Global Mourning
Shana, me and Allison of CCC, 4/22/07

Today I was a part of a participatory art project at Golden Gate Park in San Fransisco called "From Global Mourning to Global Awakening." Allison Quaid, the director of Creative Community Catalysts, reserved a booth for the us at the Green Apple Festival, a music festival for Earth Day. It was her, myself, and another CCC volunteer named Shana that came up with the idea for this piece, then collected salvaged materials to build it (re-using is sustainable:).
The piece itself was addressing the issue of Global Warming, like most of the other organizations there, but before calling people to change their livestyles, we were asking people to express their emotions about Global Warming either by writing or drawing, or talking. Then after reflecting about those feelings,we encouraged people to write their hopes on a flag and tie it to our "tree" of hope. We made a website to go along with this projects so people can continue to express themselves, so please take a couple minutes to share your feelings too.

The main idea behind our piece stemmed from the belief that healing is a process. So in order to heal ourselves and the planet, we must tap into our emotions and take time to reflect and think about how Global Warming is affecting each of us in our lives. Then we can really make meaningful changes to stop it. The idea is that by meditating about how we feel and thinking about what we may lose, or already have lost because of Global Warming, we are able to open up to what really matters in life and enter a state of mind that helps us sincerely ponder what we will do to protect our planet and those we love.
Those emotions are what inspire and motivate us to change, but we have to take the time out to go through the process; it's like a rite of passage.

To represent this process, we set up two doors, an entrance and exit that people would walk through. The entrance is called Global Mourning, and the exit: Global Awakening. To draw people in at the entrance was an ice sculpture that was melting in the hot CA sun with a sign underneath it saying "As the glaciers melt, what melts in you?" In the center is a space for people to sit on cushions, read stories about people whose livlihoods have changed because of glacial melting, write thoughts in journals, and draw pictures about how they're feeling. Next to the exit door is a tree we made from trimmed tree branches and a salvaged CD case trunk that people tied flags to. On the flags, people wrote their hopes for the planet. After that people could choose a vegetable, flower, or herb seed from a bowl of seeds to take home with them. Then they exited though the "Global awakening" door, symbolizing a seed of change that each of us plant inside to begin growing a positive future.

Here are some pictures so you can visualize what the piece looked like:
Global Mourning Entrance, mourning space, and Global Awakening exit

From this angle you can see both the entrance and exit doors with people in the center drawing and writing. To close off this space we built screen walls where we hung pictures about the effects of Global Warming and where we hung drawings that people had created.

The Ice Sculpture in front of the entrance.

A bunch of kids making drawings about the planet:)

Me at the table where people could write their hopes, then take seeds of hope home to plant .

Some kids writing their hopes for the planet...
"I hope we can plant more trees."
"I hope for sustainability," etc.

Glenn and his mom both came to participate:)

This is our tree of hope that people tied their hope flags to.

After doing all the brainstorming for this project; searching salvage yards for materials, building screen walls that were structurally sound, printing jarring pictures about the effects of Global warming that were hung up on them, and then standing in the sun all day at the festival encouraging folks to express themselves, I feel like I haven't taken the change to really stop and think for myself:
How do I feel about global warming? How is it affecting my life?


So here goes: I feel surprised that we have come to a point where the impacts of the human race are being seen world wide. I feel angry that the American culture values money, consumption, competition and limitless growth over human relationships, conservation, cooperation and "smart growth". I feel guilty when I fly and want to travel far places... I feel frustrated that I have to fight against the grain by saying let's try and consume less, not more...that bigger is not always better and is usually much worse!....

Like most of us, I feel overwelmed by global warming. The Human species is changing the climate patterns of our planet, affecting not only our own well-being, but that of every other living thing that shares the planet with us. That's scary. disturbing. discouraging. depressing!...
Somehow I still have hope for us though. I have hope that we can change. I have hope that we, especially as citizens of the U.S., are entering a time of awakening and connectedness that will help us recognize that relationships are more important than material wealth, that there is enough for everyone if we share, that we don't need to rapidly deplete the world's resources to live a happy and fulfilling life...
So I don't think we are doomed. I won't give up. I won't say that it's too big and I refuse to believe that we can't work together to turn it around. But I do believe that each of us has the power and responsibility to stop climate change; to care about those around us more... To think about the consequences of our actions more... To make efforts to change more... To try more... To believe more... To love more... To care more... The keys are: individual action, faith, and hope.
"Four Elements" Mandala by Glenn and Krystal, 8/18/06. Trinidad Beach, Trinidad, CA

