These are my (social) media habits

In our modern age of 24/7 social media and never-ending news cycles – plus our desire to stay ahead of the latest cutting-edge trends in music and pop culture – what does our media habits reveal about us?

With a shout out to The Monocle Minute newsletter for its list of questions it often asks movers and shakers, here’s a few things you might like to know about my media habits ...

What news source do you wake up to?

NPR, home delivery of The New York Times, and the Washington Post online. On Sundays, I also receive home delivery of the Washington Post. 

Coffee, tea or something pressed to go with headlines?

As I am not a tea drinker, I have three different-sized French presses at home at the ready and plenty of Community Coffee brand French Roast. Also, I maintain a supply of Community Coffee instant coffee & chickory, and once a week I treat myself to a Starbucks grande mocha.

Something from the FM dial or Spotify for your tunes?

When I’m driving up and down U.S. Highway 1, between College Park and Washington, D.C., and occasionally elsewhere within the confines of the Beltway, I enjoy – borderline love – listening to classical music via WETA. The more Dvorak the better. Otherwise, when at home, I enjoy listening to the “Morning Becomes Eclectic” show via KCRW, the Santa Monica, Calif.-NPR affiliate. While I’m late to the Spotify phenomenon, I enjoy putting together some simply playlists centered around some of my favorite musicians, such as Paul Simon, Elvis Costello, Wynton Marsalis and Jazz @ Lincoln Center Orchestra, and Pink Martini.

Papers delivered or a trip down to the kiosk?

At home, it’s seven-day delivery of The New York Times and the Sunday Washington Post for me. When I’m traveling, I usually look for the nearest destination that carries The New York Times. There’s something about holding it in my hands every day and reading it wherever I am in the world. However, if that’s not possible, I’ll fall back on looking at the Times, either online or via its app. 

Magazines for your weekend sofa-side stack?

I look forward to perusing my two faves, Monocle and Racquet. The former I stop by one of the Hudson News kiosks at Union Station to purchase my monthly copy, while I subscribe the the latter, which is published quarterly. For years, I used to subscribe to The New Yorker just to make sure I never missed reading Roger Angell’s wonderfully penned baseball tomes. Eventually, I fell behind reading the magazine, week to week, and let my subscription lapse. If I’m going on a vacation trip, I might be tempted to buy a good travel magazine to put me in the right mood.

Are you a subscriber or more of a newsstand browser?

A subscriber although if I’m in a good bookstore, like Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle or Politics and Prose in Washington, D.C., I’ll be tempted to browse a bit just to see what I might be missing out on. As someone who is interested in content and design, occasionally I buy Dwell, which is all about design and technology.

Bookshop for a drizzly Saturday afternoon?

In Seattle, Elliott Bay Book Company on Capitol Hill. In Washington, Politics and Prose on Connecticut Avenue NW. In San Francisco, Book Passage in the Ferry Plaza Building. All of them are independent booksellers. Sorry, no Barnes & Noble for me.

Sofa or cinema for the evening?

A little of both, although much of my cinema going takes place on Sunday mornings, as my wife and I belong to a cinema club in Washington, D.C. Otherwise, I spend a lot of time looking for hidden gems to view via Netflix or watch tennis on Tennis Channel because my job as a contributing editor for an English language tennis website based near Munich, Germany, requires me.

What’s the best thing you’ve watched recently on TV and why?

Two shows, actually. First, Good Karma Hospital, a British dramedy about a disillusioned doctor who heads to South India for a fresh start. It’s available via Acorn. Second, Kim’s Convenience, which is available on Netflix, is a Canadian sitcom about a Korean Canadian family who run a convenience store in the Moss Park neighborhood of Toronto. Each includes people of color in starring roles and the stories are believable.

Sunday brunch routine?

It starts with bringing in the Sunday newspapers from the front porch, turning on the radio to “Weekend Edition Sunday” and fixing coffee for myself. Brunch at home usually consists of a parfait of vanilla yogurt accented with maple pecan granola, a small glass of orange juice and a bagel with cream cheese or, possibly, coffee cake made by my wife. 

Last media of the day?

Usually before lights out, I make one final, brief pass through my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Sometimes, it’s valuable if there’s a late-break story worth reading or a sports score I’m searching for. Also, I’ll check to see if any of my family or friends has tried to text me or shoot me an e-mail. Then, it’s lights out by 11.

Illustration: Courtesy of Google images.

Renegade Craft Fair: A celebration of all things handmade

Renegade Craft Fair / This annual event has become one of my favorite
San Francisco things to do.

The Renegade Craft Fair at San Francisco's Fort Mason is a celebration of all things handmade in a variety of media. Last weekend's annual Renegade event provided hundreds of artists and craft makers a chance to escape their studios and step into a relaxed, festive and lively atmosphere.

