http://zachaboard.blogspot.com/
This blog belongs to a totally brilliant, creative, kind and generous, and all-around awesome houseboat-living mom I know from "elsewhere on the internet."
I also corrected a few blog links from my shout-out post, as they were to specific posts rather than the general blogs. If I missed any incorrect links, let me know.
(Added link to original post 3-10-09)
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Art. Show all posts
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Monday, March 9, 2009
Another Cool Artist to Check Out
On Facebook, I re-connected with an old friend tonight, Brianna Martray. She and I met in the UU youth scene back in the day. Turns out she is now in the Denver art scene, and she has been doing some amazing art. Here is her stuff: http://www.briannamartray.com. Thought she was deserving of a plug on my blog.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
She's Amazing!
The super fabulous, most gracious, and indescribably talented (not to mention rather stylish) Massachusetts photographer Megan Peck volunteers her professional skills and time through an organization called Celebrating Adoption, and she has thus very generously agreed to fit us into her very busy schedule and do a session with our family in May out in G's hometown. It makes me want to cry, she is so sweet to do this for us. Do me a favor: if you know anyone in Massachusetts, please refer them to her. She is in-freaking-credible, and totally deserves the referral.
(Also, go to the Celebrating Adoption website and look up the photographers in your area too...then support them with your business if you can.)
Now here is something I will have on my mind constantly between now and May: what on earth will we wear? I am going to be digging through our closets and hopefully we will find something suitable for all of us (G and I will be the biggest headache...the kids will of course be cute in almost anything...no matter how much we screw it up!). Here is her What To Wear Guide for photo sessions. If it moves too fast, click the "pause" button in the lower right. I'm totally taking suggestions, and as I find options in our closet, I'll post photos of them. If you have patterns for very simple, simple, simple things to sew too, I'd take suggestions on those as well. Oh Yeesh how I wish G or I could sew more seriously than we do. I wonder if we are supposed to plan for one or several outfits? I should probably ask her! I'm hoping I can get at least a shot or two of K. in a dress, but knowing K., most of the session will probably have to be pants.
(Also, go to the Celebrating Adoption website and look up the photographers in your area too...then support them with your business if you can.)
Now here is something I will have on my mind constantly between now and May: what on earth will we wear? I am going to be digging through our closets and hopefully we will find something suitable for all of us (G and I will be the biggest headache...the kids will of course be cute in almost anything...no matter how much we screw it up!). Here is her What To Wear Guide for photo sessions. If it moves too fast, click the "pause" button in the lower right. I'm totally taking suggestions, and as I find options in our closet, I'll post photos of them. If you have patterns for very simple, simple, simple things to sew too, I'd take suggestions on those as well. Oh Yeesh how I wish G or I could sew more seriously than we do. I wonder if we are supposed to plan for one or several outfits? I should probably ask her! I'm hoping I can get at least a shot or two of K. in a dress, but knowing K., most of the session will probably have to be pants.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
My Mom Sent Me This
This is just too cool a city (and an artist) not to share...recycled!!
http://www.anaserrano.com/ANA_SERRANO/cartonlandia.html
http://www.anaserrano.com/ANA_SERRANO/cartonlandia.html
Thursday, October 30, 2008
My Pumpkin
So here is my pumpkin this year. Amazingly, it actually looks even better in real life! I was so excited it actually turned out fairly well, I haven't taken photos of any of the other pumpkins we have carved so far (and they are all really cool!). I'll snap a shot soon. Below is the "in the light" obligatory photo. There were two major mishaps, but hopefully you can't really notice them. I'm gonna try and fix them before tomorrow night. I also might add "vote" or "vote hope," mainly to add some ventilation:
Friday, October 24, 2008
Pumpkins
It's pumpkin carving time. G. and I have a general (not every year, but every year we can manage it) tradition of carving elaborate pumpkins. It's probably the most artistic endeavor in my life all year. I have made some pretty cool pumpkins, but every year I get nervous I will have to go back to basic jack-o-laterns because I am not sure of my abilities. We'll see what I can pull off this year!
Anyway, a buddy online posted a link to a political slant on pumpkins this year. Some of these are very elaborate, and I thought I'd post just for fun:
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Who Are Art Collectors?
If when you think of art collectors, images like this come to mind...
(Please under no circumstances feel it is necessary to watch these videos the whole way through unless you really want)
...or this...
...or, hey, even this (from the L Word)...
(The clip cut out...didn't she faint after crying?)
...perhaps you don't see yourself as an art collector, or potential art collector.
Yet, isn't an art collector someone who simply collects art?
