My wish for all on this Thanksgiving Day, 2013. Please sing your own song.

Singing Your Song

Gifts from the sea,

Soul Food to nourish and inspire

Honey for our ears and spirits

Sweet sounds of laughter

Bubbling up and over into our day-to-day strut

Blended compositions of music

Spread out on a sheet for all to hear, sing and enjoy.

Our songs are many;

The symphonies of our life;

Heard, heralded, harked,

Sing, hum, dance out loud;

In High Definition;

Strut, march, twirl,

Lead the band; don’t follow.

It’s your composition.

Sign off on it;

Accept, acknowledge it.

Bath in its energy

Let your DNA rejoice.

Your time is here and NOW

         Oak Street Poor Boy Festival

No we are not honoring poor boys.  We honor food of all shapes and sizes. Yesterday, we strolled down Oak Street from St. Charles to the river, and found that we could sample everything from Zapp's chips dipped in dark chocolate to the entire thanksgiving meal between two pieces of Leidenheimer's bread.

Leidenheimer's bread was at all of the 30 vendors food stations!  This New Orleans tradition has been encasing poor boys for 117 years!  Eating the bread alone has always been a treat.  Imagine our delight when Oak Street Cafe wrapped it around turkey, corn bread dressing, and cranberry sauce!  Now that's how you sell leftovers to your loved ones after Thursday's celebration!

The line for G.W. Fin's fried lobster poor boy was a 30 minute wait, and well worth it!  I met two young men who work for the Pelicans, one from Cape Cod and the other from New Jersey.  All you have to do is smile at others waiting for good food and the conversation flows.

When I asked the chef from G.W. Fin how many pounds of lobster he'd prepared, he said,"I'll have bad lobster karma from now on."

I hope that his dreams did not include large claws like the ones on our sandwich!

Trinity Episcopal Church Ministry

What a privilege for me to be involved in the Trinity Episcopal Church Wednesday night gatherings. Last night Father Jim Morrison read the gospel about  Zacchaeus who climbed up a sycamore fig tree so that he might be able to see Jesus. Jim jumped up and around the altar and even climbed up onto the podium like the gospel character looking for Jesus.

The children were engaged and I was laughing.  Such antics are helpful and quite moving. "How do you physically look for Jesus in yourself and in one another?" he asked.  I find myself reviewing the words and the scene this morning.

I used to climb the trees in City Park to view the world from a different angle. Like Leonardo, I guess I need to look at these things from three different views. I appreciate the view of Fr. Jim from the top of the podium.

Thank you Father Jim and Trinity Church.

http://www.trinitynola.com/document.doc?id=1374

Second Graders at NOMA

Today I shadowed two of the NOMA docents as they guided artist-in-training through a" Look at Architecture" and "The Elements of Art."

 I observed student drawing columns, identifying the animals represented in the griffins that guard the original building, discussing architectural features in a Dutch painting, and having fun!

Seeing the works through these inquisitive eyes made me smile.  There are no false boundaries yet imposed upon their searching eyes.  They see things that adults are too busy thinking to see.  Once the ideas were discovered they were remembered.  I believe the Newman students are all going to add griffins to the city that they are designing.

The second group of students, came with curiosity.  One little girl with a multitude of braids on her quizzical head thought that the museum was filled with toys.  She observed a boy blowing bubbles and noticed that he was wearing a red dress.  I wonder how she will interpret that?

Art stimulates the brain and the imagination.  The all-girls group saw the Elements of Art through Miro's  Portrait of a Young Girl with a circular hat and the jewelry of Sargent's Mrs. Asher.

My hope is that they will all be inspired and continue to be brought to the museum.  My earliest and fondest memories were of visiting NOMA when I was young.  Those early visits gave birth to my art appreciation and my desire to lead others into this world.  Thank you citizens of New Orleans and Mr. Delgado for the support.

NOMA Museum update

Today we toured the new exhibit by Camille Henrot, Plasma, Plasma, Stealth.  This mixed media display connects the Cities of Ys, France with the Houma Indians from south Louisiana and the thorny question about the definition of culture.



http://noma.org/exhibitions/detail/72/Camille-Henrot-Cities-of-Ys

"Seeking to tie together two cultures, the Houma, and her own, Henrot recalls a legend told by her grandmother, a storyteller from Brittany, France. Brittany was an isolated coastal region of France that has maintained their culture through oral histories and storytelling. According to this legend, titled “City of Ys,” Ys was a luxurious coastal city protected by a seawall. In some iterations of the story, Princess Dahut of Ys, convinced by a foreign knight, stole the key to the floodgate from her father, King Gradlon. As a result of her transgression, the floodwalls collapsed and Ys was submerged underwater. However, the legend adds that the city continues to exist under the waves."

"Henrot draws an analogy between the physical loss of land in Ys and southern Louisiana, but there is also a religious suggestion. In another video of Plasmas plasma stealth (2013), Kirby Verret, a member of the Houma, recites bible passages for a Sunday sermon. Sliced into images of Verret is video footage of young girls getting dressed in traditional Houma costume, braiding their hair slowly and wrapping it in fabric and fur. This video poignantly shows the religious tidal wave of mainstream U.S. culture that has subsumed much of the original traditions of the Houma."
http://noma.org/news/detail/243/Camille-Henrot-Cities-of-Ys-at-the-New-Orleans-Museum-of-Art

 Here is a poem that I wrote comparing Venice to New Orleans.  Camille actually has a reference to Venice as an add on to one of her video pieces.

La Serenissima*

Venice and New Orleans both on the edge of destruction

Both sinking into the sea.

