Julie Unplugged

Paradox: You & I Meet Tuesday, August 7, 2012 for a Mini Writing Retreat

Today – August 7, 2012 - met me in the same way a seventh grade girl, Melanie, meets her longtime crush, Joey, on the edge of the dance floor. Unsure, a bit wobbly, and slow to make a move forward, morning and I wondered at first if anything would happen or if I would pull away, refusing to believe our relationship would ever feel the same as it did when Joey and Melanie were in second grade, sitting side by side at desks in Mrs. Anderson’s classroom at Linden Avenue School.

First I poured a cup of coffee.

Second I gathered my notebook and pen and went outside.

Third I drew a random soul collage card.

Fourth, I made myself write.

Looking at the card I wrote, “I have a history of hiding under a blanket of darkness. Divinity clothes me in white when she does my bidding. I sit in the center of paradox: the this and the that,  the hovering tightrope slowly unraveling, an awkward unwinnable tug-of-war and the solid cord hung firmly and the confident collaboration, singing songs of cheer upon successful completion.

I notice water droplets of water on the leaves.

Sitting here, moving my pen, being a faithful companion to my writing is key to living my story.

This dress on the little girl is so similar to what my Mom would have made me.

I want to remember Mom meant her dresses as testaments to her love for me which she wasn’t able to translate into the language you spoke and still speak. This doesn’t minimize her love.

I want to remember that earlier this Summer I learned about Wolf Lichen after mistakenly calling it “moss” after all these years.

My Rilke reading earlier was another significant companion:

From Wer seines Lebens viele Widersinne:

She who reconciles the ill matched threads

of her life, and weaves them gratefully

into a single cloth –

it’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall

and clears it for a different celebration

 These reminders pour through my hands onto the page.

I look at the collage card, I look at Rilke’s words, I write:  “It feels so grand to sit on my front porch, the gentle wind feels like a zen gardener tending my forehead. Worry erased by house finch.”

Melanie holds Joey with just the right closeness as their slow dance comes to its conclusion.

She can feel his breath against her neck, his hands respectfully above her waist.

She is both naïve and knowing. She is a paradox who is a human truth in the making.

As am I and As are You.

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© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

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Beyond Eye Opening, it was Awe Opening (In response to a Sequoia inspired #WritingPrompt)

To read (and experience the original prompt for yourself) please visit the link here.

I see ancient pathways.

I see veins, split open so I may understand how blood flows just a little bit better.

I smell beginnings and endings.  I smell churches and temples and painter’s studios.

I feel smooth and rough and splinters piercing my fingers yet somehow not hurting.

I hear Mary Oliver whispering into my ears:

“All afternoon it rained, then

such a power came down from the clouds

on a yellow thread,

as authoritative as God is supposed to be.

When it hit the tree, her body

opened forever.”

I hear dust from the days before the Vikings falling through the forest. I hear branches, creaking – born before the printing press – being torn from the body that had supported them for so long.

I see confusion.

I see stained glass.

I see awe on the faces of those who look upon her now.

I step into your veins and feel like I am stepping into every cavern I have ever visited. I become one with every nightmare and every pipedream I have ever breathed not into existence.

I feel my breasts fill with milk even though I have not had a baby in eleven years. I feel the urge to feed the babies, the ones who cannot speak or walk for whom there is only hope.

I see Moses’ mother and sister, waiting for safety for their little boy.

I see my mother and sister, giggling as I struggle to slide my feet into my short sheeted bed when I couldn’t translate their giggles and my complete confusion and heart pounding fear to be responding to the same thing.

I touch your protective coating – splintered and your inner coating, smooth. I notice the hands, the others, reaching out, and another other, speaking as if expert but knowing nothing, after all.

I touch inside you with my camera.

I feel miniscule.

I feel incapable to communicate who, what, how you are.

I want to bring people here, to sit with you, to engage with you, to come to know you intimately instead of sitting back and looking at photos or watching videos or thinking they know when they don’t know what it is like to touch the inside of a Sequoia’s bloodstream and suddenly understand how similar you are, only the tree is infinitely wiser and infinitely more capable to communicate even without the benefit of translatable language.

“All afternoon it rained, then

such a power came down from the clouds

on a yellow thread,

as authoritative as God is supposed to be.

