Dialog with the Body

Your body's wisdom can speak to you through metaphor. Writing dialogues in your journal can help faciliate the life lessons your body may be trying to teach you. Dialogue with the body is one of the six main types of journaling dialogues described in Ira Progoff's seminal book on modern journal writing, "Intensive Journal Workshop," first published in 1966.

First, choose a dialogue partner, whether it be a body part or organ, illness, injury or surgery, allergy, your sexuality; a body subpersonality such as thin self, fat self, addiction or habit; foods or nutrition; or pain, which always seems to be an important messenger.

Dialogue in writing, back and forth, with your dialogue partner. You will be writing both roles, of course! Your dialogue can be in the form of a thoughtful and direct "letter" or "instant messaging" back-and-forth dialogue if you thrive on fast-paced banter. If you feel like you're making it up, you're right. You are making it up, but it is a part of you. Don't be afraid of the unexpected or ideas that seem to come out of nowhere.

Having a dialogue with the body can be a form of healing visualization. Whether your dialogue partner is anything from an allergy to dust, a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer or the ache of a twisted ankle to an addiction to chocolate, the fear of hair loss or compulsion to wear too much makeup, your two-way dialogues can help you sort out the real from the imagined, the old you from the newer you, and help you decide what can be changed and how to go about it, or what may be inevitable and how best to face it. [Intensive Journal Workshop][Ira Progoff]

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Dialog with the Body

Writing the Seen and the Unseen

Deena Metzger, in her book "Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner World" suggested, "When you think you have nothing to say, when your life feels dull and tedious, try writing: Things I didn't see today." The things we can't see are often the most important. A Turkish poet who spent a number of years as a political prisoner, Nazim Hikmet, wrote a poem entitled "Things I Didn't Know I Loved," while looking out a Prague-to-Berlin train window.

...night is falling
I never knew I liked
night descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain...
I never knew I loved the sun
even when setting cherry-red as now
in Istanbul too it sometimes sets in postcard colors...
I didn't know I loved clouds
whether I'm under or up above them
whether they look like giants or shaggy white beasts...
I never knew I liked the night pitch-black
sparks fly from the engine
I didn't know I loved sparks...

As a journal writer, you don't need to write a poem, but simply write your own "things I didn't see today" or "Things I Didn't Know I Loved."

[Nazim Hikmet][Deena Metzger]

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Writing the Seen and the Unseen

Thanksgiving Weekend Journal

When we think of Thanksgivings of the past, our memories can often blur into visual "bytes" of rising before sun-up, basting turkeys, cooking down cranberries into a sauce, hanging harvest decorations, watching a wave of people rush into and then out of the house, washing and drying dishes in a bright, steamy kitchen, and laughing with others, like yourself, festively dressed in fashionable high heels, but also in slightly worn-torn aprons. But what does Thanksgiving really mean to those partaking in the meal with you?

There's a special window of time during Thanksgiving when you can find out. You know that time in between the Thanksgiving meal itself and dessert, when you need to digest the first part of your meal before you can even think about cutting into the pumpkin pie? Instead of rushing off to watch the football game or get a jump on loading the dishwasher, grab your journal and instruct everyone at the table to "set a spell" to talk about the things that they are most thankful for this year. Write them down in your journal.

Or, ask everyone if they can recall their most memorable Thanksgiving (outside of this year's!) and why. You may find out some interesting anecdotes about your relatives that can help you appreciate them even more. You might even hear stories from the old-timers about those who have passed on whom you may have never met. The practical joke Great-Uncle Joe pulled 50 years ago could sound remarkably like something you, your son or your niece might pull today. More than looks often run in the family.

Sometimes Thanksgiving is the only time the whole family really gets together, and it's a day that often goes by far too swiftly. If you record some of what people say and do during Thanksgiving, you can savor the day longer and your relationships more deeply.Forget videocams. They put people on the defensive and no one feels comfortable enough to say anything substantial in front of them. Plus, hardly anyone ever looks at them again once the camera is put away. On the other hand, people open up when you sit down at a relaxed table and chew the fat (and the Turkey bones), as you just happen to jot down a few notes in your journal all the while!

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Thanksgiving Weekend Journal

Why journal your dreams?

In the Robert Moss book, The Three 'Only' Things: Tapping the Powers of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination, he cites "The Nine Powers of Dreaming:" 1. We solve problems in our dreams. 2. Dreams coach us for future challenges and opportunities. 3. Dreams hold up a magic mirror to our actions and behavior. 4. Dreams show us what we need to do to stay well. 5. Dreams are a secret laboratory. 6. Dreams are a creative studio. 7. Dreams help us mend our divided selves. 8. Dreaming is a key to better relationships. 9. Dreams recall us to our larger purpose.

And when we journal dreams on a consistent basis, perhaps for a two or three-week trial period, we may see a pattern develop that can help give us greater insight into that "other" side of ourselves.

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Why journal your dreams?

Writing the Seen and the Unseen

Deena Metzger, in her book "Writing for Your Life: A Guide and Companion to the Inner World" suggested, "When you think you have nothing to say, when your life feels dull and tedious, try writing: Things I didn't see today." The things we can't see are often the most important. A Turkish poet who spent a number of years as a political prisoner, Nazim Hikmet, wrote a poem entitled "Things I Didn't Know I Loved," while looking out a Prague-to-Berlin train window.

...night is falling
I never knew I liked
night descending like a tired bird on a smoky wet plain...
I never knew I loved the sun
even when setting cherry-red as now
in Istanbul too it sometimes sets in postcard colors...
I didn't know I loved clouds
whether I'm under or up above them
whether they look like giants or shaggy white beasts...
I never knew I liked the night pitch-black
sparks fly from the engine
I didn't know I loved sparks...

As a journal writer, you don't need to write a poem, but simply write your own "things I didn't see today" or "Things I Didn't Know I Loved." ◦

Writing the Seen and the Unseen

Rescript Your Life Journal Writing Workshop

Saying there is only one way write a journal is like saying there is only one kind of food to enjoy. Recharge, rescript and change the way you approach both personal issues and creative explorations through a variety of journaling techniques. Attend "Rescript Your Life," a one-day, hands-on journal writing workshop taking place on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Chicago Writers Series, 1333 S. Halsted Street in Chicago.

It will be led by yours truly. As you experience different methods one-by-one in this hands-on journal writing workshop, you'll pinpoint your burning issues and learn how journaling can help achieve your goals. Contact the series at 312-355-0423 for more info and fee.

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Rescript Your Life Journal Writing Workshop

True Person of No Rank & Journaling

Zen philosophy describes a "true person of no rank." I put my faith in Christianity, but I hold much admiration for Zen points of view of the world and of creativity. Deep inside each of us is a "true person of no rank," and we can approach our journal writing as such. Those of high rank and with many credentials need to remember that, as blessed as they are, they put on pants (or pantyhose) one leg at a time like the rest of us. Such a person is, deep down, a "true person of no rank." On the other hand, a person who has little schooling and a humble track record may feel unqualified to write anything worthwhile. But who isn't more qualified to expound on life than a "true person," and especially a "true person of no rank." By ignoring our rank or pecking order and focusing on our true personhood, we can look more closely at the world, pay attention to its beautiful detail and bring our observant meditations to life on our journal pages. ◦

True Person of No Rank & Journaling

Noshing around Montreal

My husband Carlos and I took a road trip through Vermont and Canada, making our own breakfasts of natural cereals, rice milk, plain yogurt and fruit from the convenience of a cooler and food bag full of non-perishables. Goji berries, cherry pie Larabars, low-sodium chips, and more fruit took the edge off hunger as the day wore on.

But sometimes, ya just gotta eat. We visited a few places in Montreal that might fly under the food critics radar, but offered us delicious, healthy and satisfying meals. At Jardin Nelson, an indoor/outdoor and inner courtyard charmer in Place Jacques-Cartier in Old Montreal, I started off with a midday glass of Prosecco, followed by a cup of really homemade chicken and vegetable soup, a creamy tomato bruchetta and a shrimp and avocado salad, all lightly and evenly seasoned and extremely well made. Carlos enjoyed salmon on a bed of angel hair noodles, with chives, and red and green pepper. The seating was picturesque, the breeze light, and the whole experience, so Vieux Montreal.

Downtown, turn to Le Commensal, a vegetarian buffet on the second floor of McGill and St. Catherine. It was warmly recommended to us by a former Montreal artist, Genevieve, whom we met during our visit to the Vermont Studio Center. A variety of tasty hot and cold vegetarian dishes and desserts are available by the pound. Fill up your plate and weigh-in at the cashier. Microbrews also available. Nice views fom the high perch and great food, especially for those like us, who long for hard-to-find vegetarian specialities when traveling. View a Commensal You Tube.

