tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89491403020611523342024-02-01T23:18:25.317-08:00Fekr o Zekra reflection of my thoughts and discussionsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-41600598258083926772017-09-13T16:14:00.002-07:002017-09-22T11:18:17.073-07:00A Drowned Studio<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">I got married and
moved from Chicago to Houston last fall, where my husband is based. We bought a
house in a wooded area overlooking a ravine, with a studio space in its lower
level where I placed my art and artifacts. I am an economist by day and an
artist by night. Over the years I had created works on paper, collages, printed
photographs in a darkroom </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">set up in my pantry, </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">and
exhibited them regularly. I had collected art from local artists in Chicago and
my many travels. As an immigrant</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> away from her home country</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">, I also kept boxes of family photos,
handwritten letters, childhood slides, and memorabilia from my late father’s
world travels. All of these I kept in that space. The day before Hurricane
Harvey hit Texas and the rains arrived in Houston, my husband and I moved all
these items as well as his architecture school drawings and blue prints to
higher shelves in the studio. We prepared ourselves and our belongings for a
potential flood of 3-4 feet. This room flooded </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">at an all time high </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">up to its ceiling.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">A week later e</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">ntry was still impossible and a demolition
crew had to use axes to break through its doors on Labor day. I geared up with
boots, a mask and gloves to be present when they broke in. It was impossible to
step in the room: everything had come down - sheetrock, ceiling, furniture,
paint and all the items we had meticulously </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">“</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">saved”
were now in ruin and become a mixture of mud and water. Some items had floated
up by the high waters and attached on top: a brush stuck on the wet wall, small
boxes atop the visible skeleton of the room. In the darkness of the room, the
first thing I felt was assault, a blow to things I had worked hard for. The
first image that appeared sitting face-up on a pile of debris was a photograph
of a dance group in Iran who performed at our wedding. It was </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">surreal</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> to see everything destroyed but also
beautiful to be reminded of happy times. A new perspective was forming.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">The crew spent a full day taking mounds of
debris out of this zone of carnage, deconstructing what was already destroyed.
As they pulled various boxes and handed them to me with a sense that I
interpreted as sympathy, they waited patiently as I kneeled on the muddy porch
scavenging through the smelly piles. It was </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">sad and </span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">heartbreaking to see packs of photographs, handwritten letters,
and my memories stuck together in contaminated fluid. In a state of mourning, I
started frantically taking photos of what was visible and salvageable: a photo
of my late father and myself, one of my sister and my mother, letters with now
illegible phrases, friends from the past, grandparents long gone, ex loves from
pre digital era. They appeared smiling, as if wishing me strength.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">At first the sense was a sense of loss;
loss of things that you hang on to and cherish. I felt guilt and remorse for
not having moved things to the first floor (which also flooded but not as
intensely). I was angry at having bought a house near a bayou. I felt sadness
that most of these images were not digital or digitized and the negatives were
not salvageable. All of my sculptural artworks were absolutely destroyed. The
chemical from the negatives and slides and the flood water had washed down on
photo papers and created new abstract images. Amid the mixed feelings and the
frenzy of not hindering the work of the demolition crew, I ended up in a
creative frame of mind: that vortex of peace and serenity that one experiences
when deeply immersed in the creative process. It was as if I was back in a
darkroom, where nothing else mattered but the creation at hand. The abstract
and washed out images had transformed into beautiful visuals that spoke of loss
but also of happiness. They showed both sides of an emotion. The same way that one
can experience moments of calmness and peace when going through the loss of a
loved one. These images were a visual manifestation of that sensation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">Working against a backdrop of a flooded
bayou on the results of years of concentrated creativity and treasured
collectibles covered in brown muck, my </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">sadness, guilt and anger changed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> into appreciation, gratitude and healing.
If these objects could resurrect themselves - why couldn’t I? I kept a
few things. Cleaned them to the extent possible, dried them for days and stored
them in new boxes. What I have salvaged from the flood is a number of washed
down photos and </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">muddy
</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;">canvases, but more
importantly a reminder that no matter how hard or devastating a situation is,
you can try to find something to hang on to and gain hope. I shared my array of
feelings through my social media outlet: Instagram – sharing photos of the new
version of the past through photographs. My followers felt their own sense of
awe, expressed </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">mixed</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> emotions, and said things such as:
"glad you shared because it reminds us of the bubbles we live in,"
"tragically beautiful," "Harvey is quite an artist,"
"getting perspective as we prepare to evacuate for Irma," "interesting
how there is always, always room for gratitude,” etc.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">As I lost my physical art studio that I
loved and most of my cherished artworks, I gained a new project: I plan to
exhibit a series of these salvaged images for raising funds for the victims of
the Harvey floods, especially those whose livelihood was damaged and lost much
more than I did. The message would be one of </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">hope</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> and </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt; mso-font-kerning: 18.0pt;">resilience</span><span style="font-size: 10pt;"> and the beauty found in ruin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10pt;">My Instagram feed: @avishehmoh<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Avisheh Mohsenin,<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Houston, September 13, 2017</span></b><o:p></o:p><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b>The Houston Chronicle picked up the story and kindly published it:</b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 13.3333px;"><b><br /></b></span></span>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "helvetica" , "arial" , "lucida grande" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Harvey-ruined-years-of-my-art-The-ruins-are-12218937.php">http://www.houstonchronicle.com/local/gray-matters/article/Harvey-ruined-years-of-my-art-The-ruins-are-12218937.php</a></span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-16535263290167892222016-01-09T20:22:00.001-08:002016-01-09T20:30:40.657-08:00Burning Man 2015<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I was convinced to go to Burning Man (BM) by my sister who had been there before. As a California resident it becomes inevitable not to experience this almost <a class="yiv4213071413edited-link-editor" href="http://burningman.org/timeline/" id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_16432" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">30 year old </a>festival.<br />
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It is something that started as a playful, experimental exercise by a San Francisco artist and with 8 people, where they gathered by the beach and burned an effigy of a man, and got written up in the local newspaper the next day and so kept the 'ritual' for years to come. They grew too big for SF at some point so they moved it to a remote Nevada desert, 3 hours from the Reno airport, and 8-10 hours drive from both SF and Los Angeles. This year 70,000 joined this "ritual" from all over the world. There are burning man alike festivals all over the world, and celebrities such as Susan Sarandon were there this year paying homage to another deceased friend and celebrity, leaving their ashes at the BM temple.<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19549">The Stage</b>: a 5 miles by 5 miles desert with harsh conditions. The "playa."<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19380">The Actors</b>: people from all walks of life and ages, in costume, goggles, tutus, and fur coats for the desert nights. The "pilgrims."<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19440">The Score: </b>best DJs flown from all over the world, mostly techno/psychedelic music.<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19451">The Duration</b>: A week leading to the first Monday of September (labor day in US).<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19546">The Set Design:</b> International professional and amateur artists.Materials used includes wood, metal, concepts, reused material, fire installations, and more.<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19545">Mode of Transport on the Playa</b>: bicycles only. Customized and decorated with light in order to find it among 1000s of other bikes at your points of stop. They look like "Playa Bugs"<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19605">Synopsis</b>: an exercise of letting go, connecting, not worrying, belonging, loving, & testing your limits in a harsh environment. Enjoy music, dance, make new friends & learn about community.<br />
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<b id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_19583">Highlight: </b><br />
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BM before anything is about scale. The scale of the desert, the scale of the artworks, the scale of the sleepless night, the scale of no obligations and no limits and the scale of anticipation and excitement.<br />
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BM is also similar to many religious rituals. The <i>Shia Ashura</i> for example, where you have ornamentation, music, crowds connecting in tight encounters, and givings: food in Ashura vs. hugs and love at BM. Also there is a rule of no money can be exchanged at the festival. You also have a lot of introspection, mostly aided by drugs (Acid being the drug of choice just like the 1960s) and freedom in expression of how you dress, decorate yourself, and what kind of camp you set up. This freedom has caused a loving and caring community and not a college kind of drunken craziness. This is partly due to the fact that it still is a kind of elite gathering, where you have to know about it, and want to go to it; and partly because it is expensive (tickets are $300/head and it is costly to set up camps and get there and prepare for the harshness of the desert). It is also that the massiveness yet simplicity of the desert as the foreground and the background is humbling and quieting. The harshness of the sand storms and the heat calms and regulates the potential craziness and violence that can be pumped by drugs, alcohol, nudity and absolute freedom.<br />
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As a Mexican shaman there told me as he was tossing and turning me in some acrobatic yoga poses there: "<i>We have a lot to learn from the desert people</i>."<br />
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The <a class="yiv4213071413edited-link-editor" href="http://burningman.org/event/art-performance/playa-art/building-the-temple/" id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_16681" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Temple</a> is one of the 2 center pieces of this ritualistic gathering. It sits across from the 'man' (the other center piece). It started with an invited artist to do something like that in the late 1980s. Today it has become a beautiful architectural and artistic production, each year more interesting than the last. Its relationship to the 'pilgrims' is reminiscent of the Muslims' Hajj, or any temple or place of worship, where you have fouls of people pouring their hearts out, meditating, connecting, praying, crying.<br />
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The overall scene is one of a community. In a 5 miles by 5 miles radius, camps are set up in an organized and numbered fashion, you immediately have a 'home' and neighbors. You share the public bathroom (no showers) with them, unless you have an RV with one in it. The rules are to help each other out, and to barter things if you need anything without accepting or asking for money. One of the items in the Manifesto is "gifting". Most people plan for this and come with handmade jewelry for example or prepare things to eat/drink or give a service (pop up showers, a massage, singing for you... you name it... ). There are kids, old people, young people, from all walks of life. I met an IBM executive from the US who lives in China now but comes for BM every year. I talked to a monastic yogi who is in the tech world, i met a shaman who is an energy healer, and partied with groups of cool Iranians from LA, SF, Texas and Canada.<br />
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You connect and talk to people. There are no boundaries or walls, everyone is at their best, in a sort of utopia where class, gender, status, and race does not matter. these distinctions do not matter, to the point that some adopt a stage name, pen name, pseudo name that expresses their likes and wants and soul, a "playa name." This connecting from the core, clean of titles and names and boxes and frameworks is the essence of BM; the most beautiful part of this gathering and the saddest at the same time: why can't we have this in the larger scale in the world? what happens that when we leave the Playa everyone is back to their boxed ideas, negative feelings and pre-conceptions and violence to whatever extent that a crowed like this is prone to and capable of (honking, road rage, grudges, bitterness... none of this is there o the playa, why can't we keep it that way outside of the playa?)<br />
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The second thing is that you are reduced to your childhood form. By that I mean, you ride bicycles (and only that is allowed on the playa), are dressed silly, or funny, or are naked or half naked, as you wish, similar to when you were a toddler and before you subscribed into 'systems' and 'rules' and 'norms'. You have this huge playground. It is filled with inspiration, things to do, huge art carts that go around blasting music, everyone is happy, there are no 'soucis' but only FOMO (a hipster terms for Fear of Missing Out) and dehydration or not finding your friends at the next playground or fun event. This is truly the best part of it: you are void of obligations, time restrictions and judgment. Everyone loves you, cares for you, is nice to you, you are a child again, safe and happy. The environment is filled with grandeur, beauty, and music. Similar to what you thought the world would be when you were a child. I don't think there is any other place or event that creates this kind of a reduction to the basics. <br />
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The temple like I said is similar to any Imamzadeh I have been to in Iran, it is humbling to see how this urge to shed suffering and sadness is shared by all humans, and it is sad to see how we could have had the same benefits of such places of worships without them being so manipulated by institutionalized religion. Sitting there meditating, crying or praying, you can only think of how connected all people are to each other. Your sorrows and problems immediately pale to nothing in comparison to others' suffering that are expressed on the walls. The walls inside and outside are COVERED with writings, nick-knacks, wedding gowns, images of family and pets, boxes, drawing, toys, threads etc. They are left there to be cremated on the last day of the festival as the temple burns to ashes. This is the last major event where everyone gathers in silence and cries in a collective sob, with occasional shouts of "Mom I miss you" or "Mary I love you." Again a sort of crowd hysteria that you experience in a concert, in a crowded bazaar, or anywhere where you get a synergy of the human energies.<br />
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Someone wrote on its walls: "<i>Like a split in the river, we may end up in different directions, but we will always hare the same water. I will see you in the ocean of love</i>."<br />
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The 'man burn' which was done from the early years of BM, was less 'spiritual'. it was more of a fireworks spectacle this year and not as moving as the temple burn or the burning of the artworks.<br />
