Thursday, December 13, 2012

WaterRIP and Friends

WaterRIP the Flow
 
Veins to Rivers

Well the show is up, the parties rocked and i am looking forward to guest speakers

Aaron Cooper and Jacqui Alpert will be at the Kerf International Gallery for Winter Solstice presentations on spirit, science and healing.

We are planning events on the 21st and the 22nd.
Poet/artist Sheila Scott will read from her books on the 22nd; a celebration of change -the next 5.000 will not be constarined by the past.

(These dates have to change, merchants were afraid  to lose parking this close to Kmas. It seems once again the possible fear outweighed the possibility of more people and good energy.

As i write this it is the 20th and the WC was by no means bustling. Just saying- as we are now looking at the 28th -30th  just so you know!)

The presentations complement the installations.

Ecosystems health, social justice, generative economics, creating community while realizing the unique potential of everyone, every being - these are some of my favorite things.

As we start to understand how our systems of education, governance, commerce, health were the products of old, false  beliefs then some things start to look silly, tawdry and dangerous.  Why hold onto things that are harmful?

Why hold onto anything that promises to hurt not just isolated individuals but the whole of the community, the whole of the planet? Why hurt another when that hurt harms you?

That is the new quantum truth. We are connected, we interrelate and we are in relationships to all life and the abiotic systems that support life. In fact the lines drawn between what is alive and what is not is less defined... we are learning ever so much!

So we at the Kerf are turning on lights, bringing on the information, opening up the closets and letting the skeletons out, nothing is sacred but life itself.

 Life calling to life is in the living universe- is in the tiniest dew drop and the largest heart. Energy connects us all and in the whole we experience the beauty that rules such an elegant, enlightened truth.

When coming into oneness to heal we grow into our evolutionary skins. The old mantle falls away and transformation is. Welcome the new era.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

WaterRIP to Carry On


 
Swamp vixen, wetland wicche, the sorceress of the toxic cleanse
wetlands are to water as the liver is to the human body
 
This blog is the public face of fashionRIP Project and as WaterRIP is entering the set up phase, i am noticing a pattern.

 3 times is probably not sufficient evidence of a pattern, but it feels like one. As that is what this experiment plays with, i am sharing.

The last openings were dramatic and both turned out to be gifts in disguise. So yesterday when driving down to the Wallingford Center (WC) to meet up with my guest star artist, Beverly Naidus and wonderful, ladder climbing hero of a brother, Robert,  at the Wallingford Center i was amped. (My brother said yes to the help request that very morning so i thought my big hurdle had been jumped.)

Then i turned on the radio and the first song out was"Carry On" by Fun. This made me grin.  I flashed through the tumultuous birthing process of "Species on the Verge" -shooting the video and prepping the installation and then quickly said no, this time was the third, the charm.

But when i pulled into the WC, hoisted a box from the trunk and went to the door. it was locked. i jumbled up inside, then walked around to the main door and tried it, also locked. The hours posted on the door read "Open 10-8 Saturday."

That stone in my gut sank. I called Beverly and my brother, trying to head them off. I was able to reach my brother but not Beverly. What to do?

"Carry On,"  right, the serendipitous alliance stood out like grace or irony. It is hard at times to know the feeling, perhaps its a lack of words for such as this. So i picked up milk for my Dad, getting a chore out of the way helped a bit.

Beverly tried to call me and my cell was accidentally set to a soft ring, so she left a few messages then hiked around the building and found a door that opened. She also found a baker who told her they were closed but when she stated her mission, they said to come on in. She did, she carried on!

When i realized my cell issue and called her back, she told me as much, i called Robert and the day ended up fruitful, the mission accomplished. Beverly's work "And Now Behind Curtain #2 " is hanging in the Kerf International Gallery - the centerpiece. We did it!  I love you all!

"Cause we are
We are shining stars
We are invincible...

 
If you're lost and alone
Or you're sinking like a stone
Carry on
May your past be the sound
Of your feet upon the ground
Carry on

Carry on, carry on"
magick


..

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Another Kind of Relationship



The co-creative relationship, that's it!

I believe this to be what i've been looking for. Two marriages (dissolved) and  many relationships later, i found this phrase. It helps me give meaning to what i was seeking in a loving partnership, i wanted to find the more in myself and in another, in the together.

 I was born knowing i had something special to deliver, i was unique for a purpose. I think we are all born knowing that we are special, then we "lose" it.

That is a problem; for we are in a culture that wants to plug us into a system that is touted as the best ever possible thing and when you look at it and say "i am pretty sure it needs work," you are the trouble. When the messenger is deemed a troublemaker, the problem festers.

I was considered smart, so i was kept on a fast and interesting track until it failed me by not looking at the Viet Nam War. Any system that sanctioned what i saw as murder, could not be "right." I had seen photos of Soviet women in Life Magazine when i was in grade school. I looked at them and decided that no mother wanted a kid blown apart in a war, therefore it isn't the people who want the wars, so who does ?

My politics were being formed but in the love story, the alternative track was like a zero.

