fashionRIP

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

Stitch-istration of two trees that represent traditional

male/female archetypes. They help ground me when i visit.

What a conundrum, i really diss the market's shout to buy junk. This holiday is another one that begs for presence, not presents.

We want love, not delusional referrals of heart that are what?- control agents, monitors of care, tributes to normed relationships, reflections of cultural values? Somewhere we bought the abstract and lost a lot of the true value.

When humans sought to understand their yearnings for the essence that lies in knowing, pulls them toward an authentic connection beyond self, they wanted to share the idea so they gave it a name and Love was born.

In a culture that gives a lot of homage to things measurable, provable and repeatable, lovers are losers. Putting faith in science over our own experiences has dreadfully limited our perception of reality.Once again we are looking in the mirror and asking , how did we lose vision and come to this?

Science is a bright light yes, but shouldn't be the only light in the realm. Science is a tool that when used properly can yield terrific results. But it has also led to myopia, a numbers based dependency and a new kind of ignorance. Fearing that which is not controllable we have caged ourselves in this ridiculous empire of data. Safety in numbers, safety behind walls, safety in stuff, we have gotten used to shooting ourselves in the foot. When asked to stand up for heart, we feel the pain and respond slowly if at all.

We send Valentines made by strangers in foreign factories. Question the love.

All around us we see the reflection of a sham reality that our culture projects. See how it postures, poses and glitters, see how our mainstream media prances it about, see how we are seduced into accepting it all as real life.

Once you see through it you can never not see it again!

So here's to Love, here's to Real Love all vulnerable and messy and lacking in data because it is always new, unique and universal, simultaneously at once.

So stop buying love...

Show up vulnerable and courageous for truly that is brave, heroic even. In a world of bad beliefs based on competitive, dog eat dog, win/lose set ups we must speak up. It is time to kindly ask the old fear based ideologists to back off, for there is love to give and life to live.

Belief Systems

2012-02-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

Woolroving felted onto nylon which

was oncethe bottom of a vintage negligee. Felting is great fun and

createsamazing texture. I did this first piece as an experimental sample.

Now needto find its "home."

Last month's snow put an abruptstop in my anticipated flow of events. Watching the world transformed by naturecreated its usual beauty break, but this year it brought to mind climate changeand shock.

Why shock? I thought of cultureshock, the feelings that are synonymous to sudden immersion in a really foreignland, one where language and customs are very different from your own dailyevents. I surmise there is a correlation between this experienceand my own culture' inability to embrace the next reality. No matter howone may research, gather information, study the language and traditions, nomatter the plan; stepping into another "way of living" surrounds aperson with all matters of the unexpected. This taps our senses and we wake upto the immediacy of being.

At this point we choose fear ofthe unknown (what train, how do i say "show me" etc) or we embraceit. Usually there is a mix of both, but with practice the unknown becomes themagic doorway of possibility.

Perhaps this is where one canconsciously choose to evoke the law of attraction, perhaps it is merephysiology, an adrenaline response, perhaps it is the way our sacredheart communicates with us and the whole of life. Call it what ever, a rose is stilla rose, the point is that when our energy meets new energy, we come alive.Sparks get our attention,

Change in everyday reality, where every minute brings us a step nearer to extreme climate chaoswith concurrent ecosystems damage and the nihilistic wealth/resources suck to the 1%, has many of us mesmerized by the virtual undrama. (despite Occupy) We arelost to big reality by immersion in shallow reality.

The signs and symptoms of changeshow up, little by little, over time. Like a cancer, our culturaldis-ease feeds best on populations in states of semi inertia. Be it cells or humans,populations respond to alarms and they reAct. This must be why feardriven systems are so dominant; it is easier to "prove" the necessityto respond than to chance prediction. (Predictions hang out withthe like of wiccans, pagans, shamans and such, and throughout Western history were akin to calling cards for tortuous ramification. The "originalchurch" wanted zero competition for the "souls" of human beings.)

Without bells and whistles, Insidiousdis-eases and toxins creep in under the radar and thrive until our immunesystems are too weakened or overwhelmed to respond adequately. Is this what hashappened? Is our cultural "real" no more real than a person acceptingas normal a condition that irritates but until it really is a bother won't take time to investigate and find a cure? Wow, like our dailyshallow over rides our true dharma until we are forced awake.

This is a version of "the lobster in the pot." The poor lobster doesn't feel the creep of theheat's intensity until it is severe. The lobster's environmental shock-up comestoo late in the classic story. However we are more conscious than lobsters andtherefore "we" have been noting the evidence of our head towardsdisaster. As a result, thousands (more?) of citizen's groups have formed totreat the symptoms. This is part of that which Paul Hawken'scalls the global immune response system. Now, in 2012, there truly is a new levelof urgency. We as a species are pulling ourselves, our families, our world ofbrothers and sisters together and are jumping "out of the pot." We are risking the ire of the ogre for our very lives.

This jump from theknown "boiling pot" towards a new consciousness is evolutionary behavior. We are putting faith inthe currently unprovable, because what we thought we knew has proven flawed beyondrepair. We can and will do better. We are moving towards that which we want tomanifest, trusting our sacred hearts to be the compass they were intended tobe. This is a leap of faith, evolution, courage, but most of all, heart.

Thesparks are here, the fire is lighted, we are the phoenix and need not succumb tothe ashes of our own distorted beliefs and premises. Our hearts say soar, soar beyond this delusion, soar towards the light.

Choose light!

2012 Time for Change

2012-02-04T05:54:00.001-08:00

Colin Day Abstract Kerf International Gallery 2012

I saw this great flick last night at Wallingford Meaningful Movies.

2012: Time for Change -Teaser

The flick starts with a bit about the Mayan calendar ending in 2012. Then we are taken along with Daniel Pinchbeck to sample a variety of alternative natural systems and savvy possibilities while weaving through the insanity of our mainstreamed anthropocentric systems design. Along the way there are some fun parallels.

In the Mayan creator story the first "people " were of mud (crawled out of the sea ?) They were oblivious to nuance and therefore were wiped out. The next batch were wood and better than mud, but still full of fear which led to a warring nature. The wood people were wiped out by a flood (Noah's Ark?)

Then came the people of the Corn!!!

"We're like corn chips walking because we really have a very, very large fraction of corn in our diets, and we actually can't help it because it's an additive in so many of the foods we find on the market shelves," Dawson says. (Todd Dawson, a plant biologist at the University of California-Berkeley, can test a strand of hair to determine how much corn is in your diet or mine by looking for a form of carbon found in corn.)

Wow, we "children of the corn," have big choices to make. We can stick to the rut of business as usual; controlled by fear and scarcity beliefs, led by systems that seek to create dependencies that further control us by taking our lives into a material spin dry-AKA good for corporations but bad for life.

In defense, we were led to believe this was progress, this was man and science in control of life, dominating the planet. (Having dominion over is a Biblical phrase) I guess that little dopamine rush released during a "buy" was worth the price for awhile. But we are getting over it. As we gain sophistication, we ask more questions. We are seeking our further potential.

Many of us are asking for a life that values life itself.Seeing the connected, interrelated beauty of the living universe will help us co-create the next phase. People of the evolution. people born of stardust, people who respect the intelligence of the natural world and learn to align with that which is us and not us, simultaneously, they choose light.

Ok Corn people, show the world your true colors, lets bloom outta this dive.

City Looks

2012-02-01T10:09:00.000-08:00

great look spotted Saturday in the A M.

remember!

2012-01-25T06:52:00.001-08:00

the light goes on

photo by BjørnJørgensen/NASA (Grotfjord, Norway - 1/23/12).

and on. Check out the latest universal light shows at http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120124.html
This post is to remind us that we are born of Stars (The Living Universe, Elgin) and that we are the light with the power necessary to change the way poor perceptions have misguided life. It is also the year of the dragon, wow all this magick is now!!

Foreclosure Quilts

2012-01-20T13:21:00.000-08:00

This post came my way at the best time. Last week i proposed a quilting workshop to the Women in Occupy Seattle group. This came after an email from the co-op list with an Occupy the Economy lead in. As co-ops are part of the transition towards a diverse economic model and many are savvy on sustainability and the like, i am hoping to see partnering teach-ins across the nation. Problem and solution (one of many) together like jack, cool.

".... start an Oc quilt full of images, ideas etc on the movement, a fiber arts piece that can show in the gallery and tell a story of manypieces coming together to create something new and yet heartfully, mindfullyfamiliar. A symbol of cooperation ...i can't wait to see it!
happy January!

Where are Seattle lights?

2012-01-13T05:51:00.000-08:00

Birds on a Wire - wall in U District

There is some great graphic art and music coming out of Occupy. Artists andmusicians were/are my mentors. They showed me a world school failed to reveal.(Lies My Teacher Told ME by Loewen) Occupy is helping expose the trail of liesand abuse hidden under flag waving rhetoric and blind acceptance tocapitalization. We were taught everything needed to be abstracted, objectifiedand priced. Now people are gathering together and asking why? People are skingfor more value, more respect more democracy..They are demanding transparency,truth and and an end to systemic battering of human spirit, dignity and theirability to live healthy , whole lives.
We are seeking autonomy from the old hierarchical top down grubbery that isresulting in a nihilism, a squeezing and shrinking of things that matter likeclean air, water, living soils, healthy bodies, minds and spirits.
This is how we as a species, a culture of humanity,will move from anindustrial, hierarchical state of developmental retardation. We are movingforward, being the conscious evolution.

One of my favorite music videos is "ViolenceBreeds More Violence, Right?
another is Occupy: We Are The Many.

Seattle is home of so many talented people, please contact Peoples MediaArts Uprising 2012, show up, and help the world understand how energy focusedwill create the next story.

The Immune Response

2012-01-11T07:31:00.000-08:00

Love this video.
Paul Hawkens understands the global biorhythm. The patterns of nature, self,culture - all are imitative, repetitive and yet autonomous within the whole. Weare just a fractal of others and more! Seeing how life relates to itself reallypushes the potential of our personal energy. This further validates how weimpact paradigm change by being the change. This also validates how working ingroups can facilitate learning as we reflect and resonate with others. Groupsthus create more exposure which aids the immune response systems.

Now i just copy and paste the bio truths into the manmade constructformularies and viola, a picture is revealed again. This shows how we cancounter much of the dis-ease our economic system enabled by acting in the spacewe create for the new construct.

The focus on profit distorted perceptions, created a false reality akin to acancerous growth model- ah like that just can't be good right?

2012 is healing and blooming.

New Years Day + 1

2012-01-04T06:35:00.000-08:00

January 2nd, i woke to "The Matrix" and saw it in a whole different light. The humans aren't the virus, the programming is bad. The Matrix isn't a machine or equation, it is something vastly superior and love is how we are able to understand and/or connect with "it."

Consider the phrase "if you love someone set them free, if they return, they love you." (adaptation) We were once free, then awoke to consciousness only to become entangled in our own and other's egos. We were snagged by ideologies that created systems that hooked us in at the level of the humans who made them up. As those system creators were intent on "owning the world," "winning the war against nature," and other oddities they have come close to achieving their goals. Monopolies hidden under corporate facades are calling the shots and ecosystems are collapsing. However their goals now appear vacuous, ill informed, insane even.

All along the way, a few of the people asked questions. They challenged the premise and beliefs. They questioned the goals. They queried the results.

