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Earlier this week I received my bead soup from Lori Anderson. It was all wrapped up in a very cute little bag that Lori had crocheted herself. Clever gal that Lori! It was full to the brim with cool stuff. Look!
I am so happy to work with these colors. This photo doesn't do justice to the periwinkle blue of the glass beads that Lori made herself. (Lamp working is one of those techniques I really wish I had more time to learn. Lori's beads are great!) The dyed jade beads in the center are such a rich magenta color. They are also faceted in a very pretty subtle way. The pewter jump rings are twisted wire, very bright with a lot of texture. I love working with silver metals. Woo hoo! Check out those shell shapes of the Thai silver beads. Sweet! The silver hook and eye clasp also has a nice twisted texture and a very solid weight to it. The yellow/green dyed jade beads are such a cool shape. I know I'm going to have some funky fun with those. The ceramic focal is gorgeous, and I'll admit it also scares the heck out of me. I hope I can do it justice as I've not worked with anything that size before. But that is what the Bead Soup Blog Party is all about. It's a chance to think outside the box and work with things that just may not be in my comfort zone. It's a perfect opportunity for creative growth as a jewelry designer, and I'm happy for the challenge! I've also never worked with sari silk, but I like the idea of reusing something that had such a different life before this.
You may have noticed there was also a little purple box that was not part of "the soup" unless I wanted to include it. This is what was in it:
The house/firefly pendant, made by Martha Easton, looks ceramic but it's quite lightweight. I think it is polymer clay. It has a cream colored flowery texture on the other side. (I forgot to photograph it, duh.) It will make a lovely little pendant. Last but not least, the brass flower shapes are just the kind of thing I have been working with this week. I've been either cutting out my own copper and brass pieces to patina, or texturing stamped out metal shapes, like the flowers above, to make my own mark on them before I add patina. I can't wait to put these little babies on a steel block and have at them with a hammer or two!
Thank you Lori! You are generous and clever and amazing. Yes, in case you missed this information from a previous post, Lori Anderson is the person who created the Bead Soup Blog Party. This party is the 7th one, and it is the largest yet. Over 500 crafty people of all levels are participating in the exchange and challenge, and they are blogging about it. Lori has writtena book called, "Bead Soup," featuring 32 projects. She has also written an e-book about creative blogging called, "Follow the Path."
The first BSBP reveal is on March 30, the second reveal is on April 6, and the third reveal (that's the one I'm in) is on April 13. I'll post a list of all of the people in each group with a link to their blogs on the reveal dates. It's fascinating to hop around all the different blogs and see what everyone has done and what their partners have done. Oh, and just in case Lori doesn't seem busy enough…she also has a 10 year old son named Zack, and she is participating in all three Bead Soup exchanges and reveals! Rock on Lori!


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Happy Monday all!
So you won't be seeing hearing reading from me over on Simply Shaka anymore.
Sadface, I know.
But not so much sadface as I've decided to go self hosted and will now be blogging over at
All of my posts from Simply Shaka have been moved over there and while I'm still going through some tweaking over on the new site, I will be blogging on there from now on.
Please update your Google Reader and email subscriptions and come see me soon

subset: commoncrawl


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No actual Bobs were hurt or thought about during the writing of this post. Shoot. Now I just thought of one. I hope he's okay.
I was reciting spelling words to my ten-year-old. One of the words was recurring. She wrote it twice. On purpose. Clever girl.
This is the same girl who, six years ago, was in a narrating kick. She once said, "Lucy is walking, walking, walking. Lucy is leaving the room." (Thank goodness.)
There's a man who periodically comes to the door asking if he can cut branches off our eucalyptus tree. I think he said his sister uses them in her florist shop. Since the tree grows like a weed and we occasionally have to have it professionally trimmed, I'm always happy to let him.
This time he said he'd be right back after picking his kids up from the school around the corner. When he was gone for a long time I worried he'd changed his mind. Finally there was a knock on the door. The man's young son was standing there with a bouquet of flowers.
"My mom said to give these to you."