It doesn't have to be expensive art. It doesn't have to be art collected as an investment. It doesn't have to be art that is famous, or art from a hundred or more years ago. Collections don't have to be reasoned out. They don't have to be filled with things other people will "get," or fall in love with themselves. Collections can be genre-specific or varied and diverse. They can be big or small.
I like art collections-- whatever they may be-- best when they become a part of a home, become the landscape of a home.
Since I've recently moved, I'm rediscovering the art I've collected here and there. To be honest, one of the main reasons I have art in my home is because my mom is an artist who collects art and also knows how to give it away. Ahem.
I am not someone built for collecting much more than papers (you know junk mail, forms from the doctor, etc. etc.), virtually useless household items I aquired at various times when I couldn't find *exactly* what I needed, and books that could fill a lifetime reading list. I'm working on simplifying and avoiding all but the third habit.
But art is a different matter. I bought art here and there, sure, but in general, I never thought I could afford to purchase art and never thought I had the eye for it either. Don't get me wrong. I have always very much enjoyed art. But I considered myself terrible at finding any kind of treasure, including the art that other people I knew seemed to stumble upon. Not to mention that I worried about having kid-friendly art, and had no clue where to look for real, original art. I gave in to always having mass-produced prints from Target.
Something else has been stirring in me, however. Not long ago, I took some time to check out my mom's shop on Etsy. On the home page of her shop, she quotes from the Cheap Art Manifesto:
"Art is like Good Bread
Art is for Kitchens
Art Sings Hallelujah
It needs to be EVERYWHERE"
I liked it, but it only recently sunk in, sometime after my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday early this summer, and I named a ring from a jewlery shop on Etsy.
I've just realized that art can be accessible to people like you and me.
Like I said, "It doesn't have to be expensive art. It doesn't have to be art collected as an investment. It doesn't have to be art that is famous, or art from a hundred or more years ago. Collections don't have to be reasoned out. They don't have to be filled with things other people will 'get,' or fall in love with themselves. Collections can be genre-specific or varied and diverse. They can be big or small. I like art collections-- whatever they may be-- best when they become a part of a home, become the landscape of a home."
Go to Etsy today! Be sure to register before you even start to look around. That way if you find an Etsy shop you really love, you can easily save it in your favorites and return when you have a few bucks.
Go to "Categories" on the left side of the page. Click on "art." The look again at the left side of the page, where you will find a list of different types of art. Click on any type, and you will find the list continues below that type, with subcategories. Check it out! And don't think. Just look for art that stirs you. Just pay attention to what draws you in.
Or get on and do a search like I did. Remember to set a particular category, which I did not, and try out other categories (such as "handmade items" instead of "art") if your first search doesn't turn up the kind of thing you are looking for. My first one was for Our Lady of Guadalupe images, and right away, I found an amazing shop with a great Guadalupe pot holder being sold at the even more amazing price of $8.00 (Something I can afford! Just not RIGHT this minute.), plus some other, more expensive items I can drool over until I have a bit more cash and want to splurge on myself just a bit. Many artists will sell small, affordable items of art. And what is great about Etsy, of course, is that like a market, you can get to know the sellers...in other words, this is a great way to start getting to know some wonderful artists.
Imagine how your world might expand!! Imagine how worldly and networked you could become ;). Who knows, you could even make some new friends. You know that shop I just linked to with the great Guadalupe pot holder? The artist, as it so happens, is in my very own state. What a wild and fun coincidence. Maybe when I finally buy that pot holder, I'll get in touch with her.
So in short, if you haven't checked out Etsy, I encourage you to do so.
(Please under no circumstances feel it is necessary to watch these videos the whole way through unless you really want)
...or this...
...or, hey, even this (from the L Word)...
(The clip cut out...didn't she faint after crying?)
...perhaps you don't see yourself as an art collector, or potential art collector.
Yet, isn't an art collector someone who simply collects art?
It doesn't have to be expensive art. It doesn't have to be art collected as an investment. It doesn't have to be art that is famous, or art from a hundred or more years ago. Collections don't have to be reasoned out. They don't have to be filled with things other people will "get," or fall in love with themselves. Collections can be genre-specific or varied and diverse. They can be big or small.
I like art collections-- whatever they may be-- best when they become a part of a home, become the landscape of a home.
Since I've recently moved, I'm rediscovering the art I've collected here and there. To be honest, one of the main reasons I have art in my home is because my mom is an artist who collects art and also knows how to give it away. Ahem.
I am not someone built for collecting much more than papers (you know junk mail, forms from the doctor, etc. etc.), virtually useless household items I aquired at various times when I couldn't find *exactly* what I needed, and books that could fill a lifetime reading list. I'm working on simplifying and avoiding all but the third habit.