At the Novotel Montreal Aeroport, stop into Trio, an ultra chic minimal moderne place to relax to music piped in directly from France, and with a tray of luscious, nouvelle cuisine appetizers. I enjoyed brie with strawberries and mangoes, mushroom tarte, and escargot with tomato sauce on small toasts. Another night I had a trio of chicken skewers, along with small shrimp and scallops dishes. The soups are also fabulous. Carlos seemed to live on air at times, or at least arugula salads. The Novotel is a great hotel to stay, by the way.

For dessert, stop in again in Old Montreal and have one of its homemade sorbets at Les Glaceurs along the side street of Notre Dame Cathedral at rue 453 St. Sulpice. The pamplemousee, trichamp and framboise sorbets are all fresh fruit tasting, not too sweet and really delicious. Even my dessert-shunning husband couldn't resist.

Do you have a favorite Montreal dine-out place, and why is it so good? ◦

Noshing around Montreal

Microbrews from Vermont and New York State

My husband Carlos and I have a running beer tasting debate. When it comes to microbrew beer, he prefers the india pale ale and I prefer the hefeweizen wit or white Belgian style beer.

On a recent road trip through New York State and Vermont, we had the chance to sample several of the local microbrews along the way. The first wasn't the best -- Otter Creek Ale from Middlebury, Vermont, which was somewhat skunky, not extremely fresh and gaining a 6 on our 10-point scale. While visiting the New England Culinary Institute in Essex, Vermont, I ordered a fine hefeweizen beer on tap, Harpoon's UFO or Unfiltered Offering from the Harpoon Brewery, located in Windsor, Vermont. My server smiled approvingly when I ordered it, and it was a wonderful summery, smooth beer. It is best on tap, though after later trying it in the bottled version, found it was still good. Carlos gives it an 8, but I award it a 9. Though not a huge white beer fan, he preferred Wolaver's certified organic wit bier, also made by Otter Creek Brewing, which is far superior to its Otter Creek Ale. Do the microbrews get their water from Moss Glen Falls?

Southern Tier, an India Pale Ale brewed close to the southern New York State highway that bears the same name rated a 9 from Carlos. But I just plain turned up my nose at it after one bottle. He felt this ale was fresh and non-skunky unlike the Otter Creek.

One of the trip's disappointments was missing the tour of the Brewery Ommegang in Cooperstown, New York. We'd logged too many miles to drive back the next morning after breezing past it on Route 86. They make the Beligian style Witte beer, among others. We pulled into our hotel in Schoharie late that night and saw an inviting display in the lobby for Ommegang's fine line-up of beers. But they didn't sell it! It was only a 3D showcase for the brewery.

Along the way, Carlos tried Rock Art Ridge Runner wine ale from Vermont. We had seen lots of empties lying around after a late-night artists' campfire at the Vermont Studio Center in Johnson, Vermont. After sampling the sole bottle he bought, he gave an enthusiastic 10 to the brew.

There was one last, but not least, beer that we waited to open after our return home to Chicago. Circus Boy, The Hefeweizen! is brewed by the Magic Hat Brewing Company in South Burlington, Vermont. According to the label it is "unfiltered and unfettered" and according to Carlos and me, we finally found a beer we could completely agree upon. I loved the full-bodied, unfiltered taste, and he liked the slight bitter edge that the Harpoon's UFO did not have. We both give this one a 10. But then, the beer at trail's end is always a welcome comfort and marks a time of special celebration. Cheers!

P.S. Mickey Dolenz, the original Circus Boy, you'd been upstaged after all these decades. You were a hard act to follow, but you did one up yourself by becoming a Monkee.

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Microbrews from Vermont and New York State

Writers visit to the Vermont Studio Center

I had heard much about the Vermont Studio Center from fellow writers. When my husband and I were up in Burlington, Vermont, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to visit the small town of Johnson in the Green Mountains and see what the Vermont Studio Center was all about.

Weeks before, I contacted one of the administrators, Kate Westcott, to find out if we were welcome stop by and take a look around. She offered to give us a quicky visit, as July residents were leaving and August ones would be soon to arrive. But once we walked into the main office to meet her, she graciously gave us the grand tour of more than an hour of the lovely grounds and various buildings scattered around the local river and converted grain mill.

I had imagined that the colony was set out in the countryside, but The Vermont Studio Center is actually a series of existing buildings spread in close proximity throughout the town of Johnson that the organization bought up, restored or converted, and turned into artist and writer studios, sleeping quarters, dining areas and lounges. Its lecture hall was a building on the main street scheduled for teardown until the colony saved it.

The photo in the upper left-hand corner is of the Maverick Writing Studios, where resident writers spend their days writing in separate, private spaces. This building, in contrast to other vintage and restores structures was built from the ground up in recent years. Artists have long been part of the colony, but writers have only been accepted within the last decade or so.

The atmosphere at the place was also more social and close-knit than I had surmised. Most of the emphasis on the Vermont Studio Center is on younger visual artists, attracting residents from all over the world. It also seems to be a place where like-minded artistic guys and gals meet, fall in love and come back to marry on the grounds. Kate Westcott also serves as a licensed justice of the peace, and have wed many couples who were lovestruck there. While we were visiting, we noted a very attractive couple who had previously met at the studios getting ready for their wedding. Twenty and thirty-something visual artists, take note.

As for my husband and me, writers long married and yearning for the right environment to get our next books finished, I think we'd most likely prefer a quieter place where we might find more focus and fewer distractions. It is surely a wonderful place for visual artists to network, have a chance to exhibit their work during various onsite shows, and get valuable inspiration from one another. View a Vermont Studio Center You Tube. ◦

Writers visit to the Vermont Studio Center

Homemade Corn Tortillas at New England Culinary Institute

It's a dream come true. After so many years of marriage to a Mexican, I finally learned how to make corn tortillas from scratch. Not from my mother-in-law, but from the splendid guidance of the New England Culinary Institute while on vacation in Vermont. During this hands-on workshop, I joined four others to create two different summer salsas, tomato (red) and tomatillo (salsa verde) using vegetables we roasted in the broiler before whipping together in the food processor. One of the tricks was to roast the garlic cloves right in their skins and peel afterward, as well as keep the seeds in the jalapenos. (Note: I made the recipe a few days later with a girlfriend, and nearly seered our tongues on the mixture. Next time, I'll definitely omit the seeds).

An added suprise, and so far from my home in Chicago -- was to meet Chef Courtney Contos, who led the workshop and made it a memorable experience for all. She serves as the Director of Culinary Activities for people like me, who only take one or two classes at the institute. This Greek and Irish lass turns out to be part of a restauranteur family that goes way back in Chicago -- who ran the famous Chez Paul, as well as subsequent establishments by the names of the Flying Frenchman, Maison del Lago and the Royal George Theatre Cafe. Chef Courtney was balanced, knowledgable, friendly and helpful, letting us participants get our hands into everything and guiding us with the most proficient and deeply solid aire. You know she knows, but she let us find out for ourselves. What a gal!

What are corn tortillas? Nothing but corn masa, which is a ground corn flour and lime mixture, and water. The trick to making the perfect tortillas lies in just how much water, and of course, in the actual making. Golf ball size pieces of masa go into a cast iron tortillas press, but not before a ziplock baggie is cut on three sides to serve as a helpful sleeve to prevent sticking. What a revelation! Press the ball softly between the sleeve and the press, open, but don't flip, just turn the sleeve 45 degrees and repeat a couple of times. Peel off the raw tortilla carefully, and toss all at once into a heated cast iron pan. No oil necessary. Let bubble a little, check the corners, turn over and flatten with an egg spatula. No time at all on the other side, then slip into a folded towel to keep warm as your delicious stack rises. We ate every last one of them -- then and there! So good. And the salsas were to die for. I can't tell you the recipes. You have to go there and create them yourself. I highly recommend this workshop that takes place at the Inn at Essex in Essex Junction, Vermont, near Burlington. They also have week-long boot camps on various topics, such as natural foods. ◦

Homemade Corn Tortillas at New England Culinary Institute

100 Memories Travel Journal

Hilary Liftin from Los Angeles described an interesting travel journaling tradition between her and her husband in the April 2005 issue of Real Simple magazine in an article called "Write It Down -- It's not a list. It's a lifeline." Whenever jetting back from a vacation together, Lifton and her husband pass a paper back and forth between themselves to log 100 memories from the holiday they just experienced.

In order to complete their list before touchdown back home, they have to dig up some obscure images, such as Entry number 12 from a Mojave Desert escapade: "By the pool at 29 Palms Inn, Chris briefly looked like a skinny Elvis." or Entry number 48 from another vacation in Bar Harbor, Maine: "We flew a kite until it fell in the water and a wave snapped it in two."