I thanked him and told him to pass along the thanks to his wonderful mom. I neglected to inform him that his family was doing me a favor.
And now a note to my blog buddies. Since signing my book contract about two months ago, I've written maybe five paragraphs. This is not good, and I hope my editor isn't reading this. I need to trim something from my life. Since I can't cut being a wife and mother, I don't want to stop homeschooling or my part-time job, and I've already cut housecleaning down to the minimum legal limit, it seems I need to read and comment on blogs less. Not that I expect any of you to actually notice that I'm not there, but just in case, in the odd chance that you say, "Gosh, Betsy didn't like and comment on this post. Did I do something to offend her? Did she fall off a cliff?" Chances are no, and goodness I hope not. I'll still be around, but not quite as much, especially for you multiple-times a week posters. And don't be offended if I hit like but don't comment, since commenting then involves a back and forth exchange which I'll surely miss. 😦 If I can be dedicated enough to make some serious progress on this puppy, I'll come back and spend more time with you. Promise! Until then, blog away my friends!


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Mumia Abu-Jamal
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning journalist and author of two best-selling books, Live From Death Row and Death Blossoms, which address prison life from a critical and spiritual perspective. In 1981 he was elected president of the Association of Black Journalists (Philadelphia chapter). That same year he was arrested for allegedly killing a white police officer in Philadelphia. He was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982, in a process that has been described as an epic miscarriage of justice. In 2011, after spending more than 28 years on death row, his death sentence was vacated when the Supreme Court allowed to stand the decisions of four federal judges who had earlier declared his death sentence unconstitutional. He is now serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. In spite of his three-decade-long imprisonment, most of which was spent in solitary confinement on Death Row, Abu-Jamal has relentlessly fought for his freedom and for his profession. From prison he has written seven books and thousands of radio commentaries. He holds a BA from Goddard College and an MA from California State University, Dominguez Hills. His books have sold more than 100,000 copies and have been translated into seven languages.


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A .453 batting average; .597 on-base percentage; .986 slugging percentage. Thirty-three homers and 93 runs batted in in 212 at-bats.
You look at the numbers, squint, and then look again. These are Baseball Stars numbers, a video game creation, with abilities cranked up to the max. There's no way a professional baseball player could have done this.
Except someone did. His name is Jose Abreu. He just might be the best hitter in the world. And you've probably never heard of him.
Abreu plays for Cienfuegos in Serie Nacional, Cuba's top baseball league. He put up those unfathomable numbers last year, despite Serie Nacional's schedule only lasting 90 games. Not that Abreu played in all of those games. He missed 23 contests with bursitis in his shoulder. In other words he cranked 33 balls out of the park in 67 games. That's a pace of 80 homers over a 162-game schedule.
That 2010-11 campaign capped a meteoric rise for Abreu. The hulking first baseman (he's listed at 6-foot-3, 240 pounds but is almost certainly bigger than that) broke in as a 17-year-old in 2004. Abreu wasn't great in that first brush with pro ball. He struck out six times more often than he walked, didn't hit for much power, and was so defensively limited that he DH'd all year. But he also hit .271 that season, a respectable result even in a league slanted toward offense. That he did this at age 17 was all the more remarkable.
As Abreu matured, so did his numbers. By his third season, he was one of the league's better hitters. He hit .337/.423/.538 that year, numbers that would make him an MVP candidate were they posted on an MLB roster. Baseball Prospectus co-founder Clay Davenport devised a stat called Equivalent Average (EqA), which takes all of a hitter's contributions (power, on-base ability, etc.), compares those results to league norms, and calibrates them on a scale that mirrors batting average. A .260 EqA is about average, .300 is very good, .350 is fantastic, .400 is astronomical. Abreu posted an EqA of .308 during the 2005-06 season the year he turned 19.
It's in the past two and a half seasons that Abreu's become a bona fide superstar. In 2009-10, he hit .399/.555/.822, good for a .396 EqA. Through 54 games this year, he's crushing Serie Nacional pitching to the tune of .371/.526/.724, leading the league in OBP and ranking second in slugging.
