Category — Interviews
Ira, Stories, Sermons, and Me.
This week it’ my turn to step Behind the Mic in order to talk about Ira Glass. Ira is America’s premiere story teller, and spoke at the Seattle opera house this weekend to hear him speak about the power of telling stories in the dark. Ira explained the narrative style they use at This American Life, and illustrated why you should use this method when you have something to say “that could change someone’s’ life. That could save someone’s life.” Here is a little summary, and some thoughts on the evening.Listen to the podcast here: Subscribe to Magpie Girl podcasts on Zune, or on iTunes, or via RSS.
Click here to read more Behind the Mic interviews, including our current on-going series Chronically Creative, featuring artists who manage to continue their work in spite of chronic pain or other physical and mental challenges.
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Want to train with Magpie Girl? Join me in my upcoming course: Power Stories: tips and tales for standing in your own power. Stories, lesson, and practical application from Magpie Girl and friends. Click here for more information. Course starts September 13th.
Chronically Creative: Christine Reed, Dancing Thru Trauma
This week Behind the Mic features part five of Chronically Creative; a series about making art while living with chronic illness. Today we meet Christine Reed of Bliss Chick – yogi, dancer, and among many other things, Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder survivor. Christine, as always, shares from her depths. Christine, step right up.
I want to preface this piece by thanking Rachelle for two things: First, for her patience, because it’s taken me a long time to get to these, which leads to Second, for asking me to do this, because it opened something up inside of me and has led to new levels of understanding of myself, my life, and my writing.
When I got the questions and had a fuller understanding of what Rachelle was doing with these interviews, I felt really challenged and called to become more open and honest about myself than I have ever been. I realized that I wanted and needed to start exposing my life in new ways so that people could see that the struggle that comes with mental conditions is difficult but worth it. I also want to help remove the stigma of these labels (even though I am a bit anti-label and don’t care to use them — they can still be helpful as a lens and to show us that we aren’t alone).
My label is Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and you can read more about it here. If this seems to be you or someone you love, I highly recommend the work of Judith Herman, MD, and Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD, both of whom are true trailblazers. And now…on with the questions!
Q: How has dancing helped you break free from mental and emotional conditions that have hindered you?
One of the really difficult aspects of Complex-PTSD is emotional flashbacks. Our brains in these moments cannot differentiate between past and present. We are simply IN the past. We are feeling it all again as if for the first time.
Dancing (or any challenging physical work) does not allow for anything but the present. When you are fully in your body, you are fully in your life and in the now. Period. So dancing can act as an anchor for me and as a reminder of who I really am — that I am not my injury (the preferred term for Complex PTSD).
Dancing also gets out the “goo,” as Marcy and I call it. It releases toxins and emotional residue from the physical body. The better I feel physically, the more I am able to deal with the mental stuff. When I am not dancing for a couple of days, I start to feel unreal and disconnected.
Q: When you aren’t feeling well, how do you approach dancing?
I do it anyway. Or I don’t and then I pay the price. So mostly, I do it anyway. And each time, if I am feeling especially bad, it feels like this brand new miracle, because that’s another symptom of Complex PTSD — an amnesia about people and things in our lives that are good and trustworthy. We can literally forget what is good for us. (There are physiological/neurological reasons for this that are too complicated for me to explain, but the brain is damaged by the chronic fear-inducing trauma — under-grown here, over-grown there.)
If I am having an extra hard time, I tell Marcy or even twitter (ha!) that I am going to dance so that I have outside accountability. It can be so bad that reaching to turn on the music feels like the most impossible task ever given to any single human being on this planet. Really. I know it sounds dramatic, but this is life with trauma.
I have danced enough now to know that no matter what I think in the moment, this is going to work. I have my “witness mind” evolved enough that I can at least see that. So I turn on the music and I stand there, slumped, thinking, “No F-ing way can I even lift my arm much less feel the joy that dance brings…” I stand and I breathe and within moments I am flying and smiling and I am well into the healing process.
Q: As someone who returned to dance “late in the game” how do you talk to yourself about your body and you abilities? What do you do when the “compare game” raises it’s ugly head?
Though I still have a fair distance to go in my own mind when it comes to my body and my abilities, I am the most fit I have ever been in my life and that is just a fact that my perfectionist internal-nazi cannot avoid. In terms of the physical aspects of my dance, I am a creature of confidence. Which is strange (or not) because I do not have real confidence about anything else about myself BUT dance.