Since its debut in 2003, the Renegade Craft Fair has showcased the best and brightest in Etsy indie craft and design, and it's become a major player in a booming DIY (Do It Yourself) craft movement in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Each year, the Renegade Craft Fair visits seven U.S. cities (Austin, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, San Francisco and Seattle) plus London. The San Francisco summer happening comes in mid-to-late July. I've been a Renegade Craft Fair goer for the past five summers, and it's become one of my favorite San Francisco things to do.

BambuEarth / Natural, sustainable, ethical, vegan, local
handmade soap.

From new and traditional to modern and innovative, there's always a diversity of art and style at the Renegade Craft Fair and this year was no different from the past. For me, I find it truly interesting to see what's new and hip in the areas of art, clothing, jewelry, photography, quilts, toys and other knick-knacks -- and to be able to meet and mingle with the artists behind these creations.

On Sunday, my wife and I were among thousands gathered inside both the Herbst Pavilion and the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason to see over 450 modern makers of art.

There were arts and crafts enthusiasts, a poetry store, media scouts and taste makers -- even savvy shoppers stocking up early on unique, artist-created gifts for the end of the year holidays.

Of the 2015 Renegade San Francisco craft makers, one in particular garnered my interest and attention: Jordan Graves, a young, twenty-something artist from Savannah, Ga., whose Repeat Offfender -- yes with 3 f's in Offfender -- whose multi-disciplinary approach to art "generates patterns with digital artifacts for surface design, jewelry, and motion graphics."

According to her website, the multidisciplinary work of Repeat Offfender grew out of Graves' work towards a B.F.A. degree in Motion Media Design at the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Sprouted Spirals / 3D printed jewelry by Jordan Graves.

Graves greeted my wife and I with a cute and polite smile as we perused her creative and colorful stud earrings -- she calls them "Sprouted Spirals."

They came in a variety of cool colors, including: white, black, red, blue, pink, purple, orange and yellow.

We were excited and so was Graves.

I asked what inspired her art and without any hesitation, Graves answered my question with interest and enthusiasm by saying it was her interest in textile design combined with a passion for digital roots -- you know, mathematics. Thus, Graves' combination of interests morphed into her unique creation of 3D printed jewelry.

Perusing Graves' website for Repeat Offfender is not only enjoyable, it's also about taking a deeper look into how she bridges her motion graphics background into her work and to see what is influencing her new collections. It's all about happy bright colors.

Photographs: BambuEarth by Michael Dickens ©2015; Repeat Offfender booth and Sprouted Spirals courtesy of RepeatOfffender.com. 

Studying our dining habits through a photographer's lens

Dinner in New York, 2014 / A mother and her baby daughter share dinner together in their
Upper West Side home while visiting via Skype with grandmother in Boston.

Eating dinner today involves a lot of multitasking and, increasingly, a lot of media consumption. It didn't always used to be this way.

Once upon a time, the family dinner was a chance for parents and kids to enjoy socializing with each other on any number of topics from school activities to presidential politics. Not so much anymore as dining has shifted from a primary to a secondary activity in our short-attention span-but-hurried lives. Now, it's not uncommon in many dining rooms for a TV set to be on that's airing a favorite program or, maybe, the stereo is playing ambient mood music -- even a radio might be tuned into a baseball game. Of course, for some, TV sets and radios are so old school when an iPad or iPhone are much more portable.

"The spread of the Internet, computers and cellphones in recent years has given people many methods of communication, and dinner has lost its original essence," says New York-based photojournalist Miho Aikawa, who more than four years ago decided to explore the subject of modern dinner by photographing people eating in New York City, focusing primarily on "private dinner moments."

"The changes in society, as well as the people who form them, have led to a shift in how we spend our dinner time," adds Aikawa, who has also studied people eating in Tokyo, too.

I came across Aikawa's excellent series of photographs entitled "Dinner in NY," via a recent feature about her work in Slate.com while (what else?) eating -- lunch not dinner -- and, it got me thinking about how multitasking and media consumption affect how I dine.

Let's see, eating breakfast offers me a chance to listen to NPR's "Morning Edition" on the radio while reading the print edition of The New York Times. At lunch, I alternate between glancing at my news feed on Facebook or perusing The San Francisco Chronicle e-edition on my MacBook Pro. As for dinner, well ... I'm guilty as charged about having the TV set on to watch a sporting event on ESPN or, maybe, "Chopped" on the Food Network, while I nosh on homemade pizza served with a butter lettuce salad, a bowl of fresh-cut Tomatero strawberries and a glass of Kermit Lynch French red wine.

Mind you, my wife and I still use our dinner time to enjoy stimulating conversation about a wide range of topics that include: sports, literature, food, music, travel and gardening. We like to keep it light. Nothing too heavy, although sometimes we might watch The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC whilst we dine. The other night, for something entirely different, we viewed an episode of Jerry's Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee that featured Jon Stewart online with our laptop occupying the corner of the dining room table. Seinfeld's online comedy show was welcome company at our dinner table.