 I was fed on stories of romance and diapers, of prince charmings and comatose princesses. This colored my world. These stories, like the other cultural tales, were laid down, layer after layer, telling me who i was supposed to be. Some i questioned, others i didn't and should have.

Education did not stifle my inner truth but it buried it. The flame stayed alive, undercover, flaring up every once in awhile, burning me and who ever else was around.

 I didn't know enough about relationships to consciously question love stories.  Fighting back was a subconscious attempt for survival.

It wreaked havoc with relationships.

One problem with the old Love and Marriage Story, was that it was a prequel for a procreative destiny. I had nothing against having a child, it was just not a priority.

On the flipside- I love my son, i am glad i decided to have the experience when i did, i am just saying it wasn't the plan.

I didn't have a plan, because i only knew the stories i didn't want. The domestic reward for marriage seemed under compensated. Even in the "you can have it all"era there were missing pieces, like time.

The whore, old maid with cats, exec women who could cut a throat as well as a man -these stories didn't cut it.

So i looked elsewhere and landed on rock n roll. A superior story was being told in the urban underbelly. Art was laying claim to city blocks. Clubs opened to share the voice and in the music, i found heroes.

I loved many, most of them men. Then i heard Patti Smith, she said things i recognized as true.

She was one of the few women rockers that toppled the construct; she had something real to say. i needed her to be in the world.  A few days ago i read "Just Kids." This is a co-creative love story. Patti's relationship with Robert Mapplethorpe is one of  unconditional love that supports the soul, if not the body. It proves another level of love. Once again, Patti Smith has come through for me. Angels are everywhere and they are Dancing Barefoot.


"We never had any children," he said ruefully.
"Our work was our children." (Just Kids, p 174)

PS. This is where having it all counts. Romance and co-creativity- Waiting for the star man.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Water Cycles: The Good and the Bad



The Greenpeace report "Toxic Threads," is out  and i am feeling warmed by the kindred spirit of changemakers.. This is what Thanksgiving is to me. These are my heros. This is what i appreciate.

"Toxic Threads" is a focus on the toxins used in clothing during manufacturing and finishing.  You can support the campaign to eliminate this idiocy from our planet and make many ever more grateful.

There are non toxic substitutes, both the known and the yet to be discovered.  It seems that the more "cheap" rules the consumer oriented capitalist model, the more everything is cheapened. (Belief directs outcomes)
.
Companies blame the manufacturing subcontractors and yet force them to keep prices low (call it competition) so this game of "whose fault" ends up as "our fault." How?

If we buy these toxic garments we are agreeing to the idea that it doesn't matter.

Agreeing doesn't eliminate the responsibility or the after affects. Agreeing is a form of denial. However when a cancer of "unknown" origin enters your field of vision, the blame game gets uber serious. (Cancer causing toxins swimming at large in chemical pools are mixing it up, there is no way to predict all possible outcomes)

You see, what is thrown into gutters "over there" flows eventually to "here," in the water, via the sea life, even in evaporated water that is released as rain and snow. We are only beginning to be able to measure the consequences of our ignorance. However we can extrapolate from the knowledge we have acquired. That is where we can make the difference that will change the story.

If that isn't enough to alarm you, think about that garment next to your skin. Your skin absorbs these fine micro particles. Sometimes your skin reacts with a big red "no."

I wrote an entry a few years ago about toxic reactions to garments and started the wash first campaign to protect babies, in a first line of defense. The sign is a free download, post away ..please!

That was an immediate response, however, washing releases that crap into the local water systems and even water utilitiy companies know they are not able to filter these chemicals out. What you can't measure, see or don't know, can sometimes bite, is that really an acceptable risk under the circumstances?

So instead of supporting the patterns of dis-ease, support health. Support whole systems thinking. Weave the threads and pretty soon a new "design" appears. New designs equate with new possibilities. Its simply that simple.


 
graphics from the Toxic Threads PDF, more where these came from.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

WaterRIP, The Flow

 

WaterRIP studio shots

 I was thinking this morning,  how amazing it was to have 2 articles show up on 2 consecutive days that effortlessly tied the next Kerf International Gallery show together.

My work with WaterRIP started with fresh water issues and since our bodies are 50-70% water, depending on age and hydration levels, what messes with water, messes with us. I then started recognizing patterns of biology repeating in ecology which helped me understand how dis-ease enters sytems and imbalances provide it residence.
This is also how each chapter of fashionRIP influences the next. This is the organic process.

 WaterRIP is a story and a "painting" with fabric. I am culling from fashion, as image, as sensory appeal and the changes new contexts provide. All the while, i am playing with how myth orchestrates reality, as beliefs show up in systems.  Get it?

Yeah, my mind has a tendency to weave like crazy. I untangle old stories and rework the material until something fresh has a chance to emerge. I incorporate new materials as needed. This is true in my art work and in the behind the scenes research. My life becomes a catalyst for the work and the whole process is ever more a flow. Borders are illusions that no longer seem relevant. The new story is coming to life.