The place I get into trouble, though, is thinking about what could have been, so I just snap myself out of it by reminding myself that I believe very strongly that everything happens for a reason. SO there is a REASON that I left dance when I did and a reason that I came back to it when I did. I’m not completely clear on the reasons but I know they exist and this is one of those places where I try very hard to have a little faith and just keep moving forward.
That’s really super hard for me, though, don’t think otherwise.
Bonus Q: What are you up to these days and how do we find you?
Marcy and I are going to spend more time writing about how we deal with this as a couple. There is not a lot out there for the partner’s of people with Complex-PTSD, specifically, and there is very little about how the couple can create mutual coping mechanisms. So we’ll try to stay really transparent about our process. That doesn’t mean Blisschick is turning into a Complex-PTSD site, per say, but it will be deeply embedded in my writing because that is how I work toward my bliss — by working through all of this.
There is lots and lots of great resource material available for free download on the Trauma Center’s site (this Center is where Bessel Van Der Kolk is located).
I am currently reading Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, and I recommend that along with Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
Finally, just a little personal note, I think that Kundalini Yoga, in particular out of all yoga (many, many forms of which I have studied for 15 years) is a truly powerful tool for working with Complex PTSD. I recommend any DVD done by Ana Brett and Ravi Singh (and to start, their older DVD, Kundalini Yoga – A Journey through the Chakras
To read all the posts in this series click here. Stay tuned next week for another addition of Chronically Creative. Thanks for being here.
Chronically Creative: Painting Thru Depression with David Sandum
This week Behind the Mic features part four of Chronically Creative; a series about working with chronic illness. Today we meet David Sandum, a fine art painter and depression survivor. David speaks with us about finding art while institutionalized; the use of color while working through depression; and finding healing through art. David, step right up.
My Strange New Looking Bed and Nailed to the Wall Picture
David Sandum, 2001. Used by permission of the artist.
It was there I started to draw - in my room, alone and confused. Many therapists at the time asked if I took drugs, had an alcohol problem or any other addictions, saying that people with such strong anxiety and depression most often had them. They were always surprised to hear me answer no, but I just drew and painted, even if I didn’t see it clearly then. Yet now I realize I did something constructive with the depressive. Instead of a needle or a bottle, I picked up a pen and eventually the brush. So I am completely self-taught. Art has consumed me since this time, not just because I love art, but as I’ve literally have painted to stay alive, and in it, have found empathy. It’s as simple as that. People could never tell me in words what I went through. But I could see and understand it through Van Gogh’s and Munch’s expressive paintings. It was as if they said: “I know everything around you is chaos. But look at this, I felt the same way.” I have written about this extensively in my memoir (in English). It took me ten years to complete and I hope to get it published someday.
Q: As a colorist, do you notice a shift in tones and color as your depression ebbs or intensifies? Are there particular works of yours that you think illustrate that for us?
I think it’s a myth that depressed artists always paint black or in earth tones, though that can certainly be the case. Just look at Van Gogh’s vibrant yellow and stars, Degas inspiring ballerinas, or Matisse’s decorative color schemes. They were all depressed major portions of their life, but I see their work mainly as uplifting, even though Van Gogh’s early period for example was dark and his portrayals and subject matters often conveyed troubled times. But their colors and subject matters were vibrant. They focused on the energy inside. This is my main philosophy in art, like Matisse said: “I do not literally paint that table, but the emotion it produces upon me.”
Depression Prayer
David Sandum, 2000 Used by permission.
I have certainly painted darker though, and my first few years I painted so dark people often said they wouldn’t be able to have my art on their wall. But now I wonder if that wasn’t just mental: that I just didn’t quite know how to paint yet and to keep my brush clean. Any true artist will know what I mean. But two of my very first paintings were expressive and colorful, and they will always be key to me.
The Law of the Jungle
David Sandum, 2000.
This vibrant and expressive painting was created late one winter’s night in the year 2000. One of my very first paintings, I painted by impulse. I had no idea what would evolve. But soon Darwin’s theory of natural selection came to mind: How the strong survive and the weak eventually become extinct–contemplating that the world is run by people who pressure others to destruction for their own gain (displayed by the evil man in profile to the left, about to crush and grab me with his claw). The “claw man” is trying to stab me; and in many aspects he represented the world as a whole.
