#bam better art skillz

[ghostedtea]

@demilypyro's post made me realize i havent drawn her in a while so,,,

[wendylewis-blog]

03.24.2020 /random tues

You gotta love this!  Spanish police leaping from their cop cars, singing and dancing to residents from the streets. Nothing better to see than a cop bounding around with a guitar strapped to his chest and crew cop background dance line. In comparison, I can’t help but think of the rigid hierarchy existing in our country: we are pigeon-holed into our jobs, our economic placement, into the color of our skins or our varying gender preferences. We are judged and rated, scorned and hated. It’s not cool. 

But, there is hope. My sister told me a story that feels related when I was walking Sonny today. When she was living in NYC in the 80′s, one morning she was walking her 35 blocks to work on Madison Ave, there was a cop standing in a shop door way singing “Oh, What a Beautiful Morning”. Police can be illuminated sometimes. Why? Because they are people. 

Anyway, honoring our global neighbors today!  Yay Spain for your show of humanity. America is the spoiled brat of the globe. We have so much to learn, we need so much illumination to that freedom we espouse to own. Gah. Global bitchslap. Bam. Wake up! Srrrsly.  

On that topic, have you considered how, as we have strolled through the grocery stores prior to February 2020, we barely noticed shelf-stockers, deli or meat counter servers, those running the registers. Yeah, ppl—THEY ARE NOW ON THE FRONTLINE! These are the workers risking their safety EVERY DAYUM DAY to fill our grocery carts. They are as vulnerable as medical staff. They are in the trenches of this viral war. Thank them... say thank you. Like, thank you for your service. 

On the topic of food, here’s a dinner idea I landed on today. Clearly, there are millions of choices but I obsessively watch cooking shows when my mind is getting sucked into the nefarious suckholes of gloom and doom. We have to eat so let’s try to improve our skillz at home and have a dinner that really feeds us, body and soul. Other nights, we might only have the energy to have soup from a can, cook up some oatmeal or simply, make toast. It’s all good. We have to be where we are. Most important. 

And, I stumbled on this last night. Like, this man still sings like an angel. Art just keeps delivering over and over for all of us, even as it gets sidelined from school budgets or trapped into unaffordable museums. Art is what saves our souls in times like these, and we’ve never seen a time like this one. It’s an important reminder to support the arts in our community and schools. 

There was a book I read as a child and read to my children. I’m frustrated that I can’t remember the title and can’t find the book in my shelves. wtf? The gist of it is that while all the mice are gathering provisions of nuts and seeds and stuffing their nests with fluff to endure the long, cold winter, this one guy is just laying around in the grasses, looking up at the clouds, dreamy and seemingly unproductive. They are mad at him, malign him, until the end of winter is growing untenable in the skanky dens they have been languishing in for months with dwindling food supplies. Then, he starts telling stories and singing songs, saving them from their frustration and gloom, they get up and laugh and dance and sing. So. There’s that. 

I watched a crazy movie from 1972 this morning. I’m finding, after two weeks of self-quarantine, that waking up (whenever I do) it’s not been helping in the long run to turn on NPR right away. So, since I have no one at home after B goes to his very safe workplace, I’ve been trying this lately—watching a movie to start my day.

In the 70′s so many movie scripts were adapted for film from playwrights, hence, the conversation is generally more deeply crafted. Honestly, I’ve never been a huge Jack Lemmon fan, but I noticed, while watching Avanti (Amazon Prime), that his acting style reminded me so much of Jim Carey—there’s a physical comedy aspect there which Carey monopolized upon, maybe. It’s a weird movie, with lots of annoying clichés relevant to the times, but in the end there is a payoff. Jus’sayin. 

I’ve also been thinking A LOT about friends/family who are living alone right now. Like, not being hugged, no one in the house to sleep with, cry with, laugh or rage with. Some of them have pets, which helps, but, reach out to your solo friends—FaceTime or Skype them. It’s virtual, but it helps to see a face, hear a voice, share the echo in a room. 

We are gonna get through this, one way or another. Fck! Some days will just not be good, no matter what you do to save it. Don’t try to save it. That’s okay. It’s okay. It’s most important to be where each of us are in the real moment. Pushing down feelings isn’t a good or emotionally profitable idea. Embrace the sadness and disconnection that is our world right now. 

That being said, I’ve had some really good days so far. Inspiring conversations with loved ones or podcasts with truth and hope (I sorta hate that word but I’m caving into it right now) or music and especially walks to clear the head. Keep reaching out to your friends and fam. It will get us through this. 

Yeah. This is weird—back to my initial post. The way we have functioned on a day to day basis has been halted in its tracks. The weather is warming. There will be more rain, but on those days, take to movies or cook or draw something. Paint a room. Sleep. You can just sleep. Do whatever you must do. And then, call me. xoxo