As people woke up, they talked to others and started unplugging from the system. Now every day this is happening ever more. We are setting ourselves free. We are returning to love.

New Years Day

2012-01-04T05:37:00.000-08:00

The first song i heard (just after midnight -PBS) in 2012 was Cold Play's "Fix You." Someone comes to my mind here, despite rational intervention, it is what is. As feelings, subtly or not so, rule the rational mind, this one is for faith to handle. I trust my intent for good to align with a natural, larger good.

As i have been calling 2012 the year of healing and transition, hearing this song was an affirmation. This is my year to cross over. I do not know what that means. I will by 2013.

I have an idea that we need to heal gender and generation chasms in order to heal the other rifts between peoples. This is a synchronistic pursuit, as personhood is such a mixed, tangled thing. We are bound to set off fireworks, both dangerous and beautiful.

So this means scouting in territories where tradition has built thousands of forts. We need to storm all the barricades and set life free. Freeing our selves, frees others. This will enable us to come into states of fuller potential.

We need to appreciate each other for who we are and not who we want others to be for us. This will translate across all the other borders. This is how barricades crumble, they dissolve with out attention. This we can do.

Hello 2012

2012

2012-01-01T05:22:00.000-08:00

Promise is a granddaughter born

with a spiky do, universe grins!

Tis the year of Transition, setting the direction for the Transformation. However as time was a system made for tracking seasons, it is a cumbersome tool for things with no moon phases or fixed points. Good labels are a matter of hindsight, but without foresight we fail to get out of ruts.

So playing with energy and intent, here is my take:

Transition is the step up and out, towards hope, towards global healing. Transformation is the next illumination.

In other words, transitions, transformations, epiphanies and evolutionary leaps are constantly popping up all over the "timeline." Each person progresses at the speed they are able. i think starts, stops and do-overs are how we learn best. It's a timeline through a kaleidoscope.

Transforming a whole wrong minded culture is big. But we must in order to thrive as individuals. This is the new paradigm of the whole.

However, we are culturally brainwashed. Some of it like, "thou shall not steal" is still relevant, but a lot of it is not so much. Much of what we are taught is stuff deemed necessary by "they that rule," so "they" can continue their good thing. This means we get a twisted version of facts to swallow. (Funny as designing for comfort practically screams of developmental stagnation which explains the rut! Our brains thrive on challenge, but we have allowed this lesser state to hunker down and settle in)

Back to time; on the way past Rome, feudalism and into the Renaissance there were tweaks. Enlightenment brought on revolutions and the new elitists joined the ranks. (Our Founding Fathers and their wealthy alliances)

The profit minded industrialists became the new players on the block. They quickly aligned with regulators and policy makers. Their "success" led the west to see the world as a vast machine. Life "the mechanism" could be controlled, organized and counted. Whereas nature was viewed as chaotic and frightening, machines helped humans feel powerful, safe and in control of their domain. These humans felt they were winning the "war against nature."

Now we understand that way of thinking is about to take down the life support systems of the planet. While corporations shuffle to own the pieces of our collective biosphere, We the People are standing up and yelling "Back Off!" (India suing Monsanto!! after Dow and Bhopal she has had enough, Occupy Wall Street going global, more)

We are not as suicidal or as brain dead as the systems we are plugged into. We are part of the blooming, messy, natural cycle. We are Nature. We are not machines we are far MORE! The obvious doesn't wear a business uniform or khakis, the obvious wears truth as best it can.

AKA, the system we (living beings) set up has declared war on itself, is this classic or what?

OK so the transition is to start on the healing. We need to wake up from the e-drugged state of
* dependent energy into an appreciative and mindful energy. We all have a lot to do. This is good, this is change.

This is something we can do for ourselves and others. Start with the professionals, read and explore your personal territory while you learn. Then when you feel secure enough in your knowing heart, peel back the covers and share. Invite others to do the same.

Our friends and loved ones know us best. We can start there to build the trust and the spaces for healing in our lives. Then get braver and speak up at every opportunity. Change waits for no one, it is the direction that counts.

The shows i am doing with the Kerf International Exhibits and fashionRIP Project's "Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012" are experiments in all of this. I know only from where i am, and i know i must participate to nurture the more, and so it goes. So we all go.

2012, welcome. May we learn together to thrive as whole beings in a living, energy filled, dynamic Universe.

*
Dependent energy: our food system (esp refined sugars and carbs, now GMOs and pharma frankens- patents mean $, nature is "free" until Dow/Gates pull out heritage disaster food relief from the Arctic..OMG! what price are "we" willing to pay, who are "WE?") oil and petrol chemical by products (plastics in medical devices to alleviate the symptoms of diseases caused by our Wars and from the toxins in the plastic life cycle) apps on smart phones hooked to corporate vampires, too much Facebook, too little face time. Our dependencies (addictions) on created needs will never be satisfied here, even if we had an infinite planet to carry out the experiment, which we do not, so the game is over! Please everyone, help us all move on!!

99% love

2011-12-29T05:53:00.000-08:00

fiber collage on flocked organdie

Sweet video of the people in Bellingham speaking up against distorted human reality.

It just stands to reason that no one group has the right to grab and gobble everything. In human development they would be spoiled brats, in health science they are a cancer, in economics they are unsustainable and resource abusive winners of loss, creators of scarcity and death. How is that a win, a thing to be proud of?

The capitalist (and too, the communist, socialist) system grew from a host of antique views that we have outgrown. This is normal developmental progression.

Therefore, our human made systems need to respond to the science and wisdom of today's people; people who are are challenging the lack of dimension and the vast ignorance of the earlier premises.

We are living things that need to grow in ideas and spirit. The physical, material, consumer focus of the old capitalist system denied the whole of truth to grow; that is not acceptable nor adequate. We are wonderfully More and that great potential needs freeing. I trust the human spirit to bloom evermore brilliantly, after all, we are children of the universe.

Occupy Everything is rooted in the need for change and it warms my heart and is growing my trust. Thank you.

The Gift of More Being

2011-12-25T08:53:00.000-08:00

The man who went forth to gift the world, wore plaid.

Grateful

2011-12-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

One Love / Occupy Everything
Street Art message of mindful awakening.
i am grateful for this! (Actual photo 12/24/11)

I mix my holidays quite a bit, a day for thanks is awful skimpy.

Right now i am in gratitude for the legal system taking on the rights of real people that were "hushed" at occupy camps. I am grateful for all those who weather the front lines for social, economic and environmental justice. I am thankful that the dancing copper in Providence is proof that all cops are not para militaristic thugs. (It is sad how the worst can effect the image of the whole)

i am thankful for the gift of friends and family.

I am grateful for Annie Leonard and Colbert putting "stuff" in its place.

I am grateful that every day is an adventure of possibility. The more aware and present i learn to be, the more the universe responds. This you must try out for yourself. Please let me know what happens.

If being aware is a key to activating the healthier, vast and expansive energy of Life, Light and Love, then anything is possible. That means we can manifest our vision of a better world by acting in it now. This validates an amazing, larger reality and gives it the energy it needs to thrive.

We know this pattern in our own biology, in ecosystems. It is cosmic condition, a fractal of the whole that we now see. Is this not an expanded state of consciousness?

If the above is true, then we have barely tapped our potential. We are moving beyond mere consciousness and the physical realm (material) into a super consciousness. Out of the primordial mud, past the garden and into the light.

I don't really know any of this, but it makes sense with what i do know. The experiment continues, i just report the results.

Give Presence

2011-12-23T04:53:00.000-08:00

Photo site: 45th and U Dist Library, Seattle

Empathy and nonviolent communication for healing relationships as described by Dominic Barter in the Empathy Documentary Project, really got to me.

Consider the gift of being present this holiday season; for empathy can transform the person being truly "heard" and that encourages growth. When we reflect back another's presence we can empower them to see for themselves how they are able to change. We hear ourselves better when others hear us. That is beautiful.

This is a gift, a new tool that we can share sustainably. As we understand more the limits of our current situation we need new tools and practices. (Einstein law of repetition -"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results".)

We are a civilization in need of responsive adaptation to a reality that was unknown when we started building the systems that now control our very lives. If the super food of life is our giving of presence to each other then go forth and give abundantly. This is about living in an understanding of connected reality and that changes the paradigm.

I am personally coming from a place of not being heard aka, being misunderstood. I felt i was rarely validated for who i was, but for who i appeared to be, even though i was the one that set up that persona.

I tried to reflect in life a collage person of fashion and glamorous decadence. i pieced myself together from the sound bites, movie clips and images that i responded to. But when i was perceived as such, i felt very alone. I fought back by looking for cracks in everyone i cared about. I thought that way i would find the truth but instead i just broke things.

Then i tried to assert my transforming self and that made matters worse. I think i came on like a shipwrecked alien, people, men especially, couldn't relate. I started to experiment with life because what i had believed in proved to be lossy, and there had to be more. I had faith in 'the more."

If being truly heard can evoke healing and if listening emphatically to others helps us see our common beingness, then that means we can transform at the rate needed to overcome the wrong mindedness that appears so dominate and deadly. This transformative action is something we can all do every day.

We can transcend our primitive past and come towards our becoming. We can bloom in spirit, love and gratitude.

I am challenging myself and others to start gifting the world with presence. Lets experiment with it, and share our stories, let's see what happens. Cheers!

Happy Winter Solstice

2011-12-21T11:46:00.001-08:00

fabric scrap cards for Winter Solstice,
i delivered them right after this picture was taken.

On the threshold of 2012 let us move forward with Heart. Gifting the world, passing kindness, compassion and joy we will co create the new paradigm that resonates with the connected, interrelated reality we now understand.
Peace and blessings this holiday season.

Video by Life Vest, enjoy the heart.

Gifting the World

2011-12-18T06:55:00.000-08:00

Tacoma bus stop, on the way to my evaluations at TESC, i had a Banksy moment. Propped against a concrete pillar was a framed print of a still life landscape. Highly romanticized, i am guessing it was circa mid 80s, in great condition.

I had to take a shot and in the process a tall gent told me I could have it, he had rescued it from a dumpster. I told him i was on my way to school or i would take him up on the offer. Then we spoke of recycling and as he walked away, i thanked him for gifting the world. When he turned around and grinned, we shared a beautiful moment of being. I am so thinking the sun came out!

The silence of others broke as well and humanity touched grounding. We are made for this.

Oh and my evals, excellent. My prof gets me now, though suggests i slow down and walk people through my ideas. Turning the paradigm from "profit" to nurturing the potential of everyone releasing the amazing possibility of life, got me a thumbs up.

Thank you Dr S. (science base) I needed that!!

Upside of the Down

2011-12-13T06:25:00.000-08:00

Ballard recyked metal

The cure for the insanity we are experiencing in the world is to put our collective energy into healthy alternatives.

Realizing that we are part of a functioning whole means we have to learn new ways of being. Sharing spaces, ideas and resources expose us to the good and the bad side of building trust. We are in a grand experiment of DoBetter and there is a learning phase. Cool! Humans actually spark at challenge, it is good for us!