But art is a different matter. I bought art here and there, sure, but in general, I never thought I could afford to purchase art and never thought I had the eye for it either. Don't get me wrong. I have always very much enjoyed art. But I considered myself terrible at finding any kind of treasure, including the art that other people I knew seemed to stumble upon. Not to mention that I worried about having kid-friendly art, and had no clue where to look for real, original art. I gave in to always having mass-produced prints from Target.
Something else has been stirring in me, however. Not long ago, I took some time to check out my mom's shop on Etsy. On the home page of her shop, she quotes from the Cheap Art Manifesto:
"Art is like Good Bread
Art is for Kitchens
Art Sings Hallelujah
It needs to be EVERYWHERE"
I liked it, but it only recently sunk in, sometime after my mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday early this summer, and I named a ring from a jewlery shop on Etsy.
I've just realized that art can be accessible to people like you and me.
Like I said, "It doesn't have to be expensive art. It doesn't have to be art collected as an investment. It doesn't have to be art that is famous, or art from a hundred or more years ago. Collections don't have to be reasoned out. They don't have to be filled with things other people will 'get,' or fall in love with themselves. Collections can be genre-specific or varied and diverse. They can be big or small. I like art collections-- whatever they may be-- best when they become a part of a home, become the landscape of a home."
Go to Etsy today! Be sure to register before you even start to look around. That way if you find an Etsy shop you really love, you can easily save it in your favorites and return when you have a few bucks.
Go to "Categories" on the left side of the page. Click on "art." The look again at the left side of the page, where you will find a list of different types of art. Click on any type, and you will find the list continues below that type, with subcategories. Check it out! And don't think. Just look for art that stirs you. Just pay attention to what draws you in.
Or get on and do a search like I did. Remember to set a particular category, which I did not, and try out other categories (such as "handmade items" instead of "art") if your first search doesn't turn up the kind of thing you are looking for. My first one was for Our Lady of Guadalupe images, and right away, I found an amazing shop with a great Guadalupe pot holder being sold at the even more amazing price of $8.00 (Something I can afford! Just not RIGHT this minute.), plus some other, more expensive items I can drool over until I have a bit more cash and want to splurge on myself just a bit. Many artists will sell small, affordable items of art. And what is great about Etsy, of course, is that like a market, you can get to know the sellers...in other words, this is a great way to start getting to know some wonderful artists.
Imagine how your world might expand!! Imagine how worldly and networked you could become ;). Who knows, you could even make some new friends. You know that shop I just linked to with the great Guadalupe pot holder? The artist, as it so happens, is in my very own state. What a wild and fun coincidence. Maybe when I finally buy that pot holder, I'll get in touch with her.
So in short, if you haven't checked out Etsy, I encourage you to do so.
Friday, August 15, 2008
And Now Some Art From Our House
A park near our home features art sculptures in the summer. Today there was a special 12-hour event of community sculpture making. I took the kids and while we were there we contributed two pink prints the kids made and two tie dye fabric-like paper scraps. It was a great time! We took the bus there, and afterward we walked to the store where K. decided to draw a small crowd with some mad crazy ASL.
Tonight the kids were telling my mom all about our day over the phone. My mom asked if I took pictures of the sculpture-making. I didn't. Crap, that would have been such a good idea, but I didn't even think of it.
So, as a tribute to our day, here is some art anyway. This is a rainbow, by M. You can see he started to erase it, but I ran in and told him to stop the presses so I could take a picture.
Tonight the kids were telling my mom all about our day over the phone. My mom asked if I took pictures of the sculpture-making. I didn't. Crap, that would have been such a good idea, but I didn't even think of it.
So, as a tribute to our day, here is some art anyway. This is a rainbow, by M. You can see he started to erase it, but I ran in and told him to stop the presses so I could take a picture.
We saw a beautiful double-rainbow on G. and my wedding anniversary, and the kids have been absolutely enthralled by rainbows since. We've done some science, making rainbows with a flashlight and jar of water. It's not as easy as I had hoped, but G. has become pretty adept at it.
Life is good. I want to live in an awareness of that.
Friday, May 30, 2008
Shout-Outs
You may have noticed I don't have any links, including links to other blogs, on the sidebar of this blog. Long story...but it is an OCD thing.
Anyway, it seems I at least ought to periodically post some shout-outs to those folks with whom I am keeping in touch. So here is what is up with some of the folks "in the neighborhood."
Anyway, it seems I at least ought to periodically post some shout-outs to those folks with whom I am keeping in touch. So here is what is up with some of the folks "in the neighborhood."
