Author: Manny Kagan

Fridays with Manny

  

Lessons From History

It takes me about twelve minutes to drive to my office. However, since I take Max to his dog walker three times a week, my journey extends to about forty-five minutes. I look forward to this extra time, since it allows me to continue my ongoing education. Almost forty years ago, I developed a habit of listening to audio tapes while driving. Originally, they were motivational programs, however, after I discovered “The Great Courses”, my listening became educational. 

Over the years, I learned a great deal about many subjects. The latest was a course taught by Professor J. Rufus Fears titled, “Books That Have Made History: Books That Can Change Your Life”. The course provides a synopsis of thirty-two books written by many great authors like, Plato’s “Republic” and George Orwell’s “1984”.

There were many lessons conveyed by each book. One of the authors was Sir Winston Churchill, who won a Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953. I can relate to his famous proclamation, “Never, Never, Never Give Up”. Some people like to read historical books, while others prefer to dress up in historical clothing, like these women I encountered in Golden Gate Park, who are members of the “Greater Bay Area Costume Guild”.

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Fridays With Manny

  

What Is Your Favorite Color?

As a photographer, I’m always looking for the ways to improve my craft. This is why I bought the book, “The Color Bible. The Definitive Guide for Artists and Designers” written by Laura Perryman.  

In the book, there is a quote from Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe: “Colors and Light… stand in most intimate relation to each other”.

Color theory, or our understanding about color, began with Aristotle. Through the years, many researchers developed the color wheel, which is divided into 12 colors that correlate with each other. And each of us has an individual relationship and reaction to a specific color. I was not surprised about the description of my color in the book – “calm, divine, meditative. Deeply connected with the natural world, blue is easy on the eye and mind… darker shades are perceived as reliable and trustworthy.”

“My blue” tone is the same as the color of the blue birds you can see here. Do you know your color? You can learn about it in the book or online. 

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www.encounterspublishing.com

Fridays with Manny

  

Unite All, Save The Earth

During the Bay to Breakers, which I wrote about last week, I encountered a man who was carrying a large structure on his shoulders, with very special messages. When I asked him about why he was carrying such a heavy load, he told me that he is on crusade to save the Earth.

When I checked the websites climatehealer.org and worldguardians.org, on the latter one, I read that “Our vision is to protect the Planet from catastrophic CLIMATE CHANGE!” If you care about our environment, I encourage you to read some of the information on both sites and view the short clip from Stanford University’s Department of Environmental Science. You do not have to become a vegan; however, cutting down on eating meat might help your health, according to the Mayo Clinic. I stopped eating meat forty-six years ago.

Fridays with Manny

  

To Run, Or Not To Run?

For me, the question was answered several years ago. After the wear and tear in both of my knees, my running days are over. Nevertheless, in 2017, I participated in the Bay to Breakers race, for the first time. My intention was just to photograph the participants. In spite of the pain in my knee, I decided to follow the crowd for a few blocks. Four hours later, I somehow ended up at the end of a roughly 7.5-mile track, together with many other walkers. It was an amazing experience and I captured hundreds of images. 

This year, on Sunday, May 15th, the footrace event returned to San Francisco for the 108th time, after a break due to the Covid 19 pandemic. 14,000 runners and thousands of walkers; many of whom were dressed up, and some who left their clothes at home. 

In the article about the event, which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle on May 16th, I found out that during the last two years, the event was held virtually. Since I could not take virtual photos, I had to wait. These three images are from the 2019 Bay to Breakers.

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www.encounterspublishing.com

Fridays With Manny

  

Rules for the Dance

The title of this week’s essay is misleading, since it is also the title of the book written by well-known writer-poet, Mary Oliver. The subtitle is “A Handbook for Writing and Reading Metrical Verse”. As someone who writes poems, I read writings of other poets as well. This time, the title prompted me to share with you one of the poems from my new photo-poetry book, “42 Encounters with Love” (order it here).

Keep Dancing

Since my teenage years,

I have always loved to dance.

I still remember my first steps.

She was twelve; I was thirteen.

We danced cheek to cheek.

I asked her for the next dance, too,

but she had chosen another boy.

Years passed, and then, when I was nineteen,

I met a new dance partner with whom I fell in love.

And now fifty-five years later,

Elfa and I are still dancing cheek to cheek.

Dancing can be manifested in various ways. Even while encountering flowers from a fried egg bush (matilija poppy) that looked like it was dancing.

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www.encounterspublishing.com