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Just because the late, great Barbara F. Lefcowitz<\/strong> (1935-2015) has gone to the Great Beyond doesn\u2019t mean she doesn\u2019t keep in touch with me. In fact, she\u2019s started something today. I happened upon a list of some of our magazine\u2019s friends on Facebook and felt a pang when I saw her name. I double-clicked on that bait. She\u2019d described herself as \u201cpoet and bricoleur<\/em>.\u201d Now, that was something.<\/span><\/p>\n Okay, Barbara. Let\u2019s do this.<\/span><\/p>\n Merriam-Webster<\/em> defines a bricoleur<\/em> as \u201cone who engages in bricolage<\/em>.\u201d Very naughty.<\/span><\/p>\n The old French usage of engaging \u201canything to hand\u201d was refined by French philosopher Claude Levi-Strauss in The Savage Mind<\/em> (University of Chicago Press, 1966) when he suggested that the work of the bricoleur<\/em> [and, really, mon cher<\/em>, are we not all bricoleurs<\/em>?] also takes place on \u201cthe plane of speculation. This is what is commonly called \u2018bricolage<\/em>\u2019 in French. In its old sense, the verb \u2018bricoler<\/em>\u2019 applied to ball games and billiards, to hunting, shooting, and riding. It was however always used with reference to some extraneous movement: a ball rebounding, a dog straying, or a horse swerving from its direct course to avoid an obstacle.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n A bricoleur<\/em> is a master, or mistress, of extraneous movements, then. There\u2019s a sense of the ad hoc<\/em>, the willy-nilly, the graceful catching of random on the rebound, to the bricoleur<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Not to mention, the word has Starbucks* appeal. [*Uncompensated product-placement alert.] <\/span><\/p>\n \u2018A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away,\u2019 Levi-Strauss continues: \u201cAnd in our own time the \u2018bricoleur<\/em>\u2019 is still someone who works with his hands and uses devious means compared to those of a craftsman. The characteristic feature of mythical thought is that it expresses itself by means of a heterogeneous repertoire which, even if extensive, is nevertheless limited. It has to use this repertoire, however, whatever the task in hand because it has nothing else at its disposal. Mythical thought is therefore a kind of intellectual \u2018bricolage<\/em>.\u2019\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Here at Portland Monthly<\/em>, we champion the bricolage<\/em>. Each of our stories is imagined individually. But in their mystical collective, something wonderful happens to our stories. They take over entire issues and give them a life of their own. Stars can become constellations.<\/span><\/p>\n As for you, Barbara\u2013\u201cthat\u2019s Barbara with three a\u2019s\u201d\u2013one more question. <\/span>More properly, shouldn\u2019t you lay claim to being a \u201cbricoleuse<\/em>.\u201d Or is that sexist? Dear readers, please weigh in on this. I sure as heck know our Barbara from Brooklyn would have. <\/span><\/p>\n We are honored to have featured Barbara\u2019s fiction, including the very timely \u201cThe Pink Suit,\u201d<\/a> across four decades. She loved to walk the beaches of Maine, collecting sea shells and stories. Anything to hand. She loved her objects on one level but loved them even more for the shadows they cast into infinity. Barbara has just gotten started on her bricolage<\/em>. Haven\u2019t we all?<\/span><\/p>\n To read some of her work,\u00a0click here.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n![\"Colin](\"http:\/\/www.portlandmonthly.com\/portmag\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/Colin-Signature-300x142.jpg\")
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