- My friend Sara introduced me to "flat traveling," an idea with which I immediately fell in love. Check it out: http://learningumbrella.homeschooljournal.net/2008/05/29/flat-traveling/ Turns out, though, it can be a bit of a disappointment in practice if you don't do it with folks you know who actually follow-through. So basically I've decided I need to secure myself a pal for my kidos in each state and elsewhere around the globe...sometime in the next couple of years ;-). Good thing my kids aren't quite old enough for this yet. It's bought me a little time LOL.
- Quinn from one of my parenting boards is worrying about her body, which makes me think of my little girl and whether she'll worry about her body too. Still, it is a big struggle I can relate to and I appreciate Quinn's honesty: http://rainbowmamajourney.blogspot.com/2008/05/i-am-not-beautiful.html
- My mom is introducing me to some fun animation set to music at http://ragtagsf.blogspot.com/. I never got into animation much, but this stuff is beautiful and interesting, and yes, appeals to me.
- The Rev. Ford passed on this artistic depiction of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: http://monkeymindonline.blogspot.com/2008/05/universal-declaration-of-human-rights.html (advance notice: this declaration has thirty articles, so the video is about twenty minutes, but visually really interesting...I'd be interested in seeing artistic spin-offs of any type)
- The Rev. Ketchem is thinking about science and religion: http://mskittyssaloonandroadshow.blogspot.com/2008/05/importance-of-science-to-unitarian.html. I'm looking forward to when she posts her sermon because I love both science and religion, and I too find them closely intertwined in my life.
- The Rev. Ms. Peacebang is doing those new to ordained ministry a great service by sharing more good tips, this time on graveside services: http://www.peacebang.com/2008/05/29/graveside-ceremony/. It's actually an interesting read for *anyone* who might be attending a graveside service and is not experienced in such services. She also posted a book recommendation that sounds really interesting: http://www.peacebang.com/2008/05/29/practicing-resurrection-a-peacebang-review/. Good thing I've been slow to finalize my 8 x 8 in 08 list ;-). Oh yes, and on her other blog, Beauty Tips For Ministers, she is offering a worthwhile reminder universal to any human being to periodically update one's underwear rather than wearing it ragedy ol' andy like I have been lately: http://beautytipsforministers.com/2008/05/25/a-festival-of-inappropriate-sharing-at-the-festival-of-homiletics/
- I continue to pray for Little Warrior. The latest update is here: http://uuminister.blogspot.com/2008/05/just-update.html. I'm also trying to incorporate love through action into my life, and hope to be writing Lizard Eater with some stories soon: http://www.lovethroughaction.blogspot.com/. I encourage you to join me, even if you have no idea who this little kido is. Here is the short story at the top of the blog: "Little Warrior is my daughter. She's almost three and she's fighting cancer for the second time. Friends far and near have asked what they can do. We said, 'Show love through action.' Do a good deed, then let us know. We'll compile these in a book for Little Warrior to show her how love for her made the world a better place." If you want to better understand the idea you can check out: http://uuminister.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-you-can-do.html. Finally, I highly recommend you check out Little Warrior's "Happy Birthday" video. What a cutie: http://lovethroughaction.blogspot.com/2008/05/happy-third-birthday-little-warrior.html
And lastly, some "posting anytime soon?" shout-outs:
- My oldest sister hasn't posted for a little while, probably busy with the end of the school year and travel to VT and all. Last I heard, she was promising tips on moving. In the meantime, if you haven't visited her site (at least not recently), check out her new project, a rainbarrel: http://awfulbrothers.blogspot.com/2008/05/say-say-oh-playmate.html.
- My "little" brother (http://www.sunthroughleaves.blogspot.com/) and his wife (http://www.chickadeescout.blogspot.com/) are probably doing the newlywed bliss/lovebird hide-away time, or maybe they are traveling (I never did ask them about post-wedding plans), but before the wedding my brother did post some thought-provoking conversation starters on polar bears, government, and responsibility. And his wife-- also before the wedding, of course-- has been posting some great photos including of some delicious looking food she and my bro have whipped up and some of the plants in their lives.
- My nephew is apparently too busy learning how to use "the force" lately to post on his blog, but he's a cutie so here's my little auntie brag: http://amazingadventuresofdante.blogspot.com/2008/04/force.html
- My dad is a "weekend poster" and seems to have been too busy with the wedding and related travel, work crunches, etc. to have posted too recently, but I really, really appreciated his post on what a college education should be about: http://colin-quodlibet.blogspot.com/2008/05/what-to-learn-in-college.html. By the way, I heard a piece on NPR about a book discussing and critiquing universities as businesses as much as educational institutions, etc. Sounded interesting.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
A Tribute to Artists and Reflections on my Childhood
Disclaimer in Advance: The following are my own impressions and memories, which of course are colored by the perspective of years and my own feelings. As other family members frequently find my various memories to be inaccurate, I am writing this as a tribute based on my impressions, which may or may not be particularly historically accurate.
