Burning Man Decompression Parties 2009: LA 10/3, SF 10/11, NYC 10/17
OK so you didn’t go to Burning Man because
1) it’s too hot
2) you need an RV
3) you had to work
4) whatever lame excuse you came up with
Guess what? You’re in luck!
You can BRING THE BURN HOME!
A version of Burning Man is coming to a city near* you SOON!
* near if you live in California or in the vicinity of NYC…although there are regional Burns and events going on ALL year, these three ARE the BIG ones! Read more…
Poetry from the 3:15 Experiment August 2, 2009: A facility with language
The Professor had all the
Big Words on his side
of the plate.
And he was pushing
pushing pushing her words
around with his fork.
It remains to be seen
what it was they were
really arguing about it
It always starts with the words
and goes downhill from there.
Who it was who really had
the facility with language
And who it was who was going to
eat who’s words
Those words rolling around the plate
juicey like a blueberry
meaty like a pea
She could feel them
waking on her tongue
slip away.
c. Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator
3:15am August 2, 2009, Ventura CA
I am working in earnest (finally!) on a manuscript of my 3:15 poetry from 2001-2009, titled Love and Terror at 3:15am. It will have 100 poems from nine years of doing the 3:15 Experiment plus one intermezzo poem per intervening year, to total 108 poems in all. The book will have an introduction which discusses the experiment (I’m hoping Danika Dinsmore who started the Experiment in 1993 will do the honors!) and an afterward about Night Terrors which will include a few posts about them from this blog.
My goal is to have it completed before the year is out. Since the writing is already done, and I plan to organize it in chronological order, it’s just a matter of selecting which ones. Many of the poems in the book have already been posted at one time or another on this blog; the ones that haven’t yet, I will probably put up as part of the Monday Poetry Train (where poets from around the globe post links to recent work–go for a ride and check it out!)
As I go through them, debating the various merits of each, I plan to ask you, my loyal reader, for your opinion about which ones I should include or not. I hope you will participate!
So here’s a start–I hope you will take part in this quick poll to let me know whether or not you think this poem should be in the mss (manuscript) or not. Thanks!
Go ahead, click on this image, make it bigger, read the facts for yourself. I dare you.
To sour your milk even more, go here. Or read this article, which is where I found the chart.
Had enough? Find your local CSA — consumer supported agriculture–and sign yourself up for locally grown, locally owned vegetables.
This summer we’ve been getting our vegetables from a CSA in the Ojai area, Rio Gozo Farm. Subsequently, for less that $25 a week, we’ve eaten more and different vegetables, sometimes struggling to eat them all before the next batch comes. Usually, it’s the equivalent of two shopping bags but it depends on the output of the farm what and how much we get. Since August, we’ve been splitting our box with another family and it’s much more manageable, especially since we grow some of our own vegetables as well and have access to oranges, lemons, avocados and more.
While you’re finding your CSA, locate and patronize wineries local to you also! You’d be surprised how much quality wine is being made all across America these days! I know I am!
I realize now I should be taking pictures of some of the crazy team building, morale building, life changing hi-jinx I get my students to do. So of course then I can post them.
Early on this semester, for example, I gave pairs of my students bandanas I had tie-dyed for Burning Man gifts. One person was blindfolded and the other led them around campus, following my lead. I took them blindfolded across campus to a small garden in the art area, full of wonderful shapes, textures, and smells. (“Are you Gwendolyn Alley?” asked one person one day. “DO you lead those art rides?” asked another then “Are you the art predator? What are you doing here?”
Then, they switched partners, and we traipsed through and past a construction zone to the horticulture area and an adjacent outdoor classroom where we finally settled in to do some Natalie Goldberg style writing practice, before we found our way back to class.
On Wednesday, following Tony Robbins inspiring keynote at 140/The Twitter Conference (see my love blogging post about it here, I spontaneously found myself sharing some of what I learned from Tony Robbins that morning:
“Stress is the over-achiever word for fear,” I said.
“Motion creates emotion,” I said.
“You can change your state,” I said.
“If you just listen, you’ll only remember 10%. If you write it down, you’ll retain 30-40%,” I said.
It was warm, and they looked a little dazed. So I told them how Tony had everyone get up and massage each other’s shoulders, shake their bodies, move around and meet people. So I went for it. I stopped talking about what he’d said and we put some of his ideas into practice.
Now it’s one thing to put on the syllabus a request to bring a smile along with texts to class, Read more…
Tony Robbins Talks on TED: get some inspiration from the master himself
Tony Robbins makes some big money off of his talks so I can understand why he keeps a tight wrap on video from his presentations like the one he gave at the Twitter conference. So I was pleased to find this talk he gave on TED. Fo now, it’s a link. I know there is a groovy way to put TED on WordPress so when I find that info, I will post it in a more groovy way. IN the meantime, ride the Tony Robbins wave!
http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html
Who’s Tony Robbins and why should you watch this? Believe it or not, I knew practically nothing about him until the other day when he spoke at the Twitter conference.
About this talk: Tony Robbins discusses the “invisible forces” that motivate everyone’s actions — and high-fives Al Gore in the front row.
