Do I write this post with a tad of guilt? I do. I feel like I have neglected my wonderful blog and disappointed … who? I notice that many of my contemporaries in blog posting have not been writing either. Hmmmmm ….
An effect of the pandemic? Are we all on to different things? Just not writing?
In the kitchen, keeping Jazzy company while she ate her lunch, I realized how restless I am. I want to do everything, but yet I really want to curl up with a good book and do nothing (but read). Life had been so crazy busy for so long, and then I left my very-often-intense work in the humane field. It was exactly what needed to be done, and along with some of that work was the pandemic. Working from home, staying at home for my safety, getting all too used to being home. Not liking it. It’s very comfortable and I live in a beautiful part of the state, but needing more. Restless.
Now that I can actually think, what do I want to be when I grow up? (You may have read about my ponderings on this subject in previous posts.)
Working on that, but meanwhile … I am always reading and always listening to music. Two constants. So while I work on the direction of my life, here are my 2023 reads so far, and all recommended unless otherwise noted. Not in order of being read.
The London Seance Society – Sarah Penner (currently reading) The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society – Mary Ann Shaffer – Excellent! The Lost Apothecary – Sarah Penner The Lost City of the Monkey God – Preston Douglas – didn’t finish, non-fiction, but not my type. Little Fires Everywhere – Celeste Ng – Excellent! The Book of Longings – Sue Monk Kidd Now You See Her – Linda Howard Night Music – JoJo Moyes Secluded Cabin, Sleeps Six – Lisa Unger
Perhaps you will find something of interest. Perhaps you will share something of interest, as I know any followers of mine are also readers. Whatever you may be doing, I hope you are happy in your days. I am always hoping you are as content as possible in our so-often-challenging world, and finding the small and simple joys that are right there in front of us, waiting to be noticed. Till next time …
In reading about some deeply saddening events happening in the world, I began researching some quotes for the word `hope’. I came upon two brilliant ones by Fred Rogers, known to most as Mister Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. I was a bit older when this TV show first appeared, but had opportunities to check in from time to time with this kind man who loved, understood, and deeply respected children.
There is a great deal of information available on Fred Rogers, but I wonder if viewers knew how brilliant and insightful a man he truly was. The first quote is related to his oft-repeated sentence to the kids, “It’s you I like.”
“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”
Pictured above is Mister Rogers having a foot bath with Francois Clemmons, the friendly neighborhood police officer, Officer Clemmons, on the show for 25 years. It was taken at a time when racial integration was barely beginning, but when the idea of a white man and a black man sharing a kiddie pool foot bath, and the same towel to dry off, was extremely radical. But Fred Rogers was very much into breaking barriers. This was taken in 1969.
The second quote by Fred Rogers was about disabilities, and his vastly different view of what that meant as compared to what is commonly believed.
“Part of the problem with the word ‘disabilities’ is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can’t feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren’t able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.”
President George W. Bush presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award to Fred Rogers July 9, 2002, during ceremonies in the East Room. Photo by Paul Morse, Courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library
In 2002, Fred Rogers was presented with the highest civilian award given in the United States, the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award. It is the highest, but by far, not the only one, he received. For more information about Fred Rogers and his many accomplishments, check out his biography on Wikipedia.
For a little extra treat, watch Fred Rogers testify in front of a U.S. Senate subcommittee, asking that his funding for pubic television and his show be renewed. His speech is so persuasive that he melts the heart of the subcommittee head who didn’t initially want to hear him.
I started out looking for a quote or two on `hope’, and came to learn quite a bit about one man who offered hope and so much more to so many children through Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. I believe his legacy is far greater than any of us could imagine.
Lately, I find myself drifting back through time. It seems necessary to my creativity for me to go back before I can go through.
I am searching – I want to use my writing and art to reach out in a different way than I have in the past. How will I do that?
Conversations about art, music, and writing with people in my life now get me reflecting. And remembering … recently, I felt a song trickling through my mind. It was a Peter, Paul and Mary song, but I could only grasp a phrase. A search brought it back to me – Bob Dylan’s Dream. And with it, a flood of memories.
One memory was of my junior and senior years in college when four friends and I would hang out in the evening in Susie’s apartment and play music and sing together. They all played guitar, and we all could sing and knew a wide range of folk songs. Just sitting and singing and playing by candlelight into the wee hours of the morning were such incredible times. I don’t yet know how that memory will play a part in my going forward, just that it will.
Bob Dylan’s Dream, written by Bob Dylan, sung by Peter, Paul and Mary, 1967
I recently went to see a fabulous show of Japanese printmaking from the 1950’s to the present. I looked so, so closely at those stunning prints, noticing just how they were made, recalling the necessary techniques. I studied printmaking for two semesters – woodcutting, etching, and lithography. And these masterful Japanese prints brought that back, too.
“Red Wall”-1992. Zinc etching and woodblock print on paper by Hodaka Yoshida
I am being readied. I am preparing for some leap forward that I cannot yet see, but these memories are stirring the things I need to know, so long put aside while I did other things with my life. Sometimes it seems like I’m dreaming or wasting time, but I know I’m not.
I’m taking a deep breath and – not always so easy – trusting in the process.
