today...

hope everybody had a good halloween yesterday. i actually hid in my unlit house from all the children, letting my rottweiler bark her head off while i worked in the studio, and waited patiently for the dark and rain to drive the treat-or-treaters away. yes, my unwarranted and weird fear of strangers knocking on my door even extends to children... maybe i should take a closer look at that and figure out where that comes from. haha! strange.

but with one holiday done and the elections a few days away, a sweet sense of calm seems to be breezing through... and i am so thankful for it. whichever way the elections go, at least the anticipation and pressure will be off and we can all get back to our daily lives, work for the change we want to see in the world, and minimize the divide that separates us during election years. i'm sick of all the barking and brow-beating. it seems people forget how to practice effective communication skills in times like these, and forget how to practice active listening skills as well. there doesn't seem to be many spaces for actual attentive and intelligent discussion right now and it's terribly disappointing and draining.

but on the upside of things, i discovered the fatal flaw in my artist statement and now i know exactly what needs to be fixed! woohoo! i'd been referring to the edited book pages and drawn documents as "classified documents" when, in reality, what they are commonly referred to are "sanitized" or "redacted" documents! how i was unaware of this being that i watch so many shows and documentaries about serial killers is beyond me but was, nevertheless, a complete EUREKA moment, let me tell ya! and now, having the concept of sanitizing (and all that that word conjures and connotes) widens my practice is such a wonderfully inclusive and thoughtful way! the concepts of purity and cleanliness are so appropriate to what i've been trying to get at in this body of work! i'm so excited and inspired and ready to work even harder to really make the work shine and speak.