Who's In?

Been meaning to post this for awhile. My friend N sent me by U.S. Postal Service an article cut out of the New York Times, claiming her days as a crazy, newspaper-clipping lady were just beginning. I think it's great. I wish people would do it more. It’s somehow more endearing and idiosyncratic than being sent a link to an online story. Which is basically what I’m doing here.

The Times article was called Traveling, and Always Shooting, and told the story of Noel and Angelina Andreoni (who took the picture posted here), and their life of traipsing about the world shooting photos and baskets wherever they went. They had been working ordinary jobs in somewhat ordinary Las Vegas when they decided there had to be more to life. As the Times reports:

Angelina loved photography; Noel loved basketball. But Noel said he realized that they probably wouldn’t make a living at either. “But we can still pursue those passions,” he said. “We said, ‘Let’s get back to what we enjoy and do it.’ And because we can do it, we’ve become very good at passing that message on.”

I love the notion of a passion like that. I love the leitmotif of doing a particular activity in many and varied and unlikely places. I love the evidence that you can break out of the ordinary if you want to make it happen. I don’t love the fuzzy realization I have that I once would have craved doing what the Andreonis do, but not so much anymore … or not right now. Is it age? Or situation? Or an acceptance of dogged reality? Makes me feel like a mollusk, but I can still admire and vicariously enjoy the trip around the world with a basketball.

See more pictures on the Andreonis' website Shoot the Ball.