No, I don’t dream of a farm in Africa, like Meryl Streep, but I dream of Africa. I have always been mesmerized by the animals, people and places in Africa. I remember buying African trade beads as a little girl. School picture of me wearing a big trade bead I strung on leather. Thirty years ago, when I was gifted Safari As A Way of Life, by Dan Eldon, it became one of my bibles and still is. Buying beads and art from the African dealers for thirty-six years. Finally, I made a pact to go on my lifelong bucket list dream four years ago. And then this thing called a pandemic hit us all. I can remember feeling almost a panic attack that I...
I imagine that when it’s all over and I’m in the great locker room of life, it will feel like the closing moments of Jazz Fest. I know I won’t be ready…the bands play on and at 7:01 pm they stop, spotlights blare and everyone heads to the exit gates. More of a survival dance than a sacred dance now. Juxtapose this with a friend who wrote me recently and said she wouldn’t be buying anymore jewelry, that she was going more internally than externally. Being an artist, I wrestled with that, making my wearable shrines of intention, vowing years ago to only make from meaning, I know that these talismans give deep meaning to our inner lives and pull us into a...
A week ago, I was running late, frustrated and feeling more than a bit burnt out. I was late to a sober teens group that I have volunteered with for over 15 years. As I packed up my materials for them to make a simple jewelry stamped piece, I couldn’t help but think “what a hack! These materials and the project are so elementary!” You see, these teens are some of my favorite people on the planet. They are intense, creative, and savvy far beyond their years. They have lived through a pandemic, shootings in schools so commonplace they do the drills like fire drills. Many of them have lost their own close friends to fentanyl, other drug overdoses and suicides. We began in a...
Did you see the acceptance speech of Niecy Nash-Betts? Maybe you saw this as her speech went massively viral. But if not, quick backstory: Niecy has been nominated five times in over four decades of working her craft as an actor. She was passed up four times and finally won an Emmy a few weeks ago! I feel her speech could win her another Emmy nomination. It was everything we all need to hear. Niecy goes on stage and begins by thanking the Divine, her coworkers, family, and then she says this: “And you know who else I want to thank? Me!” She goes on to say, “I’m a winner, baby! I wanna thank ME. For believing in me and doing what they said I could...
I wrote this postcard on the plane in 2009 heading back to Denver. I had just finished showing my work at Jazz Fest in New Orleans. It was and is always a fantastic show but the people of New Orleans taught me about what’s most important…it’s not money or fame, it’s the PEOPLE. During that show, my assistant and I would leave the hotel every morning to be greeted by this doorman. Not any ol’ doorman, but this warm, loving, kind and compassionate man. With each person he met he would make them laugh or smile and basically just feel like a million bucks. You just couldn’t be in a bad mood around this lovely human being. And yet, "just" a doorman, but had the riches...
