REDONDOWRITER'S SACRED ORDINARY

Meet Aimee Bender: The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake

If you have not read Aimee Bender's best seller "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," I highly recommend it. Though I read it last year, I appreciate the book a lot more now that I've met Aimee Bender and heard her speak not only about the book and its characters, but her writing process in general. She teaches creative writing at USC and after hearing her speak, how I wish I could take her class. 

She was the featured speaker tonight at the Palos Verdes Library District's One Book, One Peninsula annual event and I had the pleasure of taking photos of her and members of the community prior to the event sponsored by the Peninsula Friends of the Library. Here are a few you might enjoy:

She is one of the most down-to-earth writers I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

Here she is with her fiancee Mark Miller--and a plate of? Lemon cake!

And here are the little lemon and chocolate cakes up close. Rose is the primary character in "The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake," and she has the blessing/curse of tasting the emotions of the person who cooks. The person who baked this batch must have been really happy. 

If you check the Peninsula Friends of the Library blog tomorrow, there will be a series of photos available to see, if you are interested.  

Please Meet Manon Elder and Kathryn Bridge: The Other Emily Exhibit at the Royal BC Museum

How often do we enjoy an art show, a book, a TV show, a film, but don’t take the time to thank the people who created these efforts? I certainly don’t do it often enough, I’ll admit. But, I did it today and imagine my surprise when the artist I e-mailed actually called me from Victoria, BC to tell me she appreciated  my thank you.

This is artist Manon Elder in a photo from her blog. The photo is credited to the Victoria News.

Here’s the story. In a few earlier posts I wrote about Canadian artist and author Emily Carr, who I knew nothing about until I visited Victoria, BC last month as part of a Road Scholar program. Two of the many activities we did were visiting the Emily Carr original family home—and the Royal BC Museum where a wonderful exhibit called The Other Emily is on display until Oct. 10. The Other Emily was curated by Kathryn Bridge, with artist Manon Elder painting her version of some of Emily Carr’s old photographs. She is called a realism portrait painter. I dropped each woman a congratulatory e-mail today saying how much I enjoyed the exhibit.

And now more about Emily Carr. I have almost finished a fictionalized version of Susan Vreeland’s "The Forest Lover" which is about a certain period in artist Emily Carr’s life and now I’m ready to launch into the actual journals that Emily Carr wrote later in her life. To my frustration, none of the local libraries have any of Carr’s journals, but I did check out a wonderful book from the PV Library called “Carr, O’Keeffe, Kahlo: Places of Their Own," written by Sharyn Rohlfsen Udall.

In our conversation today Manon told me that she doesn’t believe in coincidences and I don’t either. Both of us have a sense that we’ve just begun our electronic connection, or whatever  you may call it. Isn't the Internet a wondrous thing? I've had this happen a handful of times in my lifetime, a few before the Internet, the rest more currently. I have met most of the people on my long-time international writer's list over the years, as an example, and others from this blog including dear Ardi in Seattle who always takes time from her schedule to show me Washington sites when I'm up that way.

Can you tell I am enthusiastic about Emily Carr, Manon Elder and Kathryn Bridge? I'm hoping I can introduce them to you, too. And if you are anywhere near Vicgtoria, BC, I can't recommend the Other Emily exhibit enough.  

To whet your appetite, I thought you might enjoy this little video featuring Manon Elder that is on her website. I'm sure looking forward to getting to know her and her work better. 

 

Searching For Emily Trailer from Kristina Campbell on Vimeo.

 

 

 

 

Assessing Productivity in Retirement Years

On June 16, 2011 I wrote about equality of time at work and home in an entry called Equality of Time for Work and Home. I still work 20 hours per week at my school, but 10 months per year. During the glorious eight weeks off work in July and August, I'm forever at odds about squandering my time. I'll admit I'm doing a lot better about it this summer than I have the four years previous, but because I am a human doing, my self-satisfaction has a lot to do with my doingness. 