So where does my hope come from? I'm forcing myself to think about this. Am I a hopeless idealist? Maybe. Maybe not. I feel like I'm pretty eductated in this area, and yes I tend to always look on the bright side....Am I just naive? I hope not. No, I don't think so. I have hope because I have a deep respect and love for nature and I'll never stop doing what I can to protect it. I have hope because I honestly do believe that human nature is inherently good and I believe that we all have all the tools we need within ourselves to transform the way we live and think about the world we live in. I have hope because I have faith in creativity, love, compassion, and cooperation, all of which all happen to be renewable just like the sun, the wind and the waves. ... So now I've got to turn this hope into change.

What does this change look like? To me, in order to stop global warming and create a positive future, we must re-think how we live our lives; stop to contemplate what is really important to us, and identify what sacrifices we are willing to make for the benefit of our planet, ourselves, and each other. Then we are ready to make different decisions in our daily lives that accumulate with others' to create big change.

So I've mentioned some feelings and thoughts.
Being who I am, I've got to talk about some solutions too,
so here are some ideas:

let's try and reach out more and build more positive relationships instead of isolating ourselves behind our laptops and iPods..I'm just as guilty as the next person, but I'm trying to break out of my shell. And I think this is a big piece in the puzzle to fill. Wanna try with me? Let's try. It starts with smiling. Then opening your mouth.



I believe that each of us can choose to do something differently every day even if it seems that others aren't. We have the power to encourage others around us even if we don't feel encouraged. We have the ability to commit to doing something different every day that is positive: whether it's changing light bulbs to energy effecient ones, taking the bus instead of driving one day a week, talking to a stranger in line at the store, buying fruit a local farmer, offsetting travel with carbon credits... (I'm still learning about this great one, check out what one of my heros David Suzuki says about it.) The point is, there are small things we can do to create a more positive place to live and that add up to make a difference. Let's strive to live a carbon-neutral life. Let's strive.


So for me, I think the first step to making these solutions real is as simple as having faith, believing that our actions make a difference. Let's work on that one.

The next step would be trusting ourselves and each other, then reaching out to more people. I was talking to someone recently, or maybe it was a lecture I heard sometime, that we must think about what we want the future to look like, then in order to create that positive future, we must sharing that vision with others to help it grow.
It's kind of like Peter Pan: "Think happy thoughts and you can fly"...right? You get my point.


The last step would be to commit and choose to do what it takes to make that vision real. Every day. And when we forget, re-commit and keep on going.

One of my favoirite images that helps me keep my focus is what I learned growing up in the Mormon church: life is a journey. Every day we can be better than we were the day before. When things get hard, the challenge helps us grow stronger. And by enduring to the end- keeping faith alive and hoping for a better future-we can partake of the fruit of the tree of life and be happy.
The trick is you gotta keep on walking.
And f you take a wrong turn, you've got to make your way back to the path.

"Tree of Life," Cynthia Fisher. 2002
Big Bang Mosaics

So...Let's reach out to others, encourage each other, have faith, live with hope instead of fear, and partake of the fruit of the tree of life.

I revel in the awe and beauty of nature and give thanks for all that our Mother Earth continually provides!

Let's protect and honor this precious gift.
Alhumdulilaay!

Big Sur!
It's one of the most beautiful places I've been I think. yup.

Andrew Molera State Park, Bluffs/Ridge Trail Loop
Very beautiful, not very developed, and not many people:)
"That's the way uh huh uh huh I like it..."

Pink Sand!
This was at a secluded beach off the trail on a spur called the Spring trail.
We had lunch in a little drift wood bench in a protected cove right before the trail got to the beach- peaceful bubbling spring, chirping birds, graceful butterflies...

Pink Sand in my teeth!

Shadow Monsters on the metamorphic sedimentary swirly rocks.

Top of the ridge with super- skydiving-power winds that almost blew us into the ocean...
almost.