But last season's numbers were the ones that broke the scale. Davenport runs translations for Serie Nacional players, just as he does for Japanese league players, minor leaguers, and others not in the majors. He considers the competition in Serie Nacional to be equivalent to high-A ball in North America's minor leagues — the Carolina, California, and Florida leagues. After comparing a player's performance to the rest of his league, Davenport then must establish how players from that league did when they graduated to higher levels. Once he has a good idea of how players typically change between leagues, he translates an average major league player to Serie Nacional. The Cuban player's translation thus comes from looking at how far above or below the average major leaguer he would be.
Miguel Cabrera was the best hitter in Major League Baseball in 2011. Jose Abreu, even after adjusting his numbers to reflect A-ball competition, blew Cabrera out of the water.
"I don't know that I'd name him the 'best hitter in the world' based on a 60-game performance," said Davenport. "But yes, I'd say there's a chance."
To understand how you might be hearing Jose Abreu's name for the first time, it's worth getting to know how baseball is covered in Cuba, and who has access to its inner workings. The answers to these questions: It isn't, and virtually no one outside Cuba.
Michael Lewis traveled to Cuba in 2008 for a Vanity Fair story on Cuban baseball. To do so, he enlisted the help of a retired Canadian high school teacher named Kit Krieger; gaining entry into Cuba as an American journalist on assignment without the help of a government-friendly Cuban baseball zealot like Krieger would have been nearly impossible. Per Lewis, Cuban journalists don't cover the sport all that closely, either, eschewing interviews with players and managers in favor of their own opinions. Which is fine, of course. But those of us who want to learn about Cuban baseball get surprisingly reliable, well-kept stats plus very few details about style of play, or anything specific that happened in a game.
Even if you're a major league scout trying to get into Cuba to see a player in person, best of luck. "I've seen guys try it," then-Braves scout Chuck McMichael told Lewis. "I've seen guys try to get a radar gun in. And they get put right back on the plane going out."
What those scouts know, but don't get to see in person, is the canyon-sized gap between the best and worst Serie Nacional players, and the uneven competition that dominates league play. That Abreu broke into the league at age 17, for instance, is hardly an aberration. Many Cuban players get the call at an early age. In a nation of just over 11 million people, you won't find many top-shelf players especially in areas outside Havana and other baseball hotbeds. Players play for their native provinces in Serie Nacional competition. If a given province can't find elite players in their prime years, throwing kids or broken-down older players on the field becomes their next-best option. For elite sluggers like Abreu, recent A's signee Yoenis Cespedes, and this season's home run leader, Alfredo Despaigne, that can mean facing an electric arm like Aroldis Chapman one day, a gray-haired junkballer the next.
Player age itself is a sore subject when it comes to Cuban players. The ages of Orlando Hernandez and his half-brother Livan upon their defections to the U.S. quickly became a running joke. El Duque supposedly pitched his final game just before his 42nd birthday, but there are people in the game who'll swear he was closer to 50 than 40 when he hung 'em up. Livan Hernandez is supposedly eight months younger than Derek Jeter, which is as plausible a story as getting an elaborate Jeter-themed gift basket from Crabtree & Evelyn. The Cuban government has little incentive to make its prized players seem younger than they are and thus more attractive to major league teams. Still, concerns about age-fibbing persist.
There are other factors complicating Serie Nacional results. The league recently switched to Mizuno-150 baseballs, much livelier models than the Mizuno-200 or Rawlings balls found in other countries. Throw in recent defections by Chapman, Yunesky Maya, and a number of useful pitchers who never signed with major league teams, and you have an environment ripe for Bondsian numbers. When Abreu and Cespedes both broke the single-season home run record last season, it came at the expense of Despaigne's record, set just two years earlier.
"The talent pool is so restricted," said Ben Badler, a writer for Baseball America who follows Serie Nacional. "Guys who, if they left Cuba and tried to sign with a major league team, either wouldn't get signed or wouldn't make it out of rookie ball. Some would become solid organizational players. Then you've got someone like Jose Abreu, who could step into a major league uniform tomorrow and immediately be an above-average major league player."