Last night,at the Kerf International Exhibits meeting, we got into a conversation about the book/movie Collapse. I later started thinking that i should have spoken up more on the positive side of this scene. Michael Ruppert has an every man for himself tinge ( bear attack story, be faster than other campers) that i and others need to dispute. In a healthy aligning with nature we are seeing how it is synchronicity, harmony and cooperation that allows life to thrive. The well being of the whole is directly related to the well being of the individual in the long term. (That bear will get hungry again and then one by one all campers go down)

The problem/changes are huge, but like an addiction, the cure is more than abstinence, it is finding a way to live with joy, health and less resource abuse. I think stressing the "potential of rebirthing the cultural mindset" is about full awakening, not just to the scam of "economics" but to our own amazing possibilities. A visually compelling exhibit at the Kerf can illuminate the spectrum and be a catalyst for more connections. Working together makes us stronger, wiser and more abled than stoic individualism. We can create the framework for the next part of this amazing journey.

Kerf workshops can be a functioning space to attract more connections, engage the community and promote creative thinking. They can also be part of the antidote for "virtual reality" that is changing brain development in children. This phenomena is becoming a part of psychological, sociological and neurological discourse. Play Again , shown at Wallingford Meaningful Movies (probably in their lending library) speaks to this change by taking a group of young people into the outdoors for a real life adventure. Art, sewing other craft skills build real world confidence as much as camping, and are not as weather dependent.

Kerf International Exhibits and the PMAU 2012 show meetings will continue in January. Please help build the future positive -at the Kerf or Anywhere, Earth.

Original Art

2011-12-11T07:22:00.000-08:00

Charmed Seattle 2003

The article The Library Rethought by Papova caught my eye as PMAU 2012 is meeting at the Greenwood library today at 2 pm (open) and the video from the NYPL Live Remix is spot on. Thank you, DailyGood.

Creative diversity is a big thing with me and we seem to be narrowing its possibilities under the guise of "protection."

We are born to mimic, that is how we learn. So where is the line? What is really "original?" Ideas come from somewhere and we are influenced constantly, so again, where is the line?

Once upon a time, copyrights were to protect the artists, the creative person who wrote, drew or designed something. The original law (Statute of Anne) to protect authors was written in Britain in 1710. In 1975 US copyrights "died" 50 years after the death of the originator of the work

In 1975 corporate copyrights lasted 75 years. In 1998 the Copyright Extension Act or
Mickey Mouse Protection Act added 20 years to the "ownership."

"The Act extended these terms to life of the author plus 70 years and for works of corporate authorship to 120 years after creation or 95 years after publication, whichever endpoint is earlier.^[1] Copyright protection for works published prior to January 1, 1978, was increased by 20 years to a total of 95 years from their publication date." Wikipedia

Now that corporations are in charge, they have forced governments to change the laws to suit their agendas. Copyright law was changed when Disney wanted to keep Mickey under their thumbs.

As corporations can outlive humans our laws get rewritten to accommodate their needs. This allows corporations to control creativity. When profit rules thinking, what thoughts perish? When you consider humans natural learning mode, inspiration, building on prior ideas so as not to have to re-invent the wheel - ...hmmmm.

PS my article in Green Wiki was used in an eco fashion article in the Philipines, would've liked a credit but knowing it was reaching a wider audience, made it sit well in the over alls.

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012

2011-12-09T05:37:00.000-08:00

Target Love Need
Aim at Insecurities
Hide it in "fashion"

PMAU 2012 will be meeting at the Greenwood Library this Sunday the 11th at 2:00 pm. Please show up if you are even remotely interested.

FYI:"Occupy Wall Street" was coined by the man behind the magazine Adbusters.

"On July 13th, Kalle Lasn, and colleagues created a twitter tag #occupywallstreet."

They made a poster showing a ballerina on top of the bull sculpture near Wall Street.

"For some they were just words and images, For Lasn they were tools to begin remodeling the "mental environment" to create a new "meme," ( transcendent cultural message coined by Richard Dawkins)

"There's a number of ways to wage a "meme" war, Lasn said, "I believe the most powerful thing of all is aesthetics." (William Yardley, The New York Times via Seattle Times Dec 4, 2011))

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012 is not a war -it is a means of enlightenment. When the untrue beliefs and false premises of the old industrial, business model are exposed, they whither. They shrink in the light of today's knowledge.

However, the power of aesthetics is amazing either way. If Occupy is the battle, then PMAU (Peeps- Me And U ?) is the lamp. We want to shine light on the information that marketers avoid and governments ignore. Our health and the health of the whole is at stake and that is something too precious to leave to the memes of war.

The tools that made the problem need to be put into the hands of healers. Money is one of those tools and Occupiers are demanding a reevaluation of its use. And in asking for economic justice the whole of the system is being confronted for its unsustainable , callous and narrow viewpoint that promoted an American lifestyle of mass consumption. We have come to this and it is time to wise up the whole and heal. And so it is!

Hormone Disruptors

2011-12-07T03:59:00.001-08:00

envelope collage, stitch, marker and digital
hole in heart

Theo Colburn, " principal investigator, analyst, and constructor of the "endocrine disruption hypothesis" and author of Our Stolen Future (1996)

"For over half a century....humans have been engaged in chemical warfare against themselves. "We have dusted the globe with man-made chemicals that can undermine the development of the brain and behavior, and the endocrine, immune, and reproductive systems, vital systems that assure perpetuity.. ...Colburn says, "You cannot escape from exposure in your homes, work places,the outdoors or in your meeting room."

Restricting the use of of a few of the most deadly pesticides.-those made from chlorinated hydrocarbons (like DDT) -and phasing out the production of PCBs came too late. The world has already become permeated with these and other long lasting synthetic chemicals. these residual poisons in all our bodies are leftovers from hazardous synthetic chemicals that have been discharged into the environment since the 1940s. ..

...everyone is carrying at least 500 measurable chemicals in their bodies that weren't there prior to the 1920s. ( p 85-86)

Persistent organic pollutants -POPs -" are circulating throughout the world on ocean and atmospheric currents. "

The endocrine disruptors "wreak havoc a on many different biological processes..." Safer States

The good news is that human genes have not been damaged, -just turned on or off at the wrong moments. If exposure to POPs "can be eliminated, future generations can develop normally again."

Colburn says "what distresses her most about how humans interact with the planet are greed and short thinking. ..Colburn notes that some corporate leaders are beginning to realize that the survival of their companies depends on their changing their policies, products and processes. In a sense perhaps, greed and concern for their bottom lines might be turned to advantage..." (p 86) Women Pioneers for the Environment, Mary Joy Breton (1998)

"We" did not promote these chemicals, the industry did.

"...develop normally," POPs are only a % of the chemical onslaught.

"...greed and concern for their bottom lines might be turned to advantage." Creating more sustainable, greener processes, products etc do not offset the fact that huge corporations wield too much power over governments and global policy makers. Creative diversity is stilted when profit is the most valued result.

Silent Spring Revisited

2011-12-05T04:13:00.000-08:00

Machine stitch illustration on repurposed cotton
with pink satin remnant from its past life

Rachel Carson, in a letter to a friend, wrote:

"I'm convinced there is a psychological angle in all this, that people, especially professional men, are uncomfortable about coming out against something, especially if they haven't got absolute proof the "something" is wrong, but only a suspicion. So they will go along with a program about which they privately have acute misgivings. So I think it is more important to build up the positive alternatives."

"Of all insects 90% are not only beneficial but essential as pollinators and predators in our ecosystems. Furthermore. "Of the destructive variety, more than 800 species have become resistant to one or more pesticides. This keeps the extermination industry constantly bustling to invent new pesticides."(From the book Women Pioneers for the Environment, by Mary Joy Breton, (1998) p 74)

This is great for the chemical business but is proving disastrous for many living things. How many chronic human conditions are enabled or caused by our chemical contact? I mean, fibromyalgia is no doubt caused by exposure to nerve agents aka pesticides; probably the result of small doses over long periods, which makes a direct "cause = effect" proof difficult. But common sense says-dah yes!!

While I am guessing, (I am a woman after all :-) I am going to suggest that our bodies ability to handle toxins has been disabled by processed food stuffs. Our bodies natural repair mechanism needs real organic compounds with their buddies the phytochemicals to adequately sustain healthy functioning.

Thanks to monocropping and thinking of food as a "product" our agribiz giants went for fast growing, easy harvesting crops, aided and abetted by the chemical industry and bio patents (90% of the corn and soy in USA are GMOs) Edible food stuffs that trigger addictive behaviors, have long shelf life and are easy to transport are great for the corporate bottom line. But what are they doing to people and the planet's ability to sustain healthy diversified ecosystems that support healthy living things?

Look around and witness the world. Wall Street is the visible mechanism that feeds corporations
and applauds their alliances. Occupy Wall Street is the public immune system shaking off the trance.

For the Record

2011-12-04T06:50:00.001-08:00

photo of mural detail in Olympia + atomic symbol

"In Global Citizen, Donella Meadows, charges that the government has continually lied about nuclear power from as far back as 1945.....The basic bureaucratic rules of operation are designed to blur information about nuclear power: Use obscure words to hide plain truths. Never confess mistakes, even though they are inevitable. Always pretend certainty, despite enormous degrees of uncertainty." (Breton, M. Joy, Women Pioneers for the Environment, 1998, p 87-88,)

To confuse with authority, what a plan!!! Why, as in why limit the world to such a small, possibly erroneous reality?" Wow, how many wrongs are in this plan?

I think we can replace nuclear power with almost anything that looks to be able to make a high Return On Investment. That is why scientists in so many realms are ignored, fought or belittled when research points against the interests of commerce.

Hazel Henderson, another heroic pioneer was "labeled "the most dangerous woman in America " by corporate CEOs " after her articles in business publications including "Ecologists vs Economists" in the Harvard Business Journal raised some ire. (p 191)

"One of the century's foremost "high risk social innovators," Henderson says she likes to intercept policy debates anywhere in the world....offering new directions, expanded contexts, connections and possibilitiesfor creating win-win solutions in our ever-shrinking, more crowded, polluted planet.
Economists called her the lady that was poisoning the well. Since then Henderson has become a respected and sought after authority on global economics and human development issues."

More than 25 years ago, H.H. embarked on a crusade to persuade countries to overhaul the way they each measure economic growth and human development. Calling herself an anti economist, she challenged the traditional economic assumptions- based on obsolete nineteenth century industrialism- that govern gross national product (GNP) and gross domestic product (GDP) statistics. "

The GNP overlooks unpaid work, often contributed by women, even though they contribute half the world's food. (see the issue? feeding a family doesn't count, export crops do!) "Nor does the GNP accounting system classify natural resources as assets: for that reason it fails to deduct from growth statistics the cost of diminishing or destroying natural resources during industrial processes. Ironically, the system treats cleaning up pollution and repairing damage (such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Chernobyl nuclear accident) as additional production." (p 192)

"Henderson believes economics is merely politics in disguise. We need to send economists back to school to learn more sociology, cultural anthropology, and ecology before we trust their calculations."

Henderson and other environmentalists suggest that the narrow focus of economic courses needs broadening to include training in environmental and social sciences." (p 192)

We all need to know this in order to understand how choices are being made for us, sometimes against our best interests. Occupy Wall Street, Seattle, UK, Everywhere - has pulled back the curtains, now we need to make sense of what we are seeing and act in accordance.

Timely or ?

2011-12-03T05:57:00.000-08:00

half moon 12/2/11

I wish i had read this last Sunday.

However it is still appropriate. Life tends to repeat until we get it -ie learn and change our response.

