"The Java Jive"

There are numerous quotes I've read, and even songs I've heard over the years, about the pros and cons of coffee. I mostly stay clear of the negatives and focus on the benefits of drinking coffee. Here are a few of my personal favourite quotes that really resonate with me.

 " A coffee a day keeps the grumpy away."
"  Depresso, the feeling you get when you've run out of coffee"
" A day without coffee is like...just kidding, I have no idea."
" Sometimes I look forward to going to bed at night because I know that when I wake up, I get coffee."

Lots of us are addicted, and I confess I'm one of them.  But I do usually adhere to a limit. I'm not sure if this addiction is the result of nature or nurture, but I know my family members were died in the wool coffee drinkers.

I recall one of my vivid and favourite memories as a kid, was being in the kitchen with my father, who had one of those old fashioned classic coffee perks, and the smell of that coffee was heavenly to me at a very young age, though I wasn't allowed to drink it.

My dad  loved to make my brother and I big pot of a rib stickin' mixture of oatmeal, Red River and Cream of Wheat for breakfast, before my mother got up. We wanted to down our breakfast early before she'd appear, and then we'd fly out the door, as she wasn't a morning person, and consequently was often a little on the grumpy side, before gulping her morning coffee. And I don't blame her, because I understand what it's like not to have my morning caffeine fix, before I start my day.

Hustle and Grind, a blog I subscribe to had a great post about the benefits of coffee, and how it can be used to stimulate creativity, especially when writing.

Here's one of my very favourite jams by the Ink Spots, that I remember from my childhood and throughout the years it's stayed with me close to my heart, all during my love affair with the Java.

          


Growing up in an great Italian neighbourhood in the East End of Toronto, I identify with comedian Gerry Dee, and his Italian neighbourhood. When he talks about "gofocoff", it makes me think about how I'd so love to "gofocoff" in Italy.

Cassandro - The Queen of Lucha Libre

Cassandro (left), one of Mexico's highest profile wrestlers, takes to the ring in drag ( Chris Osburn)

Growing up in East End Toronto, my family was a stone's throw from Maple Leaf Gardens. Occasionally my father would take us to watch live wrestling matches that we'd usually only watch on T.V. during Saturday night wrestling.

 We relished in seeing wrestlers, the good, the bad, and the ugly, like the Stomper, Killer Carl Krupp, Whipper Billy Watson, The Stomper, Sweet Daddy Seeky, Lord Athol Layton, Bull Dog Brower and The Beast to name a few were some of the regular characters. That's was when wrasslin' was real wrasslin', or so we thought!

I think wrestling is very different than now. I'm not sure why I loved to watch wrestling, maybe it was a bonding thing with my father, but it was easy to get caught up in the energy charged atmosphere of seeing them live, along ringside. Wrestling has changed from those days and my interest has certainly waned, with the exception of, Mexican wrestling.

Instead of one great match that North American WWE offers, the Mexican masked wrestlers, part of Lucha Underground, offer consistent good to great matches in every episode, which is why it is so popular with fans.

What I really find fascinating and fun about Mexican masked wrestling, is it's theatrical qualities where matches are staged but not fake. The tradition of story telling is manifested by the use of mask, costume, story line and with the inclusion of women who stand head to head with men, are stronger in character, and continue the story line.

 Today my ears perked up when I heard The Doc Project on CBC Radio, featuring the Queen of Lucha Libre, and who changed Lucha Libre. What really impressed and touched me was this video I found of the American-born Mexican professional wrestler Saúl Armendáriz or whose ring name is Cassandro who has become part of the wrestling tradition of exóticos.

Chris Sears Photographer

"Question" - Chris Sears Photo/ Roncey Dogs

 As I've mentioned many times in my posts I love to learn about artists that I've never heard of, or who's  work I'm unfamiliar with, whether living or dead. This artist is very much alive and full disclosure, Chris Sears is a life long friend. We've known each other since our early awkward adolescence when we were hangin' out in the " Blue Room " at the old hole in the wall Y.M.C.A., in our home town Amherst, Nova Scotia.

That said, Chris and I both studied art, but I never saw a whole lot of his work until recently over the past few years. I'm really excited to know he'd been busily taking photographs all this while, creatively viewing the world through the lens of his camera.

Henri Cartier-Bresson once described photography as "a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture your eye must see, a composition or an expression that life itself offers you and must know with intuition when to click the camera . That is the moment the photographer is creative " he said Oop! The Moment! Once you miss it it is gone forever.".

Like Bresson Chris Sears photography through his own intuition, captures the significance, in that split second immediate reaction to what he sees, documenting the supposed inconsequential events of life into beautiful subject matter and transforms the tiny details of human life into what Bresson called "Leitmotiv".

Chris photographs cats, as he is like me is a great cat lover, as was Henri Cartier-Bresson who took wonderful photos of cats.

I've an real affinity and love for Toronto Ontario because I lived in the East End growing up and it's where I met the love of my life.
 Chris has been living in the big T.O for many years now. His street photographs of the city, make me very nostalgic and I especially love his dog portraits of Roncey Dogs because it's my old neighbourhood on Roncenvalles in High Park and I love dogs.

