Sometimes it’s nice to try something exotic, but not outside the realm of Virginia good. There are so many different flavor experiences one could have within the DC Metro area, and FW&D saddled up the taste buds and traveled to Fairfax, where we explored the culinary wonders of Jaipur Royal Indian Cuisine.
I didn’t attend this particular Restaurant Review. I went to the DC Solo Performance Lab with Laura Zam. There will be a performance on March 16th at the DC Arts Center located in Adams Morgan. This is some hard work, writing and performing this piece. Hard, but necessary. Last week, I sat in the New Orleans Cafe, eating Alligator Gumbo and editing articles. I didn’t want to do the work, but it got done. Deadlines for both the Magazine of Yoga and the Performance Lab were right on top of each other, and I didn’t have time to whine about it. Produce, produce, produce. Life can wait. Feelings can wait. Do the work. Do it now.I am scared it won’t be good enough. Do it anyway.I don’t want to be laughed at.Do it anyway.What if I misrepresent what I am really trying to say?Do it anyway.The following list is the negative side of what can stop us from producing artistically. We (a group of students, plus Kat Lissard and Jim Sparrell) created this list during a workshop called “Write to Think” at Goddard College.
I think, during my dinner at the cafe last Wednesday, 35% of the list tried to attach itself to what I was doing. Who am I to write for a living? How dare I question the authority I claim to respect? I can’t even make a scant 100,000.00 a year as a best selling author/singer/actor, who I am to say things like, “I know”… I am such a dork for talking about making money doing this stuff! How unrealistic!But I kept writing. I finished first one, then the other assignment I set myself to finish. I didn’t feel like I conquered the world, but I passed my own test. Can I write against the doubts that try to make me stop? My faith says yes. I am a writer. I am a singer. I am an artist. I am going to continue this journey I have started to its glorious end.I can, have, and will do this work.
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| Yours truly as Mary Wells in”The Motown Journey” |
I still don’t remember this picture, but I can truly say that it is an honest representation of my Graduate School experience thus far… which INCLUDES all the mental spelunking, HARD work,and prayer I need to get through each project. Transformative Language Arts Practitioners brave a lot of uncharted ground, and I am humbled by my G1 Advisor Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg for starting this new blog where we may learn and grow in this new practice.
Dear Blog Fabulous,
On a whim I decided to go check out Black Swan (being a Natalie Portman fan since I first saw her and brooding Frenchman in The Professional). That is not the point of this blog though. The point is my photo:
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| Taken by yours truly 12.29.10 |
Full size and unapologetic from my brand new replacement phone.
I was still trying to figure how to get the camera to work properly, and hoping that I would capture the shot I envisioned, considering the delay, and my un-acclimated camera button finger to a new Blackberry-esque trackball thinking how cool would it be if I can get the shot while the bus is in motion, but in time so it doesn’t cover up the stoic street sign… (this unnecessarily long sentence is also full size and unapologetic).
Uh… WOOOOOOOOOT! I WIN!! I WIN!! Go TiMo! Go Cocoa! (I was perfectly still when I reviewed the shot, but in my mind I admit it- yes, I was doing the cabbage patch, the happy dance, and the smug diva face too.
The glare from the lights is amazing, and I have an idea of how I would like to draw this photo in the near future. There is something about the parking meter that adds something, and of course, the Christmas lights are creatures fantastic resting in a bed of sky.
And since I was all inspired from the Black Swan and feeling artistically aroused, this photo was like touching a G-spot in its way. It’s no award winner (not yet anyway… who knows???), but I had an idea of the shot, and then I planned, prepared, executed, and enjoyed the fruit of the labor.
Now is the time for me to be doing this on bigger and bigger scales. It feels like heaven when what I artistically imagine and the reality of what I present line up (and even moreso when it happens quickly).
Imagine, plan, prepare, execute, “and you will know them by their fruit”.
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| On the wall of Busboys and Poets in Shirlington, Virginia |
This photo shocked me the first time I saw it. In a matter of seconds I was disgusted, offended, then subtly shocked (as if shaken awake), then proud.
The script/scene from Ever After began to replay in my head, “A bird can love a fish Signore, but where would they live?” I remember this scene because his response was disjunct. Something to the effect of, “then we will just have to make you wings”. It was not an answer to her question, but to her underlying (or overlaying) problem. The metamessage of caste, class, and love. Then the artistic wheels began to turn.
Can you tell where the line starts? Can you read the many layers of commentary whispering and shouting here?
And so I began to write, while I was waiting…
A bird can love a fish, but where would they live
In the heart
In the belly
Of a dog
He holds her there
She holds him
His gun
The gun
Giving life…
Taking life…
Shooting pink hearts
Out of a green
Verdant
Gun
Of Peace
And she is on her knees
With her back to me
Clear
And not quite here
This piece is not done, but I can only look at the image so long… there are warring factions in my mind, about decency, about beauty, about honor, and about ‘honor’.
I’ll let this seed germinate for a while…
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| Photo by yours truly “See the beautiful thing behind the pretty wall…” |
