hard sweet hard

my funny valentine

2009-02-16T12:03:00.000-08:00

From New Orleans to Hopedale
37 mile walk and two water crossings
14-15 February 2009

posting some of the photos
more to come

view photos on Facebook

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From New Orleans to Hopedale

2009-02-15T22:38:00.000-08:00

From New Orleans to Hopedale
37+ miles and two water crossings
14-15 February 2009

Orleans and St Bernard Parishes, Louisiana

++++++++++

with special thanks to all at A Studio in the Woods :
. Lucianne & Joe Carmichael
. Ama Rogan
. Cammie Hill-Prewitt
. Anne Mueller
. Dave Baker

Monique Verdin
Mollie Day

Selina & Joe Gonzalez
Matine and Xavier Verdin
Capt Mike Williams
Ken Wells

Bob Turner, Southeast Louisiana Flood Protection Authority-East
Stevan Spencer, Orleans Levee Board
Lake Borgne Basin Levee Board
Chris Gilmore, US Army Corps of Engineers

Randy Boudreaux, Southern Scrap Recycling

Bayou Bienvenue Flood Gate Operator :
Mark Theard, Orleans Levee District

Bayou Dupree Flood Gate Operator :
Captain Russell S Gelvin, Jr., Lake Borgne Basin Levee District

Supervisor, Pumping Station :
Peter S. Bauer, Lake Borgne Basin Levee District

Jan Gilbert
Dawn M. Barrios
Ryan Prewitt

the porpoise of MRGO
that donkey on the levee
the snake that didn't strike me
and the coyotes of Hopedale

and all the folks who came to Open Studio

thank you.
anne

curb appeal

2009-01-08T13:57:00.000-08:00

packing tape everywhere

2009-01-06T12:13:00.000-08:00

rolling up papyrus and shipping to New Orleans

c-r-u-n-c-h

2009-01-05T16:59:00.001-08:00

things sure are busy here with just a few days before departure.

what the Helen of Troy was that about?

2009-01-03T02:44:00.000-08:00

letter to New Orleans musician Trombone Shorty
aka Troy Andrews.

hello Troy,

I read about you in some of my recent research for coming to New Orleans.

I am coming to make some new walking works as part of an art residency with Tulane University. I read your walking piece/article in a newspaper -- would you be interested in taking a walk and showing me some of your neighborhoods?

Sorry I will miss your upcoming SF performance dates but I hope to see you in New Orleans. I am a San Francisco artist & I work with many musicians on the project Rock & Roar.

Well I cannot seem to get your email address from your band website (was up the other week but not tonight).

If you want to talk or take a walk as part of my new art project with Tulane Univ, please give me a call or email.

Happy New Year!
Anne Devine

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that's suitcase not baggage

2009-01-01T01:20:00.000-08:00

01:20 AM 01 Jan 09

2009

Happy New Year Mom

I wheeled my suitcase full of art goodies out the door at 11:59 PM so we were walking with suitcase from 2008-into-2009 this year; emphasis on art + communication, with walking as a given now.

See you in New Orleans!!
Happy New Year to US

Love
Anne

fly me to the moon

2008-12-17T02:57:00.000-08:00

Please consult your welcome packet in regards to Community Involvement and Meeting Artists and let us know if there are any New Orleans artists or other community members that you would like to meet during your residency, and if so, who?

01. Henri Schindler, Creative Director, Rex ; co-founder: Society de Ste Anne (walking club)
02. Ersy (Schwartz), bronze sculptor: “Hommage to Society Of Ste. Anne”. Arthur Roger Gallery, Ogden, NOCCA
03. members of the US Coast Guard, New Orleans esp if I can walk on neighboring USCG property
04. neighbors: Audubon Nature Institute, Endangered Species Research Center, Dr Betsy Dresser
05. people who are building designing re-designing, planning visioning changes in New Orleans area … ? possible interest: John Hoal, architect - H3 Studio, Unified New Orleans Plan or maybe not as literal as that --- could be natural or man-made, grand scale or small scale
06. anyone who wants to talk about MRGO !! (individuals, US Army Corps of Engineers, conservationists, pilots, researchers, ANY TULANE people, etc)
07. anyone with a boat who wants to go on Mississippi River or MRGO or in a swamp/bayou
08. people who want to walk
09. residents of Hopedale, LA
10. absolutely open to suggestions, surprises, serendipity !

is this you ??
do you know ?