And so, I am absolutely delighted to be able to share with you this link to Chris Sears photography site.

Christmas With A Laugh

The Hawk

I'm not a big fan of Christmas music with some exceptions. But when Ronnie Hawkins gets together and collaborates with Gordon Lightfoot and Robbie Robertson, well I listen. This interview with The Hawk and Gordon Lightfoot is priceless, and I really like the song they've written and performed.

I love to hear Ronnie Hawkins talk. He's so full of stories and good badness, with a wicked sense of humour. The dialogue back and forth between these two legendary talents is a real treat, and I'm sure to go down in the CBC Radio archives.

Whenever I hear Ronnie Hawkins, I always think about my brother, who idolized him so much, having grown up in Toronto during the 50s with his music.

George F. Walker - Anger - Creativity - Despair - Humour

Martha Burns and Peter Donaldson - And So It Goes

It always quite amazes me how as Canadians we know little about ourselves, particularly when it comes to art and culture. I don't really get it, and frankly it's a little embarrassing and pisses me off. I think we are so inundated and overwhelmed with American culture, and our historical colonial mentality, that more often than not, we have missed out on learning about our own artists and culture in the process.

Admittedly, I have confess to my own lack of knowledge about Canadian artists and culture. However today, I learned about the most prolific Canadian play write, Toronto born, George F. Walker. It's a good thing I listen to CBC Radio, otherwise I'd probably never have known about him directly.

I very much enjoyed the great interview Shad did with him on CBC Radio Q this morning. My ears really perked up when George F. Walker spoke of his play about teachers, and the relationship between creativity and anger. What especially interested me, was when he humbly mentioned getting an award from the Canadian Schizophrenia Society. He did not mention that he also along with commendations from the Law Society, and Elizabeth Fry Society, for the topic of mental health in the Television series Wonderland. This program was about those in trouble with the law and took place in a mental health court.

I am particularly interested in his play And How It Goes about a middle class family coping with mental illness.


Learning that George F. Walker grew up in the east end of Toronto made me nostalgic, with memories of spending my first nine years of life in east end Toronto, and returning later in my young adult life for a few years to study theatre.

I remember seeing the Factory Theatre, as it was just around the corner from where I was living in 1979-1980, and I wondered just what was going on in there. At the time I was preoccupied with school, and others things as young 26 year old. I had no idea what amazing things were being produced inside the Factory Theatre. Now I know, this is where George F. Walker got his start, among many other play writes. The Theatre Factory from it's inception, with founder Ken Gass, established a Canadian gem of a theatre company, dedicated to  producing  alternative and experimental, solely Canadian plays, written by Canadian play writes, exclusively. Pretty darned exciting stuff!

What I most admire about George F. Walker is how he manages to give a voice to the marginalized and disenfranchised  in society, while combining a state of anger and despair, all present within our culture, filled with moral dilemmas, injected with his comedic sensibility and perspective. Without humour in the face of anger and despair, most of us would surely loose our minds completely.

I haven't any reasons to want to live in Toronto these days, but considering George F. Walker's plays and Toronto's rich theatrical life, causes me to wish I did have more reasons to move back, back to the east end. 
 

George Walker has received several awards including the Member of the Order of Canada (2005); National Theatre School Gascon-Thomas Award (2002); two Governor General’s Literary Awards for Drama (for Criminals in Love and Nothing Sacred); five Dora Mavor Moore Awards; and eight Chalmers Canadian Play Awards.

 All of these awards that George F. Walker has received, speaks volumes about the philosophical and intense impact of his plays that resonates with his audience over the past 40 years.

Louie Palu - Documentary Photographer

Jul 14, 2008 - Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan - An Afghan National Police (ANP) officer who was injured by gunfire sings to birds at an outpost on the front lines in Pashmul in Zhari District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan.. (Credit Image: © Louie Palu/ZUMA Press)

Copyright:© 2008 by Louie Palu.FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. ANY OTHER USAGE REQUIRES PERMISSION FROM THE PHOTOGRAPHER.

I heard about Louie Palu, a documentary photographer today on Tapestry. I don't have much to say about him, because his story told through his powerful photography speaks volumes. What he says about doing the work he does, and the affect on him personally, reminds me of Chris Hedges who was an American war correspondent.

Why I Am A Life Drawing Model

Richard Barlett http://primalmarks.blogspot.ca/

I have been a model for artists for over twenty years. My first modeling job I didn't get paid. It was for a fellow artist who was a photographer. I knew him well, trusted him and decided I'd help him out. The second opportunity was for a rather odd fellow, another artist who was obsessed with the legendary Canadian bred Thoroughbred horse, who was literally full of heart, the legendary and beautiful Northern Dancer.

 

http://northerndancerblog.blogspot.ca/

 

I have long been a passionate horse woman and I loved Northern Dancer. He is described as a legendary hero. What, I am interested in is the heroine, and redefining the meaning, not according to a male interpretation.

