Aug

Wordplay: Wit and Wisdom in Public Spaces

by Joyce McGreevy on August 16, 2016

A hair salon in Glasgow, Scotland typifies the wit and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Hair-salon puns, like this one in Glasgow, Scotland, are permanent highlights of signage.
© Joyce McGreevy

Reading the Language of Signs Worldwide

Maybe it’s a sign, you think. You mean that literally. It’s Day 1 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and you’re staring at a wall of words that may signify the name of the street. Or a local ordinance. Or the route to Romania.

You know this much: it’s definitely in Cyrillic. Suddenly, you’re back in the pre-literacy of early childhood, experiencing the world as a dense forest of language whose mysteries you’re not yet able to penetrate.

Oh, I see: Signs are an indispensable element of our public spaces.

Showing Obvious Signs

Some signs require no language at all to make their messages clear. Glasgow University uses creative visuals to dish up directions to the student dining hall.

A sign for Glasgow University's student dining hall shows the wit of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

At Glasgow University, wordless signage offers a running commentary.
© Joyce McGreevy

Some wordless signs are obvious. Very, very obvious. At one of Glasgow’s most popular attractions, The Lighthouse, this sign helps get visitors where they, ah, need to go.

A sign at The Lighthouse, Glasgow, Scotland shows how wordless signage complements wordplay signage in public spaces.Image © Joyce McGreevy

This is not the universal symbol for a Scottish jig.
© Joyce McGreevy

Adorable Doors

Other signs are Austen-tacious. Planning to visit the city of Bath, England? Simply trust your own sense and sensibility when choosing a loo.

A sign at the Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England, reflects the wit and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

“She had a lively, playful disposition, which delighted in anything ridiculous.”

A Mr Darcy sign at the Jane Austen Centre, Bath, England, reflects the wit, wisdom, and wordplay of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

“I’d say this qualifies.”
© both images by Joyce McGreevy

Please Do Not Read This Sign

Some signs get right to the point. They are down-to-earth so you won’t end up down-to-earth in the worst possible way. Still, getting close enough to read this warning in Co. Clare, Ireland, could defeat the purpose.

A danger sign in Lahinch, Ireland lends drama to the wit and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

An edgy danger sign high above Lahinch, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

After all, isn’t the whole point of such signs to keep you from getting to this point?

A rollercoaster sign in Iowa reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Pat Hawks

A rollercoaster sign in Iowa generates “Likes” from some, “Yikes!” from others.
“The Point of No Return” by Pat Hawks is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

What’s Your Mirth Sign?

Some shop window signs are all about the jokes. Like the bakery chalkboard that asks, “Pilates? Don’t you mean pie and lattes?” Or the marquee that drily declares “If it’s in stock, we have it!”

Or this deli sign call-to-action: “Ban pre-shredded cheese. Make America grate again!”

Shop window signage in Ireland reflects wordplay, wit, and wisdom. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Truth in advertising . . .
© Joyce McGreevy

Shop window signage for beer in Ireland typifies the wordplay, wit, and wisdom to be found in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

. . . Irish style.
© Joyce McGreevy

Uniquely British Signs

In London, the very quest for precision can lead to confusion. For instance, in the Underground, Way Out doesn’t mean “Exit,” but the path toward the exit.

One day I watched as a small group of people stood around a trash can attempting to decode the label, Residual Waste Only.

“Isn’t all waste, by definition, residual?” inquired one.

“Indeed, but this bin is for waste that’s left over after one has sorted out all the other waste,” clarified another.

“Ah, so it’s truly residual,” averred a third.

“Precisely.”

I can hardly wait to see the dramatization on BBC.

My favorite British signs are often snarky. This one puts a different spin on being calm and “carrying on.”

A sign in London about the Little Book of Calm shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

It’s a hardback life.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs of the Times

Some signs shed light on old sayings. At Senglea Harbor, Malta, benches are labeled with sailors’ proverbs, some in English, some in Maltese.

