i'm a bad documentarian of my authorial life so—thank you mimi for taking these bts pics, thank you to the new york teens for keeping the torch of creative spirit lit (in every sense), thank you ruth and ricci and extra thank you to corey for a harmonious and lively interview. taking the spirit of the sankofa bird into the year of the fire horse & beyond. every step forward has its echoes in history; every look back shows you a new way forward. to power, will, recovery, and change, which comes with a strawberry in its mouth.
when @rilliken invited me to present at "respond to tree"—her end-of-residency show at @confloption —i immediately thought of my work with @oaklandgleaners . but confloptus is also in oakland's chinatown, where i've been taking chinese calligraphy lessons for the past 2+ years. during a recent class, 劉老師 gave me the following proverb to copy/practice:
十年樹木
百年樹人
translated literally, the characters mean:
in ten years, a tree is wood.
in a hundred years, a tree is a person.
translated proverbially:
"a skill is not acquired in a matter of days."
how does one make the leap from that translation to that meaning? what is art, skill, to a tree? for a tree? by a tree? i responded to those questions in 3 ways—1) my first attempt at large-scale calligraphy, written with "brushes" of bolted lettuce and chard from my winter garden; 2) an arrangement of spring flowers and plant clippings from my backyard; and 3) "the root," my attempt at formulating an artist statement/life manifesto, which i performed on the day of the show.
the full text of "the root" + some digicam snaps are on howimfeelingnow.online
life death birth rebirth fruit earth wind dirt flower falling pollen calling forth the next abundant floral blooming boom, nursing every open seeping weeping wound, prayer for a softer world, hands and heart and mind yet pushing forward for there's nowhere else to go and be or dream and see—
bitter/sweet s/o to nicole & inigo & @aimeephanwrites for bringing me into the @cacollegeofarts fold in its final semester, artists have always found are finding will find ways to continue feeding the creative flame that may sputter splatter but never goes out once kindled. which doesn't mean the work, to paraphrase my usps buddy from my mailroom days, ever end.
happy TDOV, especially to those of you/us who aren't able to safely say so.
trying to get better at seeing through illusions that promise the world but instead waste it. getting better at keeping clear eyes full heart can't lose. i want the future that has you in it. i want the future where we all thrive. and whatever it takes, in the ways i know how and in ways i don't yet know, i promise we will get there.
"going feral"—my take on the theme of last week's @happyendings.show hinged on ferality / feralness as a particular kind of parasitic parasocial derangement. live on my newsletter HOW I'M FEELING NOW, now at the url:
howimfeelingnow.online
the agony & ecstasy of being in the company of the GOATs (@cheemobile & mfing snoopy)
thank you sandy allen & @mariskreizman & @literaryhub for putting together this special spotlight for #us. my jaw dropped when i saw some of the other names / books included like, damn, really? but it's not about any individual book story writer—it's about our historic (as in of this moment & a part of cyclical history) contraction of imagination, in which the empire's new tailors would rather smother new ways of being and believing for the madcap profit of the few rather than growing and changing for the benefit of all. so much "culture war" vernacular boils down to: who flourishes when access to unlike experiences is warped and winnowed? who suffers when hearts and dreams and borders are closed? art will always find its way to its future beloveds, from snowpeak to shallow stream to dark blue horizon, this i am sure of. but i am forever grateful to the people who move beside me with lanterns, helping me see and be seen, as i pull myself through this world, and who knows how many others :^)
made all the horses at the function draw horses while blindfolded timed them to "goodbye horses" each person had their own style and technique thank you colin chantelle gabe trevor amar for being game let's all gallop together into the great unknown <3
i wrote quickly about @doublepluslovely 's newsletter PERSONAL CANON, which is almost the only place i take book recs from these days + which makes me believe, like really earnestly believe, in the power of reading and writing—not just in the doing of them, but in their cultures of elegant and ravenous curiosity. wait: aren't attention spans and leisure time and critical thinking skills shrinking? consider: you have this one life. what has to click before you put down the rod and go for a swim (not a real saying)?
pix were taken on my konica minolta dimage x1 digital camera @montereybayaquarium
𓂃𓂃𓂃𓊝 ࿐𓂃𓂃𓂃
𓇼 ⋆.˚ 𓆝⋆.˚ 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆞
𓆉𓆝𓇼𓆟 𖦹°‧𓆝𓆡𓆜
二零二五年
i've been taking chinese calligraphy and art classes w 劉老师 @oaklandasiancc for 2 years now. i started making a calendar for practice; i practice to make the calendar better.
元旦快乐！未完待续！
