Bonni Brodnick Blog

There is something priceless about finding an old drawing from elementary school. This crayon rendering accompanied an "essay" on sportsmanship that I wrote in Miss Shalit's second grade class at Glenwood Elementary School in Short Hills, N.J.  What I particularly like about the drawing is the hairband and the scalloped hem of my purple dress. My hair is carefully coiffed into a flip with brown crayon and my cankles seem to melt into purple shoes that have just a hint of heel. Why is there a cloud coming out of my head? Did I mean to write another comment? Does the house on the right have an awning? Or is that a car blue parked in the driveway? Is a green kayak resting up against the house? Is the light violet stream on the bottom left a fallen fork? Or a path into the house? And where are my glasses? No matter! It is a sunny day in the life of Bonni Dee Kogen. (See the yellow sun.) Does this drawing have anything to do with sports?  I don't think so ... and...

It's 80-degrees in my studio and rather than turn on the AC, I brought down the oscillating fan from the attic. Within minutes, I was taken adrift by the whir. "Why do I feel so relaxed?" I thought. And "Why do I suddenly feel so sleepy?" I share the calm herewith. ( Click here . ) A fter you wake up, let me know how the retro-white noise made you feel. Cool? (as in "not hot") Chilled out?

What can I say? (I'm a giver.) Here I am feeding Coco Puffs to my Tiny Tears whom I (creatively) named "Tina."  Tina Tiny Tears. (That's an easy towel monogram, isn't it?) I soon abandoned Tina for Chatty Cathy, followed by Barbie and her sister Midge, followed by an entire legion of trolls. My favorite was a white long-hair troll from which I created Albert Schweitzer as the main stand-in for a diorama book-review. I remember filling the top of a peanut butter lid with water, and placing it on grass and leaves I had gathered to simulate the African jungle. Orange peels (which stunk up the classroom after a few days) served as Albert Schweitzer's row boats should he want to take a spin around on Peanut Butter Lid Lake.