pieces

Yesterday, Saturday, I travelled to Corona Del Mar, with Hallie in tow to attend Bonnie Hesse's final church services. It was me, and I was also representing a weight of friends who were and would be holding a prayer and an open door for PSL founding-father Doug - Cec and Hutch particularly, no doubt.

pieces from '5:40 a.m.'

I cannot recall the family's words, just their gestures; perhaps Doug will find spaces to share his offering - his thoughts were beautiful and touching and truthful and humble, and funny.  It felt good to hug him and share this moments sorrow, and to see his family, and relate to my own.  From there, Hallie and I traversed back to Canyon Country for her Back to School Party - my nearly nine year old. It was a special opportunity to spend this expansive and delving day together. T. was home with stuffy nosed Jack, hangin' in the garden.

This week, I've been listening to Tori Amos in small spurts - though I can't find the 5:40 image album. Also, I'm in an ingesting period with Northerns (which happens), where I just turn on a disc or vid and let watching come in and out through chores and duties...I also pulled out two Northerns music compilations cd's and had been infused with the moose one in particular, which starts with 'an Ojibway love song, sung to a non-Indian square dance', and ends with one of my personal soundtrack songs (You know, the collection of songs which perhaps define you) - like KCRW's guest DJ project, which is an intriguing idea in action - Melora Harding is a parent in Hallie's class, she's done a session, she told me - movie star!.  Anyways, disappointingly, that album is cracked in half now, and yet I'm keeping the pieces around - strange!

Tonight, I prepare for the coming preparation work week - faculty meetings, CPR, Councils, sweeping, pumping balls and planning blocks, etc., etc., etc.. 
These weeks, I dedicate 15 min. per day to instilling shafts of color into our, Cec and My, newly erupted Sketchbook Project participation - which I have an enticing nomen awareness regarding - Our story book, our S BOOK!  See Cec's 8/26 post for more info!

And finally, from tonights Northerns, a story from Marilyn to Ed, we can all live by:
My uncle told me a story about a warrior who had a fine stallion. One day, the stallion ran off. The people said, it was unlucky. "MAYBE," the Warrior said. Then, the stallion returned with a string of fine horses, and The People said it was very lucky. "Maybe," the Warrior said. The Warriors son went riding on one of the horses and was thrown off and broke his leg. The People said it was very unlucky. "Maybe," the Warrior said. The next week, the Chief led a war party and many young men were lost in battle, but the Warriors son was left behind and so was spared.

Z sketchbook project

We have embarked on something very exciting: The Sketchbook Project. 

Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view. 

All books will be included in an exhibition that tours the following cities:

Brooklyn, NY Austin, TX San Francisco, CA Portland, ME Atlanta, GA Chicago, IL Washington, DC Winter Park, FL

When you sign up you are mailed a sketchbook in which to create a piece of book art with, and as it says above, the book will show in a nation wide tour and then live and be available for viewing at the Brooklyn Art Library, NYC.  We're excited to be a part of this amazing touring group show, and that we get to do it via what is dear to our he(art): making a book! Creating a story of our story of so many stories... ZBOOK and beyond!  Out of the choices offered, we selected a theme for Z sketchbook: Trading Forever.  How rad is that?  There it is right there, ZBOOK 4EVER.  It's that "trading forever" spirit that fuels our books, our postcards, and ultimately our ever electric creative synergy. And of course our dear friendship.

We are receiving this opportunity to step up our game, take what we do best and innovate into deeper levels of story telling.  We have our high intentions set, our initial actions in motion, and also the opening to experience and allow what it wants to become.  

written during week 19 "5:40 am"

Z story is going world wide..........................................................!

∞ ceci

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ps(l):  Thank you to our friend Andrew Hoeveler who turned us on to this awesome project.  And also to Dani Vinokurov, amazing artist and our friend, who is also participating in The Sketchbook Project, for her undying support and inspiration.

enter here

"5:40 am"        click to view

Who knows where it all began, this page of word flurry.  It's fun to compare our passing of ZBOOK back and forth with each other over the years with the playful fun of girls passing notes between each other in class... and here is a page that is literally packed with actual notes to each other and other verses to the cosmos.  Jennifer and I, as this page reveals itself this week, enjoy how these morsels of expression bring us directly inside of a moment, dipping inside of our own stories, of which we may not know the date, but can recognize the FEEL, triggering our memories, like remembering bits of dreams... 

