Here is a link to a super interesting article I read tonight by Drew Boyd. I had some convo today with a couple of my friends about a knowledge hog. The article provides a well informed take on what hinders and fosters knowledge sharing. It’s titled The Golden Rule of Creativity and it’s worth the read. Following are a few quotes I liked.
“Innovation is a team sport~ groups produce better results than the lone genius.”
“Reputation is what matters.”
“You have to be seen as someone who gives and shares information with others, and has a reputation for returning the favor when others give to you.”
I can always depend on Stac to tell me when I need a good fix up. I do appreciate her honesty with regard to that. She likes me to look my best. That woman tells me the truth and she said I was looking rather “librarian.” But I’m an archivist not a librarian! Haha!
She never ceases to impress me with her creative skills. That woman can juggle hair designs on multiple clients, several phone calls, and convo with success. She even rushed me out early because I had to go way out of town to pick D up for an appointment.
Today she decided it was time for me to make a return to blonde ville. She thought I had been brown for long enough. Stac hooked me up with a smashing light blonde to dark brown Ombre. I was happy with the results as always.
Joan Crawford once said “I think that the most important thing a woman can have – next to talent, of course – is her hairdresser.” Sometimes we need to treat ourselves. Sometimes we need to feel fresh again. Apparently sometimes I need to look a little less like a librarian?! I do feel better!
In 2011, I was seemingly inspired and my creativity started to perk in those ways which had been missing for many years. Inspiration convinced me to research the contents of several magazines and submit some original poetry to the ones I thought I would like my writing featured in. I assumed that I would be informed if my work was selected by any of the publishers.
I was never contacted by anyone, so naturally I figured my work was not selected. A little over a month ago, I became curious and decided to go online. Yes~ almost two years later! Ah~ better late than never right? I wanted to see if I could access the poems that did get selected for the magazines. I read several good poems and combed the digital pages of three magazines. That night I learned a lesson.
~The Monarch~ Original Poem by Felicia Lujan Voices de la Luna~ A Quarterly Poetry & Arts Magazine October 2011 (Page 20)
It may take me another year to track down a hard copy of the magazine, but nevertheless, at least I know I made the cut. It is a popular magazine with the artistically inclined! I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that “The Monarch” made it into a magazine which has a title bearing one of my favorite symbols~ the moon (luna means moon).
When the sun disappeared last night I attended the 3rd annual Outdoor Vision Festat the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. It was amazing to see some of the multimedia exhibits that the students created. They were interactive, animated, colorful and very creative. The media students include animators, filmmakers, graphic designers, and photographers. Some exhibits were projected onto buildings, trees, geometric shapes, glass, water, and material.
One of my favorite projections was designed by Keith Riggs, who is married to my cousin Jessica. There was even a projection with poetic quotes by infamous authors. I also adored a piece which was flapping in the wind, had edgy music, and a human body which appeared to be ripping off skin. It must have been a symbolic piece. Last night I decided it is finally time for me to dabble with Adobe After Effects. I need to see what I’m really made of.
Without art, writing, technology and music, I would certainly die! I guess when you’re in love~ you’re in love. Here are a few of the photographs I took last night.
The collaborative art team of Ethan Bach, J Craig Tompkins and Charles Veasey are pleased to announce that The Royal Road Project is currently showing at New Mexico State Arts at the Bataan Memorial Building 407 Gallisteo St in Santa Fe, New Mexico and then it will be moved just down the road to Currents 2013 at El Museo Cultural de Santa Fe located at 555 Camino de la Familia, Santa Fe, New Mexico from June 14, 2013 to June 30, 2013.
The new web site theme I designed is titled “Of Stars.”
For this site theme I selected the following quote:
*****
***********
*********************
Silently, one by one, in the
infinite meadows of the heaven,
blossomed the lovely stars,
the forget-me-nots of the angels.
— Henry W. Longfellow
*********************
***********
*****
“Of Stars” web site theme designed by Felicia Lujan
Good morning, everyone! Have I the treat for you today!
I would like to introduce you all to Felicia Lujan, moderator of one of my favorite blogs, My Voyage Through Time! The title of the blog speaks the truth of it, and on so many levels. Felicia is an archivist with a very healthy love of history, a love that I can identify with.
A big thank you to Sahmand Papizillafor this feature piece. Of course Sahm killed it. I think imagery of me drinking words was the perfect symbolic fit for their web site theme. We Drink Because We're Poetshas been making poetic waves in the world of writing. If you haven't paid the site a visit, please do so as there is much to offer there. The special piece I wrote for the feature was uploaded to my YouTube channel. The bottle in my hand is symbolic of how thoughts, dreams, and fears enter my body as words. It is there that these words become cohesive and transform into poetry.~~~~~~~Felicia
I thought it was super cool that the Anaconda Fight Clubin Barcelona picked up one of my digital composites on their Facebook page ~print screen courtesy of Brit ~. How awesome! Now my work has touched Spain! Very cool… This fight club also looks sweet. Nothin’ like some Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu right? Look at my name under “foto.” Here is a link to my original post Māori: Origins of a Warrior. It was a research piece and a poem! A big thanks to the Anaconda Fight Club!!
