Thursday, January 29, 2004

Effortless Mastery I've been holding off writing about the book and CD set, Effortless Mastery, thinking I'll write something profound. Maybe it's not going to happen. Meanwhile, I don't want you to miss this wonderful book. So while I'm still working up to getting profound, why don't you buy the book and read it for yourself? I kept it on my amazon.com wish list for quite a while. Wish I hadn't waited! It's probably going to be my "best book of 2004." My "best book of 2003," by the way, was Effortless Living. Guess you notice a certain trend here... By the way, the CD that comes with Effortless Mastery consists of guided meditations. The book is written by a jazz musician, for other professional musicians. But it's applicable to any art form - and of course, to life. I'll be writing more about effortlessness - and ecstasy - in days and weeks to come. Meanwhile, I hope you'll be exploring it for yourself. This book and CD set is radiant. And until you get the book in your hands, you can read some bits on the author Kenny Werner's website. 10:32:25 PM    comment []

President Bush proposes an increase in NEA funding According to a New York Times article online, President Bush is proposing a modest increase in funding for the National Endowment for the Arts. The increase will probably be bitterly contested. Even if it passes, the NEA will still be drastically underfunded compared with the period before the Republicans took control of Congress in 1995. And it will be underfunded compared with the support given to the arts by other developed countries. Sometimes I've wondered if the drastic change in 1995 was one of the things that made it difficult for me to go on making art. Quite a few things happened around that time. I lost the clean studio/gallery space I'd been using. Congress declared art irrelevant and of no value to society. My beloved dog died. I felt each of these as a major blow - but I believed I was moving on despite them. Still, for me, "moving on" means making my bowls. So which do I believe? My mind, saying "I'm fine" - or what I make or don't make? What I make or don't make, for sure. It's good to be reminded of that. The bowls don't lie - not even little white lies. 7:37:49 PM    comment []