Bless you for your anger.
For it is a sign of rising energy.
Direct not to your family, waste not on your enemy.
Transform the energy to versatility
And it will bring you prosperity.
Bless you for your sorrow
For it is a sign of vulnerability.
Share not with your family, direct not to yourself.
Transform the energy to sympathy
And it will bring you love.
Bless you for your greed
For it is a sign of great capacity.
Direct not to your family. Direct not to the world.
Transform the energy to giving.
Give as much as you wish to take,
And you will receive satisfaction.
Bless you for your jealousy
For it is a sign of empathy
Direct not to your family, direct not to your friends.
Transform the energy to admiration
And what you admire
Will become part of your life
Bless you for your fear
For it is a sign of wisdom.
Do not hold yourself in fear.
Transform the energy to flexibility
And you will be free
From what you fear.
Bless you for your search of direction
For it is a sign of aspiration.
Transform the energy to receptivity
And the direction will come to you.
Bless you for the times you see evil.
Evil is energy mishandled and it feeds on your support.
Feed not and it will self-destruct.
Shed light and it will cease to be.
Bless you for the times you feel no love.
Open your heart to life anyway
and in time you will find
love in you.
Bless you, bless you, bless you.
Bless you for what you are.
You are a sea of goodness, a sea of love.
Count your blessings every day for they are your protection
Which stands between you and what you wish not.
Count your curses and they will be a wall
Which stands between you and what you wish.
The world has all that you need
And you have the power
to attract what you wish.
Wish for health, wish for joy.
Remember you are loved.
I love you!
y.o.
[posted by Yoko Ono September 23, 2008 on her blog 100 Acorns]
Arts Beat – New York Times What effect is the economy having on your life and work as an artist, writer, actor, or musician? Tell us your story by commenting below or by e-mailing us at artsbeat@nytimes.com. The responses come from beyond the burroughs. Some artists say the downturn may be good for art in terms of quality and vision. Some are using the down time to spend more time with their art. Of course, losing the day job cuts back on other things if you’re not making a living from your art and especially if you have a family to support. But artists seem to have some practice in managing the bad times. But hopefully it doesn’t become habit.
Read responses at this link: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/attention-artists/
Quite a few artists say down-times may be good for art (mostly visual) in terms of quality.
Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman is asking for a little more heft on the ballet stage from its choreographers. “The art form is suffering through a dearth of daring and imagination. Critics and audiences alike have been complaining about a prolonged fallow period. Yet the artistic sclerosis din’t just happen. One inescapable reason for it is Balanchine’s dominance, overshadowing other avenues of creativity–for instance, the one-act short-story ballets that almost no one creates anymore.”
The economy of avant-garde applied to set, story, and body mass from the Balanchine aesthetic has apparently worn out its welcome as a standard with Kaufman and maybe others including audiences or new audiences to ballets. Story ballets are expensive to produce but what would Christmas be without “The Nutcracker”? No one’s hating on Balanchine, but apparently a shout out is going to the next generation — if the modern Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, and Bill T. Jones can tell stories, what’s up? What would a ballet dancer’s biography look like without a “Swan Lake,” “Giselle” or an Anthony Tudor on their CV?
Ironically, when Balanchine was alive, the argument was going the other way. Does ballet always have to be about dying pricesses and princes, and love stories?
In the 1977 film “The Turning Point,” real-life American Ballet Theatre principal Leslie Brown as the up-and-coming ballerina Amelia comes up against this “generational” argument when the “fresh, new choreographer” yells at her during a rehearsal of “his new work” demanding that she not show emotion. You are a body in space. No feeling. If the filmmakers had known better, they would’ve asked a real life “fresh, new choreographer” to create a new work for this part of the story. In real life on film, Brown was rehearsing Alvin Ailey’s “The River” set to the music of Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington. [It appears in the closing credits, but isn’t part of the script.] The symbolism of the river in African American culture and history does evoke emotion — listen to Sam Cooke. The river has a story. The Ailey company’s program note says as much: “A legendary collaboration between renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey and musical genius Duke Ellington, The River celebrates birth, life and rebirth. Ailey’s choreographic allegory combines modern dance, Classical ballet and Jazz to convey the mutability of water on its voyage to the sea — much like the journey of life.”
