everything, mastering, making
068 • 5/5/2025
This morning I read a post from Chris Brogan, Use Up Your Crayons. The theme is that life is made up of moments, those things we remember that have found a home in our brains. “Everything great in life and everything bad in life comes down to a moment. A first memory. A last breath.”
Apparently, my new family has become one of those “moments.” All it took was a call from my son a few months ago, which resulted in a call from my brother. In that call he informed me that I had a different father than him. The whole episode took less than 30-minutes. The revelation, however, only took a moment. A moment, a single, solitary slice of time that could serve to change my life.
“You’ve got a box of crayons and most of them haven’t even been smooshed against the paper. They’re untouched, pristine. Forget about that. Get out your crayons and color up moments.” Chris Brogan
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Please pass this along to others of like mind. We do need to spread the positivity around! Know that I will be working hard to make the starter better with each issue. It will come into your inbox at 8am, each Monday morning, free or paid. Comments are always welcomed! Enjoy!
“To take a photograph is to hold one’s breath when all faculties converge in face of fleeing reality. It is at that moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” Henri Cartier Bresson (1908-2004) (-ed. This, of course, could apply to almost any part of life.)
Alan Watts For When You Need To Stop Thinking: An inspirational and profound speech from the late philosopher Alan Watts. Original Audio sourced from: “Eastern Wisdom - Eastern and Western Zen”
“For there is never anything but the present, and if one cannot live there, one cannot live anywhere.” ©Alan Watts
The Neurophysiology of Enchantment: How Music Casts Its Spell on Us: “Music,” the trailblazing composer Julia Perry wrote, “has a unifying effect on the peoples of the world, because they all understand and love it… And when they find themselves enjoying and loving the same music, they find themselves loving one another.” But there is something beyond humanistic ideology in this elemental truth — something woven into the very structure and sensorium of our bodies; as the great neurologist Oliver Sacks observed, “music can pierce the heart directly; it needs no mediation.”
Shadow & Light Magazine Archives: Marky Kauffmann: Dressings: The 2016 presidential election season took its toll on many people. Especially on women like me, who claim the mantle of feminism with pride, and who had high hopes that Hillary Clinton would finally break the ultimate glass ceiling.
”In response to all the ugliness, I began creating chemigram dresses. The making of these “dresses” has helped me deal with the political climate. The hands-on activity of creating these in the darkroom has soothed me — somewhat like a dressing soothes a wound. And I am celebrating all things female, like the dress, a wonderful, feminine garment.” ©Marky Kauffmann (-ed. I had published Marky once before and at some point I knew I would look forward to featuring her work, again. A viewing of her site display a person who writes eloquently and spiritually. Like many of us, she chooses to rebel by illustrating her viewpoint and attitude through her art.)
Poetics, Mary Gannon — In my poetry classes there are usually one or two poets who tend to shine. Mary Gannon is one of those. The poem, below, was just sent to me, and now I am sending it to you. Let me know what you think! (Comments are welcome!)
©Mary Gannon
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