OK, so just how far above average are we talking?
David Forst, assistant general manager for the Oakland A's, has some thoughts on the subject. Over the past few years, the A's have repeatedly lost free-agent bidding wars, even after making the highest bids. They offered Lance Berkman a two-year deal; he took a one-year deal instead, then hit like a fringe MVP candidate for the Cardinals. They offered Rafael Furcal four years; he took three to play for the Dodgers. Adrian Beltre snubbed Oakland, twice. So desperate were the A's to get somebody to take their free-agent money that they gave a broken-down Ben Sheets $10 million two years ago. Predictably, he got hurt, making just 20 starts that season. He hasn't pitched in a major league game since.
It's against that backdrop that the A's agreed to a four-year, $36 million deal for Cespedes. We've documented the 26-year-old outfielder before: He has tools on top of tools on top of tools. He's an athlete so impressive, his agent produced the single best 20-minute video in the history of Western civilization, an orgy of flexing, stand-up sit-ups, violent swings, and star wipes. There are some talent evaluators who've seen Cespedes take weak swings in international competition and who doubt the integrity of Serie Nacional stats enough to declare him a future bust. Others, including the A's, see a five-tool package at a prime age for major league performance, and envision a future star. Oakland will take a chance on someone like Cespedes, and scout someone like Abreu as aggressively as a Cuban player can possibly be scouted, knowing the team needs to take chances on high-variance players to overcome its disadvantages in revenue streams and signing of established major league stars.
Forst confirms that A's scouts can't get anywhere near Cuba to see live Serie Nacional action. But he also notes that Cuban players gain much more exposure in international competition now than they did 10 or 15 years ago. Abreu has played in five major international tournaments in the past two and a half years, and that's after getting cut from the 2009 World Baseball Classic roster. Thanks to those tournaments, the A's have compiled multiple scouting reports on him.
Oakland and other teams agree that Abreu isn't nearly the all-around athlete that someone like Cespedes is. He's a first baseman at best and maybe a DH if and when he makes the big leagues. He doesn't run well. His body is not exactly chiseled. His stats have been inflated somewhat by intentional walks (a league-leading 32 in 2009-10, and 21 last season) and hit-by-pitches (30 in 2009-10, 21 last season, though Abreu might have an easier time sustaining high HBP numbers than league-leading intentional walk totals in the majors). Even Abreu's hit tool, while playable, might not be superstar-level.
"Is he Barry Bonds? No," Forst said. "If you do a comprehensive survey of the clubs, they'd say he is not the best hitter on the planet."
"There are legitimate comparisons to Ryan Howard."
So the wildly optimistic view is that it's possible — not likely, but possible — that Abreu might be as good at — or better at — than Miguel Cabrera. And the more realistic and pervasive view is that he could hit like Ryan Howard, a star first baseman entering year one of a five-year, $125 million contract who has launched 262 homers over the past six seasons.
Which is, in a word, stupefying.
There's so little in the sports world now that's unknowable, so few arguments that can't be settled by a quick trip to Baseball-Reference and its sister sites. As Chuck Klosterman asked last week on the B.S. Report: "Aren't we almost accustomed to watching sports in a way that's no longer supposed to be subjective?"
He was talking about Jeremy Lin. But in Lin's case, anyone could drop by Harvard's field house for a game, even catch him occasionally on TV. We had information from the NBA's scouting combine and summer tournaments. Though he didn't see much live game action, Lin got plenty of run in practice, where coaches got to see him match up against starting point guards. Yes, he's been a gigantic, pleasant surprise, a breath of fresh air for a Knicks team that needed it, in a season that nearly never happened. But Lin came out of nowhere to make two straight Sports Illustrated covers because NBA talent evaluators screwed up and teams wouldn't give him a chance, not because the information wasn't out there for people to see.
Scouts do have information on Abreu. But in many respects, it's flawed and difficult to interpret. The only time a team can see him live is in those international competitions. Yes, there's value in tracking his performance in the Baseball World Cup or Intercontinental Cup play. But when he's facing a baseball-rich country one day, Liechtenstein the next, you can only tell so much. There are some video reports out there, which certainly help. And there are those stats. Those dazzling, breathtaking stats.
