You may think from the title that I am going to go down Hedges' path of pointing out all the ways our diverted attention from real issues hurts us as individuals and a society. But this is going to be a celebration and recommendation.
First, one quick side note: The past few months I've been giving the media a lot less attention. Especially cable news stations where they have 24 hours to fill and sometimes have no real facts and so often fill time with "expert" commentators and wild speculation (think flight MH370). Yesterday I turned it on in anticipation of writing this post and the topics were: the mess in Iraq, the new I-phone, Hillary as a candidate. Isn't that what they were last year? And the year before? And the year before? My new approach to news is to gather facts, not opinions, and then read some in depth book on topics of interest. Of course the challenge is to be informed enough to have a discussion yet not gorged on irrelevant or misguided information. I'll let you know how it goes.
On to today's topic!
When I was a kid and school started back up we always had to write a What I Did On My Summer Vacation essay. Now I think those poor teachers were so depressed that their vacations were over that this was about all they could muster up on the first day. What if we did that again? Only it's going to be What to DO on Your Summer Vacation. Here are my first 3:
Visit your local art museum. Predictable from a docent, I know. But even people who don't care about art will benefit from exposure to beautiful works of art. No art knowledge necessary! You don't have to know who painted it or what style it is, or anything else. My favorite tour technique is to just have people look at a work of art and tell me what they think is going on and how it makes them feel. You don't need a guide for that. Artists, especially contemporary ones, want you to connect with their work on an emotional level. Anyone can do that. One upside of going in summer is that you aren't going to be in crowded galleries with classes of excited school children. Most museums nowadays have fabulous restaurants and gift shops. Plus it's the coldest place in town, in order to protect the art and museums generally have times during the week when they are free (AKA "pay what you can"). Exhibitions change frequently so even if you've been before it will be a different experience when you go back. Here's what's happening at our museum this summer: Meet Marisol.
Make some art: My coffee group has evolved from Starbucks and freewheeling discussion to green tea (wine if we meet at night) and Zen Tangles. When we meet at our friend's house who is an artist and has a studio with an amazing vibe we chat for the first hour or so, go over the day's new patterns, and then work on our tangles (generally for a little over an hour) in complete silence. We don't mean to do that, and sometimes someone has a question or comment, but this form of meditative drawing is calming and relaxing even in a social setting. After we're finished we compare and are quite impressed with ourselves! Again, as with enjoying a museum there is no knowledge or skill necessary beforehand. The tangle above of the bee is just a practice page and is a bit more deliberate than usual.
Learn a new skill: I'm taking a one day photography class next month and I'm about to take up knitting which has been on my bucket list forever. I have had trouble finding a class or someone to teach me (there's that introvert thing) but last week a Zen Tangle friend's daughter who just graduated from college asked me if I would teach her about beekeeping. In return she will teach me to knit. The second part of this one could be trade a skill with someone. Anything counts! Knowledge about a particular subject, gardening, sewing, carpentry, welding (on my list), drawing, refinishing furniture, the list is endless! And then no one can say you "don't have any skills." ;)
Okay, Prof, what are your favorite summer diversions?
No comments:
Post a Comment