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A lot of the large scale artworks are also burnt, and most are dismantled to be carried back to the studios where they were made. This transience and ephemerality of the artworks is similar to works by land artists. <a class="yiv4213071413edited-link-editor" href="http://www.goldsworthy.cc.gla.ac.uk/" id="yiv4213071413yui_3_16_0_1_1451946439394_18963" rel="nofollow" shape="rect" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; color: #196ad4; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px;" target="_blank">Andy Goldsworthy</a>, for example. The Scottish land and environmental artist who wakes up at 5AM to build a huge ice sculpture from natural materials without using any glue or screws that will be melted by noon as soon as he is done with the work. I have always been extremely touched by artists who do that. Less by those who destroy their works, but more by those who make work that is ephemeral, short lived. To their non-attachment to the work, and the utmost emphasis on the 'process' of creation and keeping the effects of that process internally rather than using the results of the process as an 'object', potentially a commercial one. this is of course a whole different subject, but there is something selfless and ritualistic about it, something similar to the Buddhist Mandalas. At BM you have that where the artist has spent months constructing an amazing work, only to burn it after its one week of viewing.<br />
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The art is nothing you would showcase at MoMA or Pompidou in my humble opinion. I saw a lot of imitations and nothing avant-garde or ground breaking. This I think is partly because the 'hippie' art is a retrospective/sharing one that is done with an agenda to fit the concept of this festival. It is not the artworks that will push the discourse in art history forward. This is not the place for that anyway. This is a place where they want to create art that moves, or inspires, or is interactive. Everything I saw was too charged with meaning and descriptions, a bit too easy, which I take as the vernacular of this festival. That said, I am sure that this has to do to some extent with the lack of the white cube. If some of the same works were displayed in the white cube, I wonder if I would be more generous and less critical. For example, Boltanski's work could be something that fits here, while I love his works (not matter how easy it might be, I do connect with his melancholic story telling medium), and so I always love them in the museums, but had I seen them on the playa at BM I would probably say the same thing (that they are pedestrian or easy or not pushing any boundaries).<br />
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One of the other rules is to not leave any trace. Similar to the Buddhist Mandalas again, you leave the desert with everything you brought, including your shower water (if you set up a shower) and any trash of any kind. The desert goes back to sleep the way we found it and that is a key and moving aspect of this gathering. (these years with the number of people, there are teams of volunteers that stay back for a week or two cleaning up the desert back to its original state.)<br />
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There are a lot of ways to discuss experiencing BM, from what I heard from people who have been back a dozen times, each time your experience is different because each time you are different, your moods, what you are seeking or running fro or to is different. <br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-65020847645520088772016-01-09T20:07:00.003-08:002016-01-09T20:42:11.985-08:00Ejected from the System<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Six months had past when M. asked: "is it out of your system yet?" She asked in Farsi where pronouns are gender neutral. She had meant "he." The answer was "no."<br />
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In the yoga teacher training course that I took shortly after, I learned two important things: do not hyper-extend, and: the goal of yoga is to tune our inner vibrations with that of the outside. This is to regulate our emotions and energies, and to prepare for meditation. The way to bliss or being content starts with the physical goes through the mental (the mind) and ends up at the spiritual.<br />
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The heart breaks, but its home is the body, an organic entity that shares all the physical and quantum characteristics of any other organism. A web of nerves, veins, cartilages, muscles and more all intertwined in a give-and-take relationship. The heart breaks, but the way to heal it ends up starting from the physical through the mind and to the spiritual.<br />
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Physically you have to attune yourself to the void created by the departure of the person, you have to change your surrounding in order to minimize the cues that will tell your brain something is gone or is missing; you have to get rid of all reminders and memorabilia. Then as inevitably you are faced with withdrawal, guilt, over-analysis, sadness and anxieties, you will have to resort to the exercises that deal with the mind (meditation, compassionate concentration, etc.).<br />
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Suffering is the act of non acceptance. With these tools in hand and with the best catalyst of dealing with any kind of loss, TIME, once you are physically and mentally stronger, you can accept what is and move out of the imbalance and into a spiritual acceptance of what is.<br />
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The pain created from the shock of loss is so filling that there is no way to move beyond it than "ejecting it from our system." M. knew what she was talking about and it was only after I had room for love (after months of doing these exercises daily) that I understood what she was saying and how "physical" the experience of loss and especially heartbreak was.<br />
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There is one thing that is certain in life and that is 'change.' It all comes down to how to ride the waves of change.<br />
The more in tune and accepting of the shocks and waves one gets, the softer the landing will be....<br />
and being patient of course...<br />
and being optimistic that this is not forever...<br />
and being kind and soft on oneself....<br />
and remembering that things always change...<br />
and knowing that humans are stronger than they think they are....<br />
and believing that it will all be fine at the end, and if it is not fine, it is not the end yet.<br />
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*****</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-45226637558423288202015-07-18T23:15:00.002-07:002015-07-22T21:16:02.965-07:00The Eight Limbs of Yoga<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" style="background-color: white;">
<img alt="Expressions of Spirt Yoga Page: OM the sacred sound of God" border="0" src="http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/clipart/Om-golden-small.jpg" height="78" width="104" /> </div>
<div align="CENTER">
<b>The Core of Yoga</b><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-size: small;">by William J.D. Doran</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> The practice of yoga is an art and science dedicated to creating union between body, mind and spirit. Its objective is to assist the practitioner in using the breath and body to foster an awareness of ourselves as individualized beings intimately connected to the unified whole of creation. In short it is about making balance and creating equanimity so as to live in peace, good health and harmony with the greater whole. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">This art of right living was perfected and practiced in India thousands of years ago and the foundations of yoga philosophy were written down in <i>The Yoga Sutra </i>of Patanjali,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">approximately 200 AD. This sacred text describes the inner workings of the mind and provides an eight-step blueprint for controlling its restlessness so as to enjoying lasting peace.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> The core of Patanjali’s <i>Yoga Sutra</i> is an eight-limbed path that forms the structural framework for yoga practice. Upon practicing all eight limbs of the path it becomes self-evident that no one element is elevated over another in a hierarchical order. Each is part of a holistic focus which eventually brings completeness to the individual as they find their connectivity to the divine. Because we are all uniquely individual a person can emphasize one branch and then move on to another as they round out their understanding.</span><br />
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The EIGHT LIMBS, or steps to yoga, are as follows:<br />
<blockquote>
<ol><b></b>
<li><b>Yama : </b>Universal morality</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Niyama : </b>Personal observances</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Asanas : </b>Body postures</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Pranayama : </b>Breathing exercises, and control of prana</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Pratyahara : </b>Control of the senses</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Dharana : </b>Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Dhyana : </b>Devotion, Meditation on the Divine</li>
<b></b>
<li><b>Samadhi : </b>Union with the Divine</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<b> </b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The SIX POISONS surrounding the spiritual heart are:</span></span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 1. kama</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (desire)</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 2. krodha</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (anger)</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 3. moha</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (delusion)</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 4. lobha</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (greed)</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 5. matsarya</em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> (sloth)</span><br />
<em style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> 6. mada </em><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">(envy)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">The four internal cleansing practices—<em>pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, and samadhi</em></span><span style="background-color: white;">—</span><span style="background-color: white;">bring the mind under control and when purification is complete and mind control occurs, the Six Poisons will, one by one, go, revealing the Universal Self. </span></span><br />
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The first two limbs are the fundamental ethical precepts called yamas, and the niyamas. The attitude we have toward things and people outside ourselves is <i>yama</i>, how we relate to ourselves inwardly is <i>niyama</i>. Both are mostly concerned with how we use our energy in relationship to others and to ourselves.<br />
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<div style="background-color: white;">
The <i>yamas</i> are broken down into five "wise characteristics." Rather than a list of dos and don’ts, "they tell us that our fundamental nature is compassionate, generous, honest and peaceful." </div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
They are as follows:</div>
<div align="CENTER">
<b>I. Yamas (Universal Morality)</b></div>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>1. Ahimsa – Compassion for all living things </i></b>The word ahimsa literally mean not to injure or show cruelty to any creature or any person in any way whatsoever. Ahimsa is, however, more than just lack of violence as adapted in yoga. It means kindness, friendliness, and thoughtful consideration of other people and things. It also has to do with our duties and responsibilities too. Ahimsa implies that in every situation we should adopt a considerate attitude and do no harm.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>2. Satya – Commitment to Truthfulness</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Satya means "to speak the truth," yet it is not always desirable to speak the truth on all occasions, for it could harm someone unnecessarily. We have to consider what we say, how we say it, and in what way it could affect others. If speaking the truth has negative consequences for another, then it is better to say nothing. Satya should never come into conflict with our efforts to behave with ahimsa. This precept is based on the understanding that honest communication and action form the bedrock of any healthy relationship, community, or government, and that deliberate deception, exaggerations, and mistruths harm others.</blockquote>
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<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
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<b></b><b><i>3. Asteya - Non-stealing</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Steya means "to steal"; asteya is the opposite-to take nothing that does not belong to us. This also means that if we are in a situation where someone entrusts something to us or confides in us, we do not take advantage of him or her. Non-stealing includes not only taking what belongs to another without permission, but also using something for a different purpose to that intended, or beyond the time permitted by its owner.<sup>iii</sup> The practice of asteya implies not taking anything that has not been freely given. This includes fostering a consciousness of how we ask for others’ time for inconsiderate behavior demanding another’s attention when not freely given is, in effect, stealing.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>4. Brahmacharya - Sense control</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Brahmacharya is used mostly in the sense of abstinence, particularly in relationship to sexual activity. Brahmacharya suggests that we should form relationships that foster our understanding of the highest truths. Brahmacharya does not necessarily imply celibacy. Rather, it means responsible behavior with respect to our goal of moving toward the truth. Practicing brahmacharya means that we use our sexual energy to regenerate our connection to our spiritual self. It also means that we don’t use this energy in any way that might harm others.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>5. Aparigraha - Neutralizing the desire to acquire and hoard wealth</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Aparigraha means to take only what is necessary, and not to take advantage of a situation or act greedy. We should only take what we have earned; if we take more, we are exploiting someone else. The yogi feels that the collection or hoarding of things implies a lack of faith in God and in himself to provide for his future.<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><sup>v</sup></span> Aparigraha also implies letting go of our attachments to things and an understanding that impermanence and change are the only constants.<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></b></blockquote>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"></span></b></blockquote>
<b> </b>The Yoga Sutra describes what happens when these five behaviors outlined above become part of a person's daily life. Thus, the yamas are the moral virtues which, if attended to, purify human nature and contribute to health and happiness of society.<br />
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<div align="center">
<b><i>II. Niyama (Personal Observances)</i></b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"> </span></b><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;">Niyama means "rules" or "laws." </span>These are the rules prescribed for personal observance. Like the yamas, the five niyamas are not exercises or actions to be simply studied. They represent far more than an attitude. Compared with the yamas, the niyamas are more intimate and personal. They refer to the attitude we adopt toward ourselves as we create a code for living soulfully<br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>1. Sauca - Purity</i> <i><br clear="left" /></i></b>The first niyama is sauca, meaning purity and cleanliness. Sauca has both an inner and an outer aspect. Outer cleanliness simply means keeping ourselves clean. Inner cleanliness has as much to do with the healthy, free functioning of our bodily organs as with the clarity of our mind. Practicing asanas or pranayama are essential means for attending to this inner sauca. Asanas tones the entire body and removes toxins while pranayama cleanses our lungs, oxygenates our blood and purifies our nerves. "But more important than the physical cleansing of the body is the cleansing of the mind of its disturbing emotions like hatred, passion, anger, lust, greed, delusion and pride." </blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>2. Santosa - Contentment </i></b>Another niyama is santosa, modesty and the feeling of being content with what we have. To be at peace within and content with one's lifestyle finding contentment even while experiencing life’s difficulties for life becomes a process of growth through all kinds of circumstances. We should accept that there is a purpose for everything - yoga calls it karma – and we cultivate contentment 'to accept what happens'. It means being happy with what we have rather than being unhappy about what we don't have.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>3. Tapas – Disciplined use of our energy</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Tapas refers to the activity of keeping the body fit or to confront and handle the inner urges without outer show. Literally it means to heat the body and, by so doing, to cleanse it. Behind the notion of tapas lies the idea we can direct our energy to enthusiastically engage life and achieve our ultimate goal of creating union with the Divine. Tapas helps us burn up all the desires that stand in our way of this goal. Another form of tapas is paying attention to what we eat. Attention to body posture, attention to eating habits, attention to breathing patterns - these are all tapas.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>4. Svadhyaya – Self study </i></b>The fourth niyama is svadhyaya. Sva means "self' adhyaya means "inquiry" or "examination". Any activity that cultivates self-reflective consciousness can be considered svadhyaya. It means to intentionally find self-awareness in all our activities and efforts, even to the point of welcoming and accepting our limitations. It teaches us to be centered and non-reactive to the dualities, to burn out unwanted and self-destructive tendencies.</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<blockquote style="background-color: white;">
