May is National Bike Month, and to celebrate that, I've got some nifty links for you.

An exercized mind is a healthy mind.

Therefore, an exercized artist/crafter is more nimble, vastly more creative, sharper minded, better at solving problems, and (heh!) WAY better at being snarkier-than-thou when he or she has had some fresh air and the blood gets whipped a little frothier. So please don't try to get out of this by saying you don't have a bike. Walking works, too.

Those who have bikes, here you go:

Dave Fiedler has a link to 50 ways you can celebrate National Bike Month.

If you happen to be near me, Cleveland is celebrating Bike Week during the week of May 12-16. Check out your own city to see if you have similar events near you. Even if just to avoid extra bikes on the road!

Instructables has the coolest contest celebrating Bike Month: "MacGyver" something together that's bike-related, teach us how to do it via their website, and you could win one of these. Contest rules here. Gotta love gadgets with multiple doohickeys.

Here's some bike safety information. Be aware of your local bike laws, as they differ from state to state. A good rule of thumb is that a bike is by law a vehicle, and must follow the same rules of the road as a car. (Most of our bike team are engineers, NASA scientists, computer folk... but we do have 3 lawyers and one bicycling rights advocate. So we get earsful every season.)

Combine your need for speed (and fitness) with your need to do good for someone else. Join the cause for a cure. There are many, and I'm sure I will miss some. Please forgive me if I miss yours. It will be my pleasure if you would be so kind as to add it by your kind comments.

Here are some very worthy charity bike rides:
Pedal with Pete, to benefit United Cerebral Palsy
Tour de Cure, to benefit the American Diabetes Association
Bike MS, to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which has hit my friends and my family HARD.

My husband and I are captains of Patti's Paladins, a team for Bike MS. Some days I love my bike. Some days it is agonizing for me to get my blubbery bottom onto that saddle. But I do it because I need the exercize and I know I'm more productive afterwards. I do it also because I have a cousin and friends who, because of MS, can't.

But even if I wasn't connected to National Bike Month so personally, don't you just want to get out, enjoy the warmer weather, and explore a little?

Perhaps, at least, someone ought to make a funky, ironic, flowered bike basket!

Ride on!

-->rebecca.

 

Today I had an experience at an art supply store that was just amazing.

First of all, the day didn't hold any promise for excitement. I had to spend the morning at the car dealership (it took the better part of the day), and then we had a 7pm meeting with our insurance guy. NOT a recipe for adventure. But the carrot dangling before my morning eyes was the fact that one of my favorite craft/art supply stores was only 3 blocks away from the dealership. That's where I spent my time instead of the dusty waiting room with stained upholstery on the raggedy chairs.

I knew had at least a few hours to wander, so I took my time soaking up the colors and the textures. I started out in yarn, crochet thread, beads... but I didn't really need anything there. (No. No one ever really NEEDS, but stuff ends up in the basket anyway...) I spiralled through the store aimlessly, just letting my feet douse their way through the store. As usual, the art department gathered me into her lovely and ample bosom. Oh, and such milk! Delicious nourishment.

It's funny, but this is a self-serve chain, and yet there's always someone to give -- OFFER -- actual assistance in the art department. When the associate asked if I was finding everything I needed, we somehow ended up in a fantastic conversation. It was the sort of conversation I would have had with studio mates back in the art school days. In no time, we were pulling out books, talking about ideas we were playing with, giving each other encouragement, asking about each others' work, suggesting materials to try... It was so cool! It was also very energizing.

An extra special kick came when she pulled out a copy (one of two in that section; there were copies in other parts of the store, too) of The Anticraft: Knitting, Beading, and Stitching for the Slightly Sinister, something I thought was pretty cool. It gave me a chance to point out how appropriate that it was in the art department, and not in the yarn department.

Anyway, in retrospect, I think the reason I'm not overflowing with aggravation for having my day derailed by plans made by my husband (the kind of plans that are made, of which I'm informed later, when it's too late to do anything about them; plus, not that anything needed to be done except do them, as they were necessary), is that this way cool exchange was exactly the type of energy I needed to fuel my day.

Anyone else have a neato encounter like that -- one that energizes your creative work? By sharing, you could be providing the spark that energizes someone else...

-->rebecca.

 

Dear William Shakespeare,

HAPPY 444TH BIRTHDAY, you old wizard!