Ironically, this painting now hangs in a law office. The lawyer who purchased it has told me it’s his dream to see it in a courtroom.
Q: You recently spent some time in the deserts of the American southwest. People have long gone to the deserts for a cure – for asthma, rheumatism, etc. Did you experiencing a healing energy in the desert — in regards to depression, or in more general terms? How did this change in atmosphere effect your moods and your work?
I don’t think I have found the answer to this just yet (I returned home from the US last night), as I’m not the kind of artist who works entirely on site. Things need to linger in my mind, sometimes for months, and suddenly one day in my studio things will come together. But the strong impressions were definitely there throughout my trip to the deserts of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and New Mexico: the peace, the silence, the beauty of the landscape. No cell phones or computers, just me and the earth. Navajo country, Bryce Canyon in Utah, Sedona in Arizona, and Ghost Ranch New Mexico, were all places of healing. I locked my door to my studio two months ago tired and weak, but have returned filled with thoughts, places, and colors etched in my head. I love the desert and I always will.
To read all the posts in this series click here. Stay tuned next week for another addition of Chronically Creative. Thanks for being here.
Chronically Creative: Living with Art and Biopolar Disorder
This week at Behind the Mic we have part three of Chronically Creative, a series of posts about working with chronic illness. Today we meet Abby from Life at the Poles, an artful soul working with Bipolar Disorder. Abby writes, paints, spins and dyes yarns, and rescues people like me when stuck on knitting patterns. She’s a keeper! Abby, set right up…
Living with Art and Bipolar Disorder with Abby
Q: Not to be all “Suzie Sunshine,” but sometimes a chronic condition can drive us into new working patterns that end up being positive for us. I think of this as turning something typically seen as a weakness into a superpower. Is there any way in which having Bipolar Disorder has become a superpower for you creatively? Does it in anyway empower or enhance your creative self?
I’m (slowly for me) learning how to use my moods, emotions, energy levels, mind sets to allow me to get the most done. I know when I’m in the middle of the higher part of a cycle, I can accomplish a tremendous amount of creative work – most of my artwork and design is the result of me tapping into the energy of the high points. However, I’ve also learned that I can accomplish a lot of nothing too, which leaves me feeling uninspired and extra depressed when that up phase ends and the lower part of the cycle kicks in, because I feel like I’ve accomplished nothing. (Which is kinda true.) Right now, I’m working on recognizing up and down phases and then getting to work on what I know I can best accomplish during each phase that I can’t during the other. For example, I can come up with one or two web site designs in a day when in the middle of an up phase, but if I even try and sit down to code basic CSS or XHTML when up, I will have to fight with myself to focus. However, during a down phase, I actually benefit from “getting lost” in the hundreds of little steps involved in taking an image to the web. Like making sure I spelled “background-image” correctly.
It’s feels a bit like I’m a firehose for creative energy – some days I’m on full blast and other days you shake the hose and wonder if there’s a kink in it somewhere. Knowing where I am in that cycle allows me to focus on getting what I CAN get done, done. So I guess in some ways, it’s as if I was given this superpower that I am just learning to tap into, but that tends to fire off on it’s own. I have to learn how to control it when it fires off on it’s own, and slowly learn how to tap into it the rest of the time. I figure with time and practice, it will be more at will and less at random. ;)
Q: What tips and tricks have your figured out for working with your creative + Bipolar cycles? Do you have things you say to yourself at different stages? What helps you survive and even thrive creatively with Bipolar challenges on your plate?
To pay attention to myself! I ask myself almost constantly “Why do I feel this way?” Am I just having a really good day? Did something happen that has me feeling down? Or is this less situational and more cycle related? I give myself permission over and over and over to feel whatever it is I’m feeling, as long as I’m going to work out WHY I feel that way sooner than later. It’s important to me to know and understand what is going on inside my head and heart so I know when there is a real issue to work through and when I just need to find my headphones and pretend the rest of the world doesn’t exist. At least until this phase passes.
Knowing what is going on inside also gives me some measure of control over a disorder I don’t have much control over. I may not be able to control how my brain and nervous system reacts tothe day to day and to normal brain chemicals, but I can control how much I express those feelings. There is also a very real comfort in knowing that hey, I am NOT crazy, this just happens. It enables me to rise above it as much as I can, and keep going. So I guess I just ask WHY of myself a LOT, and then do my best to answer, as my primary way of surviving the constant changing of my emotional tides.
