Make America Create Again

"Someday... 

I ain't wasting no more time"

03/31/2017

I've been reading some books on creativity (that a church friend has generously let me borrow for far too long), and they have been striking a chord. Here's Steven Pressfield talking about fundamentalism in his book, The War of Art:

"The artist and the fundamentalist both confront the same issue, the mystery of their existence as individuals. Each asks the same questions: Who am I? Why am I here? What is the meaning of my life?
     ...The artist is grounded in freedom. He is not afraid of it. He is lucky. He was born in the right place. He has a core of self-confidence, of hope for the future. He believes in progress and evolution. His faith is that humankind is advancing, however haltingly and imperfectly toward a better world.
     The fundamentalist entertains no such notion. In his view, humanity has fallen from a higher state. The truth is not out there awaiting revelation; it has already been revealed. The word of God has been spoken and recorded by His prophet, be he Jesus, Muhammad, or Karl Marx.
     To combat the call of sin... the fundamentalist plunges either into action or into the study of sacred texts. He loses himself in these, much as the artist does in the process of creation. The difference is that while the one looks forward, hoping to create a better world, the other looks backward, seeking to return to a purer world from which he and all have fallen.
      ...The humanist believes that humankind, as individuals, is called upon to co-create the world with God. This is why he values human life so highly. In his view, things do progress, life does evolve; each individual has value, at least potentially, in advancing this cause. The fundamentalist cannot conceive of this. In his society, dissent is not just crime but apostate; it is heresy, transgression against God Himself." 

- Steven Pressfield, The Art of War, pg. 33-37

                               

Cultivating creativity in my life has also strengthened me spiritually, despite that fact that we are often taught to believe it would have the opposite effect. In reality, it is fundamentalism that is a corruption of true faith, stripping it of it's hope and agency. As I've been watching the new Trump administration, I've seen how fundamentalist and fear-based thinking seems to be legitimized in every other executive order. What values are we endorsing? What views are we validating? 

I think Woody Guthrie got it right. We can use our god-given gifts of creativity to combat poisonous thinking. It's important, for reals. Especially in the face of this. Deanna Haggag, who was recently profiled in Vogue, has something to say about art in times of political strife:

"Why put any skills or efforts into protecting this thing when there are a million other fights? When millions of Americans could potentially die if certain things are repealed and cut? ...The reason the federal government wants to defund arts is that the arts have the power to make people think for themselves, and in every moment when there’s been a fascist society they try to remove the arts because they know that a painting can wage war. 

...We, the community of artists in the world, that’s our job: to bring nuance to light, to open up different ways of looking and seeing. And so part of the job of supporting artists is supporting that, too. The arts, the national parks, public broadcast: We’re just all part of a team; we have to be on the defense all the time so that things like housing and nutrition can be on the offense."

If you're a writer, write. If you're a dancer, dance. If you're afraid to call yourself a doer of the thing you want to do, take a crazy leap and start including it in your personal introductions. We all have an art to share, and there really isn't any time to waste.

Saturday Verse: "Exceptions and Melancholies" - Ralph Angel

The Banquet, Rene Magritte 

EXCEPTIONS AND MELANCHOLIES 

Never before
had we been so thin and so clear
and arranged always
and in the same way going and listening
over the rooftops
to tin cans of flowers and strange
music. For an hour or more
I turned the same corner
and felt like a criminal farther and farther out to sea
among the racks of shoes and old clothes
but now looking
back I should never have
unpacked. A street
crowned with chestnut trees
ends at the sewer. You go to a theatre
and find yourself a house
outside the city
and walk the shore
forever. I don't have much
talent for poetry. When I see a wrecking ball
dangling from a crane I mean it
literally. I mean
I don't mean the world's fallen apart
or that the wrecking ball
symbolizes the eye my world-weary sister
couldn't know to turn away
from. The hospital's
exhausted. the little church is boarded up.
We leaned against the limestone
and liked the fact that tea
sweetens gradually
and the wildflowers
beneath the shad of trees gone shivering
have really livened up the cemetery
and that the tall grass and the garbage
and especially the piled-up
newspapers and the rooftop pool
fit right in among
these windowless buildings
having gathered
as we are in the flesh again
and leading another life
altogether.