WaterRIP is chapter 2 of fashionRIP Project. The installation is a pause and a celebration. It is made all the better because joining me this time, is Beverly Naidus. She is a new friend, who is currently teaching at the University of Washington, Tacoma, where she has created and facilitates a unique interdisciplinary studio curriculum in art for social change and healing. Is this spot on or what?

Beverly's installation, And Now Behind Curtain #2, challenges us with questions about the trance created by the mainstream media and the perils and rewards of activism. This is an interactive piece, so bring friends or make some new ones while playing the game. The work debuted in a museum show in Germany and headlined a Northwest Ropom art space during last spring's Folklife.


" The experience of sharing this work was one of the most profound interactions I have ever had with an audience.  Visitors have asked me to produce the game board as a real game that can be bought and used at parties and at home.  They have also asked me to turn the stories into a published book.  There was such a hunger for discussing what was shared in this piece. "  Beverly Naidus


 
 photos of And Now...

I see connections all over the place, they appear like holograms, so putting words to it  can be time cosuming and ..well it is an entirely other thing. These articles arrived like angels, gifts from the authors, Yes Magazine and the universe. The experiment continues as resources show up and help to smooth the path.

 Your Body is a Body of Water, by Jourdan Keith and Why Your Health is Bigger Than Your Body by Claudia Rowe,  really help explain the  December show at the Wallingford Center, Seattle in a most wonderful way.  Social justice, health, water, fair play, happiness and ecology are all on the same page. To experience the collusion please come by and see/ test for yourself.

And please let us know what you think, what you are seeking and why and how we can make 2013 the leap year of another kind. It takes a village, more, but so what?  We have all had challenges and we can rock when need be.  The time is now!

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Work Integrated


TOGETHER - How cooperatives show resilience to the crisis -The new documentary by CECOP - CICOPA Europe from Cicopa Coop on Vimeo.

Co-ops are sane reactions to insane extractive economics. Plundering the commons, literally and figuratively, is not worthy of praise -so why reward the behaviour?

The mainstream extractive economy has a symbiotic brother,  the phantom economy, which  is an abstraction designed to pillage and rape from far away. This Nowhereland is designed for numbers, not people. This is where only numbers matter, where only numbers have identities.

Oops, what about life? What about love? What about real meaning?

This economic boondoggle is how we seem to have lost our way. Eventually the current design will totally collapse as it will run out of resources and have to eat itself to stay alive. (The spiral down, the nihilistic super dumb of current systems and why i rant)

Getting out of the extractive loop to build the generative living economy with roots in deep ecology will heal us and our cultures. As we heal, we will better understand the way the world works and as we align with this bigger reality,  we will open new possibilities.

It makes sense to seek light, love and understanding, why not design with that in mind?

fashionRIP Project: experimenting with process, learning from oputcomes. It matters because it is shared, and the unfolding continues to evolve the whole.

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

The Eve Option

 
Alleluia, this documentary - The Eve Option- looks like good addition to the slew of documentaries out in the world telling us the story of now.

The mainstream press, no longer delivers the news, we see through its protective agenda and sponsored stories. We have grown up and no longer see the authority of the old world as worthy of the power they thought theirs to use.

Always dipping twice for the one benefit delivered to the public, the compounding agenda is now poised to take, extract, financialize everything. ( The Ghost Economy that floats above real goods and services, the alchemist's lab of creating wealth-  a take away from Owning Our Future the Emerging Ownership Revolution by Marjorie Kelly)

This man made rhythm is pounding across the planet. Like a synchronized march across a bridge ( take away from Bridge on the River Kwai)   will collapse the bridge.This time the  bridge is the biosphere, the march a systemic pattern that influences all of our disciplines.  Continue the pattern and collapse will follow.

The informational films are cries of alarm, sketches of the possible future and screams of protest. They are shown in tangible theaters, meeting spaces and
in homes. Many are delivered at the speed of light via Youtube; reaching across borders, divides and all the smokescreens and barriers erected by the old order.

I love this trailer (Eve) because it validates much of what i have been writing, thinking about and setting into the storyline of my next work. This kind of validation supports the front line artists as story installations are not the "hang it in the foyer" kind of work that is easier to sell.

In The Eve Option, the story about God telling man to multiply, giving man dominion over plants, animals and resources has had many repercussions, most of them negative. (Sir David Attenborough)

WaterRIP is deconstructing the line between humans and nature. We are organic, natural beings and that means the health of the natural environment is directly related to our own health and well being. We are a collection of cells in relationships with other cells in other collections, within and without the different species, elements -everything. We are energy interrelated with all energy. We are that more and i think exploring the realm opens possibilities galore.


However if we lose the capacity to maintain the health of our home in all senses of the word, we will not be able to explore that new horizon . We are growing up, evolving...how cool is that. Let's not let ignorance and old beliefs blow it for us!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

The Wicche Rising

photo for Wetland Wicche a character in WaterRIP installation
have to add the swamp but couldn't resist this earthy take of Lady of the Lake

Sandy recently submerged a large part of the East Coast. My thoughts and  healing energy go out to friends, everyone in chaos. To all you riders of the storm, please,  tell us your stories, eventually enough of us will hear and learn that we cannot continue this devastating course. Critical mass counts and sooner is way better than later.