What enables me to thrive is being able to view this disorder as not just a challenge, but a gift and tool. I have learned so much from having it, and am a much stronger person because of it. It also augments my love of art and helps me break outside of the box – something many people with Bipolar Disorder (and many mental disorders, actually) have an easier time doing. I apply that to my art in all of it’s forms, and also with how I deal with others. (Or I TRY at least!) For whatever reason, years of not being able to figure out what I was feeling helped me strongly identify and empathize with others. THAT is a gift I’d not trade for the world.
Q: What would you say to someone who has just been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder? What little nugget of info might carry them through the initial stages of learning to live with this particular chronic sidekick?
Journal, write, and give yourself permission to really feel and express how you feel during that time. And no censoring! (That’s important!) If you are angry, BE angry. Write angry. If you are soaring among the stars, then feel it, and write it. No one else has to read it, so it doesn’t matter how it reads. The important part is just that you get down what you are going through at the time, and what made you feel that way, if anything. Over time, you’ll start to see patterns, triggers, cycles, timing. And THAT is the best tool you can have in dealing with this disorder, after your medications (whatever they may be) and a good counselor. Actually, knowing your cycles and patterns will help your counseling/therapy progress. Knowing your patterns and triggers helps you maintain control over your life, even if you can’t control your disorder, or your mind set, intially. You’ll know what signs to look for that signal mania or depression, and you’ll know what to avoid to keep stable and when you are going to need a little help from friends and family.
Don’t let the disorder own or control your life – it doesn’t have to. And it does get easier. Like GI Joe says… knowing is half the battle. The better you know yourself, the easier living with Bipolar Disorder gets. Use the tools at your disposal, because that is what they are – tools.
Bonus Question: What have you got going on right now and how can we find you?
Oh my gosh, what DON’T I have going on? I’m in the middle of a minor identity crisis, so I’m playing with almost anything that comes my way, while learning to live productively and positively with this disorder. Even though I can remember feeling these cycles as a child, when you begin treatment and take control of your disorder, everything changes, including your sense of self. It’s incredibly freeing, but is it ever terrifying to not know who you are! So, I’m just going one day at a time trying to figure out who on earth I really am! And taking my own advice, I write about it a LOT at Life at the Poles. . And tweet about it almost just as much; I’m OririDraco on twitter. (I talk a lot though, you’ve been warned! ;)
Behind the Mic: Are you working with a chronic condition? How are you managing to live creatively with both your work and your illness? Please add to our Giant Pool Of Wisdom by commenting below. To read all the posts in this series click here; and stay tuned next week for another addition of Chronically Creative.
Chronically Creative: Art Practicalities with Sarah Marie Lacy
This week at Behind the Mic, part two of Chronically Creative, a series of posts about working with chronic illness. Today we have Sarah Marie Lacy, fine art painter and chronic fatigue survivor since age 12! I met Sarah when she was doing a stint of live painting on line at Watching Paint Dry. Her youth and her talent inspire me on a regular basis. Sarah, set right up…
Art Practicalities with Sarah Marie Lacy
Q: How does art serve you in times of poor health? Does it inspire? Comfort? Companion?
Art definitely inspires me when I’m relapsing or ill. If I’m in a bad relapse, I’m usually too sick to make any art, and of course that’s frustrating. But it gives me something to focus on. It acts as a lifeline, something to hold onto when the seas get rough. It gives me something to look forward to – “When I get better, I can do this and this and this!” I can paint in my head, I can plan paintings, or I can ponder new directions I want to take and new skills I want to learn.
When the pain or the exhaustion is really bad, it allows me to look forward, into a future that’s much more pleasant.
I think art is literally how I stay sane. It gives my life purpose, and it gives my pain expression. I think that’s why my art isn’t necessarily about rainbows and sunshine. It’s about pain and hope, at the same time. For me, it’s about expressing the hurt, but it’s also about finding the light. What can I say? I’m a paradox.
