Crown of what?

Okyeame Poma, or Linguist staff, at the DMA

In her ceaseless search for anything fun, and out of the ordinary, my friend came with me for a stroll through a local museum. We walked through halls and rooms as if the paintings were there to look at us, and not the opposite, which is what we were supposedly doing there. Sometimes a short look to a portrait induced new topics of conversation, but the talk was mostly about work, family, and everything that lies outside of the walls of this particular museum. 

I imagine that for an art fan, people like us can be extremely lousy. We hardly ever stopped to appreciate the pieces, and when we did, we were a little too near, and a little too random.

When strolling through the American decoration and design section, I noticed that a guard was quietly following us. My guess is that we were too loud and she wanted to give us a look. My friend, probably unaware of it all, decided to start a rather provocative conversation. "I wonder how people steal art from a museum", she started. "With so many guards, and such big frames", she insisted. I immediately thought of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, which has been stolen twice in Norway. She vaguely remembered the piece, and kept saying: “I wonder what kinds of tools they use”. It was then when I remembered one of my husband's favorite movies, which shows a very interesting take on art theft.

―Have you seen The Crown Affair?

―The crown of hair? No, yuck.

―No! The Crown Affair― I repeated a little louder with a smile.

―Oh, what a relief! The crown of heir. No, I don’t think I have.

Bent over laughing and trying to repeat the movie’s name, I realized that we were not going to talk much about art that evening. We walked and talked, and even then a few pieces talked to us. We were almost moved to tears when we saw Linguist staff; a piece of art from Ghana that shows how people will be willing to help and support you, if you show good intentions. It was a nice stroll with a friend. Hopefully the art will be there next time. And hopefully we will give it a chance to talk more to us.  

The last day

An acquaintance posed this question the other night: How would you treat the person closest to you if you knew that today was her last day? Not only your husband, your parents, or your children, but whoever is in a close proximity at any given time: a waitress, a cashier, the bag boy at the supermarket... Would you still be that indifferent? Still run out of patience? Still wished they did not show up for work? The exercise was a subtle reminder to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. 
What if, however, a crisis came unexpectedly and found you praying for someone's well being and hoping for an opportunity to be nice to them once more? My aunt Olga Lucia is in the ICU tonight. She is battling an aggressive infection caused by a peritonitis, which was triggered by stones in her gall bladder. She is unconscious. She had dialysis in the evening. Her siblings, children, and grandchildren are at the hospital, as close as they can be, waiting for some news. 
They are far away. I cannot show up at the hospital, but I can call. I cannot tell her how much she means to me, but I can write about her. Tonight I can show my love by praying for her life. 
What am I going to do tomorrow? How will I show my 'neighbors' the love I want to show to my aunt?  

Mark 12:31 ...the second is this: love your neighbor as your self. There is no commandment greater than these.

The Americans' take on modern art

From Winslow Homer to Stuart Davis and Jackson Pollock, American artist have expressed themselves through realism, impressionism, cubism, and abstraction.
The Phillips Collection has been traveling the world in the last few years, and it will make one last stop in Tampa Florida, before it returns to Washington D.C. Here are some of the exhibit's highlights.

To the rescue, by Winslow Homer

Sunday, by Edward Hopper

Skyscrapers, by Charles Sheeler

Blue Cafe, by Stuart Davis

Pattern of leaves, by Georgia O'Keeffe

No more resolutions!

When he saw our surprised faces over the high volume of people working out, one of the managers at the neighborhood recreation center said: "I've seen it over and over; this enthusiasm only lasts until February".
‘Exercise more’ might be the number one resolution for most people who even bother to make a list. However, just as the enthusiasm for exercising wears out in a month, resolutions have a short lifespan for the big majority. For the last several years, one of my resolutions has been 'Write daily'. I have started a few journals, created a 'write about work' blog, and wrote down variations on schedules to include a daily 45 minute writing routine. But there is always bad weather, illness, stress, long commutes, dinner preparations, winding down... reasons that become excuses to leave blank several of my journal pages.  
Through the years, I have learned a few basics on making resolutions. One of the rules is to keep them realistic. Attempting to make radical changes in life such as ‘Eradicate negative thoughts from my mind’ has been proved counterproductive. Another rule is to keep a short list, ideally with no more than five resolutions in it. John Goddard would probably refute this rule, but very few of us have his capacity for commitment. The third rule is to make your goals measurable. ‘Be happy’ sounds good, but does not help you track your progress on a regular basis.
In his book ‘The Pathfinder’, Nicholas Lore challenges his readers to rename their desires and call them commitments instead. Following the same path, it might be a good idea to change the resolutions to goals, and to set a path to fulfill them. In that case, writing a list is only the first step in a series of tasks that will help you get through.
Once you have a list of the things you want to change, improve, or eliminate from your life, you might want to set a deadline to accomplish it. Separate time to evaluate your daily goals. Celebrate your successes. Determine a pathway to accomplish your goals. ‘Have a master’s degree’ will most likely fail if it is not backed up by specifics.
Finally, prepare for failure, but don’t give up. There are 365 days to keep trying, re-writing, and refining those commitments. Perhaps ‘Changing my resolutions into commitments’ will be first in my list for 2013.   

Dream on

Dream on, until your dreams come true. A catchy phrase from Aerosmith since 1973, a reminder for me today.
Most of us give up on our dreams at one point or another. Dreams are not easy to follow, nor is it always possible to turn them into reality. Dreaming with fame, beauty, money and power is easy to do, but difficult to accomplish. What dreams are worth following? How and when to give up on one's dreams?
Successful people are dreamers first. How did they turn their dream into a reality? Did they keep dreaming on until their dream came true? Maybe not. The first step might be calling it an idea, instead of a dream. Then it has to have a reasonable shape to become a reality. 
I turn my back on my One dream often, but I have not given it up. Will I dream on, dream on until my dream comes true? It is time I call it a project and start working on it.

Embracing dull days

So how do you update your facebook status when you have had a dull day? Work was the same as always, dinner was bland, conversation was inconsequential, and your playlists didn't do anything for you? In today's day is almost shameful to recognize that we all have dull days.
What to do with them? I choose to be thankful instead of bitter. Dullness today means a stable job, drama-free relationships, and the scarse opportunity for thinking, instead of filling my head with someone else's thoughts. A dull day is a wake up call: I made the choices today, but I know that I can make better ones tomorrow. What do you choose to do?

How deep? How honest?

Small talk gets old quickly. It gets even older with your coworkers. You see them every day, you 'small talk' a little, but then you want to move on...
How deep and how honest do you want to keep lunch time conversations? Past the weather, the reality show, the children, other coworkers, and the boss, there will always be an opportunity to speak one's mind. Your conversation about favorite food might turn to politics, religion, or career paths. Even though a little riskier, these subjects are still safe. Things get a little heavier when someone shares an intimacy of some sort, or, even worst, throws a question about your private life. How deep do you go? How honest do you get?