Giant puppets representing Emily Dickinson and Edgar Allan Poe roam Old Town San Diego State Historic Park during 2019 TwainFest!
Today I enjoyed one of my very favorite San Diego events. I headed to Old Town San Diego State Historic Park for a celebration of great writing and reading at 2019 TwainFest!
Literature is the focus of this annual festival–the most famous 19th century literature and writers in particular. Produced by Write Out Loud, TwainFest features live readings, performances, period music and costumes, games, and a variety of fun activities for the entire family.
Kids not only develop an appreciation for classic books, but they experience the joy of creativity!
Here comes a tall Mark Twain puppet walking through Old Town San Diego!A noon parade circles the Old Town plaza during 2019 TwainFest, where great writers and reading are celebrated!Many characters in 19th century period costume could be spotted at the annual event.Musical entertainment on the main stage. Fiesta de Reyes presents TwainFest by Write Out Loud. Laughter, Levity and Literature.This salty Captain Swordfish might have been an acquaintance of Moby Dick author Herman Melville. He has been joined by Lewis Carroll’s Red Queen.I met poet Walt Whitman, who told me this is his first time at TwainFest.One of many fun games at TwainFest. Spinning the Wheel of Fiction, in order to solve a literary clue.Characters and scenes from Mark Twain’s stories could be colored, like The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.Anyone could walk up, grab a marker, and help write several Never Ending Stories.A performance of a magical folk tale in the Japanese Kamishibai tradition.Lively music from 19th century San Diego adds life to the cultural event.Some fun musical accompaniment nearby.Kids were learning how to play drums and the fife.The young and the young at heart could play Victorian era games on the grass, including wheelbarrow races, sack races, egg races and the game of graces.A crazy wheelbarrow race is underway. It’s hard not to fall out when your driver abruptly turns!Visitors to TwainFest could learn how to make simple books by folding paper and applying fancy cover designs with a glue stick.Of course, a literature themed event must include lots of classic books.Shelves full of books!Some history reenactors had set up a Civil War era field encampment.Union soldiers in uniform appear at attention.The nearby Headquarters Post Office contained more costumed participants.A working telegraph was on display.While walking about, I noticed many smiling people handing out TwainFest programs. (I’m sure Write Out Loud always welcomes new volunteers.)Stories were being told at the Casa de Estudillo about immigrants, the descendants of early California, and the road to women’s suffrage.At the Old Town Courthouse Museum, people could take a literacy test to see whether they could vote in the election of 1872.Political illustrations and cartoons from print over a century ago.Young people were enjoying a Mad Hatter tea party, with Alice and other Wonderland characters!It appeared that some people had already painted Tom Sawyer’s fence with whitewash!Is that the Red Queen or the Queen of Hearts? I get them confused.Don’t be an idiom. (You probably don’t want to be an oxymoron either.)More dramatic words were being read inside Old Town’s one room Mason Street Schoolhouse. I recognized those funny wart-cure passages from Tom Sawyer.A puppet show delights kids in Old Town’s plaza.The smiles and good times live on and on during TwainFest……thanks in part to this amiable if somewhat satirical fellow.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!
Yesterday afternoon I spent some time reading in the Coronado Public Library.
I was sitting comfortably in the library’s Reading Room, my eyes resting on Donal Hord’s sculpture Mourning Woman, when I became aware of happy, excited voices drifting in from the Children’s Room.
And a small story whispered into my mind.
The story isn’t about Death–it’s about Life. So I changed the Mourning Woman to the Silent Woman. I also changed the season, and the appearance of the Reading Room.
If you’d like to have this very small story whisper to you, click here.
I was making my way through downtown this morning when I spotted something important that I’d like to blog.
As I walked past the Edward J. Schwartz United States Courthouse, I noticed a new crop of student posters has appeared in the building’s windows. These posters were submitted by local kids for the San Diego County Bar Association’s 2019 Law Week Poster and Video Contest.
The theme this year is Free Speech, Free Press, Free Society.
We the People…Natural Rights. First Amendment.Free As a Bird. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.Freedom. Rights. Responsibility. May all our voices be heard!Express your opinion. Peacefully protest or assemble.Liberty requires freedom of expression for everybody.
The First Amendment of the United States Constitution is vitally important to me. I’m a writer.
