I'm feeling torn between prepping for my holiday sale, cleaning my very neglected house, or working in the garden on these glorious (and surprisingly warm) November days. Productive procrastination, anyone?
Last week, we traveled to see friends in Bentonville, Arkansas and visit Crystal Bridges Art Museum. (It's spectacular!) I had forgotten about the late fall days of rain and chill in the Midwest. The grey skies and damp weather were a novelty; we spent several days in the museum, then went antiquing one particularly rainy day. One misty afternoon we hiked the trails around the museum and were exhilarated by the damp, deciduous forest.
On our road trip, we listened to Ezra Klein's interview with Brian Eno. So interesting to hear Eno's thoughts about the creative process. I want to listen again and take notes!
We also listened to Katy Hessel's interview with the photographer Sally Mann on her podcast The Great Women Artists.(Highly recommend!) I read Mann's book, Hold Still a few years ago and just finished her newest book, Art Work: On the Creative Life. Both are excellent reads, full of good stories and I promise you'll come away with a better vocabulary. (I recommend reading with a dictionary nearby!)
*Photo: Along the Ojo Caliente River
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On our way home, we drove through Oklahoma City where my friend Ayanna Najuma lives, and met her for lunch. Though we've spent a lot of hours on the phone, we'd never met in person. She is a delight, as I knew she would be, curious, and rather a force of nature. Two days after our lunch, Najuma and other "sit-inners" were honored at the unveiling of a bronze sculpture in Clara Luper National Sit-in Plaza in Oklahoma City, a memorial to the Katz Drug lunch counter sit-in. In 1958, Najuma, others from the Oklahoma City Youth Council and Luper, their advisor, held one of the first sit-ins in the U.S. protesting racial segregation; their action sparked similar protests around the country, including the Greensboro, North Carolina lunch counter sit-in. Learn more about the sit-in here.
I've written about this in previous newsletters, but in case you missed it, I met Najuma when she, after seeing the piece on my website about her from my Regarding Privilege exhibit in 2023, emailed, asking me to call her. I picked up the phone right away and made that call!
I imagine that small girl, only seven years old, sitting with her friends at a lunch counter where she wasn't welcome, asking for a hamburger and a Coke. Those children sat at that counter and were served on the third day; their seemingly small act sparked a significant outcome that inspired more actions across the segregated southern U.S.
Were they afraid? I wonder, and plan to ask Ayanna if she can remember how it felt. In my own life, I've been trying to counter any fear or anxiety that comes up for me with curiosity. What will happen next? Am I really in danger? What is triggering this feeling for me? Curiosity (pardon my verb) trumps fear and seems like a better way to move through this world.
Photo: Ayanna Najuma poses with her likeness in the Clara Luper National Sit-in Plaza in Oklahoma City.
