frost off my car one morning, and the next day it was 92 degrees. This week, though… all 70s and 80s. Never mind that there’s a chance of thunderstorm pretty much every day — that’s what spring’s supposed to be like.
Hope you’re able to get out and about this week and enjoy some of what your friendly city has to offer! Check out this week’s happynings, right here. :)
See you around!
Copyright © 2012-13 · All Rights Reserved · ilovemyburg.com. Written content by Katie Mitchell. Photos by Brandy Somers. This material may not be copied, downloaded, reproduced, or printed without express written consent. Thank you for respecting our intellectual property.
i love my burg. 