I don't know what day this journal entry turned verse is from (below), but I can picture the scenario perfectly ...a day in the life of Hemphill and cec roaming the streets of Isla Vista (IV), our potent lil' student town extending from our UCSB campus.
Hucking disc at dawn, 5:40am to be exact.  :)  Synergizing visions, getting into each other's heads like dancing synapes.  Discovering great little gems of spots all over IV and campus to commune in through drawing, tarot card reading, and other spontaneous rituals in honor of the magic of the moment.  The disc I speak of is of the frisbee variety, and huck it we O so love to do.  Back then we would aimFully stroll down the beachy streets of IV, Jennifer on one side, I on the other and we'd huck as we walked, back and forth, with one foot after the other in a full forward current, hardly missing a beat.  Of course there were cars parked at the street sides and so it became clear we were not only hucking disc, but also "saving cars" ...from their imminent risk of disc attack. For the joy of disc in not only in the huck but also in the thrill of the catch.  We became known as "car savers" as did our IV disc walking expeditions.  The only way to travel.
 

These (at right) are lyrics I wrote for a song I made with my band when I lived in
New York in 2001.  

 


These words (at left) I wrote the year after my accident during my last and best year at USCB (97-98). Ironically this was the year that all my PSLers, including Hemphill, were gone and graduated, but after my recoup time away, this last year was indeed my best personal year at SB.

"noticias"       click to view

This word flurry page reminds me of Z page "Noticias," however that one is more report and "5:40 am" is more rapport.  Baring no dates, the words of "5:40 am" are partial glimpses into stories, offering morsels of experiences.  (Just as I was last week with the word web in "Mapa," I am again reminded of Johnathan Harris' work)  It is fun to identify these lil' clues of our moments in time, each one holding a place from which we can enter the narrative of our lives.


∞ ceci
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week nineteen>> "5:40 a.m"

5:40 a.m. translates into pieces of the moment.
Here I am, at 7:59 a.m., on a Tuesday – about to explode the day into movement and action and joy – preparing for the days and weeks, and months, as they are knocking at my door. I love to write and read. If I could spend more hours, every so often in the week for writing and reading, I would sit and do it –


Oh my, hey wow, look here, I’m doing it!!! Thank you ZBOOK, I love you,
And thank you dear Ceci for collaborating so amazingly... you are a dynamite
Collaborator – keep it up!! Whoo hooo,
Man I sound like a Coach (shout out!)... and Oh my, goodness sakes,
Here Iam!!!

"5:40 am"    click to view

sliced in Tori      click to view

This beautiful spew spread of words and words, 5:40 am, is possibly the epitome of journaling – of what a journal is to so many people. As I strain to read it, because I have a desire to engulf these pages as we enter them and explore them... it seems to me that much of it is from Ceci, much of the breadth – and I find myself in there too – more like a punch in the arm or a hough of wind. I could relate that experience to this blog for me too – thus far, our discipline has been settling with it – like a yoga or stretching discipline settles in.

I think another title for this spread could be ‘naked’ or ‘naked lighting’. When I sliced in Tori Amos’ back at the piano to this page, it was directly from the white cover cd. Somewhere else in zbook is a spliced in set of lyrics from that same album...it’s a good one – I think I’ll search it out this week and listen! Truth for me says that that image, only comes to inflated speed with the energy of the naked female light bulb moment; and I have no memory for who added that one ... Bueller, Bueller...?? And then, doesn’t the word PLUSH just SING~ ~ ~!!!

This page is like that picture, topsy turvy and playing and searching in naked moments of time. I love the blue waves – Ceci says they are nipples ~~~and, she’s right, look at those mammaries – GORGEOUS!

 So, when I came to this post, I wanted to share a moment of time from this morning ... After my morning mini-walk and airy stretch, I attempted to walk a three-fold walk –
a spacially dynamic charged practice. So, I did a few steps of just the feet walk, to connect with the streams, then turned to add arms, and I went blank. So, I then turned to move a side bend pose, a movement with similarity to yoga stretches, but different! Nothing – So, I decided I was very thankful I took a good page of notes this past Friday when I worked with my Spacial Dynamics mentor – and I ended my morning movement with half a sun salutation – and a push up eploration!


A last thought image – one I shared with Ceci last Thursday when we met to make opening marks on our new sketchbook project....!
I’m reading EAT, PRAY, LOVE, it’s my bathroom and late night book; a hand me down from my Grandma’s friend, Hearty, to my Grandma and now to me.   An old Balinese medicine-man shares a picture he woke from a dream to draw – it’s an image of a body rooted to the ground on four legs, with torso uplifted and ferns sprouting from the shoulders...this is one of my meditations this week / month, and it’s reflecting in so many places already!

Now to kids and house and in a way, my last day of summer freedom – with adult obligations and commitments – oh to be a kid – without those time boundaries, don’t we all wish that for our youngins in the summer (and more of course!)
Be well and see you soon per chance!
-Jennifer