The following is an out of context snippet from The Mona Lisa Interview: With Faith Ringgold by Michele Wallace. Read it at Faith Ringgold's website.

". . . a condition of spiritual freedom and full psychic citizenship. The ability to reinvent oneself, to reinvent the space around you to reflect your status in the world, to project images of a new world and new generations . . . . "

Womanism The term womanism was coined by the African American writer Alice Walker in her 1983 book In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens. Walker defined a womanist as a black feminist who continues the legacy of "outrageous, audacious, courageous, and willful, responsible, in charge, serious" African American women - women who are agents for social change for the wholeness and liberation of black people, and, by extension, the rest of humanity. A womanist can be a lesbian, a heterosexual, or a bisexual woman. She celebrates and affirms African American women's culture and physical beauty. She loves herself. (from: http://www.africana.com/index.htm)

There's so much I don't know. I'm adding this to my list of things to get read - soon -Womanist  Theory and Research

I just had a bad experience/feeling. I was/am working on a short paper for class. I listed the semesters I'd been actively producing art. It was waaaaay more than I was consciously aware of:

F94 (I was new to the idea that there even was such a creature as a "fiber artist". I took surface design and construction in order to see what type of fiber artist I might be - S95-F95, S96-F96, S97/BFA completed - F97, S98-F98, S99-F99, S00-F00, S01-F01, S02: NOW! I feel like I've been in a time warp. I guess the problem is I don't feel that I have enough work to justify that much time. What it means is I haven't been on-Track! in fact most of that time I didn't even have a "track".

I feel like a slacker. It's been 5 whole years since I completed my BFA. I got over the fact that it took me a lifetime to complete the BFA - I had lots of good reasons for taking that long - work, child, etc. I'm not concerned that the MA won't be finished until S03 that was deliberate. It's just that 5 years is so long.

In 5 years some things should have been accomplished. But I guess that only applies if you had a plan. If you didn't have a plan and things happened would they "count"? Would you/I know to say, "I accomplished so and so?" or would the things that happened just be things that happened? I have a plan now - actually/truthfully I only have a partial plan! what to do? of course the correct answer is construct the rest of the plan.

It's my bedtime - my blog clock is saying 7:57 but it's 10:57 - I thought I fixed that. What if I have bad dreams about my lack of forward motion? my partial plan? my inability to get it all together as of yesterday?

Okay, I'll fix it - all of it - the plan - the 5 years of seeming nothingness - It seems large because I'm sleepy and I get silly when I'm sleepy. Tomorrow at 5 am or so it'll all make sense, it'll be fine, I'll be able to recognize that I've done plenty. Please, don't let me want to make a list!! Save me from my list making self.

At any rate I finished the design on the giante mancala/oware board and I collaged and sent a new bio out, I worked on the paper that's due next Tuesday, I fixed dinner, I gathered old magazines to take to a high school art teacher who wants them (I even went through them first and pulled out the articles that I was keeping the entire magazine for), I gathered and organized my fiberarts magazines (I need to do a lot of catch up reading! I feel that need even more now that I've discovered that I've been in the twilight zone), I started writing a "start writing" guide (for myself and others - I'll finish it and post it to the Novelist area of Multipurposewoman.org before the 21st - I didn't plan to start writing it but now that I have I'll have to be added to the bottom of the list - which reminds me that I didn't add any of the writing projects, except The Creation of Aurora Painter, to the list) OH WELL! that's all I remember doing. And it'll have to be enough - IT IS ENOUGH - AT THIS POINT IT'S MORE THAN ENOUGH.

until next time, keep your multi-projects on-track!, stay true to your purpose even if it seems that you're not up to it, remember that you're a super woman but not superwoman.

Fantasies

I have this recurring rescue fantasy that millions of people I don't know, thousands of people I barely know and tens of people I do know send me money so I can pay off the student loans I've been accumulating for more years than I feel comfortable mentioning. You can be one of those people.

rupaul's weblog is very funny. And he's a good looking man.

If I live to be 100 will I get my life together? The Okinawa Centenarian Study: health, diet & aging research

Found this artist's site while looking for the College Art Association: The Center for Computational Aesthetics

Personal Websites? This essay addresses the whys vs the hows. I need to make some content decisions - haven't I said this before?

okay, I think I added a comment function so that people can talk back! March 21 is when I said I'd go public with the site but you know I still feel unsure about "personal" website. I think I'll take a break late (after I actually get to my studio to start working) and do a generative writing on what my point is/will be. Until next time, be multi-creative, believe in the rightness of your purpose and define woman for yourself.

I need to fix the sound situation. For some reason I can't get it to work correctly!! Right now I have 125 things on my on-going list of need-to-do for multipurposewoman.org Actually, a lot of them have been completed and marked off but everytime I look at the site or through a book or go to someone else's site I find more stuff that I need/want to do. Birthing a website really is like being a mommy - it's never ending.

Well, I'll be in my studio being an artist all day. FINALLY. I'm primarily working on The Code since I dyed the background fabric. I went looking for digital cameras yesterday because I like the way The Code 's materials look and I want to start documenting the making of Blue Hand Junction. But yesterday was Sunday and this is Kentucky and a lot of places are still opening at noon! I was up at 6 something and out of the house by 8:30 with an attitude about something totally unrelated.

