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walk of hope

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YESTERDAY I RECEIVED AN EMAIL informing me that’d I’d won a design contest I’d entered in early December. The contest was put on by FirstLink and to promote National Suicide Prevention and the Walk of Hope, an annual event to raise suicide awareness, that will take place in Fargo this coming September 10.

I felt compelled to enter the contest not because I wanted to win an award or have my design distributed throughout the community, but because I have personally been affected and seen others close to me affected by suicide and want the world to see a better answer. Suicide brings a lot of grieving, pain and sadness that could be prevented through a conversation, a realization, or an awareness. The Walk of Hope is a cause I believe in, even if it can’t bring anyone back from the decisions they’ve made, it can change the future.
For the next few months I’m going to be working with FirstLink to get the word out about the Walk of Hope—and hopefully learn a thing or two along the way.
For more on the Walk of Hope, read this article from last year’s event.

shameless advertising

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C. really likes to make music, and he’s good at it. He’s got all sort of fancy gadgets and speakers and keyboards and programs that he uses to put together some pretty rad beats.


Recently he started a project called Skyscrapers, and has been slowly posting samples on the web (with some encouragement). He doesn’t sing (though he can) or get too poppy (but he could). Mostly just beats… or has he puts it, “dance beat oriented controlled chaos coldwaved sounds.” You know, something to groove to. Work to. Bob your head to. Throw your hands in the air!

Well, Skyscrapers has a website…and C. has a few demo clips to share with the world!


xx
j

of shutting down (and powering up)

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MY CANDLE IS NEARLY BURNT OUT, but I wanted to get in a few reflections before I call it a night.
A. For as hard as I’m (trying to) keep up with school, I’m working twice as hard keeping my cool. I really feel like I could perpetually crawl into my bed and eat Oreos, yank every single curl out of my little head, and just sleepandsleepandsleep. Just to keep sane. But there is a world out there that has many curiosities, and fortunately I feel compelled to greet them. You can’t do that in bed.

2. Is it too late to talk about the new year? I never really wrote the obligatory “What I learned in 2010 / What I’m looking forward to in 2011” post. Last year (2010) was better than 2009 in many ways (except 2009 brought my big bad visit to Europe, so that year will always hold my heart very dearly), but 2010 brought the same deal of growth and frustrations. I’m not going to get all sappy and reflect on my achievements and shortcomings, but I do know this much: Life is hard, move on! (Thank you, Alec Greven.) Which means a lot of things:

• Attempting to work out and take care of myself
• QUIT WORRYING. Wow.
• And again: QUIT WORRYING.
• Eating more Oreos
• Family first
• Watch more movies (this has been on my New Years Resolution list since 1999)
• Also, read more books…or read ONE BOOK at least (picture books do not count)
• BECOME PUNCTUAL = Allowing myself time to get places (or, actually arrive EARLY)
• Cooking more! New foods! COOKING NEW FOOD
• LESS STARBUCKS, MORE OTHER THINGS
• LEARN something new = take a dance/yoga class, start sewing and…
• MAKE MORE THINGS. Because Jesus knows, I can.
iii. I don’t write like I used to. I only write poetry when I’m in a poetry class, I only write creative nonfiction when I’m in an English class. Now I’m only in art classes and I forget about writing. I should really start writing more.
D. I eat at weird times. Is it normal to eat dinner at 12:30 a.m.? Or lunch at 4:30 p.m.?
5. I sleep hard. One benefit to being busy all day is I’ve had the best sleep! Nights when I’m not busy, I toss and turn for hours, really. The last week I’ve been sleeping like nobody’s business. Incredible.
…speaking of sleep, my candle is dangerously low…goodnight!

iN dA sTuDiO

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My studio space: where I spend a ton of time. A lot of times it acts as a coat rack while I work down in the sculpture studio space (where I can actually get messy), but my space is where a lot of my schtuff sleeps at night and comes alive during the day.
Just to give you an idea of the kind of chaos my life is in right now, here’s the space next to mine:
…and here’s where I occupy:
Finally, a teaser of what I’m working on. This is all you get! (PS, don’t let the cardboard fool you! I promise it won’t be kitschy!)


Back to work with me!
xx
j

Currently Digging: Cute things from ban.do

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I’m a lady. It’s in our contract to like cute, flowery and bright things—which is why I’m in love with ban.do. A lot of the stuff I couldn’t pull off (for example, my hair just couldn’t accommodate many of the flower headpieces) but everything on the site is either A) FUZZY 2) SPARKLY 3) SHINY or D) SOFT. Some things are all four of these things combined (don’t ask how that works)!
WARNING. LADIES. CUTE OVERLOAD.
Shoe clips, oh you fancy!

Flashy hairpieces! Glittery pins!
(My favorite is the rhinestone headband pictured on the bottom right!)
AND THEN there’s ban.do’s “Black Label” hairpieces, which I could neither 1) wear or II) afford but regardless, they’re pretty pretty…




Okay, enough’s enough. I’m about to have a cute seizure.
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Dr. King is greeted on his return to the United States after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Oct. 31, 1964

“
The Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday celebrates the life and legacy of a man who brought hope and healing to America. We commemorate as well the timeless values he taught us through his example – the values of courage, truth, justice, compassion, dignity, humility and service that so radiantly defined Dr. King’s character and empowered his leadership. On this holiday, we commemorate the universal, unconditional love, forgiveness and nonviolence that empowered his revolutionary spirit.

We commemorate Dr. King’s inspiring words, because his voice and his vision filled a great void in our nation, and answered our collective longing to become a country that truly lived by its noblest principles. Yet, Dr. King knew that it wasn’t enough just to talk the talk, that he had to walk the walk for his words to be credible. And so we commemorate on this holiday the man of action, who put his life on the line for freedom and justice every day, the man who braved threats and jail and beatings and who ultimately paid the highest price to make democracy a reality for all Americans.

The King Holiday honors the life and contributions of America’s greatest champion of racial justice and equality, the leader who not only dreamed of a color-blind society, but who also lead a movement that achieved historic reforms to help make it a reality.

— Coretta Scott King