A sailors' proverb on a bench in Senglea, Malta typifies the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A bench in Malta sums up my affection for the town of Senglea.
© Joyce McGreevy

A view of the Mediterranean Sea is en route to Malta, where signage reflects wordplay, wit and wisdom in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

What, no For Sail sign? En route to Malta.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs to Bookmark

Some literary signs invite us to go by the book. In Dublin, Ireland, well-trodden pavement plaques let you follow in the path of the fictional Leopold Bloom from James Joyce’s Ulysses. Now that’s a footnote.

A pavement sign in Dublin, Ireland commemorating James Joyce's Ulysses reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A street-smart sign in Dublin, Ireland.
© Joyce McGreevy

In Paris, signage, like everything else, becomes art. Fellow OIC Moments blogger Meredith Mullins discovered a creative French take on literature in the Palais Royal gardens.

Artist Michel Goulet has transformed castoff iron chairs into sites for relaxation and versification. Engraved with lines of poetry, the chairs feature ports that let you plug in your earbuds and listen as famous French actors read aloud the complete poem.

In short, why settle for la vie en prose?

A poetry chair created by Michel Goulet for the Palais Royal gardens, Paris, honors Emily Dickinson and shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Meredith Mullins

“How good — to be Alive!/ How infinite — to be.”
© Meredith Mullins

A poetry chair by Michel Goulet at the Palais Royal, Paris honors Guillaume Apollinaire and reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Meredith Mullins

“Let night come on bells end the day/ The days go by me still I stay.”
(Translation, poet Richard Wilbur)
© Meredith Mullins

Good Signs

Some signs inspire us to do good. At the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, a sign for an exhibition by New York-based artist Jim Hodges invites literal and figurative reflection.

A sign at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

In Los Angeles, simple words herald a big idea.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs on the walls of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow offer fresh perspective on vision itself.

A quotation on the wall of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland reflects the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Pissarro’s “Oh, I see” moment, on view in Glasgow.
© Joyce McGreevy

Signs of Life

Finally, some signs are simply for the birds! Protecting a nest egg is second nature to the denizens of Glebe Gardens in Baltimore, Ireland.

A handmade sign on a mailbox in Baltimore, Ireland, shows the wordplay, wit, and wisdom of signage in public spaces. Image © Joyce McGreevy

A mailbox turns birdhouse for a special delivery.
© Joyce McGreevy

So what’s your (favorite) sign? Where have you found wit and wisdom in public spaces?

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 9 Comments

Art of Travel/Wordplay/Worldwide Sites

Jul

First, Dare to Be Wild

by Joyce McGreevy on July 25, 2016

The Art of Gardening to Save the World

A close-up prairie flower in Chicago's Lurie Garden reflects the trend toward wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Up close, a wildflower is a world.
© Joyce McGreevy

Here’s what happens when landscape designers dare to be wild. Lavender hyssop, maroon prairie smoke, blue quamash, and frothy calamint run rampant in all directions. The work of creative problem solvers, wild gardening centers you in the heart of nature.

Native spiderwort flourish in Chicago's Lurie Garden, thanks to wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Native spiderwort and wild grasses grow knee-high in Midwestern fields.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Wild Surprise

Now, look skyward. See the skyscrapers. You’re standing in the center of America’s third largest urban area. Welcome to Chicago, city of wild surprises.

Laurie Garden, Chicago, IL is the work of creative problem solvers who dare to be wild. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Meadows in an ultra-urban setting draw 4 million visitors
annually to Lurie Garden, Chicago.
© Joyce McGreevy

Wild in the City

The urban oasis of Lurie Garden is part of a cultural trend toward New Wave Planting. Inspired by wild gardening, this relaxed style makes plant design less controlled and geometric than conventional gardens.

As Lurie Garden expert Noel Kingsbury wrote in Planting: A New Perspective, “When people say they want some nature, what they usually mean is a particular vision of nature, one that looks nice, fitting in to a distinctly human-centered idea of what nature is or should look like…. The task for the gardener or designer is to create an enhanced nature… one that supports biodiversity and looks just a little bit wild.”

