sand mandalas

Yesterday I went to a fundraiser at the Unity Church of Great Hartford for the exiled Tibetan monks of the Drepung Gomang monastery in India. I haven't seen the sand mandala touring monks since the event at RISD 17 or so years ago which I blogged about here. I don't know if they were from the same monastery, but I was even more excited to find that they were showing people how to draw with sand, and letting the Unity Church community make 3 mandalas of their own, which they then swept up and poured into the earth (lacking a traditional river). They blessed a mala for me, and participated in a rousing session of "laughter yoga" and one of the Dances of Universal Peace led by my sufi friend Amina, both of which were a first for me too. And as if the day wasn't great enough, I followed it all up by trying a burger off the gluten free menu at the 99 Restaurant. Yes, a gluten free menu at a chain restaurant! What a day!

Photos from the fundraiser including the community made mandalas, and the stacked hats and robes of traveling monks.

I still can't believe my eyes!

The Articulate Hand

I keep having the good fortune of running into people who somehow specialize in hands. This summer, as my fourth year as an Artist Driver for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, one of my favorite people to drive was the extraordinarily lovely Andrew Dawson of Space Panorama who I blogged about before. His newest work is The Articulate Hand, in which he used audio from an interview Tony Baloney and I made about our hands. You can hear me put to original music here on the show's website. But there are other pieces about other people with far more dramatic and inspiring stories about their hands. The performance Andrew did to this track is beautiful. He uses a broken pencil to tell the story of my roller derby injury. I hope it comes to the US!

Photo from Andrew's website.

kid review

Pat Zietlow Miller keeps a blog with book reviews by children, and 9 year old Anneka just reviewed Chiru. I love this picture a lot. Thank you Pat and Anneka!

ringing in the new

I don't wear much jewelry, but since I wore through my Sator Square sundial ring I got for 5 bucks in Rome many years ago, I've been purchasing some small wearable token every couple of years when a new phase is beginning. Usually these are found on drifts, wandering through stores with a vague idea until synchronicity leads me to the thing I know is meant for me. Most I've found at my friend Raphael's mesmerizing Group W Bench in New Haven. This time I had something very specific in mind: a hand made ring with a winged heart. Not finding one in town, I got obsessive on the internet. There were some nice manufactured versions, but none felt authentic enough. Then I found Jen Hilton's website, and there it was, delicate, modest, lovely, in the size I was seeking. Jen makes her jewelry the way I look for jewelry, and it shows. This little ring was made to be on my finger. Thank you, Jen! I've added her to my Makers links on the right.

mermaid reel

And a little promo video for the mermaid: