Burried alive

If you erase bits of your past, and cut certain people out of your life completely, will it change things? Will the guilt go away? I am tired of secrets. Keeping them is destroying my relationships. I am desperate to delete the negative and work on myself for a while. All of this negative energy is wearing me down, making me tired, sick, depressed, dependent, cold. This isn't me.

"There's only one way back into the world, and that's to talk."

No, more lies or secrets. Just open honesty. I have to dig myself out of this hole and find the light again.

Project Earth

Michael Franti and Wookiefoot- "Rivers of Babylon"

This summer, Wookiefoot put together an amazing charity festival called Project Earth. It was a small, intimate event and only 1,000 tickets were sold. According to the website, "The intention of the festival was to co-create a community celebration with the event patrons. Primarily, Project Earth was an opportunity to camp together and fund raise for charitable causes. 100% of the profits for the festival went to help other communities around the globe from emergency relief, sustainability, to education and medicine. By taking the focus off the "main stage" and dividing the energy between numerous ambient performance spaces, and an atmosphere of intimate spontaneity unfolded. The idea was to focus hundreds of ticket purchasing participants to be involved in everything from prop building, theme camp design, workshop presentation, performance, family activities, promotions, clean up, etc."

The campground was divided into 7 spaces, representing the Chakras (bodies of wheel-like energy that permeate from certain points on the physical body, according to Indian medicine). The Chakras represented were Crown Chakra, Third Eye Chakra, Throat Chakra, Heart Chakra, Solar Plexus Chakra, Sacral Chakra, and Root Chakra, each representing certain themes.


This festival was an opportunity to "make art that is larger than that we can make as individuals." I really hope to be a part of this experience next summer!

Wookiefoot!

This was the most psychadelic, happy show I've ever been to! My friend Sean described it as Sublime on "Yo Gabba Gabba"...I think that description suits the group quite well. Haha! Their tribe was so positive and inspirational. They were extremely creative, positive, and had SO much love to share! Hoping to see them back in Lincoln again! :)

Another Day Almost Faded

Today was a good day.
It didn't begin that way.
The alarm clock screamed at me much to early,
ripping my lifeless body from the warm, cozy pile of blankets and boyfriend.
I guess lots of free booz and poker until 4 am was not the best idea.
I dressed, in the same clothes from the night before,
and went directly to school.
No make-up touch-ups, my hair was loose and tangled.
I was a pale-faced zombie with dark circles under my eyes,
fighting sleep during class.
It was pulling at my eyelids, ripping them shut.
It tried to paralyze my body.
I used what was left of my energy to try and take notes.
Looking at them now, none even make sense.
I guess that's what you get when you're narcoleptic in the first place
and get no sleep, ever.
I tried to fight it, but sleep always wins.
Eventually, it did.
It was a good day today because nothing happened. Nothing bad, nothing stressful.
I came home, leaped into my mound of red satin sheets,
and that's all I remember.
Until now.
Here I am, eating a bowl of pistacio-almond ice cream,
thinking about how sick I am, thinking that this day was a good one
because I slept through it.
When I sleep, I forget about everything for a while.
Alcohol, drugs, and sleep.
They put me in a coma and make the time pass, but I feel like I'm lacking wholesomeness.
Are those things really making me happier?
I need to get out in the sun and experience again.
This sedentary way of "life" is only going to furthur my depression.
There aren't too many 60 degree days in November.
Here's to self-reflection.
3:25 and it's finally time for my good day to really begin.

Far-out artist of the day: John Coulthart

I have discovered a new love: British designer, artist, writer, and illustrator John Coulthart. You can read his journals and check out all of his works at his website http://www.johncoulthart.com/. I'm particularly intrigued by his more psychadelic pieces such as his Alice in Wonderland interpretations and "Acid Mothers" and "Angel Passage". Very cool.

Inspiration: The Guerrilla Girls

Who are the Guerrilla Girls? The Guerrilla Girls are a group of active radical feminist women, who aim to expose the world to gender-based discrimination.

What started the "madness"? The group began in 1985, when a group of women attended the "International Survey of Painting and Sculpture" at New York City's Museum of Modern Art. The women were concerned that the museum was underrepresenting women artists. The numbers show just how correct they were. A whopping 5% of the artwork was done by women. 5%!!! Ironically, 85% of the nudes in the museum featured female models. The women began their feminist protests and have since continued to expand, all around the world. The women are now broken into three different groups that talk about more than just sexism. They focus on presenting awareness to the community on many kinds of discrimination, including racism and social injustice, through their posters, artwork, films, books, lectures, and theatrical prodctions, all while wearing gorilla masks.

The Guerrilla Girls are such an inspiration to me because of how their radical actions changed the art world. I'm very inspired to, when I feel like something is wrong, study it and find a way to do something about it. Whether it's while wearing a gorilla mask and creating funny posters with disturbing statistics to grab people's attention, you should always "stand up for what you believe in."