So - how badass does nature have to act to get our attention?

Global warming accelerates storm activity. Monocrops breed disease. GMOs are bad for soils, rats and humans. Human activity, much of it aimed for profit over else, has created a madness we have accepted as "reality." But this superimposed manmade reality composed of extractive economics, protecting the wealth of the few while hurting the many maintaining an "us/them and it" way of thinking; that "reality" is the false real. We've been hoodwinked, bigtime!!

Bigger real- we are in a relationship with all other humans, with other species, with ecosystems and the biosphere. We are connected.

Our bodies have a cellular intimacy with natural, real, whole, unpoisoned food. We evolved together.  This plays a part in why some people are better able to digest certain foods better than others.

(Acid reflux, allergies, IBS and other digestive issues have a relationship to GMOs- just saying)

 Like hummingbirds and deep throated blossoms, groomer fish and sharks, we are in an co-creative relationship with the natural world, we evolved together.  Instead of fearing, attacking, attempting to control and dominate, it is time we figured out how to dance.

Nature isn't the enemy, it is the animated life force, the spark's manifestation. To have senses and feel love, to make time meaningful, to wonder and find the potential we were gifted at birth, this is organic wisdom. Life is a gift. The gift is packaged by nature, to be respected, enjoyed and cherished.

Namaste

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Ocean Tribute

Dress patch for Ocean Queen Gown, Goddess of love taken from the Botticelli painting
which is so full of mythic story. One of the influencers that have perpetuated western cultural memes
(Wacom tablet, Corel Paint, Photoshop)
 
WaterRIP installation is going up in December at the Kerf Gallery along with other works by noted artists, Beverly Naidus and  Don Metke. There may be others, but this is the "for sure" line up.

So i posted the dress blanks earlier and then the story stalled as i waited for the information i needed to flesh it out.

 I work with a visual goal that is quite sketchy, sometimes the images remain ghost holders, some come to life in an unexplained way and some are designed and good to go.

I am now at a place where the installation is telling me what it needs. This is nice as takes the pressure off in one way but can also be irritating, as what i liked at one point now needs revising to suit the staging concept the piece now needs, or rather demands.

Yes art can get in your face.  

At this stage the process teeters on feasability issues.  As the story wants more, wants to be bolder than space, time and money allows at this juncture, i need to edit. That is another kind of art.

WaterRIP is at the stage where she is like a runaway horse, with the bit in her teeth, i hang on and know that soon i will regain some control, re-esestablish the trust and that we will ride in together, in time for the show.

I love this place in my work!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Why Think Pink, Think BIG

building trust
 
When i think pinkwash, i think Komen Foundation. I had a professor at Evergreen State College who had breast cancer and was told by the Komen foundation that they were about cure and not interested in prevention, when she queried them.  As this prof was an environmental biologist, she didn't find the answer very appealing, which is why she told her story.

If one is sponsored by Big Pharma than creating a sustainable non-profit might be dependent on creating a sustainable pharmaceutical industry. Without addressing the clean up of products and processes, the Komen Foundation will be in business a long time.

Pinkwash, like greenwash is a symptom of a bigger wash. The big wash is the daily propaganda that business as usual pitches.  The big wash is to convince us that there isn't another way, that what we have is the best.

I was at a meeting a few days ago, where various nonprofits and budget concerned people were pitching ideas to each other, getting feedback and or support. I was there to snap some photos of David Pauling who is in the process of launching a local co-operative hub in the Seattle area.

SEGUE:
 I am on the advisory board of Main Street Values  (the hub) as David and i see enough commons that our minor differences are matters of discussion and vision explaining, friendly "window opening" discourse.  Like the name, Main Street Values makes me think of the fake 50s  where the economy was chirping but social reality was a mess. To David it means the local community counts, local worker/owner equity counts and we can do it by supporting each other.

I mention this to let everyone know that waiting for total alignment just might be an excuse to do nothing big, because real change creates a certain amount of unknowns and disharmony.

I am beginning to suspect that getting wants and needs in tidy lists when applied to relationships (business and personal, human and else) can be really damaging.  It appears to be part of the consumer/controller mindset and can cut us off from the very possibilities we need for personal discovery.  As we unfold, so too does the culture and the meaning of work and economics within that culture will change as we change.

So in relationships, i believe in staying open, aware and alive rather than dissing off the majority of viewpoints to find a clone version of my own imaginative reality. There is a nice flow in energy when one has the confidence to speak up and at the same time be willing to learn (not just listen or tolerate) from others. Like tossing a ball back and forth, it can be a bore or a terrific engaging challenge.

END SEGUE:
After listening to a couple pitches, like hearing how Solid Ground was picking up the ball dropped by the transit system; (cutting off free rides downtown that helped a lot of people get to doctors and  other appointments) it hit me how this was a privatize the profit, socialize the problem measure. Solid Ground relies on grants, donations and government funding,  (Part of the double dip cycle of write-offs)

As i was processing this information, i thought how all the people in the room were making a living off poverty and how MSV was the only pitch directed at changing the system and not directed at how best to bandage the wounds. Wow.

