The Beauty of Different
Tuesday, January 4, 2011 at 8:00AM I mentioned this book in my one-day-late New Year's post. Karen Walrond of Chookooloonks is one of my favorite bloggers and I've been dying to get this book since it came out but, of course, funds have been low so I planned to get it with a Christmas gift card (which I did).
I was trying to describe this book and my thoughts on Karen to my dad on Sunday night and there were two key points I found myself trying to get across:
1 - For her 1,000 faces project, the results are amazing. There has to be something about her that gets these people to relax and shine. When I look at her face portraits, I honestly feel like I know a little bit about that person - what they must be like, what makes them laugh, what they like to eat. I don't know how she pulls off this magic, but my guess is that it's something about her as a person that makes these folks' true selves shine through. This brings me to...
2 - I feel like Karen is the type of person who would make you feel like you've truly exhaled for the first time in years after spending five minutes with her. Ever have that kind of person for a friend? My friend Mike is like that for me. I would conclude another work week and various life activities, drive the 3+ hours to Baltimore, walk into his apartment, and within five minutes I would feel my heart rate slow and the muscles in my face relax as my entire body and being felt truly relaxed for the first time since the last time I was in Baltimore. I think Karen must be like that.
This book brought me to tears several times because it's so compelling and inspiring. (I even started my journal yesterday. It's a meek start, to be sure, but it's a start.) It reminds me of one of my favorite poems, "The Archaic Torso of Apollo" by Rainer Marie Rilke (which I previously wrote about, also during New Year's time):





