---------------------------------------------
I grew up in a home filled with music of all kinds, and colors rich and deep, and words artfully arranged, and images of intrigue.
This is my mother, the brilliant artist and writer with a creative and powerful mind:
http://www.sarahfishburn.com/ (note if you are at work and want to wander onto her blog to turn down your speakers, as there is music, which you can control using a fixture on the right column of her blog.)
This is my father, the brilliant musician and engineer with a creative and powerful mind:
http://colin-quodlibet.blogspot.com/
If you scroll down the links to other blogs on my mother's blog, you can see the type of people with whom we associated as I was growing up. http://lisahoffman.typepad.com/ and the likes.
We moved around a bit, but my childhood home always included art everywhere, not just on the walls but on and in our cupboards, on top of shelves, on the floor, painted onto furniture...everywhere. For some period of time, if you were a friend visiting my home, and you decided to snoop around in our bathroom cabinets, you would be greeted with a line of those funny fat little plastic troll dolls, artfully arranged as entertainment for the "snooper," which I think my mother might assume we all are.
It also included lots and lots and lots of books, tucked all over the place but many of them on this huge bookshelf made from old barn doors or an old barn fence or something like that. I wonder, mom, if you have photos of that, so people can get an idea of what I am talking about?
Creativity and clarity of thought were values in my home of origin. As was a wonderful, complex intermingling of notions of both simplicity and the value of beautiful things.
We read constantly, and art was a part of our daily lives. We also played a lot. We hiked and camped and played wall-ball and four-square and basketball and frisbee and all sorts of things. My mother does not drive. My father does but hates it. We walk and rode our bikes a lot. I started riding the city bus at a young age. At first my mom was nervous about it, but then she considered my ability to use my cunning conversational skills to get through almost anything ;-).
I mostly would walk around talking to myself. For a while I had a collection of imaginary friends with funny names like "Bookie," and "Stampie," and my "best friend" who I called "Maradawn" (I have no idea how that would be spelled). After my imaginary friends began to fade away, I would talk myself through my imaginary games: I was the attorney, the teacher, the mom. Eventually my self-conversations began to just be fairly straight-forward conversations with myself, imaginary play loosely tossed in throughout. I was always processing! There was so much to take in, in my world.
My siblings still tease me about the ski pole. I used to take one of our ski poles and walk around the back yard at our duplex, jabbing it into the ground and talking away to no one but myself. The kinesthetic feeling of it striking the ground and then pushing it through the resistant soil helped me think. For a long time I have felt ashamed when my siblings would talk about the ski pole. Now I see that child self walking through the yard with it, and I feel so loving and understanding toward her. I am a little neurodivergent afterall, and that is what they call "heavy work" and "joint compressions" and "cognitive ordering through speech" now in my children's occupational, educational, and speech therapy. I am lucky that I had parents who let me do my thing. I was able to develop my cognitive abilities without unecessary impediments that result when one's neurological system is trying to regulate and order the world and is supressed in its natural efforts to do so.
My mind went constantly. It still does. It happens with all of the members of my family of origin including my older sisters, I am guessing, but I've noticed it is especially true in the case of my younger brother and me. When we shared a room, we would talk nonstop until we fell asleep. Deep conversations, I am sure, for people 5 and 7 years old or whatever.
My brother's mind seemed to work mostly in images and words. He was and is an amazing artist. Mine almost always worked in words. And also in feelings. Often thoughts would pass through me as feelings alone. For someone so verbal, so wordy, it is hard when you can't articulate a thought because it comes in a wordless form. But it would happen. It still does. Sometimes I start writing something, and I feel perfectly clear and the words are flowing right out of me, and then suddenly the thoughts come to me instead in waves of purely gut-level feelings, and I will only be able to scribble. If you were to look at a journal of mine, you would find pages filled with just scribbles. At the time I made them, these would be very clear thoughts. But totally nonverbal. Somewhere there is an abstract artist in me who is working through these images, though the images themselves are very unskilled, unpracticed, and completely child-like.
This might be a part I of a II part series. I have to post this before my laptop battery runs out because I don't know where the charger is right now (the red light is flashing-- ack!). I may or may not have more to say in this tribute at this time...we'll see tomorrow or sometime later this week.
---------------------------------------------
I grew up in a home filled with music of all kinds, and colors rich and deep, and words artfully arranged, and images of intrigue.
This is my mother, the brilliant artist and writer with a creative and powerful mind:
http://www.sarahfishburn.com/ (note if you are at work and want to wander onto her blog to turn down your speakers, as there is music, which you can control using a fixture on the right column of her blog.)
