"Purposeful"

"Purposeful," a solar print by Portland artist Barbara Mason, hung in the alcove where I do most of my computer work.


I like Barbara Mason, and I admire Barbara's work, but I think the real reason I bought this print is that I fell in love with the title. Otherwise I rarely purchase the work of other artists because I have so little room to hang my own. I wanted to be reminded of purposefulness every time I sat down at my computer.

Now I am swamped. Buried. 

The little lavender cards with the red ink are where I wrote down the names of cities and the contents of protest signs to thank the marchers in a blip. The yellow X in my scrapbook journal (which I call Scribbles, if you must know) covers a draft and revision of the first tiny story in a new book I've just begun, which needs the kind of focused attention that newborns require.  There are two copies of The New Yorker on the table, each containing quotes to be copied into a journal Road Map. There's a letter from a Community Health Center that I found when shredding 2009 tax receipts in which the medical director wrote me such a lovely personal note of thanks for my contribution ("With your gift we can purchase a year's worth of prescription medication for four patients. This is wonderful support and will go a long way") that I keep meaning to send them another gift. Barely visible is the red cover of a 50,000-word novel I tried to add to during last November's NaNoWriMo and failed; it needs to be reshelved to await another attempt, perhaps. There's a receipt for the return of an Interlibrary Loan book that needs to be shredded, and a pile of CDs containing last year's novel because I've discovered that I made them to give away, but nobody has CD drives anymore; the novel is now here. And there's a notice from Powell's about a book I borrowed from the library but someone else has a hold on it so I bought a copy because I don't have time to read it now.

And it's tax season.

I've been utterly consumed with the political events of the past week, and they have taken all my time, thought, and energy. I need to call a time-out. Today I didn't listen to the news, and I'm not going to read it either. I have art to make and stories to write! And blips to read.

THANK YOU to everyone who has been looking at and commenting on my "presidential" blips. I so much appreciate the support for myself and for our country. Now it's time for me to catch up with you. I may not blip again until I do. Comments continue to drift in, and I feel I want to respond to those (while envying the courage NamaKris has in keeping comments off) because their support is heartwarming and they inspire me to deeper thoughts on the subject. But I miss seeing what you're up to! So you will still see me, but in your own blog. 
Namasté.