This or That
Journal Brief
YEAR: 2022-2023
START DATE: May 6, 2022
END DATE: October 25, 2023
This journal dovetails with a visual journal of photographs for 2022 (Incomplete and still in progress of as 01.05.24). Themes: Choices and a period of deep rest after the completion of The American LOVE Project. Plans were proposed during this time to sundown 29 Pieces by the end of 2023. (That did not happen. 29 Pieces was reinvigorated and lives on.) This journal begins with a pull-out rundown of ‘This Moment in Time’ - though this is not chronological with the actual date of the beginning of this journal. This Moment in Time shows the timeline of 29 Pieces, and delves into what I saw as three big loose ends. (1.) Build-out of the original vision of the 29 Pieces, (2.) finding a home for the Artists Making a Kinder World curriculum, and (3.) Brandon Woodard is still in prison.
The title of the journal THIS OR THAT reflects the desire to reflect on alternative courses of action - inspired by reading Essence of the Dhammapada by Eknath Easwaran as part of our meditation group. The book was perfect for This Moment in Time, as it invites one to consider the consequences of one course of action versus another very different one. THIS OR THAT and IF THIS THEN THAT is a recurring inspiration throughout this journal.
A lot was going on during this time. Kelly’s mother died on July 4, 2022 and that triggered grief, anxiety and emotion in the household. I didn’t write about this - it was all too much in combination with my various heightened emotions and the horrendous heat of that summer - in which we again lost a good part of our garden. There was a day in August 2022 when, for the first time in my life, I thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I told Kelly, “I need to get away,” and got in the car and went to Fort Worth and stayed in a hotel overnight. I went to museums and quietly looked at art, went to the botanical garden there, wrote notes on my iphone, called friends. Just that little bit of distance helped me see how much was circumstantial - the noise of construction, the heat, the grief. (Janelle, P. Nut and Sparky all gone).
So. there are a lot of spreads in this book that I like a lot. It helped me direct my choices for the future, and sometimes just for a day. THIS OR THAT? What’s it going to be? Some of the characters in the imagery are cut out of books of the work of Francisco Goya, Beatrix Potter, Hokusai and Rico Lebrun.
Janelle Nash passed away on July 4, 2022. Our 22 year old cats P. Nut and Sparky died. I slowed down my schedule after completion of The American LOVE Project. Reading Essence of The Dhammapada.
Time of slowed down reflection and choice making after completion of the American LOVE Project.
The new Artists Making a Kinder World lessons - SEEDS, MIRACLES, JOURNAL YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND PRINCIPLES OF FLIGHT. 29 Pieces worked with 9 teachers across the nation to develop these lessons. Northwest Arkansas LOVE Project.