The Half Century Mark Hotel at Sixty North

An Imaginary Space about Becoming Real

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  • Wondermints

    Wondermints

    Wondermint

    Now and again on Wednesdays, The Half Century Mark Hotel will offer a trio of stories about art and artists that we feel are worthy of your consideration. We call these delights Wondermints. Please savor them slowly and share with your traveling companions. Watch this video by filmmaker Miranda July called “A Handy Tip for the Easily Distracted.”  Thank you to the talented Jen Lee for the share. It’s helpful, quirky and hilarious; perfect Hotel employee-handbook material. We don’t yet have a manual for our guests. Half-Century Marker Kate Bush will return to the stage this August. She’s been described as a white witch, a recluse, a “Pre-Raphaelite nymph,” a pioneering female solo artist, and a musical genius, all within the same article. Whatever you call her, know that Ms. Bush’s London show, all 22 performances, sold out in just 15 minutes. Not bad for a 55-year-old artist who hasn’t had a solo stage performance in 35 years.

    Do you know the writer Colum McCann? You should. Not sure why it’s taken the Hotel staff so long to discover his writing. Someone said his novel 2009 National Book Award novel Let the Great World Spin is about a tightrope walker. That’s like saying The Half Century Mark is about a hotel. Add his novels to your stack; they are magic.

    This may be one of the seasons we are so smitten with Mr. McCann’s writing: “The art form that most inspires my fiction is photography. I love looking at photographs. I feel that in some ways my job is to become a photographer with words, or to paint with words.“  –Colum McCann, on writing. 

    Wondermint

     

  • Dear Diary: About the Tulips

    Dear Diary: About the Tulips

    Sometimes Hotel guests leave their diaries open. Although privacy is sacred at this stage of life, the management believes that the best way to navigate your stay at the Half Century Mark and Beyond (our sister property) is to share our truths. It is in this spirit that we offer the following. 

    Dear Diary,

    For the month of February I’ve been taking a wonderful class with photographer Catherine Just. Catherine’s classes have a way of working on my insides as well my skills. Toward the end of the workshop, I stumbled upon the idea of a Self as Flower project. So I started sketching.

    Here’s me as Prickly Blue

    Prickly Blues

    Dancing Bud

    buds

    All then came Tulip Me.  And everything changed.

    Tulip Me

    To me the other photos, with some edits, had some measure of lovely in them as in lovely creepy but the human side of Tulip Me offered little lovely. Even its title felt flat. I came to the realization that my tulip days were over.

    To be a tulip requires softness, movement and a young or partially obscured neck. What to do dear diary?

    Although I began to get quite depressed, I reached for my iPad and quickly applied filtering layers like warm compresses to my soul and voila..to quote a dear photography teacher / friend of mine, “I am a tulip, damn it.”

    photo (3)The tulips have been placed in the freezer and asked to join me in the aging process. Should they cooperate in an interesting manner, we may try our diptych again. I will report back on their response.

    ps Diary. Remind me to tell people about Catherine’s classes @ www.catherinejust.com. They are so wonderful and she does not require you to become a tulip. Should you attempt it however, she is there for you. Remind also to tell you about the abstracts I created during her class. They are definitely Hotel lobby material.

  • The Net

    The Net

    “Two things make a story. The net and the air that falls through the net.” — Pablo Neruda

    Dear Friends,

    The Caretaker is on a busman’s holiday, checking in on earthly properties while searching for adventure and inspiration by the sea. The flora and fauna are cooperating:

    snowy egret

    seed head

    But it’s the people and their stories that inspire the Caretaker the most, including her own.

    wings

    Will return to earth, soon. With love and wonderment,

    the Caretaker

    ps Still puzzling out Pablo’s words. What do you think he means? In photography, it could refer to the part of the image that you do not record that becomes the story and etched in memory. she swimsIn the photo above, it’s the beautiful young woman and her sturdy partner, who was helping her to swim, that was the real story. To think that sometimes the water feels too cold for some guests, Caretaker included.

    As always the Hotel hopes to honor, not invade, people’s stories with its lens.

  • Miss Pink Faces the Light

    Miss Pink Faces the Light

    Imagephoto by catherine just

    This post is a part of the Summit Blog Tour, which leads up to the Soul*Full Summit hosted by Catherine Just.  You can join the movement by signing up for the Summit HERE. Half of all proceeds will benefit Down Syndrome Education International. I’m honored to be a part of an event that empowers people to take action toward their dreams while helping create more opportunities for people with Down syndrome. 

    Image

    photo by Patricia Christakos

    A Story about Light: This photo by Patricia Christakos, called Miss Pink, is on view in the Hotel’s main lobby. Miss Pink is a fall anemone who, by nature, faces the light and reminds the Photographer to do the same. Sometimes the Photographer forgets, but when she remembers, she feels almost as beautiful as Miss Pink. Ok to say you feel beautiful at times? At the Half Century Mark Hotel all expressions of true sentiment are honored and heard. Heck, if you don’t say it and believe it no one else will.

    Thanks to encouragement from photographers Catherine Just and Clare O’Neill, the Photographer began to submit her work to juried fine art photography exhibitions. She met with some success. Miss Pink wasn’t so fortunate; she met rejections. The Photographer tended to think more about the rejections; the acceptances were deemed flukes. But then she heard Miss Pink whispering in her ear about light and beauty, facing your fears, and flukes are fun and make for fine memories.

    Miss Pink lives above the Concierge’s desk in the lobby of the Half Century Mark. She dispenses her wisdom and light upon request. And the Photographer listens and continues to submit her work.