He was often referred to as “Britain’s Schindler”. As Nazis began to occupy Czechoslovakia in 1938, Sir Nicholas Winton rescued 669 children in Prague, mostly Jewish, and ensured their safe transport to England. He personally paid all travel expenses for each child, forged passports and documentation, and risked his own life in doing so. He then worked to find them foster homes with British families. Most of the children’s parents and family were sent to concentration camps in Auschwitz and never heard from again.
Winton had cancelled a ski trip to go to Prague to help a friend with the refugee effort. He kept the fact that he had saved these 669 children a secret, until his wife found a scrapbook in the attic with their photos. Winton was later invited, in 1988, to be in the audience of a British TV show “That’s Life”. Audience members who had been saved by Winton as children were asked to stand. About two dozen stood. Then, their children and grandchildren were asked to stand, and the entire audience was on their feet, thanking him.
Nicholas Winton was knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 2003, and in 2014, was awarded the Czech Republic’s highest honor- a member of The Order of the Lion. He passed away at 106 years old in 2015.
To be truthful, this is long overdue; however, I am just so happy and so grateful that it is here and up now.
With the new site, I can better share with you the work that I do, and even how some of it may help you! I’m thinking of graphic design, self-publishing, or art projects.
It’s all so shiny and new!! Please take a look and thank you for checking out my new website.
The fact is, I write every day – I journal – but I miss writing. I want to say “real writing”, the kind that isn’t just one’s personal ups and downs, the efforts to figure things out, the daydreams and fantasies. (Because none of that is real, right? Haha.)
Maybe a year ago, needing to become more active on social media to promote my children’s book, I discovered Instagram. I love IG because it feeds the visual aspects of my heart, my mind, my soul in a very different way than writing does. So I’ve been hunkered down over there for a bit. (Please come visit me on Instagram @jeannebalsam )
An extremely simple example of AI art using Midjourney and the prompt “A swimming pool filled with stars on a moonlit night.” Image courtesy Wikipedia
And what have I found? A community of children’s book people, an immense amount of positivity, and an endless treasure trove of art that is firing up my brain. Some of it is illustration, some is videos/reels, but a great source of fascination is the AI art (Artificial Intelligence) – see above. People using programs such as Midjourney are creating often fantastical images, but to my mind, I see magic.
I love that in every way – art, writing, music – and it seems that some magic is calling to me. I want to be where the magic is, for it to take me and my art to some new, unexpected places. It sparkles.
Still, I miss writing. I feel like I am being readied for some new union between word and image. After being absent for a bit, I also miss my friends here on WP who inspire me, too. (But I’m getting to you …)
Where is your magic? Is it dancing? Is it calling you?
A little inspiration of late – 51 minutes of uninterrupted beautiful music that fills me with dreams. Maybe you, too.
It seems that the holidays feel different every year. It’s not a matter of growing older, but maybe of seeing the world through different eyes.
Some years have seen good-sized gatherings, some years, small and intimate ones. Some years bright and merry, others quiet. There have been years where gift-buying was a big deal, others when it barely mattered at all. Years with COVID in play, years not.
The common thread? Change. Everything is always in motion, including how we spend our holidays, where, and with whom.
The other thread? Feeling grateful … for all the experiences the holidays have brought, and those they will bring.
Here’s hoping that you will not get lost in the rush, but lost in the peace, joy, and sweet calm of the season. I’ll be joining you for these.
It is said that on All Hallows Eve (Halloween) the veil is the thinnest between the realms of the living and the dead, and we are most able to be in touch with our ancestors/loved ones on the other side. Whether this is true or not, whether you believe it or not, it is a magical time when anything seems possible.
More and more I realize how everything we choose is moving us forward on our path. Whether it’s who we meet, what we read, what we listen to, where we go, what we dream about … it’s all moving us forward and serving our mental, spiritual, and emotional evolution.
For example, this month, I have committed to Inktober, an October challenge to create a new pen and ink drawing each day and post it on Instagram. I am sharing four with you, but I have faithfully drawn every day. I’m using this to get my creativity going, to get the feeling of what it’s like to draw on a regular basis, plus I love pen and ink. There are things I plan to do, and Inktober appeared to me. Right on time.
I have been trying to see more art, and have finally been able to get back to Grounds for Sculpture, a 42-acre outdoor museum for contemporary sculpture and arboretum. I’ll share a few of the beautiful pieces i saw …
And when I can’t get out to see art, I am finding it online, especially on Instagram. Instagram, of all social media, is highly visual and a great fit for me as an artist, photographer, and illustrator. But it has also been a constant source of positive and inspiring messages that uplift my mind and spirit, and I try to share them with whoever stops in and visits me. If interested, I am @jeannebalsam.
In reading, we also grow. I have picked up four books recently, and left off on three – I chose them at one time, but they are not where I am now. The fourth, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, is written in letters back and forth between characters in the years following WWII, and about how life was affected in the Channel Islands by the German occupation. It’s rich and funny and heartfelt, and also about how reading connects us all. It received unanimous glowing reviews. Go look; it’s excellent.
And music – finding and listening to new, all that speaks to me now. Music is so healing, whether music for meditation or Indie/pop, whatever it is, keep music in your life. And dancing … mostly in the kitchen, to my phone. It makes me happy. Tried it?
When I don’t post for a while, it does become an epistle, so I’ll leave you here with the thought to remember to feed your life well in all you do. And also a video – Dancing with My Phone. This is from HYBS, a duo you will see in the odd (and inexplicable to me) Christmas moment. I hope it makes you smile … and turn up your phone.
Still A Dreamer 