Big Sur Coast line on the way to Julia Pfeiffer State Park (about 10 miles past our turn off for the Pine Ridge Trail in Pfeiffer Big Sur State Park)
a happy little accident as Bob Ross would say:)Pine Ridge Trail up to Sykes Hot Springs.
10 miles in and back, we spent two nights backpacking with great spots sleeping next to the big sur river

poison oak is everywhere! beware.

The Trail is alush meandering through canyons and around mountains with towering redwoods shooting up beside you on the trail and mountainesque views the whole time! The West is the best! (The East is the least...for more on this you can refer to the AT blog from last summer...) PCT is for me- I need the mountain views and rivers and lakes and hot springs please!!

Me in our cozy spot with our tarp tent- easy, light and quick. We use trees or hiking poles to pitch the tarp, then have a smaller net tent that goes underneath to keep the bugs out... There weren't many mosquitos, but I did get my very first tick this trip, how exciting. It was in my back of all places, those little guys are sneaky and tiny. Thanks to Jimmy and Marylyn, a cute older couple that let us borrow the tweezers, and to Glenn for pulling it out...Just for the books, if you ever get a tick, the match on the butt is not a good strategy, it just kills the tick, then you can't get the head out. I don't think peanut butter is effective either, according to the tick pamphlet we got at the ranger station it's best to just pull em straight out with some tweezers. Again thank you Jimmy and Marlyn. I think I might just put some tweezers in the first aid kit now.

Here are some haikus we wrote by the river:

Campfires and campers
bodies in a circle sit
Brothers and sisters

pot coated w/food
smells like good things are cooking
even when they're not

River oh river
always whispering words of peace
stay with us tonight

golden branches soar
ripples dance their way down stream
ancient giants watch

Dusk fills the valley
shapes and voids become sharper
such a peaceful time

illumination
heat creeps up from underneath
blue flames dance upward

calm, peaceful and wise
flowing down the mountain side
clear syrup of life

The lucsious trailThe lucious river valley! I love mountains!

Monterey Bay at Asilomar State Park
We went tide pooling here and without much luck realized we could see all the best of the best at the aquarium...Monterey Bay Aquarium
This is an amazing place.

Jelly Fish- these are amazing to watch, especially the tiny baby ones.

Sea anenomes!

Sea Otters- this is the big new exhibit right now, we got to see them during feeding time, then watched them play in the Bay during dinner at El Torritos right on the ocean front.

Coral, lots of different kinds: brain coral, velvet coral, staghorn coral, spiny coral or something like that...Lots of these reefs are dying over the world because of pollution and raising ocean temperatures..sad they're so beautiful.

The kelp tank.. Kelp can grow 1.5 feet a day and 75 feet tall- they must have the moving ocean to grow and thrive, so they have a way to simultate the ocean tides to keep this exhibit alive and well.

The aquarium is really impressive, we also saw sharks and rays and touch pools and interprative displays...they integrate their mission of conservation into their facilities and programs too: the toilets have low flush handles (you pull up for liquid waste and it doesn't use as much water) have signs on the paper towels that say: towels=trees, they encourage you to recycle plastic bags (they look like jelly fish and fish eat them, making them feel full, but giving them no nutrients) and give out Sea Watch guides to let you know what fish is the most appropriate to eat in order to save the ocean environments: check it out here and help keep the oceans healthy: http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/SeafoodWatch/web/sfw_regional.aspx
What a cool place.
Yay for our oceans! It is a totally different world under there...

Te Deum
Yesterday was the day that we finally had our big choir performance. Remember, I sing in the Montclair Presbyterian Church Choir with Glenn and his mother Caroline? So for months we have been practicing Handel's "Te Deum in A" (1726) with 9 movements. It lasts about 15 minutes all in all and today we performed it for Palm Sunday- the church hall was lined with big palm leaves on each side to commemorate the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem when he was praised as King before his betrayal and crucifixion... We had a small orchestra to accompany us, and sang with our hearts and souls...it was nice to feel the energy and praise in the room. We practieced and worked hard on this piece, so it was nice when I actually felt the peace and joy we were singing about during the performance, rather than just blindly singing the prnted words. With the sun shining on our heads from the sky lights above I really felt like a holy angel singing from heaven..it was pretty neat.
I liked what the pastor Karen said before we sang, she gave us confidence and peace by reminding us that: singing in a church choir is singing in behalf of the whole congregation (the real choir), singing thier hopes and praises together with them and for them. It's also about singing together in unity, creating a unified sound that is about praising God and feeling the revelry and peace of creation. It's not about your ego trying to sing the loudest or best, but about humbly and proudly melting our voices together into a harmonious, joyful song that shows our gratitude to God for life, grace, and love and praises life of Christ for his inspiring example of compassion and love for all.

