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January 10, 2008
One of my Christmas presents from Paul was the 2007 Print Design Annual. I’ve tried to read it about 6 times since Christmas and today finally sat still long enough to read an interview between Steven Heller and Jim Coudal (who lives and works in Chicago).
Let me back up by saying that I used to subscribe faithfully to Print. But I quit because it became apparent to me that it was the antithesis of my existence. The work profiled in this publication is generally dark and disturbing. The studios are stark, cold and usually in urban warehouses— lofty ice houses with cool hearts.
Anyway, I read this article and my interest was piqued by the entrepreneurial spirit of Coudal and particularly the comments about his short film, Copy Goes Here. So, I watched it…I guess the take-away lesson is that copywriters educate designers to the point of not being needed which is NOT true, but the film is certainly entertaining for those who write copy and design the paper to go with it. Ironically, the entire film takes place in Coudal’s stark, urban warehouse office!!
On another note, my dear friend Natalie left me a message yesterday that I would probably really enjoy a message by Chuck Swindoll that aired on WMBI. I missed the radio broadcast, but downloaded the podcast directly from the Insights for Living website. She was right! It was the best sermon I’ve ever heard about raising a child with a disability. It’s a two part message entitled, When God’s Gift Comes Specially Wrapped. In the second sermon he references a book which I’m going to track down called, Unexpected Gift by Michelle Schrader. The “gift” theme is particularly interesting to me because of my very first encounter with our Nathan early one morning during pregnancy. His name was like a loud thought that woke me up. We had not considered “Nathan” for his name, but when I went down stairs that morning around 4am to look it up and the name book opened right to “Nathan” which means God’s gift….well our world as we knew it began to change…for the better. I’ve come a long way emotionally since writing Changed by a Gift but perhaps someone out there who has just been informed of their child’s shocking diagnosis can benefit from my first emotions. Today I am deeply aware of Nathan’s priceless worth but that was not the case on January 11, 2006 when the first part of the above story poured out. Initially Down syndrome rocked my world. Today it’s just not a big deal anymore because an adorable, sparkly, cuddly little boy with a sense of humor has emerged. Nathan ZAPS our lives with his zest for everything!