Saturday, August 16, 2008

Insight into learning


Pillar ^ Post on Pearl Street JHM Photography


"There is no difference between living and learning...it is impossible and misleading and harmful to think of them as being separate".
- John Holt, author

Every season in life is full of learning experiences. One step leads to the next and we can draw on the past and walk confidently through trials as our wisdom grows. Our thoughts eventually turn into our habits, which determine where our lives go. Put your dreams in capable hands--your own. Don't let the "wisdom of the world" become the internal voice that guides you. What has your own life taught you? What experiences have brought you to where you are now? Think about what it takes to overcome the roadblocks in your life. What skills do you need in order to achieve you goals? Take a writing class to jumpstart the book you've always wanted to write. Shadow a friend who knows how to sew, or research a trip to the country you have longed to visit. The common denominator for all successful people is having the right tools to realize their goals.

Thanks to Sparks People! www.sparkspeople.com

Friday, August 15, 2008

WInd Runner





"Everyone Knows that its windy at the Ocean" Photograph at Lincoln Beach, Oregon
All Rights reservedJHM ©08

Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...

Tendrils flowing between the leaves.

Coming from somewhere, returning to a bared truths

That bears to share, to declare!

The unseen scene.

Wind Runner...

Can you dig on massive, circling waves of fragrant rose-mangoed, salty sea breezes?

Rolling through the veranda on a mission?

Wind runner shifting in the breeze..

.Tendrils flowing between the leaves.

Lifting you.

Up & up
And up!

Gliding on the wings of the unseen scene...
(And I've shared an exquisite, captivating sigh with you)...

Lavender 'n grapefruit airborned morning gloried sunset skies swirling through the Wind Runner slippered feet.

As you flow through the unseen scene, we'll be with you keeping pace.

Wind Runner shifting in the breeze...

Tendrils flowing in the leaves.

Coming from somewhere.

Returning to bared truths.

That bears you onto the unseen scene.

All rights reserved Cover My Heart, so my Soul can stay warm JHM ©5-6-01

Organdy Moonlight

"Moon and the Evening Star" Photograph from the Naturalized series All rights reservedJHM©08



Moonlight in organdy lead me to poise and be enmeshed in the entrance of the moonlight in organdy that graced me with a smile.
It seemed so far away yet so near.
The moonlight pierced the distance bridging that seemingly faraway…
Yet it was right here…this space.
Falling upon a spot on ancient cedar floors…
Right at this old long tired bones.
I tiptoed around that solitary spot…
Of incandescent light of the moonlight in organdy…
Not quite feeling as tired…
Nor as old…
Any more.
All rights reservedJHM6-6-03©

Gazin'


Stargazin' & Moon"-Photograph taken at Cameron Gardens Washington State All rights reservedJHM08©

There is a place where we can dwell…
My living room in which my heart speaks tells.
Of coloring books, dolls & memories that tells of family’s hopes and dreams.
Of times yore and the ones yet to be…

Oh say can you see?
In my little corner of the things that belongs to me
My mama and my poppa and coloring books to lead...
Into the sacred dwelling places of my heart I have yet to deed.

The living room where we actually dwell
And share the things that makes all our hearts swell…
To each other and later to the world while we run pell mell
It’s me, my sister and my friend Jell.
All rights reservedJHM 1-10-06©

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

If you were to leave me

Moon's Sunset over Pearl Street©08
"Reeds & Water"-Lincoln Beach Oregon All Rights reserved (Poem & Photography)JHM©08









Poem Adapted for Performancefor the Tukule, Tusome; To Eat, To Learn Luncheon series on Sept 22,2008 Berea College, Berea, Kentucky.
For additional information on event please contact:
Tashia Bradley, Director_Black Cultural Center
Berea College
859 985 3797