Try as he might, Davenport's Cuban translations remain much less reliable than what he can do with, say, Japanese league players. He has more examples of players coming over from Japan. He also has far more examples of major league players going to play in Japan (a lot) than he does major leaguers going to play in Cuba (zero). There are huge psychological barriers that any player coming from a foreign league must overcome, getting used to a brand-new culture, or just resisting the convenience and temptation of American fast food, especially on a minor leaguer's per diem. With Cuban players, there's an added mental hurdle: knowing you've abandoned your family for a shot at the big leagues.
"In a general way, the place [stats] don't take us is to knowledge of the future," said sabermetric pioneer and Red Sox senior advisor Bill James. "Much of what we do is 'predicting the future,' but it's not really prediction; it's merely projecting present realities into the future."
When it comes to Abreu, scouts can't be sure what those realities are. And for regular schmoes like us who have little or no access to scouting information, those realities are damn near impossible to figure out.
That might soon change. Fidel Castro has retired from politics. The Cold War is long over, and the U.S. has already started to loosen restrictions on travel to Cuba. If Cuba's the last refuge for baseball's unknown, it might not be for much longer.
So let's enjoy Jose Abreu while we still can. Let's dream on a hitter so big, so powerful, he just might be better than anyone else on Earth. The information explosion has made us more knowledgeable sports fans than we could have ever imagined. But it's OK to root for a mystery. Especially if it's one of the last ones we ever see.


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Daily Archives: April 1, 2011
what is the G.O.S.P.E.L.? GOD. OUR. SINS. PAYING. EVERYONE. LIFE. (transcribed.)
Posted by Joey Asher Tan
At the beginning of this year, a couple of youths from REAL 2011 came up with the idea of using multimedia to share the Gospel instead of through the conventional pen-and-paper method or via a personal testimony. I agreed and thought it'd be great to ask for just five minutes of someone's time, lend him or her your earpiece, and let them watch a video from your iPhone, iTouch, PSP, mobile phone or whatever other device.
The good people at Humble Beast Records and Dare2Share Ministries (beat REAL 2011 to it and) produced this impressive audio-visual presentation of the Gospel in a nutshell. Kudos to them for condensing everything into a mere four minutes. Perhaps R-AGE might just utilise it one day, so that by all means possible, we might save some. (Thank you, Yixian, for sharing this!)
I managed to find the lyrics/ transcript here and have pasted it below for your reading convenience. Brilliant work, really, by any measure. (But I suggest watching the video once through before following with the words the second time.)
It's the full story of life crushed into four minutes./ The entirety of humanity in the palm of your hand crushed into one sentence./ Listen, it's intense, right? GOD. OUR. SINS. PAYING. EVERYONE. LIFE./ The greatest story ever told that's hardly ever told.
GOD. Yes, GOD./ The maker and giver of life, and by life I mean any and all manner of substance./ Seen and unseen; what can and can't be touched./ Thoughts, image, emotions; love, atoms and oceans./ GOD./ All of which His handiwork, one of which His masterpiece./ Made so uniquely that angels looked curiously./ The one thing in creation that was made in His imagery./ A concept so cold it's the reason I stay bold./ How GOD breathed into man and he became a living soul.
Formed with the intent of being infinitely, intimately fond./ Creator and creation held in eternal bond./ And it was placed in perfect paradise until something went wrong./ The species got deceived and started lusting for His job./ An odd list of complaints, as if the system ain't working./ And used that same breath He graciously gave us to curse Him/ And that sin seed spread through our souls' genome./ And by nature of your nature, your species, you participated in the mutiny.
