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Once again, it's time for our end-of-month roundup of wise words. No particular theme this month--or so I thought until I assembled all the tidbits I'd been collecting. Then I realized there were several on communication, freedom, and hope. Hmmmmm. Interesting.  Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky. -- Rabindranath Tagore   We habitually erect a barrier called blame that keeps us from communicating genuinely with others, and we fortify it with our concepts of who's right and who's wrong. We do that with the people who are closest to us, and we do it with political systems . . . It is a very common, ancient, well-perfected device for trying to feel better . . . Blaming is a way to protect our hearts, to try to protect what is soft and open and tender in ourselves. Rather than own that pain, we scramble to find some comfortable ground. -- Pema Chödrön   To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. -- Lewis B. Smedes  To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. -- Howard Zinn   Everybody on TV exercises his or her right to express dogmatic beliefs at top volume, but we almost never see a model for deep, attentive listening. The value of genuinely being in each other's presence, regardless of whether we happen to agree, seems to be almost completely lost in our social discourse. That's why we get so little meaning from all our public arguments. It seems that we don't even know how to facilitate genuine presence, the kind of authentic being with each-other that may actually bring about real, positive change. -- Jacob Needleman, "Beyond Belief," The Sun, December 2011  We live in a fantasy world, a world of illusion, The great task in life is to find reality. -- Iris Murdoch  What we want hasn't changed for thousands of years because as far as we can tell the human template hasn't changed either. We still want the purse that will always be filled with gold, and the Fountain of Youth. We want the table that will cover itself with delicious food whenever we say the word, and that will be cleaned up afterwards by invisible servants . . . We want cute, smart children who will treat us with the respect we deserve. We want to be surrounded by music, and by ravishing scents and attractive visual objects. We don't want to be too hot or too cold. We want to dance. We want to speak with the animals. We want to be envied. We want to be immortal. We want to be as gods.
But in addition, we want wisdom and justice. We want hope. We want to be good. -- Margaret Atwood
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Spring is here! But before we run out to pick posies, let's take a moment to appreciate the season we're leaving behind. It may not be as eagerly awaited as its warmer, more colorful sisters Spring, Summer and Autumn, but Winter has its own chilly charms. Here's a look back at some of my favorite scenes of the season.  It's a joy to be able to snowshoe right in our neighborhood  Why do I hear Mr. Ed's voice whenever I look at this picture?  One morning, Ray popped into my office and said, "Look out the window, there's someone outside who wants to see you." It was this guy! Good thing I looked, because he was gone by the next day. (The snowman, I mean, not Ray. He's still here.)  Even a tree stump is beautiful when snow-capped  Brrrrrr!  Wintry weeds  I do appreciate leafy greenery, but the stark patterns of bare trees have a different appeal.  The sculptural shapes are so much more apparent  Next year's Christmas card?  Frosty pane  Crystals, close-up  Reflector on a neighbor's mailbox  Question: How come Ray gets the tractor . . .  . . . and I get the shovel?  Yes, more deer. I never tire of their visits, even when they snack on our trees and flowers.   Yes, another squirrel. What can I say -- they're just so darn cute when they sit that way.  Cold creek  Lake Michigan on a February day      Brave beach-goers   Ice fishing on Croton Pond  See you next year, Winter! A few weeks ago, I issued a challenge: pick one important lesson learned in each decade of your life. If that assignment seemed too huge, here's something much smaller to try: a six-word memoir. The idea isn't to encapsulate your entire existence in a handful of words, but to capture a micro-slice or express a tiny truth. The concept has been floating around for more than a decade, ever since Larry Smith, founder of SMITH Magazine, asked readers to describe their lives in exactly six words.  Responses poured in, giving rise to the Six-Word Memoir project. To date, more than one million of the mini-memoirs have been published on the Six Word Memoirs website, and the project has been featured in hundreds of media outlets, including NPR and The New Yorker.  The phenomenon has spawned a series of books (some with six-word titles, natch), including It All Changed in an Instant, Not Quite What I Was Planning, I Can't Keep My Own Secrets (Six-Word Memoirs by teens), and Oy! Only Six? Why Not More? (Six-Word Memoirs on Jewish life).  There's a Six-Word Memoirs card game, and live Six-Word Memoir "slams" are held at locations around the world.  For inspiration, you can check out the vast and ever-changing assortment of little life stories on the project website. You can browse through topics, such as Life, Love, Advice, Happiness, Bosses, Food, or search by keyword. A recent visit turned up such gems as: Life: A backflip down the stairs, by Abarooni Baking bread helps heal broken hearts, by L2L3 Even pinhole light defeats the night, by BanjoDan Water life; grow what is unexpected, by Poetreebook  Of course I had to try writing my own. Some of the ones I came up with are too personal to share (!), but here are a few that made it past my internal censor: Weighing "Do better" against "Good enough." 48 years motherless. Miss her still. Haunted by dreams of motorcycling calamities. Unable to resist chocolate, beer, writing. Thinking these up instead of meditating. Finally realized introversion's not a fault. Still limber at 69. Thanks, yoga! Now it's your turn. You may be surprised what you come up with. I was!
