Author: Manny Kagan

Cheers,

When Negative is Positive

A son comes home and tells his Dad, “I think I flunked the test”. “Son, you cannot be negative”, father responded. “OK, Dad, I am positive that I flunked the test.” Of course this is a joke. We live in a time when sometimes negative and positive can be confusing. Recently, after getting three vaccines (including a booster shot), I started to feel under the weather — I had a runny nose, sore throat, dry cough; typical cold symptoms (no high temperature). After waiting in my car for two hours to get tested, I found out two days later that I tested positive for Covid. A week later, though I felt almost normal, the home test was still positive. It took another three days before the test result was negative. During all that time I did not stop working from home (but I would get tired in the afternoon). Though we are together all the time, my wife Elfa did not have any negative symptoms.

I heard from other people who after all three shots got cold symptoms and tested positive. Nevertheless, I think the worst is over.

When last Sunday afternoon Max took us for a walk at the Great Highway along the ocean, there were hundreds of people, and only a few were wearing masks, and as you are reading, in most of California masks indoors are not currently mandated. Covid created a lot of new realities, but also unleashed creativity as you can see in these three images. My new photo-poetry book, “42 Encounters with Love” is available here.

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Cheers,

Extraordinary Date

Last week, Wednesday, February second, twenty twenty-two or 2.2.2022 was an extraordinary day. This combination will only happen again in two hundred years (of course with one extra two). You can say, “So what?” After all, you are probably reading this on Friday, February 11^th; interestingly, added up together (1+1), also equals two.

I went online to find the various meanings of number 2. “It can be your angel number. Two is usually related to harmony, balance and cooperation. It is also a symbol of adaptability and consideration, faith and relationships.” Sounds interesting and promising. You can find more interesting information about the number 2 at numerology.com. However this time we have four numbers two. “2222 angel number comes into your life to bring changes in almost all aspects in your life, including love life.”

Now I know why I am writing this. My book “42 Encounters with Love”, is ready. Please order it here. To celebrate this extraordinary day, I got up early and drove to Twin Peaks to greet the sunrise. These three images are my encounters with the birth of a new day.

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Cheers,

Happy Birthday, San Francisco!

On January 30^th, 1847, the name of the settlement Yerba Buena, which was started on June 25^th, 1835, by the first inhabitant, Englishman William Richardson, changed. The process started on July 9^th, 1846, when Captain John Montgomery raised the American Flag on the hill which was later named after his ship – Portsmouth. Even before Mexico relinquished its hold on this area, Americans claimed it. Montgomery appointed one of his lieutenants, Washington A. Bartlett, to be Yerba Buena’s first American alcalde (mayor). One of his first orders of business was to change the name “Yerba Buena” to “San Francisco”. The rest is history. And a very colorful history. The history of the last three years has been quite challenging for the city because of the Coronavirus. Unfortunately the negative writings in the press, contributed to it.

This is why, at the spur of the moment, I decided to produce my next photo-book, “San Franciscans. Looking Forward Through Looking Back”. The text is going to be short essays about the pioneers, people who arrived here in the early days and laid the foundation of what San Francisco is today. If they could overcome challenges, which we even could not dream about, we will too. At that time, women had a limited role in society. Nevertheless one hundred seventy-five years brought a lot of changes. One of them is position of women in our lives.

Therefore, I want to share with you images of three females I encountered in our remarkable city. It will take me 3 months to finish the book. Meanwhile, “42 Encounters with Love” is going to be available next week. Please pre-order here.

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Cheers,

Comedy is a Serious Business

While growing up in Riga, there was a famous actor and clown by the name of Yuri Nikulin. I recently learned that he died twenty-five years ago, at the age of 75. He was a very funny actor in films, as well, whose performances made many people laugh. I translated some of his notes, besides the one in the title.

My favorite occupation is to live.

The loudest are people who demand quiet.

Living takes a lot of time.

Laughter is joy for people.

To make people laugh is a joy for me.

I can especially relate to the last one; which is perhaps why I published “42 Encounters with Laughter”, which you can order here.

These three images are from the book.

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