Brown walks out on the rehearsal as she’s been influenced more by the life of her mentor/Godmother played by Anne Bancroft who is now realizing she is way past her prime. Amelia was right though maybe her interpretation was coming from a different place. But I digress.
“Ballet has to get its humanity back,” Kaufman writes.” “Telling a story may be viewed as unhip in our postmodern age, but human cravings don’t subside just because artistic manifestos tell them to. We’ll always love stories, especially when they’re about us.”
It’s interesting for Kaufman to write this as Balanchine’s protegee, muse. and other musings Suzanne Farrell has a resident ballet company at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC – The Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Farrell makes no bones about her mission to restore Balanchine’s works and keep the technique and artistry in the ballet vocaulary.
I’m just realizing I rarely attend the ballet since the companies have cut back on story ballets. And I was blown away by my first Balanchine performance by New York City Ballet. For me Balanchine transformed music into a living, moving body. I was studying music at the time, so what I saw was music. And in music, there is some sense of story through the rise, tempo, and fall of the notes — I guess if you’re a musician. But Kaufman’s article is worthy of a debate on this topic.
It looks as if journalist Roxana Saberi is free, read released. She was originally sentenced to an 8-year jail term in Iran for spying. The court reduced it to a two-year suspended prison term. She worked as a freelance journalist for NPR and the BBC. I suppose Iran is more interested in being at the talk table than North Korea.
Book Addiction Michael Dirda asks is book buying an addiction or compulsion? I suffer from a book something to the point that I have to bargain with myself: “For each book you buy, you give away one or two.” I’ve given away books I’ve ended up buying back from the used book store or purchasing a new copy because some where down the line, I needed it again. Addiction? Compulsion? I’ll buy a book before buying a pair of shoes. And guess what, the book lasts longer and takes me further.
WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS DINNER
I admit, I watched both President Obama and Wanda Sykes’ videos twice. But where are the journalists in this crowd? There are some enthusiastic locals I’ve heard of who crash this party. But for some reason I’m sure this year’s ticket was so hot, the old “put on a tux,” show up and look the part probably didn’t fly, especially with so many Hollywood party crashers at the door. Hopefully, the Lincoln bedroom will not see the designer foot traffic of the Clinton years. Hollywood really seem to be making an effort to stake their claim and make their mark on the coat tails of the Obama presidency. Celebrity with more purpose. As I’ve observed, there’s a love/envy thing between celebrity and political cultures. But this time we have a President who has topped them both. Ideas seem to turn his head, not necessarily glamour or fame. But I’m sure during the campaign his fundraisers’ heads were spinning.
HEALTH CARE – Don’t sit this one out!
Is the President asking the health care industry to change their evil ways or “if you don’t do something, I will”? It’s hard to say where this one will go. I don’t think Americans are totally opposed to paying a little something for healthcare. What people hate most are the hidden fees, multiple billings, the outrageous high costs, and the quality of care or refusal to treat people based on a person’s insurance type, ability to pay or a pre-existing condition. It’s enough to drive Harry and Louise over a cliff. All healthcare is not equal.
Artist/illustrator John Maviroudis snag the cover for the upcoming print edition of The Nation magazine. Maviroudis will be offering limited prints of the cover. (for info. check his web page: www.zenpop.com)
A picture may speak a thousand words, however, in this case it speaks 66 chapters of American freedom, civil, and equal rights history. Here’s the roll call for the historic witnesses featured in the print:
