meditations on life & writing
an activist/poet/mother/writer's journal
Monday, July 19, 2004

WEEKEND WRAP UP
 
....and so, Artscape this weekend, one of the largest arts festivals on the east coast.  I look forward to it every year....a time to be amongst my fellow artists.  A time to spend ridiculous money on books I don't really need to own, technically.  A time to let down my locs and stroll.
3 days worth of arts, culture, music, food, song, dance....people acting silly for the sake of being silly, which is a good thing.  Face painting, belly dancing, all kinds of folks singing off key.
 
....and yet, this year I could only take one day of it.  Friday night and I was through.  I'm not sure if it was the guy dressed in suit pants, long sleeve white shirt and tie in the middle of 80 degree weather trying to hawk his pitifully obvious self-published novels (one in one hand, one in the other) all the while telling me I have "nice eyes,"  or the guy behind him singing like the clouds were going to fall out of the sky, drumming a guitar, drowning out every bit of what I was trying to hear from the Commodores.  I'm not sure if it was the "Poetry Tent"  where a dude comes up to "drop some science"  on those of us too dumb to keep walking and starts belting off about the "white man trying to keep 'us' in chains."  Right.   Or maybe, just maybe it had something to do with all the women that are too damn FAT to be in hip-hugger jeans and shimmy-shimmy tops with weaves so greasy they could outshine the moon.  Maybe it was the stench of beer and sweat from the men on the sidewalks hollering to the hip-huggers....i don't know.  (note to man in tie:  women like me do not need a lame-duck poor excuse for a compliment in order to buy a book.  if your book looks good and reads good, let it sell itself, okay bruh?)   and let me say for the record, I'm not downing self-publishing.  I'm downing slapping together some pages between a cover that looks like a second grade art project and asking me to spend my hard earned $12.95 for it.  I'm talking about all kinds of missing periods, run-on sentences, no-editing, call-myself-a-writer, self-publishing.  Okay.
 
....all of this to say that i don't know what's going on with me but i'm increasingly turned off by crowds.  Am I turning into a hag?  Or is this Tao really making me yearn for less stimulation, more simplicity....QUIET?  And what, pray tell, is in all of that quiet?  I don't know but I'm easily overstimulated in ways I've never been.  And it's some real weird dichotomy for sure because I yearn to be close to the city, the attractions, yet at the same time I don't want to be in it.  Kind of like an Alice Walker, way up in Mendocino yet close enough to get to Berkeley and San Fran when she needs to.  [deep exhale]  We artists, I tell you, what a pathetic lot we are....
 
* * * * * * * * * * *                                   * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
....and so, yes, you've heard it here that I am officially Feng-Shui'ing my house.  Yeah, yeah, I know all about Wabi-Sabi and how it's supposed to be the new "in thing" and of course, there will be some expose about Madonna and Christy Who-ever who are now Wabi-Sabi'ing their homes but as far as I'm concerned decorating is about creating your own signature space.  It's not about rushing out to Pier One or Homegoods or IKEA or wherever to make an "ooh-ahh" vibe like Cindy and John next door.  It's about recognizing what you have and making the most of your space.  It's about creating a space that nurtures your spirit and most of all, and this is the part I like about Feng-Shui, it's about clearing clutter.
 
Which is why it has taken me this long.
 
....see, before I had my children I was a sincere Pak Rat.  Every magazine, every book, every letter sent from Cousin Toolie was  a  keeper.  Fortune in my fortune cookie?  Gotta keep it.  Menu from my first date with X?  Gotta keep that.  Oh what about that jar of sand from Paradise Island that I brought back?  and the menu from that cute little Bahamian restaurant?  Gotta keep it.  But now, oh dear God, it's gotta go.  If it hasn't been worn or used in the past six months, it's gotta go.  If it doesn't fit now, chances are it ain't ever gonna fit again (not with these hips) it's gotta go.   And that's what I love about Feng Shui.  I've known about it and gravitated to it for so long but the idea of throwing things away just horrified me.  What if I need that issue number 9 of Time Magazine with Lauren Hill on the cover someday?  It might be -- get this -- an heirloom!  Oh, oh...and these jeans, if I just lay flat, inhale real deep, I should be able to get them on.....yea right.  Gotta go.  The other thing I like is the whole study of energy patterns, the Chi of it all. 
 
....and it's funny how the whole thing parallels my writing life.  This clearing away, pulling charachters out, pulling the once quiet ones in, front and center.  This chipping away to get to the inside, the meat.  This wonderful thing we call REVISION.
 
....so anyhow, one hour a day dedicated to clearing.  I hit the magazine rack this morning, a big energy blocker, ripping out the ads and articles I want and tucking them in a simple "KEEP" file, to which I can refer back when I need to.  And I hung a beautiful silver butterfly wind chime off the deck, right where I can see it as I'm slaving over the hot stove.  Silver known for it's feminine energy attraction.
 
....and so, I'm out of here.  Kids are asleep and I do need to get to work.  Just wanted to drop in and say "hi-hi!"  (You know who you are).  BIG SMILE.
 
and the following meditation for today from 365 Tao:
 

CONSERVATION
 
Don't let a thread fall without noticing it.
Don't rake dry brown leaves carelessly.
Think how difficult it was
For something to take this existence.
 
Frugality is lauded in almost every culture.  Nearly all of us have been taught how to conserve and save.  Those who do not waste and yet do not become misers are most admirable.
 
We can be aware of conservation everyday.  We should think whether what we discard can be reused or recycled.  We should consider whether our expenditures are really necessary.  We should be aware if we are wasting our time and efforts on frivolous activities.  We should not abuse our environment with garbage, pollutants, and recreational activities.
 
Conservation is impossible without a sound understanding of the wholeness of cycles.  Unless we remember how precious something is, how much effort it took for it to come into being, we will not value it.  Unless we think about its proper transformation into its next phase---a leaf withering, a flower browning, a lake drying up---we will not know our relation to it.  Everything lives or dies in its own time.  We too are part of the same cycles, only we have the option of contemplating and acting within that context.  To do so with grace and awareness is the essence of one who follows Tao.
 
PEACE.
 
--A.

shared with you at 1:57 PM by Angel


Now That's Worth Writing Down

When we let Spirit lead us, it is impossible to know where we are being lead. All we know, all we can believe, all we can hope is that we are going home. That wherever Spirit takes us is where we live.....Alice Walker, Absolute Trust in the Goodness of the Earth.


Bio

Bio and Background


Publications

Excerpts From "...and then there were BUTTERFLIES"


Birth of A Novel

Ushering Words: How Novels Are Born


On Activism

GirlSkirtMission
United Nations
UNIFEM
eZiba
Madre
We Rise
Refuse And Resist
Common Dreams


On Reading

The Progressive
Satya
IHT
The Nation
Mother Jones
Sun Magazine


On Mindful Living

Dating God
Zen Chick
Interlude Retreat
Gratefulness
Meditation Center
Belief Net
Unwind


On Art & Writing

Arundhati Roy
Suheir Hammad
Daughters of Yam
Nalo Hopkinson
Cherryl Floyd-Miller
Jamey Hatley
Art Sanctuary
Mannafest
Cynthia Harrison
Crawford Kilian
Arts and Letters Daily
Laughing Knees
Glo
Cassandra Pages
Soul Food Cafe
Writers Write


Archives

Archive Index


Credits

design by maystar
powered by blogger