Artwork of the Day: No Swimming


by Erin Nicole

A few years ago, I took this picture on the campus of Richland Community College.  At the time, I liked the contrast between the tranquil campus and the harshness of the sign.  As peaceful as the creek looked and as content as the campus’s ducks may have been, there was also danger.

I took a semester at Richland and I still like to visit the campus with my camera.  As you can see in this picture, there’s a picturesque creek that runs through the campus.  Both students and ducks love the creek.  (The ducks are so popular that Richland even named its mascot the Thunderduck.)  Even those who are no longer or were never students at Richland enjoy going up to the camps and walking along the creek.  It’s impossible to look at the creek without being tempted to jump in and go for a swim.  A few years ago, a man who wasn’t even enrolled at the college gave into the temptation and drowned.  I’ll follow the sign’s advice.

I picked this for today’s artwork of the day because I feel like the first day of a new year is much like that creek.  You want to dive right in but there’s still dangers.  That’s especially true this year.  Are you going to swim or not?

The Shattered Lens Live Tweets Thanksgiving


Well, another Thanksgiving is coming to an end.

Needless to say, with everything going on in the world, this Thanksgiving is a bit different than what I’m used to.

With all that in mind, though, the TSL crew had an active Thanksgiving.  Here’s a few highlights of our day:

So, another Thanksgiving comes to a close.  Usually, I do a big long list of what I’m thankful for each and very year but this year, I’m just thankful for all of you.  2020 has not gone the way that any of us planned it would.  I was certainly expecting the year to be a lot more festive and I think that the rest of this decade probably will be.  People have been locked away for too long.  I have a feeling that once the pandemic is under control, there’s going to be a lot of pent up energy being released.

So, this year, I’m thankful for our readers, our contributors, and just this site in general.  TSL has been around for ten years now.  We’re going to be around for the next ten as well.

So, let’s sit back and enjoy the ride, shall we?