Liftin finds that making these entries is "a way for us to preserve the random, funny, sweet little moments of our trips that would otherwise be forgotten."Newlywed Liftin also said, "We love the tradition of our memory lists so much that if and when we have kids, we'll undoubtedly force them to participate. I can hear it now, 'Aw, Mom! Do we have to do the memory list?'

In this age of digital cameras, it's nice to put more effort into remembering than the click of a button."Note from me: However, these snippet memories can make the perfect companions scribbled next to photographs from the trip when a scrapbook or photo album is later assembled.

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100 Memories Travel Journal

Journal writing experience at Carnegie Library

This past weekend, I drove out to DeKalb, Ill., corn country and visited a pristine little town cut right out of Americana called Sycamore. The 12,000-population town also serves as the county seat. In the town square on Main and State Streets lie the neoclassic DeKalb County courthouse, an imposing post office and one of the most beautiful libraries in which I've ever facilitated a writing workshop.

The Sycamore Public Library was one of the original Carnegie libraries built through funding by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. First built in 1905, the Sycamore Public Library received an extensive addition and renovation in 1997. The new section is fashioned with a hip, modern interior, yet the exterior has kept the integrity of the original design. It makes a stunning statement in architecture and color to any passerby. The library director also suggested I take a drive down Somonauk Street on my way out of town, which is lined with huge well-maintained Victorian mansions of every color and facade. Worth the visit!

I also had the pleasure of visiting another Carnegie Library in Eureka Springs, Ark., in the last couple of years, which I intend on returning to this fall. It is not as large by any means as Sycamore Library, but just as charming.

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Journal writing experience at Carnegie Library

Mushroom poem on food reporter blog

I had the good fortune to attend a panel and meet ABC7 Chicago food reporter Steve Dolinsky, the "Hungry Hound." I was able to share a few of my food poems with him and he posted the poem "Mushroom Has Landed" on his food blog.

The poem was first inspired by a lecture at the Chicago Green Fest and book "Mycelium Running" by Paul Stamets, the utter guru of the modern uses for mushrooms, including mushrooms' powers to eat up and eliminate toxic waste.

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Mushroom poem on food reporter blog

Let Wabi-Sabi Happen in Your Journal

Wabi-sabi, the quintessential Japanese aesthetic, can be applied to journaling and is, in fact, an integral part of true journaling, whether we realize it or not. Wabi-sabi is the beauty of things imperfect, impermanent and incomplete. It is a beauty of things modest, humble and unconventional.

Published writing is usually rewritten, edited and polished writing, set in symmetrical fonts and printed in uniform order and quality. Journaling, most often, is composed of our raw thoughts or emotions, scribbled down in an unsteady hand on a commuter train or a dimly-lit kitchen. Perhaps the pages are occasionally smudged with ink or stained by drops of coffee. Entries may be heartfelt and passionate, but can simultaneously be random, incomplete, unconventional and bold, without need to please an audience.

In the long run, the journaling process may add up to a complete picture or an epiphany of revelation, but tracing any single journal's pages, one-by -one, can render a modest journey, the humbleness of following a foggy path with no promise of reaching a clearing.Most distilled, the Wabi-Sabi of journaling embraces a sense of faith -- in yourself, in life, and in the promise of a future.[wabi-sabi]

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Let Wabi-Sabi Happen in Your Journal

Catch journal writing interview on YouTube

A brush with destiny and the Infinity Foundation got me a small spotlight this spring on YouTube. The gal has entered the 21st century, but will journal writing be able to free me from its fetters?

O.K., so only seven people have checked out the spot so far, and most of them are friends and relatives. It is a four-part video interview that gives the viewer a peek at what my journal writing workshops are about.

But don't stop at the video. Go get the real thing and get away from the urban crush by weekending up at Shake Rag Alley Center for the Arts in Mineral Point, Wis. June 28-29 for poetry and journal writing workshops, or The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay, Wis. on July 19 for the journal writing workshop. ◦

Catch journal writing interview on YouTube

Dialogue with Persons

Ira Progoff, the father of modern journaling, cited six main types of dialogues in his groundbreaking volume, "Intensive Journal Workshop," published in 1966. Dialogue with Persons is one of these six main types.

By a dialogue, I mean choosing a dialogue partner and writing back and forth between yourself and your "partner." In a Dialogue with Persons, your dialogue could be with a person of the past, present or future, a person living, passed on or not yet born. And you don't need to know the person to have a dialogue. This is not channeling or any other hocus-pocus, but a way for you to cut through preconceived notions to what you may discover is the deeper truth about a person, persons and especially about yourself. Think of it as a letter that can't be delivered, but somehow it is, and somehow you get a letter in return.

For example, you might choose to dialogue with a person you really admire, who may possibly serve as a role model for you, and perhaps you have never had the opportunity to meet. You may initially feel that you can never measure up to the talent or accomplishment of this person. But through your dialogue, you may discover that your partner tells you how hard he or she had to work, how long of a wait and how high of a climb it took to leave an impression. Perhaps it really did. Perhaps it really didn't. But this dialogue may at best give you insight into what you feel you must do yourself to progress to the next level of your life and your personhood! ◦

Dialogue with Persons

Keep a Da Vinci Notebook

In today's world, with nearly unlimited access to information and our culture's tendency to multitask, we might consider ourselves a Renaissance society. We aren't interested in just one or two things, but many. The original Renaissance man, Leonardo da Vinci, kept a journal or notebook with him at all times in which he jotted down ideas, impressions, and observations, as well as recording:
• jokes
• fables
• observations and thoughts of scholars he admired
• personal financial records
• letters
• reflections on domestic problems
• philosophical musings and predictions
• plans for inventions
• treatises on anatomy, botany, geology, flight, water, and painting

Our busy lives and job responsibilities drive us into
––hard conclusions
––measurable results
On the other hand, the exploratory, free-flowing, unfinished, non-judgmental practice of keeping a da Vincian notebook fosters freedom of thought and expansion of perspective. ◦

Keep a Da Vinci Notebook

Dialogue with Creative Work

I have a day job, but I don't necessarily want to dialogue with it. I may argue with it a good portion of the eight hours I punch in, but I have other avocations that make more appealing partners. One is musical theater writing. Besides actual dialoging with a composer/collaborator, which is the most satisfying, my journal serves as an ideal stage to work out the answers to what drives the piece in the first place.

Some of the questions I pose consist of "What does the main character want?" and "What is the musical about?" When I ask what it's about, I don't mean the plot. The plot is what happens, scene by scene. Instead, I mean what deeper meaning is the piece trying to bring out? If it's about belonging, does the character discover that he or she can belong or that it may be impossible to really belong. If it's about connection, what might a character do to continually reinforce disconnection before finding a path to connecting with other people.

If working on a play or musical, you might have a journaled dialogue with your character asking directly what he or she wants, believes, avoids or regrets. You may not only find out your answer, but also find ways to smooth any bumpy parts of the script your characters trip on or redirect their steps when they wander away from where they and your piece are ultimately headed. [Intensive Journal Workshop][Ira Progoff] ◦

Dialogue with Creative Work

Write a Letter That Can't Be Delivered

In my journal writing workshops, I guide participants in writing "Letters That Can't Be Delivered." A letter might be written to a close friend or relative who recently passed away, to a favorite neighborhood tree, to an ongoing illness or even to a bout of blocked creativity. We can't expect an answer. Or can we? Every good conversation isn't a one-way experience. The best part of the dialogue is, indeed, the answer that comes back. And of course, the answer doesn't really come from the loved one, or the tree, or the illness, but from deep inside ourselves. And what we have to reveal to ourselves is often surprising. ◦

Write a Letter That Can't Be Delivered

Future of Food

Move over Brangelina. The bigger news about who is in bed with whom concerns Monsanto and the U.S. government. You can get the gritty details in the documentary "The Future of Food," an eye-opening, not-to-be-missed expose on genetically-engineered agriculture and government subsidies on par with, if not more in depth than, a Michael Moore film. Saw it last night at Facets Multimedia during the Chicago Humanities Festival on The Climate of Concern. The Future of Food ran double feature with an excellent German film with no dialogue called "Our Daily Bread," a behind-the-scenes look into the modern means by which we get our beef, chicken, pork, olives, salt, and greenhouse vegetables, a film which some have compared with "Koyannasquatsi." It was one of the most dramatic, thought-provoking evenings I have spent in recent history. I highly recommend both films, particularly the former.

The Future of Food film cites that 75 percent of farmers of the world use seed from the previous harvest for next season's planting. According to Monsanto, farmers that do the same with its patented corn, wheat, soy, canola or cotton face stiff fees and civil suits. Even if the gene gets accidentially cross-bred with a farmer's standard crops, the farmer is liable. Mexicans are terrified of finding their diverse array of native corn species fiddled with and their culture destroyed through the threat of a mono-crop Franken-species. Will the family farmer soon be in debt to do serfdom to the chemical lord of their estate? Is this the 21st or the 13th Century?

