My family is on 'data lockdown' as we turn off cellular service until the start of the next billing cycle. In the meantime we capriciously breeze in and out of Wi-Fi as the Wi-Fi gods deem fit. The television is ignored.
But the violent news of this week cannot be ignored. Anger, frustration, pain circle in repeated cycles as lives are senselessly cut down. It's a kick to the gut and sadly makes me wish for more of the political campaign baloney.
So, I turn to reading since beach time is 'catching up on reading' time. And, after devouring Ron Chernow's tome Alexander Hamilton and Emma Straub's breezy Modern Lovers, Emma Cline's premier effort, The Girls is the last book standing. Not for long. It is a fiction loosely based on the 1969 Tate/LaBianca murders focusing on how a young girl is recruited into the novel's Manson-like cult. Not the best topic in this week of men, guns, violence.
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| Bergdorf's window and shadow homage to Bill C. |
Not important as in a snooty high fashion format, but in a rather wondrous discovery - eureka fashion moments. His work simply celebrated expression. Every Sunday I would savor those street views because Bill invited us to marvel with him. At 87 years young, he daringly tooled around midtown Manhattan on a bike to find the fashion. He was (said in his Boston accent) Mah-velous.
After reading "On the Street" I would seek out the Times video online in which Bill narrated the piece with no script usually in one take. Hearing him delineate what the street showed him that week and his irrepressible wonder at it all made me giddy. Every chuckle and turned up vowel sound pulled me into his orbit.
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| 57th & 5th: Bill's "outdoor office" |
"The main thing I love about street photography is that you find the answers you don't see at the fashion shows. You find information for readers so they can visualize themselves." He literally provided the lens so we could see.
I think I took Bill for granted. I never googled his name to find out more about Bill - The Person - but anticipated Bill - The Photographer's - work with fervor. So when I read his obituary and saw that a 2010 documentary existed, titled, Bill Cunningham New York, it was a must see. My daughter and I watched it and, yes, "mah-velled" at his work ethic, fashion zeal, and most importantly, his enduring kindness.
He hunted trends, not trendsetters. Every interaction was respectful and interested wrapped in his one of a kind laughter. Kindness. In a most demanding city, within a most volatile industry, within a most prestigious news outlet, Bill consistently showed kindness to whomever he came upon.
Kindness. It is behind every click of the shutter.
This week's violence has us searching for answers, cures, change. I keep seeking social media for relief in the Bill Cunningham reflections from around the world. I realize his life's work teaches us how to behave.
It begins with kindness.
"It's as true today as it ever was: he who seeks beauty will find it."
Bill Cunningham accepting the Officier de l'ordre des Arts et des Lettres award by the French Ministry of Culture in 2008.
Bill Cunningham's last On The Street video "Duality" - June 2016
http://www.nytimes.com/video/fashion/100000004452497/bill-cunningham-duality.html
Bill Cunningham obituary