So all you pink and green campaigners,  please take a look inside and ask yourself if this is the best you can do. Look up the chain of reasoning and wonder why your organization is accepting smallness when it has the option to choose REAL BIG CHANGE.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Saved by Rock n'Roll


 
path between The Trees
(Chalk arrow is a readymade!)
 
 lily pond

Frank Turner's "I Still Believe" pulled yesterday out of the gutter and set today's wake up tone.

When life gets slippery i take a walk. I usually aim towards TheTrees because touching them helpsme balance. I have been calling upon my ancients since the Winter Solstice of 2009. They grow on different sides of the Zoo's peripheral path.

One tree is quite maternal, as she harbors ferns in her "arms" and young seedlings surround her base.  On the North side stands the patriarch, his branches arch over the path and shelter the Mother Tree. They are symbols of the procreative sentiment but i feel they are not limited to that interpretation. I feel supported under their limbs when people let me down.

I patted them both, strolled through the rose garden and sat awhile on a bench near the water lily pond. I appreciated the beauty of the park and the fact that i had this time to reflect and that i was working on a show and any day, any second, my cocreative partner(s)  will arrive.

 Feeling sad in the midst of such grace seems wrong and yet to do the big work that needs doing - takes a village.  I try to navigate through the facts towards the hope on a daily basis, it changes constantly.

I walked back to the studio and finished freeing a tulle underskirt from a ridiculous gown, looked at the heart insert i was painting and thought up some next steps.

I keep telling myself that there are others out there, like me, who understand the disease in the culture and who are willing and able to point it out and prevent its proliferation by setting up healthy alternatives. Most people i meet are either unaware, feel and therefore are, helpless or are  waiting for permission, god, whatever to start the process that only they (we) can start. Others believe the limits they impose and justify.

Some hours seem meant for mourning our possibilities as each day we lose a few - and that hurts. The faster we can get out from under these cranky, skanky old belief systems the better!

 I am tired of watching the pimps abuse America, she (we) deserves better.

"I Still Believe" helped me remember that art and music are where i once found truth and truth, not facts (those i can uncover)  resonate in the hearts/souls of people around the globe. Truth soars across the ignorance of economics and politics and resides in knowing; the place where our discovery unfolds the maps of the evolution.

thank you Mr Turner, i still believe.

Today i  finish the inset and write a scene of the mythos. The others will show up, they have before!!



Saturday, September 8, 2012

Charm and Snickery

There is some fun visual stuff here, plus - i so luv the techno wannabe guitars. Watching the kid in us face off, all tongue in cheekiness, with current cultural discourse in this archetype twister just kicks up my happiness.

Ditch those boyfriend/girlfriend, generic friend, nitpickity lists and labels, then set out to find the humans under all the skins. Roles are for robots and we have imaginations!

When we limit life to what we think we know and want, we cut our opportunities and possibilities down to the size of our ignorance. Why do that?  (Case in point, the systems that are determined to take "us" down to their level)

I really hope that sweet opening scene continues with a stroll in Hyde Park or a cup of tea, Like is such a good place to start a relationship.



Thanks to Flavorwire for this funny love songs collection. See, hear more HERE.

Fashion note: Innovation is everywhere, go into the streets and spot a look that amuses, entertains, glorifies, inspires, works or otherwise gets your attention. Notice the briliance of our species, it's the key to our adaptive genes, it's why we will get through this messy time of crashing things. Be heart.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Muse -Unsustainable



In gratitude:  We need to keep hearing this story, thank you Muse for this version. Nothing is going to change unless we do it, those in control appear vested in the system that is no longer useful, was never sustainable and doesn't align with the values many people are now sharing.

The past can't continue to dictate our future. Business as usual appears to be a model of ignorance, greed and fear. Those talking so loud seem to want to fool us into believing that the reality of the manmade system is more relevant than say the systems of the planet, universe.

But this manmade system of systems is based on a defunct archetype that needs a lot of healing work.  All machine and no heart..who wants it?

The larger realty  shows up when we do.

 
 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Lost in the Mirror

 1950s Warhol fashion print
 
 
I have been working on the new stories and now all these allusions to myth are popping up. The serendipity experiment is remains exciting.

"The hero in this new myth necessarily needs to become a prophet. For his is the arduous task of reintegrating the various fragments of the self, hearing the symphony in the cacophony, seeing the human in the digital -- or else, man will suffer being trapped forever, in the halls of mirrors."  Andrew Lam

 The above is a quote from the Common Grounds article  21st century Man and the Hall of Mirrors. Further on, ..:"A future in which everyone can be famous for about 10 minutes has indeed arrived. We have all become actors, filmmakers and reporters. We begin to believe that we are not fully ourselves, that we are not viable in the new system, unless we make some sort of electronic imprint, some sort of projection of ourselves, in the virtual world."

Andy Warhol who coined the phrase about everyone getting 15 minutes of Fame, was off by five minutes. The length of "stardom" is reduced to 10 minutes as is the Youtube limit. However the fame and media connection are valid and the need for validation is possibly the key. We need attention but is this the attention we need?