Assuming Value Everywhere by Viral Mehta, is a nice reminder. As our world becomes ever more complex, it is natural to try to sort information quickly. In that process we might be losing important affirmations of "life." That is too valuable to dismiss.

"Well, everyone is good at something. You just have to listen long enough." This quote from a 14 year old who, along with his best friend, "decided, of their own accord, to spend much of their summer creating spontaneous and mostly anonymous opportunities to grow in kindness."

The power of listening to multiple views comes from the flexibility of mind it affords. It frees me from the unconscious hold of unexamined views -- and much of my sense of self is derived from an amalgamation of such views. My 14-year-old cousin was onto something profound: Whether it's listening to a person or otherwise, if I listen long enough it creates an opening. In every such opening, I can choose to accept or put aside whatever I do discover. In the process, though, if I can embrace the unknown -- while being firmly rooted in developing wisdom through my own experience -- I am freeing myself from the prison of a limited identity."

nice!

Emphasis

2011-12-01T08:21:00.000-08:00

tree cozies in Seattle

After Monday's aha, this illustrates the "aware" dynamic of how keeping faith with the universe, or how "life calling to life' seems to respond well when given attention.

(Cage the Elephant -Shake Me Down playing in the background - ok as my Senior Synthesis oral presentation starts with the image of Banksy's Elephant, this just got better! )

Tuesday morning on the bus to Tacoma, I opened the book, "Women Pioneers for the Environment" by Mary Joy Breton (1998) and started reading from that chance page.

The book is one of the texts for my class "the Power of One" taught by Dr D. Anderson (Psychology) and Dr F. Soloman (Environmental Biology) at The Evergreen State College (Tacoma branch) -Like!

So I found myself reading about Mary Sinclair, a scientist who took on Dow Chemical and the Nuclear Industry.

"In 1967, ..Sinclare's interest in nuclear power became more than scientific. She learned that the local public utility company planned to construct a nuclear power plant two miles from her home in an area of 100,000 people. Dow Chemical, the city's primary employer (ouch) had contracted to purchase nuclear power from the utility. Sinclair knew that there were still serious problems with the technology. She recalls, "This is when my concerns for the fate of the earth in a nuclear age really brgan to take ahold of me. " (p 88) She decided to take her concerns to the community.

"The combined level of power and money represented by Dow and the local electric company intimidated the people of Midlands. (Michigan) One in six residents worked for Dow. Sinclair herself had been a research librarian for the compnay and she also did freelance technical writing for it. The utility and the chemical maker launched an intensive campaign in the community to promote the plant. Sinclair could not believe the picture they presented:

"What enraged me the most...was the fact that so many lies were being told to the public about such grave matters....I was enraged that without resolving these grave issues, huge financial commitments were being made to promote and spread this technology without full disclosure to the public of the impacts to them..and future generations"

To stimulate discussions of her concerns in the community she wrote what she believed to be mild -sounding letters to the Midlands Daily news. Hostility exploded on all sides. friends stopped talking to her and avoided her in shops and on the street....After her first letter to the newspaper, Sinclair could not get a job in Midland.

Facing ridicule and social ostracism in Midlands, Sinclair began an intense study of the nuclear safety issue. Staying on top of a highly technical subject required an enormous effort. She worried she might be wrong. If so , she would willingly admit it." (p 89)

"She attended a seminar in NYC on nuclear energy where she heard objective, unfiltered information." She also discovered other citizens groups throughout the country. Sinclair photocopied the best papers from the seminar and mailed them to 20 scientists she knew at Dow. "One or 2 scientists at Dow called her, admitting they agreed, but said they could n0t speak out because it would jeopardize their jobs." (p 90)

The local newspaper refused to print any more of her letters, telling her she would have to buy advertising space to air her views.

The licensing hearings for the construction permit took two years. "In the main, the delay arose because serious problems kept surfacing throughout the nuclear industry." (emergency cooling tests failed, more serious effects at allowable levels of radiation than had been thought, more) In spite of all this the AEC granted the building permit. (1972)

Sinclair continued, getting her Masters in environmental communications from the University of Michigan and later a doctorate from the university's School of Natural Resources.

"Sinclair believes that because women are the bearers of life they think more deeply than men about children's health." (p 92) Men were motivated by the idea that they wouldn't be able to insure their homes against a nuclear accident. Eventually she got a few other people involved in the work.

Technology and construction delays began to erode Dow's enthusiasm. However under threat of suit by the electric company Dow just renegotiated the contract instead of backing out. Sinclair and her citizens group acting as intervenes, had accumulated and documented 18 reasons the operating permit should be denied.

In a 1983 public meeting, Mary Sinclair finally heard cheers not jeers and
as of 1996, Mary Sinclair was still actively involved with nuclear issues.

"We have a safer world because of her and others like her." (p 94)

Thank you, Mary and thank you universe.

This is why the Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012 is important. We need to share our knowledge, our stories and connect. What happened in Midlands is a micro of a macro drama that is taking place around the world. Looking to profit at the expense of health and well being is a cancer that must be stopped before life's ability to renew is totally fouled.

The Trap

2011-11-30T06:25:00.000-08:00

bus lanes graffiti

Last Monday, at a bus stop in Tacoma, i chatted with a man on his way to the B & I. He asked if the dragon on my hand was a scorpion, fairly soon we were speaking of other things.

He had recently lost his mom, which changed the direction and tone of the conversation quite radically. We spoke of pain and changes. He told me how he had stopped drinking and was believing in God, not the old skool version, but still a faith thing. I agreed.

Since we had gotten so far so fast, i told him how i had been experimenting with life. That i am following my heart voice and not just the voice of authority that has proven to be so mistaken or worse. (Lies My Teacher Told Me, Loewen) Whatever the intent, that voice has led us into a big, unsustainable mess and continuing that road is crazee, so why not follow "knowing," the voice from our heart core.

Then I told him how my becoming more sure footed on this path, has seemed to attract strange verbal attacks. These "stones" are coming from acquaintances, old friends, family even and I am trying to understand what this is about.

I suspect that denial, "kill the messenger" stuff is going on. I think we want to believe someone/thing is looking out for our well being, I mean that is what we are taught in school, right? So letting people know they have to research the toxic load and question almost everything is huge. It is far easier to deny the responsibility than to acknowledge that our trust has been abused.

That is when he said, "the devil wants to pull you back" Wow, whatever the name given to the reason, that was a message I needed to hear. Thank you, sir, for your voice in my life. You helped me clarify the chaos, to shoulder the pain.

With so much of our time and attention used in navigating the ways and means of the man-made construct, we have forgotten to listen to LIFE. Life shows up when we are aware and willing to hear, see it.

Life wants our attention and that is big, very big indeed. There is so much more going on than the headlines and the skyscrapers and what Sally rides. We really need to shake off the mantle and claim our higher potentials, starting now.

Grateful

2011-11-24T05:11:00.000-08:00

Grateful yes, Thanksgiving, no.

Cranked Turkeys, GMO produce, pumpkin pies infiltrated with BPAs and the other "edible stuffs" showcased today on tables across the USA, has me freaked. While killing us slowly with dead "food" is good for business (as are patents , long shelf life, addictive qualities) it is also doing a huge number on our hearts and souls.

How can anyone feel good about themselves when they knowingly are part of the dis-ease. How long can anyone justify, tolerate or otherwise accept those sic old premises, now that the consequences are known? How much $ or fear, does it take to look the other way?

Isn't this set up a crime against humanity? Against life itself?

That T-Day is topped off with loads of "Black Friday" propaganda, designed to goad the stuffed yet ever famished into shopping frenzies, is perfect. Consume my little chickadees, consume!!!

I suspect this is just a plot for some mad science horror show.

the Aha!

2011-11-15T05:51:00.000-08:00

torn from huge voter issue postcard

The Money Fix, is that last aha doc. it really rounds it all up. Under all the distortion, damage and unreal "reality" is an antiquated system based on false premises and untrue beliefs. That system has been massaged, abstracted and bolstered into global dominance and that system is money.

The chit ($) is actually an IOU. We pass it around until one day the bank calls in the loan (the IOU is made by the banking system and regulated by its very own federal reserve) and guess what? Someone now owes the interest on top of the chit. If that person hasn't exchanged upwards, hasn't gained or profited but instead has been ok with enough, well guess what? That person can't pay up ( can't pay the "interest") so now falls into the web of debt.

No problem, prices on the necessities will rise to cover the loss. Corporations that make, distribute and control the majority of goods depend on the banks and they aren't going to blow their good thing. Therefore, we the public, assume the loss and then government loses tax revenue but so what, once again it is the general ( not the privileged) public that suffers. (another huge issue connects at this point, later gator)

So greed comes into the system as a no brainer. Greed is a defense mechanism. That it makes for a human developmental issue is neatly boxed into psychology and somehow subtracted from the whole. However, in reality greed is encouraged to blossom, in fact we dress it up all sparkly as material wealth and flaunt it as a sign of success.

That it is as inefficient as it is socially unjust should make it an intolerable thing, but because of its power (and its ability to dodge by creating its own gamblers vocabulary, like derivatives, futures-i didn't say it wasn't clever!) it it is now bullying all monetary systems to agree with it.

This money system is like a game of musical chairs. (please watch The Money FIX!) Someone has to lose. Eventually there is only one chair left, winner take all! Only thing is -that win is the biggest loss humanity can suffer. For as connected beings, winning is now not a win at all, but an ultimate loss of all that makes us truly human. Is it just me or is this not totally ridiculous?

So as we talk about win/win we are actually desperately ignoring or justifying the fact that we are engaged in a win/lose construct. We made a very scary monster and yet we seem to be trying to pretend it away.

Meanwhile, this construction continues to eat away at the best of us. Its capacity to devour everything grows the more it devours. As long as we give it energy it lives and the energy we give it can't be used to create something else. That is the take away point.

This might not be noticed (marketers sway ideas and distractions rule) except that as it is happening on a finite planet. Sooner or later nature will collapse the system, which means the monster will die, but by then the quality of life on this planet will be diminished.

The moral of the story: Rise up, escape and build new systems that align with nature, health and well being. We do not have to await permission from those blinded by "reality ruts," the whole of another vision is dawning. Get out of the rut, you can't breathe, live or see from that viewpoint - climb out and the world opens.

grounding

2011-11-08T07:07:00.000-08:00

print transfer to fabric, appliqued and in progress, but 11/7/11 had to have a post

I have to check out the science, but mom always said working in the garden "grounded her." I am thinking this is probably mega true in many ways.

Today

2011-11-07T07:18:00.000-08:00

twice is nice.
Real signs near Elephant Car Wash, Antioch in Seattle.

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012

2011-11-04T06:23:00.000-07:00

fog lifting

I have spent a little time at Occupy Seattle though my protest days are over. I agree that large gatherings get attention and help people unite for a cause, feel empowered, hopefully heard and even more hopefully, will result in some real changes.

However, so far, it seems the changes made in social policy have not actually changed the economic construct (class system, exploitative inequity that protects the wealth of the few- see Howard Zinn). In fact keeping people believing in the American Dream has been necessary in order to keep business as usual.

The illusion of meritocratic and just access to the Dream is a myth perpetuated by just enough examples to keep the tease. Now i think the very idea of amassing wealth needs to be opened up for discussion. Wealth pulled from resources leaves a gap and now that gap is showing up in the declining health of many people, the environment and most other systems nature provides to enable life, all life. What are we doing?