I only picked that year because it matched a song from a bunch of years ago. Some guy who dresses in purple. You prob'ly don't know him, but he knows you. As do we all! You can pick any year you like! But if Falstaff is on the party list, Dude, you're picking up the tab. Sorry.

I'd love to tell you how much I love you, how much you and your works have done for me and my work, but there's no way I could tell you as eloquently as you could tell yourself. LOVE the monologues. And the death scenes!! I don't think I've ever caught a fish that ever flopped around on the boat deck quite as long as one of your actors. Bravo!!

My first taste of your genius? It was 2nd Grade, and my parents handed me The Tempest. It was so exciting. I had just read Homer's The Odyssey, and the way the two tales played off each other was dynamic and powerful. I was 7, and it made my head spin. I've been hooked ever since.

I'm not ashamed to admit that, at the time, the language was a bit of a challenge. I had to ask questions. And my parents didn't always answer me directly; more often they gave me the tools to discover the answers myself. You and my parents (and my deadly need to know what happened NEXT) made me stronger.

When I read your works even now, I still stumble sometimes. It's ok. I'll gladly fumble through footnotes or a dictionary for a peculiar phrase or antique word. It's always worth it! And thanks for inspiring the book Shakespeare's Insults: Educating Your Wit. Awesome.

On a slightly downer note, though, dearest Will: I could have done without Romeo and Juliet. I gotta tell you, romanticizing suicide is reckless. I mean, you gave us some delicious quotables in there. "...a rose by any other name would smell as sweet"? Timeless perfection. And I'm not saying it had to have a happy ending. Tragedies happen, and you'd be lying if your art didn't reflect them, but suicide as a teachable moment? Ugh. That's just this woman's opinion, and certainly not the prevailing one. Happily, I don't impose it on anyone else; it's my choice to avoid the play and movies, including Westside Story. I know they're classics, but this is my stand. I don't invite anyone to join me, but I thought you should know. I do think your depiction of Ophelia was better, more mature, more heart-rendingly tragic. Also, while a pertinent part of the story, horrifying enough that she is also allegorical to eating disorders and other symbols of a young modern woman's decline and NOT a role model. Still: as demises go, I much prefer the stilettos, poisonings, karmic you-should've-waited-til-the-Wierd-Sisters'-prophecy-came-true-downfalls, and treacheries-on-the-battlefield sort.

You inspired me, Will. I am a better artist today because of you. I once made a dagger-like sculpture out of fishhooks for a first-year design project. MacBeth was one of that week's readings in Lit, and wriggled its way into my fingers. I called the sculpture MacDeath and nestled it in some blood-red plaid fabric. My professor was ecstatic. He loved that he wanted to pick it up, and yet he couldn't without doing himself harm. He couldn't get away from the idea of the floating dagger before a dreaming character, faced with a life and death decision. One he felt he was facing himself, to a diminished degree.

I have created many things, both written and visual art, that were inspired by your work, regardless of the play's subject matter, be it history, fantasy, or lighthearted fluff. I'm aware that there will be people who gasp in horror that I accuse you of writing "lighthearted fluff", but we know better, right? >wink< It doesn't take away from your writership; it adds to your scope of ability. Thanks many times over, Will. (I've been meaning to ask: is Much Ado About Nothing the more romantic, early version of Seinfeld? Doesn't matter to me either way. I'll always love it. And the Branagh movie, too: eyecandy, start to finish. I'm guessing you had a bill to pay... Or you simply needed a carefree romp! Who doesn't?)

I am perhaps the least of artists to have been inspired by you. I like the works of William Blake and Albert Pinkham Ryder particularly, though there are LOTS of others; all of the Pre-Raphaelites, especially. Art inspiring art is a very sincere flattery. I'm confident you are at least amused, if not always approving.

Today, on your 444th birthday, I hope to make another creation inspired by you. Probably a drawing. Maybe it will turn into an embroidery. Perhaps prints. I hope others will follow suit, in ANY MEDIUM, whatever is comfortable!!

444 years is a great number. May your greatness grow, Old Master.

Love and Rosemary,
rebecca.

P.S. One of my favorites of the many movies made of your plays is 10 Things I Hate About You. And I love that a lot of people don't know that it's an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. Very subtlely and cleverly done, too!! Shakespearean plot devices work so well on high school social dynamics.