<blockquote>
<b><i>5. Isvarapranidhana - Celebration of the Spiritual</i></b> <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b>Isvarapranidhana means "to lay all your actions at the feet of God." It is the contemplation on God (Isvara) in order to become attuned to god and god's will. It is the recognition that the spiritual suffuses everything and through our attention and care we can attune ourselves with our role as part of the Creator. The practice requires that we set aside some time each day to recognize that there is some omnipresent force larger than ourselves that is guiding and directing the course of our lives. <sup>vii</sup><br />
<b></b></blockquote>
<b></b></blockquote>
<div align="CENTER">
<b>III. Asanas (Body postures)</b></div>
<b><span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span></b>Asana is the practice of physical postures. It is the most commonly known aspect of yoga for those unfamiliar with the other seven limbs of Patanjali’s <i>Yoga Sutra. </i>The practice of moving the body into postures has widespread benefits; of these the most underlying are improved health, strength, balance and flexibility. On a deeper level the practice of asana, which means "staying" or "abiding" in Sanskrit, is used as a tool to calm the mind and move into the inner essence of being.<br />
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The challenge of poses offers the practitioner the opportunity to explore and control all aspects of their emotions, concentration, intent, faith, and unity between the physical and the ethereal body. Indeed, using asanas to challenge and open the physical body acts as a binding agent to bring one in harmony with all the unseen elements of their being, the forces that shape our lives through our responses to the physical world. Asana then becomes a way of exploring our mental attitudes and strengthening our will as we learn to release and move into the state of grace that comes from creating balance between our material world and spiritual experience.<br />
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As one practices asana it fosters a quieting of the mind, thus it becomes both a preparation for meditation and a meditation sufficient in and of itself. Releasing to the flow and inner strength that one develops brings about a profound grounding spirituality in the body. The physicality of the yoga postures becomes a vehicle to expand the consciousness that pervades our every aspect of our body. The key to fostering this expansion of awareness and consciousness begins with the control of breath, the fourth limb – Pranayama. Patanjali suggests that the asana and the pranayama practices will bring about the desired state of health; the control of breath and bodily posture will harmonize the flow of energy in the organism, thus creating a fertile field for the evolution of the spirit. "This down-to-earth, flesh-and-bones practice is simply one of the most direct and expedient ways to meet yourself. </div>
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… This limb of yoga practice reattaches us to our body. In reattaching ourselves to our bodies we reattach ourselves to the responsibility of living a life guided by the undeniable wisdom of our body." To this B.K.S. Iyengar adds: "The needs of the body are the needs of the divine spirit which lives through the body. The yogi does not look heaven-ward to find God for he know that He is within."<b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b><br />
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<b>IV. Pranayama (Breath Control)</b></div>
<b> </b>Pranayama is the measuring, control, and directing of the breath. Pranayama controls the energy (prana) within the organism, in order to restore and maintain health and to promote evolution. When the in-flowing breath is neutralized or joined with the out-flowing breath, then perfect relaxation and balance of body activities are realized. In yoga, we are concerned with balancing the flows of vital forces, then directing them inward to the chakra system and upward to the crown chakra.<br />
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Pranayama, or breathing technique, is very important in yoga. It goes hand in hand with the asana or pose. In the <i>Yoga Sutra</i>, the practices of pranayama and asana are considered to be the highest form of purification and self discipline for the mind and the body, respectively. The practices produce the actual physical sensation of heat, called tapas, or the inner fire of purification. It is taught that this heat is part of the process of purifying the nadis, or subtle nerve channels of the body. This allows a more healthful state to be experienced and allows the mind to become more calm. As the yogi follows the proper rhythmic patterns of slow deep breathing "the patterns strengthen the respiratory system, soothe the nervous system and reduce craving. As desires and cravings diminish, the mind is set free and becomes a fit vehicle for concentration."<b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b><br />
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<b>V. Pratyahara (Control of the Senses)</b><b style="text-align: left;"> </b></div>
<b> </b>Pratyahara means drawing back or retreat. The word <i>ahara</i> means "nourishment"; pratyahara translates as "to withdraw oneself from that which nourishes the senses." In yoga, the term pratyahara implies withdrawal of the senses from attachment to external objects. It can then be seen as the practice of non-attachment to sensorial distractions as we constantly return to the path of self realization and achievement of internal peace. It means our senses stop living off the things that stimulate; the senses no longer depend on these stimulants and are not fed by them any more.<br />
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In pratyahara we sever this link between mind and senses, and the senses withdraw. When the senses are no longer tied to external sources, the result is restraint or pratyahara. Now that the vital forces are flowing back to the Source within, one can concentrate without being distracted by externals or the temptation to cognize externals.<br />
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Pratyahara occurs almost automatically when we meditate because we are so absorbed in the object of meditation. Precisely because the mind is so focused, the senses follow it; it is not happening the other way around.<br />
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No longer functioning in their usual manner, the senses become extraordinarily sharp. Under normal circumstances the senses become our masters rather than being our servants. The senses entice us to develop cravings for all sorts of things. In pratyahara the opposite occurs: when we have to eat we eat, but not because we have a craving for food. In pratyahara we try to put the senses in their proper place, but not cut them out of our actions entirely.<br />
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Much of our emotional imbalance are our own creation. A person who is influenced by outside events and sensations can never achieve the inner peace and tranquility. This is because he or she will waste much mental and physical energy in trying to suppress unwanted sensations and to heighten other sensations. This will eventually result in a physical or mental imbalance, and will, in most instances, result in illness.<br />
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Patanjali says that the above process is at the root of human unhappiness and uneasiness. When people seek out yoga, hoping to find that inner peace which is so evasive, they find that it was theirs all along. In a sense, yoga is nothing more than a process which enables us to stop and look at the processes of our own minds; only in this way can we understand the nature of happiness and unhappiness, and thus transcend them both.<b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b><br />
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<b>VI. Dharana (Concentration and cultivating inner perceptual awareness)</b></div>
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<b> </b>Dharana means "immovable concentration of the mind". The essential idea is to hold the concentration or focus of attention in one direction. "When the body has been tempered by asanas, when the mind has been refined by the fire of pranayama and when the senses have been brought under control by pratyahara, the sadhaka (seeker) reaches the sixth stage, dharana. Here he is concentrated wholly on a single point or on a task in which he is completely engrossed. The mind has to be stilled in order to achieve this state of complete absorption."</div>
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In dharana we create the conditions for the mind to focus its attention in one direction instead of going out in many different directions. Deep contemplation and reflection can create the right conditions, and the focus on this one point that we have chosen becomes more intense. We encourage one particular activity of the mind and, the more intense it becomes, the more the other activities of the mind fall away.<br />
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The objective in dharana is to steady the mind by focusing its attention upon some stable entity.<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>The particular object selected has nothing to do with the general purpose, which is to stop the mind from wandering -through memories, dreams, or reflective thought-by deliberately holding it single-mindedly upon some apparently static object. B.K.S. Iyengar states that the objective is to achieve the mental state where the mind, intellect, and ego are "all restrained and all these faculties are offered to the Lord for His use and in His service. Here there is no feeling of 'I' and 'mine'."</div>
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When the mind has become purified by yoga practices, it becomes able to focus efficiently on one subject or point of experience. Now we can unleash the great potential for inner healing. <b><i><br clear="left" /></i></b><br />
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<b>VII. Dhyana (Devotion , Meditation on the Divine)</b></div>
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<b> </b>Dhyana means worship, or profound and abstract religious meditation. It is perfect contemplation. It involves concentration upon a point of focus with the intention of knowing the truth about it. The concept holds that when one focuses their mind in concentration on an object the mind is transformed into the shape of the object. Hence, when one focuses on the divine they become more reflective of it and they know their true nature. "His body, breath, senses, mind, reason and ego are all integrated in the object of his contemplation – the Universal Spirit."</div>
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During dhyana, the consciousness is further unified by combining clear insights into distinctions between objects and between the subtle layers of perception. "We learn to differentiate between the mind of the perceiver, the means of perception, and the objects perceived, between words, their meanings, and ideas, and between all the levels of evolution of nature."</div>
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As we fine-tune our concentration and become more aware of the nature of reality we perceive that the world is unreal. "The only reality is the universal self, or God, which is veiled by Maya (the illusory power). As the veils are lifted, the mind becomes clearer. Unhappiness and fear – even the fear of death – vanishes. This state of freedom, or Moksha, is the goal of Yoga. It can be reached by constant enquiry into the nature of things."<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><sup>xv</sup></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><sup>ii</sup></span> Meditation becomes our tool to see things clearly and perceive reality beyond the illusions that cloud our mind.</div>
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<b><br clear="left" />VIII. Samadhi (Union with the Divine)</b></div>
The final step in the eight-fold path of Yoga is the attainment of Samadhi. Samadhi means "to bring together, to merge." In the state of samadhi the body and senses are at rest, as if asleep, yet the faculty of mind and reason are alert, as if awake; one goes beyond consciousness. During samadhi, we realize what it is to be an identity without differences, and how a liberated soul can enjoy pure awareness of this pure identity. The conscious mind drops back into that unconscious oblivion from which it first emerged.<br />
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Thus, samadhi refers to union or true Yoga. There is an ending to the separation that is created by the "I" and "mine" of our illusory perceptions of reality. The mind does not distinguish between self and non-self, or between the object contemplated and the process of contemplation. The mind and the intellect have stopped and there is only the experience of consciousness, truth and unutterable joy.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;"> </span>The achievement of samadhi is a difficult task. For this reason the <i>Yoga Sutra</i> suggests the practice of asanas and pranayama as preparation for dharana, because these influence mental activities and create space in the crowded schedule of the mind. Once dharana has occurred, dhyana and samadhi can follow.<br />
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These eight steps of yoga indicate a logical pathway that leads to the attainment of physical, ethical, emotional, and psycho-spiritual health. Yoga does not seek to change the individual; rather, it allows the natural state of total health and integration in each of us to become a reality.<span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><sup>xvi</sup></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman;"><sup>ii</sup></span></div>
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//Sources:<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">HolisticOnLine <a href="http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_home.htm">http://www.holisticonline.com/Yoga/hol_yoga_home.htm</a></span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit, </span></i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">by Donna Farhi</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Light On Yoga, </span></i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">by B.K.S. Iyengar</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Yoga Mind & Body, </span></i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center</span><br />
<i>The Essence of Yoga, Reflections on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, </i>by Bernard Bouanchaud<br />
Source: http://www.expressionsofspirit.com/yoga/eight-limbs.htm<br />
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<span style="color: #999999;">Chicago, June 2015</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-75934157715668597772015-07-12T12:01:00.001-07:002015-07-12T13:14:54.586-07:00Hugging a Stranger<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
That moment when on the train you stand by a young woman weeping quietly.<br />
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That moment when you feel her sadness and disappointment through her rolling tears knowing exactly what she is going through.<br />
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Those moments when you recognize her look through the blurriness of her experience searching for an understanding, wondering what has just happened, and how she could continue.<br />
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That moment when as your stop approaches, you hug her and tell her that you are sorry she is suffering and that you have just gone through it.<br />
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That moment when a smile forms on her face as she thanks you before rolling back into her abyss.<br />
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That is the moment when you feel some of your own tears have paid off and you get off the train.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-7220857126592049812015-07-08T13:26:00.000-07:002015-10-09T10:32:24.802-07:0020 BRILLIANT LIFE LESSONS FROM me!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I loved <a href="http://airows.com/travel/23-brilliant-life-lessons-from-anthony-bourdain" target="_blank">Anthony Bourdain's</a> "23 brilliant life lessons" published the other day. Apparently that is a thing! So for fun, these are mine!</div>
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1- Whatever your mother says is true. Trust her and swallow all her words. It will take 40 years to realize this, so just take my word for it.<br />
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2- Learn at least one other language. It is one of the best things you can do to yourself.<br />
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3- If you are a woman, think hard in your late 20s and early 30s whether you want to have a child or not. If you do, no matter how fit, cool, young, or unprepared you are, make that a priority. There is a terrible myth going around that having children past 40 is a piece of cake. Do not buy that. This trend will be reversed in the next 10 years so get ahead of it.<br />