So, I am playing with the idea that protest and reactionary means, even when not in a direct confrontational scene are aspects of the male archetype. That archetype has been ruling "civilization" for a long time and is in terrible need of balance.

"Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012" is bringing in the feminine archetype. By putting energy towards a solutions model, we are building a new nest. Instead of aiding and abetting the rut, putting energy into turf wars and bellowing, we are preparing "home." Creating the safe space for the tired, the wounded and those in need of solace. Creating the haven that even the most victorious warriors eventually crave.

However this is beyond the tussle. We are creating space for the heart, mind, spirit, the whole body, whole systems "next reality," that trusts potentials and possibilities. This will enable relationships to move us towards the new street up economy.

Can you dig it?

PS Archetype - not gender specific, just classic models dumped on our culture.

Street art North Seattle

2011-11-03T12:15:00.001-07:00

We were not born just to consume.

Occupy Everything

2011-11-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Street Jacks for Occupy Seattle, so yes.

Street or Plaza art that has a message just tickles me. Nothing like a great simple poignant, right on target message. Street art, beats Wall Street ads over and over again. So once again the Banksy enabled street art documentary comes to mind. Now on youtube....enjoy.

Exit Through the Gift Shop,

Is Occupy Wall Street the manifestation of the international street arts movement? Both stake claims on public spaces, both are about waking up from the stupor of consumerism and privatization, both give systems as usual conniptions. Both speak to things money can't buy, and some how that relegated the best of us to the scrap pile during systems management and "budget " cuts. Living to create wealth is a major social handicap, I am thrilled that it is being recognized!

Peoples Media Arts Uprising 2012

2011-10-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

First off, it is "Peoples Media" because there is a lot of information that needs to be set free. The research hours and accumulated data, the incredible books, articles, documentaries and the first hand stories of millions, need to be synthesized for fast distribution and consumption.

We have to turn this page of ignorant rule, to expose the false premises, explode the myths of dependency and recognize that all toys are not equal. We need to give ourselves permission to be authentic, to recognize the power in our hearts.

We need to sort the gift from the trap.

"Arts" because I trust art. Art is. It is expression. It speaks to being. Art can deliver quick messages with impact and honesty, it gets through the filters.We can recognize the humanness under the work. The techno trance needs some competition.

"Uprising" because sitting still for more abuse is ridiculous. Want to do something? Email Faithinart04@yahoo.com please put ARTS in the subject line.

"2012" says the rest.

The money tool

2011-10-27T06:59:00.000-07:00

Ellen Brown explains this whole money thing simply, because $ is simple, a tool, a chit of credit (debt). Interest is the profit When $ is extended to build local, diverse, eco sane economic systems it can be a most sustainable, healthy, intelligent means to a socially just, environmentally sound, ecosystem supportive practice. It could expand creative expressions and help the curious explore freely.

This is important to know, for deconstructing the Wall Street Ponzi scheme will enable our collective and individual human potential to bloom. Money will be a means of enabling human transactions, to extend fairly traded goods and services, not an abstract made real via derivatives and stock market hype.

Growth has hit the wall of why? When big gets too big it damages its own means of survival. This is not attractive, Bank of America -not attractive, Chase and the parasite economy- not attractive. So why continue feeding them? (deposits!)

State banks can be one way of creating local well being as they are more intent on keeping the money circulating in their communities. With more emphasis on fair profit, sustainable economics and transparent accounting; this concept has historical and international precedence, and is a viable alternative to the Wall Street Trap.

The mega banks take our money and invest where the biggest returns can be had. This has resulted in investments outside of the USA and the result has been outsourcing, loss of jobs, loss of real choices, loss of habitat and lifestyles and loss of ethical standards on almost all fronts.

Simply, not cool.

Systems Awry

2011-10-24T06:46:00.001-07:00

Dr J G B posed for this shot last July, thank you m'dear

Is this why USA Inc is not a happy place.

The Town of Allopath is framed as a pharmabiz metaphor this is applicable to many systems built on some really wrong premises. As we get trapped and tangled up in the web of the "realities" we enable, it is easy to see how we got to "here.".

The Town of Allopath

Reclaiming Urban Spaces

2011-10-21T18:06:00.001-07:00

Detroit Revival is a love story.

Urban Roots Trailer from Tree Media on Vimeo.

Economics of Happinesss

2011-10-19T05:11:00.000-07:00

"Economics of Happiness" is a great movie on global economy and the manipulation that keeps it going in a long line of false beliefs and elitism. This is the kind of thinking that kills creativity, diversity and all manner of potential possibilities.

We made it up, we created it, we can stop it.

Choices, really?

2011-10-15T05:45:00.000-07:00

"The idea of 'choice' is what drives us to export all the risk, disorder and poverty out of the gated community of the West and into other parts of the world, so that we can enjoy shopping. We live in a fantasy culture, a culture of comfort. We must always have choice, even if someone else has to pay for it, even if it's not really real. We're so obsessed with this that it's an article of faith with us that 'you can be anything you want to be.' This is essentially a politics of masturbation." -- M. John Harrison

I tripped over this while trying to to get down to homework. Immediately the conversation about "choices" at Revolution Books yesterday, took the stage. We discussed how in the vast array of similar products, services and skills, there is just a small boring range of all the possibilities. Limited by profit margin speak, we have become entrenched and almost buried in stuff. This is one of those weird juxtapositions that beleaguer our culture.

When i walked in i was recognized from my sustainable fashion lecture on Youtube (sweet ) that ended with the stenciled "Capitalism is Boring." Better, the same day the women of Revolution B watched the video, a young man had come into the shop and said "Capitalism is boring." Love this!!

Law of attraction or a vibration in universe that just starts humming? Paying attention to this magick is fun and rewarding. It returns that sense of wonder and joy that dropped off somewhere after becoming a "grown up." Hallelujah, it was only a plateau, one can recover.

Next surprise, a fundraiser dinner and a movie on November 10th for the bookstore. The movie: Banksy's "Exit Through the Gift Shop" yes!! Every time i stand up in a group wrapped in head to toe, protective denial, i tell them i am bringing an elephant into the room (in my head i see the Banksy elephant (graffiti-ed with non toxic face paint) It gives me grins and courage.

See you at the movies!

artists videos

2011-10-14T11:34:00.000-07:00

Catherine M Condeff and Edit Faste videos are on Youtube.
Part of the documentary process of Species on the Verge and Other Works w/POV were the interviews. I will get to more of them soon, school and the library workshops scampered in so quickly.

Conscious Evolution

2011-10-14T07:15:00.001-07:00

and the global crisis. for if we continue this course we all die, eventually the pollution and toxins will even get to the King on the Mountain. So what gives here?

Evolution is a labor of love, therefore conscious evolution is consciously giving love, for self, family, community, the planet, life and the living universe. "Realizing this shift from ego to essence allows us to become one with the universal self." (Barbara Marx Hubbard) This creates long term joy. This is maturing self.

Ignorance is not a good excuse and those with power need to break out of their comfort zone of old skool mindset. Please see the documentaries, read the books and expose yourself to all manner of inconvenient truths. Recognize that you are more than your egos. Recognize that your masters have limited the system in such a way that it is eating itself.

Working together for the good of the planet, the people and related ecosystems will benefit all. Seeking to satisfy ones own small desires is healthy only when recognized in balance with others of the species. Healing takes inner and outer work. The co-creative drama is about to unfold if we come to terms with our potential.

Culturally we are locked into this developmental limbo, face saving ("Lies My Teacher Told Me," Loewen) and cover ups that do not allow enough truth to escape to inform us into our best possibilities. Like in personal development, this is a stage. However we need to learn and change to successfully get out of this mess. Like individuals, the culture can mature, evolve...change. & that is really a good thing.

Trust and Gratitude

2011-10-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

This photo was taken on September 23rd a few hours into the Fall Equinox. The sun image, pisces and gemini bits were salvaged from a vintage dish towel. Most of it was too faded and torn to rescue other signs of the horoscope. I made it in early summer but it read "Autumns Equinox"

I am writing this post as a stall and a reminder to see the world through the eyes of love. Fear is tugging on my collar, but it must be an illusion. It is an illusion because the outcome i do not want is actually the outcome that tells me to open another door, so big deal. Why do i label that as fearful rather than "another kind of amazing possibility?"

So now i guess this is about the nature of things, the cycles and perceptions that feed our understanding and the spiritual and emotional health that weaves it together.

As the Autumn Equinox is about balance between the sun and the moon, light and dark, action and rest...it is a good reminder. Like the balance between love and fear, it is a calm; a space to consider the risk before opening the heart wide or just a bit.

peace

Wall Street Occupation

2011-10-09T05:18:00.000-07:00

I received the best document of stand upness ever. I am waiting for a link and permission to post it as many places as possible. Here! soon.

My hope in the American idyllic/idealistic spirit has been rekindled. I lost it, little by little from grade school on, lies poking through the facade does that to children. So this Wall Street Occupation is hitting home, the ripping power of many hands is shredding the bulwark of BS. How was it able to take so much from so many for so long?

It's a good time to inspect our individual and cultural values. A time to decide on the world we wish to create. I know what i believe is possible and i have a feeling that there are others out there knowing that we are living in a very small range of our true potential. That said, what will the world look like when we take responsibility for our potentials and demand no less of our societies. Diversity and creativity will soar, what else? Wow.

Despite our addictions and egos we are pretty cool -in fact we learn from those things that are our problems. We are not the dis-ease, the social system is the incubator, the policies immunized us and the reign of profits, intent on "having it all" kills the very thing it needs to sustain itself. weird. Oh, that is the disease. Addictions, whacked egos are symptoms. The holes we are trying to fill are beacons and the light is going on.

We allowed for corporations to rule by a power of economics that was made up long ago based on protecting the wealth of the few from the unwashed masses. (H Zinn, Loewen links to Amazon for the reviews) One big problem- among many others -is that the ideology became so "inbred" over such a long time, constantly shrinking the pool of possibilities, that it's "dna" is warped and doomed beyond repair. (bad meme)

So Retail Redux-ion is ready for a second look. Values and resources and fashion, oh my. A little taste of the what and why, really , Why? about the stuff we buy -because it is time to reconsider.

fashionRIP Project video with footage from London Fashion Week (2010), the British History museum and airport. The Easter Island mural was the last thing i saw before boarding the plane to go home.....I get it!!! The footage of Annie Leonard from "the Story of Stuff" is used by permission. I requested permission for the music by the Sex Pistols and the commercial footage but I received no replies. Life is really fun when you pay attention to the "other."

Urban Self Reliance

2011-10-08T08:23:00.000-07:00

marketing is?

Series at the Seattle Public library that is maxing capacity at least for the DIY and hand sewn workshops that i am giving. This is so nice Check out spl.org calendar of events. (mine are today the 19th and the 22nd)

Other workshops may still have space and maybe they will add more workshops if you ask them, I am sure that they will appreciate your interest.

Changing the world is layered with actions that create mini catalytic energy sparks that fly off and ignite others. The more we do it collectively i figure the higher the energy or perhaps it gains density or both. No matter, we have a lot that needs changing and we each add energy to the whole, the system we feed will stay alive. AKA be mindful of of how, why, what to and where your energy goes.