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the postman always rings twice

2008-12-07T13:53:00.000-08:00

In the preface to Double Indemnity, author James M. Cain recounts how he showed the manuscript of The Postman Always Rings Twice to screenwriter Vincent Lawrence, and continues:

Lawrence liked it, and even gave me a title for it. We were talking one day, about the time he had mailed a play, his first, to a producer. Then, he said, "I almost went nuts. I'd sit and watch for the postman, and then I'd think, 'You got to cut this out,' and then when I left the window I'd be listening for his ring. How I'd know it was the postman was that he'd always ring twice."

He went on with more of the harrowing tale, but I cut in on him suddenly. I said: "Vincent, I think you've given me a title for that book."
"What's that?"
"The Postman Always Rings Twice."
"Say, he rang twice for Chambers, didn't he?"
"That's the idea."
"And on that second ring, Chambers had to answer, didn't he? Couldn't hide out in the backyard any more."
"His number was up, I'd say."
"I like it."
"Then, that's it."
-

this little wild bouquet

2008-11-19T22:13:00.001-08:00

still holding up this little wild bouquet

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by the light of day

2008-11-16T23:30:00.000-08:00

The following information is provided for
Hopedale, St Bernard Parish, Louisiana
(longitude W 89.1°, latitude N 29.1°):

 Saturday 14 February 2009
  Central Standard Time
 SUN 
Begin civil twilight       6:12 a.m.                  
Sunrise                    6:36 a.m.
Sun transit               12:11 p.m.
Sunset                     5:46 p.m.                  
End civil twilight         6:10 p.m.
 MOON 
Moonrise on preceding day 10:14 p.m.
Moon transit               3:52 a.m.
Moonset                    9:24 a.m.
Moonrise                  11:14 p.m.
Moonset on following day  10:00 a.m.

Phase of the Moon on 14 February:
waning gibbous with 71% of the Moon's visible disk illuminated.
Last quarter Moon on 16 February 2009 at 3:38 p.m. Central Standard Time.

source: http://aa.usno.navy.mil/cgi-bin/aa_pap.pl
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the gift keeps moving

2008-11-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

Gift economies, as Mauss defines them, are marked by circulation and connectivity: goods have value only insofar as they are treated as gifts, and gifts can remain gifts only if they are continually given away. This results in a kind of engine of community cohesion, in which objects create social, psychological, emotional and spiritual bonds as they pass from hand to hand.

map of walk : New Orleans to Hopedale

2008-11-14T12:50:00.000-08:00

here is the interactive map of the walk:
From New Orleans to Hopedale

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/walk/united-states/la/-new-orleans/277883242360"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;From New Orleans to Hopedale (satellite view)&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.mapmywalk.com/find-walk/united-states/la/-new-orleans"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Find more Walks in New Orleans, Louisiana&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

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karmic seeds

2008-11-07T10:35:00.000-08:00

A very good and succinct explanation by Geshe Tashi Tsering in his book The Buddha's Medicine for the Mind: Cultivating Wisdom and Compassion:

"Intention is the most important of all mental events because it gives direction to the mind, determining whether we engage with virtuous, non-virtuous, or neutral objects. Just as iron is powerlessly drawn to a magnet, our minds are powerlessly drawn to the object of our intentions.

An intention is a mental action; it may be expressed through either physical or verbal actions. Thus, action, or karma, is of two types: the action of intention and the intended action. The action of intention is the thought or impulse to engage in a physical or verbal act. The intended action is the physical or verbal expression of our intention. Karma actually refers to the action of intention but in general usage it includes the intended action and the seeds that are left in the mind as a result.

How do we accumulate karmic seeds? Every physical and verbal action is preceded by mental activity. Goodwill motivates a kind gesture; ill will motivates nasty words. Ill will is the intention to cause mental, emotional or physical harm. Thus, before and during a bad action, ill will is present in our mind. The presence of ill will before and during this act has an impact and influence on the mind due to which a certain potential is left behind. This potential is a karmic seed, a seed planted in our mind by physical, verbal or mental action. The strength or depth of this seed is determined by a number of factors, including how strong our intention is, whether we clearly understand what we are doing, whether we act on our intention and whether the physical and verbal action is completed.

Seeds will remain in the mind until they ripen or are destroyed. Seeds left by negative mental events and actions can be destroyed by the four opponent or antidotal powers. The most important of these four powers are regret for the negative act and a firm resolve not to act that way again in the future. Seeds left by positive mental events and actions can be destroyed by anger.

