Messages from the compost heap

Every time I pass the local community garden I think of Ann Patchett’s “I am a compost heap.”

I feel like the signs on the compost heap could stand in for various stages of the creative process.

Take Control of the Mood With the Nivél Pendant

Pablo Designs is hoping to redefine pendant illumination with the Nivél Pendant. It’s formed from a simple, pure silhouette and brought to life with a spun-shade form and a flat panel LED light. The LED pivots on an axis to focus light downward or as a soft wall wash, giving you the control to set the mood for any space. While on, Nivél only uses 10.5W of power, making it 90% more efficient than comparable halogen light sources and 40% more efficient than CFLs.

The Nivél Pendant can be suspended on its own or grouped in a multi-light cluster. The group can then be powered by a single hardwired light, allowing the user to reposition the height, span, and direction of each individual pendant. Choose from two available sizes, 15”(38cm) and 22” (56cm), and six powder coated finishes: matte white, Terracotta, Forest Green, Slate Blue, Espresso, and textured black. You’ll then have the option of pairing Nivél with a graphite or white fabric cord and ceiling canopy for a truly personalized experience. Nivél is also available in a flush-mount version in white for both sizes.

The design is sustainable, using minimal materials and containing no hazardous materials. And it’s ready to stand the test of time, lasting for 50K hours or 25 years of daily use – whichever comes first.

To learn more about the Nivél Pendant, visit pablodesigns.com.

Love Songs: “Water Sign”

This week, the Review is publishing a series of short reflections on love songs, broadly defined. 

Parliament’s “(You’re a Fish and I’m a) Water Sign” is an unabashed ode to passion, to the base and the sensual, to the possibilities of love in the juiciest ways it can exist between people. The song moans into being, a beseeching follows, then there’s a bass so low you can’t possibly get under it, and finally the central question is posed: “Can we get down?” In true Parliament fashion, the tune doesn’t follow a traditional verse-chorus-bridge structure; it consists of an ever-evolving chorus that departs from the lines “I want to be / on the seaside of love with you / let’s go swimming / the water’s fine.” The arrangement is magnificent and the execution velvety, and the soulful, overlapping ad-libs of George Clinton, Walter “Junie” Morrison, and Ron Ford are just romantic lagniappe. Add the production of the track itself, with its big band-y rise of horns and whimsical flourishes atop the funky bassline, and the song is a liquid love affair that pulls you under and takes you there. It’s orgasmic.“Water Sign” is the B side to the much more well-known “Aqua Boogie (A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop),” from Parliament’s 1978 hit album Motor Booty Affair. While “Aqua Boogie” is told from the point of view of a person who is afraid of water, having never learned to swim, “Water Sign” shows us how beautiful and liberating it can be to get swept away.

Addie E. Citchens is the author of “A Good Samaritan,” out in the Review’s Winter Issue.