My son Cameron took this photo a few years back. It’s the Willamette River in Portland, looking north up at the Fremont Bridge. He’s studied film-making at the Art Institute in Fort Lauderdale, FL and has begun filming weddings, fishing journeys, and travels around The States. Though currently being updated, you can see some of what he’s doing here: cameroncushman.com
Actually other stuff will concern itself – if that’s an accurate way to put it – with many, many different things. One of which will be the subject of the act of brainstorming.
Like Karen sang, we’ve only just begun.
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You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone
Is the title of a wonderful, rocking song by The Beach Boys from the Carl and the Passions – So Tough LP. A favorite of mine. I’m thinking of it here now after two plus days of struggling to get this web site set up and working the way I envision it. Part of my vision is a real ability, through the technology of WordPress, to interact, to engage, my thoughts offered up, your thoughts flowing back in. Hopefully, through the process, working toward something better for all of us. That’s my thinking…my wish.
The needing the help part springs from my rather spectacular level of confusion and perplexity when it comes to, say, computer stuff. Plug-ins, themes, widgets, RSS…..stuff. I’ve been googling questions (And Austin Kleon in his fabulous book “Steal Like An Artist” advises googling everything) and watching tutorials on YouTube and, frankly, I’m kind of amazed things have progressed as much as they have. I just finished a book, “The Obstacle is the Way” by Ryan Holiday which advises to see obstacles for what they are — opportunities to learn and grow. Lordy, I hope that’s what’s happening.
In any case, there’s miles to go before I sleep in the comfort that Couch Surfing at 70 is the way I picture it. Yeah, I need a mess of help.
Time to bow to these obstacles again.
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I Feel Seen
A short story — Once upon a time I published a new Blog post yesterday. It was titled “Surfing Around the Rail Trail”, a little Cape Cod folk story. This on my new Blog page “Couch Surfing at 70”. Perhaps you’ve heard of it.
Nearly 24 hours after publishing the post I have had four people leave comments. As WordPress provides daily statistics regarding viewership, I can say with certainty that almost everyone reading this here on Facebook did not see yesterday’s Blog post, and virtually none who did took the time to comment. So it is the four people who did both I concern myself with now.
In her book, “The Art of Asking”, Amanda Palmer talks about being an artist and the relationship between artist and viewer – “You’re an artist when you say you are. And you’re a good artist when you make somebody else experience or feel something deep or unexpected.”
I’d like to think at least a bit of that, call it magic, happened for four people yesterday. Enough to make them take a minute or two and call up their own story, as good as the one I left, both poetic and yearning after some place or some time warmly remembered. If you want to read a few lines that will guarantee to make you feel better today, read the comments from yesterday’s post. Taking and giving into something greater than the original. Which is the goal.
And there is this — I felt seen in those comments, and not just seen like I see this post, but “seen” in the ‘Avatar Peoples’ way — I seeeee you. I feel you. I experience you. I connect with you…..And I can tell you here, there isn’t a better reward than that for this writer/artist.
You might want to take a moment and check out what Christine, Andy, Susan, and Gavin had to say. It’s pretty cool.
The End. 8/29/18