Wild Irish Dreams

Chicago is also where an Irish lawyer dreamed of wild gardens. Says Vivienne DeCourcy, “After 20 years in a Chicago high-rise, I craved the wild West Cork landscapes of my childhood summers.”

Lough Hyne, Co. Cork, Ireland inspires Vivienne DeCourcy, writer-director of DARE TO BE WILD. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Lough Hyne, Ireland’s first marine nature reserve. epitomizes
the beauty of wild nature in West Cork. © Joyce McGreevy

Meanwhile, she wrote 16 screenplays, each reflecting her longing to affirm the wild beauty of our fragile planet.

In 2004, DeCourcy returned to Baltimore—no, not in Maryland, but southwest Ireland, where the place-name originates. It’s an Anglicization of Baile Tí Mhóir, Irish for “town of the big house.”

DeCourcy’s home, nestled into a mountain that sweeps down to the sea, inspired visions of a wild garden that invited the outdoors in.

Vivienne DeCourcy's home in Ireland reflects her love of wild gardening. Image © Vivienne deCourcy

DeCourcy “pictured native plants articulated into the vast landscape of Roaring Water Bay . . .”
© Vivienne DeCourcy

Sunset above Roaring Waters Bay, Ireland, home of creative problem solver and filmmaker Vivienne DeCourcy (DARE TO BE WILD). mage © Vivienne deCourcy

“ . . . And a moated effect around the house that would light up the living room at sunset.”
© Vivienne DeCourcy

Tiny Seed, Big Screen

When DeCourcy finally found the one landscape designer who understood her vision, her dream of wild Irish gardens became a cinematic vision. The extraordinary life of designer Mary Reynolds inspired DeCourcy’s movie Dare to be Wild.

Irish landscape designer Mary Reynolds advocates for wild gardening . Image © Dara Craul/ Mary Reynolds

Self-described “reformed landscape designer” Mary Reynolds
urges gardeners to work with nature, not control it.
© Dara Craul/ Mary Reynolds

By the time production wrapped a decade later, it had involved several Academy Award winners: producer Sarah Johnson (Birdman), costume designer Consolata Boyle, and musicians Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Once). Acclaimed Irish musician Colm Mac Con Iomaire composed the score.

Tom Hughes and Emma Greenwell star in Dare to Be Wild, a film written and directed by creative problem solver Vivienne deCourcy. Image © Vivienne deCourcy

Emma Greenwell and Tom Hughes portray Mary Reynolds and Christy Collard
in the upcoming independent film Dare to Be Wild.
Both images © Vivienne deCourcy

A love story based on true events, Dare to be Wild has more twists than a corkscrew hazel tree. Ranging from the green hills of Ireland to the arid mountains of Ethiopia, it centers around London’s famed Chelsea Flower Show.

The Olympics of Gardening

This isn’t just any garden show, but the Olympics of gardening. In 2002, Reynolds, unknown and unemployed, became the youngest person in history to win Chelsea’s coveted Gold Medal for garden design. Among the finalists Reynolds bested for the prize was HRH Prince Charles.

Reynold’s “Celtic Sanctuary” featured hundreds of wild plant species, a traditional drystone wall, monumental stone chairs, and a fire bowl–all of it transported to England and built in three weeks.

A Celtic Sanctuary scene from DARE TO BE WILD reflects the film's focus on wild gardening. Image © Vivienne DeCourcy

Recreated for the film Dare to Be Wild, Reynold’s “Celtic Sanctuary”
shook up design circles with its iconoclastic style.
© Vivienne DeCourcy

Now Reynolds and DeCourcy are on a mission to protect the planet. Reynolds has authored The Garden Awakening: Designs to Nurture Our Land and Ourselves. The wild gardening book became an overnight bestseller in the UK and, with advance screenings of Dare to Be Wild, was rapturously received in Japan.