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4- Your friends are the best assets you will ever acquire.<br />
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5- Live within your means.<br />
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6- Everyone is really beautiful naked. Once naked it does not matter if you are short, tall, fat, thin, have big breasts or have a mark on your penis. It all really is beautiful.<br />
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7- Your 20s and 30s are spent searching for meaning, yourself, planning your life, building your career. Once you are past that you not only still have to search for all that but you have to learn how to deal with loss, wounds, baggages, and more! So try to have fun a little too as it never ends.<br />
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8- There is no up without a down, and there is no down without an up.<br />
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This also means that Change is Constant. What is not changing is you core. Find it and remember to always come back to it to anchor when you go through change.<br />
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9- Laugh really hard and let go for real at least once a week. If not, once a month. The more the better.<br />
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10- Meditate. The vibrations of your heart and breath and the more than 60% of the water inside you take you to oceans and help you tune out the bad stuff and tune in to yourself. At least until the next round of meditation.<br />
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Another way of achieving this is connecting with at least one of the 4 elements every day: //Water: If you don't live by a lake or the sea, then take a bath. //Fire: Soak in the sun. //Wind: bike or run. //Earth: Sit on the ground, walk bare foot, plant or look at trees.<br />
In all of these focus on your breath.<br />
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Take this exercise of TUNING IN as seriously as brushing your teeth or eating. It is as important.<br />
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11- Have a hobby. Please.<br />
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12- If you are anti the marriage institutions for the obvious reasons of church or state, you will learn that there is actually solid good reasons behind all the binding and vows and rituals. Think of it as a code of conduct, an oath one takes to always comes back to and remember why he/she is in it to begin with. Construct your own code and adhere to it. There are still no guarantees either way.<br />
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13- Never tell anyone to "move on" or to "get over it." Never.<br />
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14- Always think about whether you are doing something out of love or out of fear or weakness. It is hard but try to understand it. It will help you cut out extra obligations, inauthentic behavior, and weed out unnecessary money or time expending. In other words, always ask the "why" and do the pros and cons and see if you should do what you are doing.<br />
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15- Have a role model, even if imaginary.<br />
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16- Life is not fair and is hard and it hurts. Kind of like eating an ice cream with hidden thorns! But it is all you and me and everyone else gets. Everybody also goes through all you are going through and more.<br />
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17- Sit on the floor, bare foot, at least once a day. It grounds you and is good stretching. This becomes especially helpful if you don't have<br />
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18- Deal with people as if you were going to die tomorrow. Would you have any regrets not having said something to them, or done something with them?<br />
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19- There must be an after life. Of course in form of energy and not heaven/hell.<br />
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20- Eat a lot of vegetables.<br />
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<b><span style="color: magenta;">I tagged my friends who have turned 40 and asked them to share their 20 Brilliant Life Lessons! here they come and they are wonderful. Enjoy!</span></b></div>
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<u><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>RH's List:</b></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Do epic shit…continuously (at least once a week) (…and try not to share) - it helps keep your mind and body in sync and creates a discipline in you. Furthermore, it helps continuously digest new experiences.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2. spend at least 1 to 2 nights outside per month, every month - waaaaay too many positives.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Eat healthy - exactly that! avoid crap. the body is a machine. Give it good fuels.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Leave every conversation with a smile - Personally i like to remember others smiling….if you think about it, you do as well :0)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Mix work and play - You spend more time with folks you work with than your own family! it is a fact. Make it fun. They are also in the same boat. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">6. Make decisions - good or bad, as long as 51% are good, things will move forward.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">7. Make new friends - there are 7 billion people on this planet…..</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">8. Make every breath count.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">9. Listen ….. more than you speak (something i personally need to work on).</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2270" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">10. Drink good spirits - life’s waaaaay too short to drink cheap whiskey!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2300" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">11. Create - exactly that: create.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2301" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">12. Walk.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2281" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">13. Love honestly - it took me a while to learn this as a "life lesson" but it is true. Another interpretation could be: don't engage unless your heart is in it....and if you do engage in something then give it all.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2302" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">14. Don’t trust anyone that says they don’t care about money.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2271" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">15. If stuck on a problem, walk away….then come back to it after some time passes - it works!!!!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2280" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">16. Do math (daily) - not like sit there and do chaos theory applicable! something to keep the mind sharp.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2279" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">17. Keep it simple - This is one rule to live by.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2278" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">18. Don’t drive fast - pretty obvious.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2275" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">19. Listen to lots of music.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2274" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">20. Read a book - and if you don’t have the time, then make the time. If you still can’t do that, then </span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">do books on tape!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">21. Don't do crazy shit!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">22. Read Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at least once!!!</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2274" style="background-color: white; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', 'Segoe UI', Helvetica, Arial, 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif; font-size: 13px; padding: 0px; text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="yiv8356438473p1" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1436802584966_2274" style="background-color: white; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-</b></span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71181" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><u><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">NM's List:</span></u></b></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71181" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></u></b></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71181" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Don't waste your time shopping. don't waste your time shopping for cheap stuff especially. if you must, get the real goods - and only a few of them. but know that they're not always the most expensive.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71180" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Check your thyroid - and take your thyroid medications on the dot and as prescribed if you need to.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71179" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Appreciate your mom.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71178" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Don't "default" to how your parents lived, talked and behaved. be active in living your own personal version of life.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71177" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Hug and kiss your children a lot.. smile at them a lot - even if you're not a smiley person.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71176" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">6. If you make a mistake, yell at, or do anything that you regret towards your children - let them know that you regret it and that you're sorry about it and do your best not to repeat. it's the best lesson for them and keeps you in check too.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">7. Sometimes you need to put yourself on auto-pilot and just do it.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">8. Never underestimate the power of "going out of your way".. when you care about someone or something - that's how you show it.. If it were convenient, then it wouldn't mean as much.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71186" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71185"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">9. Having a point of view on religion, god, the "higher being", spirituality, etc. anchors a person. Don't pull it out of no-where.. read, talk and learn about it. </span></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">10. When you let money take center stage in life, it will wipe out a lot of good feelings, a lot of things you loved or liked about yourself and others. don't let it happen.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71188" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71187"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">11. Follow the world news. I don't have to count the reasons why - but the least of it, is that it will make you less self-centered.</span></span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71189" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">12. You will never ever know what others feel unless you've had very similar experiences. you will never know what it feels to lose a parent, unless you've lost one. you'll never know what it feels to be beaten by the police, unless you've been crushed by one.. so there's no point trying to get it. All you can do is to be there for them.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71190" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">13. Weave together your own mis-matched and colorful tapestry of friends and acquaintances.. they will stretch you and expose you to so many different worlds and feelings. don't surround yourself with like-minded people.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71201" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">14. By far the most memorable experiences of my career, are those where I coached and mentored others.. and I could always do more.. everything else pales.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71200" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">15. Be conscious about cutting sugar out of your food. It will do wonders.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71191" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">16. Read and re-read the classics.. wisdom of the ages.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71192" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">17. If you open yourself up to loving and understanding nature, you've just given yourself a precious gift and outlet for peace.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71193" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">18. Every person yearns respect. it will do wonders to give an ounce.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71199" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">19. The best form of love is the kind that comes after while. it comes from familiarity, appreciation for the soul of the other. it's the kind that makes your heart ache for the other. but you gotta give it time.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71194" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">20. You will drive yourself nuts if you try to optimize every single action of the day - just pick a few big ones.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71195" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">21. Every morning - write on a standard post-it note, the list of things you have to accomplish that day and only do those that fit on a single note paper. start the next day with a new post-it.</span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71195" style="text-align: start;">
<div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-</b></span></div>
</div>
<div id="yui_3_16_0_1_1437575286641_71181" style="text-align: start;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<b><u><span style="color: #351c75; font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">AM's List:</span></u></b></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">1- Don’t ever miss an opportunity to
have a good laugh… and a good sob!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">2- You don’t have to please everyone;
also do not need to piss anyone off, unless it is absolutely necessary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">3- Love is like a delicate
flower. It needs constant attention. Leave it alone and it will die off. Attend
it and it will grow and become stronger and more beautiful.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">4- Take time and go through your
mistakes and errors every now and then. Find a way to avoid them in the future
and more importantly forgive yourself for doing them and move on.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">5- Spend time with people younger
than 6 and older than 70. There is a lot to learn from both groups.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">6- You don’t have to always
substantiate your point. See if it is worth your while to make someone else
look like an idiot. If not, let them be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">7- Always remember, it sounds
impossible until it is done.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">8- Do not trust people who say they
do not like kids. It is very fine if someone says they do not like to HAVE
kids, but if they say they do not LIKE children, in general, they’re weird.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">9- When you are doing something and a
voice in your head says: “oh, oh, this is not going to end well…” stop doing it
as soon as possible, because most probably it will not end well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">10- You sometimes have to do some things that you do
not like, to make someone that you love happy. Since you are doing it anyway,
do it with love and try to enjoy doing it.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">11- (Someone said, love it, change it or leave it)… If
you don’t love it, try to change it first before giving up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">12- If you want to know your true self, observe
yourself when you are playing<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">13- Avoid annoying people and situations at all costs.
They will just grind your soul without any rewards.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">14- If someone doesn’t like your sarcasm, make sure you
ask them how you can completely change yourself to please them… (mwahahahaha)<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">15- Always go back to the big picture and adjust its
size accordingly, preferably make it bigger. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">16- Do apologize for what you said when you were
hungry.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">17- Shop online. It saves time and fuel and the
anticipation, while waiting for your newly purchased merchandize, makes it
sweeter.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">18- Cook and enjoy cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">19- Don’t ever try to make your kid(s) what you wanted
to be. They belong to their own future not to your past.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">20- Watch sad movies and listen to sad songs and cry.
