The Art of Making Possible

My entrance into the world of so-called “social problems”
Must be with quiet laughter, or not at all.
The hollow men of anger and bitterness
The bountiful ladies of righteous degradation
All must be left to a bygone age.
And the purpose of history is to provide a receptacle
For all those myths and oddments
Which oddly we have acquired
And from which we would become unburdened
To create a newer world
To translate the future into the past.
We have no need of false revolutions
In a world where categories tend to tyrannize our minds
And hang our wills up on narrow pegs.
It is well at every given moment to seek the limits in our lives.
And once those limits are understood
To understand that limitations no longer exist.
Earth could be fair. And you and I must be free
Not to save the world in a glorious crusade
Not to kill ourselves with a nameless gnawing pain
But to practice with all the skill of our being
The art of making possible.

"The Art of Making Possible"
Poem by Nancy Scheibner 

Freedom is an indestructible monument.

I can't read anything else about the attacks on Paris. The sorrow overwhelms me. I have been mostly speechless since it happened last Friday, trying to wrap my brain around something so senseless and cruel. It took me days to even draw in my sketchbook. I scoured the internet for quotes that would make me feel better. I avoided social media because it was too much to face. I am still mostly numb.

This morning in Paris, a man dragged his baby grand piano into the Place de la Republique and sat down on that bench in front of all those flowers and all those mourning people. And he played. The whole crowd fell silent to listen to the haunting chord progression of "Imagine" by John Lennon.

There is an innate need to do something in the wake of such tragedy. This man pulled his piano through the streets. The look on his face was almost out of obligation, as if the music he was going to make was the only shelter from the aching inside of him. He played for the flowers, and for the posters, and for the mourners. He did not say a word.

When his job was done, he pulled the cover over the keys, took his piano and went home.

The bigness

I'm poisoning people every time I get a pedicure. Non-organic bananas aren't part of the "dirty dozen" but  the grossly underpaid workers that have to spray them down with pesticides are feeling the painful side effects of the pesticides that are sprayed all over them. Working a job where I sit all day is detrimental to my health. Chickens are being bred and tortured so I can buy eggs at the "low price" of $1.19/dozen.

Existing is scary. Existing when you don't know your purpose is even scarier. And now I have to worry about killing people with bananas and chopping chickens' beaks off? Everything is so big, and I care so much while doing so very little. And there's never as much time as I want there to be. I never feel like I'm conscientious enough. I always feel like I'm eating the wrong things, using too many resources, spending too much money, buying into the propaganda, not doing enough yoga, relying too much on medicine to fix things that changing my diet alone could probably fix...

Caring is exhausting.

It's a normal, crappy day on the internet.

It rained pretty hard this morning, so about twenty of my friends posted about that. Some favorably, some not.

Cam Newton signed a long-term contract with the Carolina Panthers, so fans and foes alike are weighing in.

Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair and I am quickly learning which of my friends don't have any desire to embrace nor understand the transgender community-- or any community other than their own. And it is breaking my heart.

I mean it is actually, physically hurting my chest.

I am overwhelmed with how much sadness I feel when I read some of my friends' comments on Jenner's gender identity, as if somehow having a negative opinion of her life affirms their lives. A friend posted a link to an article (that I will not re-post here because it doesn't deserve the traction) that positioned Caitlyn as a threat to womanhood and feminism, to which I'd like to argue that womanhood and feminism aren't fragile and won't be brought down by one more individual joining the ranks.

Opinions are like assholes, everyone gets to have one. But please remember that it's possible to have one without actually being one.

Noteworthy Reads

This article about Twitter and public shaming is the best article I've read in a long time.

I enjoyed this post, written from the perspective of an aspiring writer as she confronts the biggest question artists have to answer. Parents, significant others, bosses... what about the next five years? As an artist with a pretty traditional 8-to-5 in marketing, I don't have to answer that question very often. Five years from now I will probably be sitting behind a desk... still. But I wonder, were I to pull the trigger and go full-time artist, how would I measure that? By the world's standards, it's a question worth asking.

I really want to find a few old folding chairs to try this DIY project.

And in case you haven't gotten your art fix lately, here's a post by Alisa Burke about the magic of watercolor pencils.

Noteworthy

Oh, just a few things from across the Interwebs.

This is my new favorite vocabulary word.

This article on The Rise of Roller Derby: No Longer WWE on Wheels - For all you people who think I'm crazy for doing derby.

This version of Taylor Swift's song "Trouble" by Walk Off The Earth. Soooooo much better. Sorry, Taylor.


News about Kim Jong Un's exgirlfriend being executed by firing squad for simply existing. Oh North Korea, I just don't understand you.

Noteworthy reads from across the Internet

Vaccines, Risk, and Community - "It matters because a serious illness could kill my mom.  It matters for infants, the elderly, the cancer patients, the many many people in your community that do not have an immune system that can deal with an illness.    It matters because vaccination is both a privilege and a responsibility."

Where Have All the Millennials Gone? Entitlement in the Economy and the Church - "We have to get creative about all of it – about the ways that we earn our living and the ways that we thrive in the workplace and the ways we experience God and the ways we engage our culture." 

I can't wait to try this recipe for chicken salad made with Greek yogurt instead of mayo. I hate mayo. I may add in a chopped celery stalk to this recipe for extra fiber.

Book titles with one letter missing. Funny, especially for avid readers. Oh the puns!

What Would You Do If You Saw a Dog Carrier Attached to a Car on the Highway? - "We can only hope that an animal loving officer made the right call and ordered this poor dog into the vehicle, where it was safer or took the dog into protective custody."

Craving pizza? - "You don't need to risk your diet by eating it, just DRAWING it will cheer you up!" Good news for chubby artists everywhere (i.e. me.)

Noteworthy Reads

1. I want to try every salad on this list, courtesy of my new favorite inspirational/creative blog (here).

2. This photographic list of really beautiful abandoned places.

3. This article on abuse regarding beloved chef, Nigella. This is just further proof that it can happen to anyone.

Excerpt: "We are so conditioned as a society to 'mind our business' in all the wrong situations, but the logical, moral course of action here is simple: if you see someone in trouble, you try to help. That doesn’t change when the person is a public figure or if the abuser looks particularly menacing or any of that. Those things are all excuses. If someone is in trouble, you try to help."

4. I want to make this spinach artichoke dip. NOM.