Fans of Reynolds’ book include Jane Goodall—yes, that Jane Goodall:

Wild Buzz

Meanwhile, DeCourcy is generating buzz. As a passionate advocate for the bees that nurture wildflowers and food plants, she wants people to rethink the conventional culture of gardening.

Irish filmmaker and writer Vivienne deCourcy is a creative problem solver with a love of wild gardening. Image © Vivienne deCourcy/ Dr. Michael Sheehan

“We need to throw a lifeline to the wilderness,” says DeCourcy,
echoing a line from her screenplay.
© Vivienne DeCourcy/ Dr. Michael Sheehan

“Only by experiencing the wonder of wild nature locally can we appreciate what’s at stake and be moved to protect wild nature globally.”

One way to do this, she says, is to replace conventional lawns with clover.

“The typical lawn is a matte green desert that guzzles chemicals. It cannot support a single bee—a creature responsible for one in every three bites of food we take.”

But a clover lawn is a habitat, where nature’s balance can thrive. “It supports a myriad of pollinators, only needs mowing once a year, and, being chemical-free, presents no toxic downside.”

The grounds of Lismore Castle, Ireland showcase the beauty of wild gardening. Image © Joyce McGreevy

At Lismore Castle, Ireland, one of DeCourcy’s favorite gardens,
wildness receives a royal welcome.
© Joyce McGreevy

A Wild Idea

Suddenly, a smile lights DeCourcy’s face. “Imagine your clover lawn, then a hundred of them, and then thousands, and you can see how easily we could create a sanctuary for our friends the bees.”

“Oh, I see”: The seed of a wild idea can grow into gardens around the world.

DeCourcy and Reynold’s wild ideas took root in Ireland, spread to Ethiopia, and flourished in England and Japan. Now they inspire gardeners everywhere. That’s what happens when creative problem solvers dare to be wild.

See the trailer for Dare to Be Wild here. Follow it here.

Meet Reynolds here and discover her gardens here.

Explore Chicago’s Lurie Garden here.

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 1 Comment

Ireland/Nature Discovery/The World's Art & Design/USA

Jul

Decluttering to Become a Digital Nomad

by Joyce McGreevy on July 5, 2016

A living room filled with banker boxes in the midst of decluttering by an owner who is becoming a digital nomad. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Minimalism and the Art of Travel

It was my travel posters that made me hesitate. For years, I’d decluttered my condo with the passion of Michelangelo releasing sculpture from stone. Then last year, decluttering took on new purpose: I wanted to become a digital nomad.

But those posters anchored me. So I took a break from filling bankers boxes to contemplate the art of travel.

Toddler at Large

Joyce McGreevy, who is now decluttering to become a digital nomad, with Wallace McGreevy on a TWA flight in 1958. Image @ McGreevy Family collection.

I’ve been a happy wanderer since age two. That January, I wriggled out of my snowsuit, ran naked into our New York garden, and scaled a redwood fence.

What on EARTH are you doing? my mother shrieked as she bundled me back inside. Apparently, I answered in a tone that implied Good God, Madame, isn’t it obvious?

“I’m singing to the snowflakes.”

I loved being outdoors and on the move. When I turned three, my family moved to California. Convinced that my new cowgirl outfit gave me license to roam the Wild West, I set off across the fields one dawn. The Law, a.k.a. my long-suffering parents, quickly caught up with me.

At age four, I crossed the border into Canada, fortunately with parents in tow.

When Freelancers Go Free-Range

Over time, travel made possible my happiest life experiences, from the birth of my son in Ireland to a meeting with Samuel Beckett in Paris. Best of all, travel taught me to feel at home almost anywhere.

This year I am embracing that free-range sense of home.

After minimizing household contents by 95 percent, I sold the house. Then I called my adult son and informed him that his mom had become a vagabond.

Exterior of So's Your Mom, a deli in Washington, D.C., one more reason for decluttering to become a digital nomad. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Eoghan seemed to think this perfectly normal.