It is an unbelievably sole-polishing practice. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">21- Workout
hard. If it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t count. BUT don’t ignore your injuries…
especially now that you are over 40!</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: magenta; font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-</b></b></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-87807922374821838082012-12-23T19:51:00.003-08:002015-07-13T14:55:19.303-07:00the smell of a place<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The car turns on a wavy road through the mountains, trees outside, the breezy cool wind blows in from the open window over her face, road signs pass behind, clouds dance over this curly movement of the car, the road, the wind, the view, and the silence. It is dreamy, relaxing, safe in a car with parents, destination is back to home, or to the grandparents' home. This is the moment that probably establishes a lot of things for an 8 year old girl: love of nature, meditative moments with nature, sense of belonging, meaning of family in its healthy way, privacy and union with one's mind and thoughts, silence as a healthy and mind opening practice, integrity of the moment, being that moment.<br />
<br />
30 years later, in far far lands, far away from all of that, a dreamy curly beautiful road, brings back that very moment from way back in time..... the girl is older, has not thought about that trip in decades, she has gone through losing those parents, has moved away, has grown older and perhaps wiser, things are no longer "ahead" for her to reach, she should have already reached them and if not, it is probably too late for a lot of them..... She is in the back seat of another car. Things are different. A lot does not exist anymore. A lot is so foreign, so unfamiliar, that it becomes moot to even try to make it familiar She smells that breeze from 30 years ago. Feels that exact feeling of that moment 30 years ago. It makes her happy, as being in a sci-fi movie, a flash back or going back in time, or time coming forward. She can smell exactly what her grandparents' home smelled. The smell of nostalgia. Is memory even capable of recording a smell?<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-28760574857694762392012-05-15T20:29:00.004-07:002015-10-09T10:28:48.570-07:00i left a piece of myself in<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #cc0000;">"I Left a Piece of Myself In"</span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #666666;">wood frame made to size of first artist, birdcage, shadow, words, feelings, secrets.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #666666;"><br /></span></i></div>
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in collaboration with Brett Callaway :: </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Installation at the group show "I CAN DO THAT" :: Curated by Jenny Lam :: Variable Space :: Wicker Park :: Chicago :: April 2012</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br />
<br />
Burning Man Temple September 2015<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-39386803112545192482011-09-18T18:36:00.001-07:002012-04-05T13:10:21.925-07:00don't ruin it<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">"Don't ruin it, please?"<br />
She said to me.<br />
At a party, pointing her fingers at me, though kindly. <br />
"I won't, I promise."<br />
I said, a bit concerned that I might, and my mind going at 100 mph thinking, how? how not to ruin it?<br />
<br />
At Farnsworth house, again.<br />
It is a rainy Sunday. We are a small group touring the 50+ acres property and the beautiful white elevated glasshouse that Mies Van der Rohe built for Dr. Edith Farnsworth in 1951. <br />
<br />
I see it differently this time. It is a female building. All of Mies' buildings are black steel, while this one is white. It is elevated for obvious reasons, yet this creates a feeling of having a skirt on. A skirt that is pulled up with a tease, or a determination that she wants to be running around the meadows and nothing would stop her. The stairs and the porch lay off of the building as if the tail of a Victorian dress.<br />
<br />
It is light and fragile, yet strong and built on steel and has endured "biblical floods." It is single, but not alone. It has constant visitors who come to appreciate its elegance, endurance, beauty, poetry, grace, and solitude.<br />
<br />
Palumbo, the second owner of the house, before it became a National Trust for Historic Preservation site, breathed and felt the house with every inch of his being. He wrote descriptions of living in it as if a sensual night with a lover. He understood it. The caress of the wind on the steel, the light laying down on the glass. He spent money on house repairs and restoration, like one would on an ailing child.<br />
<br />
We take another short tour, the "LumenHaus." The Virginia Tech students' award winning solar house inspired by the Farnsworth house, in 2010. It doesn't move us. The water around it, while recycled and reused, doesn't transcend oceans and rivers. The solar shades a great technology but already done, in shapes of flying birds in another magnificent space, the Milwaukee Museum of Art, by Santiago Calatrava. Nothing is ahead of its time, and nothing marries steel, wood, water, light, and recycled material poetically.<br />
"60 years later, and this is the best we could come up with?"<br />
He says.<br />
<br />
When she told me not to "ruin it", she was talking about him. That he has a pure soul and that it is rare. I believed her. She brought a good example of her husband of fifteen years, and I wanted to be her, believing in purity, in the soul, and not ruining it.<br />
<br />
At Farnsworth house, seeing what Palumbo did to the house, and how the preservationists and art collectors came up with the money to outbid bidders at the auction house, made me cry. They believed in its purity and didn't want to ruin it. They tried and succeeded to keep the Farnsworth house in her birthplace, where she could continue to hold her skirt up for it not to be ruined by flooding rivers. At the LumenHaus while solar power and recycled water was rightly used, poetry had been lost.<br />
<br />
I sit across from him as he also blogs about our shared experience of visiting the Farnsworth house on a rainy Fall Sunday. I raise my head from my laptop and look at the side of his neck over his laptop and I tell myself: remember not to ruin it. Build on it, but "don't ruin it."<br />
I think: that must be the trick and that must be the challenge. Good luck!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukbwahb3sz7mrUThrbupAP5fhyphenhyphenPVLfn4i1G8T4bFrIV_Vy3EAqCQZ7nsbUF59IbWJkUlPOts15dCf11L_SB-UpBBzP0D9kTMqbnueCBZa_uxpyz2NxqE6dBntD6NuAm4MqVd3Pd0OALE/s1600/dontruinit2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhukbwahb3sz7mrUThrbupAP5fhyphenhyphenPVLfn4i1G8T4bFrIV_Vy3EAqCQZ7nsbUF59IbWJkUlPOts15dCf11L_SB-UpBBzP0D9kTMqbnueCBZa_uxpyz2NxqE6dBntD6NuAm4MqVd3Pd0OALE/s400/dontruinit2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEwik6M6j4G68rYVBto3AoZAyWMiRzOBPpvXASCizi6xCejhICmzthFdyeJ4gIyx46e_30z4_fKmeMLvGWsc0XrJKl5eMADS5zJBx_qS1kEVGJR6chftDBMXce1_KZ3t2uJl13uD26aY/s1600/IMG_2739.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="247" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGEwik6M6j4G68rYVBto3AoZAyWMiRzOBPpvXASCizi6xCejhICmzthFdyeJ4gIyx46e_30z4_fKmeMLvGWsc0XrJKl5eMADS5zJBx_qS1kEVGJR6chftDBMXce1_KZ3t2uJl13uD26aY/s320/IMG_2739.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioxGm77V8GhMJ3Za8scvXboP8yI1fJg9qz-0J0A38YU-bI823nvqT_Sp-FthGcN2d3ruMs9UITdHsxQBnr2bbmeLi7oTQxL8SYmoXRnlE71BERB_AKhVkQEY_HncIU5bLDcVdhc6Ml1X4/s1600/IMG_2725.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioxGm77V8GhMJ3Za8scvXboP8yI1fJg9qz-0J0A38YU-bI823nvqT_Sp-FthGcN2d3ruMs9UITdHsxQBnr2bbmeLi7oTQxL8SYmoXRnlE71BERB_AKhVkQEY_HncIU5bLDcVdhc6Ml1X4/s320/IMG_2725.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
his: <a href="http://waveland.tumblr.com/post/10390972424/people-who-live-in-glass-houses">http://waveland.tumblr.com/post/10390972424/people-who-live-in-glass-houses</a><br />
<br />
my earlier entry on the Farnsworth house: <br />
<a href="http://fekrozekr.blogspot.com/2010/11/place-calling.html">http://fekrozekr.blogspot.com/2010/11/place-calling.html</a><br />
<br />
more: <a href="http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3785&page=1">http://wirednewyork.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3785&page=1</a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-83336064206254667022011-09-13T15:13:00.000-07:002011-09-23T09:50:09.128-07:00best piece of art I have seen in a long time<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong>"the search"</strong><br />
jazon lazarus (american, b. 1975)<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">andew rafacz gallery, chicago, il</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">september 2011</span><br />
<a href="http://jasonlazarus.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://jasonlazarus.com</span></a><br />
<a href="http://www.andrewrafacz.com/"><span style="font-size: x-small;">www.andrewrafacz.com</span></a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DNfJFvS84sBxvuYEVU5fncWzJhQ4EnCwwnr2B6qDa-MioXNRoWXscvPKAzRUuo8UzPu84qJEGJQi6R78c3Z62UdkpJYAntmVprpGCJdwj1qzLGljX2yRZhtUI0_ilxK0hrMHsNpZdgw/s1600/AndrewRafaczGallery000460.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" rba="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7DNfJFvS84sBxvuYEVU5fncWzJhQ4EnCwwnr2B6qDa-MioXNRoWXscvPKAzRUuo8UzPu84qJEGJQi6R78c3Z62UdkpJYAntmVprpGCJdwj1qzLGljX2yRZhtUI0_ilxK0hrMHsNpZdgw/s320/AndrewRafaczGallery000460.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">image: (c) Andrew Rafacz Gallery, Chicago</span></div><br />
First it is nothing.<br />
Just a set of white stairs in the middle of a gallery and nothing else.<br />
Then it is a ziggurat, a pyramid, out of place and leading to a dead-end roof.<br />
<br />
Everyone is obsessively, competitively and curiously climbing its narrow, high steps to go to the top. To a place that seems as if there is no point to go to but hitting your head to the short ceiling and having to come back down. <br />
<br />
Then, some people disappear.<br />
Where is he? looking around, inside the gallery, outside the gallery, around the pyramid.<br />
Searching...<br />
: He is 'inside'.<br />
<br />
The white urban machu picchu, the inside-out triangle, is like a kiva. It has a belly and is alive inside. Viewers can take a straight down vertical ladder, that is hard to spot first, from the top and climb down to its sanctuary. A place where other participants are sitting across and scribbling in big black books, titled 'the search'. <br />
<br />
Jason Lazarus' piece - masterpiece invigorates such a fantastic change of planes, from searching to finding, from exterior to interior, and from black hole to home, that you feel full, achieved, grounded.<br />
You have arrived. <br />
<br />
I change planes. From the sophisticated, intellectual and gallery hopping adult, I become the stair climbing giggling child in a playground, poetically disoriented. I sit in the hole of the kiva next to him. He writes about losing his grandmother earlier that week. I draw lines from the deep cove, away from the surface, from the crowd. We are peaceful and grounded.<br />
<br />
Changing planes. What life should be about. A constant change of states. From adult to child, from serious to playful, from silly to professional, from real to fictitious, from dream to consciousness, from abstract to concrete. The lines between the states losing color, becoming lighter and softer, blending the planes as the search for balance ends.<br />
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</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-45308436247240184372011-09-01T10:16:00.000-07:002013-06-06T13:45:52.932-07:00Exquisite Corpse<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am participating in an Exquisite Corpse exhibit, where I got paired with two other artists with an open reign on doing our collaborative works as we wanted.</div>
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How do I describe it in one word: limiting. </div>
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It is a limiting process as you have to deal with more constraints than usual. The medium, scale, time and the usual paradigms you have to work within are coupled with having to work with others' works, creativity, pallets, mediums, and vision. The challenges however force you to let go of the freedom you would have otherwise had. Art should not and is not only about possibilities and so it should be able to tackle this lack of freedom. As I install and review the installation, I ask myself, did it?</div>
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Some of the images of my pieces incorporated in a larger mixed media piece:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3weKY5_Ybvdtbqvibx35T67FfSVYXeoRECRVKNFerZ2fB_jv-Eq435XfIAz1uzjiVqebCSEFRYglg3z_nWWlE2o9HiSFYMjycNzuSxo1329TcyrtIdPOAxRXZhjp_MhTFfgkKPqjaYyM/s1600/IMG_2399.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3weKY5_Ybvdtbqvibx35T67FfSVYXeoRECRVKNFerZ2fB_jv-Eq435XfIAz1uzjiVqebCSEFRYglg3z_nWWlE2o9HiSFYMjycNzuSxo1329TcyrtIdPOAxRXZhjp_MhTFfgkKPqjaYyM/s320/IMG_2399.JPG" width="320" xaa="true" /></a></div>
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<span closure_uid_35tkpv="150" closure_uid_kr4v4y="142" closure_uid_y7fv94="530" style="font-size: x-small;">"Homage to Bacon", Avisheh Mohsenin, Mixed Media Installation in a Box, 2011</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsZwrxwUm0FDqT1ilzpXBdJ8QC56O-FmEJd4rjQAHjsG2SMhTW89iw4PWH4hhs03jwRoQ1nGKmm0ehScW9Tn6XRzQTb7g0FwGMEvhHxWbYdfgnYzDo25LyM-Z7dc75QKR2oWDVXQRlIo/s1600/IMG_2391.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinsZwrxwUm0FDqT1ilzpXBdJ8QC56O-FmEJd4rjQAHjsG2SMhTW89iw4PWH4hhs03jwRoQ1nGKmm0ehScW9Tn6XRzQTb7g0FwGMEvhHxWbYdfgnYzDo25LyM-Z7dc75QKR2oWDVXQRlIo/s320/IMG_2391.JPG" width="320" xaa="true" /></a></div>
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"<span closure_uid_35tkpv="152" closure_uid_y7fv94="541" style="font-size: x-small;">Ladderal Exploration", Avisheh Mohsenin, Mixed Media Installation in a Box, 2011</span></div>
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<span closure_uid_fxjhf1="188" style="font-size: x-small;">(rotate clockwise, 90 degrees)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Exquisite Corpse</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Independently Curated Show</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Curator: Jenny Lam</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Fulton Street Collective</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Chicago, IL 2011</span><br />
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<br />
More on the show and details on the opening here:</div>
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<a href="http://artistsonthelam.blogspot.com/p/exquisite-corpse.html">http://artistsonthelam.blogspot.com/p/exquisite-corpse.html</a></div>
