Kevin Spacey on the Survival of the Arts

Lazy Cat Series

I noticed that cute pictures with quotes are kind-of the "in" thing on Tumblr ... so I decided to try it by exploiting my cat, Ozzi, who is actually not very lazy.  I often call her my "familiar" as our personalities seem to be similar.  She just happened to be unusually cooperative on the day I took these pictures!

Strangely enough, the quote by itself is gaining popularity.  Do people really like my scribbled so-called "calligraphy" better than my gorgeous diva kitty cat?  What is the world coming to?

You can see more of my photos and some of my art attempts in my deviantART Gallery.

Gloria Stuart

I just want to take a moment to acknowledge Gloria Stuart at her passing.

I don't think she was really a household name at all, but mention "Old Rose" from Titanic and almost everyone knows who you are talking about. (Those are usually the type of actresses I tend to admire.)

I don't want to focus on the fact that she played a supporting role in that 1997 film (over 10 years ago!) but I have to draw a comparison between the movie and what Gloria Stuart represents to me.

I went to see Titanic with my grandparents and my cousin on New Year's Eve, late in the evening. Since the movie ran for over three hours, it was 1998 by the time we stepped out of the theatre. I have seen Titanic since then, but believe me, you can't really fully appreciate Titanic (or many other movies of that proportion) unless you see it FULL SIZE - in the theater, with only the light of what is happening on the screen before you and the sounds surrounding you.

We laughed at the funny parts, gasped at the scary parts, and cried like babies during the tragic and heartbreaking parts. As we left the theatre we discussed the movie and traded our experiences.

THAT is what great movies should do to people.

As I said, I don't want to focus on the fact that Gloria Stuart played the storyteller in that movie, because that particular moment in her career should not be what defines it. I do remember watching the Oscars that year (Titanic swept, by the way) and feeling such great respect and admiration for the oldest actress ever nominated for an Academy Award. To me, that proved that you are never too old to do what you love.

Recently, I've had to amend that lesson:

You're never too old to keep doing what you love.

You see, Gloria Stuart was always an actress, and she was in some pretty recognizable movies besides Titanic. It is just that our current generation has lost touch with the mystique of her era. We look back with awe at movies like Gone with the Wind and those great old classic Hollywood musicals and wonder from a distance what it must have been like to be part of that glamour and magic. I read autobiographies of actresses and see scenes like Katharine Hepburn running into Ginger Rogers and it is like some surreal, distant fiction - too good to be true. I look at old black and white photos of studio gatherings, parties, or movie sets and it doesn't feel like I'm looking back a generation or two. It feels like I'm looking at another time and another world.

(And maybe that's why movies like Titanic are that fascinating. They aspire to that level of Hollywood greatness.)

I have heard more than one actor complain that Wikipedia is grossly inaccurate, but I have to say it may be one of the best resources for finding out information - in a general sense if not an accurate one - about people we wouldn't otherwise be able to research without considerable effort. Gloria Stuart's page on the encyclopedia gives you the sense of who she was and what she meant to Hollywood.

Movie roles aside, Gloria Stuart, it says, was born in Santa Monica - not far from Hollywood. Several people in her family were accomplished in their own careers. It says she dropped out of Berkeley to get married, and was not only active in theatre, but in the world of art, and knew several prominent artists. It also features a picture of her with the other "WAMPAS Baby Stars" in 1932 (seen above).

(WAMPAS is the Western Association of Motion Picture Advertisers who picked starlets every year and introduced them at a grand party. More info HERE and HERE.)

Her Wikipedia article also claims she was a founding member of the Screen Actors Guild.  However, the article for SAG says she was one of the members who was especially supportive in the early years (and not necessarily a founder).  Stuart was an activist and surely played a key role in actors having the rights they do in their workplaces today.

(A side note:  She apparently also volunteered to join the French Resistance around the time of World War II, when she and her second husband were visiting France, but was turned down.  She ended up taking singing lessons and entertaining troops.)

Still active in the art world, she also owned her own shop and later created artists' books, some of which ended up in the Metropolitan Museum, Library of Congress, J. Paul Getty Museum, and Bibliothèque nationale de France, to name a few places.

Two lines stand out to me in the whole article.