                                       - Ralph Angel 

Let's Illustrate

Fell down a rabbit hole a few days ago when I found the Flickr profile for the British Library. (Thanks random Facbook post!) Proceed with caution. Once you're in, you might spend hours browsing through the galleries like I did. How can you resist beautiful painted papers that were found on the inside of some of the books? :

Also, things get a little weird you guys. Especially in the kids section. Here are some of the favorite images I found:

Some browsing music for you:

Don't go home, Angelina

A photographer found these negatives while rummaging through a box of pictures in a thrift store.

Aren't they beautiful?

You can read more about them, and the campaign to find the girls in the negatives, here.

"Stay with me, hanging around in the lost and found."

"...I've a Mother there"

The day before Mother's Day, I was privileged to visit the Sacred Silence exhibit at the BYU HFAC Gallery. I would encourage you to take the time to visit, but I just received word that the show has ended and the exhibit was taken down last week.

Needless to say, I can't really give a sufficient summary or review. Just know that it was beautiful. And it made me a little sad. But also hopeful? Hopeful that there can be more dialogues like this in the church. I wish you all could have seen it.

You can read a review and description of the exhibit in the Salt Lake Tribune here. See a few photos from the exhibit here.

Katie West Payne's work helped me to re-examine what it is to be a woman, She created a safe space that encouraged peaceful contemplation. I hope that more of us as members of the church will take the time to delve into our questions, and not be afraid of our natural curiosity.

Visit Katie's blog if you would like to learn more about her work, and read through some of the quotes, scriptures, and images she used in her pieces. A favorite below:

Meet me at the Equinox

Happy First Day of Spring! 

From here.

I went on a jog this morning for the first time in months, and it was glorious. I'm more excited for this spring/summer more than I've ever been. In a month, I'll be able to eat sugar again (woohoo!). I'm going to continue morning jogging, and train to run a 10k in August. I'm moving back up to Salt Lake. I'll be starting a new job (still haven't found one yet, but I'm confident it will all come together, right?). I'll be attending a new ward. Both my mom and I will be living in new houses.  A lot of changes coming our way.

I read this post this morning about the equinox and how it symbolizes birth and new beginnings. I love that.

"During Winter, darkness wins the day.  The vernal equinox marks the time where light and dark are in balance and bears the promise that light will overcome darkness.  In the spiritual sense, we emerge from our own darkness and into the renewal and hope of light.  Darkness shouldn't be viewed as a negative thing, though.  Much insight is gained through darkness; the light affords us opportunity for growth and change.  We emerge from a period of deep introspection,  the seeds of which are prepared to sprout in fertile soil."  

It reminds me of one of my favorite scriptures; Alma chapter 5 verse 26:

"And now behold, I say unto you my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?"

The Plant and its Enemy - Paul Klee

To end, here's one of my favorite songs that reminds me of spring, from one of my favorite films:

Sacred Gifts

For my dad's birthday this month, our family will visit the Sacred Gifts art exhibit at BYU. Here's a little video they put together of some of the art along with music from the BYU Women's Chorus (which I was a part of in my BYU days). It's really lovely.

Graduation - "Grow Till Tall"

Commencement was yesterday. I walked through the woods (literally and figuratively) to get there.

"You'll know, when it's time to go on
You'll really want to grow and grow till tall
They all, in the end, will fall"

I still want to grow.

November Mix: "If somebody's got soul..."

If this mix were a painting, it would probably look something like this:

Check out more stuff like this here.

Here are some songs, just in time for your road-trip home for Thanksgiving! Cause who really goes to those couple of classes at the beginning of the week anyway? Oh yeah. I do. 20 credit hour fail.
This mix is careful, crafty, and cosy. I hope you like it.