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for Paul Klein (Chicago's independent art critic preview on the show): <a href="http://www.artletter.com/">http://www.artletter.com/</a></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-71166938291068377702011-01-21T16:20:00.000-08:002011-02-16T16:12:00.491-08:00Hardy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">I was a little older than 5 years old. We were living in Hamedan, a province in the middle of Iran, the house of Avecina, the longest cave in the world, and nice highland weather. I was a confident, energetic, no none sense type of kid. Not much girly, very fair (in terms of justice not skin tone), and curious.<br />
<br />
I learned skiing there, skipping school as recommended by my father on a Tuesday because there was fresh snow. I also learned about Darwin's theory of evolution, through the visuals on the back of a book that my father casually showed me and my sister as something obvious and funny that we were monkeys in the past. It did make total sense. <br />
<br />
I also saw tanks for the first and last time, it was 1978 and the year of the revolution. There were curfews, sounds of shootings, and demonstrations. I learned about hunger strike and making dolls out of used detergent bottles (mother's favourite craft time) and walked in a lot of snow in Hamedan.<br />
<br />
We had a neighbor with a daughter younger than me and my sister. The mother had married young instead of going to college. She was smart and ambitious but without a platform to use her potentials. She spoiled the little girl whose room was filled with new toys. She would put real pieces of chocolate in the girl's hot coco drinks and the little girl didn't even enjoy hot coco that much, or so my sister and I thought, as we were licking the saliva off of our chins, since we were not offered that hot coco with real tablets of chocolate. The mother looked up to and seeked guidance from my mother who was older, had gone to college and graduate school, and was living her dream at home and at work.<br />
<br />
We were at their home one day looking at the spoiled girl not really enjoying her hot coco -with real tablets of chocolate!- and whining and not enjoying her room full of toys, when I saw the most adorable little piece of toy that I had ever seen. It was a small 3 inches long figurine of Hardy, from Laurel and Hardy's comedy. It was made out of hard plastic and had vivid colors. It was the cutest thing anyone could have made. I had to have it. <br />
<br />
Two days later and my mother, the quintessential democratic and equality rights feminist, approached me in a dark corner of the hall that went between our bedroom and theirs. She said, X (the mother of the spoiled kid) says that you have her daughter's Hardy figurine, is that true?<br />
I was disappointed! I was so disappointed that an adult could not let a little girl have something that her daughter clearly didn't care about. I was disappointed that she told on me and behind my back and found her stingy, not generous, petty, and unfair to have taken away this ultimate joy from me!<br />
We had the usual "now let's be civil and return the toy to whoever it belongs" moment and walked over and handed it in. I did not feel remorse or embarassement, just feeling sorry for her not being able to see me have it!<br />
<br />
Years passed. The mother went to college and started working. She raised great independent and well educated daughters and always told us how my sister and I were their role models. It didn't move me much.<br />
<br />
32 years later, on a snowy day in Chicago, where there are no tanks and curfews, and no father to take you away from work for the pure joy of being in fresh snow, I receive a little packet. It has a used cover that is stapled back together. It has the wrinkles of the touches of a little girl or a boy on its old plastic wrap and it comes from a seller in Argentina. My secret lover who has heard my story found Hardy from the other side of the world and got it for me on Ebay! Thank you! I love it! and I am happy for that lady and her daughters and their achievements.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvnDsyNkI5DKgCG-E262oLz15H2C0WVwjGQLqinr2iyPfTjxDwmnAgwhRGuBWXUXXKvICEQIPPQhT7U1pY-fF36uhaEygIQphm9tN1eWf9mU42h9ENqfgEDh5zR9RkuMSb0FdHT1_7BI/s1600/laurel+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvnDsyNkI5DKgCG-E262oLz15H2C0WVwjGQLqinr2iyPfTjxDwmnAgwhRGuBWXUXXKvICEQIPPQhT7U1pY-fF36uhaEygIQphm9tN1eWf9mU42h9ENqfgEDh5zR9RkuMSb0FdHT1_7BI/s320/laurel+3.jpg" width="320" /></a></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-40076204457726782402010-12-09T12:09:00.000-08:002013-06-06T13:46:34.596-07:00untitled 1 :: untitled 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">him </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">her</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">longing</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">lust</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">ambiguity</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">secrets</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">love</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">fetish</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">decay</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">heart</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">red</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">elements</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">here</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">there</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">longing</span></div>
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<strong><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">mixed media . avisheh mohsenin . 2010</span></strong></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">presented at a silent auction benefiting St Jude Children's Hospital @ </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Pottery Barn | Lincoln Park | Chicago | 12.09.10</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-89069161623560057652010-11-05T10:36:00.000-07:002010-11-05T13:41:42.480-07:00a place calling<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I am experiencing something new: a place calling me and an urge to visit it. It is not home, it is not a familiar and frequented location, but a place that I have only visited once: the Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe in Plano, Illinois. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I keep thinking about it, the serenity and calm that you experience in the building and its setting by the river and in the woods. On a literal level, it may be because it is Fall and the foliage reminds me of that setting and scenery. On a more conceptual level, it may be what the space and its setting inspire; simplicity, transparency, independence, and transcendence.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">Historian Maritz Vandenburg says, "<em>Every physical element has been distilled to its irreducible essence. The interior is unprecedentedly transparent to the surrounding site, and also unprecedentedly uncluttered in itself. All of the paraphernalia of traditional living –rooms, walls, doors, interior trim, loose furniture, pictures on walls, even personal possessions – have been virtually abolished in a puritanical vision of simplified, transcendental existence</em>." </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span></span></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Tahoma;"><span style="font-family: Times, "Times New Roman", serif;">I am asking myself, is this aspiration to simplicity, transcendance, and letting go of the materials a reflection of what I am experiencing, or what I want to experience? </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span> </span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUYacr4mZIDH-mGxP0KaEY-8Z6LlXfmd5ZR79FUmWkouaCZOqyS87MWmfzyQrOzr5t4eHNfnt4FYoN9OcYOJ_1id0-9KFVqQofXsFOoguYhoiM5lowJ_Fwl2c6CqB5NGIYi65IUzbRAc/s1600/farnsworth+house+by+Jon+Miller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="257" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUYacr4mZIDH-mGxP0KaEY-8Z6LlXfmd5ZR79FUmWkouaCZOqyS87MWmfzyQrOzr5t4eHNfnt4FYoN9OcYOJ_1id0-9KFVqQofXsFOoguYhoiM5lowJ_Fwl2c6CqB5NGIYi65IUzbRAc/s400/farnsworth+house+by+Jon+Miller.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> photo by jon miller</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPY4JTFKoTq6oxo5pM0e7z_YMMlsyEcc6CSRPiOcvIR_gIha_nzzSehdpe6r7ciPR9vddVrwMM25-HMb-b_KsyE90IHS0Cg3JrOM-WKgwWmeEOpRzVo2N4wczszAEhioLgGQN8IiV6Ps/s1600/farnsworth+by+tigerhill+studio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPY4JTFKoTq6oxo5pM0e7z_YMMlsyEcc6CSRPiOcvIR_gIha_nzzSehdpe6r7ciPR9vddVrwMM25-HMb-b_KsyE90IHS0Cg3JrOM-WKgwWmeEOpRzVo2N4wczszAEhioLgGQN8IiV6Ps/s400/farnsworth+by+tigerhill+studio.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">photo by tigerhill studio</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Farnsworth House: <a href="http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/">http://www.farnsworthhouse.org/</a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-117249931939059252010-08-16T20:52:00.000-07:002012-02-14T13:07:36.124-08:00random thoughts and quotes on art...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHFktbfPk9U0n_B9eRDP4n1F2RwpO6z_NPRW4nC5JaYbRc5T_mXIIqBtgdf60qtm3DZxRpTZdBN-uzd4ivIcX2S4UHKNmq6yvYSfi3fYMC4cEo_z_z4xyZVfieD65GBxljwgEp2Pn-FqU/s1600/P1200716.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" px="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHFktbfPk9U0n_B9eRDP4n1F2RwpO6z_NPRW4nC5JaYbRc5T_mXIIqBtgdf60qtm3DZxRpTZdBN-uzd4ivIcX2S4UHKNmq6yvYSfi3fYMC4cEo_z_z4xyZVfieD65GBxljwgEp2Pn-FqU/s400/P1200716.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br />
"Push yourself... break boundaries, barriers, change the medium, the setting, the everything that you are used to and comfortable with." (Tricia VanEck, MCA)<br />
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<div>"Transfer your world to the viewer, while keeping your world intact, but also decoding it for the viewer with no clue about your world." (Tricia VanEck, MCA)</div><br />
If artist is not suffering anymore, does that affect his/her creativity?<br />
<div>Someone said artist suffering and working hard "builds character" for them.</div><br />
What is the Muse in art? is that inspiration or more or different?<br />
<br />
<div>Business of art. Why some make it and some don't? Does it matter or it is really if you have to create that you will create? and that is 'making it'.</div><br />
Explaining art works... statements... why? b/c it creates longevity? basis? doesn't this fall under the same art vs. artist question.<br />
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<div>What is Iranian art? having Iranian elements? talking of Iranian issues? what is an Iranian issue? </div><br />
<div>"these people took risks and that showed me the value of taking risks- of putting yourself on the line." Zaha Hadid about the AA in London.</div><br />
from "Beautiful Losers" (Aaron Rose, 2008, USA, 90 min):<br />
<div>"If you are not dispossessed, why make art”<br />
Lawless art, art without rules.<br />
Show work and ask audience to come in my world.<br />
I am exercising a lot of things I didn’t get to say before.<br />
“love is worth it”<br />
I went to art school to dis-art<br />
Role of art is…<br />
Chaos…<br />
<br />
The role of rebellion, setting free, de-tabooing in my work?<br />
how about the role of death? Nostalgia? why do I work with old photos?<br />
How about the contrast of old and modern? is that to do with the dualities of tradition and modernity?<br />
why the obsession with boxes? <br />
why the obsession with documentation?<br />
<br />
"I used to say I want the audience to say that is Steve’s but now I want them to say it is ‘mine’. It is almost like a duty to tell your story and to preserve your vision." (from Beautiful Losers)</div><div><br />
"Art is not to give answers but to ask questions." (forgot who said that, maybe Christian Boltansky)<br />
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Qs? the social and political responsibility of art. Art as a subversive tool. Artists' responsibility.<br />
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"The artist took risks, it dared to be misunderstood, to be "ugly'" (forgot who, maybe Orozco).<br />
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"The relationship is only between myself and the painting: that’s what you’re looking at. I have really dismissed the idea of anything else. I’ve dismissed the idea of objectivity. It’s very exhilarating intellectually; it turns my attention to how I can expand my mind through painting and into the painting. I feel in equilibrium with the forces of nature, which are so strong." <br />
<br />
"For me the paintings are about awareness and openness. The possibility of awareness is like a ghost, or a constant mourning, something that will never come. I know that my work shows love and sadness and human suffering: mine. In a sense the paintings offer both suffering and companionship to suffering."<br />
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<br />
"The context of those paintings—they were mainly used in installations—allowed them to be dark, to be for the mind and brain, and allowed them protection in that sense. Objects come as part of a composition. There is tension; the relations between the object, the paint, the surface, all that. The paintings with objects are very clearly concerned with geometry. Math is a way to calculate unknown distances or relations that are inconceivable in other ways. Geometry is an intuitive, sensorial language." <br />
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<br />
"My paintings are concentration, rather than a search. They’re more of an expansion, and so less aggressive in that way. They are a form of concentration at first, and then they eventually become a painting that has a kind of subject."<br />
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<br />
"A painting is a way to isolate something. As if it were in its own desert. Even the separation in time that painting affords, returning to it again and again. During that time, my focus changes, and I can allow that into the painting quite easily. I find that tangential relations are possible: changes in awareness and direction that the painting itself brings about in me. This is an open relation, an object relation which is intimate and full of conflict. Closed and open relations are something which I’m aware of in my work in general. Brutalities and softness—not as a look, but as a manner in which something is mutually affecting. Production is aggressive."<br />
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<br />
(Cathy Wilkes and Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson: A Conversation -- <a href="http://www.aspenartmuseum.org/archive_wilkes_zuckerman_jacobson_conv.html">http://www.aspenartmuseum.org/archive_wilkes_zuckerman_jacobson_conv.html</a>) <br />
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</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-49193927981801757102010-07-26T20:46:00.000-07:002010-08-12T14:16:40.033-07:00In-iby Juliette Binoche + Akram Khan<br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWp2UFm38Lo&feature=related"><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KWp2UFm38Lo&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KWp2UFm38Lo&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></a><br />