This is my father, the brilliant musician and engineer with a creative and powerful mind:
http://colin-quodlibet.blogspot.com/
If you scroll down the links to other blogs on my mother's blog, you can see the type of people with whom we associated as I was growing up. http://lisahoffman.typepad.com/ and the likes.
We moved around a bit, but my childhood home always included art everywhere, not just on the walls but on and in our cupboards, on top of shelves, on the floor, painted onto furniture...everywhere. For some period of time, if you were a friend visiting my home, and you decided to snoop around in our bathroom cabinets, you would be greeted with a line of those funny fat little plastic troll dolls, artfully arranged as entertainment for the "snooper," which I think my mother might assume we all are.
It also included lots and lots and lots of books, tucked all over the place but many of them on this huge bookshelf made from old barn doors or an old barn fence or something like that. I wonder, mom, if you have photos of that, so people can get an idea of what I am talking about?
Creativity and clarity of thought were values in my home of origin. As was a wonderful, complex intermingling of notions of both simplicity and the value of beautiful things.
We read constantly, and art was a part of our daily lives. We also played a lot. We hiked and camped and played wall-ball and four-square and basketball and frisbee and all sorts of things. My mother does not drive. My father does but hates it. We walk and rode our bikes a lot. I started riding the city bus at a young age. At first my mom was nervous about it, but then she considered my ability to use my cunning conversational skills to get through almost anything ;-).
I mostly would walk around talking to myself. For a while I had a collection of imaginary friends with funny names like "Bookie," and "Stampie," and my "best friend" who I called "Maradawn" (I have no idea how that would be spelled). After my imaginary friends began to fade away, I would talk myself through my imaginary games: I was the attorney, the teacher, the mom. Eventually my self-conversations began to just be fairly straight-forward conversations with myself, imaginary play loosely tossed in throughout. I was always processing! There was so much to take in, in my world.
My siblings still tease me about the ski pole. I used to take one of our ski poles and walk around the back yard at our duplex, jabbing it into the ground and talking away to no one but myself. The kinesthetic feeling of it striking the ground and then pushing it through the resistant soil helped me think. For a long time I have felt ashamed when my siblings would talk about the ski pole. Now I see that child self walking through the yard with it, and I feel so loving and understanding toward her. I am a little neurodivergent afterall, and that is what they call "heavy work" and "joint compressions" and "cognitive ordering through speech" now in my children's occupational, educational, and speech therapy. I am lucky that I had parents who let me do my thing. I was able to develop my cognitive abilities without unecessary impediments that result when one's neurological system is trying to regulate and order the world and is supressed in its natural efforts to do so.
My mind went constantly. It still does. It happens with all of the members of my family of origin including my older sisters, I am guessing, but I've noticed it is especially true in the case of my younger brother and me. When we shared a room, we would talk nonstop until we fell asleep. Deep conversations, I am sure, for people 5 and 7 years old or whatever.
My brother's mind seemed to work mostly in images and words. He was and is an amazing artist. Mine almost always worked in words. And also in feelings. Often thoughts would pass through me as feelings alone. For someone so verbal, so wordy, it is hard when you can't articulate a thought because it comes in a wordless form. But it would happen. It still does. Sometimes I start writing something, and I feel perfectly clear and the words are flowing right out of me, and then suddenly the thoughts come to me instead in waves of purely gut-level feelings, and I will only be able to scribble. If you were to look at a journal of mine, you would find pages filled with just scribbles. At the time I made them, these would be very clear thoughts. But totally nonverbal. Somewhere there is an abstract artist in me who is working through these images, though the images themselves are very unskilled, unpracticed, and completely child-like.
This might be a part I of a II part series. I have to post this before my laptop battery runs out because I don't know where the charger is right now (the red light is flashing-- ack!). I may or may not have more to say in this tribute at this time...we'll see tomorrow or sometime later this week.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
On the marketplace beat
As talk of recession becomes more and more dominant in the public discourse, I find myself challenged to balance my views of the long-time human practice of predicting impending doom with the fact that yes, bad things do happen. The depression happened. Recessions happen. People lose jobs and houses. I could lose either or both. We all could. Things could get really messy around here.
While putting on my shoes to head out to work this morning, the image of the famous photo at left, Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother (1936), flashed through my mind. The woman in the photo is Florence Owens Thompson (who later said she wished Lange had not taken her photo reportedly because Lange did not give her any compensation, did not send her a copy of the photo, and did not take her name or ask her anything about her story, etc.). She was thirty-two years old when this image was taken. That is, very close to the age I am now.