Today Robert Pinsky published a great article about poetry on the Big Think (a site I really like). It is National Poetry Month and this piece by the 39th Poet Laureate of the United States is so thought provoking. I do know some people who don’t like poetry even though this article says Americans are just stereotyped with regard to that.
I actually think it is essential for humans to explore and develop poetic expression and understanding. Being matter-of-fact or literal all the time can simply destroy beautiful souls. As a deep and intricate being- I enjoy indulging my innermost feelings. My poetry is very fluid. It can be about something, somebody, nothing, and nobody all at the same time.
Pinsky’s article is titled Poetry Is Not an Ornament. It’s at the Center of Our Being. Yes– indeed it is. Those things which capture the heart of a poet are often riveted with complexity, rendering traditional forms of communication useless. The complex feelings of humans are often represented best rhythmically.
This afternoon a US Poet Laureate said it better than many could. Following are some of the quotes which stood out to me in Pinsky’s article about “the value of using poetic language in everyday life.”
“…the poem is a challenge to say something smart.”
“…you have to understand that a poem is a work of art and its purpose is not to make you feel puzzled…”
“…finding something that you would like to say aloud is, I think it’s the core of human intelligence, it’s quite fundamental.”
“How does poetry or the act of writing a poem or speaking a poem help us to distill our experiences in a unique way that other forms of communication don’t allow for?”
“I think art is not an ornament or refinement at the fringes of human intelligence. I think it’s at the center. It’s at the core.”
“…that hunger that ability that craving for art in relation to memory is right at the center of us. And poetry, we use our own body to make it. There is no fiddle, there is no paint, it’s the air that comes out of your body shaped in ways that have evolved and that are controlled by our brain.”
Awesome!! I love this man. I got a good idea from that last quote. Read the full article if you get a chance. He also talks about the “Favorite Poem Project,” and nurturing poetic creativity in children.
Anne and Jean founded WORDHARVEST 11 years ago, which is “devoted to the art and craft of writing.” WORDHARVEST sponsors the Tony Hillerman Writers Conference. I can’t wait to continue learning from these well known authors, and maybe one famous scriptwriter that I have never met. Anne and Jean have put together a fabulous array of gifted writers. This year, the conference will feature Anne Hillerman, James McGrath Morris, Kirk Ellis, Craig Johnson, David Morrell, Margaret Coel, Christine Barber, Linda Jacobs, Steve Havill, and many others!!
It would be awesome to talk with James McGrath Morris. He is the author of Pulitzer: A Life in Politics, Print, and Power. As a former journalist, I have to read that book and get a special autograph from McGrath Morris. Joseph Pulitzer was a “media baron” who settled in St. Louis. The baron “transformed American journalism into a medium of mass consumption and immense influence.” How can I not read a book about the rise (and arguably the fall) of a champion of the Democratic Party? The media powerhouse is said to have “used his influence to advance a progressive political agenda and his power to fight those who opposed him.”
I would also love to meet the Emmy award winning screenwriter/producer Kirk Ellis. Ellis was the writer and the co~executive producer of John Adams (the HBO mini~series). He is also working on Blood and Thunder, which is an epic drama about Kit Carson and the Navajo Wars. In 2009, Ellis agreed to work on the adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway book Papa Hemingway: A Personal Memoir by A. E. Hotchner. You know I have to meet him right?! I adore Hemingway. Ellis also worked on the TV mini~series Into the West: Hell on Wheels and Anne Frank: The Whole Story.
I really can’t wait! Here is the design I came up with for the conference.It is sure to be a great!
AhhhHaaa~
I finally know why we drink!
Check out the new web site co-authored by
Sahm King (The Arkside of Thought)
and Papizilla (The Ranting Papizilla). we drink because we’re poets is sure
to be a great digital collective!
King and Papi started up this project
just in time for National Poetry Month.
Thank you for crowing me
“one of the best” poets on WordPress!
I do appreciate the root of and my return
to creativity. I have given thanks!
My new web site theme features the infamous 1781 oil painting by Henry Fuseli titled “The Nightmare.” The painting was first displayed at the Royal Academy of Artsin London, but it is now housed with the Detroit Institute of Arts. This painting may be one of my favorite works of symbolic art. Many scholars of the mind believe that the “monster” is in fact the woman’s unconscious. I think it can represent the power of our dreams, addiction, being powerless, or that which haunts or enchants us. It can mean many things depending on who interprets the piece, and maybe even their mood. The picture has been hanging in my office for many years. Fuseli was indeed ingenious with regard to symbolic imagery.
