Shoes

What do your shoes say about you? What would they say about you, if they could speak? Where have you been? Where are you going? Here r some shoes from the Guiding Lights weekend participants!

Watts Towers

There’s something about handmade mosaics that make me think about all the fractured pieces in our lives. Watts Towers is a beautiful mess of broken tiles, don’t you think?

ants

They came in from the rain, from the cold. Four dark rivers of ants, marching through my apartment. After a few hours, I think I have successfully diverted them outside, for now.

Peace

air conditioning as a creative tool

Tonight I pulled the portable air conditioner out of the closet and hooked it up. (It’s one of those R2D2-looking ones with the tubes that go out the window.) There are always a few days a year in LA when I really need the AC. It surprised me how much more energy I have. I’ve been researching some technology tools for the upcoming WriteGirl season (specifically blogging platforms for teens), and tonight I think I made some real progress in understanding some of the features I am seeking (privacy, no advertising, a “cool” factor, ease of use, ability to network blogs together, amongst other things).

Feels good to be cool and creative.

Woman of Courage

Last week, I took two of our WriteGirl alumni mentees to a luncheon by the NWPC (National Women’s Political Caucus) where they were honoring Gloria Allred with a Woman of Courage award. Her remarks were poignant and inspiring. She talked about several recent cases and stretched the limits of the sound system with the strength of her voice and her stories. It was particularly moving to hear about her participating in a “martyr guard” in Kansas at the funeral of Dr. George Tiller to shield the family members attending the service. It gave the three of us some great topics for conversation on the long drive back to LA on a Friday afternoon on the 405.

I look forward to reading her book, “Fight Back and Win: My Thirty-year Fight Against Injustice–and How You Can Win Your Own Battles.” Long title, but looks like it will be a good read.

And I have to say that it is exciting to spend some time with two of our WriteGirl alums – Alma is going into graduate school at CalState Long Beach and Ariel is studying Journalism at USC. They are thoughtful, independent and strong young women with clear aspirations and a real sense of their own identity. We will be hearing more from both of them in the years to come, I’m sure.

Writing as Art

What if we tried to view poetry and other writing the way we view art? We may not always understand it, but we allow it to wash over us, and we know the artist has a story and a vision behind what they have created – it is up to us to discover it.