OUR./ Yes, our sins./ It's nature-inherited./ Blackened the human heart. It was over before it started./ Deceived from day one and led away by our own lust./ There's not a religion in the world that doesn't agree that something's wrong with us./ The question is what is it? And how do we fix it?/ Are we eternally separated from a God that may or may not have existed?/ But that's another subject. Let's keep grinding./ Besides, trying to prove God is like defending a lion./ Homie, it don't need your help. Just unlock the cage./ Let's move on on how our debt can be paid./ Short and sweet: the problem is…
SIN./ Yes, sin./ It's a cancer, an asthma, choking out our life force./ Forcing separation from a perfect and holy GOD./ And the only way to get back is to get back to perfection./ But silly us…trying to pass the course of life without referring to a syllabus./ This is us: heap up your good deeds, chant, pray, meditate./ But all of that, of course, is spraying cologne on a corpse./ Or you could choose to ignore it, as if something don't stink./ It's like stepping in dog poop and refusing to wipe your shoe./ But all of that ends with, "How good is good enough?"
Take your silly list of good deeds and line them up against perfection./ Good luck./ That's life past your pay grade./ The cost of your soul? You ain't got a big enough piggy bank./ But you could give it a shot?/ But I suggest you throw away the list/ 'Cause even your good acts are an extension of your selfishness.
But here's where it gets interesting./ I hope you're closely listening./ Please don't get it twisted. It's what makes our faith unique./ Here's what God says is Part A of the Gospel:/ You can't fix yourself. Quit trying. It's impossible./ Sin brings death./ Give GOD His breath back. You owe Him!/ Eternally separated and the only way to fix it is someone die in your place/ And that someone's got to be PERFECT or the payment ain't permanent/ So if and when you find a perfect person, get that person./ To literally trade their perfection for your sin and death in./ Clearly, since the only one who can meet God's criteria is GOD./ GOD sent Himself as JESUS to pay the cost for us./ His righteousness, His death, functions as…
PAYMENT./ Yes, payment./ Wrote a check with His life./ But at the Resurrection we all cheered, cause that means the CHECK CLEARED!/ Pierced feet, pierced hands, blood-stained Son of Man./ Fullness, forgiveness, free passage into the Promised Land./ That same breath GOD breathed into us GOD gave up to redeem us./ And anyone and everyone, and by everyone I mean…
EVERYONE./ Who puts their faith and trust in Him, and Him alone./ Can stand in full confidence of GOD's forgiveness./ And here's what the promise is:/ That you are guaranteed full access to return to perfect unity./ By simply believing in CHRIST and CHRIST alone./ You are receiving…
LIFE./ Yes, life./ This is the GOSPEL./ GOD. OUR. SINS. PAYING. EVERYONE. LIFE.


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Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in a paper that appears in the June issue of Health Affairs, found that a Medicaid policy that fast-tracks applications of pregnant women contributed to a nearly 8 percent reduction in smoking during pregnancy but did not significantly improve preterm birth rates or low birth weights. The study is the first of its kind to examine the effects of Medicaid's presumptive eligibility and the unborn-child option – which provides Medicaid coverage for prenatal care — on smoking cessation and smoking-related adverse birth outcomes.
"Although the prevalence of prenatal smoking in the United States has declined in recent decades, it is nearly twice as high among low-income women enrolled in Medicaid than it is in the U.S. population as a whole," said Dr. Marian Jarlenski, lead author of the paper. Dr. Jarlenski conducted the research while completing her PhD at the Bloomberg School. "Our research shows that Medicaid's presumptive eligibility policy led to a nearly 8 percentage-point decrease in smoking during pregnancy, but neither policy significantly improved rates of preterm birth or babies born small for their gestational age."
Since the late 1990s, many state Medicaid programs have provided more generous coverage of services that help pregnant women stop smoking, but the complex process of enrolling in Medicaid may be a barrier to obtaining these services. Presumptive eligibility, introduced in 1986, sought to smooth out the application process. The policy assumes that pregnant women are eligible for Medicaid when they arrive for care at participating organizations and can receive care while their Medicaid applications are still pending. The second option, the unborn-child option, allows states to consider a fetus to be a "targeted low-income child" and to provide coverage of prenatal care and delivery to low-income pregnant women even if they cannot provide the documentation of citizenship or residency that is required for eligibility in Medicaid's pregnancy category.