Even if we do not act on a negative intention, a karmic seed of diminished potency is still left in the mind. This incompleted seed is easier to remove. If it is not destroyed, a negative seed will eventually produce an unpleasant and negative effect while a postive seed will produce a pleasant and positive effect. Karmic seeds do not go to waste even after one hundred aeons. They will come to fruition when the time comes and the conditions assemble.

Actions motivated by the wish to attain Buddhahood for the benefit of all sentient beings and dedicated to that end have a special feature. The positive effects of such an act will be experienced many times over without being exhausted. For this reason, virtue dedicated to complete enlightenment is likened to a magnificent tree that bears fruit every season without fail. Such virtues will bear fruit until Buddhahood is attained."

bardo

2008-11-07T09:48:00.000-08:00

The Tibetan word Bardo means literally "intermediate state" - also translated as "transitional state" or "in-between state" or "liminal state".

In the West, the term bardo may also refer to times when our usual way of life becomes suspended, as, for example, when we are on retreat. Such times can prove fruitful for spiritual progress, as external constraints diminish, although they offer challenges because our unskillful impulses can come to the fore, just as in the sidpa bardo.

journey in the night

2008-11-02T01:01:00.000-07:00

when all saints day
became Día de los Muertos
we sat together again
in the place where memory lives on

-

retreat into forest

2008-11-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

After tiring of the feuding monks of Kosambi, the Buddha left to spend a year in the forest with no monks or lay people in attendance, The elephant known as Palilayaka cleared a path to a hidden cave and brought him fresh fruits every day. A monkey also attended the Buddha, bringing him his most valued posession, a honeycomb.

When Buddha departed to return to Kosambi, Palilayaka attempted to follow him into the forest. The Buddha warned him, "From here on is the territory of men and a great danger to animals such as you." Palilayaka stood and roared with grief. As soon as the Buddha was out of sight, his heart broke and he died right where he stood.

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i went out for you today

2008-10-31T04:19:00.000-07:00

I went out for you today, to the beach. not the beach where I held the wet stranger in the silence before the helicopter. no, not that one. I went to the one where I practiced cartwheels in the sand, one after another, as the dog barked and someone collected heart-shaped rocks.

I walk eyes shut today and listen.

I am listening for you today.

booming waves, low and wild, paired with crisp crunch of footfall.
the ocean rips, spray rises, foam erupting
fizzing as it races up the tideline.
in the shallows: clap, slap, slop.
ascending, descending, disappearing.

today another dog runs across my track,
skidding eight paces in the sand.
I go back and measure later.

I count curious pinholes in patterns still remaining,
more visible after the sun sinks, when shadows set.

I try to make a perfect impression.

the day you were listening for me:

it is not my time, I said to you
just the thought of it calmed me
as I watched the car spiral into the air
graceful yet struggling, like a fish fighting on the line

today is not my day I said to you,
as twisted metal slid in front of me
and I drove through it, heart pounding.

it was a brutal 90 degrees up there at the cemetery that afternoon
sweat beading down my spine as I ordered the two headstones
and walked the grid alone. Halloween. how goth, I joked later.

you were there, almost a stranger
but not quite

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the journey of a letter (two)

2008-10-27T10:08:00.000-07:00

27 October 2008

Dear Peter,

I know that you are very very tired now. Maybe too tired to read, so you & Sally are together and she is reading this aloud to you. You know how much I love you two, my dear friends, and I wish I could be there right now to spend time with you – to be present, with compassion and love, to keep you company & to be together. You are always in my heart Peter. That may sound corny but it is true! Maybe because I live so far away I always carry this lifetime of experiences, moments, memories with me – so for us it is folk mass (long ago), catching up in the driveway, sitting at the kitchen table, walking our dogs, the hole in the hedge between our houses --- the little moments, the Big moments. I kept the wrapper from the Stollen cake you brought me last Christmas – here – wrapping your letter- because it makes me smile – you make me smile Peter! Thank you for being my friend – I cherish our friendship always.

I found something recently while walking the dog at Half Moon Bay – the beach we walked when you came to visit – yes in August I was walking and when I came up from the beach I stopped with the dog to take my shoe off & dump the sand out. When I leaned on the fence post to stabilize myself, I saw this stone cross inside the fence post – someone left it there. I don’t always know why I find things but I CAN recognize their significance – things stick out to me and sometimes they really do STICK OUT, as in this case! I thought you might like to have it now you know the story and how it reminds me of you, of us, of our walk there – our day together. The stone – I forget what kind it is – it as a nice feel to it and a little weight, feels good in the hand, if you hold it.

