I disagree with the people who thought Van Gogh was a terrible artist and rejected his art while he was alive and painting. That wouldn’t be the definition of public figure, but the general public (I’m sure there were some public figures in there). Everyone in the art world was quite wrong. Well not everyone. He had a handful of supporters.

I don’t tend to look for how to disagree with people, public or otherwise. It’s never felt advantageous to me or peaceful to look for ways to disagree. Maybe when I was younger I did. Maybe I enjoyed the banter. Or feeling right. Or something.

Now a days, I try my best to understand. To find commonalities. or to acknowledge that everyone has differences of opinion, upbringing, cultural rules and norms, all of it. I can’t expect to truly understand or empathize most of the time, but I can step away and not throw my energy into disagreement.

Van Gogh is a great example of the future proving the masses wrong. You just never know

Or if you do, you might need a century or so to pass. In the meantime, I’ll likely keep my ignorance to myself. Sorry WP I’m not taking the bait..

Today I put together a query letter, PDF, and links to send to a publisher. I guess my career plan is to keep going.

I’m proud of myself for getting it done. I’m grateful for my friend Anne who found a publisher that sounds like a good match and IS taking unsolicited query letters. Most agencies and especially publishers say right away that they don’t, so this one detail is huge.

I saw Lily in Mean Girls. Some people loved this movie so much they made it into a play. For middle schoolers.

Perplexing.

Which community is ‘the’ community I wonder. My east coast yoga community is one I’m happily involved in. How am I involved? Well

I go often. I appreciate all the different instructors and the different classes that they teach and tell them. (because I sincerely do). I try to get to know as many others in my classes, as I can, by being friendly, smiling and listening.Yoga attracts a colorful array of people and since I’ll never really understand it, I’m always curious about everyone else’s ideas and views.

My west coast yoga community became something like family. After Covid closed our studio doors we kept our little community going with online class, distance walks and upbeat chats. We celebrated birthdays and equinox es. This community is still very important to me.

We have a neighborhood community that we are mostly new to here. I think just slowing down to chat and being friendly is a good place to start. Keeping the lawn mowed and the edges trimmed has been helpful. A neighbor actually stopped to thank me.

Every community has different ways to be helpful and appreciative. Once I did a neighborhood mural where I met alll kinds of people I didn’t know were neighbors. Sometimes, just being outside doing something is all it takes to be involved.

Today, I spent a little while watching a new dock being put in. Different neighbors stopped to watch and ask questions. It reminded me of the show Mr. Rogers a little. Large telephone pole size posts had to be sunk several feet into the sand under the water. Everyone was a little captivated by the barge and machinery that drove the posts in. Mr Roger’s had a segment called Picture Picture in which he showed filmclips of something being made. For example, one time we watched crayons being made.

I think Mr Roger’s Neighborhood was well named. Mr Rogers was always interested in and friendly towards everyone. Because he was interested, we were to. Even the littlest of my kids would sit and nod when he talked to the camera. He modeled community involvement best. I didn’t ever think of that then, but he did.

For one day and one day only, I would like to work on an organic farm. I imagine it’s A LOT of hard physical work.

In the 80s before organic was a known thing I joined an organic co-op. Even the other co-op members hardly knew what it was about. I loved going out there with my kids, picking vegetables and ‘volunteering’ in the early summer evenings. They played Mozart to the flourishing plants, so we would be surrounded in green beautiful bliss. It was an experimental thing and the farmers were all very passionate about making it work. Which it seemed to, but no one else seemed to be too interested. We were always the only people besides the tired, dirt caked farmers we ever saw at the farm.

Soociety has come a long way. Farmers markets are busy places now, and organic produce is everywhere. I know I only have an small inking about how hard it is for these small farms to grow plants without chemicals, but I thoroughly appreciate them. Vegetables taste better, it all feels so much healthier for allof us. I know there are controversial aspects now that money and regulation are involved, but I still salute the efforts of passionate small farm farmers and feel grateful for their efforts.

I have a question. Why does it matter? I noticed that someone took the opportunity to plug a popular shoe brand over and over. And over. What clever tech trick someone at that company used is more of a curiosity for me than reading about soap or toothpaste.

I get that ‘branding’ is important. I hear this often. I think it’s the clever branders who are going from no followers to making six figures while they sleep. Meanwhile I can’t seem to figure out how to brand myself, or how to recognize myself as a brand. Am I one? I couldn’t tell you.

There are so many more interesting questions I’d love to hear the answers to about brands and branding. This question feels like market research. Coke or Pepsi? Some personal preferences don’t matter to me, should they?

I like to get my creative advice from late artists. Not all of them are what one might call admirable in every part of life, but when I want to learn more about doing art I look no further than some of my favorites. I don’t ask with words because the advice I’m seeking is not worded. I’m looking to solve a puzzle about how to do something. I can’t often articulate my questions.. One time I was reading about dyslexia. The author who was dyslexic, explained that some people thought in pictures. Learning that not everyone thought in pictures, was a weird revelation for me. Afterwards I was obsessed and quizzed everyone I knew about how it was to think in words. I was a grownup with kids before I knew this.

I don’t know that I’ve ever been good at receiving advice. Rarely do I ask for it and I’ve never been a fan of it unsolicited. I like the brain process of reverse engineering. This has always been my best way to learn. I need to know the end product to stay focused. From letters of the alphabet to math facts, my need to understand why each step is important and where they lead has not always been helpful.

I just work with it though. Sure I was the last in my class to learn any of the building blocks of math or reading, but I got there. Now I read a lot. I don’t even think of my dyslexia as a problem so much as a different way to perceive

One time sceptical me went with my good friend to hear a guy named Michael Neil speak, I remember having low expectations, but then what he had to say got my attention. It had a strong element of simplicity and truth. Today I listened to him explain how thinking is a tool that our brains use. He told us he wasn’t going to tell us how to think, but instead point out that we use thinking in a variety of ways and that thinking is a gift.

Thinking is a tool gifted to us at birth. When used for the purpose it is intended,, we can create beautiful things. I like that. We all think differently. If our minds were a guitar or a paint brush, even if we were all musicians and artists, we would use these instruments differently. Used as intended art or music happens. Even a beginner will produce something art or music related. I don’t know. Something about that feels hopeful and good.