• "Stuart was a versatile female lead, but was never given the roles that would make her a major star, a source of great frustration."

• "Stuart died in her sleep on September 26, 2010 at the age of 100, due to respiratory failure."

She wrote an autobiography -- I Just Kept Hoping.  It has just been added to my list!  I will always look up to Gloria Stuart.  She did what she loved wholeheartedly, tirelessly, endlessly.

Recommended:  "Gloria Stuart, an Actress Rediscovered Late, Dies at 100" By ALJEAN HARMETZ and ROBERT BERKVIST on NYTimes.com

"If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you."

- Gospel of Thomas, verse 70

Do-It-Yourself Fashion and Clothing Repairs

If you have ever wanted to be a do-it-yourself costumer or fashionista?  While sewing and design may be an art form, there are small, simple things you can do to create your own attire.  Put your best foot forward by making sure your clothing always fits and reflects your style.  Save yourself some money by learning to make simple repairs and alterations; and create your own clothes.

About.com has a great Do-It-Yourself Fashion section by Lorain Blanken that is consistently updated.  The site features Rain's DIY Fashion Blog, tips for crafting your own accessories, instructions for making your own clothing and costumes, beginner projects, and how to make your own bags, accessories, and jewelry.

Whether or not you choose to use the free sewing patterns, handmade gift ideas, or designs for spicing up existing items, you can definitely draw inspiration from the pages of tips, tricks, pictures, and patterns; and learn how to fix and maintain the clothes you'd like to keep around.

DIY Fashion at About.com

"This is not a 'course in drama.'  It is a course in opening up the vastness in you as a human being... There is no other way to grow except through an art form today.  A few hundred years ago, maybe religion could do it.  But today, only the art form is able to stretch a human being so he can measure up to his potential to grow and grow and understand himself and his life until the end.  We are here to get that."

- Stella Adler

Frosty Morning Window

Be Here Now

Did you ever run across a work of art, a song, or an acting performance that moved you so much that you almost felt compelled to turn away from it because it was so powerful?  It made you feel something so deep and so personal that you almost couldn't stand it?

I've been moved pretty easily for the last few days -- I'm just in a heightened emotional state and I'm inspired by things because of it.

Today I heard a song I'd never heard before -- actually, I saw a video someone had made with it.  Because I don't want to have to explain the complexities of what the video meant to me right now and because there is a particular topic I'd like to avoid in this post, I'm going to stick to talking about the song.

The song is called "Be Here Now" by Ray LaMontagne.  In addition to the lyrics, which I am about to talk about, the music is absolutely gorgeous.  It is like stopping in a still moment to listen to yourself breathe and hearing music instead.

I had a very dear friend waiting for me when I came back from California.  I didn't know her at the time, but she was there for a reason, and ended up being a godsend.  I miss her terribly.

Elizabeth saw my potential because she knew me without my even having to explain myself.  She had studied at Julliard, taught music to deaf children, mingled with celebrities, performed as an opera singer, and had even been in a movie called (I think) "Under White Sails."  (I can't find any information about this movie but I did get to see pictures of this event in her life at her funeral.)

Elizabeth had been in the Air Force and lived most of her life as a pastor's wife.  That's how this beautiful, talented, wise woman ended up in my backyard.  She wanted to know about me, she shared my dreams for the future, she tried to help me think of ways to reach my goals, she listened intently when I shared my experiences -- particularly when they involved music or theatre -- and she tried her darndest to coach me in singing and help me get over my stage fright.  I didn't know it at first, but I really really needed her at that time in my life, and it just so happened that she had somehow wound up in a little town in rural Indiana -- my home.

Most importantly, she taught me that it was okay to be at home.  The greatest lesson she gave me at that time was that I should just settle and not struggle -- not settle for anything less, but just be calm and let my life move forward as it was supposed to, taking the time to learn my lessons and smell my roses rather than trying to force my way through everything.  I don't think she knew she taught me this.

I have been through a lot since her personal battle and death that I wish I could talk to her about -- most importantly my current inspirations and dreams, and the fact that I have realized over the last year that I have a very great struggle that I need to overcome -- that stage fright is the least of my fears that are holding me back.

