How truly sad a
hermit must be until that day
he discovers the sea.
10/15
Reply
Author Archives: Michael Stivers
10/14
Trees died late this year,
I’m waiting for them to brown.
Can’t make a sound.
10/13
Shoulder over ear.
Swimming through good intentions.
Push. Propel past the fear.
10/12
What if there is no
haiku for writing about?
Time. Wasted. Fall out.
Blurb 2
There’s a collection of art in Long Island City, Queens that too many people don’t know about. 5Pointz Aerosol Art Center has one on site staff, free admission and no advertising campaign. It’s a head turning mecca of graffiti, a public space rented to the world’s best in the fresh style of art, still seen as more juvenile than breathtaking.
You can usually spot one or two paint can connoisseurs offering a bridge between the process and the product. The demand for space is astronomical so each piece only lives for a short period. On top of that, this living, morphing collection has plans for demolition. It’s set to be developed for condos later this winter. See it soon, while it’s still changing.
10/11
I don’t want to do.
I want to be nothing more
than your two eyes see.
10/7
College poses more
Questions than answers
Stop asking me.
10/6
Stress-filled days are good.
How else would we know not to
live our lives like that?
Michael Stivers Creative Work 1
Slaughterhouse 5: Vonnegut at His Best and…Darkest
Forty-two years after publication, Vonnegut’s words retain their full wonder and provide a poignant commentary on the role of war and its outcomes. It may seem jumpy at times but this is just a result of the cyclical nature of the narrative. No loose end goes untied. His writing can be simple and clean or it can chock full of non-sequiturs and meandering pages. This has the ability to easily irritate an audience but if the faith is strong the redemption is there. Slaughterhouse 5 is like a Picasso. It’s unconventional, in your face, and rough around the edges. It is also packed with meaning and life; an eternal piece of literature on the whole of war. If you didn’t like the book it’s probably because Vonnegut shoved ideas in your brain you now wish he hadn’t. Continue reading
Mike’s Collection of Photographs
The Museum at FIT
The divisions between student and master are beautifully blurred at 27th and 7th. Students create half of the work at the partner museum to one of the premiere institutions of fashion education in the country. The small but satisfying space for visual and fashion art attracts over 100,000 visitors annually. Dior, Chanel, Gucci, Hilfiger and many others have donated their work to be displayed along the students in a chronological, efficient form. The Museum embodies none of the exuberance and decadence that causes most to cringe at the pure existence of one of New York’s largest industries. Its calm layout and understated backdrops invite a thought inducing experience that might not convince to make a Bloomingdales trip but will certainly have you talking about it.
On A Side Note,
Today I watched a film called Exit Through the Gift Shop, a documentary about street art. I can’t recommend it highly enough. It will definitely get you thinking.
I also came across a fascinating guy a couple of months ago who I found really inspiring. He goes by “JR” and won the TED Prize last year. Here is his TED Talk where he describes his work and here is his project. I plan on doing it soon, anyone want to join?
Michael Stivers
While rock climbing at Brooklyn Boulders I started admiring the patterns or “routes” of pieces that are drilled to the wall or “set” and then climbed. I saw the awesomely colorful pieces as art. To add on to that, when people started climbing I started to see their motions as art as well. Maybe it was even another form of dance.