The products and services whirling around us are designed to create, support or mitigate the damages of the idea of profit. We accepted this idea and hooked it to "progress" not realizing when or how we were emotionally hijacked by our vanity, our lust for power and our sense of self connecting to outside feedback as a way to "feed self."  Materialism elicited envy and/or admiration and this was perceived as "a good thing" to the developing ego. Way back in time, this was a real survival  issue, the one with the fur coat had a better winter than the one clothed in woven bark.

Anyway, we continued to nurture that concept of wealth and diamond rings, update remodels and hoarders are proof. Sure a lot of people didn't buy the riff but they didn't stop it, either. Instead the game took on a new edge as stuff became overwhelmingly hard to handle (think landfill and hoarding) 

Along with this we avalanche of stuff; we gave up or otherwise lost community on the first round because some of it was annoying or worse. That we threw out the "baby with the bath water' is now being considered , but is another story.

So with stuff od and a dirth of community; along comes Social Media and the digital community grows like a weed. It created community with what seemed fewer consequences. However, as it is a mainline connection to mirrored self it is as limiting as it is expanding. The paradox is.

So now we are dependent on a whole new state of interaction, which furthers the facade as we are creating new images of self that start to define us and we lose "us" in process. We change our hair not our limits. All the while we do not really mess with "progress" because profit has the reins.

In a system devoted to profit, other paths of possibility whither. We, as a whole, lose all sense of "other," other paths, possibilities, our connections to each "other" and nature and..? However that "other" is actually rooted in a larger reality and is not "other" but is self extended. Whereas profit is a manmade or "synthetic reality" and therefore is the imposter or superimposer, isn't this like crazy?

Are we at risk of losing our authentic selves to the imposter?

This is way too much. i believe that all the necessary "stuff' we humans need to find our happiness is embedded in the seed of self; for it is in that spark, DNA or? , where the gift we are meant to deliver lies dormant but ever ready to grow once we figure out it is there. Like with anything , how do you know to look for something you didn't know existed? We are not taught to deliver our gifts unless they suit the track of profit, which cuts off a lot of gift giving.

That loss of potential is a huge risk, i think it is the biggest by far. Who are we but ourselves? So setting aside "going inside" to believe the mirror's reflection is immediate gratification but isn't a good design to develop a dream. It is instead a story that reiterates the short term profit story that has taken over economics.

Consider:  skanking the environment for a dollar now and withering away from immune systemic dysfunction later is creepy. Accepting a suicidal belief as normal is like believing a dead end sign. (on a round planet that is a mere transportation difficulty not a truth)

As Fashion is also mirror dependent, changing the paradigm of fashion will adjust the concept of image.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Divine Masculine

This is so cool. I have been working on myth deconstruction as a way to (now) lovingly dismantle the fallacies we were led to believe in order to recognize how they have colored our walk through the ages. I am doing this from the western cultural perspective but am not limited to that tunnel. People have been mingling for a long time, so even if i tried to edit, i would be in a fantasy. (clue number 3)

It's the historical edits that have created our delusional consent and getting past the fast food of mental distractions is kind of like snooping in some huge forbidden yet available, attic. Some trunks are locked, some are open and untouched others are pawed through with their contents spilling over the sides This is a wondrous shadowy place of vast mental treasures, full of ideas, stories, facts and fables. This is where brain sparklers lie dormant.

Brain sparklers are abundantly available, grow with sharing, get farther off road the longer you travel and light the way for ever more exploring.  Their energy multiplies with use, makes people happy which empowers us to pass the happiness on (See the Happiness Advantage on PBS). The more happiness that is spread around the better, therefore it seems most wise to enable happiness. This ultimately arrives at the gift that everyone is born to deliver, for in that "birthing" the seeds of true happiness spread. This is not a mandate or a measure (Bhutan's gross national happiness) this is about expanding life's potential.

Lilith
"Due to Lilith’s refusal to bear Adam’s children she
has come to symbolize female power. From the “Shrine of Lilith”
Mephistopheles 
the chief of the Devils w/thnx to Faust

So I have been exploring through Lilliths, Eves, Adams, Mephistopheles, Lucifers, Jesus(es), gods, godesses, Ice Queens, Mary Magdalenes, Delilahs, Davids, Goliaths, saints and sinners. Bouncing this off rules and regulations, policies and those ubiquitous "everybody knows" is a roller coaster ride. Landing for a spell on this piece by Charles Eisenstein was magick and fundamentally sublime aka meant to be. I am so grateful for the male viewpoint that shares the concept of coming back together in a way that aligns with whole thinking, that i am quite giddy. Please read this great blog entry, Money and the Divine Masculine and share the joy.

So the story i needed to help myself understand is growing and as it grows i see the ways to forgive a life that has confused, angered, frustrated, delighted, fooled, tricked,  mesmerized and harmed me and others. My gift is to share the keys to the attic, to open trunks with crusty old locks and to tell the story of us in new ways.