What does the future hold? Technology is in the works to perfect so-called "suicide seeds" that produce one crop and do not reproduce. Also on the horizon, seeds that do not geminate unless you buy and spray them with a chemical from the same manufacturer who sold you the seeds. So much for solving world hunger through bio-technology.

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Future of Food

Wordswimmer

The web is a place for journal writers to dive in and make creative connections. You might like to check out Wordswimmer, a blog by Bruce Black, who uses water and swimming analogies in his posts about the writing process to inform and amuse web surfers. When there, also discover links to myriad other writing sites, writers and editors blogging, book blogs and author websites.

Check out the post called "Surfing on the Edge" which gives a nod to this site. ◦

Wordswimmer

Online Journal Writing Resources

Besides Journal Writing Tips with a Twist, discover other excellent websites and blogs floating out there in the cyperspace blogosphere.

Check out websites such as Annette Lamb's The Topic: Journal Writing and Journal for You, or blogs such as Heather Goldsmith's A Creative Journal.

These sites underscore the great notion that journaling and creative writing ideas can come from everywhere -- unusual visuals -- lists -- overheard conversations -- letters that either can't be answered or are unlikely to be delivered -- life's questions -- wishes, lies and dreams.

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Online Journal Writing Resources

Journal Writing at the Poetry Farm

I had my work cut out for me at the Poetry Farm. And I loved it! However, between rising early, hoeing grape vines, helping with dinner and clean-up and, of course, devoting a good block of time to writing poetry, that left only tiny windows of opportunity to note experiences in a journal.

The Poetry Farm is a writers' colony and organic fruit and vegetable farm located in southeast Wisconsin where I spent an unforgettable two-week residency in September.

Back to journaling. Never fear. The list is here. Not laundry lists of errands or things to do, but a bullet-point rundown of memories and prompts to fuel future journal entries and blog posts.

I listed what types of organic produce was grown on the farm. Such as Red Swenson grapes. What books I read. Never realized that Twelfth Night was one of Shakespeare's best and funniest comedies. Which places I visited and people I met. Found Seattle transplants in a hip, little coffee house in Evansville, Wis., and chatted up Australian and New Yorker artists during a local fall open house arts tour featuring four or five towns in the area, including Stoughton, Wis. I kept notes, random images and approaches for food poems, later written and tweaked. And at the end of the day, the night sky replaced Chicago TV, billboards, radio and electronic media, with both my refractor telescope and journal scribblings noting the elegant movements of Mars, Venus and the moon. ◦

Journal Writing at the Poetry Farm

Travel Journals "On Tour" on YouTube

On YouTube, some journal writers who create visual art and travel journals present them in video form without the chatter, simply showing pages of homemade creations through words and images. This reminds me of the old computer game Myst, which showed pages turning before your eyes in a strange, swimming fashion.

An art journal might contain words and pictures that connect ones thoughts and experiences, while a travel journal which also includes art will chart a trip in a memorable, visual fashion using words to fortify the mix. Actually, both YouTube examples I provided links for exemplify art journaling as well as travel journaling.

Can anyone recommend more YouTube videos on art journals or travel journals? If anyone has a special way of incorporating art, maps or photos with words in a journal, I'd like to hear from you. ◦

Travel Journals "On Tour" on YouTube

Stone Soup Meals at the Poetry Farm

Dinner meals were a collective, creative effort at the Poetry Farm, a writer's colony and organic fruit and vegetable farm in Orfordville, Wis, at which I was a resident for two weeks.

Both residents and full-time farmer Henry would trade off cooking, assisting and clean-up duties. It almost became a game to try to come up with elegant meals using mostly what was on hand, fresh from the farm.

In one version of the children's story Stone Soup, a traveler came to a woman's door with a stone and added it to a pot of water she placed on the hearth. He kept telling the woman the soup was good just as is but if she just added a bit of carrot, then butter, turnip and one thing after the other, it would taste so much better. In the end, it was a full, delicious soup.

Being mid-September, pears and many vegetables were in profusion, and the hens had reached a stage of maturity to begin laying eggs on a regular basis.

Resident Ariana (pictured above) created a simple, though luscious fresh pear salad, dressed with balsamic vinegar, olive oil and gorgonzola cheese. Henry graced us twice with a gratin, one vegetarian, one not, using home-grown onions, garlic, carrots, Russian kale, tomatoes and red pepper over penne pasta. I tried whipping up a tomato egg curry from the Moosewood Cookbook, handily available on the kitchen shelf. It included fresh tomatoes, red pepper, garlic and eggs from the farm, with a curry sauce made from a combination of pantry items and served over brown rice.

A taco buffet included many fresh chopped vegetables and a stone soup contained no stone, but used chicken broth as a base continuously heaped with whatever available items we could chop and throw into the pot, including carrots, bell peppers, fresh thyme and basil, onion, garlic, small cut potatoes, shucked corn, a can of black beans and the secret seasonings of white wine, olive oil and butter.

It was particularly fun to make stuffed bell peppers, to find the largest ones from the gardens, clean and blanche them in boiling water for a minute, then see how many layers of ingredients could fit in before each overflowed. I managed to place a small slice of tomato on the floor of each pepper and then continue with sections devoted to brown rice, grated parmesan cheese, and ground beef loaded with chopped onion, garlic, and fresh rosemary and basil. On the larger peppers, I tried to slip a peeled soft-cooked egg in the midst of the beef without breaking.

On the last night, Henry also churned up some homemade ice cream, flavoring with grape syrup made from vineyard grapes which had been previously boiled down and cooled. I never had grape ice cream before. The wine of ice creams!

Although I had brought along an assortment of snacks from home -- goji berries, almonds and cherry pie Larabars -- in case I was hungry, I rarely ate them since the meals were so hearty and satisfying, even when doing four hours of farm work everyday. ◦

Stone Soup Meals at the Poetry Farm

Hoeing My Row at the Poetry Farm

Fall is probably my favorite time to write and has turned out to be my annual favorite time to get away from Chicago to do so. I was fortunate enough to spend two productive and rewarding, if not unusual, weeks at a writers' retreat that is beyond comparison with any other. It is the Poetry Farm in Ordfordville, Wis.

Poets Lisa Fishman and Rick Meier, and full-time farmer Henry Morren are your hosts on the 12-acre organic fruit and vegetable farm, set on a rolling hill. I had decided on the Poetry Farm for a number of reasons. I found out about it through a link on the Poetry Foundation website, it is only a 100-mile drive from Chicago, and I wanted to learn more about organic farming and the plants themselves for a manuscript of poems about food which I'm currently working on.

During my stay, I worked four hours each morning alongside Henry and another two-week resident like myself, Ariana Kelly, from Seattle. If we weren't hoeing strawberry rows in preparation for next spring, we were clearing weeds from underneath each apple tree and de-grubbing the lower trunks. And if we weren't hoeing vineyards, I was helping Henry place a new, higher wire along a two-block stretch of one, and training and tying vines onto it. The four-hour Monday through Saturday stints are in exchange for cabin accommodations and includes all meals, if not wine and occasional homemade ice cream.

My "pod" was the cabin in the photo, a type of modular space featured in magazines such as Dwell and one that homeowners might put in their backyards or decks as a studio or office space. Henry and Rick wisely placed four open and close screened windows and a screen door on the "pod," correcting a design flaw on typical models that feature one picture window sheet of glass or plexi in front, which offers a seamless view, but one that could likely roast the occupant on a warm, sunny day. The cabin is furnished with a duvet-covered futon (with extra blankets, comforter and pillows), a large finished wood desk and chair and a small cabinet where I stored candles and snacks.

On a typical day after morning farm duty, I grabbed lunch and a shower in the farm house and made my way back up the hill to an afternoon of writing in the pod. There is neither electricity nor running water in the pod, nor in the "coop" on the other side of the farm or the "loft" in a small barn-like structure behind the farm house. With complete southern exposure, the pod offers tremendous natural light to read and write. With my laptop charged the night before in the farmhouse, I was able to also use that when I was ready to capture or tweak previously handwritten poems.

Nights were more tricky. While one small "nightlight" type lantern is provided, the combination of three candles and a wind-up lantern I brought along with me was sufficient for evening reads. The September air often took on a chill after 9 p.m., so I layered my clothes until it was time to retire. On the more mild nights, I would climb under sheets and a lightweight sleeping bag I opened up as a comforter. On the colder nights, and frost hit on September 15, I zipped up an alternate sleeping bag, my trusty old arctic goosedown mummy, which kept me utterly warm and comfortable. ◦

Hoeing My Row at the Poetry Farm

Natural summer first-aid kit on the go

Last weekend marked the first summer camp-out for friends and family. Our destination? Central Wisconsin for the annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair. When camping, I try to pack light, but certain key items that went into my kit definitely came in handy to prevent and soothe a few summery maladies over the weekend.