Q: How do you manage the ebb and flow of productive times, and rest/healing-up periods? How do you talk to yourself about success during these periods? [Read more →]
Chronically Creative: Making Art & Managing Illness with Kirsty Hall
This week at Behind the Mic we kick off Chronically Creative, a series of posts about working with chronic illness. Kirsty M. Hall, artist, chicken wrangler, and CFS surivor is guest posting with us today. I met Kirsty on Twitter where she hands out only the most helpful and inspiring art links. I’ve been inspired by how she creates an artful life, in spite of having CFS. Kirsty, step right up…!
The Art Of Illness
by Kirsty M. Hall
Originally posted March 31, 2009. Re-posted by permission.
Since I’m currently in the midst of a Chronic Fatigue relapse, I thought I’d do a post about how to continue making art whilst managing an illness. I know it won’t apply to all of you but hopefully it will be useful to some.
Be Realistic
Firstly, it’s important to recognise that ALL artists have challenges in their life. Although it may seem incredibly unfair that you’re limited by your illness or disability, in reality ‘normal’ artists may be struggling just as much to make their art.
It’s easy to look at healthy people and feel jealous but try to remember that NO ONE has unlimited time, energy or money. Many artists need to work part or full time jobs to pay the bills, which drastically reduces the amount of time and energy available for art. Children or other family commitments can also be a serious limitation. Artists working on large, expensive projects may face endless frustrating delays while they scrabble around for funding. No one ‘has it easy’.
Identify Strategies
Don’t make yourself more sick by carrying on doing something that is clearly too much. If you are finding it hard to walk or you’re in a lot of pain, then a very active practice that involves shimmying up and down ladders or hours of gruelling physical work may be impossible. Instead, tailor your practice to what you can do and find creative ways to continue to make art.
If you want to carry on making physically demanding things, then maybe you need someone to do a lot of the prep work for you. When Eva Hesse became ill with a brain tumour she employed assistants to make sculptures to her specifications. I employ The Wonderful Zoë two mornings a month to help me with things like admin, framing, organising and anything that involves heavy physical work.
You may need to change the scale on which you work or employ different materials or new techniques. When her almost constant migraines kept her bedbound for months and she could only paint for small stretches of time, Sarah Raphael divided her canvases up like strip cartoons and painted in tiny daily chunks. She also had to switch from oils to acrylics because the smell of the oils was a constant trigger.
When his eyesight started to fail due to cataracts, Monet loosened up his style and began working on his famous waterlily paintings.
I’ve found that having a small, manageable, daily practice like my current ‘Objects For March’ project or The Diary Project is helpful – ‘little but often’ apparently works well for me. I’ve also annexed an old spare laptop and I’ve written most of this in bed over the space of several days: right now it’s making the difference between being able to blog and not.
Don’t Compare
It’s easy to feel jealous when your peers can accept exciting opportunities that are impossible for you but try not to compare yourself to others too much: it just leads to despair.
I’ve found that it’s more useful… [Read more →]
Circus Cast: Anarchist Reverend
This week at the Magpie Girl circus, we meet The Anarchist Reverend, “a seminary graduate on the ordination path who also happens to be a transsexual man.” Here’s his definition of what it means to be the chaplain of a sideshow, along with a fascinating 3Q Interview. My brother, step right up….
The Anarchist Reverend
in the circus of old we were told
to put our bodies on display for the masses
so they could laugh at us
but some of us took the name of freak
and instead of it making us weak used it as strength
we hold up our bodies as scarred and beautiful
hold up our lives as more than just something to live through
and the anarchist reverend
speaks of crucifixion and resurrection
like a freak show barker
he calls you to harken
listen to tales of transformation
listen to the gospel written in blood and flesh
listen to the life that follows death
listen to the reinvention of the old story
told by someone the world calls a freak
but turned the tables
and called himself beautiful
I write about the reinvention of my body, like the sideshow freak at the circus who claims the title as a matter of pride. I turn the old gospel story into something new that honors bodies the world has called freakish, but that we claim as beautiful.
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Q: So what IS an Anarchist Reverend and what does he do amongst the circus-y edge dwellers?
I am a part-time theologian, part-time poet and full time book nerd. I also happen to be a transgender man. I decided I was tired of queer theology that apologized for the existence of queer folks and decided to do something different. Instead of defending my right to exist biblically, I decide to look at the ways in which the transgender experience is reflected in the biblical stories as well as the ways in which the trans experience speaks to people who are cisgender (a word meaning not-transgender). At the moment I’m writing through the passion narrative (the story of Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection) and talking about how it applies to the trans experience. But it’s about more than doing trans theology; it’s about trying to give people permission to own the scriptures and to see their lives reflected in the pages in a new way.