About Tony Robbins: Tony Robbins makes it his business to know why we do the things we do. The pioneering life coach has spoken to millions of people through his best-selling books and three-day seminars. Full bio and more links
Or Celebrate the Boss’s 60th Birthday! Happy Birthday, Bruce Springsteen!
Today, September 23, 2009, is Bruce Springsteen’s 60th birthday.
If you’ve followed this blog at all, you know that our house holds a trio of HUGE Springsteen fans. So tonight, we will light a candle, sing happy birthday to Bruce, and wish him many more!
To see why, go to the posts linked to here.
Live Blogging Tony Robbins Keynote 140/Twitter LA: celebrate for no reason
We’re all waiting for Tony Robbins to begin his keynote to kick-off today’s session at the Twitter Conference, and while we’re waiting, they’re taking suggestions which include having name tags during sessions for who’s speaking. That’s especially useful for those of us, like me, watching on UStream.
That’s right, I’m not stuck in traffic racing to get to the Skirball Center on the constantly congested 405 freeway.
I’m home, dressed this day, drinking my tea, waiting in the comfort of my own home for Tony Robbins to inspire me.
Yay–he’s being introduced right now! And there’s a standing ovation! Not even Biz Stone got a standing ovation–and Biz is Mr. Twitter.
Who is Tony Robbins? He’s got over 1 million followers! And, he’s one of the TOP PAID speakers in the world–a guy who appreciates Twitter so much he’s gifting his talk today!
Tony Robbins: I came here for one central reason–twitter is a community.
But, he says, “Imagine my frustration with 140 characters.” He says, he wants to go deep and understand: How is it that we have so much and so many are so unhappy?
Why are we here at this conferene, he wants to know. Business? Social media? Change your life?
Who tweets for Tony Robbins? “It’s me.”
“I try to bring something to inspire people. Here’s the rule for twitter: add more value! That’s the rule for life! Read more…
As much as I would like to be, no I’m not there live blogging at the 140/The Twitter Conference LA being held today and tomorrow at the Skirball Center in LA. (You kidding? $429??)
But I’m listening along and sometimes even watching using UStream right from the comfort of my own home drinking tea from my own cup and, you know it, still in my bathrobe. I might even listen to it while I do some yoga or go soak in my hot tub.
The best part? I didn’t even have to get in the car for the 50 mile, two hour morning commute drive from Ventura to LA. But honestly, I would rather be there. For me, a conference is one of the most exciting places to be. If they invited me, I would show up tomorrow. In clothes even. I really love live blogging (for evidence see the live blog posts from WordCamp 2008 and 2009, from the Wine Bloggers Conference 2008 and 2009, MacWorld or the Cultural Tourism Symposium!)
Right now it’s twitter leader Biz Stone talking about “what we’re doing with twitter.” Who’s Biz Stone? He co-founded, Twitter, Inc. “the real-time, one-to-many network that is changing the way people communicate around the world.” Before that, Biz helped build other popular social media services Xanga, Blogger, and Odeo.
And I figured if I was going to take some notes, I might as well live blog it for you. Up to a point. I do do other things than blog, believe it or not.
According to Biz Stone, Twitter is about the triumph of humanity, not the triumph of technology. Read more…
Happy New Year! Welcome Fall! Welcome Spring! plus a late summer poem
midtown late summer vision
these late summer nights
window open after a long hot day
fog bursts in damp air
sycamore leaves crackle
light outside flicks on
two possums wander the yard
It’s summer no longer around my home town in the northern hemisphere: it’s now officially fall and winter has turned to spring in the southern hemisphere. The days are equal in length, and for many cultures, including the Chumash, it’s the mark of the new year, a time for new beginnings. Once the Man goes up in flames, it’s the New Year for Burners, too! For more 2009 Burning Man photos, check out these FROM CARNIVILLAIN– aka Mr. Nightshade http://theblight.net/09/bm/
According to Astrology.com, Read more…
A Virtual Poetry Reading
Last Tuesday, I posted that I would be the featured reader at the San Buenaventura Artists Union Gallery on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and I promised to post the links to my reading. So here we go–a virtual poetry reading! Since everything that I read that night has been written and then published in the past 18 months on this blog, I am linking to those posts along with some commentary. I hope you’ll stick around for my virtual reading!
I started the reading by saying I’d be presenting 10 poems: two from my 50 States Project, three from the Shishilop Project, three from the 3:15 Experiment, and two poems published on my blog, and that in my work right now, and in several of these projects, I am trying to capture naturalized language and life, to find poetry in the moment.
I began with 50 States: The State of Optimism (posted 9/1/08) which set a particular tone, and which closes with the lines “Let us all be from somewhere./Let us teach each other everything we can.” Poetry does this for me, and I wanted to present that idea out front. Here’s the video:
I followed this with three poems from the Shishilop Project. The first Shishilop Project: Third Day of Kindergarten & Chumash Folkways (posted 8/21/08) continues with the idea of teaching, learning, and with being grateful for the opportunity to be given the stories that I use in my narrative poems. Read more…
art predator 