I brought along a non-Deet natural insect repellent that actually worked out very well. Once each morning and evening, we sprayed down ankles and legs, arms and the back of our necks with a mixture of citronella, bay, cedarwood, lavender, vetivert, patchouli, juniper, tea tree, lemon peel, tansy and goldenseal oils. The only place some critter landed a sizeable bite was on my pinky finger, probably because I washed my hands a lot and rinsed off the repellent.

My son wasn't as lucky. A spider nabbed him on the back of his thigh during the night in his tent. Never fear. A small tube of homeopathic sting gel was at the ready. He applied it to his leg with much relief. As small as the bite on my pinky finger was, it seemed to cry out like a banshee for attention on the way home. All was calm, however, after the application of the water-based gel that contains homeopathic doses of echinacea, ledum and urtica.

I also brought along aloe vera gel in case anyone wasn't liberal enough with sunscreen, got burned and needed treatment. Fortunately, little damage was rendered. In addition, rich melanine reinforcements were also on duty in the complexions of my Mexican husband and Mexo-European son.

It's often hard to sleep in strange surroundings, so I brought along Valerian herb caps in case someone couldn't sleep. But after a long day which started with an early rise, a propane stove prepared breakfast of oatmeal, fruit and tea, a full schedule of lectures to attend under the myriad tents of the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair, and an evening of cooking, dining, cleaning and fun events like a drum circle and a little stargazing, we were out like lights for the most part.

I awoke with a headache and stiff neck one morning -- sleeping bags aren't always blissful on the bone structure. I had brought along aspirin, but my husband first wanted to try smoothing Bach's Rescue Remedy cream onto the back of my neck. The pain drifted off immediately. I could almost picture the pain's phantom rise off my shoulders. Strange, and beautifully blissful. ◦

Natural summer first-aid kit on the go

Solar Energy for Foodies

The sun shines on the just and the unjust, the foodie and those who masticate the unpalatable. Thus, solar energy is there for the taking for all of us, if we only make good use of it, for example, to cut down on our reliance on fossil fuels.

I just returned from the annual Midwest Renewable Energy Fair near Stevens Point, Wis. and focused my attention mainly on food, its preservation and preparation. A remarkable woman, Larisa Walk, actually lives year-round without a refrigerator.

She made two presentations I attended, one which included the use of solar energy to dry food and the other on root cellaring. Using simple items like corrugated steel roofing and window screens, Walk demonstrated how to create your own easy, breezy solar dehydration system. Nearly any fruit or vegetable can be dried using this contraption, which includes a black shield (be it cloth or painted metal) that prevents the food from being bleached and/or cooked instead of dried. Dried kale and spinach comes out crispy and can be reconstituted in soups in stews. Fruits end up more leathery than dried. Everything keeps for about a year if kept in glass jars.

At the root cellaring program, Walk presented the interesting notion that coolers ordinarily used for cookouts and camping can convert to mini root cellars come fall and winter. Carrots supposedly keep very well in coolers. I'm personally looking forward to using it myself as I have a patch of purple carrots now growing in my backyard. Butternut squash is a good long-term keeper that requires 50-60 degree conditions in a cool, dry place -- versus acorn squash which tends to spoil much faster.

Luckily, I attended part of a children's workshop on solar ovens, which gave me the remedial level info I needed to get started. The shiny, multi-sided solar oven catches sunlight and directs it to the uncooked food placed in the center of the contraption. Best bet is to use an aluminum pie plate to hold the food then tuck it into a plastic bag or cooking bag to speed cooking time and retain moisture, if necessary. Once home, I combed the web for a beginner-style solar oven -- and nabbed one for $40 or so from Edmund Scientific, a company I used to buy my chemistry-set chemicals from when I was science nerd back in elementary school days. I figured if they were still in business after all these years, I owed them my repeat business. Looking forward to seeing how the solar oven works out on my very hot and sunny deck located on the southwest corner of my house. ◦

Solar Energy for Foodies

I Never Saw a Purple Carrot

I had never heard of purple carrots until I visited a site based in the UK called the Carrot Museum. These carrots are purple on the outside and orange in the middle. Much to my surprise, it turns out that the original, wild carrots are, in fact, purple. The Dutch had bred carrots to be completely orange to complement the House of Orange, whatever that institution was.

I found seeds for purple carrots at Jung Seeds, a Wisconsin-based mail order company which specializes in organic plant materials. So not only did I order purple carrot seeds, but also white (Edelweiss), red (Swenson Red) and purple (Fredonia) grape plants for the newly built grape arbor in my backyard. After I saw ready-made arbors for $1,000-plus, I decided to jerry-rig my own using two assemble-it-yourself Tuesday Morning $39.95 on-sale trellises and roof them with a spare piece of raw lattice. Voila! Supposedly, grapes take about three years to go into full production. Here goes nothing!

Read my poem about Volcanic Vegetables: Carrots at the Carrot Museum! ◦

I Never Saw a Purple Carrot

When You Run into an Old Friend

Suppose you run into an old friend. I mean someone whom you haven't seen for five, 10, 15 or more years. Where do you begin? Beyond filling in your friend on the details of your marital status, number of children and current job, what else would you tell this once-upon-a-time special person? Suppose you were able to have lunch together and really catch up. What would you talk about?

This is an excellent journal writing tool. Besides running through your list of current hobbies, volunteer work or the blow-by-blow fate of those whom you both know, what would you tell this person about your accomplishments, failures, wishes, dreams? What has happened to you or has changed you since you last met? What are you doing now that the other person would never have dreamed you'd be doing, for better or for worse? What was common behavior back when that is totally not you anymore?

By writing down this imaginary meeting, you will actually be able to catch up with yourself. Those dreams and wishes you hope to pursue may become within reach now that you have them down on paper. While we think we live in the present moment, many of us can dwell on the past or the future. A meeting with an "old friend" can give you a much clearer picture of where you stand today. ◦

When You Run into an Old Friend

Greatest Dancers of 21st Century

Both my husband, Carlos, and I have had strong exposure to dance and are big fans of a variety of dance -- whether classical, popular, tribal or ethnic. I have been fortunate to have attended seven years of ballet and tap class as a girl, and taken subsequent lessons in modern, Irish stepdancing, Brazilian dance and soon -- bellydancing. I was also managing editor for an independent dance magazine for awhile, Salome, and was able to attend countless dance performances, to see many emerging dance as well as world famous dance companies. Carlos worked in a public relations and office management capacity at the MoMing Dance Company in Chicago for a couple of years, and also has attended many performances. But we don't always agree on everything.

I was somewhat crestfallen that I had been born too late to have seen the great Vaslav Nijinsky dance. Instead, I have probably read five or six books on his life, his biography, was one-time owner of the fabulous coffee table book "Nijinsky Dancing," (which I regretfully sold when I was hard up for cash) and have written a poem about his life that appears in my chapbook "Private, On Purpose." Nijinsky was considered by many to be the greatest dancer of the 20th century.

I tried to attend the performances of other ballet dancers who might have reached his equivalent. I saw Rudolph Nureyev perform "Afternoon of a Faun" -- a Nijinsky classic, as well as other pieces. He was wonderful, but Nureyev was close to the end of his career and could no longer do the great leaps which I heard he could accomplish in his youth.

Later, I was able to see Mikhail Baryshnikov perform classic as well as modern ballet, i.e. Twyla Tharp's "Push Comes to Shove" and was astounded by his abilities. Perhaps he may not have had the style and emotion of Nijinsky, he certainly had the tremendous leaps, strength and finesse that Nijinsky was known for. So I have placed Baryshnikov on my list of best dancers of the 20th century.

Another 20th century favorite is Michael Flatley of Riverdance fame, who put Irish stepdancing and nearly the country of Ireland back on the map again. His jawdropping talent always kept me spellbound.

Sadly, both Baryshnikov and Flatley are at the end of their careers. Too bad dancers don't have the artistic span of painters or poets!

Now, on to the best dancers of the 21st century! I actually saw them in off-the-beat-path Chicago neighborhood venues, which are sometimes where the best entertainment and art in the area can be found. You may not have heard of either of the dancers I will mention, but you will -- or you should!

Both my husband Carlos and I agree on this! Juan Ogalla, flamenco dancer from Spain is attractive, richly talented, with every move perfect and wrought with emotion. He lives the music and you just know he lives to dance. I couldn't believe I was actually watching his performance at Northeastern Illinois University.

I know my list so far is strictly male. Can I help it if I am partial to male dancers? But a female now enters the list. For my birthday, my husband not only gave me the bellydancing lessons I was hoping for, but surprised me by taking me to a bellydancing revue of about 15 dancers from the Midwest and beyond, staged at the unlikely venue of the Northside College Prep High School auditorium.

