Manny Kagan

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.

Enjoy and Share!

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.

Enjoy and Share!

Cheers,

How Many New Years?

According to tradition, the Jewish calendar has dates for four new years.

The first one, the Head of the Year, Rosh Hashanah, was celebrated last year, on September 6^th to 8^th.

The New Year for Trees – Tu BiShvat, is often called the Jewish Earth Day. What began as a day to mark the age of fruit trees for tithing purposes, has become a day devoted to honoring trees. The most common way to celebrate is by planting new trees.

The third one is the New Year for Animals and the fourth is the New Year of Kings.

The reason I write about this now, is because this year, Tu BiShvat was celebrated from January 16^th to January 17^th. I did not plant any trees this year; however, I photographed many of them. The three images show my interpretation of the trees’ branches.

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Cheers,

How Young Are You?

Yesterday on January 13^th, I turned 75 years young. Being old or young are just words and regardless of what is your age, you can decide what the number of years you live in the world mean to you. In Ram Dass’s book, “Polishing the Mirror” I read about an Indian tradition, according to which, life is divided into periods. Until you are twenty, it is time to learn. From twenty to forty is the time to raise the family. From forty to sixty is the time to study wisdom. And then it is time to leave the material world and one’s family to become a holy man. I follow a different tradition.

Until five years ago, when I turned seventy, I was preparing myself for the creative state of my life. For the next fifty years when I am going to be 120, my plan is to enrich other people’s life by sharing my God given gifts, either through finding mortgage solutions, writing poems and stories, publishing books and creating photo-art. My latest photo-poetry book is “42 Encounters with Love”, is going to be available at the end of January. Please pre-order it here.

Stay tuned and meanwhile enjoy the three images of flowers.

Enjoy and Share!