If you value individual liberty and a free and open society, its protections are fundamental.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
Yesterday I published a new work of fiction on my writing website Short Stories by Richard. This morning I made some important changes and now feel satisfied.
The story’s revised title is The Hand of Fate. It’s about things we see and know nothing about.
If you’d like to read the small story, click here.
The older I become, the more I understand that life is fleeting.
Because of that, I’ve come to a decision.
I will now dedicate my spare hours to writing fiction.
Why?
While I enjoy walking everywhere and taking photos of San Diego, I feel that my efforts in creative writing might be more important. Apparently some people think my works of fiction have merit.
It doesn’t seem possible, but my website Short Stories by Richard has received visitors from school classrooms in four different countries now. Most of the students are reading the story One Thousand Likes. Many people around the world have also begun to read An Unexpected Sunflower, which is my very first short story and still my favorite.
So now I’m really going to concentrate on writing. Which means Cool San Diego Sights and my other photography blogs will be put on pause.
I’m hoping a few more worthwhile stories will come to me!
If I’m lucky!
If you’d like to read and follow my writing, you can click here!
Thank you for sharing my journey!
UPDATE!
Well, obviously, that wasn’t much of a pause. As I type this update several months later I’m still walking, taking photos and blogging. I can’t seem to stop. Oh, well. Sorry about the misinformation! The best laid plans…
To an ancient person, light is a life-sustaining gift from a distant bright god. To a modern person, light is electromagnetic radiation that can be detected by the eye’s retina. To an artist, light might be some of both . . . and much more.
When I write, I’m never certain what precise thing light represents. In many stories it seems to symbolize a life-sustaining hope, or a radiation of the spirit detected by the heart. It might signal a burning love, living with eyes wide open, or intangible rays from beyond that define life’s shape. A glimpse of ultimate truth. A bright gift that is magical, momentary, precious.
I don’t know. What is light to you?
Following are seven short works of fiction where light is an integral part of the story:
Have you created a zine? Do you like to read them?
Head up to the 8th floor of the San Diego Central Library and you’ll find a collection of hundreds of handmade, self-published zines!
Some of the zines are very simple–just folded copy paper and staples. Others are so slick you might mistake them for a popular comic book or retail magazine. All are super creative. Every page communicates the author’s unique voice and vision.
If you’ve created a cool zine, you can submit your finished masterpiece to the library. They’ll consider adding it to their collection.
I looked through the bins and found all sorts of amusing, brain-bending, eye-catching covers. You can’t check zines out of the library, but you can check out these few photos!
San Diego Central Library’s zine collection is on the 8th floor. Browse hundreds of handcrafted, self-published, small circulation titles.Said While Talking, by MarinaomiAlas This Rebel Heart, by Cathy HannahRazorcakeCheer the Eff UpCleopatra in Spaaaace!Detention. Sigh…epoch oblivionMagagagagazineStep Down Your Throat ComicsGag Me With A . . .Perpetually Twelve, Number 8. The Monster Issue.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
I haven’t authored any zines, but I have written a few online short stories. If you like to read, you might enjoy my website Short Stories by Richard.
A heart-shaped Love Wall stands on the patio of the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park. It has been there for several months.
Dangling from the wall are many short messages. Powerful words have been written on pieces of colored paper by many human hands. Some messages are old and faded. Others are bright and new. There’s plenty of space on the Love Wall for more wisdom.
A heart-shaped Love Wall stands on the patio of the Spanish Village Art Center in Balboa Park.Many messages dangle from the Love Wall.Amo mi familia. Love is accepting you.Smile.Love heals all.Love one another. Kindness ripples.Family is everything.Love is . . . knowing it’s right.Many messages of love from many different hands, young and old.I love you. Friendship.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Sunday afternoon I took the trolley to East County to enjoy a quiet walk near Gillespie Field. I knew that along Marshall Avenue there’d be no traffic.
As I walked down the long, empty sidewalk I turned my eyes toward sleepy hangars across the street, burgeoning spring flowers at my feet and a large construction site abandoned for the day. All I heard was the whisper of the breeze, birds flitting here or there and small planes rising into the sky.
The time and place was perfect for a stretch of thinking. I’m struggling with a short story that is particularly difficult. It’s a story about the complexity of people and the small actions that help to define a life. I keep changing the words.
As I walked along in a state of abstraction I slowly became aware of surprising shapes and contrasts in the world all around me. Exactly like the complexity we find in ourselves.
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I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 