The star of the show was San Francisco-based Rachel Brice -- who actually moves as sinuously as a snake, as if she had no hard or angular joints in her body whatsoever. Carlos and I and the other couple we were with could not take our eyes off her. Instead of a snake charmer charming the snake, the snake-like Brice charmed and mesmerized the entire audience of 500. She, like Ogalla, seems to truly live her dance and is likely the most flexible, rhythmic, and at one-with-the-music dancer I have ever seen.

Dance world -- with Ogalla and Brice around, you have a lot of catching up to do! And Carlos actually agrees with me! ◦

Greatest Dancers of 21st Century

New Year's Spiritual Bathing

It's hard to imagine that such a peaceful, reflective New Year's Day started with gunfire in the alley at midnight. But that's life in Chicago for you. My husband and I slept as late as we could, which turned out to be only around 8:45 in the morning. I padded downstairs to discover two of my son's friends spread out sleeping on our living room couches, with the my son in the guest room. After attending their assortment of New Year's Eve parties around town, the boys met up and ended their evening at our house, keeping fairly quiet eating samosas and watching a dvd until daybreak.

I started the year making a four-fruit smoothie, cleaning out the refrigerator of fruit -- banana, pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, along with rice milk, flax seed and lecithin. Ah, good. Carlos drank the glassful of juice in the fridge which I had created in the juicer the night before -- beets, carrots, celery and red pepper. Breakfast done, we ran off to another good start of the year, a visit to the gym. Carlos did an hour of various cardio machines and I took a yoga class. When we got back the boys were up, huddled around the computer, watching random you-tube clips. A ZZ-Top look-a-like wino sang "Like a Rhinestone Cowboy" on the streets of an undisclosed Arkansas city.

The afternoon brought "spiritual baths" for Carlos and me. We both had read the book, "Spiritual Bathing" which inspired Carlos to make a little ritual for ourselves. We used the homemade evergreen bath salts of a neighbor woman and a CD of chakra chants we bought the other day at the cool "Chakra Shop" on Lincoln Avenue, run by the friendly, welcoming Blanche Blacke. Blanche is a woman we met last summer at the medieval puppet show she put on in a local park.

Carlos and I each, in succession, filled the tub with hot water, tossed in handfuls of the salts, lit candles, sipped ginger tea and lemon water and listened to and reflected on the chants that marked each of the seven chakras. Carlos also segued his experience into Eric Satie piano music.

As a result of our recent visit to the Chakra Shop and discussions with Ms. Blacke, Carlos looked to the first chakra for grounding, and I at the fifth chakra for verbal expression and my throat, which tends t get a little raspy from allergies. At the yogas class earlier today and in my spiritual bath, I reflected on the new year, where I might want it to go and what I feel God expects of me. I want to be more outgoing and friendly, and to let my next creative effort flow in its own best direction, according to God's leading. Sometimes, I can get so focused on writing and projects, I don't often take enough time to just chit-chat and get to know others better. When I'm on vacation, I have no problem doing this. But back in the city, I feel time is of the essence. It is, but don't we all have lots of it to make precious and full? ◦

New Year's Spiritual Bathing

Heighten Five Senses: Touch

Your brain receives signals from 200,000 temperature sensors and more than 500,000 touch detectors. According to artist Leonardo da Vinci, most people "touch without feeling." In the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb, the author explains that the secret of sensitive "feeling" touch is an attitude of recpetivity, learning to "listen" deeply with your hands and whole body.

Here's a touch self-assessment:
-- I am aware of the "feel" of the surfaces that surround me daily, such as, the chairs, sofas and car seats I sit on.
-- I am sensitive to the quality of fabric that I wear.
-- I like to touch and be touched.
-- Freinds say I give great hugs.
-- I know how to listen with my hands.
-- When I touch someone, I can tell if they are tensed or relaxed.

The book also contains some terrific journal exercises. One of the exercises concerning touch takes you outdoors to commune with nature. Explore the different textures of the needles of a pine tree, rocks and stones, flowing water, the wind, and the earth at your feet. Record your observations in your journal. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Touch

Goji Berry Ginger Healing Tea

During my two-week sojourn earlier this year in the Culinary Suite of The Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, I focused my cooking experimentation to juices, smoothies and hot drinks.

Over the past week, my son suffered from the flu and missed several days of school. Yesterday, he noticed that his body aches and fever were ebbing away but a sore throat and congestion were taking their places. He likes eating foods with cayenne pepper, so I decided to create for him a hot, throat-soothing tea also using cayenne. I placed about a teaspoon or so of Ginger Wonder Syrup in a coffee mug, also threw in a ginger teabag, added five or six dried goji berries and finished with just a dash of cayenne peppper before adding the hot water. Steep time: five minutes.

I had already made myself the test cup to try it out before he did and I had added too much cayenne pepper (one shake). Some powdered cayenne is more firey than others, and the stuff at our house could practically burn a hole through metal. So I added just a smidgin to his cup -- probably something like 1/16 of a teaspoon. After I padded up the stairs to his bedroom and presented it to him, he took one look at the goji berries floating in the cup and asked, "What is this?" But after he sipped the drink, he said it tasted good. Before long, he finished it up, goji berries and all.

Both the ginger and the cayenne are supposed to battle symptoms of a cold, warm up your system and help you "sweat it out." The goji berries, that puffed up like juicy raisins in the hot water, were placed in the tea because they are good immune system strengtheners and, according to Asian tradition, just "make you happy," and my son needed to get back to happy.

I borrowed the idea of floating something in tea from a Korean restaurant that had floated pine nuts in my ginseng tea. It gave me something hot and soothing to drink, but also a little something to eat. ◦

Goji Berry Ginger Healing Tea

Heighten Five Senses: Taste

A sense of taste, like any other sense, can be developed. According to "The How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb, you can self-assess your sense of taste through the following statements:
-- I can taste the "freshness" of fresh food.
-- I enjoy many different types of cuisine.
-- I seek out unusual taste experiences.
-- I can discern the flavor contributions of different herbs and spices in a complex dish.
-- I am a good cook.
-- I appreciate the pairing of food and wine.
-- I eat consciously, aware of the taste of my food.
-- I avoid junk food.
-- I avoid eating on the run.
-- I enjoy participating in taste tests and wine tastings.

No one becomes a good cook or an afficiando of the world's great cuisines overnight. Like first poems, your first attempts on the stove-top might likely end up in the trash can. Mine did for many years -- in both cases. I believe two elements you need to develop a keen sense of taste is a spirit of adventure and a willingness to make mistakes.

It's the same as approaching any other creative aspect of your life, be it writing, skiing, cooking or traveling. You'll never know what octopus tastes like until you try it, or how ginger might enhance an apple dessert until you make one yourself. I'm not a good enough cook to create my own recipes from scratch or just "throw things together." Maybe I'll be able to someday. I have, however, enough "taste" experience to imagine what a dish will taste like just from reading the recipe. So recipes and cookbooks are my friends. I sometimes cross reference two or three recipes for the same dish and make a hybrid of it, or simply "tweak" a recipe, usually because I lack a certain ingredient or two and would rather substitute with something I have on hand. It does take a little kitchen experience to know which items can suffice as substitutes. But it all comes with time, as does a seasoned palate. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Taste

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

I'm continuing the series on developing the five senses, based on "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb. Try this sense of hearing self-assessment:
-- Friends describe me as a good listener.
-- I am sensitive to noise.
-- I can tell when someone is singing off-key.
-- I can sing on-key.
-- I listen to jazz or classical music regularly.
-- I can distinguish the melody from the bassline in a piece of music.
-- I know what all the controls on my stereo system are for and can hear the difference when I adjust them.
-- I enjoy silence.
-- I am attuned to subtle changes in a speaker's voice tone, volume and inflection.

However, I personally wouldn't agree that you have to proficient in all of the above to be considered attuned to the sense of hearing. I can't sing, but I consider myself a good dancer. I took dance lessons, not music lessons, as a child for seven years, and subsequent Irish and Brazilian dance classes as an adult, not to mention flat-out dance induction on the disco floor back when.

I cringe at Kathy Smith exercise videos. She's got a white woman's disease something fierce. I can out-and-out say I am appalled at the lack of rhythm of many of the step, power and kick-boxing teachers at my health club today -- even the Latino ones! One teacher, though an excellent instructor, says, "I just watch the lady," meaning me, to translate her instructions through the beat of the music -- or more particularly, when to wait for the music cue in order to begin.

I think being aware of rhythm is essential to my poetry as well as song lyric writing, though you wouldn't want to hear me personally sing any of the songs I've written. I've never been good with the bass or treble controls on either my car or home stereo (is this really a guy thing?), but am acutely aware when a spoken word performer, whether reciting poetry, prose or drama, is just missing the emotional points and high and low subtleties of the piece. This is particularly sad when he or she is the actual author.

