Image of the Day

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Robert Mapplethorpe: Iris, 1982 via mapplethorpe.org. Robert Mapplethorpe was born on November 4th, 1946 in Floral Park, Queens.

Happy Independence Day

. Robert Mapplethorpe

Peter Beard

Lee Friedlander

Joel Meyerowitz

Diane Arbus

Fort McHenry flag that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner"

William Klein

Kate Moss by Craig McDean

Robert Frank

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Cape Cod, 1947: "This woman explained to me that the flagpole over her door was broken, but 'on such a day as this, one keeps one’s flag on one’s heart.'"

We are Pinocchio over and over again

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Patti Smith. Photography Robert Mapplethorpe

Patti Smith was back in her (and our) old neighborhood in Brooklyn the other day, giving a commencement address to the graduating class at Pratt. It's not "I have a dream" or "Ask not" or even "Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine" – but because I'm pretty much a fan of everything Patti Smith does or says, and on some level find her very existence inspiring, here it is in full:

Well, I've been thinking of you all for the past few weeks. I've been thinking about what I'd like to talk about: Moby Dick, the slaves of Michelangelo, Hans Hoffman, My Bloody Valentine...but now that I'm here, my greatest urge is speak to you of dental care. My generation had a rough go, dentally. Our dentists were the army dentists who came back from World War II, and believed that the dental office was a battleground. You have a better chance at dental health, and I say this because you want at night to be pacing the floor because your muse is burning inside of you, because you want to do your work, because you want to finish that canvas, because you want to make that design, because you want to help your fellow man. You don't want to be pacing because you need a damn root canal.

Inspiration, Imagination, Discipline

. "...or go to the ocean. And drink coffee."

Last night my mom, Emily and I went to see Patti Smith play a few songs and read from her new memoir Just Kids. It was great, the most inspiring thing I have witnessed for a long time. I'm too swamped to write much about it right now but just wanted to mention it, and to post a link to a very good recent interview with her on Fresh Air.

Photo by Angelo Cricchi from pattismith.net