Ray and I are hitting the road again—heading back to the Southwest for a few weeks. I wish I could bring you all along, but once we stash all our gear in the truck, we just don't have room. Don't feel left out, though. I'm sending you on your own site-seeing tour—a virtual visit to a few websites that I think you'll enjoy. This week's tour has four stops. We'll visit more another day. Paper Pioneer |
 Microscope by Jennifer Collier |  Alice Kid Gloves by Jennifer Collier |
The Cloud Appreciation Society
https://cloudappreciationsociety.org/
If you've ever been accused of having your head in the clouds (and who hasn't, at one time or another?), this is the group for you. With a website devoted to the contemplation and glorification of clouds, the society's manifesto pledges "to fight 'blue-sky thinking' wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day."
It goes on to exhort all who'll listen to "Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and always remember to live life with your head in the clouds!"
The site features a cloud forum, a gallery to which cloud-appreciators can submit photos, and a shop of cloud-related merchandise, from bumper stickers to jewelry and cuddly cloud and raindrop dolls. You can also purchase a membership, which entitles you to a personalized certificate, an enameled badge, a cloud-identification wheel, and Cloud-a-Day emails that contain tidbits such as cloud photos, art, quotations or scientific factoids.
The Cloud Appreciation Society celebrates cumulus, cirrus, stratus, and every other sort of cloud
Go ahead, keep your head in the clouds
Even storm clouds deserve appreciation
As do colorful cloudscapes
Is that a silver lining I see?
Off the Grid, Into the Inspiration Zone
http://www.marseegallery.com/blog/
For Todd Marsee, a senior graphic artist with Michigan Sea Grant, work days are a busy blur of projects—everything from designing brochures and educational posters to producing technical illustrations to taking photographs, all centered around Michigan Sea Grant's mission of protecting and promoting sustainable use of the Great Lakes and coastal areas.
Away from work, Todd creates abstract paintings, many incorporating images from nature. Finding time for painting isn't always easy, though. So when he was chosen to spend three weeks alone in a secluded cabin, as the 2017 Artist in Residence at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Todd welcomed the chance to zero in on painting in a natural setting.
"Looking back, it was a blessing not to have any sort of connection to the world," he reflected in an article in The University Record.
Todd's blog describes some of his experiences—hiking along the beach, collecting colorful stones to inspire paintings (and then putting them back where he found them, in keeping with the National Lakeshore's policy), and creating a few culinary masterpieces (check out his recipe for broiled lake whitefish with pesto, topped with oyster mushrooms).
The paintings shown here are just a few of the ones Todd created during the residency. You can see more here. His work is available for purchase at his online shop.
Poetry for the People
http://travelingstanzas.com/
The Traveling Stanzas project seeks to bring poetry to people's everyday lives.
Launched in 2009 as a collaboration between Kent State University’s Wick Poetry Center and Professor Valora Renicker’s Visual Communication Design students, Traveling Stanzas first paired poems generated in community writing workshops with graphic designs and displayed the results on public transportation throughout Northeast Ohio.
Now the project has grown to include an online gallery, an interactive digital map showing locations of Traveling Stanzas designs on utility boxes and kiosk displays in participating cities, and a new, traveling exhibit, Writing Across Borders. The exhibit features poems, illustrations, and videos that showcase the refugee experience and celebrate our country's diverse cultural identity.
A statement on the website sums up what the project is all about:
The mission of Traveling Stanzas is to bring poetry to everyday lives by fostering meaningful conversations and encouraging new voices. The program offers people moments of pause to slow down and reflect on their lives, their communities, and to participate in a shared creative experience.
The mission of Traveling Stanzas is to bring poetry to everyday lives by fostering meaningful conversations and encouraging new voices. The program offers people moments of pause to slow down and reflect on their lives, their communities, and to participate in a shared creative experience.
Traveling Stanzas digital map (Photo: Traveling Stanzas)
Interactive poetry kiosk (Photo: Traveling Stanzas)
Poetry display (Photo: Traveling Stanzas)
Another poetry display (Photo: Traveling Stanzas)
In your own online wanderings, have you found sites and projects that celebrate creativity, connection and contentment? Share them!
Written from the heart,
from the heart of the woods
from the heart of the woods
Read the introduction to HeartWood here.
Available now!
Check with your favorite bookseller or order from the BUY BOOKS page on this website.
Author
Nan Sanders Pokerwinski, a former journalist, writes memoir and personal essays, makes collages and likes to play outside. She lives in West Michigan with her husband, Ray.
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