Research and Ramblings

So, I do not fancy myself an artist. In my mind an artist is professionally trained, has carefully honed their craft, and spends all of their days trying to make it better than when they started. Artists have art studios and are always trying to balance their craft and the real world. It was when I moved to Olympia, WA, when the idea that I could be an artist was planted. I had a session with Michelyn Gjurasic  in 2013-2014 which introduced the idea of me being an artist. In this moment, I wish I could find our session but cannot. At the time, I had a career path as a historian and an archivist that I felt passionate about. Part of me rejected the idea that I had art within me. Over time, I started to embrace the part of me that wants to play with paint, color, and drawing. How do I embrace the artist in me? Do you believe you have an artist in you? Now, I feel like creativity is a huge part of who I am. Books like Big Magic by Liz Gilbert and working with a former yoga teacher an...

I read The Dutch House by Ann Patchett in May 2021, and was fascinated by the house as a character in the novel. Maybe it was just me, but I loved how much of the character's experience revolved around the house. This had me thinking, what if I wrote something where the stories are told from the house's point of view? Pictured in this post is my childhood home. My parents bought the house when I was just under a year old. The turret room, the hedge, the tall pines are all part of the memories created in and around the house. I started asking my parents for pictures of the inside of the house. I have a few, but of course, the house has undergone changes over the years. When I was about 10 or 11, my father tore out the chimney and started to lower the basement floor. He did this while working full time and overtime. I think the major renovations of the first floor are mostly complete as of last year (2022). The second floor is still undergoing renovation and I am currently 52 ye...

I have been fascinated by the Women's Industrial Home and Clinic that opened in September 1920 and closed in March 1921. It was located in Medical Lake near the Eastern State Hospital. Governor Lister listened to the women who wrote in requesting a State Industrial Home for Women. The women thought it to be new, as no other state had this provision, more need since the war, didn't want the wasteful methods of arresting, detaining, releasing, and re-arresting, and to provide women a place they could be kept long enough to be given a new idea about life and teach them other ways to earn a living. The Washington State Federation of Women's Clubs lead the charge. They wrote letters recommending women who could run the clinic, ideas about what could be offered, and reminders of the need for moral purity in these times. I am working on a series of vignettes about the women who stayed at the Industrial Home and Clinic for its short lived existence. I have also started researching ...

 So it is June 1, 2023 and I am ready to work on something new. I get like this at the start of every month thinking this is a little re-do, a time to reboot and start again. The full moon is Saturday, June 3 and I am definitely wanting to let go of some things. What has completed for me? I think my short stint as Lacey Historical Society's acting treasurer is DONE. I have a couple little tasks that will need to complete but by this time next week I will be officially free to volunteer my time someplace else. I started the year at the Food Bank and really loved volunteering there, but my physical body is still in some sort of holding pattern and my attempts to just ignore, push or collapse in defeat have not really changed anything about the situation. I wonder what I am holding onto. I wonder about my relationship with pain. Getting really curious about my relationship with my body. I am calling June my Creating a Home month. Finding ways to spend as little as 15 minutes a day cre...