Stretch your hearing awareness. If you do like to listen to jazz and/or classical music, you might want to play a game of "guess the composer" with your friends and family that we enjoy at my house. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Hearing

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

To continue this mini-series on the five senses, which is both inspired and adapted from the book "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook" by Michael Gelb -- let's now take a look at what we see -- with impressions on the mind's eye leading to true vision. Can you identify with the following:
-- I am sensitive to color harmonies and clashes.
-- I know the color of all my friends' eyes.
-- I look out into the far horizon and up to the sky at least once a day.
-- I am good at describing a scene in detail.
-- I like doodling and drawing.
-- Friends would describe me as alert.
-- I am sensitive to subtle changes in lighting.
-- I can picture things clearly in my mind's eye.

Don't think that journaling or even drawing, for that matter, needs to end up as finished works of art for all to admire. Look at Leonardo da Vinci's methods -- he didn't necessarily draw to please others but because he loved to draw. Most of his drawings are contained in his "unpublished" notebooks. He valued process more than product. By first observing, followed by writing or drawing, we can enhance our capacity for "saper vedere" or knowing how to see. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Vision

Heighten Five Senses: Smell

The best writing employs the use of the five senses to explore metaphor, to show instead of just tell. In the book, "The How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci Workbook," the author Michael Gelb poses this self-assessment test to help you become more aware of your sense of smell:
-- I have a favorite scent. (What is it? Why do I like it? What does it remind me of?)
-- Smells affect my emotions strongly, for better or worse.
-- I can recognize friends by their scent.
-- I know how to use aromas to influence my mood.
-- I can reliably judge the quality of food or wine by its aroma.
-- When I see fresh flowers, I usually take a few moments to breathe in their aroma.

Gelb also suggests making "smells" a theme for a day. This could be a perfect journaling "date." Record what you smell and how it affects you through the course of a day. Spend a half hour at your favorite florist. Inhale the aroma of ten different perfumes or essential oils and describe your reactions.

Others have suggested smelling a crayon, chalk, a rubber ball or other simple items from childhood. How does smell affect your mood or memory? Write down your observations. What does each scent remind you of? Comparing sensory reactions to real life experiences or memories is the core of metaphor and image. You might want to even create a poem out of these images. ◦

Heighten Five Senses: Smell

Mud Street, Spring Street, Blue Spring

More journal notes written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, October 2006: I caught a trolley and headed downtown to get the lay of the land. Found the coolest place in town as if by magnetism -- The Mud Street Café. A downstairs, hippie, French-feeling cafe'with an art gallery, perfect poetry venue with Coltrane in the background and the best chicken waldorf salad I couldn’t imagine creating myself. Lounged on a corner couch and enjoyed the music, art and art magazines. It would make a perfect live poetry venue. It's what the Guild Complex and Lower Links in Chicago always wanted to be, but never quite could muster. Unfortunately, the place closes at 3 p.m.

Afterward, Carlos called and it turned out we had somewhat parallel days. He spent the morning cleaning and organizing the refrigerator at home. Hooly looked inside and said it looked like a page out of Real Simple magazine. And my culinary suite kitchen at the colony that I inventoried and stocked is truly out of Renovation Style magazine, snce they did the actual renovation. Carlos went to a coffee house in Chicago for lunch and had a sandwich, much as I did at the Mud Street. I wish he were here. We have to come back together.

The streets were packed with visitors attending the town's annual folk festival. Impromtu and scheduled troupes played outside in Basin Park. Arlo Guthrie and his family had appeared at the auditorium the night before and played a lot of old Woody Guthrie tunes, from what I heard. Sorry I missed the concert by only one day.

I visited a native store that is run by Tony and Belinda, a hippie-type white couple in their forties who are sincere and easy to talk with. Told me Mud Street Café has the best coffee in town. Duly noted. I didn’t let Tony know that I had just been there. Belinda is a herbal afficionado, grows her own herbs and sells several books on the subject. She is deaf, but reads lips. They live about 10 miles outside of town in the country and make leather moccasins. Talked about the Blue Spring Heritage Center, a spring that nurtured the Cherokees on the Trail of Tears. The shop had cute, funny names for some of its teas. SeeLessO’Me tea is for weight management. BearInTheWoods is an herbal laxative tea.

Made the rest of the grand circle of the historic loop around Spring Street on foot. Eureka Springs streets are a lot like New Orleans but sort of in a western style way, have the hilly twists and turns as they do in St. John, Virgin Islands, but with a mid- to late-19th century American look. The dimly lit walk back up the hill led to the forested area surrounding the writers’ colony main house. Tony had told me that rare large, pileated woodpeckers are in these woods. I saw a large bird that looked like a pterodactyl(sp?) fly through the woods across from where I walked. It wasn’t a hawk, eagle or crow. Even unto now imagined extinct ivory-billed woodpeckers have been seen in the Arkansas woods. Reached my door just as the sun was setting at 7 p.m. Found the coffee grinder and cleaned up the blender for tomorrow’s smoothie. ◦

Mud Street, Spring Street, Blue Spring

Ginseng Research Lunch

I recently visited the unusual and local Korean ginseng restaurant for lunch, located on Lawrence Avenue east of Elston on the northwest side of Chicago. Large glass cylinders six-feet tall hold dozens of fresh, scrubbed ginseng roots suspended in liquid throughout the restaurant. The menu features several ginseng items such as hot ginseng tea with a few pine nuts floating on top, which I enjoyed along with the house specialty, ginseng chicken soup.

A large bowl holding boiling broth, a whole boiled chicken and a six-inch ginseng root was placed before me. Six or seven small dishes of condiments also arrived for me to create my own soup mixture. Seasoned seaweed, kimchee cabbage, sliced steamed peppers, spiced carrots and other root vegetables, brown rice and beans, radishes, a rough salt -- one by one I added the items to the soup, tasted, stirred and removed the chicken bones and skins as I mixed with chopsticks. The waitress helped me identify the items I didn't recognize. It was then time to enjoy. Ahh. It was some of the tastiest chicken soup to cure what ails you and enough for two people. I ate my fill and brought the remainder home to share with a lucky family member.

Before I left, I bought a small bag of dried, steamed, sweetned ginseng that I can chew when I need a pick-me-up at work on stressful days. I also bought a box of panax ginseng extract in handy single-serving tubes at a remarkably inexpensive price.

I told the elegant, beautiful waitress who served me that I was doing research on ginseng and my visit to the restaurant was an exceptionally enjoyable portion of this process. She disappeared behind the counter to emerge with a small book in Korean and English on the virtues of ginseng, which she gave me as a gift. I will read and treasure it. This told me that it pays to be outgoing, to ask questions, make observations and tell strangers about yourself. Blessings often take place as a result of it. ◦

Ginseng Research Lunch

What's your journaling style?

Journaling is an important element on any scrapbook page, but there's no right or wrong way to tell your story. There is only your way! You can tell your story any way you like. If you need a starting place, take this fun, little quiz from Elsie Flannigan's book, 52 Scrapbooking Challenges.

1. You want to touch base with a friend. You:
A. Call
B. Send a text message
C. E-mail
D. Instant message

2.You're going out tonight. What do you wear?
A. Something trendy
B. Something casual
C. Something pretty
D. Something comfy

3. How many hours do you spend on the computer a day?
A. Less than one
B. 1-2
C. 3-4
D. 5 or more

4. You're sending a friend a birthday card. You:
A. Write 'Happy Birthday' and sign your name.
B. Write a personal note and sign your name.
C. Sign your name.
D. Slip the card into the envelope and send it off.

5. What's your favorite kind of test?
A. Short answer
B. Multiple choice
C. Essay
D. I don't like any tests

Tally up your scores and take a look at your results here.

If your quiz results were:

Mostly A's: Try writing down bits and pieces of conversations with friends, journal with favorite quotations, or do a back-and-forth journaling exercise with a friend, where you write one thing and she writes the next thing. Be on the lookout for journaling inspiration everywhere you go (think billboards, signs and magazine advertisements).

Mostly B's: Try journaling in lists or making up your own fun journaling code. Use stickers and scrapbooking embellishments. Write fill-in-the-blank journaling. Journal with just an assortment of randomly-selected words that describe a favorite photography or something you love.

Mostly C's: Try journaling like you're telling a story to a friend. Or think about journaling as a creative writing exercise. Your journaling is probably already pretty interesting to read—keep challenging yourself to make it real and keep it as fun as possible!

Mostly D's: Try creating your own journaling shorthand. Use your favorite abbreviations as often as you'd like. Think about making a little guide to these sayings that you can put in the front of your album (your grandkids, for example, might not know the LOL means laughing out loud!).

