A Magazine of Many Arts

Empty Pockets.
Discard jewelry, belts, umbrellas.
Remove shoes, hats, coats, any articles of clothing with sentimental value.
Take off glasses.
Pull out IVs, ventilators, feeding tubes, catheters, implants.
Scrub away tattoos.
Urinate. Defecate. Retch. Shed any remnant of mortal consumption. Wipe hunger from the buds of your tongue, pleasure from the palette.
Forget what seemed to matter, desire, ambition, possession, love, sources of fear.
Close your eyes. Breathe deeply.
Expect a little sting as memory is wiped clean.
Let go of the world.
Step forward.
Behold the nothing of all, void of unencumbrance.
Do not look back.
Pass.

The con was great. I worked my butt off on getting my table ready for the art show, and managed to fill the space. Remind me next time to reserve less space and focus on my best work, OK? Still, I thought my table looked pretty good.

On the table you can see my dolls, some of my jewelry, and the cameos I’ve been playing with lately. On the wall are the mixed media fabric pictures, mostly tarot cards but some classic illustrations as well. On the right you can see my daughter’s pictures, including some that appeared here first. It’s a big hodge podge of different media and styles, but that’s what keeps it fun for me.

I will be at Arisia in Boston next week. If any readers are interested in getting together, I’d love to meet you. My schedule for the weekend is:

Kamikaze costuming (Fast Track): Sat 9:30 am January 15th
Doll Costuming: Sat 2:00
Play with Clay (Fast Track): Sun 9:30 am
Monster Mash: Sun 3:00
Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics: Mon 9:30 am
Puppet making workshop (Fast Track): Mon 11:00
Costuming Space: Mon 12:30

The Fast Track panels are for kids. I always enjoy hanging out with children at geeky events. The kids are great, and it’s a good opportunity to meet other parents. Most of my current close friends I have met through my children — it’s one of the great pleasures of having smart, weird, geeky children. Socializing is not my strong point, but it’s always easy to strike up a conversation with someone whose children are busy planning to destroy Tokyo with yours.

The Monster Mash panel is cutting up old stuffed animals and combining them in weird ways to make monsters. I’m looking forward to that so much. It sounds like huge fun.

I will also have space in the art show. I’d love to hear what you think even if we don’t speak at the con. Leave a comment on this post or the next.

The woman snapped upright from her bent over position.  The hot pie she had just taken out of the oven slipped from the mitts covering her suddenly limp hands.  Slowly she turned…

“Ms. Herron…Ms. Herron…Alexandra, are you all right?”

Alexandra Herron blinked rapidly to erase the nightmarish memory.  Looking up from her desk, she smiled weakly at her secretary. “Yes, I’m fine, Cindy.  Just lost in thought.”

Why can’t I ever forget, she wondered. Why can’t that bitch just die and leave me to my own life?

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