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4.20.2013
Walking the Walk.

So I've decided to get a bit more vocal about my thoughts.  I avoid talking politics, or my views on things, and will continue to do so, cause really we all have our own views and I respect what you believe just as I hope you do with me.  However there's one issue that generally flows into my artwork, sometimes into conversations, and is an issue that I think anyone reading this would agree with me about.  And that's STOPPING violence against women.  Kinda a no brainer... right?!  

So here's the dealio folks.  You see violence against women hasn't really gone down, not with all the campaigns and advocacy, it still happens.  Whether it's physical, emotional, mental, or sexual, it doesn't matter, we have to really start to look at this and see that it has to stop.  We as a society really need to start looking at what we are marketing, what we are teaching men, what we are teaching women.  Let's use someone like me, why at the age of 32 am I finally understanding that I am worthy of the greatest and most deserving of respect (mind you I have a minor in feminist philosophy) I'm a prime example of what society teaches us.  I come from a great family, have a college education, own my own business, but still fall into the place of thinking that in some ways I'll always be "second class".  Well the thing is I've come to realize is that there is no second class.  I've always preached that we are all equal and deserving, and so I'm kicking any of what our culture is teaching us to the curb and standing in that place of truly respecting myself and not allowing anything but that into my life.  I might sound a bit ticked off, but I think that if we truly want our society to change we have to get a bit ticked off.  

And we have to heal.  One of the main reasons I'm hosting art retreats such as Sugar & Spice in June (link here) is that I believe in creating art we can tell our stories and begin to heal the wounds from our past and truly step into our future of greatness!  As the years go on I want to host a yearly small schoolarship based retreat, for women coming out of abusive relationships.  To give them teh gift of healing so that they can then move forward and do their greatest life work.  I'm so excited to be stepping into my time of my great life work, and that I'm not longer just "talking the talk" I'm "walking the walk".  

Speaking of Walking... I'd love to invite anyone who lives in Port Townsend to come down on May 8th for the Walk a Mile in her shoes national event.  This is an event where men, around the country, literally walk a mile in her shoes, to stand up against violence towards women.  So if you are a man, find out if it's going on in your town.  In Port Townsend men gather at the US Bank and walk downtown, at 6pm on May 8th.  If you are a woman, please tell your spouse to go!  This is important!  And if you are a woman who lives here in town, I'm going to for the second year host anyone who wants to cheer the men on down at the gallery!  Feel free to bring a sign or a bottle of vino... 

TO learn more about the Walk a Mile event take a look at this link.  http://www.walkamileinhershoes.org/

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4.04.2013
Mid-west living... in a NW town.

Over the past 6 and a half years of living in Port Townsend, I've been able to slowly find the other former flat landers through the years.  We celebrate our heritage of casseroles, football (GO PACK GO!), and the all around wonderfulness of being from that lovely section located in the middle of the country.  Then there are days when you friend becomes your enemy, it's only for one day usually but it's when your teams play against each other, and there is an agreement that your friendship is put on hold for the next 4 hours. Such as the picture below.

Being from the Midwest takes having pride in your place of birth.  Sure we don't have the ocean, or mountains, or hills, but gosh darn it we have corn!  We have the Great Lakes, and they are great!  We have kindness and well we have competitiveness.  So whether it's watching a game and rooting for your team from the stadium seating couches your buddy built while eating cheese curds (some of us... okay me, should not watch football in public venues as I get a wee bit to into it...) to playing the card game of upbringing, we are known to get rather passionate.  

And there's one game that all of us grew up playing, you knew you were a big kid, when you began to learn the game of Euchre that all the adults played.  And they played and played and played at every family gathering, and you began to play in the evenings with your parents, you mastered the nuances, the strategy, and how to cheat or stack the deck.

It's a simple trump game where you call a suit (and you have a partner) jacks are the highest, jack of the same color is the second highest and then on down (that makes total sense right?!).  Each person takes a turn playing a care and trying to win the trick, you need to get 3 out of the 5.  

Here's the actual rules:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euchre

And while yes I'm writing about a simple card game, it's more than that.  It's how we stay connected with our roots.  Oh that and let out a lot aggression and yell a lot.  When it comes to euchre night every Tuesday at the Pourhouse, defeating everyone else is the major priority, and trash talking, yelling, throwing cards down, I might occasionally break out my Oprah voice, well that's just the bonus!  

And here you thought us Midwesterners were such a kind, simple people....

 

P.S. Sorry I don't have any pictures of Euchre night, but I lost a bunch of pictures when my phone died.

P.S.S. learn the rules and come down to join us!

 

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