The Lady Washington

Saturday night I celebrated the full moon with Caroline and Glenn aboard the Lady Washington's Moonlight adventure sail from Jack London Square out on the Bay... It was with a non-profit called Gray's Harbor Historical SeaPort Authority, who does educational programs for youth to promote and preserve maritime history and teach kids about sailing, and also do recreational sails like adventure and battle sails with the public on the weekends!

My first time sailing, and it was in a historic tall sailing ship...in the full moon! Very cool experience...The adventure sail means that people aboard get to help the crew sail the ship- this is harder work than you think...the crew seemed to be running around the whole time from rope to rope "hauling your halyard" and "setting your gear" on the star bird side...basically pulling ropes to let down the sails, pulling other ropes to change the angle of the sail relative to how the wind was blowing and the direction we wanted to go...It is a lot of work to sail a ship like that, I can see why modern day ships have gotten a lot simpler- not so much work! But there's something really satisfying about knowing that it takes a crew of people working hard together, communicating clearly(repeating the orders of the captain and yelling when your ready), and singing songs together to make this big ship move...

Apparently you can volunteer for two weeks on the ship (for $500) and see what it's really like to live on the ship, learn the ropes, and become part of the crew. All the crew members started out this way. It's pretty tempting to want to escaoe to sea for a few weeks, or a few months...a simpler life with different worries and a lot of hard physical work, but a deeper connection with nature: being attuned to the direction of and power of the wind, and a deeper connection with yourself and those around you...It really is an escape from our reality of life living in a city- it's like having time hold still, stopping, listening, feeling...

That's what I envision anyways, I don't REALLY know since I only have the experience of 2 hours pulling some ropes a couple of times in the protected waters of the Bay...But I'm thinking that the sailing life must be similar to the backpacking life- majority of the time you are working, but your amongst the power and beauty of nature, you're with spirited companions, you live a simpler life by taking away so much of the technology and busy-ness that we get caught up in during our day to day existance in a modern day city...leaving time to think, and wonder, and sing, and dance, and fly with the wind:)

"Unconditional"

I went to an amazing performance yesterady afternoon by the Destiny Arts Youth Performance Company, called "Unconditional." They're a multi-cultural group of teens around ages 16-18 who combine different dance techniques from salsa to hip hop, with poetry, theatre, song, and spoken word to confront personal challenges, tell their personal stories, and make commentary on society to inspire social change. All this while empowering youth and creating community- all the performers are involved in the choreography, and the stories are all true, personal stories they have experienced in their lives. The show covered issues like racism, gender roles, family issues, media, immigration, violence, personal identity, accpetance, global warming, as well as love, peace, meditation, and hope. The stories (told in the form of cell phone conversations) were so moving and shocking: having close friends get shot right next to you, having a dad and family threatened to be deported after 20 years of living and working in America, having a cousin go to fight in Iraq with ignorance about oil interests or Shiite/Sunni conflicts, being a guy who has long hair, likes to wear pink and wants to be accepted for who he is, feeling fearful and hopeless in a world of climate change and conflict, being addicted to T.V. then realizing the it is fueled by the corporate media....

It was inspiring and refreshing to go to a performance that included such relevant and REAL issues prevelant in our society that are not featured, and most often intentionally dis-cluded from mainstream T.V. Then to see a group of youth who cared so much about REAL issues alive today in our world and to see them inspired, empowered, and hopeful for a better future despite really challenging experiences in their personal lives, made me feel there is some hope for the future. I wish you all could've seen it because it's so hard to explain the power, energy, and emotion in their performance- funny, sad, heart-breaking, hopeful, beautiful, real, dynamic...every second is different from dancers on ropes from the ceiling to highly energetic group dancing to gospel songs to satirical imitations of news broadcasts and corporate CEOs...they sell DVDs of their performances as well as a documentary about them online..it would be cool to get one so you know what I'm talking about. Or go to a performance if you live in the Bay area.