So often the Bible is used as a weapon against people. I am tired of hearing scripture used as tool to shut people down instead of as a collection of stories that people can go to for comfort and to see their own journeys reflected. Once I was able to read my own story into the Bible I stopped allowing people to use the Bible as a weapon against me. I want other people to have the courage to read the Bible that way as well.
Q: Will you tell us about one challenge you’ve faced as an outlier that you’ve turned into a superpower?
After spending so much time being told that I couldn’t be in ministry (first because I was a woman, and then because I was queer) I’ve realized that no one has a monopoly on the call of God. Once I realized that, I took the fear of failure, of making other people happy or trying to convince them of my Christianity and turned it into power. No one has the power to tell me that I don’t belong in the church or that I can’t do theology. In a way, all of the struggle that I’ve gone through to be okay with my faith and to be okay with my body has made me fearless (most of the time!). I think getting rid of fear is a superpower!!
Q: If he was with the circus folk, WWJD?
He would totally be one of the clowns, using his humor and nonviolence to shake things up and get things done. He would be consistently taking people’s perceptions and turning them upside down and helping them to see things in a new way.
I think also, that as people follow Jesus they get banded into this weird little family, much like a circus. People who live on the edges and fringes of society, who refuse to conform to what the world tells them is important. People who follow their bliss and challenge the status quo.
Bonus Q: Tell us how to find you and do your best circus barker impression for your services… (Hurry! Hurry! Hurry! Step right up…) Come one, come all and check out the anarchist reverend! He’s a freak, he’s a mystery, he’s a….theologian? You can find him at:
Blog: anarchistreverend.com,
Twitter: @anarchistrev
Facebook: Facebook.com/anarchistreverend.
What is your circus persona? To get your backstage pass and choose from a mysterious cast of characters, just join my mailing list. (Top o’ the page, stage right.) Email me a picture of your backstage pass, and get featured as a Circus Cast member. (Link love included!) To see our entire cast to date, click here. On with the show!
Behind the Mic: Artist Lisa Congdon on Collections.
When I moved to Denmark I fell in love with Scandinavian design and Modern architecture. Modernism is spare with clean lines and a lack of clutter. Given my Magpie tendency towards being distracted by sparkly things, this could prove to be a problem. I am a collector of tiny treasures and odd-bits and bobs. However would I get the two to play together nicely?
Then I discovered Lisa Congdon, a visual artist from San Francisco. When I read this article at Apartment Therapy on how she and her partner, Clay, have merged simplistic modernist styling with collecting, I felt a sigh of relief. It can be done!
I’ve been following Lisa online for awhile now. I get shored-up and sharpened by her stunning artwork. (I’m saving my pennies for this one.) I also gobble up the eye candy on her A Collection a Day site. I love what she has to say here about how photographing her collections revealed to her surprising reasons for why she’s drawn to certain things. (It made me realize I love my collection of fortune cookie slips because they represent magic and mystery to me.)
Today, Lisa has kindly offered to get Behind the Mic and talk to us about collecting. Lisa, step right up…
Lisa in her S.F. studio. Photo by Martha McQuade.
Q: As a collector, when you notice that frisson of energy that draws you to an item, do you have an internal dialogue about whether you should buy it/pick it up/keep it or not? How do you decide?
L: Definitely. I have been collecting for so long that I have a fairly honed sense of what I am looking for and whether it’s something that will complement my existing collections. And I think like most people who collect and who have been collecting for a long time, I’ve become discerning, both about each object (will this fit into my larger collection of X?) and about whether it’s priced fairly. So for most items, the internal dialogue is short and I am pretty good at moving on if my gut tells me it’s not the right thing or it’s too expensive. But, then there are always those items which leave me thinking, or paying slightly more than I’m comfortable with.
Q: Do you and your partner, Clay, agree about how much “stuff” should be in your living space? What are your tips for making your collection work in a shared home?