To my delight, I found some words that have helped me understand myself better in an article by Helen Dennis who writes The Successful Aging column for the South Bay Daily Breeze. Following are some excerpts and I'm curious whether any of you retirement age folks can resonate with Helen's words. If you want to see the whole article, just click on the link above. 

"For many of us, the need to feel productive is in our DNA. It's part of our spiritual and psychological core, and for good reason. We have been heavily influenced by the Puritan work ethic that emphasized hard work, making the most of our time, and responsibility for the well-being of everyone.

This is part of our American history, culture and values. It has worked well for us as a nation.

Frederick Taylor, a developer of management theories, introduced the term "productivity" at the turn of the last century. It was used as a measurement of labor, output and efficiency and as a major business determinant.

Productivity also has been defined as the power to produce - having generative power and being fruitful. Working folks typically have responded to this meaning by fulfilling the demands and expectations of their employers.

Performance reviews, salary increases and promotions - or just keeping your job - have given us clues that we are meeting some productivity goal. The specifics typically are set by management.

What does productivity mean in retirement, when the external criteria disappears? What does it mean in later life post-jobs and post-careers?

Our inner switch does not shut off just because we don't have a "real job" or because we are not earning a salary.

We may tell ourselves it is time to savor the pleasures of free time, yet many of us still experience that gnawing sense of guilt, a byproduct of not producing. Where then do we find the self-worth of being a 'productive American'?

Several women who are part of Project Renewment, a forum for career women to discuss issues related to their next chapter in life, shed some light on redefining what it means to be productive in retirement.

Productivity now implies accomplishing anything that is important, making a difference and working to benefit others," said one member. "It amounts to winding up with new kinds of products and outcomes."

These would include painting, acting and photography, producing an opera, or even cleaning a closet - although few of the women believed that "closet productivity" had any long-term value.

The Project Renewment women identified a shift - from believing external circumstances must somehow define how productive or useful a person is, to defining that value for oneself. They believe that nourishing one's soul can be a guilt-free experience."

Needless to say, I've clipped this article for my journal and all of a sudden I feel more confident about how I spend my time productively at home. I always feel productive when I'm being paid and making a difference and getting feed-back. Some of you commented last entry about this about simply being grateful and satisfied with simply smelling the roses. I know this intellectually; it's the productive American ethic in me that drives me sometimes. 

 

 

 

 

 

What does productivity mean in retirement, when the external criteria disappears? What does it mean in later life post-jobs and post-careers?

Our inner switch does not shut off just because we don't have a "real job" or because we are not earning a salary.

We may tell ourselves it is time to savor the pleasures of free time, yet many of us still experience that gnawing sense of guilt, a byproduct of not producing. Where then do we find the self-worth of being a "productive American"?

Several women who are part of Project Renewment, a forum for career women to discuss issues related to their next chapter in life, shed some light on redefining what it means to be productive in retirement.

"Productivity now implies accomplishing anything that is important, making a difference and working to benefit others," said one member. "It amounts to winding up with new kinds of products and outcomes."

These would include painting, acting and photography, producing an opera, or even cleaning a closet - although few of the women believed that "closet productivity" had any long-term value.

 

The Utter Enchantment of Mermaids Piques the Little Girl in Me Again

My friend Peggy, who has been writing in my ongoing journal group for 14+ years, periodically comes bearing gifts and sometimes even gently worn clothes. She is in a perpetual act of "clearing out" her home and I am always delighted to be the recipient. She and I have a lot in common and her taste is impeccable from my point of view whether she is re-gifting me or giving me newly purchased gifts. She was in the hospital during our Christmas writing group and last week she brought me a belated Christmas gift. Here it is:

The artist's name says Kim, but that's all and Peggy has been out of town so I haven't found out where she purchased this magical present. What is it about mermaids (and not mer-men) that make them the stuff of myths and fairy tales?