For their paper, the researchers studied 24,544 low-income women in 19 states who smoked prior to pregnancy and participated in the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System from 2004 to 2010. The authors conclude presumptive eligibility will continue to be an important policy to promote timely prenatal care, but that additional research is needed on the effectiveness of combining smoking cessation interventions with interventions targeting other risk factors to reduce adverse birth outcomes in the population eligible for Medicaid.
To read more, click here.


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Crow Spirit
Nature is my religion. My soul communes with the outdoors, gifting me great spiritual inspiration. I love the northern California beaches. Oceanic power induces deep meditations, harmonizing my center with life, rhythmically soothing and empowering me. I also love the soft hills of Sonoma County, my current residence, with its rich carpet of grape vines and dried summer grass. I cast my gaze, wanting to reach out and run my fingers through it, feeling the prolific sweet fibers of the wine country. But what I really love is a densely wooded forest, dark green canopies, cushy earth, thick quiet, the magic and mystery of the energies that entice me, invoking earnest delight and wonderment. What spirits reside there? I am not sure, but they croon to me silently, plucking my heart, tuning it like an instrument. I play for them. I dance like an innocent child.
In my youth, my father would bring my sister and I to the redwoods of Oakland hills where we lived. We would hike and search for faeries, gnomes, trolls and anything else our imaginations could lure into our visions. "They love to hide in the moss that cloak the trees," my father would whisper, instilling excitement in my coasting eyes. Everything was vibrant and green. We hiked in the rain often with little more than an umbrella, lunch and a candle in tow. We would huddle around the single flame while nibbling on afternoon treats. The lone lizard would scurry by. Raindrops plopped on wet leaves, mud, stones, muffled by their journey. I had never heard such quiet or experienced such complete beauty. These memories never fade. Rich in luster, they flourish within me. I scintillate in nostalgia.
The closest forest to me now is Armstrong Woods. A mere 23 mile drive, and I can be coddled by tremendous redwoods. Last weekend, Laura and I explored these woods. Immediately upon our arrival, as we entered the density of this small wooded park, I opened- eyes wide, heart juicy and full. I hadn't walked among the trees, ferns, dirt and moss in a long while. My senses heightened, enlightened, lifting my spirit, reminding me of my innate Self.
We journeyed within, walking deep into the park on a narrow paved road. We were alone. The silence was overwhelming; it folded around me. In the distance, I spotted two crows, walking the same road as Laura and I. They were far enough away to maintain privacy but close enough for us to clearly watch their movements. We were enchanted by the ambling pair. These two crows walked side by side like two old friends, soul mates, lost in one another and the simple pleasure of leisure. They strolled down the center of this narrow street, waddling, swaying, occasionally turning their heads toward one another as if in idle conversation. They looked like little people to me, small feathered people, enjoying the afternoon. Never before had I felt this way about wildlife. I am not sure if I was anthropomorphizing this interaction or, if on a deeper more intrinsic level, I was sensing their Truth. We watched the crows walk in front of us along our same path. They seemed to mirror us without knowing it. We smiled. It didn't take long for the crows to sense our existence. Once catching on to our company, they leapt off the ground, swinging wings, calling to the trees, gently lifting into the sky. They were gone, leaving magic in their wake.
What really happens among the redwoods when humans are not around? Does the forest awaken to play and delight? There is an undercurrent of power, an unseen presence, that uplifts this wooded grove. I have always known nature holds precious secrets from modern man/woman or, rather, modernity has dulled man/woman from translating secret into truth. Whatever the case, I am unfolding, unwrapping my own gifts to bestow. I coil around and melt into the natural world. This, I profoundly sense, and watching these two old friends, the crows, solidified this sacred recognition, my connection to my Self and the landscape of spirit.
"The clearest way into the Universe is through a forest wilderness."
John Muir


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1 Exhibition: New York
Presenting paintings by Belarusian Expressionist Chaim Soutine alongside those of the younger Francis Bacon, "Soutine/Bacon" is the first show to suggest a relationship between the two artists' work. Arguing that Bacon was highly influenced as a young man by seeing Soutine's work in Paris, the curators draw comparisons between paintings such as Soutine's Portrait of a Man with a Felt Hat, painted in the early 1920s, and Bacon's Seated Figure of almost 40 years later.
