In All Things We Are Connected

An interesting thing to read - my submission to the National Gallery of Writing.  I was given the opportunity to submit to this and was humbled to receive notice that my piece was selected for placement in the NCTE . . . here is the link:

In All Things We Are Connected

The NCTE stands for the National Council for the Teachers of English.  Ironically I did not find myself wanting to teach, only to write.   This was my second published work after the collaborative work on the first music video that I did for the band Senses Fail and their song "The Priest and the Matador" through NetStudio TV.

Strange how the world brings an individual to what they desire as a child if one just stays open to the possibilities and the fact that we are all connected.

The Hallmark Holiday Part 1

I am often a cynic when random belief systems are integrated into popular culture.  When reflecting on one of the well known "chocolate holidays" I make an effort to find a basis of belief which feels real to me in modern times.  Researching the origin of St. Valentine leads this author back to valens  which can be defined as worthy, strong, or powerful according to most references.  Looking to Roman and Greek origins, the birth of St. Valentine, a common theme of martyrdom is its basis of life when moving toward the modern era.  This is intriguing to me as the current incarnation of the holiday is often fed by unrealistic expectations, broken hearts, and crushed dreams.Don't get me completely wrong ~ many find their true love and their heart's desire on this day that seems to vomit out red in a commercial deluge of hopes wrapped in dashing dreams.  Are men waiting for Barbie to drive up in the pink Corvette as much as us women look to Prince Charming to ride up on his white stallion?  

In today's world does love mean the self effacing martyrdom of the past or some as yet undefined plasticity?  Is that plasticity  evident in the inability that most individuals exhibit when attempting to "be themselves" as part of the ritual of dating?  In this respect I keep coming back to the term martyr as representative of valens. How many men and women today have sacrificed personal belief systems so they do not end up alone? 


  Now a person can celebrate "Singles Awareness Day" combating the stereotypical happily ever after expectation of modern society.  I say that we celebrate the Romanticism of chivalry, honor, and valor.  Love is a feeling, a hope realized in reality.  Love is a decision, not a fleeting desire to capture a prize or take a hostage.  Only in the tangible can the imagined be formed into substance.  A gentle breeze, the scent of roses on a midsummer night's air, the velvety smooth tactile embrace of hope in each other's arms.

Sonnet No. 18

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?"

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? 

   Thou art more lovely and more temperate: 

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, 

   And summer's lease hath all too short a date: 

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, 

   And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; 

And every fair from fair sometime declines, 

   By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; 

But thy eternal summer shall not fade, 

   Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest; 

Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade, 

   When in eternal lines to time thou growest; 

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, 

   So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

  William Shakespeare




I challenge you to find a way to act in a loving way, every day.  Express the passion you feel in life through positive actions that can change us all. It is time for a RENAISSANCE OF HUMANISM on the world stage, taking the ideals of valens out of the history book, giving them life.

Some of the greatest art, music, literature, science, and philosophy was born out of humanism as an ideal.  On this day of martyrs I choose to embrace the possibilities of an open mind and hopeful hart as my gift .

 Humanism relies on flexible thinking and being open to all of the possibilities in life and less concerned with the closed minded thinking of the past.  Yes it is a jump from Pixar to Shakespeare, but is it REALLY? Both celebrate the beauty that is born of a possibility, an idea, and forms finding a voice.  Let's get flexible and concern ourselves with each other rather than another Hallmark chocolate  holiday.



  

Is Surrealism Street Art?

What makes one an artist?  Today culture is returning to a renaissance of creativity, a blast of ideas illuminating the chaos.  From moments on the never ending stream of too much information how do we as the human racing find an outlet that brings peace?  One of the most intriguing concepts in culture today is the idea that anything can bring form to feeling.  I am a writer.  This is the medium that I find most comfortable expressing myself.  I sculpt ideas with words, painting a vision of what lives in my soul.  