L: I lived alone for many years until a year ago. Before my partner moved in I didn’t have to think too much about my stuff and how much of it was in my living space versus my studio (I actually keep most of my collections in my studio). She’s much more of a “minimalist” and really abhors clutter, so we had to negotiate what could stay (and where it could stay) and what had to go when she moved in with me. That said, I have always kept a pretty clean and neat space, despite arrangements of collections throughout the house. When she moved in, it was a good opportunity to purge (we had a big garage sale) and for me to really think about how much “stuff” I wanted and where I wanted to keep it. Stuff really is just stuff at the end of the day. I had to assess which stuff was sentimental or important or had value and what was just filling up space. When you live with a non-collector, I think it’s important to try to understand their perspective. Ultimately your living space is for mutual enjoyment, relaxing, sleeping, entertaining, cooking. We had lots of discussions and ended up doing a lot of shifting things around and inexpensive redecorating in the end to make the space feel good for both of us.
What are the things you collect doing for you? Are they feeding you or are you feeding them? Have you got any new ideas or inspirations from Lisa’s experience do tell!
Find all our Behind the Mic interviews here. To read the full interview with Lisa, join us at Flock, our online soulcare community. See you next week when I interview artist/author Keri Smith.
Circus Cast: Tony Vowles, Strong Man
Round the corner from the entrance, against the big top stripes, there stands a wooden stage. A lone figure paces the platform, his broad shoulders covered by a blue velvet cape. ”Step right up…” the barker cries, “See superhuman acts of strength!”
Throw off your robes and grasp the barbell if you are…
The Strong Man:Well-trained and confident, the Strong Man is unafraid of his personal strengths. Steadily, he hones his skills, besting his less focused competitors. The strong man offers consisent stability (with a side of pride) to those who travel with him. Likes: red meat, sweat, admirers. Dislikes: people who don’t commit, California cuisine, narrow slacks.
Magpie Circus Cast Member: Tony Vowles of The Astrology Blog
Tony arrived on our radar when I announced a circus casting call to the Magpie Girl mailing list. Much to my surprise, he eschewed the ”obvious” role of Forutne Teller and auditioned instead as Strong Man. (I do love people who eschew the obvious!) Now this strapping fellow is ready to dazzle and delight. Tony, take it away…
Q: The Magpies are pretty interested in the intersection between Art + Spirituality. Will you talk to us a little bit about how astrology and poetry connect for you?
Well, they are both languages of the spheres in a way – art connects us to the bigger pictures and the smaller pictures in life – it is a reflection of the unknown, the imaginative, the ‘canvas to the paint’ – and we are painters – as Astrologers, as Poets – in anything we do. Art connects to life in such a profound way. For instance, it is fascinating to watch the media, newspapers and such like and see reflections of Astrological transits happening. As some of the planets hover around Aquarius/Pisces/Aries at present we see the Tate Modern Art Gallery here in London showing exhibitions called ‘Voyeur, Surveillance and Camera’ and Picasso ‘Peace and Freedom’– all very Piscean themes. There is also a bit of Aries thrown in with the exhibition ‘Rude Britannia’. The movie Avatar might be another example of the ‘zeitgeist’ movement being expressed through art.
Poetry is another example, and being quite a literary person, I love imaginative use of language that conveys wider subjects – from the works of Lao Tzu to Rumi to John Milton. They all, in varying degrees captured an essence of the universe through words – and it is this that interests me – this understanding of the nature of the time. Astrology is the tool I use to understand and express these patterns and I spill my understanding upon the page – in the same way that the great Poets did. The poem ‘To Charles Diodati’ by John Milton was a fine example of a Capricorn Man falling in love with a Sagittarian woman – and Milton himself was a Sagittarius Sun with Moon, Mercury, Venus and Saturn all in Capricorn. Art does indeed mirror life.
Q: Tell us why you chose the Strong Man as your circus character. What draws you to this sideshow performer?
Haha! Well, actually when I first looked at it the words conveyed _STRO _AN. I put an A and an M in front to make Astro Man! Plus, the ’Strong Man’ had a star on his arm!
Q: How would you characterize your approach to the astrological arts? What’s your unique style?
Astrology is such a rich subject and there are many people that do many different things with the art. Some are predictive, some are counselors/therapists, some study politics and the cycles of history etc. My own approach lends itself towards the spiritual/therapeutic side – I’m less interested in prediction – more interested in how I can help people on their journeys through life, to express their own unique selves – to find what ‘makes their hearts sing’ and connects them to their own cycles and patterns. I am intuitively strong and this aids me, along with many years of practice in Astrology and energy arts. A business background in IT helps me ground and produce (hopefully) a professional presentation to the work that I do. This art makes my heart sing and I seek to help others discover their own ways – and they are myriad and all fascinating to engage with.
