The Adventures of Super Mary.

So I had a very interesting experience the other night...worthy of sharing with the general public. Earlier in the day as my neighbor Diana and I were walking our dogs, a man was out distributing "Lost Cat" flyers...it seems as though he had lost his adorable tabby cat, Sushi. So later that evening, we were, once again, walking the hounds and out of the corner of my eye I saw what appeared to be a cat hiding in the bushes. Of course, as soon as I realized this, Fox, my crazy terrier, went ballistic barking and doing this Mariah Carey-like whiney howl that he does when he is alerted to an intruder animal in his territory. No doubt, this alarmed the animal I had seen and it scurried off into the bushes. At this point, Diana and I had convinced ourselves that, indeed, we had seen Sushi and that it was our duty as responsible and compassionate pet owners to retrieve this beautiful feline for our fellow neighbor. I handed Diana my two beasts and fearlessly headed off into the bushes to save Sushi. I could see two glowing orbs behind the bush I was negotiating myself around in the complete darkness and so I started to coax little "Sushi" out of the brush. "Here kitty kitty....Here kitty kitty..." Well, I was about 5 feet from the scared little creature and he leapt up onto a neighboring tree. This was my chance, I though, as I confidently strode over to the trunk of the tree with my arms outstretched and hands ready to snatch sweet Sushi and bring him back home. It was only when I was about 1 foot from this animal that I realized I was about to grab onto a Possum. It was at this point that I screamed like a little girl and bolted from the backyard I was now trespassing in an attempt to kidnap a Possum. I'm sure it was entertaining to anyone who happened to catch any of my Oscar-winning performance. Oh, just so you know...the picture of the possum up there is NOTHING like what I saw the other night...the possum I saw had bright red eyes, fangs dripping with rabies, saliva and blood, and talons that were designed to eviscerate innocent young children while they are sleeping peacefully in their beds. It's a scary world out there...be careful.

The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste.

The mind is a terrible thing to waste. Unfortunately, it seems that I cannot turn mine off. In this unrelenting search for truth, the highest level of being and otherwise unattainable scenarios, I have discovered that most people have NO FUCKING IDEA what I am talking about...this leads me to question whether or not I am communicating poorly or if my audience is simply not getting it. Then it occured to me today, over a glass of cheap red wine and a delightful cheese plate, maybe no one really cares...WHAT???? I cannot believe this is true. I cannot believe that one would forfeit a conversation about the meaning of life, design, art, humanity, religion, and ultimate truth for something far less substantive. I like to bait people for these kinds of interactions. If I am met with reactions like "exactly!..." followed with NOTHING...you're not thinking. You are not really engaged. You are JUST AGREEING and it is quite possible, you are not even listening. HOW BORING. I am already wanting to cry myself to sleep and we haven't even had dessert. I simply want to be engaged on some level...to talk about things that matter...that are interesting. I want to dip deep into the well of who YOU (anyone, that is) are and find something curious, odd, interesting. I love life...in every form. I am curious about everything and I will always wonder why others (seemingly) are not as curious as I am.

Babies

Here are my two babies, Red and Fox. Don't know what I'd do without them...though I cannot say that I'd miss the 6am walks before class at 8am! Their hobbies include eating cat poop out of the litter boxes, snuggling, reading the Wall Street Journal and knitting. Red especially enjoys eating number 2 pencils while Fox is crazy about oil pastels. Needless to say, walks with them are always an interesting experience.

Workspace Preview.

Hi all! Just thought I'd give everyone a glimpse of where I create! I am lucky, so lucky, to have a fabulous, inspirational space that I am comfortable in. So many people discount how important environment is in the creative process. I surround myself with things that inspire me: quotes, art, books, music...the list goes on. I am certain that my walls will be full by the end of my 2 years at PC...they are almost there now but I believe that you can never have too many things that stimulate your mind and your passion. That is why we are here after all...to create, inspire, love and give something back...to leave this world having made a postive difference.

The Trial of God.

Okay, so I am working on this project for my "Type is Mass" class...we have to pick a play, do a playbill, poster and 3-D installation project on our selected play. I chose, "The Trial of God" by Elie Weisel...I don't know what my interest is with holocaust-related material, but I am drawn to this event in history. If history repeats itself, I want to walk into the future with my eyes open. I found all of this information re. Weisel and faith online...thought I'd share it with everyone.