I have enclosed some photos from my Florida walk in April – when I jumped out of a plane & walked 24 miles by myself in the dark on the Canaveral National Seashore. It was grueling, exhausting, difficult, and at the same time, enlightening. When I was really really tired and maybe a bit concerned about being washed away to sea or stopping and not getting up all by myself, I found a letter on the small strip of beach, at my feet while walking, it was tied to a balloon and the wind carried it hundreds of miles then it washed up on the shore at my feet, and I found it in the dark! It made me so happy to know there was communication from a stranger, that this synchronicity happened. I was so tired I could not break the plastic string to open the letter while I was walking in the night but I tied the balloon to my backpack and it knocked around keeping my company. Also, the moon was near full and cast my shadow ahead of me in the sand as I walked. I could now see the shadow of the balloon cast in front of me as well – it really cheered me up and I didn’t feel so alone on my exhausting journey.

I hope this letter cheers you up like the one I found on the beach – and like the balloon I may not be in your direct line of sight but you know I’m with you wherever your journey takes you.

I love you very much Peter – I know you know that!

I will be home Friday ----

Love
Always,
Anne

the journey of a letter (one)

2008-10-23T13:09:00.000-07:00

2 letters remain unopened.... I have found they deserve travel, a long journey where they can be read and reread for pure delight. I soon head to Oaxaca by bus, 20 hours of bus-ride, for the Day of the Dead. I shall sit in some little cemetery, in some little pueblo, festooned with orange garlands, and sip a white mezcal--like those beneath the gravestones before me had-- and read the handwritten pages ...

gracias,
J.
-

i can't spell carriage. C-A-R-R-I-A-G-E.

2008-10-22T02:18:00.000-07:00

hopping a flight
i'll be home Friday

THINKING OF YOU
Sally & Peter
WITH LOVE
ALWAYS
anne

kit kats
sugar daddys
candy corn
trick or treat
milk duds
butter fingers
whoH i ate too much candy

I WIN I WIN I WIN I WIN I WIN I WIN
is this a fight? no its a ritual
do you have something to say? i didn't hear you
don't forget to vote. oh, i won't forget to vote

once there were 4 BREAGYs
i met their dad in the 80s
we all went camping in the Catskills & slept in tents
however i haven't seen the BREAGYs since ...

- new hampshire
--- new hampshire
----- new hampshire
. . . . . is that like camping every night ?

are you guys soccer champs ruling the field from yr new roost up there in the NORTH. hey you can learn to drive in a field in a farm truck that's fun. How tall are you and what year in school are you? we went camping and Jack brought me espresso to my tent. wow. now you guys probably DRINK COFFEE because that was years ago. you liked my dog BLUE, she had one blue eye. i think we wore flannel shirts. and chopped wood? I hope you have lots of TREES now. i am going to live in a forest for 6 WKS. i walk a lot. i miss you BREAGYs.
i can't spell carriage. C-A-R-R-I-A-G-E.

love, anne

---

this is the breath, this is the kiss

2008-10-21T01:22:00.000-07:00

who knew there is a kissing bug ? nocturnal, of course. bites you on the face, hence the nickname : Kissing Bug.

could be around at A Studio in the Woods and it carries some kind of bad parasite you might end up rubbing into your eye. they sent me a disturbing "alert" today, along with other administrative paperwork. quite prevalent as Chagas disease in other continents.
--

trick or treat

2008-10-20T01:52:00.000-07:00

my friend is very ill, i buy a ticket to go back home.

my eyes weary as i drive, i realize this will be our last time together.

is it harder to say goodbye for the last time
when you know it is the last time,
when the person is still there,
and you do the leaving.

i don't want to write these words

my little niece will be a fairy, we will go trick or treating.

-

oh what a night

2008-10-17T23:32:00.000-07:00

the US Census Bureau phoned to clarify my information, about 15 minutes on the phone haggling over my answers to the recent Census forms mailed to my house. after, a call from my sister, we chat.

when my delays bring me to the Warfield, the Kings of Leon are already on stage. They are two songs in.

rustling up a beer is not so easy under the new regime. frustrating, in fact. eventually at a third bar i get a cold one poured into plastic cup and turn back into the crowd of young sweaty hipsters. an absurd exchange occurs with some dude who basically tells me i'm too tall when i step into an empty space on the floor. this is a public space and we all have general admission tickets, i remind him. we have been here all night, he says, and you are in my friend's way. i turn all the way around mid-song and behind me is a 5'2" girl. you must be joking, i think to myself. he keeps on yammering throughout the song about how i should "duck". there are two or three rows of equally tall people standing in front of ME. what i really want to say is : GET SOME PLATFORM SHOES AND BUCK UP. i won't be here long.