Anyway, Target opens at 8, has a nice selection of digital camers and a brochure with info about each. Plus I was armed with the info from the net and my Consumers Report. Alas I didn't have enough money plus I wasn't really in decision making mode. But later this week after a check or two comes my way I'll be taking pictures of the work. Which means I'll have to add "make site load quicker" to my list.

I'll also be working some on Prescriptions for (what ails) the Daughters of Eve. That piece is pushy. Things that belong to it keep coming to me - a pair of diamond shaped mirrored candle holders for the ends of the 13 point fence piece FB found and this morning I broke a heart-shaped stained glass candle holder. I gathered the pieces and put them on the desk in the bedroom and FB said "aren't you going to throw that away?" Why doesn't he know me better than that?

The song that helped me through this morning - don't let the calm words fool you. Ms. Nikka worked this song over. After you read the words Listen to it!
Tug of War by Nikka Costa
There are times in our lives
When our hears fear our minds
We can't afford to ignore
What our hearts are beating for
(chorus)
My soul wants to go one way
But my heart and mind playing a tug of war with me baby
cut to the truth and watch it bleed
and inthe wounds just what we need
It's everywhere if we dare
to trust the fall to lead you there
(chorus)
Let me out of this cage
I'm begging for mercy I'm being your slave
What do you want me to see, my eyes are inflamed
With the rage that's among us when we come of age
There's nothing I don't know, just hasn't come to me yet
We're only trying to remember what we chose to forget
everybody's a child that is open and free
If we can trust ourselves to be indiscreet
With our love
copyright 2000 littlescreama Music

Central Booking - Read like crazy...

After seeing The MegaPenny Project you'll have a new respect for 1 cent coins.

I need to get with this. Living in my insular world I didn't even realize the Guerrilla Girls were still out there Fighting Discrimination with Facts, Humor and Fake Fur! Shame on me!

Yesterday I attended a visually stimulating slide lecture by sculptor Ed Hamilton.

And I'm ecstatic to announce that I finally dyed the boot pellon and other fabric I needed to continue with The Code and Prescriptions for (what ails) the daughters of Eve.

Need something to read? This list of 100 Great 20th Century Works of fiction by women and the essays of the Feminista!' website will keep your mind busy and flowering.

I'm also added a link to the list to the Novelist section of Multipurposewoman.org

I'm still out here. Working on research project and other things that are becoming urgent due to time. This is interesting - Judy Chicago

This Listen to Your Body advice from the National Eating Disorders Association sounds like they read my mind and wanted to make all my eating issue wishes come true. I must investigate further. I need to find out basic stuff the rest of the world might already know; like how do I know when I am "truly hungry"? I read somewhere once that what we usually associate with hunger is actually the beginnings of dehydration.

If I were writing a column for syndication I think I'd focus on defining vague terms like "truly hungry", "6-8 glasses of water", "weight problem", "at-risk child", . . . There are so many phrases out there that are so generic that they're barely useful.

more on this thought later. I'm off to action/color field paint with families at the Speed Art Museum.

I love Tracy Chapman - this song helped me through yesterday. FIRST TRY Can't run fast enough/ Can't hide I can't fly/ I'm struggling with the limits of this ordinary life/ . . . / Can't say what I mean/ Can't love from the heart/ Can't trust in the mercy and the goodness in the world/ Can't learn to accept that it's alright/ to struggle with the limits of this ordinary life

Don't be a stranger: Introduce Yourself at Multipurposewoman.org

until next time, enjoy your multi-blessings , draw strength from your purpose, introduce yourself to an interesting woman.

Is full-disclosure an oxymoron? I've been drawn to reading people's profiles. Here's a funny, insightful one, glassdog.HOME. I've been doing 10 minutes of spontaneous writing every day for a few weeks in an attempt to get more comfortable with writing without my editor's eyes. The one I did today was an attempt to restart a stalled project. It hasn't worked yet but like everything else it got me thinking about something I could add to the list of things I'd like to do.

Thank the Sacred I have enough wherewithal to have a mental prohibition in place against starting any new anything.

I like this - Cast Bio - Jennifer Hubbard. I think I'll answer all the questions myself and post them on the all about Gwen page.

I love this artist's work! check him out. Michael Cummings

Take this racial questions quiz created by fiber artist Faith Ringgold. That's what I'm about to do. e-mail me at gwen@multipurposewoman.org to share/swap experiences.

I wonder if closing the formal education part of my life will help me feel more adult/complete/finished/stable/ ? Right now every single aspect of my life is in flux. I don't like it but at the same time I don't remember a time when I felt that any of it was???, I guess stable is the correct word - or near enough. Once I thought my worklife was as it would be "forever", or at least for a far into the future as I could see, but I had the sense/strength/foresight to recognize that if that were true then I was doomed to a life of boredom, senselessness and purposelessness.

So why am I now feeling so overwhelmed with needing to have something completed? visit multipurpose woman

learning how to "Blog this" might solve my how to sort my favorites problem National Women's Caucus for Art

I'm starting a research paper for a Workshop in Fiber class at UofL. the class is one of my final MA requirements. There'll be pages about my MA thesis, show and related at Multipurposewoman.org. The following link is a good introduction to my field: fiber art. What is Fiber Art?

I'm mad -- I can't fix the template I guess I'll have to ask for help or just start over.