Then again, he had just returned to Los Angeles from a research trip to Tunisia and was heading to North Carolina the following day.

Now as I zip up essentials into one medium suitcase, allow me to “unpack” a few concepts. Like minimalism. And nomad. And What on EARTH are you doing?

Minimalism Isn’t About “Containerizing”

Nor is it about living with bare walls and one potted orchid. It’s about tending whatever you most value and clearing away whatever distracts you from it.

Document shredding/e-waste Roundup in California, a reminder that decluttering is key to becoming a digital nomad. Image by Joshua Barash is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Most communities host free events to help you declutter a wide range of household items.
“Document Shredding/E-waste Roundup” by Joshua Barash is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Thus a fridge covered in your kids’ drawings is not automatically cluttered. By contrast, one item too many—an “investment” outfit you never wear, a gadget that doesn’t work, that pile of papers you always step around—is definitely clutter.

Why? Because it literally and metaphorically blocks your way.

Just ask Joshua Becker, author of The More of Less: Finding the Life You Love Under Everything You Own (WaterBrook, 2016). Spring-cleaning his garage triggered a life-changing decision. Three hours into thankless labor, he was no closer to getting time to play with his 5-year-old son.

Then a neighbor said something that sparked an idea: “Maybe you don’t need to own all this stuff.”

“Fill your life with experiences, not things,” says author
Joshua Becker. “Have stories to tell, not stuff to show.”
© Joshua Becker/ Becoming Minimalist

Becker’s family began donating, recycling, and removing whatever subtracted value from their lives. As he researched minimalism, Becker learned that the average American home contains 300,000 items.

Today Becker presents online classes and commentary on owning less and living more. I took those lessons to heart–and to the airport.

The Moveable Office

Meanwhile, my wish to own less and travel more led me to become a digital nomad. Another term for this is location-independent professional. According to Global Workplace Analytics, 50% of the U.S. workforce holds a job that’s at least partly compatible with telecommuting.

A conservatory in West Cork, Ireland becomes an office for a digital nomad. Image © by Joyce McGreevy

An online conference call in West Cork, Ireland connects business team members
from London to Los Angeles.
© Joyce McGreevy

In the digital economy, going to work needn’t mean being tethered to a fixed location. Last year, for example, I was based in Chicago, but met my winter deadlines from islands in the Mediterranean and while visiting family Out West.

Global Localism

What’s the difference between location independence and other travel? Plenty. Instead of frequenting hotels and restaurants, you rent a modest home and shop at farmers’ markets.

Gold ornamentation on St. John's Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta, a rich, visual reward for decluttering to become a digital nomad. Image © Joyce McGreevy

The income of a digital nomad is typically modest, but the benefits are pure gold.
St. John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta, Malta
© Joyce McGreevy

You carry a mobile hotspot, not souvenirs, and develop a fondness for hand-washable black separates. You meet the neighbors, learn the language, and explore local arts and culture.

Yes, working full time while traveling takes discipline—especially during “the festival.” And there’s always a festival.

It’s 9-5 Somewhere

View from a table at Charles Grech Café in Valletta, Malta, one more reason for decluttering to become a digital nomad. Image © Joyce McGreevy

Ah, but even the busiest days end in celebration. You close the laptop, disable the wifi on your cellphone, and give thanks for where you live.

You cross the Galata Bridge in Istanbul as minarets glow in the sunset. Wander a wild garden in Ireland. Listen to birdsong as you hang laundry on a balcony in Malta.

You meet a friend for tea in Bloomsbury, or Ann Arbor, or Sydney, or wherever your small, uncluttered home happens to be.

Last of the Packing

Remember those posters I hesitated to let go of? Ultimately, they triggered an “Oh, I see” moment: I could stay at home and have my travel posters—or I could have the travel.

So I began to declutter and became a digital nomad. As time goes by, I hope you’ll travel with me and my fellow writers at OIC Moments. How have your own travels made you feel more at home in the world?

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