1. Solitude - Ella Fitzgerald
2. Comme Si L'amour - Shine
3. That Moon Song - Gregory Alan Isakov
4. It's Around You - ANR
5. All Your Light (Times Like These) - Portugal. The Man
6. What Would You Do? (City High Cover)  - BASTILLE
7. Prisencolinensinainciusol - Adriano Celentano
8. Mouthful Of Diamonds - Phantogram
9. Master of Art - Laura Stevenson & the Cans
10. Collect Call - Metric
11. Knees  - Peter and Kerry
12. Act on Impulse  - We Were Promised Jetpacks
13. Wood - ROSTAM
14. Thanksgiving Moon - DM Stith

Notes:
1. Trying to teach myself this one on the piano. *note to self* new apartment must have access to a piano.
2. This is not Coeur de Pirate or MC Solaar or Edith Piaf. My knowledge of french music is slowly growing.
3. Thanks to Ann for introducing me to this artist.
6. Yes. It is THAT song. Hello junior high.
7. OLL RAIGHT!
10. This song has been my motto for the month. I've tried to take it to heart, but it is really scary.
11. Another scary song. Vulnerability like this is terrifying. "... I mean you had me on my knees," sounds like it's from a real internal monologue. I like that he sings it in a sort of emotionless way because otherwise it would seem overwrought.
13. yaythatguyfromvampireweekendyay
14. Just... wow.

Color Capture

WODdling soundtrack: Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Sometimes I forget that the past wasn't really in black and white or sepia tone. They lived in color too.

This is widely credited as being the first color photograph...from 1861! I though it was a diamond with fly's wings, but it's actually a tartan ribbon. I guess that makes more sense. 

Once you start searching for these photos, it's kind of hard to stop. 

And this one is my favorite.

The Smithsonian is awesome. Look at what they found! Photographs from the earthquake in SanFrancisco in 3D!!!!!

On another color note, check out this website.

This system creates the color of words:

"[we use] an averaging algorithm on the colour pixel values of the queried images, displaying the result incrementally as each picture is loaded. Taking the assumption that random images will average out to become grey, we can attribute any colour bias which deviates from grey, to the term as searched. Any further interpretation is then up to the user."

That leads to results like this:

Here are some that I tried out:

Subversion and Diversion

Lots of snow : Lots of time inside

Which means I finally got to watch Exit Through the Gift Shop.

Cool. 
"I think the joke is on... I don’t know who the joke is on, really. I don’t even know if there is a joke."
I read La Invencion de Morel for my spanish class about a month ago. It explores some of the same themes as gift shop does. *SPOILER, for like, the rest of this post* In the novel, Morel attempts to preserve moments, just like Thierry Guetta in the movie. Morel does this by creating a machine that projects holographic recordings(?) of a week with his friends. Thierry does this by obsessively video-taping every moment of his family's life. "This way, I can capture them forever," he says. One could argue whether or not Morel or Theirry's "inventions" are successful, or even real.
It is interesting that in the preface to the novel, Jorge Luis Borges says that he considers the novel "perfect". But part of the core of the novel is questioning what perfection is. Morel creates a sort of immortality that is so real, the main character wants to become a part of it. But is the new reality he has become a part of (which actually costs him his life) actually "perfect"? So maybe what Borges is saying is that this novel is as perfect as perfect can be. Maybe his endorsement is more like Banksy's endorsement of Mr. Brainwash: "[he] is a force of nature; he's a phenomenon. And I don't mean that in a good way." No, Borges really liked Adolfo Bioy Casares, I just like thinking that their endorsements have a similar tone.
So this documentary premiered at Sundance last year. Banksy stenciled it up around Salt Lake and Provo, and I got to see a bit of what he did:

ANYWAY
I had no idea that I had a poster by Shephard Fairey in my room. He is featured in the movie.
It is this one:

Also, I think that if Banksy were a music artist, he would be Das Racist:

If anyone finds a clean version of their single, "You Oughta Know," I want it.

Also again, I really liked 50 Wonderful Things from 2010 by NPR. Especially this:

All I want for Christmas is Carl Kassel's voice on my answering machine.