Speak up Stand up

2011-09-30T15:37:00.000-07:00

Look! it is all around - subtle and discreet on the sidelines, playing softly in the background the truth is breaking through all the distractions. Watch the info sprawl, the action that follows. The people's media & arts uprising of 2012 will be, will you?

Fall Equinox 2011

2011-09-23T05:00:00.000-07:00

Donna Lough: Sphinx
Paint on wood

DJB multiple mediums
reused, re-purposed fabrics and garments,
recycouture

The fashionRIP Project art show is winding up today. This has been a great, informative and successful experience. (Sales not high but 7x the galleries previous record, so doing a lot right) However the real value of this event is in the relationships formed, the co-operative trump of the competition script and the general, uplifting applause for our work's scope, courage and attractiveness.

I have a bevy of comments and supportive reviews in my head and on paper; like spirit guides prompting me onward, i think this is how the path finds me and i find it. First take the educated, heartfelt risk, then seek the answer, no nets, no insurance and no boring, killer, comfort zones.

OK, a small oasis in between is bliss but it's funny how allergic one can get to staticity once one feels the zing of living "out loud." (E Zola)

With a resounding, exuberant Yes to the Universe, our first official meeting for next year's super gig is planned for the end of October. I will be contacting all "starred" people in the guest book and thank you! We can and will do better than this old Skool drive off the cliff.

The "biz as usual but more so" and the worse "just do it green" scenarios are all that fusty old paradigm has going for it. That is most unmindful and ignorant (as in read books, posts & articles on ecology, food, health, religion, watch Nova, Inside Job, search for truth, everywhere. It is obvious something is rotten and that something is a set of untrue beliefs. Forgive, let them go and move towards the light, it actually responds)

The "Species on the Verge & Other Works w/POV" was compared at least 2 times to Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party" and my installation reminded a recent NYC MoMA visitor of the Alexander McQueen exhibit; mine was on par and or better than some of the 'scenes" in the museum. OK that is heady and braggadocio, but as the fashionRIP message is beyond fashion reDux, beyond visual appeal, way beyond "me" to a deep appeal for sanity in the real world, i am breathing it in and using the energy to buoy the water chapter.

With trust and gratitude, happy Equinox and namaste, the world is still a beautiful place.

2011-09-12T15:31:00.000-07:00

Cat crochets

Donna Lough:

Bastet, Egyptian Cat Goddess

Avery Milieu: milliner extraordinaire

djb: quilt

Edith Faste: paper, glass, wire ( reuse and slump)

djb: Altered book

Page Day: illustrations in ink

djb: fabric paper, ink markers, beads

Avery at sign detail

Avery Milieu: hats on show,
reblocked, vintage findings and hand dyed plumes

Gretchen:prints and sumi cats (Page D's)

djb: subculture Joe and the fabricators, u mattered!
early temp placing of stitch-istrations

Gretchen: mono prints

8 women on a sustainable mission co-op art show at the Kerf International gallery in the Wallingford Center
A fashionRIP Project act of evolution!

more is more

2011-09-12T14:47:00.001-07:00

Diane Baxter: Inuit inspired "finger fan"
to tell the women's stories 'large"
NW native materials

djb: Subculture Joe, homage & requiem

Cat M Condeff : print from original illustration

djb: symbol skirts,
Rachel Carson, Tree of Life, Urban wildlife, Phoenix

djb: tee shirt redux
painted, reverse applique, sequin, tulle

AveryMilieu: Clockwork Crow

Avery M: peacock feathered dream hat

Catherine M C: real leaves and glitter paint,
road kill paper weights

Species on the Verge w/POV

2011-09-12T14:16:00.001-07:00

Posted photos of the shows first few days on Facebook. It is going well, very well in so many ways. Better than i ever could have designed top down , control as many points as possible, old style way.

This new minimal framing, dance it with the universe style is once again bringing more than i ever could imagine. Things , people show up when needed, before i knew they were even needed. This is the reality we share.

The balance is where the research and education come in, or maybe that just builds the courage to take that step out on the limb, to spread those wings and jump.

ch ch changes

2011-09-07T06:16:00.000-07:00

This is the latest flyer as the closing date is now Sept 23rd, Tin tin was booked for the 26th- unbeknown to us. Voila, we are ousted by a cartoon, now that is an American Distractions giggle.

Ok so much is going on in the real world. If you are visiting this blog and it is the 7th - please pop by and see us during Art Walk 5-8.

Art and living art has superseded my own posts. Will have a dedicated page for the great Co-op Art Show of 9/11. That in itself speaks volumes as far as change, action and the new stories we are telling in this fantastic organic show. Playing the cards the universe deals is a rush, a delight and a dance that super managed events cannot come close to. We are proving co-operation, resource sharing and support works. We are creatures of a social nature that light up in this happy bounce of reflection. We are evolve worthy.

Show Opens Tomorrow

2011-08-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

Fragile Hearts- Misunderstandings

2011-08-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

The Bomb, the Heart and the disappointment that crashed it all, RIP Joe Sprinkle, you are remembered. You put your heart out there, exposed, vulnerable, misunderstood...that is heroic.

Nice Work

2011-08-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

photo of sign on Aurora walkover, 8/16/11
& i needed that message! Thank you magic post people

Android Homme shoes, posted a great art message video. I will be back with my take on how they support or smack the ideas of which they "speak." There is a huge disconnect in the system and the more we point it out as the outrageous flaw that it is, the better abled we will be in our transformative measures.

People Lose

2011-08-20T03:48:00.001-07:00

Sub Culture Joe, Westlake Park. Stitch illustration with fabric paint and old jewelry bits.

Westlake Park was closed to cars in 1988. This urban oasis was short lived. As Frederick and Nelson's and I Magnin's closed their doors for the last time, the street was re-opened.

Sub Culture Joe and the Fabricators saw this as a form of public sabotage. It was suspicious how the city center commons lost favor just as Nordstrom's conveniently moved into the spacious, elegant, well maintained building that had been the home of their former rival, F & N.

City Hall conveniently voted to re-open the street in 1995. SC Joe and Fabs planted a heart in the park as their visual commentary. They were Spirit Rebels.

The tunnel that will shanghai taxes for the next x years appears to be another act against the public good. Seattle is in a fault zone which is really hard on tunnels and cost overruns are par. So who or what really benefits? Who or what stands in the way of true progress?

FYI: Japanese citizens are marching in the streets, calling out for change, questioning a lifestyle that jeopardizes life. They are recognizing the irony of self destruction.

The active Chim Pom artist;s collective, -are global wake up messengers, that started 6 years ago, inspired by the US movie, "Jackass." Focusing now on the nuclear meltdown, they "updated" a famous atomic horror mural, donned Haz Mat gear and raised a nuke flag among other premeditated acts of healing. They are the new Spirit Rebels, forcing the hand of perceived reality. Bravo.

Killing Us

2011-08-16T05:49:00.000-07:00

A Beautiful Rebel, part of my On Busses photo series

I had a wonderful conversation last Sunday with a friend of mine. We meet along with one other friend, for coffee talks on a regular basis. He is Oxford educated, taught eastern philosophy and is now at Microsoft and she is a former Pilates instructor married to an MD who came to the US at the age of 4. We have the best chats. Time flies as we learn and appreciate each other and what we bring to the table. I highly recommend this do-able act of sharing, caring.

I had brought up the schizophrenic nature of modern culture that is connected to the current sociopathic economic model that systemically built what can only be called USA Inc.. Step by step, over time, i think western culturel became immersed in a machine designed under the influence of a faux Darwinian legacy. This justified creating wealth for the few at the expense of the many and the environment. Now we are experiencing the chaos of the reality check.

However:

As major media is controlled by the largest benefactors of the crusty, old dysfunctional machine we are unfortunately still inundated with messages from the source of the problem. Even as corporations recognize their environmental errors they seem reluctant to face up to the emotional, physical, spiritual, social health and welfare of an interrelated, connected living system we call Earth.

So, in the course of the conversation my friend asked for the link to "Killing Us Softly" a video lecture of the series on women and advertising. I had mentioned the Madonna/Whore dichotomy that American women are still plagued with ( i know, hard to believe that silliness is still around!) and the schizophrenic culture that swallows it without knowing what exactly is in the bite.

Killing Us Softly #2, #3 and #4 are all worthwhile and a great way to start understanding the consumer model of economics. Thank you Jean Kilbourne for your pioneering work.

More Glass Art

2011-08-13T09:16:00.000-07:00

Edith Faste is a true local living treasure. When i started fashionRIP Project, when the show opened to me, when i decided to expand the borders beyond my own work, i did not know what or who would appear. I believe now that when the journey is aligned with one's true self, no matter where on the path, gifts from the universe show up.

So in appreciation of life, thank you Edith for your passion and work, thank you Dave Felker for creating the gallery space and thank you universe.

Edith Faste

2011-08-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

I am so grateful to have met this woman. Edith Faste embodies the wisdom of living one's long term passion . At 94 she is still firing up the kilns and slumping glass and is so full of ideas that she greets each day with zest.

Over the decades Edith has created beautiful, sophisticated glass art, some with found metals, stones and repurposed objects. Several works reflect her interest in and admiration of Pacific Northwest Native Americans, some are pure whimsy and some will be shown in Species on the Verge and Other Works w/POV. I am so honored and happy that people are showing up to make this the more than any one person can achieve. Thank you.

Avery Milieu

2011-08-08T13:08:00.000-07:00

Avery Milieu has a wonderful upstairs studio with hand dyed, line dried, plumage. The fluttery rows of delicious color festooning the room made it a strange faie land. Boxes of vintage trimmings. refashioned, refurbished and new beginning hatteries gathered on tables and peeked from shelves.

In various stages of becoming, they spoke of unique futures. It was a bit of a Wonderland for the likes of me, as antique haberdashery has long been a love of mine.

See them up close and personal at the Species on the Verge and Other Works w/POV, opening next month at the Kerf International Gallery in the Wallingford Center.

Heartbreaker

2011-08-04T07:59:00.000-07:00

A great retro street look, denim studded vest updated with head kerchief.

This photo is totally attached to the catch 22 of USA "market driven economies." The paradigm that provokes people with the need to stay current, cool and in step with style, be it framed in technology, fashion, automobiles or home decor, needs to be faced and called out for what it really is,a giant resource abusive hoax.

The fact that we in the USA (along with Europe and Japan, the wealthiest 16-20% depending on the source) use 80% of the world's resources is a big problem. The capitalization process that has generated this consumption has simultaneously created a culture that attempts to get its head and heart around what can only be called a sociopathic mindset. It is creating a lot of dis-ease - more people in jail, more suicides, more "normed" physical and mental problems, allergies and angst.

The distort between love thy neighbors, but be able to punch out, exploit, fire, or walk all over them at any given moment because it's a dog eat dog world, has wrapped insanity into a business as usual paradigm accepted as the real world. This needs addressing.

It is fundamentally wrong and will not have a good outcome no matter how many band aids we apply. The cancer that is at the center of the problem will grow until starved by lack of participation and energy. This will happen "naturally" or by human intervention. The latter appears the better course.

In the meantime, i gave "the punk" a dollar for the photo, asked him his story and "there but for fortune..."

It needn't be this way. "Reality" will dissipate with lack of interest if we focus energy on building new, diverse means of economic stability that are guided by what we now know. Current science about nature, biology, human development and potential, quantum physics, more and ideas about spirituality have advanced significantly since we started this journey. A catchup is in order.