this is the new generation. they feel entitled.

in my whole life, an exchange like that has never happened to me. i have been to hundreds of shows in all kinds of venues. sometimes, three concerts in three different venues all in one night. slammed to the ground in mosh pits & come up with no eyeglasses to sitting pretty in the balcony at Carnegie Hall and hearing an orchestra patron fold their eyeglasses into jacket pocket in the third row.

i am a roamer. i travel solo. i move about the house, mingling in the crowd, watching and listening from many perspectives. i'm on the balcony, i'm in the parking lot, i'm at the bar, i'm in the crush, i'm in the fray. i like the mixing, the movement. it is live. this is THE SHOW.

[back to the show]

seeking sweet sound i find a prime location on the back of the second tier, along the tier wall, looking out over the sound board to center stage and offering a fine panorama of the house. it doesn't hurt that a particularly choice eye candy comes with it a few inches away, and with a momentary nod in the dark i am now hip-to-hip with my fine neighbor.

absorbing this guy's pheromones, i have an air of calm finally. my hair floats behind me and using my boots along the back of the wall i hike myself up another twelve inches higher and hang steady with elbows. i close my eyes and listen. this is rock and roll.

now i can draw this, in the dark.
they fill this space, these Kings of Leon.

on behalf of KoL, Caleb dedicates a song to us, the audience.
if we can do it justice, he says if i recall correctly. it is: cold desert.

special (ones walk on) without sound
i've always been known to cross lines

this is why i came here. for this very moment, this flow of musical communion. it is rather unexpected, the intensity i feel personally. i am drawn in, the pull of night. we share this, me and these kings of leon. i could be walking alone under meteor shower in a state of exhausted delirium. i am surrounded by people and the crowd is talking an audible chatter over this quiet song until it builds to a rousing finale they can shake their fists at.

my second drawing is made closer to stage, off to the right. a staff guy comes over and momentarily shines his flashlight on my book as i draw in the dark. damn, i pulled a blue pen not a black one. not noticed in the dark. i continue on with the drawing all the same.

ponying over to the bar for a last beer, I pull out only a few singles from my wallet; panic look, no wad of $20s from the ATM. all pockets turn up no cash. i curse my unfortunate philanthropic freefall onto the floor of the Warfield, which makes tonight an expensive public foray: almost $200 for a little over an hour.

Kings of Leon finish up and the house lights come up.
the Warfield is not quite the familiar place it once was for me.

at home shortly thereafter, a quick dig in my wallet left here on the kitchen counter turns up my ATM pull. not so expensive after all. i am curled up with the dog watching a movie by 11:30 PM. on a show night. hmm, the times, they are a changing. i guess i am okay with that.

---

Releaser pheromones

Releaser pheromones are powerful attractant molecules that some organisms may use to attract mates from a distance of two miles or more. This type of pheromone generally elicits a rapid response but is quickly degraded. In contrast, a primer pheromone has a slower onset and a longer duration.

Primer pheromones

Primer pheromones trigger a change of developmental events.

Territorial pheromones

Laid down in the environment, territorial pheromones mark the boundaries of an organism's territory. In dogs, these hormones are present in the urine, which they deposit on landmarks serving to mark the perimeter of the claimed territory.

Trail pheromones

Trail pheromones are common in social insects. For example, ants mark their paths with these pheromones, which are non-volatile hydrocarbons. Certain ants lay down an initial trail of pheromones as they return to the nest with food. This trail attracts other ants and serves as a guide. As long as the food source remains, the pheromone trail will be continually renewed. The pheromone must be continually renewed because it evaporates quickly. When the supply begins to dwindle, the trailmaking ceases.

the same direction

2008-10-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Polarities

You will probably encounter tension today between your personal needs and your public and professional duties. You may feel that you are being pulled in two different directions that are almost impossible to pursue simultaneously. Events that happen today emphasize the polarity in your life, so that you have to distinguish continually between "myself" and "them," subjective and objective, conscious intention and unconscious impulses, public and private. At its worst, this influence can be quite difficult, and you may feel as though everything were breaking down. It all depends upon how much you have de-emphasized emotion and feeling in favor of rational intellect. On the other hand, if your feelings and your conscious intentions have taken the same direction, this can also be a day of high energy and achievement.