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"in our lives, we have to descend into the bottom of ourselves in order to resurrect, otherwise how do we gain real love and real awareness? it comes from real exploration of our emotions and body."<br />
<br />
"if you get stuck with emotions, you are a prisoner, but if you use it as a tool to go to another level of awareness then it is magnificent."<br />
<br />
"when two people love each other, the other one helps you push your limits, push through yourself to go to your edge emotionally."<br />
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"love is a process, a learning, a risk, a will, but it is a let it happen too."<br />
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<object height="385" width="640"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/VhSHLZzuWRE&hl=en_US&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/VhSHLZzuWRE&hl=en_US&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-65159455395489710522010-05-06T13:03:00.000-07:002010-05-07T09:53:53.424-07:00a little self promotion!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZEoOQ2NMPmyzLYXFK_6247vBbe_ktzPpAvl6lDODbKEmZnwf8eHkE1gfzWyn9npWGNlQu-DACVh4cGvYsmProCjyrssJiiPqpgfjpPz4UW5qPf5okbTDjaiZiDA-jb9F9SHvdg0JYCc/s1600/AvishehMohsenin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGZEoOQ2NMPmyzLYXFK_6247vBbe_ktzPpAvl6lDODbKEmZnwf8eHkE1gfzWyn9npWGNlQu-DACVh4cGvYsmProCjyrssJiiPqpgfjpPz4UW5qPf5okbTDjaiZiDA-jb9F9SHvdg0JYCc/s400/AvishehMohsenin.jpg" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">[Interview by Factio Magazine and FigPhoto @ Creative Lounge Chicago, April 2010]</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">*Photo by Brian Carey, video by Tim Musho, figphoto.net</span></div><br />
<strong>Artist Avisheh Mohsenin</strong><br />
Born in France, Mohsenin moved to Iran while growing up and later moved to the U.S. for graduate school. She is a co-founder of Pasfarda Arts & Cultural Exchange, an organization that promotes global exchange of arts and culture. Mohsenin creates imagery to stimulate imagination and to lead viewers into questioning their own notions of time and space in their personal environment. Throughout her work duality is used as a major element. - Brittany Berryman <br />
<em><span style="font-size: x-small;">*Photo by Brian Carey, video by Tim Musho, figphoto.net</span></em><br />
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<object height="225" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11369406&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=11369406&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="225"></embed></object><br />
<a href="http://vimeo.com/11369406">Factio Magazine 2010 - Avisheh Mohsenin Interview</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/figfilms">Fig Media</a> on <a href="http://vimeo.com/">Vimeo</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-1369156539788771342010-04-13T21:24:00.000-07:002011-09-03T14:05:20.752-07:00"bahok" -- what are you carrying?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><strong><span closure_uid_hza1fr="140" style="color: purple;">who are we? what we take with us when we move through the world? through life?</span> </strong><br />
<br />
<div closure_uid_hza1fr="142">Today is April 13, the day my father left us in the physical world. Eulogies and praises still come four years later. I asked myself earlier today what these influences were that he left so prominently on people and why was he capable of putting such lasting marks on people's lives and personalities? Does everybody have that capacity, that capability?</div><br />
Akram Khan, acclaimed contemporary choreographer, named one of his productions "bahok", a Bengali word that means "carrier". I stumbled upon the trailer and beautiful dances by chance and it just hit the right spot. He asks in his performance "what are you carrying?" My interpretation is that each human carries a set of characteristics and qualities and choices that they make on how to live their lives and how to view their journey and how to relate to others.<br />
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Papa was the 'bahok' of: inspiration and pushing people to the higher of their potentials. He did this through being extra-ordinary; sharing and giving instead of taking; forgiving and letting go; being ambitious not only for the goal but also for the process; seeing the good in everything and everyone; living life fully in every second; pushing oneself and seeing no limits and at the same time not losing sight of the present, the core, the simple and the real; not taking life or oneself too seriousely, yet never compromising for one's values and ideas; a fighter but only through peace, negotiation and logic; having a lot of respect for the human soul; and always being able to laugh or smile.<br />
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People wrote us today: "he is my role model, missing him so much."; "he will always remain as a precious building blocks in who I am today and this will stay with me as long as I am around."; "I owe so much of who I am and how I am today to him. Wish he'd stick around some more... he is present in my heart and soul especially every time I stand on a mountain top."; "best man, best friend, he is really missed."; "I'm so proud to have known him."; "You can't imagine how much Doc-Mohs meant and means to me. He was definitely one of the most influential people in my life."; "Amou Mohsen would create this ambition in you while not leting you take yourself too seriously. He had a good eye and he observed well and treated everyone accordingly."; and<br />
"I miss him a lot more than what anyone can imagine."<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEULT6BgxbP5DUI1MhiBlulp-9fhDovE7A6d1x0t0x-NiMNzFoqsDee81KLKsQPUyXofIvltw2gsfEHhlBGAMUYgZurBQB__Pu8WBjKHh005TCmNyZGLfO1w2bJ1cIByfb7fiWooeRp3Y/s1600/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8879e61970b-500wi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEULT6BgxbP5DUI1MhiBlulp-9fhDovE7A6d1x0t0x-NiMNzFoqsDee81KLKsQPUyXofIvltw2gsfEHhlBGAMUYgZurBQB__Pu8WBjKHh005TCmNyZGLfO1w2bJ1cIByfb7fiWooeRp3Y/s400/6a00d8341c630a53ef0120a8879e61970b-500wi.jpg" width="400" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">akram khan dance company, bahok, 2009</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: x-small;">** Bahok by Akram Khan Company, 2010 @ MCA Chicago: </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6yfrOuaFnA"><span style="font-size: x-small;">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6yfrOuaFnA</span></a></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-49199797257680680912010-03-08T10:15:00.000-08:002013-06-06T13:48:30.982-07:00internatinal women's day 03.08.10<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #666666;"><b>International Women's Day</b>, 2010 | <b>Chicago Art Department</b> | 1837 S. Halsted, Chicago, IL 60608 | 6-10 PM - Multi-media group show | Live performance | <a href="http://www.chicagartdepartment.org/">http://www.chicagartdepartment.org/</a></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfeu_HKfZ3COlc3m7hweAJCz9uMDuuiau2O0g6iejmHBf2l_SsAvHny_KUUM0_8QiJvAc1txtJumjfFX9JpIECQgIcIStFTZnFmSTXVQM-vWHjb1slfPwevtID75gIUIXAt78bRHVs4/s1600-h/Her+Story_Avisheh+Mohsenin_mixedmedia-photocollage-2010_s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="cssfloat: left; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsRfeu_HKfZ3COlc3m7hweAJCz9uMDuuiau2O0g6iejmHBf2l_SsAvHny_KUUM0_8QiJvAc1txtJumjfFX9JpIECQgIcIStFTZnFmSTXVQM-vWHjb1slfPwevtID75gIUIXAt78bRHVs4/s400/Her+Story_Avisheh+Mohsenin_mixedmedia-photocollage-2010_s.jpg" vt="true" width="400" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><b>her story</b> - <i>work in progress</i> - photo collage & mixed media - avisheh mohsenin 2010</span></div>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is the middle of a night in 1983;
the sirens go on, it is a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">‘<span style="color: red;">red</span>’</b> one announcing that bombers are approaching
Tehran. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to wake up and take
refuge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom comes and nicely tries to wake
us up, we resist, we like the adrenaline rush, we don’t comprehend what dying
under rubbles means, we like her close by; we are 7 and 9.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She pulls me and my sister out of our beds
and we join the neighbors under the staircases, in the refuge. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is fear, there is uncertainty and
anticipation, crying, prayers, mumbling, and a lot of closeness waiting for
fate to make its passage. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom consoles
the scared ones until the ‘white’ sirens allow us to go back.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is the first Saturday of the month
in 1984, time to visit Dad in prison. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom
drives us and grandma to the suburbs where the jail is, in the middle of an
arid land, behind gray tall walls, with a lot of families outside,
waiting.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is anticipation of
whether a visit would be granted or not; how the prisoner looks like and feels like
this time around; do they have a sentence yet? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We make
friends, we missed school. It is fun. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
play. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom waits in lines for hours along
with other wives and mothers of political prisoners.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We finally get in to the other side of the
walls. Waiting again behind an ugly metal for our names to be called. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Mohsenin Family. Next.’ <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We stand up, before going in, Mom stops us and
says: ‘pull your shirt’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">red</span></b> sleeves and roll it over the gray sleeves.” We
are in our gray uniforms matching the Islamic scarves. ‘Let him see some color,’
Mom says. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We go in, Dad behind the glass
windows, we both pick up the phone receivers to talk.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>‘Nice shirts girls, you look good in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">red</span></b>!’ says
Dad.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It is March 19<sup>th</sup>, Mom is
still not home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We worry about Nowruz (Persian
New Year) and not having something new to wear. How sacrilege, how unprecedented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can she work so late when we don’t have
anything new for the new year? Where is she? We go to bed looking at the new
shiny black shoes that don’t have a dress to go with.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We wake up in the morning. Worried. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Roll out of bed and there they are, two beautifully
sown <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">red</span></b>
dresses, customized, lovely, and brand new. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom stayed up all night to finish them after
she got back from work, late.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 12pt;">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Middle school. All girls. Dark blue
uniforms with matching scarves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ugly but
agile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nazi Principals and Superintendents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Random bag searches.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mandatory fasting during Ramadan. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Pop quiz on religion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Also laughter, running around, youth,
playfulness, smuggled Michael Jackson and Madonna tapes, photos of American pop
stars, love notes, dirty jokes, giggles, innocence at the intersection of
adolescence. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One morning, I get singled
out of the line and called into the Principal’s office. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are you a boy? No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Is here a campsite? No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Are we hiking? No.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So why are you carrying a backpack? a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">red</span></b> one,
no less!? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Next day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom comes in, with a hat of logic and an intent
of educating via communicating.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She
talks to the Principal for a while behind closed doors explaining that an 11
year old girl can use a backpack and that it means absolutely nothing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Principal responding that it is Westernized,
it is boyish, it is not feminine and that she searches her daughter’s schoolbag
every night after the 13 year old goes to bed, suggesting my mother does the
same! Whatever else was said during this ‘1984’ discussion, the result was that
my sister and I got to keep our red backpacks that year, and half of the school
started carrying backpacks the following year. Mom wins. We win. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="color: red;">Red</span></b>
backpacks win.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><i><span style="font-size: 12pt;">It
is sometimes between 1982-1984. Dad is in Khomeini’s political prison. After a
year of monthly visits, they grant us a ‘family visit’ to spend the night in
prison with him. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom starts packing for
this one-in-a-lifetime opportunity. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Without saying it, everyone fears that this
might be the last time we all touch him, it might indeed be why such a visit is
granted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is excitement
anyway.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A one-on-one visit, without the
glass separation and talking via phones on both sides, without a limit that
cuts your conversation abruptly in the middle, without dragging your hands on
the glass to feel like you are touching him, without the visitors moving away
from the
glasses and out of the room, with their heads 180 degrees turned back as the
inmates line up on the other side going the opposite way, with their heads at
180 degrees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mom starts packing. I am
happy for her. I have probably heard about love making, or a version of it
perhaps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As she packs our bags and hers,
she drops a pack of feminine hygiene pads into hers and says out loud: ‘so that
they know it is not all about sex.’ As if she feels this visit is an act of
pitying or teasing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She doesn’t have her
period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She doesn’t get them anymore.