Destiny Arts is by far the most succcessful youth organization I have witnessed so far in empowering youth, and providing creative outlets for youth to learn about themselves and the world, and teach others how to keep hope alive. They have a program called Project Destiny, which goes to 21 different schools in the Bay to do afterschool programs in martial arts, dance, and theatre from elementary to high school. They also have afterschool programs at their main site for youth to take classes, with all of their classes incorporating the "five fingers of non-violence." It's really amazing to me how they bring a diverse group of people together, empower youth to hold keep hope alive even in the most heartbreaking circumstances, and empower them to be positive, resist violence, be educated and thoughtful citizens, learn about team work and have lots of fun with youth of different ethnicities and backgrounds! I am inspired:) ...One last thought to contemplate: "What would a world without racism look like?" Without discrimination based on race, gender, class, age, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, OR education ( I though that was an interesting one to think about)...Really think about it.
What would it look like?

Let's go fly a Kite!!















Natural Bridge State Beach, Santa Cruz.

I like Holidays. who doesn't? When I was in Senegal it seemed there were holidays every other week because they would celebrate ALL the holidays: muslim AND christian holidays, plus other national holidays... not a bad idea. In California, we get a special day to celebrate the life of Cesar Chavez, legendary Mexican American farm worker in California who fought for the health and civil liberties of farmers in California, leading a strike with a huge march of grape-pickers from Delano to the capital (around 245 miles!, I just learned) that lasted for 5 years and encouraged people to boycott table grapes. To be honest, I hadn't even heard of Cesar Chavez growing up in Utah. I learned about him a few years ago when I worked for a Cesar Chavez grant one of my professors got to teach kids about him and about environmental conservation, organic farming/gardening, and community building in Willow Creek and the Hupa reservation (about 45 miles East of Arcata). What an amazing man. Thank you Cesar Chavez!

So to celebrate Mr. Chavez and our day off, Glenn and I took off to find a sunny beach- hello Santa Cruz! We were going to go to Stintson beach, which is supposed to be
the closest relatively non-crowded, un-polluted , and super beautiful beach...but after finding out that the next closest beaches (in Santa Cruz) were 70 degrees and sunny rather than 60 and foggy, Santa Cruz won! What can I say, I'm a dessert girl, I thrive on sunshine!


One thing I can say is that Glenn and I are good at playing: we spent the day running on rocks, Ukulele playing, tide pooling, playing tag, and kite flying!- we finally got my kite (purchased last summer and earth-bound even atop Utah's tallest mountain) to soar! It wasn't easy, our little kerby kamakazi kite kept spinning and diving all over the place, but we did it for a few couple minute long sessions with success, and Glenn's persistance:) Kite flying reminds me of camping at Moab in Southern Utah - we used to go every year with my family, cousins, and aunts and uncles over Easter and camp by the green river, have Easter Egg hunts in the sand, hike in nearby Arches National Park, play April Fool's jokes, and play capture the flag at night..I hear some of my cousins are keeping up the tradition and going down this year- way to keep the tradition alive! Unfortunately I won't be going :(, but Glenn and I might go to Big Sur, which is almost as nice:)

Big Bend Campsite, Moab, Utah

So back to Santa Cruz, the day was topped off with the appearance of a blue alpaca who came to enjoy a wade in the ocean! Yes blue, like dyed blue alpaca on a leash at the beach! How unusual?! maybe it's a frequent occurance there, but it was my first time seeing one. I feel privelaged.
I've always loved alpacas- their soft wool spun into velvety socks, hats and gloves and scarves, their gentle demeanor, their ability to mow your lawn by eating only the tops of the grass instead of the whole plant, plus they come in different colors apparently:P
I'd like to have a pet alpaca some day:)

Aren't they cute?

So I never thought anything could be softer than alpaca wool yarn until last night when we spent some time with our friend April, who just returned from a year in New Zealand, and brought home with her hundreds of pairs of posssom socks. That's right, possom fur is spun and mixed with wool and a little nylon to make the warmest, softest, most durable socks imaginable..or so April says. She convinced me...After trying them on and hearing the story of the possoms, I bought a pair and haven't taken them off sicne...I know you're thinking, how cruel, why would anyone want or even need a pair of socks made at the cost of the life of a small cute little bushtail possom(way cuter than the possoms here in US)?