Once one sees the glam, glitz and tawdry bits of what can only be called a manmade  superimposition laid out like caked makeup on a bigger more beautiful reality, then we can consciously choose a future that is not just desirable but extremely do-able. Awww the freedom of bliss!

Friday, August 3, 2012

Convenient for Who? Gender Constructs


 Woman's jacket 1895,
Maison Laur origin France
 corset 1880, orign France (possibly)
Man's suit 1850 origin USA
All Photos courtesy of FIT great fashion archives website.

I am working on a script that pulls myths from their jackets, gives them a shake and spills their pocket contents. I believe this can help heal collective worldviews; really!. Once we understand how the old stories hinder possibilities, we will replace them with new, mature, evolved stories that point us in another, dare i say enlightened, (yes, of course) direction.

I think the male/female divide has a lot of strings attached to it and may be the origin (stem cell) of the pathology our species is experiencing. This powerfully emotional relationship paradox was constructed way before the written word and  makes this to be  both a research and intuitive process, I realize i have been working on this most of my life. As a child tests boundaries, i just continued, questioning the validity of the "truth."  i apologize to everyone i hurt, confused and angered on the way. I guess this is my give back, the gift i was meant to deliver.

So this is personal and more. If we can heal at passions front, then perhaps the damage we did under the influence can be faced and dealt with on the broad plains of our existence. We will stop the destruction once we understand why we smash things. We will be healers, menders and lovers instead. We will be "Heroes."

So in poking around the world of borders, rungs, divisions, territories and restraints i remembered a striking divisive example that was propagated through the mores and media of the 1800s.

This has to do with the Victorian policy that alluded to the separation of work and the domestic front. Separation allowed men to leave their consciences at home and enter the workplace as if readying for war. This furthered the "brotherhood of men" and seems to have left a legacy of loyalty i still encounter with chagrin. It is a path in its own right of wrong, but for now i will stick to the ladies and gents. (that brotherhood, patriots thing is a twisting root that will be dealt with later)

The Robber Baron era of tenements and poverty is a big part of this picture. Labor was culled cheaply from immigrants and the poor, to build the wealth of the few who had the means (money, connections and resources)  to actually extract the resources, start the factories, distribute the goods and create the big services (banks and insurance companies, etc). This was "reality" and was a hybrid of the monarchy hierarchical design.

The labor class had to be divided from the educated or mid class who in turn were separated from the owners. This way everybody knew who was who and what they were or soon to be, doing.  This kept everything tidy.This clarity helped to maintain order. Order made "men" feel in control and all was/is well.

To help maintain order it was best to be able to judge "books by the covers"  and voila, the business suit was born. The terms, white collar and blue collar became part of the language-attributed to Upton Sinclair-and are still in use. This aided clarity of course and marketing opportunites.  Fashion was expanded to embrace the "middle class" and helped inform "progress." Fashion grew and another old skool wet dream flourished.

The white collar workers created good buffer zone characters that protected the owners and the onerous wealth making practices they dictated. Buff zoners had more to gain by following the owners dictates than their own nagging conscience. Caring for one's family justified the decision and all was "well."

David Rockefeller is heard saying that family is all that matters, in the documentary Money as Debt. It also was a fave of the mobsters, well at least the ones that lived on screens, this is interesting, no?

Therefore the family was the heart and soul of the home but was best left in the dark when it came to "winning the bread." How can this work?

It can't, which is probably why the money makers card is skipped over in most history books. It is a tricky substance best left out of the "equality and justice for all" story.

The actual card gets played as the Joker, aka, as in the Horatio Alger stories about individuals who overcome the odds, misfortunes, poverty and pain to climb the ladder of success and rise to the "top." This makes for good stories and fullfills the "making it in America" propaganda that is necessary to keep the many toiling away for the benefit of the few.  It provides the merit version that sustains beliefs.

So now, back to the 19th century and the pall of coal sooted skies, where upper class men were engaged in businesses considered too harsh, tricky, tedious and/or unsettling for the sensibilities of the weaker sex.

To be fair, women were fainting due to tight corsets, slathering on arsenic laden creams and perhaps even swallowing a few tape worm pills, so the notion of fragility was somewhat true. Leaving ones business self at the office became a noble and decent gesture; it was meant to aid and heighten domestic bliss and keep the home fires burning.

This separation helped pave the way for even more gender role delusions and more cultural schizophrenia. It is a totally understandable, even well intended misstep. It is another link in the pathology of the western mindset.

If you've stayed with this unravel,  the strand that made women the spiritual, social and domestic rulers of home and hearth, is now visible. It is the juxtapose that provided the fodder that grew into the "woman behind the man" tales of modern lore. It was a convenient concept, a separate but equal think, for gender role assignation and was later conveniently adapted to gentrify racism. We humans love a good repeat. (machine thinkers pablum)

Now i must bring in a book i read years ago, about an original domestic goddess, Mrs. Astor, who ruled NYC, by calling the social shots. She could make or break a person's standing and that aided or constrained a families abilities to thrive. If you weren't invited to an Astor social it meant you were doomed to job loss, social ostracization and other calamities. Wealth was power and had naught to do with anything as laudable as merit. It was a catty, stylish pecking order ruled by a most famously coiffed peckerhead. (Nod to Michael Refuzer for this pun) .

