Poetry really does matter

This is Frank Kearns. Frank is a transplanted New Englander who calls himself SoCalYankee. He and his wife are actively involved in the arts here in Downey. This picture was taken recently at the Stay Gallery where Frank was reciting some of his poems. You can see more of his bio here. Frank is a regular contributor to the Poetry Matters column in the Downey Patriot.

“Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art.”
~ Thomas Hardy, as quoted in The Later Years of Thomas Hardy by Florence Hardy

Humans of Downey - Mikail

"Within a two month span, my daughter, Mikaila, was born, and I opened this restaurant. When she was one year old, I thought, 'Oh, this little life is dependent on me for everything.' That's what pushes me to work harder, it pushes me not to fail. I don't care how tired I am, I do it for her. Without her, I don't know if I'd still be doing this. I know my wife gives me support, but business ownership is hard work. Every business is hard, but the restaurant business is harder because I'm in it. And sometimes I say, 'Aah, I don't want to do it anymore.' I might fail, but I can't because of this little human being right here, which I love more than any thing. She pushes me to be a better person. Not that I was a bad person before. I liked to hang out with my friends and have a drink and stay out. But now, after work, I want to go home and hang out with my kid.

"What's most important to me during this Christmas season is my daughter. She just turned 4. As she gets older, more of this stuff becomes about her and less about me. I have fun doing things for her. A couple of days ago, she helped decorate the Christmas tree for the first time. She is old enough to want to help out now, so even if she puts things in the wrong spot, how happy she gets. That's what makes me happy. I love taking videos of her all the time. Christmas now is 100% her. She'll tell me what she wants for Christmas. This year it's a Doc Mobile. Some Disney character is a doctor and has this Doc Mobile, which I'm getting her for Christmas. She's really excited."
~ Mikail

The colors of Christmas

It is December, so it is the season of Christmas. I was drawn to this red bush, lit up with Christmas lights. It was so festive and yet so every day. It seemed like the best way to show off the beautiful Christmas colors....


“Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful.”
~ Norman Vincent Peale

Humans of Downey - Andy and Betty (2/2)

"That, that’s what’s really hard!"

"Anyway, that’s how it all starts out. And then I work how I’m going to do the joints. Got to figure it all out before I start chopping the wood."

"You know what, you ought to get a picture of that arm he just had."

"They really don’t look like an arm yet."

"No, but… what she’s showing, people don’t realize how much work was put into this."

"Well, rather than just having straight sticks, you know, for arms, like a scarecrow."

"Big Woody has golf balls in his arms, all his joints."

"Well, for the ball joints, I used golf balls attached to a doweling."

"And this one here, he made himself and put it in there, I don’t know how he did it, but…

"It’s something he enjoys immensely, and it’s got to be exactly right, or he redoes it."

Humans of Downey - Andy and Betty (1/2)

"Actually, how this started, he was sitting in the house reading and I thought too much, and I said, 'You have to move.' So I said, 'You know what, can you make a little Woody out of some more of…' This one here, this guy here, he came off the woodpile."

"Well, actually, I made this one before I made the other one. And I didn’t like this one, so I made another one. And I’ve redone this one a little bit to make him configure more to a small child rather than a man."

"So anyhow, I asked him if he would make a little Woody. And then he goes right out into the garage and pretty soon I see him chopping away at the wood and this is what has come out."

"Well, first I had to figure out what I was going to do. [Much laughter.] How I was going to make all his joints and which way they’re gonna move and..."

"He does everything exactly right. This is one of his drawings of the hand and so forth."

"Yeah, well, that and that… [flips through many pages of detailed sketches] and that…To begin with, you know, I just set out the dimensions and everything. So how I’m going to make the arms and the hands and the feet and the legs and all of that. I use the dimensions of generally my size and I scale it down or up according to what kind of person I want to make. You know, the relationship between the size of the head and the arms and the waist to the chin, and to the length of the legs and all that. I’ll keep everything in proportion. Try to, anyway."

"That, that’s what’s really hard!"

The season of light

It is not quite December, but the glow of Christmas lights has begun to show on houses in the neighborhood.

Some of my favorite memories of Christmastime are evenings wandering past homes made magical, covered in lights, dispelling the darkness.



“In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary.”
~ Aaron Rose

I love my DPD

In the wake of last month's murder of Downey Police Officer Ricky Galvez, the community has come together to show their support for the police in big ways and small.

One of the ways is with blue lights. Whether it's as simple as switching out the porch light bulb for a blue light, stringing blue lights in the shape of hearts, or the full-size display above, Downey residents say "I love my Downey police department."

Leftovers

Leftovers for Thanksgiving are one of the best parts of the day. I couldn't believe how much food we had this year. We are a group who likes food and likes to share the work. So, we do Thanksgiving potluck.

It was an incredible day. Every dish was amazing! Of course, we had the typical turkey and ham, but then there was the green bean casserole, mac & cheese, butternut squash, mashed potatoes & gravy, stuffing, sweet potatoes, creamed corn, scalloped potatoes, Waldorf salad, and a kale salad. And that doesn't even talk about the extras.

I read on a Thanksgiving website that the first Thanksgiving was a three-day harvest feast held by the founders of the Plymouth Colony in 1621. We clearly had enough food for a three-day feast. Maybe that is a new tradition we need to start.