Mind Exploration
I’m living vicariously through my kindergartener’s class art project — a plastic replica of one of Dale Chihuly’s masterpieces. Or, as my daughter described, the guy with the eye patch. I’m so impressed at the sophistication shared with our littles this generation.
Everyone I know has loved this book, and I’m now also obsessed with it. Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow is a beautiful story of relationships and health and startups. Many parts vividly reminded me of my own experiences working with founding teams. Many others were beautifully, heartbreakingly set in hospitals or relating to mental health. Honestly, easily the best fiction I’ve read in the past couple years.
Print magazines, such as NOEMA, are breathing fresh air into the space with beautifully designed longform writing.
My nine-year-old daughter and I have started our own book club. We’re picking out books she’s interested in and reading them independently and then talking about them. I wasn’t sure how invested I would be in reading them, but let’s just say I burned the midnight oil reading the Pippa Park series (by Erin Yun — SO GOOD) and Wonder by R.J. Palacio was a personal favorite. A highlight, digging out my own copy from the ’80s of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret., which we’re currently reading.
Living in a city as big as Los Angeles, we locals tend to stick to our own neighborhoods to avoid all the traffic, the crowds, and so on. But part of the beauty of LA is actually in how vast she is, how much there is to do and see (if you learn when to do it!). A few weekends ago we visited Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. We had so much fun exploring, kick-starting a new tradition of being tourists in our own great city.
Class based on the book Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zinn. It is a practice in slowing down and being present in the moment I am in and not living life based on a value-add system. https://osher.ucsf.edu/public-classes/MBSRBook
I was honored to speak at Creative Mornings here in San Francisco last month and so glad that the local chapter is going again. Everything about their program created by Tina Roth Eisenberg is inspiring — with free events that build community around the world, interesting topics, and an unbeatable mission statement. “A creative life requires bravery and action, honesty and hard work.”
At the beginning of this month, I added 3 senior cats to my family! They have truthfully kept me inspired and hopeful for the new year, teaching me to enjoy the quiet moments in life. Even though they spend most of their time sleeping or watching people on the windowsill, having them around has unlocked a new level of happiness in my home.
With the release of Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, I’ve been diving back into my fascination with Greek mythology.
The Legion of Honour museum here in San Francisco is showing a special exhibit on Botticelli’s drawings. Ochre and charcoal, which feature prominently in Artists Remaking Medicine as two of the very oldest pigments and medicines in human history, appear frequently in these works. White gouache illumination on toned papers is one of my very favorite styles of art.
I’ve enjoyed exploring Claudia Biçen’s 2016 project interviewing hospice patients throughout the Bay Area to discover what it means to live a purposeful life. Her portraits are so expressive, and listening to the interview snippets inspires me to live life to the fullest.
I take for granted living amongst these beautiful giant redwood trees. Photo from our walk around Armstrong Redwoods State Natural Reserve in Sonoma County.