You can find Tony at The Astrology Blog where he writes about the current astrological transits. He can also be found on Twitter (@TonyVowles) and Facebook. Tony’s writing an Astrological Poetry book. And he’ll be offering a range of services – reports, consultations etc. – so tune into the blog for further details. Tell him Magpie Girl sent you!
What is your circus persona? To get your backstage pass and choose from a mysterious cast of characters, just join my mailing list. (Top o’ the page, stage right.) Email me a picture of your backstage pass, and get featured as a Circus Cast member. (Link love included!) To see our entire cast to date, click here. On with the show!
Behind the Mic: Shawn Ledington
In our last (for now) post on Art + Spirituality we get to peek inside the life of Shawn Ledington, artful soul, nature lover, and “soft” Unitarian Universalist. (I love their creed.) Shawn blogs at Live Laugh Write and writes letters to her daughters at Between the Lines. Today she steps Behind the Mic and is gives us a peek into how Art + Spirituality intersects in her life. Shawn, step right up!
Q: How does your love for nature, and your practice as Unitarian Universalist support your artistic self?
I guess, in a little way, this is my coming out. I was nervous to write this post at first because of the still lingering stigma that attaches itself to non-believers. But, after really meditating on it, I realized I am just as spiritual as those who consider themselves religious.
The earth, nature and the amazing energy that flows between human beings when they are connected drives my spirituality. And, thankfully, age has proudly allowed me to sink into this Truth and hold it and nurture it and understand it. As a writer, I especially enjoy writing about that human and nature connection.
In response to the Art + Spirituality lesson in Magpie Speak, I said:
”The closer I am to nature, the more spiritual I feel … the more spiritual I feel, the more I create quality, free-flowing ideas. I love letting my mind wander in creation and dreaming up new ideas. That’s about as close to God as I can get. It’s very organic and intimate.”
I love to see my twin daughters, now 4, running in the rain, digging in dirt and just exploring the Earth. I love to see them connect with other people and want to do nice things for them because it feels good. I love seeing them play with kids in their inner city preschool class who do not look like them and who do not live like them. I love that one of my girls asked for her hair to be in braids like her friend Anaya.
This is our truth. It’s rather messy and chaotic and not at all by-the-book but I think it’s pretty awesome.
In 2004, as newlyweds, my husband and I became members of a Unitarian Universalist, proudly. I am more an atheist than a believer though I do not profess to know or have the answers. I’m a seeker — of all things humanity. UU provides me with a vast range of other seekers who share a love of the world the way it is right now — all of its richness in diverse humanity. Plus, it’s loaded with artsy people like me. Sundays involve lots of poetry and earth-based services like walking a Labyrinth, checking out trees or bringing favorite flowers for a special flower ceremony.
Just two weeks ago, our daughters learned in their Sunday religious education class about what it would be like to not have legs, to not be able to smell or to not be able to see or to not have hands to eat their food with. UU has been a very good home for my family for its Universalist approach. I’m a Big Picture Thinker. I get lost and messy in small details but scanning the horizon, watching it’s beauty unfold is energizing for me. I love realizing that my spiritual world includes many who are not like me, who do not worship like me.
I do not for one second take being here on this Earth for granted. I look up at the sky and am amazed. But I have no desire to understand how we got here or where we will go after. I just love being here now. I love seeing it’s flaws and trying to improve upon them. But mostly I love seeing its beauty and relishing in it. It’s so Big. It’s Wondrous! My brain explodes with new ideas after a walk in the deep woods or along a body of water.
If I can give this gift of joy to my daughters, I feel I will consider myself a successful mother — and a Creative Soul.
Where does Art + Spirituality intersect for you? How does your faith-practice (or lack there of) come into play? We’d love to hear from you. Comment away!
To join us where this discussion began, sign up for my free Eseries, Magpie Speak: a new language for soulcare. To read all the interviews at Magpie Girl, just click to see who’s been Behind the Mic. And tune in next week when visual artist Lisa Congdon steps right up. See you then!