"The redemption of suffering cannot be found as an "ultimate answer" to a problem: it can only be an event that transforms the drama of suffering into a drama of love and shows love to be more powerful than its denial."
–Lorenzo Albacete


"Emmanuel Mounier, the founder of the French "personalist" philosophical movement, wrote that the most important aspect of human life is a "divine restlessness" in us, a divine "lack of peace" within our hearts. It is a permanent search for the meaning of life, an interest imprinted on "un-extinguished souls," on those who are not paralyzed by temporary satisfactions or ideological answers to all human questions. Indeed what makes our lives truly human is the ceaseless questioning before Mystery, before "something greater," whether we are three or ninety-three years old. This questioning allows us to see even everyday sights with the same amazement and wonder we felt the first time we saw them and to keep our hearts awake to the world around us."
–Lorenzo Albacete

"This questioning also makes life worth living in the midst of even the greatest sufferings. Mounier saw those united by this approach to life as constituting a unique community, a people committed to action, to new initiatives that break ground at the deepest level of human experience and open new possibilities for humankind. The inhabitants of the world of suffering are the ones who truly transform the world. They are the true revolutionaries on behalf of human dignity."
–Lorenzo Albacete

"Love, though, is impossible without freedom, but freedom allows the possibility of acting against love. The freedom to love is what allows the human being to escape the limitations of what science calls nature and to experience justice and injustice."
–Lorenzo Albacete

Some food for thought.

What Happens When Mary Gets Overwhelmed.

I don’t really know where to begin with this magazine project for Hank’s class. Sometimes I wonder if I am really supposed to be in this field…creating and selling an idea to people who are looking to fill a void. We all do it. I do it. Everyone does it. We are, somehow, incomplete as we are and we look for things, people, relationships, places to fill those desperate voids in our psyche. So I create something meaningful and beautiful. Who cares? Does it really make the world a better place? Does what I do really mean a thing? So I re-design a logo. So I create a beautiful book cover. Who fucking cares? I’ve never been interested in the surface-level things. I am interested in what is real. I am interested in what is authentic to who we are. Beauty, function, aesthetic is nothing if we lack substance. So what is the purpose of all of this? So I can sell you emptiness bound in beauty? It is precisely that. Bound. So I can continue to perpetuate the myth that we are not enough, that as human beings, we are so lacking in who we are that we must be filled with things in order to be worthy? I want to change people’s lives, not make a beautiful line of make-up packaging that is going to sell a lie.

What I really want is to know that, in the absence of everything, we are worthy. We are worthy of love, we are worthy of kindness, we are worthy of companionship. Hank says good design is when you can take nothing else away; it is not adding, but stripping the idea to its essence that makes good design. Is that not true of life as well? Victor Frankl says, “Everything can be taken from a man but ... the last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.” That said, true character is determined by a superior attitude in the worst of conditions. I believe that. So, when I think about another lifestyle magazine, I have to wonder what kind of lifestyle I am willing to sell. I cannot sell a lie. I cannot sell an unattainable idea. I cannot sell something unauthentic. I don’t know where this will leave me in this industry and I fear that it will leave me in the dust. I know there is purpose for me in this industry; I don’t know where it is, but it will not be in the cesspool of superficial commercialism. I want to make a difference, a positive difference.

Writing and Photography Book.

I wrote this for my writing and photography class. I made a very cool accordion-fold book with more images (like the hand above) for my final project. This was probably my favorite project this quarter...it really required me to "dig deeper" within myself and pull out something that was true, personal and meaningful. My art is always very personal. I guess everything I do has a piece of me, a piece of my experience in it.


It is only recently that I have realized that I must let go.
Maybe even today.
I had been thinking that something was holding me down.
I wasn’t really sure if it was outside of me or within me.
Then I remembered that the details didn’t matter.
All of it belongs to me.

I thought that my head hurt for a reason.
I was trying to figure out a way to be acceptable to everyone in my life.
And I never realized none of that really matters.
I will never be a card carrying member of the Junior League.
And my father will always wonder why I can’t just date men.

So, today I thought about letting it all go.
Pain, self-loathing, self-criticism, self-doubt.
Then I got really scared.
What happens when I do that?
Maybe I should hold on to just a little piece.
A tiny little crumb, just in case.

Then it occurred to me how inconvenient that crumb would become.
It would probably get stuck in my shoe and create a nasty blister.
Then I would probably develop a staph infection and, quite possibly, die.
At the very least, I would have to have foot amputated.

So maybe I should just let it all go.

Emotive Type Flip Book.

This is a flip book I did my first quarter. It is about suffering and, ultimately, healing. The concept was that we often get so full of pain, sadness, grief that our proverbial "cup runneth over." In the book, I used a quote by George Elliot:
"Deep unspeakable suffering may well be called a baptism, a regeneration into a new state"
This was a very personal piece for me.