Category: creative thinking

creative thinking, In Vino Veritas, summer workshops

Live the Creative Life

BKL

Introducing Summer Creativity Workshop Series!

Monrovia, CA

I am super excited to be able to offer a series of creativity workshops this summer designed to help us deal with this chaotic, busy life and find connection. The last thing we feel is creative with all the demands of our post-modern world.  However, creativity is the tool that, when cultivated, offers us a sense of meaning and purpose.  Enhancing our natural creativity will ultimately allow us to be a better architect of our here and now, and help us find our way to harmony.

The first session is almost sold out! There are two spots left— check out the Insta post below for details. Check back here and on Insta in the upcoming weeks for new workshop announcements.

Session 1: In Vino Veritas: Wine, Whine & Write (5/31)– Only 2 spots left!

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxGYx5gBgqm/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
10 seconds to Zen, creative thinking, Poetry, random thoughts

What are you doing to save yourself today?

BKL

“The world is violent and mercurial — it will have its way with you. We are saved only by love — love for each other and the love that we pour into the art we feel compelled to share: being a parent; being a writer; being a painter; being a friend. We live in a perpetually burning building, and what we must save from it, all the time, is love.”  ~ Tennessee Williams

I have read this quote many a time before, but I don’t think I fully appreciated until now, the few short months before I turn half a century young (!). However, we won’t need to refer to my age beyond this point since I have decided that age is only one POV after-all.  Instead, I volley this quote out to you, my friends, as a point of reflection today.  Reflection.  How often do you reflect?  In my short life, I have found reflection to be integral to finding meaning and purpose in life.

I know that for myself, this Tennessee Williams quote rings as true and as pure as the characters he brought to life with his plays.  I still remember desperately attempting to use my research on A Streetcar Named Desire on my AP English exam, so inspired I was by his poignant work (it may have worked, but I am still traumatized by the Sylvia Plath poetic analysis of The Sow that dominated the exam.  No offense to the brilliance of the poet, of course.).

Creatives (artists, poets, playwrights, designers, musicians, etc) often have a way of striking the ore of truth.  I am going to save myself today by devouring the words of this genius playwright. It only takes 10 seconds to get down to the good stuff.  Hold your breath, and Love, love, love.  What will you do today?

10 seconds to Zen, creative thinking, daily draw, Poetry

10 Seconds to Zen (post 5)

BKL

Rhapsodomancy (in honor of National Poetry Month)

Go. Go now to your bookshelf (do you have one in your home or office? I sure hope so.).  Quickly glance at your books of poetry or literature, and pick the first one you find (no more than 5 seconds) Close your eyes (6).  Open the book to a random page (7). Open your eyes, and wherever they focus, read (8,9,10).  What hits you?  What word or phrase stuck with you?  Was there some magic or message for you?  Just this act alone can bring a sense of peace very quickly.  In 10 seconds. You might want to take more seconds, but the initial action to change the moment, the first ten seconds is the most important. You can change how you feel with ten seconds of effort.  Evolving your mindset gets easier with practice.

This practice of randomly picking a poetic passage and finding meaning is called: Rhapsodomancy. Besides being an awesome word, it was once a great poetry reading series run by a favorite writer of mine, Wendy Ortiz. Rhapsodomancy captures two of my loves: poetry and random magic.  I practice this kind of whimsical divination often; it is great for curing the blues.

Today’s 10 seconds–from the book I selected off my work shelf…

The Great Religions (by Hafiz)

the

Great religions are the

Ships,

Poets the life

Boats.

Every sane person I know has jumped

Overboard.

That is good for business

Isn’t it

Hafiz?

If you have never tried rhapsodomancy, try it today. It might just give you a little weekend peace!

creative thinking, daily draw, random thoughts

10 Seconds to Zen…

BKL

Ginger, Tumeric Tea

Peace finds us if we prepare the way for it.

Peace, or a sense of calm/Zen had always eluded me as a child and younger adult. I used to think finding it was going to be outside my skill set– reserved for the wiser, more patient folks. I always had hope though– and that may be why I never gave up the quest. Hope, I am told, is a very human trait (emotion?), and I believe hope is what allows us to be creative problem solvers. Without hope what is the point of moving forward? Hope is futuristic and revolutionary. Hope, creativity, and skill is what drives innovation forward. Hope is not fluffy as some might suggest. It is downright necessary, and the stuff of radical positivity– it is the superhero battling entropy.

