This Saturday's offerings include brief video treats, ranging from Joanna Macy's explanation of how gratitude brings freedom from want to Brad Kremer's time-lapse film on Japan. In between, you'll find links to an essay on sustainability, a collection of water blessings, an inspirational story about an artist who created 1,000 felted knit cranes, and a portfolio of bottle tree images. Enjoy!
✭ Gratitude, maintains famed Buddhist scholar and eco-philosopher Joanna Macy, is a "revolutionary act"—and a means to respond to our ecological crises. You can, she says, "turn to gratitude at any moment. . . All it takes is for you to think about it. . . It's not dependent on external circumstances. Things don't have to be hunky dory for you to feel grateful. . . ." Watch her video here and hear how gratefulness contradicts one of the "cruelest aspects of our society."
✭ Take inspiration from Seann McKeel's community-based art project to create 1,000 felted knit cranes. Begun in 2006 and completed with 1,000 contributors this June, McKeel's "knitnotwar1,000" project draws on the true and moving story of Sadako Sasaki who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and died in 1955 from leukemia. Sasaki deeply believed in the Japanese legend that one's wish would come true after folding 1,000 cranes. Sasaki completed 644 folded cranes; her friends finished the task. Sasaki was buried with all 1,000 cranes.
Go here for a special exhibit about Sasaki. In 1977, Eleanor Coerr and Ronald Himler wrote for children Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, available at GoogleBooks.
✭ Take inspiration from Seann McKeel's community-based art project to create 1,000 felted knit cranes. Begun in 2006 and completed with 1,000 contributors this June, McKeel's "knitnotwar1,000" project draws on the true and moving story of Sadako Sasaki who was exposed to radiation from the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 and died in 1955 from leukemia. Sasaki deeply believed in the Japanese legend that one's wish would come true after folding 1,000 cranes. Sasaki completed 644 folded cranes; her friends finished the task. Sasaki was buried with all 1,000 cranes.
Go here for a special exhibit about Sasaki. In 1977, Eleanor Coerr and Ronald Himler wrote for children Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, available at GoogleBooks.
✭ Environmentalist David Orr, author of Down to the Wire, writes at environment360 on the difficulty of changing a "culture of consumption". Read his essay, "Eyeing the Difficult Path to a Sustainable Future".
✭ At Gratefulness.org you'll find a wonderful collection called "Water Blessings". As you read, listen to Annette Cantor's water blessing set to music (mp3; 8 MB).
✭ If you've ever thought of augmenting the reality of your chapbook, take a look at this video, which shows Amaranth Borsuk's poetry chapbook as programmed by Brad Bouse. It pushes the boundaries of what we call e-books. Go here to for additional information. Borsuk's poetry appears in many more traditional forms of literary magazines and periodicals, as here and here. She is editor of the anthology The Loudest Voice (Volume 1), published by Loudest VoiceBooks this past April.
Here's another video demonstrating multi-sequential poetry, poetry that's made navigable and interactive:
✭ I first saw "Bottle Tree Ranch", where the 60-something Elmer has created a sculpture park of reclaimed bottles, on the site of a friend, artist Judith Olivia HeartSong. Judith's posts are always first-rate, whether she's writing about her latest painting or taking us with her to the Delaware shore that's become a second-home for her and where she searches the beaches for lovely sea glass, helps right horseshoe crabs, and sits for inspiration. My friend nAncY beat me to posting this video, but, no matter; I'm sure some of you, my readers, might have missed it. Enjoy!
By the way, Bottle Tree Ranch is off Rt. 66, near Barstow, California.
✭ Take time to experience "Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan". This beautifully produced video by Brad Kremer, whose choice of sound score is perfect, demonstrates in imagery the poetry of stillness and motion. "Hayku" means "hurry up". Other work by Kremer can be found here. (I thank Escape Into Life, where I first saw the film.)
Hayaku: A Time Lapse Journey Through Japan from Brad Kremer on Vimeo.
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6 comments:
Hello lovely Maureen, I watched Joanna Macy's video on compassion -- I'll be back to her site to check out all her other resources -- wow.
Thank you.
I don't have time to explore here this morning -- but I will be back.
Hugs
Louise
Gratefulness... choosing it may sound trite. It isn't. I find it foundational. The bottom line of life. It changes everything-whenever it is now. :) Thank you for the treasures. The bottle park made me smile, again. :)
i read 'tree bling southern style'.
don't you want a bottle tree?
i kinda do.
a seeing heart of gratitude is a deep treasure ...
What a lovely way to spend an afternoon sharing Maureen's finds ... so far I've fallen in love with Annette Cantor, been inspired by David Orr, rendered totally baffled by multi-sequential poetry, awed by Elmer's Bottle Tree Ranch and toured Japan.
What more could one ask for? You done did your job, Maureen.
These sound amazing, Maureen. I had not heard of the Japanese belief about the cranes until one of my patients who is a teacher was gifted with 1000 paper cranes from his students. I found it enchanting. I'm going to check out the exhibit on Sasaki.
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