GARAGE ART

Sometimes you can find art in places unexpected made by everyday life and time....

WHEN THE PLANT CLOSES

Great Falls had everything at one time. Deep history, the Catawba River, a thriving economy and the prosperity that comes with big companies. Duke energy started there, but the business driver was the Republic Cotton Mill. The Mill closed in 2006 and with it the greatness of this place faded. The population dropped from 3,995 to 1,925.

Great Fall like so many factory towns where the plant closes seems frozen in time. People still live in factory town homes and seem not to venture out much. Maybe not wanting to see the remains of what was. The roses have all gone from this place. A tale too often told in the country now. You see the glimmer of hope here and there. The new light industry on the outskirts of town, a few new places to eat and fledgling retail. Great Falls though has not reclaimed its heart. A heart that wants to beat again…

David Young

BUSINESS PARKS

Business Parks are lonely places where work is forced out during the week. They are away from the city, a world unto themselves leaving little room for the mind to wander anyplace but the business of profit.

On weekends they take on an eerie quiet. An enigmatic blend of aloneness and peace. The empty company event tent, the left over tools of business and the wandering person reflecting on all of it.

Door to Golden Rule Room

THE LONG TAIL OF PURPOSE

The need for purpose can haunt you and follow you into retirement. Even after a great career, raising you kids, having grandchildren and many accomplishments, there still can be a need to have some type of purpose in retirement.

Much is written about this subject and how to find missing purpose. Hobbies, family and volunteering help for a time. However, it never seems quite enough. We lived such an A to B life before retirement.

How do we find that purpose again, or should we at all? Most articles will urge you to strive for it. However, there is another way. It is to look beyond the need for the type of purpose we knew in the past. 

At some point, you start to realize that the driving need for purpose limits your enjoyment of the wonderful gift of free time that retirement gives us. A time when you can explore the full range of senses of what it means to enjoy life and be alive. The fresh fall breeze, the sounds of the city and nature, the taste and smell of a well prepared meal, the warmth of friends and family. When you put traditional purpose in the rear view mirror, you find yourself more in tune with the world.

All these things have little to do with purpose as we knew it. They will, though, make you a better person. One who moves through life more gently. You become a more positive force in the world. You may also find that you will recognize small and simple things you can do to help others along the way. I am not sure there is any greater purpose than that.

David Young

www.studiofour.com

ORDINARY THINGS

Ordinary Things

They are all around us, becoming the tapestry and canvas for our lives. Light plays with them, forming an origami of moods for us. We overlook and ignore them, but they wait patiently for our return home each day…

David Young

Studio Four Magazine www.studiofour.com

ORDINARY THINGS from David Young on Vimeo.

CORNERS

“Your Days will go the way of Corners” …. Winston Churchill

There are corners in all our lives. Some just a place to pause and reflect, some full of drama, some that lead to bad ways or new starts. 

Some are well worn taken many times. Still we never know exactly what is around each corner, but still make the turn. Carrying with us the slight fear of the unknown and the imagined hope of something or someone new. 

David Young

studiofour.com