However, I digress. Back to the original topic: Peace. It IS possible to find a sense of peace or Zen (whatever you wish to call it) if you train yourself to be accustomed to it. You don’t have to be a Buddhist. You don’t have to spend all day meditating or doing yoga. All you need is a dash of childish wonder, and the willingness to begin a routine. I am no yogi nor master teacher, but I have found some calm in this ferociously beautiful and sometimes crazy chaotic world. I would like to share how I got there with you in an upcoming series of posts.

I believe all you really need is 10 seconds and regular practice. What your grandmother told you may be right after all, “Count to ten before you say anything you regret.” Great sage advice. In our hyper fast paced world, 10 seconds is a long time. I wonder when we will begin to divide time into nanoseconds. I am fairly certain it’s possible. Because all things are possible.

Today, I found peace in the ten seconds it took me to breathe in the sweet aroma of the fresh brewed pot of my ginger, turmeric tea while sitting quietly watching the date palms sway in the spring breeze.  What peace will you find in your 10 seconds?

creative thinking, daily draw, random thoughts

Third Time is the Charm! 

BKL

First Batch, no recipe
Third batch, Recipe!

 

Our summer has been about adventures at home and locally. Swimming at friends’ or family’s homes, having (almost nightly) water balloon fights/competitions, playing (video) games at home and Dave and Buster’s – it has been a blast so far!

On one of the really hot, record busting, days last week, I decided I was going to try my hand at making popsicles with and for the kids.  Right.  Good fun. Check.  Low Cal (mostly). Check.  Ready, set, go!

The first batch (the orange ones above) tasted like mango smoothies.  Not terrible, but really not so popsicle-y.  My sons ate it out of duty (sigh).  We can’t have that.  I figured my problem was probably not following a recipe. Yep.  Well, my grandmother trained me to be creative in the kitchen.  This is a good thing when improvising with something you actually KNOW how to make.  This is not quite a good thing when you have never made it before.  So, round two I didn’t really use a true recipe and just poured root beer (my favorite popsicle flavor as a child) into the molds and froze them. The taste– excellent!  The presentation, not so much.  You kinda have to wait for the root beer to go flat.

What did I learn?  Use a recipe!  So round three (pictured on right above): Fudge popsicles from a recipe by Live Simply .  Excellent smooth results.  Presentation: Good. Flavor: Intense and very popsicle-y.  Success!  Next we plan to try a Dole Whip imitation popsicle recipe.  Can’t wait!

creative thinking, random thoughts

Summer Reading 2017 (Yay!)

BKL

IMG_0814.JPGThe pile of summer reads is here! I have been curating and choosing what I want to read for the last month or so, and now it is ready! This is just in time since I take vacation next week. Curl up. Lay out. Drink a summer beverage (most likely iced coffee). Read. Repeat.  I am looking forward to my self-education on Futurism. Thank you, Jane McGonigal, for sharing your syllabus online. I’m going to do my own research since I can’t make it to Stanford to take your class this summer! I have bought all the required reading. Can’t wait!

creative thinking, Poetry

Magic, naturally.

BKL

img_0259

It’s nearly the end of  National Poetry Month and today is World Book Day (yay!). Though I haven’t been a strong presence in my actual poetry community, I am trying to remain present in the online community.  I have been writing daily, and reading as much as time permits with my busy work-mom-life schedule.

So it is fitting that I am reviewing another poetry collection.  And I am over the moon excited about getting to do so!  This time, MAGIC WITH SKIN ON by Morgan Nikola-Wren is my latest dessert for poetry this month.

Decadent, a bit gothic, and filled with delectable moments of urban fantasy, Morgan’s writing atmosphere is complete and propels the story.  There is a whole world involved in the character’s need to make sense of and control the whimsy of her absent muse.  A tale told in seven acts, readers will devour it in less than two hours.

More than once, I was reminded of my favorite Lilith Saintcrow (fiction) series– Working for the Devil — the dark hues, the temptation the muse (or fallen angel), and the heroine’s quest to remember herself.  It is gritty and wonderful.  I highly recommend it for a fantasy escape into a chewy world in which the heroine finds enormous agency in a sea of doubt.  She magics herself into completeness; threads the muse into her body. They become one as she powers forward into a world of word-bliss.