New Showtimes

2011-07-25T17:42:00.001-07:00

hey joe

2011-07-25T05:50:00.001-07:00

July 19,1996

Subculture Joe vs Seattle is the story of how a city took down a creative force, incited a public outcry and stabbed the heart of a hero as an excuse to buy some super expensive anti terrorist toys.

Score Seattle; now millions of potholes and vacant storefronts later we can look back and ask how many times that expensive little toy was hauled into action before obsolescence took it's toll? And who made the money on the deal? Like we know who paid the price.

In this 4 ever game where boys will be boys, where are the men? & don't tell me it is human nature, because it is just as (if not more) human to be fair, care about others and live from love not just fear.

FYI: it's the city micro to USA Inc and on to global macro that is so foul. The game is out of control. Are we waiting for nature to smack us down? or will enough of us decide on intervention tactics to stop the power addicts?

The window of opportunity is shrinking.

New Show Times

2011-07-17T14:08:00.000-07:00

Vintage wire and tin can, handmade frame with hand and machine embroidery and beads on velvet . I am reminding myself to walk in the world with love rather than fear.

"Species on the Verge and other arts w/POV" now opens Sept 1 (Art Walk 9/7) and will run through the October Art Walk (10/9) closing 10/9. The gallery will be open Tuesday - Sunday from 3-8 pm, though special events may have different hours..

The former gallery space was leased out from under the curator (part of rent agreement) and a newer bigger, more beautiful space has opened up down the hall. (Kerf international Gallery in the Wallingford Center) This was a blessing.

Last week was trauma/drama as a brick flew through the window from dusty, noisy demolition next door, vacuum died in clean up process and my back was wrenched hoisting the dead vac into the trunk to take it to a repair shop. I was stressed and in pain more than inspired and in joy, yet felt that "the show must go on."

Now my heart is back in it, i can finish some important new pieces, more guest artists are showing up, i can enjoy my son, his lady and my granddaughter's visit, yes -the universe came through for me, us, again.

Cool!

Energy Crisis

2011-07-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

Hammering Man w Ball and Chain -Labor Day 1993.
This is a stitch illustration, fabric and metal piece I am putting into the Species on the Verge and Other Works w/POV as an accessory to original 2006 homage piece for Subculture Joe. The late Jason Sprinkle (SubC Joe 1969-2005) was a brilliant artist, "our Banksy," who was (intentionally) misunderstood and driven out of town by the City of Seattle.

"Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted, counts." A Einstein.

I just had to share this, but please read the full article from Wired Magazine.

These are the words that jumped for me:

"Gates: ...We saw a car factory that turns out 300,000 vehicles in a spot that had been a field 18 months before. It’s incredible to see the speed. The engineers are living in a dormitory and working 16 hours a day, and they don’t talk about permits or getting time off. I’ve seen this before—when I visited Japan in the ’70s,..."

Aha, explains the mass layoffs of 2003/4 at Microsoft, when 45 yr old + employees were canned, (i sat next to a few of them in classes at Shoreline CC) while Indians were enticed to emigrate (body shopping) and fill the gap, because American workers weren't "qualified." Now i know what "qualified" means.

As far as solar, Mr Bill might be advised to take some time to speak with the Ballard solar research home owners, (name ?- were on the Green Home Tour 4/11) and learn from reality. FYI he and Microsoft didn't catch on to the internet idea all that fast either.

Back to "Wired" interview:
"Anderson: So suffice to say we will find no solar cells on the roof of the Gates residence?

Gates: Oh, we like to be cute like everyone. For rich people, this is OK. Rich people can do whatever they want."

It's good to know what a culture measures, rewards and values.

Species on the Verge and Other Works w/POV

2011-07-10T06:56:00.000-07:00

This show is a dream come true. That I am already in the process of the next is quite organic. I am thinking this is what it means to "be" while in the process of "becoming."

I am excited to see the installation go up in a real live gallery but because i am seeing it as a way to inform a larger project, my "performance stress" is not so much. This is a cool discovery i wanted to share. It totally affirms the life journey aspect and disses old school goal staticity I also realize that a lot of potential angst is offset by giving space to others. The nurturer iwithin is getting some air time.

I hope to gather multiple points of view to inform next years collaborative city wide, many points of light experience -Title TBA-a few of us are now planning. If interested contact me (Email in the "about me" sidebar entry)

Please see the ad in the Stranger for a long explanation as to why this matters. I think i am narrowing this stuff into some good easy to comprehend sentences. That which is foreign to our usual way of thinking is a hobgoblin to communicate.

Dreams are That important

2011-07-02T06:59:00.000-07:00

dream, intent, action

Nova "What Are Dreams?" on PBS is another program that shows how right on some of the intuitive cultures were.

I love it when this happens! It reiterates the body, mind, spirit -emo, social, physical plus of reality. New rationalism enhanced by technology is now reinforcing ancient wisdom on many levels. Not all, this is a total pick and choose thing, but i appreciate that feelings are now acceptable to bring into conversation and cultural discourse.

I had a prof in the 90s tell me that "I feel" was best replaced by "I think" and it really changed my academic headset. Now I Feel is reinstated, is valid, is perhaps even more fully real than "thought" and that feels great!

Dreams allow for fluid thought where the rational dances with alternative states of being and allows us to access more of our full potential. That is awesome.

Democracy ABC

2011-06-30T07:06:00.000-07:00

Seattle, the cameras are everywhere

"What happens in Greece is not so different from what has been happening in America: a few profit, but when the chickens come home to roost, the pain is not equally distributed -- and what happened is suddenly everybody's fault." (Huffington, A, Postcard From Greece: This Should Not Be About Austerity, It's About The Future Of Democracy , Posted: 06/28/11)

Like the national debt, credit fraud, war...what others come to mind? I think most of us want to close the equity gap, stop misguided subsidies, educate people and enable health all around-so what's stopping us? What will help us feel empowered and motivated to do so? Perhaps we need more exposure to collaborative and co-op experiences.

Teams in biz and school are a yes/no as under a dictatorship of sorts and not necessarily synched with each person's interests enough to engage them in a truly relevant manner.

So how can we learn to connect and save ourselves from further abuses if we don't build bridges of trust that outscale the competitive infrastructure we have been indoctrinated to embrace?

"....... all the incredible possibilities. The saying "a crisis is a terrible thing to waste" has never been more true than it is in today's Greece. The decay has been allowed to fester for so long, nothing short of a major crisis could have precipitated the widespread demands for reform." -the Greek prime minister, George Papandreou.

(Is that what we have to wait for, like BP oil spill, bank bail out, mortgage scams and Katrina weren't enough? Is USA too large a space, too media distracted to have one disaster prevail...is that the problem?)

"There is so much good being done, so much creativity and innovation, that are not getting any attention," he said, "while everyone is focusing just on what's dysfunctional."

He went on to talk about a woman who started a snail farm in Milatos that now exports snails around the world. He also told me about a farmer growing olive oil in Kritsa in Crete who branded it Lambda and now sells it at Harrods. "We have such an over-abundance of resources," he said."(G.P.)

Hmm again the boot strap, the "you can make it if you try" thing that has actually caused a lot of the problem. I am not dissing people who make it, but to start a farm took resources and where, how did she get them? In a way this is part of the same agenda that allows for celebrity and hides the real problems via distractions. If one makes it, it proves it is do-able. So a few "win," while the majority "lose" and we swallow this "law" of "reality."

The truer narrative is far more complex, as the flipside is that you must have done something wrong if you don't make it. This disregards that "driving while black" and class system packages exist. Though it does help explain the high rate of USA suicides.

But deeper, at the root, is a faulty culture that rewards those that enable it to continue without too much upheaval. A bandage or slight adjustment is considered progress. But these things aren't enough to change the outcome of resource devastation and wholescale systems failures that are looming. Even though business as usual appears the safest, surest way because its the current "reality" of the system, it will not suffice.

Therefore, we need to expand the options that enable more people to grow, to form stronger bonds based on relationships, connections and resources. This better emulates the mind, body, spirit concept that in turn enhances the idea of being a unique individual that is inherently related to all others, that each being is part of a larger whole. This will help us understand our place in the natural world of biotic and abiotic systems as well as help promote the idea of everyone's unique potential to contribute. Now isn't that the root of a real and healthy democracy? -the root of a sustainable conscious lifestyle?

So m'dears, this is why i think collaborative events are so important. It's a way to build trust in each other while doing something that matters to us and to the whole. This enhances both the current event and the process that enables future actions. Seems to me this is pro-action that makes good sense.

No.12

2011-06-25T15:55:00.000-07:00

More style, as spotted on route 12.

I am thinking that bus riders are not only carbon friendly but a style savvy lot and that is fabulous.

This lovely bought her dress in Tokyo but her stop came around before I found out anything more. No matter, picture worth thousands and all that. If you are she and read this, please email me (address in about me section)as I like to credit the artists of garb for their work.

The official call for artists for the "Species on the Verge" show in Wallingford (Seattle) has been posted to the Stranger. If you are a local artist please consider this artist friendly gig. The date for opening has been upped to 7/16 and that means asap for posters/ flyers and what all.

We can change it up. Step one is to show up! (loosely from Woody Allen)

Life in a Day

2011-06-19T07:22:00.000-07:00

Life in a Day, the trailer is a snapshot of why life matters. Filmed by contributors around the world on July 24th 2010, this is about our emotional connection and the beauty of spirit that shows up, when we gather for good.

Is this not the "REAL WORLD?"

Poster Power

2011-06-16T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Non Toxic Revolution poster is on Broadway, a bit north of John and i circled the block and stopped in the road to get a photo. (No one was behind me!)

It was great to see this announcement, all bold and beautiful and because i personalize things as gifts from the Universe, i felt validated.

We, in the trenches of sustainable activism, the eco designers and innovators, the greeners and social justice advocates, the vegans and scientists, all of the people who are determined to change the course of of this slide towards disaster, get a lot of bruises. ("Great spirits have often encountered violent opposition from weak minds." Einstein )

However, taking the planet's diversity and who knows what else, back thousands of years, is just stupid and intolerable. This is not the rerun anyone really wants to stage. So, we that push boundaries, continue.

Sometimes we feel very alone and confused. Then a spark lights the path and we know we are to go on. And as more awareness shows up more often, we feel we must be doing something right and our spirits soar.

Just because most of what we have learned came from the past, taught by experts on getting "here" and is reflected in our laws, policies and regulations doesn't mean we have to continue to cater to it It is a problem, but it is not beyond our collective capacity to overcome.

"We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." (Because one "Einstein" is not enough)

The paradigm is changing as we grow towards the light of a living universe.

talent show

2011-06-12T08:14:00.000-07:00

Korea but not the sewing machine photo, hope to find it.

Fishin' in the backyard

"Brilliance in the Backyard" is a tribute to my mother.

When I was a kid, my mom organized big backyard summer carnivals with all the neighborhood kids on the southend of Beacon Hill. We gathered together and made the prizes in living room craft sessions, stringing beads, making pom pom dolls, more. It was a glorious mess of paper, markers, crayons, glue, fabric, wires, pipe cleaners and kids of all ages.