The wonderful thing about realizing you have a problem is that when you do, you are suddenly enabled to attempt to overcome it.

I am trying, now that I'm able to, and it is certainly an uphill battle.  Sometimes when I feel like I'm succeeding, there is a whole section of the battlefield I've neglected to notice and conquer and I fall back.

Today, in church, I was inspired to realize that I have to be ready, when my door of opportunity opens, to walk through it.  I can't think twice.  When I get a chance to do something, I have to jump at it, grab it, seize the opportunity, take it, make it mine -- with no hesitation.

Hesitation is something that is easy to do when you are a 'fraidy cat.  Life is just one big hesitation.

And I realize that if I expect a door to open, I have to be at a point in my life -- mentally, emotionally, and spiritually -- to walk through it.  So I have to get ready, right now.  No hesitation.  I can't concentrate on this tomorrow.  If the sky opens up and a miracle falls into my lap in the middle of the night, I need to know where my shoes are.  You know what I mean?

Then I came home this afternoon and heard this song.

Don't let your mind get weary and confused
Your will be still, don't try
Don't let your heart get heavy child
Inside you there's a strength that lies

Don't let your soul get lonely child
It's only time, it will go by
Don't look for love in faces, places
It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

Don't lose your faith in me
And I will try not to lose faith in you
Don't put your trust in walls
'Cause walls will only crush you when they fall

Be here now, here now
Be here now, here now

Doesn't that just say it all?

I have been weary and confused.  My heart has been heavy.  I have been lonely, and I have been missing old places and faces -- and wishing for new ones, throwing myself into daydreams about things I don't know how to accomplish.  It is absolutely true that you cannot trust your walls of safety and protection.  I love my walls.  I hide behind my walls.  And they do crush -- devastatingly.

But if I am aware of here and now, I can be ready for tomorrow.  So, if you are are like me, screw your courage to the sticking post and keep your shoes by your bed.  Be ready.

One thing I've done differently this time than in the past -- I have not lost faith.  In fact, I've searched for more.

"Inside you there's a strength that lies ... It's only time, it will go by ... It's in you, that's where you'll find kindness ... Don't lose faith in me and I will try not to lose faith in you ... Be here now."

Beauty in Suffering

No one likes to suffer, feel pain, experience sadness or hopelessness, sacrifice, or be defeated; and while we’ve all heard the saying, “That which does not kill us serves to make us stronger,” it is hard to feel the truth in it during those difficult times.

I heard a beautiful message about God’s plan in church once.  The pastor spoke of an ugly lump of black coal in the earth that through years and years of being under the pressure of the world was turned into a beautiful diamond - a prized stone and a symbol of promise, commitment, and eternity.  He also spoke of a tiny worthless speck of sand that was caught in an oyster and held there, eventually turning into a beautiful, rare pearl.

I love stories like this.  These are examples nature gives us of our own inner beauty and good triumphing through trials - encouraging us to live up to our potential, like caterpillars struggling through their cocoons to open their colorful wings.

Still, for some, there isn’t a happy ending.  We search for the outcome, and cling to the hope that somewhere down the line, even if it is in someone else’s life, good will come from the grief.

The story of Jesus at Gethsemane is one that is especially bittersweet.  Many Christians believe that Jesus thought of them - not in general, but specifically and individually - as He prayed that night just before He was arrested and crucified.  It is apparent from the story in the Bible that Jesus already knew His fate at this time, and prayed to His Father that the upcoming tragedy might pass from Him; yet also saying, “Not My will, but Yours be done,” ultimately acknowledging that He would, indeed, have to be crucified.  An angel appeared to Him, to strengthen Him, yet in the next sentence the Bible says,

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly.  Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Shortly after His prayers, Jesus was found, betrayed, and arrested and His long physical suffering began.

It isn’t hard to see that the ending of the spiritual story of Jesus is a happy one, but can we find the beauty in the emotional pain and physical injuries Jesus the man suffered?

Finding the beauty in a terrible situation comes from appreciating the person enduring the pain and/or the circumstances surrounding the suffering.  This is especially true if you find the emotion or pain inside yourself.  You must feel the humanity of it and remember that there are many others besides yourself in the world that are feeling similar emotions, better or worse.