I Googled the Discovery Channel and got myself refreshed about mermaids.

Mermaids, sometimes also called sirens, are mythical creatures who supposedly live in the seas around the world. Their top half looks like a beautiful woman with long hair and from the waist down they have the body of a fish.

Sailors and fishermen have told stories of seeing mermaids for centuries; the first sightings were made in Assyria around 1000 BC. The popular image of a mermaid is sitting on a rock, admiring her beauty in a mirror.

Some mermaids were benevolent creatures, granting wishes to sailors who helped them. But to many seafarers seeing a mermaid meant bad luck, an omen of a storm or shipwreck. There are also tales of the mermaids' enchanting song enticing sailors onto rocks where their ships were smashed to pieces.

Stories, poetry and art featuring mermaids appear cross-culturally. In this month's issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors, columnist for The Artists Journey Loretta Benedetto Marvel, who also hosts the blog Pomegranates and Paper,  has a two-page article about art in a story about a mermaid's net. I haven't been able to "grab" the story because the magazine is just out in the stands, but I wish every one of you could read it. I can't stop thinking about it. It's like I'm a kid and I want to see Loretta's mermaid and the woman who introduced her to the mermaid. I hope you all subscribe to this magazine if you are interested in mixed media art, but if not, hang out at the magazine counter at your local bookstore and read Loretta's article clandestinely. It always appears toward the back of the magazine.

And Peggy, thanks again. I adore the colors and the form of the plate you gave me. Your mermaid, now mine, is prevalently displayed in my bedroom where I can see her all the time.

Dottie's Love/Grief Quilt Just for Mary Lou

Last Friday my friend Dottie hosted a small luncheon for a few of her gal pals, including me. Widowed almost 10 years ago, she got a small rescue dog last year named Maxie to keep her company and it has made such a huge difference in how she is feeling lately. There were five of us at the lunch; three women were widowed, I'm divorced, and one woman is still married. Our lives have been changing so much as we grow older but we raised kids together and we forget sometimes that we aren't spring chickens. 

I wrote about my friend Larry dying almost six months ago and his widow is Mary Lou. She and I are going to Israel together next Monday and all of us have witnessed Larry's long illness and her graciousness in caring for him. But, how she misses him. Dottie, who hosted the lunch last Friday, came up with the most perfect love/grief gift I've personally ever seen. On the day of the funeral she asked Mary Lou if she could have several of Larry's old shirts which Mary Lou gave her. Dottie made these pieces into a quilt. Here is Mary Lou in Larry's old chair she watches TV in with Dottie's quilt made out of Larry's shirts on her lap. 

Dottie asked what Larry's favorite color was and Mary Lou said black. The back side of the quilt is black and logos from old tee shirts from Larry's favorite teams and his favorite hometown restaurant in Ohio are stitched on the back. One of the quilt squares even has a pocket in it. 

Dottie, who is a multi-talented seamstress, artist, craftswoman, and miniature maker, is shown here with Maxie. Dottie said she made similar quilts for her own son Jackie, who died more than 25 years ago from spina bifida complications, and for her daughter Patty when Jack, Dottie's husband and Patty's dad, died. She even made a quilt for the Bishop of Chicago. Seems a woman in her church is the Bishop's brother and he frequently receives liturgical stoles for gifts--more than he can ever use. The sister, as a surprise, had Dottie make those stoles into a quilt. 

In 2008 I wrote about Dottie's love of making miniatures which you can read and see photos of at When Life is So Big Sometimes You Have to Make it Small. 

As I've written here before, my own mom was a quilter and I cherish the few that I have--and the one that my niece Rose made me for Christmas which I wrote about in Queen of Procrastination Down to the Wire on Christmas Eve.

When I was writing stories in my years of being a Director of Communications it was the features I liked the best. Can you tell?  

 

Who Do You Write Like?

