archive: 18 august 2007: the list

I woke several times this morning... Really I woke at 9 and tried to go back to sleep but just couldn't.... When I finally got up, started getting dressed, and was thinking... Some things have got to change. My projects need to get started, I need to go to the gym regularly, I need to spend less and cook more. So I am going to create THE list here. Ideas and projects and mundane duties and needs and wants.

1. Seven Pleiades bottles: collages on bottles. The pleiades series will focus on the myths concerning the star cluster from around the world. It will also include the myths that is attributed to each goddess/mythological person the stars are named after. Also might include information about the astronomical facts/info we have about them (binary stars, etc.).
(either will use the big jug bottles or the varying sizes of liquor bottles I have access to - varying sizes to depict the brightness or dimness of the stars... I originally thought that I would include a bottle for each star that makes up each of the stars (ie, binary and dual-binary stars are in fact counted at one star in the cluster, etc, so therefore one of my Pleiades-creations might be actually four bottles tied together somehow... kinda complicated, maybe?)

2. Nine Muses bottles: Something very similar to the Pleiades series. Might have some different attributes. Might take shredded paper from office (recycle!), paint it solid colors, stuff it into the big jug bottles. Insert other little trinkets and things inside for effect. Paint and collage outside in certain areas, but not the whole thing or else the inside looses effect - Or make peering down inside the mouth an effect to see something small and mysterious on the inside. Like peering inside one of those old Christmas ornaments we used to have at home... tiny details inside it.

3. Strong Women in World Religions: I am not sure if I will do this in bottle form, or on these cabinet doors I have sitting on my back porch, or strictly in the book form I will explain in 4. I want to do this one, but I know it will consist of a lot of research, note-taking, thinking and finding as much diversity as I can find possible (I try/want to represent as many religions/beliefs and as best I can). I know that I will have to limit myself for some religions - ie, Christianity has quite a few women mentioned in the Bible who could be considered strong women, powerful women in their own right. How many do I portray?) And do I choose women based on the religious texts (many religions' texts don't name specific women but use them generally; In those cases I would refer to the history-makers of that religion and find the specific women who shook things up or were positive forces in that religious history. BUT if I do that would I better then not use women from the Biblical text but from Christianity's history? Some people would say that they are the same, but that might be up for debate, ie - that the Bible is a History Text AND/OR Religious Text). In my view, the Bible is not objective. If I am going to research the lives and character of women in other world religions' history, which might mean a more objective look at the facts and actions, then the same should be done with women of Christianity's history and not refer to the debatable lives/actions of the women depicted in the Bible. AH... Complicated. Maybe I am worried about what others might think or infer.

4. Along with either or all of the bottle projects I would need something that explains them and the research I gathered. I have seen recycled books that were made in this wonderfully fantastic artistic way. Get used and beat up books that are at garage sales, Goodwill, etc, and paint over all the pages. Make it a scrapbook of sorts. Glue pages together to make the artbook's pages thicker and sturdier for the final project. This might make the book lie open, but that's ok. Type or write pieces to be pasted into it, collage some pages, etc. This is to complement in the bottle, to provide a text for understanding the bottle's depictions, etc.

5. Lexington Lives, 1800s-1900s - Poetry project of 30 poems and 30 photos of headstones and/or grave rubbings, etc. I have 20 or more written so far. I have been editing some of the ones I have already, and I still need to write the rest. Talking with Vicky I have been given the idea that I might be able to/ought to first submit that manuscript to the UK Press. They might would be interested in it. She read a few of my poems and gave some suggestions, thoughts. I need to do some research on some concepts I use in them. I need to work on these some more. Maybe if I can get up earlier I can devote an hour to them in the mornings. Then I will edit, revise, and send off a copy of the total manuscript to Vicky, Michael, and Libby. Possibly have Rachel and Robert at the college sit with them, too. (ballad to Carol). One more revision and then final manuscript draft to UK. Take it from there.

6. Submit some poems to Appalachian Heritage.

7. Workout at gym after work daily or three times a week?

8. I am waiting to find out if I will be admitted into UK this Fall for a class that meets once a week on campus and a few times online. Not sure if that will happen. I was admitted and accepted into the class!

9. I want to do something about mountains. Not sure what yet. But there's something wanting to come out about that.

10. I need to go through all my belongings and get rid of STUFF again. Perennial? I just gathered a bunch of t-shirts I never wear: they're going to goodwill. I have gone through half my books and picked out stuff I sell to Robie-and-Robie. When I finish reading the books I do have, I will also sell or give them away. I don't have room, don't have need, don't reread most of my books. Only a few have sentimental value to them for me. One I gave to someone and it ended up back in my possession when we broke up. I guess I could tear out the title page and still sell it, but... weird. Some of the books I am keeping are signed (Willie Morris, Eudora Welty, etc.)

11. Banjo - After September 12th I'll either have it or will be buying/getting it. Some learning and playing will take place after that.

12. I am wondering about the Kentucky Foundation for Women. I have heard about grants/scholarships they give to approved proposals to work on and create projects. I have an idea for something but I really don't know yet what to do or how to figure it into something for the community. All this research I am going to have to do for the Strong Women in World Religions project would make an interesting class/discussion/seminar for women in community. It would be interesting to know/see/share that information with others not just in the creative form for my art project but also in the lives of others. Learning about women making a difference. I'm not exactly a religious person; I am spiritual in some ways but I cannot explain how. I guess I just do what I do; I feel as if I haven't been in a "place" for some time which nurtures me like I have in the past, but work, projects, ideas bog me down and keep me from doing the hiking and nature stuff I have loved. If I had my own place I would like to work on a flower garden, maybe a veggie garden. Anyway - I digressed - I wonder how a grant from them would help me: just afford the expense of the work or would it help my living costs? eh. Would I be able to take off from a 8-5 workday to work during that time on the research and/or classes? If these were community classes I would probably offer them up like Kyrai opens hers on the weekends only, or Andri's belly-dancing classes on weekday evenings. I don't know. It would be interesting. I don't know how good it would be, but I would hope that it would be something interesting and beneficial in some way. It didn't work out; I was late in applying because I forgot about it needing letters of recommendation. It would have been too short notice to get anyone to write anything on my behalf.

13. One day I will do my Churches of Madison County, Mississippi, project. One day. I will write about that some other day. It involves: photographs of the church, oral histories with pastor(s) and eldest folks of the congregation, research from news clippings of the church, etc. Combine into book form. Either a "history text" or a "pretty colorful informative coffee table book." ya see? Oh by church I meant ALL INCLUSIVE. None left out.

14. I want to get on the Greyhound bus and go somewhere sometime soon. Maybe I will use that to get home for Thanksgiving? I could drive, but I have never ridden a Greyhound. I might ought to do that for the writer in me. NOT! $254 for a round-trip on the Greyhound leaving on Wednesday and returning on Sunday? agh. nope. Ahh.. and it has something to do with the holiday. damnit. oh well. my car is it. And the train is out. I thought that there might would be one from Cincy to Jackson, MS, but apparently not; it has to go from Cincy to Chicago before going to Jackson. And the total comes nearly to $300. agh. Oh well. Maybe some other time.

15. Add more to list later. I should go do something now. haha! Later I will work on the report - adding those photos to it and figuring out how to make it a .pdf formatted file without having to buy some program. I am sure it can be done! somehow! hehe. This is the "fun" part. The writing part was what bogged me down. I got tired of writing in here's-my-inventory-data-collected style. AGH.