Art makes an impression and great art makes the audience think outside of the normative belief systems in society.  According to Antonin Artaud, "Surrealism is above all a state of mind, it does not advocate formulas. The most important point is to put oneself in the right frame of mind. No Surrealist is in the world, or thinks of himself in the present, or believes in the effectiveness of the mind as spur, the mind as guillotine, the mind as judge, the mind as doctor, and he resolutely hopes to be apart from the mind. The Surrealist has judged the mind. He has no feelings which are a part of himself, he does not recognize any thought as his own. His thought does not fashion for him a world to which he reasonably assents. He despairs of attaining his own mind."   Martin Esslin states, “The hallmark of this attitude is its sense that the certitudes and unshakable basic assumptions of former ages have been swept away, that they have been tested and found wanting, that they have been discredited as cheap and somewhat childish illusions." (Theatre of the Absurd).

When  thinking of modern artists who capture the ideals of the surrealists I immediately go to the street artists such as Banksy. These painters were considered criminal painting in the cover of darkness evading authority. Going to any lengths to let loose the passions, one of the most beautiful pieces of graffiti I have seen was while walking the streets of Sydney, Australia a few years ago.  I was amazed to see the side of a building painted with an image of Martin Luther King, Jr.  Street art is the expression of defiance on a canvas for the world to see.  A surreal concept - taking a building and covering it with art.  Unexpected, transformed, and often surreal.  

Phoenix artist Joseph Sentrock Perez recently told me, "Art is a very spiritual experience for me, I often seek God to give me inspiration. Art in any sense is an act of being God like. Creating something out of the norm is more than just a physical act. I don’t understand the concept of not making art anymore. So much of my life is sacrificed to creating art, and expressing through art." I had first seen his artwork in person at a CD release show for Dearspeak which featured musicians telling the story of their art.  Also there was Joseph, and I was fascinated by the images that I saw, brought to tears by an image with no idea of the painting's name or the artist's meaning.  I simply found my own connection.

Joseph's affinity for large canvas size began with a mural project in third grade, sparking the desire to create, turning on the light in a young artist  who says, "Since then I always sought ways to express myself and my art."  A true artist finds the drive to create much like someone who is possessed to let loose the beings living inside.  Pursuing art school now, the foundation of Joseph's creative vision has been formed while working with and learning from his fellow artists in the occasional workshop setting,  When asked what place street art has in our culture today Joseph states, "Street art is very interesting and refreshing to me. Its such a love/hate relationship with society. Art done in the streets is so organic. It pushes our idea of what art is and how society should be. One hand is vandalism on the other its expression, to me when i see street art it reminds me that, the city is alive and wanting to be noticed."

Has the Surrealist ideal found new mentors to keep the passions alive without Rene Magritte of Frieda Kahlo?  My perception sees the man with a can of spray paint on large canvas that may or may not include the sides of dilapidated buildings.  Adding texture and color to a decaying culture, refusing to break the rules of artistic convention. Artistic expression is the blood of human culture.  Freedom to express is the driving force for change. Why wait until history decides ithe importance of art?  I hope you decide for yourself.

  You can read more about Joseph Sentrock Perez by checking out this piece in the  Phoenix New Times or look him up on Facebook to purchase his paintings.

Beauty and Truth

What does the death of someone really mean as we walk through life?  The death of an idea or an ideal brings about great change in our  perception of  life.  The Descendants is another Academy Award nominated film about life and death, but it is predominantly about rebuilding  the lives impacted by the decisions we make.  The story is set in the beauty of Hawaii and its tropical paradise. Affected is the last pristine island of Kauai.  Fighting development to stay true to the ideals of King Kamehameha and the land inherited by a family trust, George Clooney seems out of character as the grieving father of a daughter lost to anger, a dying unfaithful wife, and his youngest daughter who wanders lost.  The power of this family dynamic are the vines that keep growth possible.  Sometimes it is growth apart, together, or the growth of an idea that anything is possible if one knows the truth.

The irony of this dysfunctional family is the ability to be true to the land which holds the memories of generations.  I wondered as this film played how many people would sacrifice millions of dollars today to preserve the connection to a land, a piece of heaven on earth.  As I watched an actor find depths of truth in a character whose world had been literally ripped out from under him, the moral of this story is the importance that our history or stories if you will play an integral part in identifying who we are as individuals, families, and societies.  My parents met in Hawaii in the 1950's and married on the day the islands became a state,  My mother came to a point in her life that she refused to go back, and complained that the commercialism has fouled one of the most beautiful places on earth.  She had never been to Kauai while she lived there as a nurse after the war.  It was owned and cared for by the natives of the land.  

