beautiful evening! thought of my shadow as I took the elevator down to watch network news and to email in the store. Very chatting night!  introduced 2 of my cute, maybe 30yrold, energetic Jamaican neighbors and a date is on! a buddy on the verge of selling almost all got a new gig going on in DUMBO, $$$ ahead! that sadsack 17yr old runaway was here, i told him to go to therapy, then told him to make friends with the teen sons of my philosophe Dad buddy. l'philosophe was there reading Kabbalah, au'jourdi. (I told him to read Gershom Scholem, the master of Judaism mysticism). TY Walter Benjamin and all of my angels for a fun amazing night of listening to dreams and hopes, in the basement cafe of my building in Newark, NJ.

happy Birthday Walter Benjamin

Happy Birthday Walter Benjamin! one of the major intellectual influences to my being! the epistemology, montage, paradigms.. his writings with Gershom Scholem, Georges Bataille, Bertolt Brecht. I so love the Passagenwerk.. Paris Arcades! I am forever obsessed with his visions, and probably just the romance of his life.. Paris, Berlin.. to the never forgetting of his dreadful death fleeing the Gestapo.



2011, 15 juli, Newark NJ; summer girls, pastel #29; Boyz sit, pastel #30.
Da young ladies & gents sitting at separate picnik tables today... we older people all commented.. maybe the Full Buck Moon this gorgeous Newark summer afternoon!

Trees of Life

"Trees of Life": 2011, 12 Juli; Newark NJ; pastel; #27 in my 2011 ete drawing series.

Sat to draw next to a Christian cult missionary who was opinionated and bossy as usual, an oft evil nature, at first. Decided to really focus on creativity and positives... the result a "Trees of Life".

Later thinking of Walter Benjamin and "sparks of life". I searched in my Scholem Kabbalah text and found text on the inherent goodness in the tree of life! A juxtaposition as well as synchronicity? Dunno. Not that I am trying to draw good but I am focused on the creative in all work that I do.

maart altar

photographed my current art altar. I have had such altars since 1977 and my cross-country hitchhiking journey to SF/Oregon and back to Brooklyn. In SF, encountered the Mexican and Native American altar concepts. What with all of the religious artifacts, photos of people, objects, make some sort of montage to capture the essence. Two major posters.. collage of angels, prayer cards, medallions, religious symbols, Walter Benjamin's Klee angel, photo of Tede's window in SF, Scholem's kabbalah sefiroth; the other of men important to me.. evolving.. only Obama, Einstein and Tagore on today. In the far right lower is a poster of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Under the large poster are my collection of Buddhas.. those $1 to $5 objects sold on the subway, streets, etal in NYC. My crystal ball from Gumps department store in SF. A Zurich panorama of Saint Regula holding her head (after being martyred).

peace, hugs, compassion

Thanks Santa! December 25, 2008

happy for a good Christmas! the epiphany of being in the middle of 34th St at Herald Square on Tuesday, the 23rd. Tears of joy that I was alive and back in the mix! Remembering Aout 1977, Little America Wyoming and being in the middle of the continent and feeling part of the universe. December 2008 being in the midst of the megalopolis and feeling just one with the universe and able to help make sense of it all. My student presentations were good. Many hugs and lots of chocolate and cookies.. whew.. havent had such sugar rushes in years!

endless chats and all of the endless reconnects done each holiday season! Wow!
shouts to my siblings who are with my sister in the country. She has multiple health issues and is out of control in her neediness these days.  I send encouraging messages although I keep it real. The demons we have in us, the Jungian shadow. Om mani padma hung.

So, for Christmas, I think of how to be kind to the lonely. We all face the existential fate of being alone in the world.. but about those who are alone due to mental illness or substance abuse or fate. I am fortunate to have been greatly loved when I was young and to have had the love, trust, support of thousands of people in my life. I may be alone at times but I never feel alone in the universe. I have my memories or my real connections or just the realization that loneliness is just a feeling and feelings change. Most of all though, I have always had my spiritual sense of being with the angels. LOL, I hope not the flakiness but being born on the Feast of the Guardian Angels and named for an archangel. Anyhow, I have great faith that my angels will never allow me to fall to the ground, or at least they will pick me up!

This year has been a struggle as I have used that damn cane and often feel I should just fall to the ground when I am in a lot of pain. I think of songs like Cold Play "vida" or Darlene Lee and the E Street Band, or Bruce Springsteen, or Sylvester, or "havent stopped dancing yet" and try to shuffle a bit to imaginery music.  My feeling of bliss, alive in the middle of 34th street, 2 days pre Christmas, gave me the epiphany to just cry for joy! Most of all, I remember the Helen Keller saying about when she feels alone or damaged or angry, she goes to New York City to experience our great waves of humanity!

so, the magic of Christmas hit me again. The spectacle, the gathering together of loved ones, the sparks of the universe, and more than anything... my delight to appreciate the lives and processes of so many other human beings in my life.

big hugs, peace. love. compassion

Gershom Scholem Kabbalah illustration