You remind me of a sunrise," I said on the day my eyes fell on your face.
And your name becomes my mouth,
Feeling like chilled mimosa on parched lips
While Katrina winds carried on all around me.
That I be in the right place, you to me & I to you & you to thee…
I am as here as I could be gift wrapped by your words…
Like beignets & café au lait & the moonlight at 2 am.
Or champangne & grite if you please..
And a dressing gown of your voice and draped in melodic sounds of you despite it all.
If you were to go away right now it would be like the air stopped at half past not anything
If you were to leave me now I would be like Shakespeare’s
To be or not to be that is the question whirling in a drunken hurricane drink on Bourbon Street
If your were to leave me now all I would have is
A melody of silenced stringed notes…,
A cosmic symphony of no mores
That would have an audience of one
When the levees broke
Though you may never know of how I deeply you are in the marrow of my soul…
I give your promise to me
And I to you that I would never forget you nor will I allow anyone else to
Though your name may appear to some
To be quieted by time it seems
New Orleans, Gulfport, Biloxi, Port Arthur, Lower Nine, Iowas, Illonois,Wisconsin and all the others
When the levees broke…
This is what I remembered of home today
Adaptation of original poem “If you were to leave me” for Katrina ProjectJHM 6-18-08©

Jumpin Over Rivers©05


Panoramic Viewof Yelm River ©08
When I have a frustratingly its time to take a mental health break I find water seems to always calm me at least for the moment. When I saw this river it reminded me of a poem I had written three years ago using a river as a metaphor for jumping or overcoming obstacles no matter how large or how small. Even if it appears minute to others when you are face with a challenge of any kind it is very real & genuine to you.

In the final analysis is anyone approval orcaring matters? Yes to some degree it does. SOmetimes will not allow people to demostrate theircaring depriving them not only of a job well done, but the benefits and happiness that comes from giving. But when the game begin it matters most to the one who has to cope with it and find a way to jump over those rivers.

Our world is increasingly becoming more and more prideful/provenchial, pretending indifference to others plights. Self-absorption masquearding as "choices" . Or "its there problem not mine" attitude. But we all ripple when in motion, interlacing with other ripples made by other folks. No it does not mean we are require to take upon all the world's problems on our should ers,but it sure goes a long way for someone to know someone cares enough to stand on the enbankment for a moment with us.

Finding a balance isn't always a rocket scientist formula, but when the stuff is all up in your face it is indeed a sight to behold to find balance or have the ability to ride it out. Some rivers challenges are smaller then others, some time easily forgotten at least until the next one comes. The Salmon River is a mosquitoe bit in comparison to the mighty Mississippi, but when you are the one standing on the enbankment looking to take that leap both rivers can seem insurmountable.

But in the end, it still comes to the same thing, we have to jump over that river...



Jumpin’ over rivers to see how high…
Jumpin’ over rivers so we can fly…

I say we’re jumpin’ over rivers when we’ve been tried…
Jumpin over rivers even when we hide…
I’m jumpin’ over rivers when I thought there was no guide.
And we’re jumpin’ over rivers as we rise…
We’re jumpin’ over rivers to see the sky…
I say we’re jumpin over rivers to get to the prize….
We are jumpin’ over rivers to see God’s eyes.

All rights reservedJHM 5-5-05©


This poem accompanied the quilt I created for the Bennett College 2005 Commencement speaker Tavis Smiley

Take me to the River

Salmon River Otis,Oregon ©08JHM
Nisqually River, Yelm, Wa

Going to the River




Nisqually River, Yelm, Wa All rights reseerved JHM Photograph & Poem©08

When I am in a way where words refuse to suffice...

Or the tides cannot soothe my ears with a melodic rhythm

And the gentle rustle of the sycamore tree sounds more like Beethoven's Fifth

Or cleansing raindrops feels more like crashing boulders surrounding my soul.

And the 12th of Never seems ever, ever more then one should bear.

Or the blossom that fell echoed so loud that even Nat's own velvet voice failed to quiet...

Relief seems to far away as the Serengetti is for me to stroll over

And the hope that the Middle Passage was a cruel, cruel joke.
That was not absolutely not funny.

I have to seek a place to replenish myself to go on another day.

So for me...

I am going to the river...
To sit & just be.


All rights reservedJHM 4-27-08©

There's Room for Both here...

Stash's Sunset in Tennnessee©08
What Secrets Lies?

All rights reservedJHM©08

Monday, August 11, 2008

Well Done

Traci Jo Painting All Rights reserved©08 JHM





On this spring day I flew


Fresh to wander ocean sand

River ribbons, beautiful blue

Flowing softly through the land

And the moon said "Well done..."