So here is a moving image of my newest art piece. It is a highly symbolic colored pencil drawing. I was happy with the end result. When I showed it to my boss, she said I should contemplate becoming a part of Spanish Markethere in Santa Fe, New Mexico. That would be as a contemporary artist of course. I’m thinking about it. Maybe it would be a good move for me? Let me know what you think about the piece and/or if you are deep, what you think it means? I would be curious?
Today I took the day off from the gym because I had a few errands to run. When I was leaving work two people caught my eye in the lobby. There sat a gentleman and a young lady caught up in their own creative world. I was immediately intrigued by the duo and wondered what they were up to? I decide to approach them on my way out so that I could ask. My first question was “are you making jewelry?” As it turned out, they were “tying flies” to snag Pike in Pilar, New Mexico. I told them “my brother is a fisherman and he would love you!” Hum? They had set up shop in the lobby of my building and they were working away.
While I ran one of a few scheduled errands I couldn’t help but think about these two people. Who were they? Why were they tying flies? Were they grandpa and grandchild? What was their story? I know I love history more than running errands, and by this point I can probably add more than coffee because I made a mad dash back to work. In a split second I had decided that I wanted to know more. I approached the busy workers with a smile while asking many questions. It is always so refreshing to meet new people who want to share their stories. In a short amount of time I had learned all about these people. I also set up a phone interview with the gentleman for this evening.
~Dr. Dinwiddie and Jamie Groves Working~ Photograph by Felicia Lujan_3.5.2013
Since the first of the month I had been contemplating which woman I wanted to research and write about in honor of National Women’s History Month (2013). The more I thought about that particular young lady, the more I realized I should focus on a woman who is currently making history. I was so amazed that a 24 year old woman was so mature, caring, creative, and patriotic. This special woman and her hero/mentor/grandfather figure had a worthy story to tell. This month is indeed Women’s History Month and the Library of Congress is featuring an exhibit titled The Women of Four Wars. Ms. Jamie Groves and Dr. Stu Dinwiddie are honoring our wounded warriors in a very special and unique way which is right in line with that exhibit.
Jamie Groves and Dr. Dinwiddie are not related. These individuals just work together to help disabled veterans, still Jamie thinks that Stu is “the granddaughter that he never had.” For the last six months, they have been tying flies and giving them to Albuquerque veterans as part of Project Healing Waters. The mission of that organization is dedicated “to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active duty personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings.” It is such an awesome project that I was so honored to learn about. Dr. Dinwiddie is also a disabled veteran who now uses his time to help others along with his youthful partner. He has become Jamie’s mentor by teaching her to fly fish. Dr. Dinwiddie said that he was taught how to fly fish at 14 years old and that he learned from the son of Aldo Leopold!
~Jamie Groves Tying a Pike Fly~ Photograph by Felicia Lujan_3.5.2013
~A Jamie Groves Handcrafted Pike Fly~ Photograph by Felicia Lujan_3.5.2013
Jamie truly is a rare woman. At 24 years old she is contributing to the well being of those who made a difference in New Mexico history by protecting our freedom. She is passionate about what she does and insisted I didn’t take her picture until she “was working” and showing me the Evergreen Hand. The Evergreen Hand is a special tool invented and developed by Jesse Scott to assist disabled veteran fishermen. I was astonished to learn that Jamie will be teaching wounded warriors who have lost a hand or arm how to tie a fly with one hand. After watching them for a while, I don’t think I could tie one with two! This wonderful woman told me proudly that she sits on one hand to practice. This is how she knows that she can teach others. Dr. Dinwiddie told me that Jamie was touched on a recent visit with wounded women. Her participation in this project makes a world of a difference in a male dominated sport/hobby.
I am always so intrigued by the hidden history of our community. These two people are involved in a project so worthy of a mention. I was honored to take the time to learn so much. I learned about a lady and a hero making a difference in the lives of our wounded warriors one hook at a time.
*****
***********
*********************
Silently, one by one, in
the infinite meadows of
the heaven, blossomed
the lovely stars, the
forget-me-nots of the
angels.
— Henry W. Longfellow
*********************
***********
*****
Basically this blog will have whatever is on my mind more than often in the form of Poetry, but we will see what happens down the line. Sincerely, Taylor Menczynski
A way to put my thoughts into words... May be I am just talking to myself...may be aloud...These are my thoughts in a poetic form, which are very much a part of me and which makes me what I am...
I do feel better!
Voyager Comments