When it hit the tree, her body

opened forever.”

 

In the spring it rained and the stream, as always, moved alongside these twin trees, standing tall like the twin towers had before they fell.

Somehow, they surmise, the life blood of the trees brought death to these two. Like all grief, it isn’t completely understandable yet how it happened. Scientists are in wonder, still now – and don’t logically try to explain it all away.

What I know is the tree and her innards touched me, my mind, my heart, my chest, my fingers, my awe has now opened forever.

 

 

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot  

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!)

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

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#SummerBlogChallenge Day 19: Woot Woot. Tell me: What are 3 Things You Are Proud of from the Last Few Days?

I love prompts that ask us to look right in the near past rather than from a long, long time ago. I enjoy walks down my memory, but oftentimes I don’t give myself credit for the right now… so with that…join me and consider what three things YOU are proud about from the past few days?

Three things I am proud of from the last few days:

1. I ran two successful Writing Camps at Bakersfield College’s Delano Campus. The students wrote haiku, freewrote, learned about Rainer Rilke, Alice Walker, Laura Esquivel. We practiced writing in Objective and Meaningful language. There was a lot of interaction and fun was had by (almost!) everyone. Yes, guy in the second row, I saw you dozing off. I forgive you! I have to admit, sleeping students DO make me kick my game up a notch. I am proud I did.
2. I attended (and enjoyed!) a SoulCollage workshop. I had been resisting for months because I had tried the process on my own. I didn’t get what all the fuss was about. Naturally I loved it. I created a whole bunch of cards and plan to go for Open Studio to make more. I got over my resistance and created some great art. Yay!
3. I didn’t lose my temper once, even when there were a couple ripe situations for me to do so. This is definitely something to be proud about, especially when a tired Samuel did typical tired Samuel behaviors. :~)

So – Beloveds! Tell me three things you are proud of from the last few days.

 Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot

Be sure to "Like" WritingCampwithJJS on Facebook (THANK YOU!)

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

Did you enjoy this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -

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Creating..... Anyway: When You Think You Know Yes or No, Try Try Again.

Have you ever resisted trying something new because you thought you knew all about it and wasn’t too thrilled knowing everything about it?

Saturday, once again, I was proven wrong. I am GRATEFUL I was proven wrong!

I love hanging out at the Art and Spirituality Center here in Bakersfield at Mercy Hospital. I have loved taking classes, teaching classes, and attending open studio as much as I can. I have made quite a few friends there and many of them are totally into SoulCollage.

I had read the book and tried making cards but never really enjoyed it all that much. I didn’t enjoy it enough to continue.

One day I sat with my friend, Kimberly, and used some of her SoulCollage cards as Writing Prompts. Wow. They were so vivid and awakened some deep stuff within me and I knew I needed to try it again. Perhaps with a group, I would be better.

I went to the workshop Saturday with no expectations. I hoped it would be fruitful because I was giving up much of my day to attend. Once I made my first card I knew I was at the right place with the right people doing the right thing.

We were told we could make three cards. If we needed more, though, we would be given more.

I ended up making seven cards. I felt like my chronic-overachieving-now-nobody-is-going-to-like-me self.

I was surprised, though, because there wasn’t a soul in the room who “didn’t like me” because I made the most cards. Next up for me is making cards with my own photos. I’m looking forward to making cards to honor family members and personal heroines.

Next time you get an intuitive nudge to (re) try something, do it, without attachment or worry.

I bet you will find you love it much more than you thought you would!

 

 

 

Follow me on Twitter: @juliejordanscot 

© 2012 by Julie Jordan Scott

Julie Jordan Scott has been a Life & Creativity Coach, Writer, Facilitator and Teleclass Leader since 1999. She is also an award winning Actor, Director, Artist and Mother Extraordinaire. She was twice the StoryTelling Slam champion in Bakersfield. She leads Writing Camp with JJS & this Summer will be traveling throughout the US to bring this unique, fun filled creative experience to the people wherever she finds the passion & the interest.

Did you enjoyed this essay? Receive emails directly to your inbox for Free from Julie Jordan Scott via the Daily Passion Activator. One inspirational essay and poem (almost) every week day. Subscribe here now -

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