Auguste Rodin sculpted La Danaide, a figure from the story in Greek mythology about the Danaids - women who were punished in hell by having to fill a leaking jar or sieve with water, which they attempted to do for eternity.  In another version, she pumps water into her urn for eternity as it evaporates in the heat of Hell.  It is believed that La Danaide was originally meant to be part of a greater sculpture by Rodin, The Gates of Hell, which was inspired by Dante’s Inferno.  In the sculpture of this Danaid, the girl is collapsed in exhaustion.

Rainer Maria Rilke, who knew Rodin, expressed that it was wonderful to walk from her back to her face, which “loses itself in the stone as though in a great weeping.”

Perhaps the beauty of La Danaide is the artistry and thought that went into portraying her ... but more likely it is that great beauty stirs something within us - whether that be joy, pain, or both.  So many people identify with the feeling that the work we are doing is futile, or that we are too mentally or physically exhausted to push onward with our tasks.

Why are so many great plays, songs, epic poems, myths, famous novels, and works of art tragedies?  In truth, we as humans love to feel - to be touched - inwardly.  We love to feel our souls and know we are alive.  And there’s something about the idea that another person can reach inside of us emotionally that makes us feel connected.

The United States Marine Corps and many athletic teams believe that “pain is weakness leaving the body.”  While this is true in that feeling pain often gives us strength, it might also be accurate to say that pain is love or strength or humanity being manifested.  In a way, it helps us identify with each other.

While suffering may be unpleasant and painful, the beauty of it is to be appreciated.

"She who reconciles the ill-matched threads
Of her life, and weaves them gratefully
Into a single cloth –
It’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall
And clears it for a different celebration."

- Rainer Maria Rilke

La Danaide was sculpted by Auguste Rodin.

Etsy for Charity and American Cancer Society

American Cancer Society Concurrent with Etsy For Charity's August Charity, and in honor of all the people and families that have been affected by cancer - especially future survivors - this month's featured cause is the American Cancer Society.  Education, support, and ways to help can be found at their website.

This month, 100% of the Etsy for Charity store sales will go to the American Cancer Society. If you are buying a gift this month or in the mood to shop, or if you have crafts to donate, please visit Etsy for Charity.  More Info.

I Love Fair Trade - Part 2 (Global Community)

Fair Trade products are more than just good coffee and tea. My favorite thing about Fair Trade is the unity you feel with the rest of the world when you responsibly learn about the products you see and the people who made them.

Fair Trade products are hand made locally, by someone in another part of the world who is working to make a living that will sustain them. Not only that, but the products they are making are traditional -- the native artisans and craftsmen are making baskets, jewelry, paper, pottery, and other goods that are original to their people and region. (Granted, they must adjust to the fact that demand requires them to make a product that conforms to a pattern.) That is what makes Fair Trade fair -- people are being paid wages that will allow them to provide for themselves and their families for making crafts and goods that are traditional and native to their own culture.

Not only that, but many Fair Trade products come from organizations that are set up specifically to benefit people in need. For example, women in the INEZA cooperative in Rwanda, who are genocide survivors and are receiving HIV treatment, are living productive and positive lives. They empower themselves, other women, and their community by earning a living and benefits making beautiful, useful products out of traditional, native Rwandan fabrics. When you buy one of these products, you know you aren’t just paying for “a portion of the proceeds to benefit” but are helping to keep these beautiful and deserving women employed and sustained.

At the Fair Trade online store, my favorite way to browse is by country. We all hear about disasters and tragedies in other countries, but there is something about looking at something that has come directly from that country’s people that helps you connect with them. When you click on a product, you can read where it came from and what it is made with.

By far, my favorite thing about Fair Trade is the sense of global community I feel when I see for myself the beauty of a handmade craft from another part of the world and know that somehow, there are people out there that are working to make this one small world a better place for us all. When you see these useful items and you know what hands they came from, it really does seem like this world isn’t so big.

Here are some other points of view on Fair Trade:

From “The Christian Science Monitor”
From BBC News

For more information:

Global Exchange: Fair Trade Online Store
I Love Fair Trade - Part 1 (Coffee)

Children was taken by Anna Cervova.

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