Get more fun quizzes and challenges in 52 Scrapbooking Challenges by Elsie Flannigan. ◦

What's your journaling style?

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

More journal notes written during my stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: Yesterday I met a tall, thin biker-type woman, Janet, at a party on Beaver Lake who is a "missionary alternative healer," (using her words) with a "whole body ministry." She works out of Fayetteville and uses Christian prayer, massage, herbs and muscle testing in her practice. Evidently, she has helped heal a large number of people and even medical doctors recommend her to their patients with little to no hope. Janet walks with a cane as she is recovering from a accident and I helped her get up and down the boat ramp. She smokes and drinks, which doesn't seem too beatific, but nonetheless comes off as a true shamaness. She is so down home and real, I don't think she knows how much she exudes the aura of blessedness. she is one of the most unusual, loving and committed people I've met down here, and I mean unusual in the best sense.

As an afficiando of deep purple, seedy, crunchy berry smoothies, I've nonetheless been exploring a lot of green drinks on this trip. I made a great kiwi, pear, green grape and liquid lecithin smoothie before going to church at the Thorncrown Chapel this morning -- turned out really excellent. However, lunch was mediocre -- a blender soup of tomato, avocado, yogurt, lemon juice, rice vinegar and a little cayenne. It called for balsamic vinegar, which I didn't have but was probably the right choice for this recipe. Was a little too acidic this way. The gazpacho I made earlier this week was 10 times better. Ate a little cornbread and two Ak-Maks on the side. ◦

Shamaness encounter and another green drink

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes from my stay last month in the culinary suite at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow: Took the spice/herb inventory. It’s almost 8 a.m. Drawers and racks of spices – and among the standards, some stand-outs: banana extract, brandied pepper, whiskey rub, Quebec steak seasoning, black sesame seeds, Hawaiian sea salt (red), Celtic gray salt, lavender, African bird pepper, chipotle chili pepper, and pink, green, black and rainbow peppercorns. They have all the spices for the recipes I’ve planned. I’m shocked, not. But only about a teaspoon of cinnamon left. Multiple bottles of cinnamon extract, however.

The culinary suite is exquisite. Everything was newly remodeled by Renovation Style magazine and looks very HGTV. The large living room has a cozy sitting area next to a real woodburning stone-faced fireplace. A pull-up table is also available for meals. The office includes a large desk and bookshelf along the south wall with multi-lighting options. In fact, lighting and dimming options throughout the suite are stunning, in addition to the natural skylights in the living room and bathroom.

Sage green, off-white, painted wood walls and natural stone and wood make up the décor. A large, luscious acrylic painting of two red and two white onions graces one wall, visible as you enter the front door.

I am working in the most smashing, up-to-date, impeccable full kitchen anyone can imagine; fully equipped, almost all KitchenAid appliances -- a six-burner stainless stove with hood, double oven, outdoor gas grill and sink on the adjacent deck, dishwasher and restaurant grade monster refrigerator and freezer, also blender, juicer, food processor, coffee grinder and mixer. Lots of storage space, Cuisinart cookware, glasses, dishes, gadgets, food staples from the previous colony residents. Hardly anything a cook could fall short of. Plan to take as much advantage of the kitchen as my writing schedule allows. ◦

Spices, herbs, culinary suite at Dairy Hollow

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Some journal notes/letter from my culinary suite stay at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, last month: Spent a lot of time researching ginseng today and will try to work on a poem before I go to bed. Rosaleen brought Irish whiskey to dinner and I couldn't help but try a few nips. My typing's still o.k. so all is well, thus far.

Did some non-cooking cooking today, too. I made, get a load of this, an avocado, Bartlett pear and yogurt smoothie, with some vanilla extract and raw sugar. It turned out to be one of the best smoothies I've ever tasted. A green tea boost would make it perfect, because it was the color of green tea ice cream to begin with. My lunchtime cucumber, celery and lemon smoothie/cold soup didn't fare as well as it turned out an overly cold, sour slop.

While I was at it, I pulled out the food processor (I've never used one in my life except for my mini-Cuisinart chopper back home) and whipped up some gazpacho I plan to serve as a prelude to the colony dinner tomorrow. Cucumbers, white onions, green onions, celery, red peppers, tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, tabasco, lemon juice, some V8 low sodium, Hawaiian red salt, rainbow ground pepper. Will garnish later with limes. Tastes good so far -- letting it meld overnight.

Another concoction on the agenda: Theobrand: Food of the Gods, Montezuma II -- a blend of cocoa, cayenne pepper, vanilla, cornstarch and hot water. Thought of making it tonight so I can stay up a little later to get some work done. Is this what Montezuma drank 30 cups of a day? ◦

Smoothies, juices and soups from Dairy Hollow

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

I was among the fortunate 50 this year to have experienced and utterly enjoyed a writer's residency at the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, located in a pleasingly woodsy section on the historic loop of Eureka Springs, Arkansas. There, I spent two weeks during autumn-kissed October writing poetry, reveling in the quaint and Victorian town and the ecologically diverse terrain surrounding it, and completing valuable research for my writing with friendly, local experts and the resources at the town's authenic Carnegie Library.

Many writers' haven't yet heard about the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow because, unlike other colonies with decades of history and a thick coat of New England ivy, WCDH was only launched four years ago in the off-the-beaten-path Ozarks. However, once there, you might feel as I did that you are in the center of something special and the rest of what's floating around in other U.S. locales might be overly-worn and too world weary.

WCDH is the only writers' colony that specifically supports culinary writers, as well as poets, novelists and short stories writers. I stayed in the exquisite culinary suite, a former bed-and-breakfast living room, office, bedroom, bath and kitchen transformed HGTV-fashion by Renovation Style magazine and KitchenAid. The fully-stocked, state-of-the-art kitchen was my workshop to experiment with many of the items that appear in my poems. When I filled out my application several months ago, I put down that I could reasonably finish eight poems during a two-week stay. In actuality, I completed 16, and still had time to take hikes, try out new recipes, make friends and have fun in this artistically-diverse town.

Besides the Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow, my recommendations for those visiting Eureka Springs: Opal Fly and the Swatters jazz/blues combo which regularly appears at Eureka Springs venues; Rogues Manor tavern, a tiny quaint bar that has a windowed view of the side of a mountain and spring, museum-style; Carnegie Library, a limestone-fronted, wood-paneled interior tiny masterpiece of a library initially funded by Andrew Carnegie; the garden next to the Crescent Hotel, where you will experience one of the best views of the breathtaking Ozark Mountains right in town; Thorncrown Chapel, a wonder of glass and wooden beams in the middle of the forest, which the American Institute of Architecture recently placed fourth on its list of top buildings of the 20th century; Fire Om Earth Studio, a fabulous place on 15 acres just outside of town where you can drop into a bellydancing or Tai Chi class for $10, or admire and purchase the owners' handmade Celtic and native-style drums, flutes and ocarinas. ◦

Writers' Colony at Dairy Hollow

What If God Was One of Us?

As Alanis Morissette sings, "What if God was one of us?" I recently attended an interfaith church service in which the leader asked the same question. I don't think he asked it in a way that begged a definitive answer, or any answer for that matter, and I think most people in the church felt comfortable with that. But I didn't feel comfortable with it, because I know the song and I feel that each line of that song strongly suggests the person of Jesus Christ. Take a look:

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Psalm 8:5 For you made him a little lower than the angels, crowning him with glory and honor.

Song: Just a slob like one of us.
Bible: Isaiah 53:3 He was despised, and rejected by men, a man of suffering, and acquainted with disease.

Song: Just a stranger on the bus, trying to make his way home.
Bible: Matthew 8:20 Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

Song: If God had a face, what would it look like?
Bible: Isaiah 53:2 He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire him.

Song: What if God was one of us?
Bible: Phillipians 2:7 But made himself no reputation, and took upon the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.

A small, but silly note: The copy editor in me just has to say..."What if God were one of us?"
[journal writing]
[Alanis Morissette]
[song lyrics] ◦

What If God Was One of Us?

Classical Music for Journaling

For journaling, or any other creative pursuit, the busy mind needs to be cleared and calmed. This will help allow your own special associations and brainstorming notions to flow through. Listening to classical music (or jazz, how about a little John Coltrane?) can set the stage, or your worktable, for creativity, whether it be for an hour, an evening or a weekend.

According to music experts, as mentioned in the book "How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci" the top ten greatest works from the classical canon are:
1. Bach: Mass in B Minor
2. Beethoven: Symphony #9
3. Mozart: Requiem
4. Chopin: Nocturnes
5. Brahms: German Requiem
6. Mahler: Symphony #6
7. Richard Strauss: Last Four Songs
8. Debussy: Preludes
9. Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring
10.(tie) Verdi: Aida and Puccini: La Boheme

Creative listening! ◦

Classical Music for Journaling