Well I would've thought the same thing before I learned that possoms are the BIGGEST environmental problem in New Zealand! They were brought over from Australia (home to plenty of predators that will control the population such as dingos, tirantulas, alligators, ect) to New Zealand where the only mammal is a bat, hardly a predator for the feisty little possom. So the populations have mulitplied to uncontrollable numbers- 70 million! And they eat up to 140 TONS of the sweet lucious vegetation thriving in New Zealand's beautiful landscape...The government's way to deal with it is poison, which is just making another environmental problem contaminating ecosystems and killing other animals too. The alternative is to hunt them, and currently numerous hunters make money for killing as many as they can- they get 10 kiwi dollars ( about $7) for each possom they kill, then their fur is used to make soft, warm, durable socks. Apparently there are lots of hunters that make a good living doing this.

So now I've got super socks and I'm doing my little tiny part to help preserve New Zealand's pristine environment. I'll let you know how they stand a month of hiking on the PCT this summer...April has already used them for 6 months of hiking in New Zealand and they do not look worn at all. Yay for possom socks:) If any of you are interested in getting yourself some, contact my friend April Armstrong: aprilalison@hotmail.com

A NEW JOB! and Stretching the Social Circle

So this past week has been pretty exciting:

• I got a new job! yay:) I now am an administrative assistant for a program called ALICE, Arts and Literacy in Children's Education. It's a great non-profit organization that works with resident artists to teach elementary school kids dance, theatre, and visual arts! How cool! So I just help out with any and all aspects of coordinating the program, and even get to help out with a production they are putting on next week called "My heart comes from my ancestors" which is an original performance piece about kids stories from their grandparents. Read some of the stories here.

It feels good to be part of something worthwhile and meaningful that is working with art!
This is my new boss.
Her name is Helen.
I like her a lot because she is professional, creative, super organized, an open and honest communicator and she tries really hard to make our work environment positive and wholesome- she has an herb garden in her front yard (the office is out of her home), lots of natural lighting, has a sunny back patio that we will be able to work from sometimes, has herbal tea in the cupboard for making, and a compost container on the counter-my kind of atmosphere:) So what I'm trying to say is that I feel right at home there, and I think this will be a really positive experience. I think I will learn a lot from her, and will hopefully learn a little more about grant writing (essential in the non-profit world.) Plus the job is only till the end of June (which is what I wanted so I can go play for a couple months this summer- PCT hiking and farming with Glenn)

I met a lot of the artists the other day too, one of them is a Congolese dancer/drummer that has done workshops up in Arcata with my former african dance teacher up there- What a small world. He teaches at the Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts! in downtown Oakland also, where I've been meaning to go to take some African dance classes- I took a class a couple semester ago at Humboldt and miss it. So hopefully I will be able to go to his class soon:)

So besides a new job this week, I had a really fun weekend:

• I met a Senegalese woman (Klarice) and a man from Burkina Faso (Malam), and we all cooked Yassa Poulet (a senegalese oniony dish) at my friend Joe's house (who works at the West African Immigrant center in San Francisco). It was Joe that introduced us all and thought up the whole idea. what a cool guy. Anyways, the man from Burkina Faso, Malam, is a tailor, and he's going to make me a padded bike messenger bag out with African patchwork prints:) We're hoping to all get together again and go salsa dancing and/or go dancing at the Little Baobab in San Francisco. It was nice to hear people speaking Wolof and eating Yassa poulet!

yum.

• The grand finale of this weekend was to go to an all day workshop and concert hosted by the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir! Not only did Glenn and I get to take a singing class from the director, Terrance Kelly and ear training, drumming, and gospel/jazz piano with other choir members, we also got to learn some gospel songs and sing in the concert in a big mass choir! Can you say Hallelujah?
• The community concert was free hosted by the 1st congregational church of Oakland about a 10 minute drive from where we live: the concert lasted about 2 and half hours (every choir had to show off their stuff) and there were choirs from an assortment from black baptists to white church folks from Petaluma. One women reminded me of the woman version of James brown, I swear it was like right out of a movie(if anyone has seen blues brothers, it was kind of like the church jake and elwood went to)- singin at the top of her lungs at the piano while the whole choir sang at the top of their lungs shoutin and jumpin and clappin and dancin! What energy! It was fun, and shocking, and chaotic and crazy!
• I feel like I've now had an authentic taste of the REAL gospel sound. It was great.
• The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir and the St Paul's church were my favorite- both the directors are full of energy! Terrance is a great guy, I'm glad we got to sing with him- he also has an amazing voice and is a passionate director!
  

