make friends : )

I love that Mexican painter, Frida Kahlo who never left out her furry, black eyebrow. Instead of grooming it she let it roam freely across her face as the focal point of her work.



Too often it seems we expect life to be perfect. A tranquil lake, when its really an ocean. Always unpredictable. The more we can understand it will be full of rough currents, and occasional rouge waves, the more prepared we will be to swim across it.



The unusual is usually more interesting.


HAPPY EASTER!






This little angel came to us on Easter day. It was the most unusual occurrence. Two days later he vanished without a trace. We searched the house high and low but nothing. The only explanation is that he was eggsalted. Bless him wherever he is! Briana said we don't need to worry because a soul as previous as his has a, "one way ticket to heaven".




I tried to do aromatherapy once to my sister but I couldn't on account of I was playing some music that she knew the words to.

Its hard to take our mind somewhere new when something old is trailing us. Like toilet paper stuck to our shoe, or wet paint on our heels. Sometimes we need to go somewhere totally new to see who we really are.



I went on the Circle Island tour with all the new freshman/kids from my school getting a ride to town. I LOVED IT! I had this relizatoin as I was on the big yellow school bus, lately I have found myself getting so comfortable, I forget to do more things by myself and venture out of my routines. The circle island tour though it was close to home, I didnt really know anyone on the bus well and it reminded me how much I love making new friends. Im making a note to self: that change is a wonderful, exciting part of life, and that I need to seek it more instead of holding tight to what I know.
Its like eating plain bread everyday because its conveninet, when perhaps there is something as delicious as this waiting just around the corner.. dont these look yummy? AT THE SWAP MEET!




I love making friends! On airplanes, and bus stops, in grocery stores, and walks to school, petting cats, and in between classes, life gets more an more exciting with every hand that shakes me. Meeting people has told me who I am.

Zora Neal Hurston said she never knew she was black until she was thrown in front of a white background.

I love Zora, she said this, "Right away, I decided that Big Sweet was going to be my friend. From what I had seen and heard in the short time, I felt as timid as an egg without a shell. "


I love these words from her book Their eyes were watching god, that her Grandma says to her, "Don't think Ah don't feel dis you, Janie, cause Ah do. AH coudn't love yuh no more if Ah had uh felt yo birth pains mahself. You aint got nobody but me. And mah head is ole and tilted toward de grave. Neither can you stand alone by yo'self. De thought uh you bein' kicked around from pillar tuh post is uh hurtin' thing. Every tear you drop squeezes a cup uh blood outa mah heart. Ah got tuh try and do for you befo' my head is cold "

Look at this cute little praying mantis friend we found bartering at the swap meet. I heard in Asia they are a good omen and they bow when angels are present. : )

Happy Birthday Jenna!
A lovely friend of mine, Jenna had a surprise party! It was a new york theme. Vada and me thought people were going to dress up...but it was very fun nonetheless.


King Kong and the Empire state building.
Lady Liberty and Miss Cleo?







The end of a semester always feels a little weird. Time always seems like a robber. Like somehow you could always have done more, but time didnt let you. I am a little sad to say the words, BYE! But instead of a one sylaball echoe, two more bounce back to me, and say Hello! Im excited to see what adventures lay instore. Love you everyone!

I want to make touching commercials.

I love what Henry David Thoreau says,

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each others eyes for an instant?
It reminds me that we are all one-responsible for one another. If I hurt someone I hurt myself.


The same than must be true of the earth. When we do wrong to the earth we are only killing a piece of ourselves.


Every seed matters. Every dandelion that tickles us, every rain drop, cat, dog, moose, and person.


John Seed in Beyond Anthropocentrism said, that by identifying with the wilderness, one becomes the wilderness:

"I am protecting the rain forest" develops to "I am part of the rain forest protecting myself. I am that part of the rain forest recently emerged into thinking."

When we fully identify with a wild place, then, fighting for it becomes self-defense, which is a fundamental right.

I read on a tree hugging website of sorts, "No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible".

But Mother Teresa says : If we have no peace , it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.

What are we here for if not to get inside each others heads?

I heard once that the blackest thing in Africa is how little is known about it. The same seems to be true with all problems.

These commercials seep into me and make me want to know what everyone feels and what I can do about it.





Stories are beautiful things. Each one is all we have left of the old world. When I walk through the isles of library I always want to know more. Sometimes I imagine author's voices screaming "Take me!" "Listen to me!" Each leather bound spine perhaps containing their only remains. Life is a constant search isnt it? It seems we can never know enough. I am so grateful for people who tell their stories. Without them we wouldn't have a clue.

I read for one of my anthropology classes that red doesn't mean anything unless its associated with something else- blood, love, a rose. Life is this way too. The more people we meet, the more stories we hear, the more meaning our lives have.

Beautiful thoughts deserve a place in the world. Theres not enough of them. The least we can do is write them down. If this can happen, something greater can. If another someone happens to pass by that good thought, not only is the thought given more space to put his feet up and exist but it is more likely, he will become a permanent resident. Thought becomes reality. Fiction becomes fact. Life becomes easier to live because someone has Lived, Thought, Wrote and Passed it on! Lets all read more and write more!

Trance Dance

In many primitive societies...

The San or Bushmen of southern Africa still dance themselves into ecstasy.



The Masai of Kenya,the Bwiti of Gabon, the Gnawa of Morocco and the Sangomas (traditional healers) of South Africa all practice ritualistic trance dance.

Today I was in a trace. I felt one side of me pulling me to reality screaming "come on you've got so many things to do!" And another part of me begging "Stay here! its so comfortable!"

Curious about the feeling, I started looking up, What is a state of trance? Why must we feel caught between this world and the next? Are we just existing? Where am I?

I read about trance and one mans philosophy which I loved it explained as when you become a part of everything. How wonderful to be a part of everything. Also that there is such thing as trance dancing! Theres actually work shops for it. Its supposedly very healing.

"My boundaries dissolve and I lose my sense of self – a drop of water falling into the ocean, becoming part of everything. “I” am no longer there; my tiny, separate self melts into the infinite, all-embracing “WE”. Time becomes elastic to the point of timelessness. This is sometimes blissful, even ecstatic; sometimes meditative and tranquil. Dancing is my meditation, my gateway to an altered state of consciousness which I need just as much as I need to think and function as an individual in society.

I read that we fall into trances because our brain is a very large muscle and just like any muscle it needs time to rest, sleep isn't enough. So sometimes when we fall into a trance its just like our brain taking a miniature little nap only where awake.

There are many shades of trance experience, varying from light to very deep. People can fall into a light trance while doing things like washing our hands– we watching our hands work away, seemingly by themselves.

When people dance together in trance, we experience a sense of community. This is a celebration of life! It strengthens our bonds and we become not only more accepting of others, but also of ourselves.

Dancing is like coming home to a wonderland where we all belong – one infinite, shared consciousness.