Thanks to Rain at Rainy Day Thoughts, I received the link to “I Write Like.”

You can submit text from your blog or some of your fiction, poetry or other creative writing, and the writing analyzer tells you what writer you most write like. Like Rain, I decided to submit two pieces of my text feeling positive both entries would compare my writing to a woman's. Not so! I submitted an entry from a recent blog and a few paragraphs from a novel I started several years ago for Nanowrimo.

To my great surprise, my blog seems to be in the style of Bram Stoker.

I write like

Bram Stoker

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 Three paragraphs from Alexandra’s Time Capsule, yielded this result: 

 I write like

James Joyce

I Write Like by Mémoires, journal software. Analyze your writing!

 

I'm very surprised and suspect that if I kept going I might write like everybody who ever wrote. What's that old story about an infinite number of monkeys and typewriters?

So, who do you write like? 

Interested in Studying Jung's Red Book in Ojai in 2011?

I have been unable to find a local study group in the South Bay area of Los Angeles for Carl Jung's Red Book that I received as a Christmas gift last year. Imagine my delight to find that Theosophy's Krotona retreat center in Ojai will offer a Red Book weekend seminar next year. Dr. Stephan Hoeller, Bishop at the Ecclesia Gnostica Diocesan Center, Los Angeles, will be the speaker. A Google search brought multiple links on Dr. Hoeller's work. This article from the Los Angeles Times on Dr. Hoeller was also interesting. 

Stephan A Hoeller

CG Jung’s Red Book and Alchemy
April 29 – May 1
Weekend Seminar
Friday 7:30 – 9, Saturday 10 – noon, 2 – 4, Sunday 10 – noon 

As has recently come to light, after writing his Red Book, CG Jung was inspired to turn the majority of his insights from that book into the symbolic system of transformation known as alchemy. It was in this manner that the Red Book revelations, which he deemed too esoteric, were made available to the public. Dr Hoeller will give an exposition of Jung’s alchemical theories, showing their relationship to the content of Jung’s then still secret mystical book. Chinese and Western, as well as Arabic alchemy will be reviewed in the light of Jung’s now published Liber Novus(Red Book).  Weekend $35, Single session $10

Stephan A Hoeller, PhD, is a retired Professor of Comparative Religion who has been called the foremost representative of Gnosticism as a living religion today. Dr Hoeller has presented internationally for the Theosophical Society. He has published widely and authored several books, including The Gnostic Jung, Jung and the Lost Gospels, and Freedom: Alchemy for a Voluntary Society. He has presented 13 lectures in his series on the Red Book, available on line at www.gnosis.org.

 

Vintage Photo and Musings About Old Panama City 1928

One of the perks of being an archivist is that sometimes you trip across something that takes your breath away. Because I work for a private K-12 school celebrating its 75th anniversary, most of my archives consist of photos, negatives, personal papers of the founders and early teachers and school memorabilia over the years. I digitize as I go along. Though I find my work extremely absorbing (I love it!) and often tedious, it fits my personality because basically I'm a story teller.

This extremely worn photo was packed in a box of an early teaching couple's travels to Europe when they retired in the 1960s, letters and memorabilia regarding this trip, and some of her curriculum guides from the years she taught science. The European trip was a gift that the then parents gave to them. But, tucked in was this gem, obviously from a much earlier period. 

On the back it says, "Red Star Line Photo, made on S.S. Belgenland 1928 cruise and furnished without charge. Credit as above in captions will be appreciated." Handwritten on the back was, "Belgenland cars at ruins, Old Panama, Dec. 25, 1928."

Wow, my mind kicked into gear. Were they on their honeymoon trip? Also in the collection of the school are many old letters between the two from 1922-1925 when she was in college in New York and he was working as a news reporter in California.

But, more it was the cars that grabbed me. I don't know much about vintage cars but these cars look mighty appealing to me. The Panama Canal was completed in 1914 so this was undoubtedly an exciting venture as the S.S. Belgenland went through the locks.