"Initially, I had hoped to use this project as a means to provide inspiration and a chance to reflect on the reality and the potential of what dinner is, and can be," Aikawa wrote on her Facebook page. "Of course, there can be many different types of dinner, and the project is not about changing any one's dinner habits. I don't think having dinner with a cell phone, or laptop is bad or wrong. One of my subjects was talking with her grandmother via Skype during her dinner, and it can enhance the pleasure of the table."

Note: Aikwa's series, "Dinner in NY" is on display in this year's edition of The Fence at Brooklyn Bridge Park through October.

Photo  © 2014 by Miho Aikawa Photography.

Renegade Craft Fair: Out of the studio and into the spotlight

Handmade petite paper flowers by Blooms in the Air artist Ji Kim
were on display at the Renegade Craft Fair in San Francisco.

The Renegade Craft Fair, which came to San Francisco's Fort Mason last weekend, brought out hundreds of artists and craft makers from their studios and into the spotlight to celebrate all things handmade in a variety of media.

Since its debut in 2003, the Renegade Craft Fair has showcased the best and brightest in Etsy indie craft and design, and it's become a major player in a booming DIY (Do It Yourself) craft movement in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Each year, the Renegade Craft Fair visits five U.S. cities (Austin, Brooklyn, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco) plus London. Here, and in other cities, Renegade Craft Fair events are held in both summer and winter months. The San Francisco summer happening comes in late July while the winter event occurs in early December, just in time for the Christmas holidays. I've been a Renegade Craft Fair goer for the past three summers, and it's become one of my favorite San Francisco things to do.

From new and traditional to modern and innovative, there's always a diversity of art and style at the Renegade Craft Fair. It's interesting to see what's new and hip in the areas of art, clothing, jewelry, photography, quilts, toys and other knick-knacks -- and to be able to meet and mingle with the artists behind these creations.

On Sunday, thousands gathered inside the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason to see over 250 modern makers of art. There were arts and crafts enthusiasts, bloggers, media scouts and taste makers -- even savvy shoppers stocking up early on unique, artist-created gifts for the end of the year holidays.

Among the hundreds of handmade goods I perused at this year's San Francisco Renegade Craft Fair were:

• fresh butter crunch treats from p.o.p. candy;
• neat things for the house from the recoverie; 
• handmade greeting cards "sure to make 'em laugh" from Julie Ann Art; 
• handcrafted leather goods and jewelry focusing on creating beautiful, functional and timeless accessories from btwn wind & water; 
• handmade jams and pickles from lemon bird; 
• completely conscious clothing created with sustainable materials from field day; 
• beautiful, functional things for the curated home from Nell & Mary.  

Of the 2013 Renegade San Francisco craft makers, two garnered my attention for different reasons:

Mass transit made art by LinePosters.

First, LinePosters, a popular Brooklyn, N.Y.-based poster and apparel group co-founded by Cayla Ferari and John Brezicky, whose moniker "mass transit made art" drew me in because of my interest in mass transit and city maps.

LinePosters creates posters, letterpress cards and t-shirts of "highly stylized mass transit maps from iconic cities around the globe." Among them, transit maps of Chicago, New York, San Francisco, London and Paris caught my eye. (Earlier this month, I rode the Chicago "L" trains; I regularly ride BART to go back-and-forth between Oakland and San Francisco; and I love the London Underground and Paris Metro!)

As I bought four LinePosters letterpress cards (London, New York, Paris and San Francisco), I briefly chatted with one of the co-founders, Cayla Ferari, to learn more about what inspired her to turn mass transit maps into art. Then, I took the time to congratulate Cayla on what I thought was a truly original idea. In turn, she shared with me about how Oakland reminded her of Brooklyn, because both shared an up-and-coming art, food and culture scene despite often being over-shadowed by their bigger, neighboring cities of Manhattan and San Francisco.

Second, Blooms in the Air (aka BITA) is a petite and whimsical handmade paper flower shop created by a young and free-spirited southern Californian artist, Ji Kim. In visiting Ji's booth, it was evident that her flowers not only are pretty; they are always in season and in style, too.

On her website, Ji describes her art of paper flowers and what inspires her to create them. "The shop came to life when a desire to create something beautiful using my own two hands grew too big to ignore," says Ji. "BITA believes in the simple, honest joy that flowers give and hope that the inspired arrangements will leave you and your loved ones smiling."

In talking with Ji, I learned how she blends her creative talents with her attention to detail that enables her to create simple, well-crafted floral keepsakes. It explains why she describes herself as an archi-designer, an architect and designer who is a creative type, too. Although I did not buy any paper flowers on this day, I gained an appreciation for why Ji loves her art and enjoys talking to those interested in learning more about the beauty and joy of her art making.

Photo of Blooms in the Air by Michael Dickens, copyright 2013.
Photo of San Francisco mass transit made art courtesy of LinePosters.com.