My last boyfriend moved to Hawaii to find a way of life that he could not find in the mainland.  My first love lived on Kauai for many years before I met him in Newport Beach, California. This is a  place  you could live off of the land, caring for yourself and nature and the island, the mother of all well being.  For a film to take such a stand gives strength to the idea that we are tied to the land with memories, lessons, and visions in our mind of what it all really is.  I have never been to Hawaii or any of the islands.  Yet.  I have lost two men to the lure of the tropics, a destination for those who want to play but more that want to live in the beauty that is the paradise of Hawaii.  

Somehow the bottom line for The Descendants is a simple concept that many people have forgotten the farther their lives take them from the land.  There is poverty, crime, and family difficulties no matter where you live.  There is homelessness and addiction.  No matter where we live, we are connected as a species to the land that has cared for us in spite of our best efforts to screw up the scenery.  

My parents married on the big island so in some weird way I am bound to be a descendant of a land I have yet to see or know. My great uncle flew around the world in 1924 as part of the Great Air Race of 1924 and after his aeronautical days were through he settled in Hawaii because of the beauty of a simple people who loved the land and ocean as part of their being.  It is my privilege to be part of history, the continuity of beauty unknown in much of the world, without the chocking effects of hotels and resorts.Sometimes the best way to change is to be at peace with the world, needing nothing to change and leave the untouched just that - untouched.

I have boomerangs on my wall that were brought back from lands that only an airplane could reach.  A Maori prayer rug hangs on my wall facing my bed.  I am connected to the land. The Descendants strongest theme throughout was a value for the land above what wealth might bring. It was refreshing to watch a movie that set greed and wealth aside and valued the tangible, wild, irreplaceable place that was part of continuous family history.

 More on the Air Race of 1924

Does Time Heal?

One of my passions takes place around the awards season.  I always try to view all of the movies that have been nominated for the major awards either through the Golden Globes or the Academy of Motion Picture Sciences aka the Academy Awards.  One of the films in this prestigious category was one that I had really no interest in viewing - Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close which garnered veteran actor Max Von Sydow a nod.  Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close on IMDB gives background to a film which I hope is one of the last that tells a tale of September 11, 2001.

I was to be at a nephew's wedding in New York that day and because of illness was forced to cancel my flight.  Initially my husband was to take my young daughter and go without me, but after coming home from the hospital he realized I was unable to care for myself.  This is how we became one of the many who did not fly on that day having been booked on United 93.  I didn't realize the connection until I was watching the scramble to find missing planes, horrified as many were to see in real time the destruction of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, and the courageous flight of United 93.

After less than stellar  reviews I was not really interested in viewing the film.  Then the nominations were announced.  I still cannot look at the images of people leaping  to their death from the towers, but somehow watching a young boy and his mother walk through the vacuum left behind by tragedy as helped that little piece inside me heal a little bit more.  I lost no one, but in my life I know people who were in the towers and survived, died, and escaped fate because of circumstances guiding toward the light.  In many ways I feel unsure about recommending this film as I really want to move into life after the terrorist attacks, living without fear.  I do not think this is the best film of the year.  I do think this is a film that may be healing the scar a little bit more.

I  will never throw away the copy of Time Magazine that has images of faceless people flying to their death out of the burning buildings.  I will never get rid of my NYFD t-shirt that I bought in honor and support of the fallen heroes. Sometimes out of great tragedy comes incredible courage to heal, the faith to move forward out of incredible destruction of life, love, and family. 

I will never forget where I could have been.   I will never forget where I was. I will always remember to be grateful for where I am.  I will fly into New York City again someday. . . . and find that little piece of me that will  always live in that field in Pennsylvania as I am pretty sure that I would not have been someone who sat there and did nothing. 

My life is a gift. I hope you find the key that unlocks the joy of your life whether that key makes sense or not. I pray that I live by facing my fear.  I hope that you find a reason to do the same. . . .