| Get a sincere thank-you card this holiday season. Here are five cheap gift suggestions ($30 or less!) for those problematic names on your list.
For the artist: Seeing Beyond Sight by Tony Deifell
$24.95
Tony Deifell put together a book about his experiences teaching photography to blind teenagers, featuring 136 of their black-and-white photographs. These pictures are fascinating and surprising, and not just because of who took them. They are a completely different way of looking at art, and of creating art, especially because of the way these photographs use light and shadows. Buy it and teach someone a new way to see.
Buy a signed copy: http://www.seeingbeyondsight.org/book/index.htm
For the activist: Irrigate a farmer's land for two months
$20.00 A donation of $25 can irrigate a poor farmer's land for two months. When you purchase one of Oxfam's gifts, they send a card to your friend and send the money to the people who need it most. Your gift symbolically represents the work done by Oxfam in 26 countries, and helps to continue the organization's anti-poverty efforts.
Buy this gift (one of 15 products less than $25): https://www.oxfamamericaunwrapped.com/
For the geek: Watchmen - Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, John Higgins
$15.99 This comic book is geeky enough (containing references to the Grateful Dead, the British writer William Blake, and a number of psychological experiments) to appeal to the dork in your life, but cool enough (it was written by the author of V for Vendetta and is scheduled to be released as a film in 2009) for you to purchase at Barnes and Noble without embarrassment. No, but seriously - it's cooler than you think, with its sophisticated plot, finely drawn characters and fascinating revision of history.
Buy the graphic novel, containing all 12 issues:
Barnes and Noble
For the history buff: New York Times Sunday Magazine from the 1950s
$30.00
The New York Times, partnering with the Caren Archive, is selling real pieces of history. When you order, you'll get a Times Magazine that is at least 50 years old (unfortunately, you can't request a specific issue) and a certificate of authenticity. Buy it just for the amusing baby-boomer ads that are delightfully vintage (read: campy).
Buy a complete Times Sunday Magazine: http://www.nytstore.com/ProdDetail.aspx?prodId=9186
For the coffee lover: New York Coffee Cup
$14.00
The "We are Happy to Serve You" paper coffee cup, introduced in 1963, is a fixture in New York City. Graham Hill remade it into this microwave and dishwasher safe coffee cup. This gift doubles as a gift for the environmentalist, too - Hill's coffee cup is permanent and reusable, unlike the 180 million paper "We are Happy to Serve You" cups that get thrown out every year.
Buy the ceramic version of the classic New York paper coffee cup:
Museum of Modern Art Store
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