She stopped at age 37 because of the shock of her husband not coming home one
day and her having to go claim him at the local jail. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Or maybe she stopped getting her period -20
years before it was due- the day that her friend she had made in lines at the
prison called with a shaky voice. ‘They just called. They want me there. Will
you please go with me?’ They went, and all they got, was a pack of the woman’s
husband’s clothes, thrown at her without any explanations. He was
executed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My mom had to collect her and
her pile of clothes from the ground and take her back to her house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Maybe they both stopped having their periods
that day. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She at 28, my mother at 38.</span></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">These stories and alike
have fascinated me with the life of my mother as the woman, the mother, the
worker, the wife, the political prisoner’s family, the daughter, the poetess, the
teacher, the lover, the feminist, the friend, the sister, and the artist. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I saw glimpses of each one of these characteristics
as we grew up but I still do not grasp fully everything that she was. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have reached an age that I remember her
vividly when she was my age and I keep asking myself, how did she do it all? What
went on in her heart and in her mind? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What would she do differently? What were her
frustrations? her fantasies? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And most
importantly how did she manage do all she did so delicately, so smoothly in
such a dark and hard era in Iran. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">I have started an ongoing
project discovering my mother and her journey as a woman. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>She taught me and my sister to be independent,
proud women, strong but loving, fierce but soft, ambitious but balanced, and
never to be a victim. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I would like to
discover how, and as I do so I would like to create a series that pays homage
to her and all that she is about.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
</div>
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</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlc2io3QQyUvQz6h_22ou5kN-JwE6wksUSuqFGga28YdBp_TiubtuunGhWRZbH2Dvy-ku-mrHP386f4NKLUwtAN3fKOQ28GJyAFbMMHKIbzjfeizFubCYZwxNZhyphenhyphenWk_3XynAjgSHdw2E/s1600-h/P1220714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVlc2io3QQyUvQz6h_22ou5kN-JwE6wksUSuqFGga28YdBp_TiubtuunGhWRZbH2Dvy-ku-mrHP386f4NKLUwtAN3fKOQ28GJyAFbMMHKIbzjfeizFubCYZwxNZhyphenhyphenWk_3XynAjgSHdw2E/s320/P1220714.JPG" vt="true" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLniHyMsAZsSdJWJTH38wIk812mbck8O-ahZ69BKd5oIHnXtdDgHklhytq13_GUFb6y-exgGgvsYrXfziyd8ukF5B70kQdMZ9VPQ-CdU4O03OG5DcWscYyhpD2ylM50Or-a7fCTWwrIC4/s1600-h/P1220515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLniHyMsAZsSdJWJTH38wIk812mbck8O-ahZ69BKd5oIHnXtdDgHklhytq13_GUFb6y-exgGgvsYrXfziyd8ukF5B70kQdMZ9VPQ-CdU4O03OG5DcWscYyhpD2ylM50Or-a7fCTWwrIC4/s320/P1220515.JPG" vt="true" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">installation view: <b>her story</b> - <i>work in progress</i> - photo collage & mixed media - avisheh mohsenin 2010</span><br />
<br />
</div>
</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-89338524353751898112009-12-16T15:47:00.001-08:002010-05-07T11:15:17.046-07:00Can you split the act from the actor?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf3hzubAB6I_SyjBntlx_bU3eYwnW-kOTBfWPBxrxEbQlCpZcbyaMhgQylCCrikxjHlaUb8SfQPMBWXRUxkujAOu18Jt0hWn3T8BxvtT0GIvV-4I0glM7uEKmvtKW7bDA3vBwSmfmHXk/s1600/P1200519.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaf3hzubAB6I_SyjBntlx_bU3eYwnW-kOTBfWPBxrxEbQlCpZcbyaMhgQylCCrikxjHlaUb8SfQPMBWXRUxkujAOu18Jt0hWn3T8BxvtT0GIvV-4I0glM7uEKmvtKW7bDA3vBwSmfmHXk/s400/P1200519.JPG" tt="true" width="400" /></a></div><br />
</div><div align="left">This is about judging an act beyond the intertwining relationship of the person and their act.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Can you objectively value what someone does or say purely based on that and without asking about the doer? I don't mean the intentions of the person, but who they are? their <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">socio</span>-economic and <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">demographic</span> attributes? their personal, emotional and life stories?</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">I had a discussion over a letter written from one acclaimed international figure to another one, that I found to be unintelligent and not well-delivered. I formed an opinion based on the content and tone of the letter, and ignored who was on each side of the letter. People opposing my opinion, focused on the status, experience, fame, and characteristics of each individual, such as their sensitivity levels, their life suffering, etc., and valued and viewed the letter very differently than how I did.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">This is very interesting as it can be manifested in many forms. For example, the artist and their work of art have a very intimate relationship but conventional wisdom suggests that works of art should be evaluated based on the work and not who the artist is. On the other hand, in the legal system, the actions of individuals are evaluated based on the harm they purport on others and the society, but in assessing a punishment, the perpetrator is evaluated as well. Anything that can justify why the bad act took place eases the judgment and the sentence.</div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">We can see similar situation in politics, in relationships (both personal and professional), and in business. Is this a cultural issue where some culutres tend to mix the two more than others? If so is one way superior to the other? and should we try to become 'person-blind' when it comes to our judging an act, a thought, a work of art, a policy, a word, and an idea?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-77497238362569328802009-12-02T11:15:00.000-08:002010-04-16T13:16:16.302-07:00"Intelligence is really a kind of taste ...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ORaLiDF6sNF_5NULUCM0Cvv8GBTnDI3CGL9DpsslbfSo9st_t_RZ7eXH-TgAfZIkg51Qe_O_CPRQ8YmGVSAFmN4SoucWWaZ27gKO1-zp8E7ihv8ku1DTK6pKwQW5JrESGn7rv84Zz2Q/s1600-h/Avisheh+Mohsenin_esghdanad.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="340" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-ORaLiDF6sNF_5NULUCM0Cvv8GBTnDI3CGL9DpsslbfSo9st_t_RZ7eXH-TgAfZIkg51Qe_O_CPRQ8YmGVSAFmN4SoucWWaZ27gKO1-zp8E7ihv8ku1DTK6pKwQW5JrESGn7rv84Zz2Q/s400/Avisheh+Mohsenin_esghdanad.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="color: #cc6600; font-size: 130%;">... a taste in ideas."</span><br />
<div><div><br />
<div></div><div>Taste and intelligence! two key characteristics that often play as bonds for relationships.</div><br />
<div>We tend to attract and be attracted to like-minded people, to those with the same curisosity, taste, and 'intelligence' as us, and is that done consciousely or not? maybe a mix of both.</div><div></div><br />
<div>What is 'intelligence' anyway? Susan Sontag thinks it is just "taste for ideas". I usually see it as having curiosity and judgment, not taking any answer as-is. To be able to see the abstract and to inquire and ask about facts, to see them from other angles and to always ask, <em>why</em>? There are numerous studies and school of thoughts on the definition of it, but is 'intelligence' something we can improve on? benchmark and thrive for a higher level of it?</div><br />
<div>And as we move up the 'intelligence' ladder, do we have to adjust our relationships with others accordingly?</div><br />
<div></div><br />
<div></div><div></div><div>* Quote by Susan Sontag.</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-8413287598868059412009-09-21T15:46:00.000-07:002011-01-23T19:53:50.273-08:00from the collage archives<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Just accessed old archives of my photos and works after years!<br />
These are my first collages. I was moving to France that summer and had a going-away week-end long party with a lot of friends flown from all over to see me before I leave.<br />
These were my goodbye gifts to them, a fragment of me so that they don't forget me. <br />
It is still fun! :)<br />
<br />
<br />
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</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-26961005695623784352009-05-16T11:52:00.000-07:002010-04-16T13:18:22.916-07:00دل به دل راه دارد<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsuFnWMNVOcWYryAbyHtHYYDJEH0Ff0Q9KVdETZMRAHPqycBsPW345j7ojM7Wy8GWET5q_MxItZSZSXnp3XIGyUW7NKGwL3FOaTYHqbxFMzvz-M86bm3FHcsSRTfqgpBAPH-7c3syPgqE/s1600-h/Avisheh_Mohsenin_del+be+del.jpg"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjYfQieQCWFLx0_62yAQcn2NyUMPs0WJVfzdPOVu-N9rCJfxptRjRVthlIUvQnIDWQpQyIWqlYGs6_Jum91IUwgGOdfu7GljCQ6c3wd4v9k93JRid3k1fdO2kDYUiAPBFhzsHWOi2FzI/s1600-h/Avisheh_Mohsenin_del+be+del.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWjYfQieQCWFLx0_62yAQcn2NyUMPs0WJVfzdPOVu-N9rCJfxptRjRVthlIUvQnIDWQpQyIWqlYGs6_Jum91IUwgGOdfu7GljCQ6c3wd4v9k93JRid3k1fdO2kDYUiAPBFhzsHWOi2FzI/s400/Avisheh_Mohsenin_del+be+del.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>I have always believed in the Persian quote "دل به دل راه دارد", "your heart is connected to my heart", which is used when one person thinks about the other person and finds out that they have also been thinking about them. It has always been true in my life, but today I experienced it once again and it confirms that it really is true. I had not thought about my cousin in a long time, and yesterday suddenly her thought knocked my mind. It really felt like that, suddenly, I think of her and tell myself to call her. Today in the mail I see I have a postcard from her. Did her thought knocked my mind's door at the very moment that the mailman left her card in my mailbox? eitherway, it is really cool.....<br />
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It brings me to think whether all the times that I have thought or dreamed intensly about my ex, he has also thought of me? I hope so.</div><br />
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<div></div><div>p.s: ironically this picture was taken in a post-breakup, recovery trip!</div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-60096717297624427772009-05-15T22:53:00.000-07:002010-04-16T13:18:32.990-07:00the tale of two cities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjodd0B6UiAWBY1J_K0SIz-xs8D4wA8sHaoSHYELQx8LM_H5zv5NG6ixAygasuoBqiRpruIxctfHe2n946WjO-6e1zy38KwrDub7wdHHKCAKUGdNTrjHDfMMRMM4k8ze7Qor_uteGKe8/s1600-h/Avisheh_Mohsenin_Malingah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcjodd0B6UiAWBY1J_K0SIz-xs8D4wA8sHaoSHYELQx8LM_H5zv5NG6ixAygasuoBqiRpruIxctfHe2n946WjO-6e1zy38KwrDub7wdHHKCAKUGdNTrjHDfMMRMM4k8ze7Qor_uteGKe8/s400/Avisheh_Mohsenin_Malingah.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>My uncle, an Iranian-American who has been living in the U.S. since his mid 20s told me after I came back from my first visit to Iran a while back, and after I shared my ambivalence and confusion of which place I belong to, that "<em>after a while, you don't belong to either of your hometowns, you just belong to two places, and you should embrace that</em>."<br />
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I didn't believe it then or decided not to. I thought it was being complacent and it was cheating. I thought it was not just and I tried hard to keep belonging to the old place. Eleven years later I finally have come to understand what my uncle meant by that statement and have gotten to a point where I look at it that way too. Instead of seeing it as a limiting, complacent, coward point of view, I see it as abundance, having choices, and more traveling!<br />
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It is also the first time that I have come to accept that I am an 'immigrant' and not just an 'ex-pat' and a person in transition. That by itself brings a lot of other choosing. What is the best place to live in? what are the things that you should be looking for in a place that you chose to live in? It is not anymore as if you were born somewhere and it was your destiny to live there and the pros and cons of the place were just part of the package. It is now more like you have a multitude of places to chose from and you can set, prioritize, and decide on the criteria that makes a specific place appealing to you. This indeed is a great, free and open ended field with a lot of questions and a lot of unknowns.....<br />
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The first day I walked on the lawn of the university I had moved to attend in the U.S., it was a sunny beautiful August day, students were walking around in colorful outfits, the sky was vast and reflected the freedom and independence that was thrown at me upon this move. I had the world in front of me. Nothing like the university days of Iran, with the scarf, the morale ladies checking your outfit and bags at the entrance, the constant fear of what not to do wrong, and the ultimate lack of freedom. What was surprising was that I didn't feel 'happier'.<br />
I told myself "هر جا که بروی آسمان همان رنگ است", which means, "every where you go the sky is the same color." </div><div></div><div></div><br />
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<div>Wherever you go, the sky is the same, it is what you make out of it that makes the difference.</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8949140302061152334.post-59996189547767409362009-05-14T19:25:00.000-07:002010-04-16T13:18:43.317-07:00"Art" and friendship<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gyUMjSiPg0WSq6YS0yfV3lRwffW6T_z-PcCht1vGfG1pDmryr5mM5La4l6bwrQNw9Sb0g59h0itioa_Lsw1pQPXFu-kXLV4jnXgfp4ZX5liFqrQxWQUKjo-6fLcOyadnnLnQUVnEXQU/s1600-h/Avisheh_Mohsenin_egoalterego.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" kt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gyUMjSiPg0WSq6YS0yfV3lRwffW6T_z-PcCht1vGfG1pDmryr5mM5La4l6bwrQNw9Sb0g59h0itioa_Lsw1pQPXFu-kXLV4jnXgfp4ZX5liFqrQxWQUKjo-6fLcOyadnnLnQUVnEXQU/s400/Avisheh_Mohsenin_egoalterego.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj9hiN6cXX723LUpqFWFyI1cZiYs1Dt0nJOBQQmDkHvtA1F55a3DyJppxORXv1I83uAGCuIUdgE9xwHah6NDjcQadhtDzuYRwtIGe0SenBfahfx_6OnWxcdgHJuFI8OKbhMns2TLo9bf4/s1600-h/egoalterego.jpg"></a><br />
I saw the play <em>Art</em> by Yasmina Reza last week. It is a neat story executed beautifully and actually less complex than I expected it to be. There is a lot of humour and many good lines in it. Three old friends go on a roller coaster of their friendship over the purchase of a very expensive minimalist white painting (a white canvas essentially) by one of them. The play starts on discussions of subjectivity of art and its value and very quickly moves to the psyche of friendship, and the battle of the egos.<br />
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The line that stood with me the most is "<em>do you love me because of who I am, or because of who you are</em>". In other words, in our friendships do we like the other person because of them, or because of how they make us feel about ourselves. Perhaps it is a mixture of both for many people. To me it is also the dance between the ego and the alter-ego; and aren't we all aiming to be our alter-egos eventually? Does this mean that a mature and complete friendship would be one where we love the other person for who they are and not necessarily for how they make us feel?<br />
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I had a clarifying conciliatory email exchange with a close friend today over a misunderstanding we had that we each in turn had hurt the other one. The misunderstanding was simple, I had said something in a tone that didn't sit well with my friend, and my friend had in return said something that did not sit well with me! Does that mean we are still not merged with our alter-egos and that our friendship is based on how we make each other feel? perhaps.<br />
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<em>Art </em>goes to a more radical place in the stirring of the friendship of these men where they actually question why they are friends, what keeps them together, and how they became friends in the first place. I personally believe in 'unconditional friendship' where there is no balance-sheets and where there is ample emotional generosity.<br />
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<em>Art</em> ends on another concept that I particularly ponder upon: perception is reality and does the truth really matter?<br />
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At the height of the friends' fighting over their friendship, Serge who has spent $40K on the white painting, asks Mark (the critic of the purchase and the piece) to draw on the painting with a marker. Mark draws a skier coming down a snowy hill. Later they 'find out' that the marker was erasable and so they erase the skier. Mark now connects to the white painting because 'the skier is an astronaut who has flown in the skies' by his interpretation. He never finds out about the fact that Serge knew about the erasable marker! Now is that Serge's genious to save the painting and the friendship or is that a lie? I think it is the 'white' lie that we should be allowed to say to whiten things up and keep friendships that are not yet based on the alter-egos thriving!<br />
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<span style="color: #333333;">More on Yasmina Reza and <em>Art</em>: <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/yasmina_reza/index.html">http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/yasmina_reza/index.html</a></span></div></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0