Every year I'm at the IWWG Writing Conference, I go to visit my former high school English teacher, without whom there would BE no Museletter, for I would be no writer, had it not been for her gifts to me. Her name was Sr. Robert Joseph when she taught me and later sponsored me when I entered the convent. Today it is Margaret Lalor.

She marched with Dr. Martin Luther King in Selma, taught us how to organize unions, always spoke out against injustice and began every class, not with a prayer, but with a poem. She left the convent in the early 70s and we did Europe together, worked in factories in Pennsylvania and California together, got me through college together. She is now nearly 75, walks with a cane, works for $6 an hour part-time as a Hospice dispatch operator, and has no health insurance.

When I saw her in June, she told me her plans for when she dies. "I'm giving my body to science," she said, "so nobody will have to bother about a thing. And when you hear the news, I only have one request. That you sit down and take time to listen to the Mozart or Verdi Requiem. I'll BE there. I've heard that music so many times I'm IN it. I'm IN that music, so you'll know I'll be there." That was all.

And today, I read this from Isadora Duncan:

"..when I listened to music the rays and vibrations of the music streamed to this one fount of light within me-there they reflected themselves in Spiritual Vision not the brain's mirror, but the soul's, and from this vision I could express them in Dance...It would seem as if it were a very difficult thing to explain in words, but when I stood before my class of even the smallest and poorest children and said: 'Listen to the music with your soul. Now, while listening, do you not feel an inner self awakening deep within you--that it is by its strength that your head is lifted, that your arms are raised, that you are walking slowly toward the light?' they understood. This awakening is the first step in the dance, as I conceive it."

All the power is in the arts. The soul force, the light, the way home. It's in the arts. It's how God gets into the world...through our hands, our voices, our songs, our poems and stories. Don't hold back anymore. Quit that job if you must. Work part time. Sell some things. Move. Do whatever you must to be true to the creator inside who came here with purpose, on purpose, FOR a purpose. The world is on fire. Get your hose, spill out your genius, spray us with your light till we're drenched and laughing. The kingdom is here. Nirvana now. That's what I say. Nirvana now.



http://costofwar.com/

Nominate a Hero in Your Life:
Women's Art: Women's Vision is the 2008 Theme for National Women's History Month. http://www.nwhp.org/

The 2008 theme will celebrate and recognize the vision of women artists.  Next year's honorees will be selected to represent the diverse forms of visual arts including painting, sculpture, weaving, pottery, embroidery, as well as forms from modern media art. All Network members are invited to nominate a woman as a possible 2008 Honoree.

To nominate a woman, you will need to write an essay describing her life and work and how it expresses her vision. . Please include in this essay, the woman's birth and (if deceased) death dates and your reasons for nominating her. All nominations must be sent by August 15, 2007.  Please email your nominations to ednasmolly@aol.com.

And if you haven't seen this you tube piece on women's changing face in art, check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs

CRAFT OR VISUAL ARTIST GRANT DEADLINE NEAR
http://www.chenvenfoundation.org/
July 31, 2007 deadline craft or visual art project
This is one of the few that give grants to individuals.

Something for writers...

A GREAT publication for writers (especially if you're just starting out)  http://www.newnmag.net/
NEWN (formerly New England Writers' Network) is a quarterly publication devoted to helping writers around the world to get published and to teaching through content and example.


Tikkun (a fabulous Jewish magazine with interfaith reach) is Looking for: Artists, Graphic Designers, Volunteers and Interns!
http://www.tikkun.org/
This is Rabbi Michael Lerner's operation...the roots of spiritual activism effort in U.S.- good karma to help...

We are looking for artists who could be on call to do drawings or editorial-type cartoons to accompany a Tikkun story, and we are also looking for general art submissions to consider for use in the magazine or on the cover. Our budget is small, but Tikkun is a great venue for exposure. Many up-and-coming artists got their start publishing their work in Tikkun. If you know artists, please ask them to send us a representative sample of their work by email to adina@tikkun.org. Hard copies can be mailed to us at: Tikkun Magazine  attn: Adina Allen, 2342 Shattuck Ave, #1200, Berkeley, Ca. 94704.

 

 This workshop is designed to liberate you from old modes of thinking and lead you into the deeper recesses of your own imagination so you can think more originally, live more authentically, and inspire meaningful and creative

For more info or to register: mstroko@starband.net;
http://www.innattherusticgate.com/

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