• I started a new community group: East Bay Nomads...check it out at http://groups.google.com/group/east-bay-nomads

Another Day at the Musuem

I took some international students down to the Oakland Museum for their FREE day yesterday:) They have a really nice history of california exhibit, California artists, with a couple of famous pieces by Rothkho and Deibenkorn....but my favorite exhibition was by "100 Families Oakland" project using art for social change.
Basically a partnership between Oakland's Center for Art and Public life and the College of California Arts came together to offer a series of art workshops for families from four diverse neighborhoods in Oakland to participate in together.
The project is about celebrating family as the foundation of community by bringing famlies together, building self-worth and bonds by creating art, and bringing together neighbors to strenthen the broader community...This makes me happy.
I'm glad there are projects like this and I would like to be a part of more like them.

Yay for Art!

There are some great exhibits at the MOMA in San Fransisco right now!
I went there on Tuesday for free tuesdays- the first Tuesday of each month.
My favorite exhibits were:

Henry Wessel's Photography,







"San Francisco" 1977

Some of Paul Klee's small sketches




"Why does he run" 1932

Amy Franceschini's victory gardens project. She is one of the five contemporary artists in the Bay Area to win the biennial SECA award (Society for the Encouragement of Contemporary Art)," an art interest group tha recognizes local artists of exceptional promise." The exhibit included a pogo stick shovel as well as a wheel barrow bike, and free seed packets to take home.
I like this idea.

Check out the website to read more about it and see the video.

My favorite was the featured exhibit right now: Picasso and American Art!

"Bull Fight" 1934? Picasso

(there was a similar, cooler version at the exhibit)

"Bathers with Beach ball" 1928
Picasso

This is an excellent show with a lot of Picasso's diverse art pieces intermingled with American Artists who were influenced by him, my favorite one being Max Weber. Too bad I can't find a copy of the "Conversation" 1919 online anywhere. That was my favorite one of his and it's more interesting than some of his other work...

David Smith "Interior" 1937

Max Weber "Bather" 1913

So after failing at finding all the images of my favoirte prints from the show online, I am realizing that that is the point of having museums and galleries..If all the pieces were all online, there wouldn't be as much excitement to go and see them in person at the museum right?

To be honest, I always thought it a nice thing to go to museums, but often lack the initiative to go because there can be this air of exclusiveness and "holier than thou" attitudes attached with the experience, which isn't that nice.

Yet, after being so inspired by much of the art I saw on Tuesday, and actually every time I actually take the time to go, I get motivated to do art! Hooray! So yesterday I sanded and gessoed some salvaged wood, and I'm going to start some new paintings today:)

So I am accepting the fact that there are a lot of good reasons that museums and galleries exist, and I think that the good things that come from their existance outweigh the "exclusiveness, holier than thou" stuff one can feel sometimes.
Here are my top 5 reasons that art museums are cool:
Reason #1: you can go look at art up close that you can't see other places. Even if there are prints or photos of the work, there's something totally different about seeing the textures, colors, and materials used up close and personal.
Reason #2 They create a gathering place for communities to get together and appreciate culture, inspire thinking,and sparks conversations.
Reason #3 They inspire artists to create more art!
Reason #4 They offer a space to appreciate contemporary artists and support local artists in the area.
Reason #5 They instigate personal and social change by offering a space where it is encouraged to open your mind and look beyond yourself to learn new things or see things from a different perspective.

I now have a renewed appreciation and thankfullness for art museums and galleries. Even though "the art world" is tainted with egotism and uppety rich folks, I think everyone has something to gain from having more art in their lives.
So go out into the world, reach out to people, make art however you feel inspired to, talk to people, go to museums, and support local artists where you live! I would especially reccomend finding out when the free days and gallery openings are each month and go to those!
Yay for art.