I have always been a fan of genre crossing and mixed forms of art.  This collection is like that — it can be read as a collection of stand alone poems, but it is really a complete story. It drives the reader all the way to the end.  When I read poetry collections, it is common for me to jump around and bop in and out of place with the poet.  Here, I was bound to stay on track and read through.  But at the end of the journey, I find that reading it backwards also has its pleasures.

So many of Morgan’s lines are bite-sized and perfect.  The toothy-ness of her story is worthy of adorning coffee houses, and home-offices for writers and others to draw inspiration.  My own wall beyond the computer screen now boasts this, my favorite line, “tonight,/i say we host/a dinner party for our demons” .   Yes, let’s.  They have been eating me alive for years, but I never thought, perhaps if I invited them to dinner, we could be friends.

Morgan’s collection gleams with the kind of magic that heals our (very) human, messy lives.  A fitting read for our time/s.  Brava!

 

creative thinking, random thoughts

As they Say, It’s the Journey…

BKL

Driving Through Zion
Driving Through Zion

1789 Miles round trip.  Kind of like a Revolution.

Temperatures ranging from 62-118 degrees depending on day, location, and summer weather patterns.

Locations mostly devoid of buzzing and thrumming.  So unlike urban sprawl.

Opposites attract.

The journey breaks you open and causes juxtaposition. It is in this dissonance that it is possible to see yourself as having lived a different life.  The possibilities open like clams in broth wanting to give over themselves to the steam and heat of transformation.  A whole new self evolves along the drive.

I highly recommend it.

🙂

creative thinking

Summer Reading List 2013

BKL

IMG_1050

It’s July already.  I am on a vacation of sorts that includes tutoring a high school freshman as he works through his summer reading.   This summer a lot of what I am reading will be for others.  However, I love reading so no matter.  The first on my list is PURELY for pleasure:

  1. The Black Count by Tom Reiss (as pictured above)
  2. Assassination Vacation by Sarah Vowell (finishing this from last summer)
  3. Rockaway by Tara Ison (hooray!)
  4. Learning from Lincoln (bet you can’t tell this is for work)
  5. Life of Pi by Yann Martel
  6. John Adams by David McCullough (finish from last summer)
  7. The Martian Chronicles by Bradbury (re-read)
  8. My Notorious Gentleman by Gaelen Foley (Regency Romance)
  9. How Poetry Saved My Life by Amber Dawn
  10. Assorted poetry to feed my soul
  11. Assorted journal articles for work
  12. Food magazines
  13. ?

My lucky number is 13.  If you read this and have a suggestion for a good summer read, please do comment.  I will read just about any genre and/or style.

creative thinking, daily draw, Poetry

Big Poetry Giveaway 2013

BKL

My Try Poetry Giveaway

Yes, It is NATIONAL POETRY MONTH! 🙂  I so love this month. Don’t get me wrong, I love many other months as well.  At the end of this April, however, I will be giving away TWO books of poetry.  I will ship them to the winners (selected by the random list generator at random.org) in the first week of May.  Come on, give a shout out to poetry!  It is one of the FEW balms that heals our sore souls as we journey this earth.  Check out the writers who started it all many years ago over at The Alchemist’s Kitchen (Kelli Russell-Agodon and Susan Rich) too!

To Enter: Post a comment at the end of this post with your email address and (first) name if you want to be included in the drawing for the poetry books.

The poetry books I am giving away:

autobiography_of_red

Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson:

She is a contemporary poet/writer I most admire and aspire to be like.  She takes ancient myth and makes it relevant for our times.  You have to chew her work and it may be a hard business, but in the end it’s quite satisfying.  I love the connection between classical stories and our times.  I believe that our ancient twins experienced the same emotional space as we do– just without our particular technological advances.  Though it should be noted that technology has always been faster than the emotional speed of humans.  We live at the edge our own comprehension and so did the ancients.  I think Anne Carson understands and takes advantage of this truth in her work.  She has just released a continuation to this story– Red doc>.

Blue Arc West: An Anthology of California Poets

books

What better than an anthology to whet your appetite for more poetry?!  I am a (southern) California poet and am proud to be included in this anthology along with some powerhouse poets from this sunny state.  If you enjoy collections and want to experience a kind of California mind this anthology may be for you.

Happy Reading!