 

In the dictionary the definition of hero and heroine are contrasted in meaning. I know male geldings or stallions can't be heroines, but I think they can have the same qualities as heroines, just as heroines can have the same qualities as heroes. Not that are equal, in being the same, but they are of equal value, just as each genders. 

 

Note the differences in the dictionary definitions. The heroine is not defined in her own right, but compared in relation to the hero. She is neither ' endowed ' ' illustrious ' or ' noble ', nor is she described as being divine.

 

 Definition of heroine:

1

a :  a mythological or legendary woman having the qualities of a hero

b :  a woman admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities

2

a :  the principal female character in a literary or dramatic work

b :  the central female figure in an event or period 

Definition of hero:

a :  a mythological or legendary figure often of divine descent endowed with great strength or ability

b :  an illustrious warrior

c :  a man admired for his achievements and noble qualities

d :  one who shows great courage

2

a :  the principal male character in a literary or dramatic work

b :  the central figure in an event, period, or movement

 

Are heroines not divine, endowed with strength and ability. Are they not illustrious warriors, noble, with great courage?

 

Getting back to the artist I modeled for, who loved Northern Dancer, he had me place a small Breyer Northern dancer model on my belly and then he took his photographs. Yes odd, but each to his own.

When I reflect now on why I began to model, I believe I unconsciously decided this was the way to force myself to get connected and more comfortable with my body.  I had always felt generally comfortable with my body, and I attribute this to my mother who had a positive attitude about her own physicality and sensuality. I am not saying I wasn't without hang-ups around my body image. My self-consciousness went on to later develop during my thirties. I was having the beginnings of anorexic thoughts, that can lead to an anorexic condition. Thank goodness I did not become anorexic.

 

So many women, young and old have been, and are still having a preoccupation with their bodies, and what they look like. Our culture and society promotes, and condones it.

 

As we age, I think women become more conscious of this, and I suspect we become less concerned about our appearance, and what others think. This is a freeing thing that happens, and there is a real reason it is freeing. It frees our souls to be who we are, and to celebrate our bodies.

 

After I realized I could make money as a model, and be around other artists, I got serious about making this a job to financially help support myself, and then began many hours of modeling at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design where I was an art student. 

 

In the early eighties I left for Toronto to study Mime, and when I arrived, I was in need of money, and so once again, I turned to finding work as a model. I found employment quickly at the Arts and Letters Club, and at Ryerson University, which was almost directly across from where I was living, The Christian Women's Temperance Union. That's another story!

 

I continued modeling all through University and have returned as a model for artists in a gallery, at the age of 61. It has been a very satisfying and rewarding experience, as an artist, and mostly as a woman. I have learned about myself in terms of body image, and reclaiming my body as a woman.
 

Presently I am reading a book entitled ‘ The Heroine’s Journey ‘, by Maureen Murdock. Here is an important quote that I believe is at the heart of matter of why women and even men, struggle with, when it comes to accepting your body as it is. The high lighted link above, is an interview she gave about the book which was written eighteen years ago, but is still very relevant today, if not more so.
 

” The soul of a human being as well as the soul of a culture cannot evolve if the body is not reclaimed and honoured “. Maureen Murdock

 

Years ago, I saw a wonderful documentary film about life drawing models and it explored their lives, thoughts and experiences. I so wish I could locate this film or remember the name of it. I believe it was on Vision TV, PBS of perhaps the Women's network channel, which I don't remember the name of that either. If anyone out there is familiar with this documentary, I would very much love to know the name of this film, if anyone is familiar with it, please drop me a comment.

I am on the heroine's journey, and this is why I am a life drawing model.

Lighthouses

Recently, I have had two commissioned painting requests, and have just completed the first one. I 've only once painted a lighthouse as subject matter. As an artist living in Nova Scotia,Canada lighthouses are an iconic symbol, frequently seen on postcards, crafty wooden miniature lighthouses, etc., and so for me to choose a lighthouse as subject matter, is not something that would interest me necessarily.

 I can remember as a young girl our family would make the long and arduous car trek from Toronto, Ontario to Nova Scotia, every Summer. My father would always track down a lighthouse somewhere, and we could go inside the lighthouses that were never locked. We would climb up the spiral rot iron staircases, in awe and amazement, I'd inspect the monumental and magical glass light, that was rather like a huge prism. This experience was one of my treasured memories of childhood.

The commissioned painting I just finished, I think helped me to recapture this memory, captured, and stimulated my imagination. While painting this rather Gothic like scene, I imagined what it would be like to enter the lighthouse.  It was a meditative, reflective and positive experience. It transported me to another place, in my mind subconsciously.

 In mid January, I was asked to write about my art work, and so I have been doing this in a separate journal. I thought perhaps I would feel differently about my commissioned work, as opposed to my own personal art work and subject matter but I have found out that I don't, though, in the past I might have. Regardless, now I don't believe there is a difference. I would like to explore this further.

 I've been in a very reflective state since December and have come to a decision through prayer, journaling and discernment. I'm not quite ready to talk about this presently and well because I want to go to bed after a long day of painting my lighthouse. I see this painting as a symbol of my own discernment and the light has helped me find my way.

“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.”

                                                                        - Anne Lamott