PS -Oh right, this was of course the "upper class," Poverty was much more inclusive. The flower seller, classic ugly duckling to swan tale of My Fair Lady (from Pygmalian) and the gang of thieves in Dicken's London, Oliver Twist care less about the niceties of gender roles and focus on surviving the best one can. Note: The authors also took care to single out one from the many and glorify their rise in the social order. That made for a good "publishable" yarn.

Saturday, July 28, 2012

Money is Debt


This "art" is supposed to make us aware of  deforestation (trees as environmental agents that provide ecosystem services, so is important message) ...right i got that!!!  but not until reading the explanation in the Seattle PI -so reall;y a mixed message
Deforestation is product of ownership benefit mantra, so round it goes.

Money is Debt and debt is a form of slavery. Consider the indentured servants of the American colonial past. Consider immigrants and cheap labor, slaves generating the  wealth of the South and other forms of usury. You may start to feel nauseous; i know i do, every time someone says something about the "right" to profit. Like what does that mean?

This statement is useful in that it glorifies the concept of "the self made man" or fair trade, or American liberty, or the freedom to take, exploit and expand ones wealth without hinderance. One has the "right" to benefit from ownership. ( Ownership is another loosey goosey, later!)  This old notion was concieved in a far different world view than what we now know. Now we know the scope of reaction to action and the consequences of infinite growth on a finitie planet. We know we cannot continue fouling our home and not get sick...er.

Therefore why are we still such suckers and pawns to profit? The concept was made up therefore can be unmade. I suspect we are stuck in this situation because we equated progress to profit and making do, all word origin indicators. So we went along fooling ourselves;  believing some "ones" trustworthy and knowledgeable were in charge of the system. We were forcibly taught that that was true. (Manufacturing Consent)

It's a nice story, but so not the case. In fact the system outgrew the people. People progressed in niches and were limited by the same. This lack of diversity by niche is based on some very wrong and limiting notions that were set into motion generations ago. At the time it started it made sense- now it does not. However it is entrenched and  now apparently "it" rules us. What???

The "system" appears to be a man made cancerous thing that we either join whilst leaving our conscience at the door or keep our whole integrity and fight as best we can. When success means to bow to the wishes of a psycopath (Corporations fit the profile)
what kind of success is it? Now i know why i am such a bad fit!!

This is sticky, for to not belong makes influencing decisions difficult, however to belong one must play by the rules. This is the Catch 22, the paradox. Why? because the rules of profit dictate the system. The rules were informed by the disease to behave as the disease, reflective assessment and action- therefore the inluence was and is directed by those who learned from influencers before them. We repeat what "works" however we see not the whole but the niche and this lack of vision has created a monster- a multi headed hydra that is sucking out the resources, hijacking energy and is wringing life dry. It is the "death of birth." (Paul Hawkens)

Is it because there is no money in caring, in giving back as much as you take and other natural healthy system exchanges as seen in thriving ecosystems? Are we doomed because we made up a story and now anyone trying to write another kind of story is dissed because "we" all know the old story? Our default belief is faulty but feels safe because we heard it for so long. Am i the only one thinking this is absurd?

Answer: No of course i am not alone. Let me know:-)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

The Human Story


sun dappled reader with a great tattoo

Why do we appreciate rainbows, the scent of night blooming jasmine, the robin's song, a soft breeze, the feel of the sun?

Why have we allowed our senses to be deadened by the synthetic promise of the marketplace? The design of the dupe is a capitalist success story.

Now perfumes, cosmetics and the supermarket laundry aisles choke me with their noxious fumes. I am very sensitive to pthalates and other airborne toxic invaders. I believe it is because my exposure tolerance has been maxed. My body's warning system is telling me to get away or suffer the consequences of denial. I get away.

Did we take the natural gifts and services, the process of life on this planet, for granted or we were duped into believing the promises of "leaders" as they shaped the world?  Was this duping planned (conspiracy) or was it merely a step by step process of ignorance and self gratification?

What I find horribly amusing is that they who get the privilege of running the shows start to believe that they are that special. Keeping their "beliefs" alive and well, they build the systems that augment these same narrow perceptions. They raise their children to believe they are that thing too and as the kids, for the most part feel "not even" they see the rest of the world as even less.

"I have. therefore I deserve to have"  and more; the more is to prove to "daddy" that i am all that...again!!  Do you see how damaging this is?  It is the perfect developmental plateau, the no growth vehicle of belly button myopia.

As the reflective ego grows in its own image, it destroys else. Its markers are stuff and power, its lingo profit and control. Sounds familiar, no?

Its outcome looks to be a form of  narcissistic domination that leads to nihilism, the king of the world dies alone, unmourned and unnoticed...the king of the world is zero.

After seeing the movie "Ethos" Friday night, I am under the influence. Check it out for the Rockefeller tape ....Hitler with a smart phone is still Hitler.