In many ways, my family is among the especially financially vulnerable right now. This possible recession has been precipitated by a housing crisis rip tide that we were swept into. We are carrying a rent and a mortgage at the moment as we live over 3000 miles from the home we own, a home which we have been desperately trying to sell for over a half year now. We've had to talk about foreclosure, though fortunately we do believe that we can avoid it.
The home we are renting is heated by oil. Before we knew what it would cost to heat this home, we spent $800 on oil in a matter of twenty days. We live in a rather cold climate.
In terms of income, I support my four-person family on a low middle class salary, with plans for my dw G to supplement this with her working class earnings. My job is not among the particularly secure. Our savings were wiped away in our move. We are already living beyond our means, despite the fact that we have no other debt besides our mortgage and home equity (which we took out to prepare to sell our home before the market took the dive that it did, and which also has actually and ironically been paying our mortgage) and that we are conservative spenders living a pretty simple life. It wouldn't take much to correct this, to get our budget back on track, if only the housing market could make it out of this slump. It is the housing that is killing us.
Predictions of the immediate financial future of this country and the world seem to vary wildly. One interviewee on NPR (Marketplace, I believe), who had proper qualifications, claimed that based on the patterns of previous recessions, we can safely bet that if we go into an actual recession, we are going to come out of this much more quickly and much more safely than folks are predicting. Many others are recommending that folks batten down the hatches. They are taking a moderate stance. They are explaining that this, like all recessions, are a natural correction/pendulum swing in the marketplace and that things will get pretty bad for a while but that we should all ride this out with some sense of patience and calm because at some point, we are going to come out of this. I've heard multiple people in this camp say, "Just start storing some nuts for the winter."
On the other end of the scale, there are a few who are predicting a devastating and long-lasting financial turn for the worst. A buddy of mine online, who apparently successfully predicted the "housing market boom" that occurred over the last couple of years, is suggesting that we all prepare for this to become not only a full blown recession, but for the recession to develop into a depression worse than "The Great Depression." The reason? Our whole economy is built around having cheap energy, and we are depleting fossil fuels at a breathtaking speed. Of particular concern, OIL. Batten down the hatches is an understatement for her recommendations. Think Y2K.
Here are the links she recommended:
http://www.richardheinberg.com/
http://www.peakoil.com/
http://www.energybulletin.net/
http://www.postcarbon.org/
http://transitionculture.org/
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
http://www.kunstler.com/
She basically is suggesting that we all prepare to be as independent of the economy (built on finite fossil fuels) as we can get. Stockpile food while you build a garden that you can use to feed your family. Harvest rainwater. Find ways to cook without cooking fuel. Move close to the places you need to go. Find ways to light your home without electricity and stockpile candles. Get a wood stove and secure wood sources. Consider moving to a climate without extreme hot and cold.
These are good earth-saving if not money-saving, and thus, potentially family-saving suggestions. However, if she's right, I fear my family is doomed. Not only did I just move over 3000 miles from a place of moderate, survivable temperatures to a place with extreme cold in the winter and extreme heat in the summer, but I also have not the slightest green thumb nor do-it-yourself ability. And since I've just moved to a rental home, I don't have the power to insulate, start a garden, install a wood burning stove, replace windows, nor do anything else to improve our chances of survival, at least not without permission from the landlord. And it is probably not in my best interests to invest in this rental home where I have a short-term lease, unless I end up signing for a longer lease or am committed to buying it down the road.
Of course, as another online buddy pointed out, the most extreme end of this side of the spectrum lands smack dab in conspiracy theory: http://www.projectcamelot.net/norway.html. And someone else aptly concluded that as humans, we tend to predict the apocalyptic in these types of scenarios. She's right. People have been predicting the end of civilization since the beginning of civilization. People have seen reason to have no hope for at least as long as history has been recorded in writing. Consider for example, this quote, which I've seen attributed to Hesiod of 8th century B.C.
"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" - Hesiod, 8th century B.C.
Perhaps we not only tend toward the apocalyptic, but also the apocryphal.
So yes, bad things can and do happen, and I will try to be disciplined enough in the next month or two to indeed batten down the hatches here. There is much I can't control, but I can at least start with these :
While putting on my shoes to head out to work this morning, the image of the famous photo at left, Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother (1936), flashed through my mind. The woman in the photo is Florence Owens Thompson (who later said she wished Lange had not taken her photo reportedly because Lange did not give her any compensation, did not send her a copy of the photo, and did not take her name or ask her anything about her story, etc.). She was thirty-two years old when this image was taken. That is, very close to the age I am now.In many ways, my family is among the especially financially vulnerable right now. This possible recession has been precipitated by a housing crisis rip tide that we were swept into. We are carrying a rent and a mortgage at the moment as we live over 3000 miles from the home we own, a home which we have been desperately trying to sell for over a half year now. We've had to talk about foreclosure, though fortunately we do believe that we can avoid it.
