One of the main principles of "The Artist's Way" is synchronicity - that mysterious and miraculous intertwining of events. I've found it true in my own life an uncountable number of times. That's why I wasn't surprised when, after making a New Year's Resolution to learn at least one new thing a day, a friend gave me the book, "I Dare Me." It's a challenge to DO one new thing a day. That ups the ante.
Upping the ante. Let's use that as an example - the Spanish word ante means before. So you raise the bets before a game of poker starts - a forced bet for higher stakes.
Okay. So far I've learned it's easier to learn something new each day than do something new each day. I have to admit I love the ease with which we can find out anything we want to know in this technological era. I heard a quote once that we have the wealth of human knowledge available in our pockets, and we use it to watch cat videos and argue about politics. We need to be more than that. We need to be grateful for the resources at our grasp.
So far my goal has been an amalgam (a mixture or blend), but I'm dedicated. Do you know how long it takes to jot down 1-365 in a small, shiny blue notebook? I can tell you it covers 15 pages of imposing yet exciting possibilities.
Examples thus far:
1. Eat at the Melting Pot - It was simple yet fascinating to sit down at a table with a hot eye and shiny silver pot in the center, then see the mixtures of rich cheeses and wines and broths appear before you. There are four courses, all in manageable sizes. Cheese and bread/fruit/vegetables start the feast; salad of choice appears next; then, heady broth with vegetables into which you drop your skewers of chosen tender meats to cook yourself, given the proper amount of time. Then comes dessert! We chose a pot of dark chocolate with sea salt, and the smorgasbord of fruit, cake, marshmallows, Rice Krispy tasties thrilled us like school children.
2. In progress: Read all the biographies in the young adult section of the library. I started this when I was a child, but the prickly library staff was so akin to the Gestapo that I vowed never to darken the doorway again. With a new staff, I've picked up the quest again, and am tearing through the books with childish gusto and zeal.
Louis Braille - whose grave I'd seen in the Pantheon in Paris this summer - died so disappointed that his system of writing for the blind hadn't been adopted made me wonder if his interment in the hallowed structured had come later. Indeed it had - his re-interment had been attended by Helen Keller herself.
Guiseppe Verdi - did you know that in addition to being a prodigious musician, he was an amazing philanthropist?
Others so far - Louis Armstrong, Crispus Attucks, Jim Bridger, Noah Webster, Lew Wallace, Harry Truman, Queen Victoria...
3. Listen to Les Eolides, music inspired by poetry:
http://classicalwcrb.org/post/music-inspired-poetry-les-eolides#stream/0 It's about the winds, from Greek mythology.
4. Learn music theory - this is the part of childhood piano lessons I "tuned out." Also doing all those awful finger exercises.
5. Speaking of music - the difference between a Sonata and a Sonatina.
"A sonatina is literally a small sonata. As a musical term, sonatina has no single strict definition; it is rather a title applied by the composer to a piece that is in basic sonata form, but is shorter and lighter in character, or technically more elementary, than a typical sonata." I'll leave the Sonatas to Rhonda.
6. Learn about Marie Bashkirtseff - a woman artist who broke the rules of Victorian culture by getting out and wandering about Paris - a "flaneuse." She captured scenes of every day life, even including a single girl walking by herself - or not? - in her painting, The Meeting. The girl is on the edge the painting and it's impossible to tell if someone is beside her.
There are many more ideas and thoughts to come! Some days I'll have a set goal. Some days will be an exciting adventure. But it's nice to have something to feel eager about for the new year.