On Central America.com it says, "About two miles from the center of Panama City are found the ruins of the first capital, known as Old Panama or Panama La Vieja, founded in 1519. Fragments of walls and arches stand in an open park, recalling the splendor of the Spaniard's first settlement on the Pacific Ocean. From here, expeditions were mounted to conquer the Inca Empire of South America. All of the wealth from Peru, Chile and California flowed to Spain through Old Panama Not surprisingly, the enormous quantities of gold attracted pirates like sharks to Panama's waters. When Henry Morgan looted the city in 1671, Panama's governor ordered the powder magazine burned and the whole city went up in flames. The capital was moved two miles to the west, and present-day Panama City was founded in 1673. The most impressive structures remaining are the cathedral, with a massive bell-tower, and the Bishop's House. In front of the ruins, alongside the ocean, is an artisan's market, full of native crafts, and a small restaurant with a fine view out to a bay where Spanish galleons and pirate ships once lifted sail."

Travel Images.com produced this modern photo of the same ruins. Ah, the romantic in me wishes I could travel back in time and see the history played out.

So, when you look at the photos and know the stories swirling around Panama La Vieja, what stirs in you?

Literary Life Highlight: Jules Feiffer at UCLA

Thanks to two of my girlfriends, I went to a lecture at UCLA this afternoon featuring cartoonist, playwright, screenwriter, and children's book author and illustrator Jules Feiffer. Now 81 years old, Jules has been working and improving in his creative arts for more than 50 years. 

Such a gracious man, he was cooperative, funny and friendly when I asked to take a photo of him before the lecture began. 

From his Village Voice editorial cartoons, to being the first cartoonist commissioned by The New York Times to create comic strips for Op-Ed page, and a writer and illustrator of children and young adult books, his The Man in the Ceiling will soon be a Broadway musical produced by Walt Disney. 

He has won a Pulitzer Prize and a George Polk Award for his cartoons; an Obie for his plays; an Academy Award for the animation of his cartoon satire, Unro; and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Writer's Guild of America and the National Cartoonist Society. 

He is at UCLA for three days--today speaking in the Frances Clarke Sayers Lecture series, and working directly with students in the school of education during the next two days. 

Here he is autographing copies of his newest book, his memoir Backing Into Forward.  He says it is about how persistent failure inspired him to reinvent himself as an artist over and over. 

And here is answering questions near where I was sitting including my own about the mediums he uses for his cartoons and illustrations. What a down-to-earth man he is and what a treat it was to hear him speak in person.  My own favorite book is The Phantom Tollbooth. If you know his work, what is your favorite? 

Art Journal: The Big Yellow House

 I "forced" myself to make an art journal page tonight as I have been procrastinating--a lot lately. 

I found a beat up old greeting card at an estate sale that had this house and the words I wrote. It so fit how I have felt this past year. 

How I used to be out and about in earlier years, but the past few years I've become a genuine homebody. I don't know if that is a Leo trait or not, or if it is just age, or contentment. It started when Cookie got so ill; I just hated to leave her. 

Those of you who know me well know how much I loved to spend time in retreat centers over the years. It was in those beautiful places that I re-found myself, wrote endlessly, hiked, prayed, and met and mingled in the evenings if the retreat wasn't silent. But, in earlier years, my house often had a few people or several people off and on in residence. 

Now Villa Redondo has become my retreat.

I'm back at work as of today and the last several weeks of the semester are always very busy ones. The weather warmed today, too, which lifts my mood by leaps and bounds. Even hearing the stories of my family and friends who are really struggling were easier to listen to and accept. 

I am not as tolerant of cold as I once was. The doc checked for thyroid imbalance last physical, but I'm OK. Again, probably aging.

And I did start my collaborative art work for my art group's (Redondo Beach Art Group) "International House of Pigs" project. I'll write more about that later.