The home we are renting is heated by oil. Before we knew what it would cost to heat this home, we spent $800 on oil in a matter of twenty days. We live in a rather cold climate.
In terms of income, I support my four-person family on a low middle class salary, with plans for my dw G to supplement this with her working class earnings. My job is not among the particularly secure. Our savings were wiped away in our move. We are already living beyond our means, despite the fact that we have no other debt besides our mortgage and home equity (which we took out to prepare to sell our home before the market took the dive that it did, and which also has actually and ironically been paying our mortgage) and that we are conservative spenders living a pretty simple life. It wouldn't take much to correct this, to get our budget back on track, if only the housing market could make it out of this slump. It is the housing that is killing us.
Predictions of the immediate financial future of this country and the world seem to vary wildly. One interviewee on NPR (Marketplace, I believe), who had proper qualifications, claimed that based on the patterns of previous recessions, we can safely bet that if we go into an actual recession, we are going to come out of this much more quickly and much more safely than folks are predicting. Many others are recommending that folks batten down the hatches. They are taking a moderate stance. They are explaining that this, like all recessions, are a natural correction/pendulum swing in the marketplace and that things will get pretty bad for a while but that we should all ride this out with some sense of patience and calm because at some point, we are going to come out of this. I've heard multiple people in this camp say, "Just start storing some nuts for the winter."
On the other end of the scale, there are a few who are predicting a devastating and long-lasting financial turn for the worst. A buddy of mine online, who apparently successfully predicted the "housing market boom" that occurred over the last couple of years, is suggesting that we all prepare for this to become not only a full blown recession, but for the recession to develop into a depression worse than "The Great Depression." The reason? Our whole economy is built around having cheap energy, and we are depleting fossil fuels at a breathtaking speed. Of particular concern, OIL. Batten down the hatches is an understatement for her recommendations. Think Y2K.
Here are the links she recommended:
http://www.richardheinberg.com/
http://www.peakoil.com/
http://www.energybulletin.net/
http://www.postcarbon.org/
http://transitionculture.org/
http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/
http://www.kunstler.com/
She basically is suggesting that we all prepare to be as independent of the economy (built on finite fossil fuels) as we can get. Stockpile food while you build a garden that you can use to feed your family. Harvest rainwater. Find ways to cook without cooking fuel. Move close to the places you need to go. Find ways to light your home without electricity and stockpile candles. Get a wood stove and secure wood sources. Consider moving to a climate without extreme hot and cold.
(more of Florence Owens Thompson from Dorothea Lange)
These are good earth-saving if not money-saving, and thus, potentially family-saving suggestions. However, if she's right, I fear my family is doomed. Not only did I just move over 3000 miles from a place of moderate, survivable temperatures to a place with extreme cold in the winter and extreme heat in the summer, but I also have not the slightest green thumb nor do-it-yourself ability. And since I've just moved to a rental home, I don't have the power to insulate, start a garden, install a wood burning stove, replace windows, nor do anything else to improve our chances of survival, at least not without permission from the landlord. And it is probably not in my best interests to invest in this rental home where I have a short-term lease, unless I end up signing for a longer lease or am committed to buying it down the road.
Of course, as another online buddy pointed out, the most extreme end of this side of the spectrum lands smack dab in conspiracy theory: http://www.projectcamelot.net/norway.html. And someone else aptly concluded that as humans, we tend to predict the apocalyptic in these types of scenarios. She's right. People have been predicting the end of civilization since the beginning of civilization. People have seen reason to have no hope for at least as long as history has been recorded in writing. Consider for example, this quote, which I've seen attributed to Hesiod of 8th century B.C.
"I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint" - Hesiod, 8th century B.C.
Perhaps we not only tend toward the apocalyptic, but also the apocryphal.
So yes, bad things can and do happen, and I will try to be disciplined enough in the next month or two to indeed batten down the hatches here. There is much I can't control, but I can at least start with these :
- Pay off some large bills that have gone unpaid for far too long...work on my credit score
- Get a renter in the home we own
- Re-evaluate our monthly budget and cancel any services we no longer use, etc.
At the same time, fretting over a recession is just going to contribute to the emotional response that seems to be dooming the stock market right now. While I find it an interesting intellectual exercise to consider how folks would respond to a depression in these modern times of ours when we are used to living longer, for instance (a post for another day, perhaps), I don't find it particularly calming to my own already high stress level to predict what may come to be known as apocalyptic and apocryphal stories. I'm visualizing instead, a stable future...for my family, the United States, and the world.
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