One in the Adriatic; the other in the Gulf

Both altars to international trade, travel, and influence.

Both colorful and flirtatious

Housing the creative genius of blended cultures:

Bellini, Titian, Marsalas, Sachmo, Percy

Myths of the Greek and Romans gods present everywhere;

From the streets of the muses to the lofts of the artists;

Lumbering under the rise and fall of the seas

They continue in spite of the gods’ plagues.

People continue to visit the cathedrals;

Feed the pigeons, and feast on the multi-cultural cuisine

Looking over their shoulders for signs of the next disaste;r

Taunting the heavens, dancing through the streets in masks and colorful customs;

Endymion ageless under the crescent moon.

Sleeping away fears and warnings of global destruction;

Waking only to imbibe in pools from the Andros.

We lull ourselves back to dream-

A more suitable ending to the “Feast of the Gods.”


The Feast of the Gods, by Giovanni Bellini
La Serenissima: the most serene republic of Venice

Trinity Episcopal Church was the venue for the New Orleans Opera Association's production of "Noah's Flood," by Benjamin Britten.  As I look around at the audience, I see, as usual, opera lovers who have supported the art form for many years.  I wonder how this art will be preserved for the future.  This production using students from 36 youth choirs from across the city brings a satisfying smile to this novice opera fan.

This is how it is done.  This is where the wonder begins.  This is engagement of the young.

Thank you for the investment in the future of the opera.  Not only is the future more secure, so too is my faith in the ability to garner co-operation from peoples of all faiths and persuasions.  Hearing the combined voices in a beautiful church, bolstered my faith.

















http://www.nola.com/arts/index.ssf/2013/11/benjamin_britten_centennial_co.html

Red, yellow, and orange

Paving the road to winter;

A bedding of dried remembrances.

Insulating Mother Earth.

We come dragging our feet

Annoyed by the sneezing

Allergens of the season.

Can we dance with the leaves,

Yield, let go

Risk the fall?

A new exhibit at the New Orleans Museum of Art, Sequence in Time, includes 132 samples of the museum's excellent photography collection.  Russell Long, the curator of photography, has created a wondrous display of how photographers have captured and created history.

The docents had an opportunity to view the exhibit before the tags were posted.  We were allowed to roam through this large grouping of photographs and interpret the manner in which these were grouped.

I found an extraordinary small photo of  what appeared to be a human shape that was draped in a cloth.  I was fascinated with the image enclosed within fabric.  It reminded me of the covering of the religious statues in the Catholic Church during lent.  I was drawn to this small photo because it was so graceful and mysterious.

Learning that this was a photo of Martha Graham dancing the "Lamentation," brought a smile to my face. How challenging and intriguing it is when a snapshot of history can illicit so many different interpretations.

I recommend the exhibit to all.

The image inserted is not the NOMA photograph, but similar.
http://noma.org/exhibitions/detail/61/

https://www.google.com/search?q=Martha+Graham+Lamentations+images&rlz=1C1LDJZ_enUS498US498&espv=210&es_sm=93&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=qd2EUt2hF4Lt2QW-qoHoDw&ved=0CCwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=979&dpr=1#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=JQPObh-I8RwE-M%3A%3BGLw4-yMt8oDw6M%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Ffarm9.staticflickr.com%252F8028%252F7574208058_841b3dcf48_z.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.flickr.com%252Fphotos%252F53035820%2540N02%252F7574208058%252F%3B500%3B604

Today as I past a flower shop on Carrolton Ave, I saw this proclamation in the window with a falls harvest theme.  It spoke to me about our willingness to let our Earth pay the price for our greed and transgressions.

Here is the copy of the proclamation.  I invite you to read and ponder the entire document.

PROCLAMATION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS

WHEREAS Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Generation Keeper of The Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe of the Nakota, Dakota & Lakota Peoples of the Great Souix Nations and Honorary Citizen of his beloved... New Orleans has these words for the people of New Orleans & the world.

"Today I witness a lot of sickness on the face of the earth" and

WHEREAS
"We have come to a time when we the people are the ones bringing
all the prophecies of all the peoples closer & closer" and

WHEREAS
The humans are so disconnected from the Spirit Mother Earth now
to succeed we must use the power of prayer. The signs of the white
animals are all over the world. We must be the voices of these white
animals, and

WHEREAS
The Tar Sands is the biggest cancer on Mother Earth now they say the
Keystone Pipeline will not leak yet we witness pipe line leaks in Yellowstone
Arkansas and other places which they cannot clean up, and

WHEREAS
Even now the oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico are poisoning the waters
which are the blood of Mother Earth, and

WHEREAS
We must realize that Grandmother Earth is the Source of Life not a resource.
We must pray that our leaders stop thinking only of their personal profit
and open their hearts for healing and their minds to understand they are
risking the future of their own children and grandchildren and

WHEREAS
On August 27th we gather on the Sacred Ground of Congo Square to pray for
the healing of the hearts and minds of our leaders. We shall be as fearless in
our prayers as the Spirit is fearless in our protection.
and now therefore

BE IT PROCLAIMED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS
THAT THIS COUNCIL RECOGNIZES AUGUST 27th 2013 AS
THE 19th ANNUAL WHITE BUFFALO DAY

A PRAYER FOR THE HEALING OF THE HEARTS AND MINDS
OF OUR LEADERS

in the name of and by the authority vested in the Council of the City of New Orleans

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jacob-devaney/a-call-to-heart-for-world_b_3818385.html

White Buffalo Day and Prophecy