1. Barack Obama
2. Michelle Obama
3. Martin Luther King Jr.
4. Thurgood Marshall
5. Rosa Parks
6. Barbara Jordan
7. Cynthia Wesley
8. Carole Robertson
9. Denise McNair
10. Addie Mae Collins
11. Emmett Till
12. Susan B. Anthony
13. C.T. Vivian
14. James Meredith
15. Homer Plessy
16. Harvey Milk
17. Ida B. Wells
18. Malcolm X
19. Bayard Rustin
20. John Lewis
21. Mahatma Gandhi
22. Abraham Lincoln
23. Frederick Douglass
24. Cesar Chavez
25. Sojourner Truth
26. Nelson Mandela
27. Stephen Biko
28. Oliver Brown (Brown v. Board of Education)
29. Chief Joseph
30. Lyndon Johnson
31. Medgar Evers
32. Rev. James Reeb
33. Fred Shuttleworth
34. W.E.B. Du Bois
35. Ralph Abernathy
36. Viola Gregg Liuzzo
37. Marcus Garvey
38. Andrew Goodman
39. James Chaney
40. Michael Schwerner
41. John Brown
42. Jackie Robinson
43. Dolores Huerta
44. Mary White Ovington
45. William Lloyd Garrison
46. Wang Dan
47. Stephen Samuel Wise
48. Harriet Tubman
49. Dred Scott
50. Booker T. Washington
51. David Richmond (and)
52. Joseph McNeil (Greensboro Four)
53. Martin Delany
54. The Little Rock Nine
55. William Still
56. Thomas Garrett
57. Elizabeth Cady Stanton
58. Samuel Burris
59. Thomas Paine
60. Abigail Kelley Foster
61. Jesse Jackson
62. Eugene V. Debs
63. Lucretia Mott
64. Paul Robeson
65. Henry David Thoreau
66. Shirley Chisholm
Yesterday I decided to go offline and visit the Historical Society of Washington, DC (801 K Street, NW) to see the opening of “Quilts for Obama: Celebrating the Inauguration of Our 44th President.” The exhibit is curated by photographer and quilt collector/artist Roland Freeman. Roland Freeman is one of those community activists who uses art and folk culture as his podium.
I was a student intern at Howard University when I was introduced to his photography – black and white photos of Baltimore’s African American community and folk culture. His most memorable photos were documents of Baltimore’s arabbers in the 1970s. Arabbers were venders who sold fruit and vegetables from a horse drawn cart.
In 1996 Roland published A Communion of the Spirits: African-American Quilters, Preservers, and Their Stories. If you have any interest in quilts, folk art and culture, African American history and culture, this is a book for your coffee table.
An encounter with Roland and his art is never dull. I grabbed my video camera to capture the opening of “Quilts for Obama.” In true fashion Roland put his cards on the table about art, supporting the arts, the meaning of art in community and as community. These quilters from all over the country, men and women, had less than 30 days to design and stitch a commemorative work of art in time for the inauguration of the 44th President.
The quilts are beautiful. Some of the quilts on display employ hand stitching (that’s the quilt stitch that secures all the layers together), strip quilting techniques, applique (especially the Obama logo), even Hawaiian quilting style (another form of applique with lots of curves). Each quilt tells a story about the history of the U.S., African American history, personal biographies, Obama’s own biography, and the meaning of the upcoming inauguration to the artist.
See the exhibit (through February 1) and visit The Group for Cultural Documentation website (www.tgcd.org). It’s a great website. “Quilts for Obama” is a grassroots effort. It still needs support to produce an exhibit brochure and catalogue. Roland gives us “the ask” as you’ll see in the video below. The basket is being passed.
In this segment, Roland Freeman invites the Obama family to visit the exhibit.
The Manifest Hope: DC gallery (3333 M Street, NW, Washington, DC) is accepting online art submissions for their exhibit — Jan. 17 – 19 –preceding the Presidential Inauguration. You can make one submission per category, totaling a maximum of three submissions. The three categories are: Health Care Reform (Manifest Change), Workers’ Rights (Manifest Unity); and The Green Economy (Manifest Opportunity).
Fifteen works (5 per theme) will be selected for the Inauguration exhibit. They will be selected by a panel of judges that include artist Shepard Fairey (creator of the now famous “Barackon” pictured in this post); filmmaker Spike Lee; community organizer/activist Van Jones. Manifest Hope: DC is issuing this call to art in partnerhsip with MoveOn.org Political Action, the Service Employees International Union and Obey Giant.
You have until 11:59 am EDT on Friday, January 9th, 2009 to upload your art at the Manifest Hope: DC website. Visit http://www.manifesthope.com.