At seeing while in repose all that could embraced

Shrouded in moon hues’ lace

For the hearts undone and the ones that still need singing

The prisms’ delighted flush kept right on winging

To the heavens where the angels shouted in applause...

For all the beauty of today that indeed had been done.
All rights reservedJHM5-5-08

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Weigh to Grow~ Sparks People!

Other Side of the Dark Clouds~Photograph by JHM©08 All rights reserved

Should you find yourself at a loss, wondering what life is all about and what your purpose is, be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity to wonder. ~- Unknown


You'll probably spend some time this weekend thinking about the good things in your life and your loved ones. Before you do that, take a moment to just consider how fortunate you are to be here in the first place.


In the 21st century, we can experience more in a month than most people throughout history did in a lifetime. Instead of appreciating that fact, we usually just end up wanting to do and have more. We look at what's wrong rather than what's right. This is a perfect time to take a look at your life and priorities again. Can you make some extra time every day to just enjoy the moment and your loved ones? You've been given the gift of a lifetime of moments. Accept the gift and prove yourself worthy.

Hold That Tiger (Lillies)




Photographs by JHM ©08 All rights reserved
First ^ second shot at the Cameron Gardens- Washington State
Third Shot is of the Seatle Space Needle

Friday, August 8, 2008

Cameron Gardens-Washington State


©08 Sea to Shining Sea series

Moon's Great Pacific Northwest Adventure

Photograph by Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney from the "Sea to Shining Sea" series ©08- Pugent Sound Olympia, Washington

Mos Chukma Institute-Lower Ninth Ward New Orleans



Photographs by Kathy Anderson-Times Picayune

Article:


Louisiana Children's Museum exhibit shows how 9th Ward children are coping post-Katrina
Posted by
Chris Rose, Columnist, The Times-Picayune June 24, 2008 5:00AM

On the ground floor of the there is a temporary exhibit on display that is unusual -- to say the least -- for the obsessively cheery and forever young philosophy of the museum.
In a colorful happy-house setting more noted for its puppet shows, a make-believe grocery store, fun house mirrors and raucous birthday parties, the Mos Chukma Memory Box exhibit takes a decidedly darker look at the interior lives of local children.
The Memory Boxes are remembrances of Hurricane Katrina made by students at the Martin Luther King Jr. School for Science and Technology in the Lower 9th Ward -- still the only school that has opened in that beleaguered neighborhood, almost three years after the storm.

They are story boxes, each with its own narrative, almost like time capsules. They are 2 feet by 2 feet, and generally decorated with paint, clay figurines and faces, shapes and objects made from wire or cut out from paper plates, and random indigenous accessories such as Spanish moss and Carnival beads.
But it is the narratives written on note paper or painted inside these boxes that hit home hardest.
"I lost my trust," one of the displays says. "I lost my faith. I lost my confidence. I lost my dad."
It's a far cry from the Dr. Seuss exhibit, to be sure.
Those words were written by a third-grader. For folks around here who insist that everyone should just move on from this thing -- and their numbers seem to be growing -- try telling that to this kid".


Please read entire article at:

http://blog.nola.com/chrisrose/2008/06/chris_rose_louisiana_childrens.html

And help.

Comments from the director:

MOS CHUKMA which means "good child" in the Houma language.

As most of you know, I have moved to New Orleans to work with the children traumatized by Hurricane Katrina. Maybe you've been here, orseen the film on my teaching, or visited the art exhibit at theLouisiana Children's Musuem, or spoken to me personally about art,healing, or transformation.


Now is a time of great transition as I continue the program I have developed over the past two years at the MLK, Jr. Charter School inthe Lower Ninth Ward. We are directly in the midst of securing sustainable funding, so this program may continue to thrive for years into the future!

I thank you most of all for the support of your spirit. If in these difficult times, you can also lend material support, it will go to the cause of healing.



CHECKS may be made out to MOS CHUKMA and mailed to:

1000 Bourbon St.
Box 273
New Orleans, LA 70117

Amelie Prescott-Founder and Director
Mos Chukma Institute
www.moschukmainstitute.org

moschukma@gmail.com