Soutine/Bacon, Helly Nahmad Gallery, 975 Madison Avenue, New York. Open daily, 10.00–18.00 (from 11.00 on Saturday, closed Sundays). Until 18 June.
[hellynahmadgallery.com] (http://hellynahmadgallery.com)
2 Music: US
Stevie Nicks, 'In your dreams'
Behind every great man, there has to be a great woman, shrilled Annie Lennox. Flipping that assertion is ex-Fleetwood Mac starlet Stevie Nicks, who's enlisted some Y chromosome support in the form of both Dave Stewart (Lennox's Eurythmics cohort) and Glen Ballard (the wizard behind Alanis Morissette's best LPs) on this, Nicks's first solo album for a decade. These titans all made their musical mark decades ago, and their clashing on this record has a distinctly old-fashioned flavour, but Nick's emotive ethereality shines through as always.
Stevie Nicks, "In Your Dreams", on release in the US by Reprise Records.
[stevienicks.net] (http://stevienicks.net)
3 Exhibition: London
Michael Craig-Martin, 'Drawings 1967-2002'
Celebrating the Dublin-born artist's 70th birthday this year, Alan Cristea present around 60 drawings never before seen. The show includes works made in situ in the Cork Street gallery space (Manhattan, pictured above), as well as older preparations and studies for some of Craig-Martin's best works, including An Oak Tree. Now part of the Tate collection, the original work – a glass of water on a glass shelf – was one of the greatest stabs a British artist has made at conceptualism.
"Drawings: 1967-2002", The Alan Cristea Gallery, 31 Cork Street, London. Open daily, 10.00 – 17.30 (Saturday, 11.00-14.00. Closed Sunday). Until 4 June.
4 Book: UK
Alan Bennett, "Smut: Two Unseemly Stories"
it might not be the book you want on your coffee table when your gran comes over for tea, but Bennett's "Unseemly Stories" make for a sophisticated and characteristically witty read, the perfect park companion as the barometer starts to climb into sunbathing range this weekend. This new release from the Leeds-born playwright, screenwriter and author tells two convoluted love stories: one regarding a widow who develops a dodgy set of lodgers, and the other a disappointing son with a sexual secret.
Alan Bennett, "Smut: Two Unseemly Stories", available in the UK now.
5 Festival: Lisbon
8th Independent Film Festival
In Les Amours Imaginaires, a dinner between friends turns into a three-way love frenzy when Francis and Marie fall for the uninterested Nicolas, sparking a flirtatious competition for his attention. Xavier Dolan's film is a wild card selection from the 245 movies screened at the 8th edition of IndieLisboa, Portugal's most important independent film event. Of the total, 28 films that have never been shown before will have their world premier during the 10 days Lisbon will be glued to the screens.
'Les Amours Imaginaires', 7 May, 00.00, São Jorge, Rua Júlio César Machado 8. 'IndieLisboa', at various venues until 15 May.
[indielisboa.com] (http://indielisboa.com)


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sky cityatop a steep-sided sandstone mesa, 357 ft (109 m) high and hard of access, is considered to be the oldest continuously inhabited community in the United States. The residents, who speak a Western Keresan language (see Pueblo), are skilled potters. Below the mesa are the cultivated fields and grazing grounds that help support the community. Sheep, cattle, and grain are produced.
The pueblo's location has impressed visitors from Fray Marcos de Niza (1539) and Coronado's men (1540) to present-day tourists. Juan de Oñate was allowed entry in 1598, but the natives soon resisted the Spanish; defeated after severe fighting, many were later maimed. The missionary Fray Juan Ramírez arrived in 1629. The Acoma people joined in the Pueblo revolt of 1680, were forced to submit to Diego de Vargas in 1692, joined in the later uprising of 1696, and were subdued again in 1699. They were later Christianized; the pueblo is dominated by the mission church of San Estevan del Rey.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2023, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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