I’m not very good at talking about myself – my skills.
I do good work. I work incredibly hard. I’m honest. I love challenges. So why is it so terribly difficult for me to be my own salesperson?
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I just updated my website to include a services page. Now that I’m working for myself again and all.
It needs tweaking. I’m not fully happy with it.
But after procrastinating for weeks, I finally willed myself to at least hit the publish button.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
THIS is about the most fabulous response to a ridiculous tabloid story I can think of.
Rock on Amanda Palmer. Rock on.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
THIS is just the most absurd interview. Except, it isn’t. People actually live and operate like this.
How do we make it stop?
I have so much respect for Reza Aslan – he conducted the entire interview as if she was actually worthy of his time. I’m pretty sure there is no way I would have been able to be so diplomatic.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
I took a Pure Barre class for the first time.
I thought I was going to hate it. Aerobics or fitness classes disguised as dance classes? No thank you.
This, however, is an altogether different breed of get-fit training.
My long ago friend was in town and taught a guest class while she was here. (She owns a Pure Barre studio in Beverly Hills.) It was because of her that I gave in and took it.
This lady is in ridiculously good shape and taught a ridiculously good class.
I’m hooked.
It’s no substitute for dancing, but it sure is a great way to get my butt (and everything else) in shape… Hooray for finding something that can keep my muscles – and attention span – engaged long enough to hopefully see some results.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
There’s an ease and comfort that comes with long-time friends.
Ones that can laugh with you and at you and around you.
Ones that judge not you, but perhaps on occasion judge others who are not worthy of you. And tell you so.
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There’s an ease and comfort that comes with moving back into orbit with long-time friends.
Like, the way four+ years of less-than-constant contact falls away.
And the rock-solid foundation on which a decade+ friendship has been formed once again emerges.
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What an amazing realization to wake up to.
This solid foundation you just didn’t really think about – had no idea you had been building all this time.
This solid foundation that has not been lost.
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It’s a quiet kind of thankful.
A peace.
A stillness amongst all of the other crazy surrounding you.
To be in their orbit.
And you in theirs.
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It’s exactly what I didn’t know I had been needing for so long.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
The Call Box Project turns former emergency/fire call boxes in the Washington, DC area into works of historical and artistic significance. Not just former, but the original call boxes, I should say… first installed in the late 1800s.
Here is one in my neighborhood receiving a face lift:
Here’s to another day of creativity…
Ask me how I know the world will be alright.
With all of the hate and injustice and war and sadness that surrounds us.
Ask me, and I will tell you it is because I saw this movie.
Fly By Light, a film by One Common Unity, literally changed the lives of fourteen Washington, DC teenagers. And also, it is fair to say, the lives of the adults who created the movie with them.
I’ve worked in schools. With young people. I have seen outreach programs, and outdoor education programs, and conflict resolution programs. Some good, some terribly not so good.
And I can say, without a doubt, that this – this is the real thing. That these people, and now this movie, are making the world a better place. This is what lasting change looks and feels like. One person at a time.
Because at the end of the day, there is no magic potion or sum of money or Hollywood ending that makes it so. No. This is the real thing because each and every one of the contributors of the movie offered respect and love and compassion and belief – belief that these young people are worthy. That, my friends, is where the true magic lies. We don’t always have the right answers, but we always have what’s in our hearts. And that is enough. This movie is proof that it is enough.
I don’t want to give it all away. I want you to see it, and be moved by it.
But I will say that to see not only the transformation on screen, but also in person as these brave young people shared their stories, their lives, with us – this was an incredible thing.
Also, I should note – I am definitely not a thug (not that this was ever really in question) because I certainly shed more than a single tear while watching the movie. (If you’ve seen it, that will make sense. Otherwise, just take my word for it…)
So.
Ask me how I know the world will be alright, and I will tell you to see Fly By Light.
And then you, too, will know.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
My 200th post.
That seems like kind of a big deal. Worthy of some celebration.
Fireworks?
Speech?
Champagne?
Well OK so no.
But a commemorative/reflective post at the very least?
I thought about writing 200 words that sum up these past 200 days of posts.
Or maybe a look back at some of my ‘highlight’ posts. (I haven’t gone back to read any of them – won’t that be fascinating, to see my transformation, when I do?)
Then I saw this video, choreographed and danced by women I have known from the DC dance scene.
Not at all connected to anything. Except.
It made me want to dance.
Like, I’ve been thinking about it a lot.
Dancing.
I was even asked the other day, by someone I met at karaoke, if I would be interested in dancing in his upcoming project.
The timing didn’t work out, but I was flattered.
And excited that maybe I’ve still got ‘it’ – even if my only dancing these days happens at Monday night karaoke.
So, I’m putting it out in the universe, in the blogisphere…
I’m ready to be back dancing again.
And since I have spoken other things into existence on this here blog, it seems only appropriate to put this big wish out there today, on this big 200th day of shaping my creative life.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
This gender role-reversed video of Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, created by Seattle-based boylesque group Mod Carousel, is pretty fabulous. Word of warning before you open it in that coffee shop you’re sitting in with your six-year-old: just as with the original, it’s explicit.
Here is the explanation they group gave for creating the parody:
It’s our opinion that most attempts to show female objectification in the media by swapping the genders serve more to ridicule the male body than to highlight the extent to which women get objectified and does everyone a disservice. We made this video specifically to show a spectrum of sexuality as well as present both women and men in a positive light, one where objectifying men is more than alright and where women can be strong and sexy without negative repercussions.
Oh and THIS? An added bonus for today. Because it’s always the right time to dance Like A Lunatic.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
In preparing for the upcoming panel discussion, I’ve been thinking a ton about why I’m trying to create unique arts spaces. And am trying to distill that into a simple idea. Here’s what I have come up with:
Both art and space can positively affect our mood and well-being. The blending of these two things, when done well then, can have (peaceful, non-violent) cataclysmic effects on our selves, our families, and our communities. That’s what I’m all about. Yea yea yea.
Here’s to another day of creativity…
The Daily Creative Project 