An inspirational talk with relevance to my search for a project sponsor this year. Max Schorr is a Co-Founder and Community Director of the wonderful GOOD magazine.

Blog description from the brilliant Newspaper Project:

"This is the blog where we're alarmingly honest about where it's all going wrong. And occasionally smug about where it's going right."

This poster was designed by Steve Bond and Dean Owens for the purpose of inspiring content for their magazine POST.

It's a view of life summed up by the expression on Steve's wonderful friend Mabel's face, who should contribute her own advice to the project as soon as possible. For me it means that a day in thought is a day owned; thought leads to action; action leads to control, not over anything in particular, but some control over what comes next and that coming from you. Your input is vital: in collaboration, in everyday matters, in relation to others and to yourself.

So I wanted to put it up here as:

1) I have come to realise that it is a credo my friends live by and I'm delighted they let me turn it into an advice poster.

2) Because it is becoming my credo too and am proud to share it with such wonderful people and I hope I can live up to their example.

I just heard about StoryCorps through a wonderful segment on the BBC World Service Outlook programme.

"You bring a loved one to our booth - a parent, a friend or someone you have just met on the bus whose story you want to get to know - and for forty minutes you just talk. Most people ask the big life questions like: "What are the most important lessons you have learnt?", "How do you want to be remembered?" or "What did your grandmother sing to you when you were a child?" Then at the end of 40 minutes two CDs have been burnt, one stays with you and the second goes to us and we put it in the Library of Congress and it becomes part of the oral history of America."

Listening to the piece reminded me of the inspiration for this project. I was talking to my friend Cynthia and she mentioned how she often asked her Grandmother for advice and inpiration; it was something I had never done and immediately regretted. 

I wrote down two phrases from Mathew Bannister's conversation with StoryCorps founder David Isays:

"Forty minutes to transmit wisdom from one generation to the next."

"Turn off your computer and cellphone, look a loved one in the eye and tell them how much they mean to you by listening to them."

There is a wonderful conversation between Seymour and Marcia Gottlieb in the Outlook piece and these three compilations are an introduction to the breadth and emotion of the recordings. The talk below by founder David Isay gives an overview of his career as a Radio Producer and the ideas and passion behind the StoryCorps project (apologies for posting such a long video, but I enjoyed it so much I would feel I was cheating to post anything shorter). 

Finally, if you have the chance, I throughly recommend listening to as much of the World Service as you can.

It may not look like much, but this is pretty rough for Gylly.

And after a night of storms...

The rewards of sitting still and being observed by Dean. 

Coralie Bickford-Smith recently designed a wonderful advice poster, partly inspired by the Orange Juice song 'Rip it up & start again'.

The association feels especially relevant as Edwyn Collins (lead singer of Orange Juice, solo artist and idol of mine) suffered a debilitating stroke in 2005. His remarkable determination to recover - learning to speak, read, write, walk, draw, sing and compose again - is documented in the BBC Scotland documentary Home Again (see part 1 of 4 below).

As Coralie writes:

"It's all about reinvention: that it's flexible; that when it feels like it's going wrong it's ok to start again and when you do things over, although it's a chore, it makes them better. Practice makes perfect...."

'I've loved the project since I first saw it when I enrolled at Falmouth and would love to be a part of it.'

'I remember having one when I first enrolled at Uni, so actually getting to design one would be wonderful.'

'I am a big fan of the project and I would love to get involved.'

'I remember the posters from my freshman year as well and I got a lot of enjoyment out of mine.'

'I remember getting my advice poster when I started 3 years ago and I loved it.'

'I remember getting one in my 1st year and thinking what a great idea it was.'

'No problem, it's a really good idea. I know I appreciated it 3 years ago.'

My good friend Simon came to stay recently and left this customised version of his poster.

Needless to say, I treasure it.