Goerge's Store (local Mom and Pop) chipped in for prizes a few times. The money we made went to The Children's Orthopedic Hospital and orphanages in Viet Nam and Korea. One year we received a thank you card from Korea. Tucked inside was a group photo around a sewing machine they had bought with the money. That is when I realized a little about giving. Up until then I thought keeping the money made more sense. Like my allowance was paltry.

I was 15 at the last one. My guitar playing boyfriend painted a sign for me (and he used a lot of green glitter) because that summer i was the fortune teller. I had a really cool book on palm reading as my guide. According to feedback, i aced it a few times.

The carnival went up in our front and back yards. We had a fishing pond game, spin games and bean bag tosses. We put on little skits and other performance things, sold Kool-aide and cookies, it was good times.

Much later I realized that all kids were not so lucky. At the time, it was just something we did, not that special. Now I recognize how it has added to my feelings about the world.

Thanks mom.

On Busses 6_8

2011-06-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

I started the "on busses" photo collection back in 2004 and have decided to continue it as public transportation is a key to sustainability. It is also a great way to meet neighbors and discover local talent -underlined on my to-do list, what with the show and extended events in August.

Anyway, I boldly asked Thomas if I could take a photo as he had a rock punk aesthetic that is more because it's his own, indie and personal. That is what great street style is about & that is the best of "fashion."

The subtle studs on the pants, the streak in his hair, all great! And then lo and behold he's an artist. The universe is being gracious.

Must do a street style homage.......

Backyard Brilliance

2011-06-09T08:38:00.000-07:00

set design with illustration overlay

Playing with Brilliance in the Backyard, open to better, but had to write while on fire with "The Species on the Verge" installation news. August is in the works and the eco fashion show is going down on the 27th. Starting to pick up the pace of where to go from here as attended a fashion show last night at SAM and am now further committed to the sustainable ethos where the paradigm change is more than "green" and fashion deserves a makeover!

Sharing the stage with pop in guest artists and designers will be topic of discussion with curator next week and ......we are doing this!!!!!!

Street Style

2011-06-08T04:34:00.000-07:00

Seattle -grey day defiance style!

The Living Universe

2011-05-25T16:12:00.000-07:00

My new favorite book (The Living Universe by Duane Elgin) puts science and cosmos in tune with the Mother Universe (Meta Universe) It's the best interpretation of our lot as homo sapiens sapiens, experiencing growing pains, as we transition from teen spirit into new found maturity. As the "we" makes friends with the "I" a collective compassion enables a world view revision.

The book reminded me of the immense flow and music of the spaces between matter. It reminded me to be mindful, to appreciate the beauty of natural rhythms and patterns that serve to inform the evolution. No longer isolated or apart, we as a maturing species are recognizing our place in the being/becoming, simple/complex universal whole; each of us unique and independent while simultaneously interrelated and connected to the all of the living universe.

Old distortions will be left behind as we act from our heartminds as well as our rational impulse to believe only that which we can observe. Senses enhanced by technology have provided us with enough information and questions to embark on this great journey. There appears to be a “just in time” mechanism that works on many levels of consciousness; aka a kick in the ass of biz as usual. Peace.

Mr Elgin does a far better explanation, trust me. See the "inside the book" feature at Amazon for a nice preview.

Clean Clothes

2011-05-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

What do we know about the manufacturing practices that create "the style" that gluts the stores?

I know a little, as am always digging up the information. But most of us learn only about the end product from marketers and their allies in the media, who tell us what is hot and then shame us for wearing it a few months later. This arrangement is an almost perfect waste generating, resource gobbling mechanism that assures the corporations who now own most of the labels, a stream of "reliable" revenue.

But under the hype and gloss, the illusions and lies, are very real people, resources and toxic processes.

Ok, a lot of us are calling all of this out on the carpet of shame, as no way can this form of capitalism continue. Eventually the resources are used up, the environment tainted and the humans that feed the c-machine are too unhealthy to bother with shopping. The few predators who end up on top of the world will be sitting on dead soil, tainted air and foul water. Like how is that a win even in corporate speak?

So if that scenario makes zero sense in your awakened state, then do something! It gets easy to ask front line employees about the products and services they are involved with selling. Simple questions like " do you know where this was made, is it a Fair Trade item, is this really organic, because that certified label like, means almost nothing in the USA, etc. can open up brilliant discussions. This generates today's knowledge. Facebook in real face time.

"Labor Behind the Label" has a pocket insert you can download from their site and slip into jean pockets while still in the store. LBL is trying to call attention to and therefore stop the lung damaging sand blasting practices that some jean labels still use, despite the known health risks.

Together we will stop the madness.

The "other" History

2011-05-11T08:22:00.000-07:00

In working with sustainable fashion I have learned to recognize the importance of that which is under the surface of products, ideas and value systems. In a world connected and interrelated by trade and human stories, by ecosystems and environmental damage, it is good to get under the problems by understanding what and how a "mess" was made.

The book "The Peoples History of the United States" is a primer for anyone who has ever wondered why things don't really add up and who or what is benefiting when nothing appears to make sense. The "infinite growth in a finite world" is just one of those bogglers. Reading this book showed me why there is such a hollow in the heart of America when so many wonderful people call it home..

FrPrjkt phase 2.5

2011-05-10T06:50:00.000-07:00

Its in the details, check out the experimental business concept that has evolved from theRIP.

fashion in context

2011-05-02T07:12:00.001-07:00

the sheer fabric is poly with little crystal bits, bigger chunks than glitter, but not a bead, a ? that made me think of icy water- Water RIPd collection

I made the skirt from a Christmas table runner and the bottom part of a prom dress. t-shirt made from remnants of custom days of yore. "pearls" from a few broken necklaces dot the front panel and the whole was underlined for design integrity (to keep the runner perky enough to stop the full side and back from pushing to the front)

here so as to there

2011-05-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

World Hunger 12 Myths or why post industrial capitalism is just old school capitalism with longer, meaner arms. Hunger is caused by the methododology of the "cure," aka a perfectly designed circle of cause and effect. I know if 'we the people' learn the truth we would not support this corporate terrorism.

Vintage and Handmade

2011-04-20T08:09:00.000-07:00

vintage garden print courtesy Dolly Rocker

Dolly Rocker is a vintage clothier and upcycler out of Detroit. While a lot of new press is going to the urban gardeners -good news, indeed -it should also pay attention to the material recyclers and innovators of the urbanscape. The street up movement is not just about the food. That is important but "we are more than mouths to feed." (Arcade Fire

We need to change the old industrial growth model simply because infinite growth on a finite planet is not possible. The early economists and theorists started a system that can't self correct because the policies and path are self informing.

Jump off the train and practice being mindful, questioning, curious, caring, compassionate, in the moment, creative... be human.

Frack U

2011-04-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Frack-U wear-note the stove.
Transitions take time but when new choices become available
please do the research and choose for
the future you want. We really are in this together. x

Photo from Dolly Rocker Vintage and handmade.

A real life horror story is going on underground. The chemical toxins that are released in the air and water from the process known as fracking, are more dangerous than the nuclear issue because they have few restrictions. The government sold us out. This kind of insanity is hard to comprehend. Please see the documentary by Josh Fox called "Gasland." Look to the slide feature under the map, "What the Frack?" for a synopsis of the practice. The life of this planet may depend on it & we haven't much time left to get it right. *>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>* .............................................................................................................................................................. Then meet up with friends and neighbors and do something. Tack flyers on "phone" poles, petition Congress to view a documentary a week (your selection), stop buying/using natural gas appliances when possible. Seek solar and wind options, learn as much as possible in order to help yourself, which also helps others. When truth propels progress, we all win. Putting the energy we have as a collective intelligence matters to the Universe, just as much or more, than the great independent thoughts that play in our heads. Transcending practiced and or feigned ignorance is part of natural evolution. *..................................................................................................................................................................... The WaterRIP chapter of fashionRIP Project has found its story.

cool kids

2011-04-15T08:52:00.001-07:00

see following entry for the explaination!

Real Girl

2011-04-14T04:47:00.000-07:00

The dress form is from the book "The Best Camera is the One You Have With You" by J. Chase, selected, copied, desaturated and retouched with paint courtesy of Photoshop. Background is AZ sky in July.

Juxtapoz has a great zine out on street art. This aligns with the MOCA exhibit "Art in the Streets." I went online to get more info, and found that I was being prompted to update my IE browser to Chrome. "I'm sorry myApi login is currently not compatible with Internet Explorer. Download Chrome, that's what all the cool kids are using"

I feel like retching. Corporate America should keep its claws off the kids. Corporations are designed without a conscience - yet they have the rights of human beings (1886). This has allowed them to focus on profits as they step over the casualties. Enabled by government policies to grow into ever bigger, more powerful, profit generating systems, they now can bully entire populations, entire nations. This is wrong.

Working on a child's emotional need to connect to their peers, is an unethical marketing tactic, but then ethics are not measured on the bottom line. The toxic stew we now swim in, is made of emotional, environmental, social and economic toxins- all interrelate, all matter and its time to change the recipe!

Speak up America, it isn't too late to change this course of madness. healthy idea cultivars are springing up all over, but they need support, help...find a group-they need you.

Dirt Lives

2011-04-07T04:33:00.000-07:00

There is more life under the soil than on top. Now who thinks of that? From the book "Ecology- A Pocket Guide" by Callenbach, E)

The problem of not understanding life from other than the anthrocentric viewpoint means we are not able to make well informed decisions about our lives. We truly are here because we live in a great organic, interractive realm that has evolved through centuries. It's a crime against life , nature and our own creativity-to behave in a myopia. The USA form of capitalism evolved from an antique world vision that is uber short sighted, egomaniacal and ethically compromised - it is jeopardizing the whole and that kind of stupid is not tolerable. (reductionist science, industrial modeling, free trade that is forcing small farmers from the land while GMO soybeans and corn crops are grown, stifling diversity and economic equity, more)

We have been scammed big time by a set of laws that became systems that became "too big to fail" and "too complicated" to easily understand. But we must embark on that journey. Our lives and the lives of other species are at stake. The balance of nature, the energy and resource cycles are all at risk, for as species collapse they take other things down with them.

Dirt Lives (working title) is about teaching ourselves and each other -we can be the cure, the heroes. (fashionRIP Project changes to adapt to the environment, people didn't get the Connected concept.)

Women Artists

2011-03-28T04:34:00.000-07:00

Saw "Who Does She Think She Is?" last night, again. And again it hit me in the heart. "I feel like I am in a forest, there are no paths, I have no companions and I hear wolves." (Angela Williams) I have called it being on a tightrope without a net. Some days are about soaring, flying above the crowd but some are about staying mindful of the authentic heart, no matter how many tears are falling no matter how alone and how misunderstood you feel. I (we?) continue to express myself and my vision of life in order to understand and to grow in alignment with the energy of the universe.

Ancient Holidays

2011-03-26T08:31:00.000-07:00

the tree masculine

the tree feminine

In honoring the creative evolutionary spirit of nature, i needed an 'altar' or a place to go that made sense to me on multiple levels. I found a pair of trees near my house on the Winter Solstice, that suited this new practice. Since then i have gone back twice. Once, to write an essay on a tree for expository writing (it was an assigned subject, really this stuff can't be made up, synergy is available to us) and on the first day of Spring to reconnect and to shoot the Spring Talismans. With 2012 approaching this feels much more appropriate than the standardized options.