That's it for 2015!

Each cycle is a transition... and life is a series of cycles... birth, growth, expansion, contraction, transition... and repeat...

Here's an oldie but goodie:
"Reflections on the Reef"
from Tobacco Caye
back in 1998...

Thinking about that possibility of a multiverse - not the TV or satellite or gaming cube... but the mathematical, astrophysical, scientific concept of infinite universes...

Kinda makes sense, logically. And really puts a focus on how much our actions, choices and impacts really boil down to:  what is it that is so important to me that I can make no other decision other than to take this path right here.

Subjective, yes perhaps.  Lacking critical analysis... maybe.  Considered rebellious by the mainstream population... most likely.  But if we are careful to include continual critical analysis in our daily life habits, then the points at which we have the opportunity to take action will necessarily reflect an ongoing critical perspective.

Wellness is a state of balance that is constantly in motion... wobbling, either perceptively or not, between the range of possible extremes.

And so, we vow to continue on... and jump in to another cycle, with reverie, resoultions and respect for our own self discovery as individuals in relationship with families, communities, organizations and other individuals all over this beautiful land and infinite interspace...


Tara's Year in Review

Cheers!

The Season....

Photo credit: Jeff Holmes

It is upon us again... that time of year that comes with the official end and beginning of all things transformative in the subtropical paradise we know as south eastern Florida. Folks from the mid latitudes tend to think of this place as the South... little do they realize that perched on the edge of this peninsula... the trading happens in over 60 languages, across all seven continents, and if they were to look at their own achievement, health and equity gaps... they'd realize that the North is way more southern than south eastern Florida.

Photo credit: Yours truly

Nope we're more of a portal. The northern most tropical port in an interconnected continental divide that is rooted in 100,000 years of genetic memory carrying biological migration patterns that awaken in us like hormones in the endocrine system of a healthy young 12 year old. Like the karst and marine atoll topography thirstily absorbing minerals flowing south through the rivers, rivers of grass filtering out nitrogen, bringing in the memories of an ancient and distant volcano... if we sit for a moment and ponder... we realize we will never forget. Who we are. Who's come by. How we are related. What we must do.

Like every ant, beetle and spider, our ever so humble task:
Pass the torch. Continue the spark. Remember. Understand. Learn. Keep going.

No matter what, keep going.

So that is what we must do.

That is what we will do.

What I will do.

Keep going.

Photo credit: Adrienne Chadwick

Open hearts

Hard to believe a month has gone by... I'm gonna start out on a brave note, with a little bit of stream of consciousness writing again... vulnerability...

Well the thing is, it's becoming so clear how in sharing our stories, those most personal of feelings, the ones we sometimes find difficult or uncomfortable sharing with others, are the very ones that bring us such profound healing and connectivity... it's in those most special and meaningful spaces that we find the healing, the truth, the things that allow us to see ourselves in each other...

And those are the elements of true community building... the lasting stuff that relationships are built on, those kinds of bonds that are strong, lasting and as flexible as a spider web in a storm.

So much seems to be happening right now in the micro and macrocosm world around us, sometimes it feels difficult to keep up with all the changes that are happening. And yet all that change produces relatively little difference in the big picture, in the long term.

One of the interesting parts of living in a diverse urban area is that if or when one encounters the opportunity to share stories between cultures, the roots of many of our historical and contemporary experiences reveal uncanny likeness in experience and impact.

This month I was honored to work with the Broward County Public School Board on an intensely impactful art project encouraging anonymous personal reflections around the process of achieving equity in diversity.  A magnificent question for our particular geographic and demographic locale where no majority cultural, ethnic or racial group exists... here in the present, we are a reflection of the future.

It was so beautiful and also jarring to see a snapshot of what our educators and administrators may not be able or willing to share verbally as a matter of daily or even periodic conversation.  They were deeply personal "thought selfies" with identifying characteristics absent.

TRUTH.  FREEDOM. EQUITY.  In Action.

The process of co-facilitating the collaborative creation of the thought-quilt was quite spectacular in itself. The practice of engaging in art making, placing one's thoughts into action, the bravery of stating one's truth... each was incredibly varied in the approach, the level of comfort, and the amount of time each collaborator was willing to invest - if even they invested at all.

The end results of the collaborative work...well - the results in-process, or to-date... speak for themselves in attesting to the beauty, integrity and strength that is possible when we are able to share willingly, with our hearts open....

Florida Fall

Just a little stream of consciousness blogging this time - it's my birthday month after all! And that beautiful time of year when I get to enjoy avocados from the tree so generously planted by my mother in our almost non-existant back yard! It's amazing what you can grow, even with very little space.  The eggplants that sewed from seed at the start of summer have blossomed all month, but not a single fruit.  The leaves are beauties though - not sure why no one has them as houseplants! Maybe they're like squash and it takes a human touch to ensure pollination...

So many thoughts, so little time. One of the most exciting highlights of the month was seeing the bald eagle again across the street. Signs of hope. Hopefully. And of course knowing that we've entered a new era, according to the count of the moon. New is always good, at least if it's all natural - by the way, it may not be actually, if there's a label involved....

Okay, so now that I'm feeling all shy and embarrassed for providing a short glimpse into the raw, unedited mind of me... I'll close for now... Enjoy the beauty of the season!

Bawshkeengwabigun.

Full circle, once again

This is me at Lovitt's Point, a half-acre park at the edge of the Scarborough Bluffs donated by Mr. and Mrs. Lovitt after their 1940's post-WWII home "went over."  I had no idea these trees were so little back then.  The Point, as it came to be known, was my forest, my solace, my destination.  This was the wilderness I could access on my own, even when as a youngling, my freedom to wander was limited.  The Point was my static datum point from which I observed the changes and cycles of nature.  It was the place from which I developed and processed my ever-changing self-realization.  It remains the place to which I am forever connected as the geographic point on the surface of our Mother Earth from which my own mother opened her doorway of life for the first time, and allowed me a safe passage here to the realm of the living.

It was here that I watched the moon rise and set. Here that I witnessed the monarchs roost. And here that I learned I could climb whatever mountain I choose with careful planning, balance and strategy.  The black-eyed susans and milkweed flowers that filled the summer fields with sweetness and beauty are some of the very same species that belong here, at this very southern most tip of our North Eastern seabord. Not surprising since our bird relatives make their way back and forth along their natural fly ways.  I do miss seeing those beautiful warrior hummers and that field full of honey-scented milkweed, buzzing with bees and red with lady bugs by day; dotted with fireflies by night.


This week, though, we saw the bald eagle again, fishing at the restored Miramar Pinelands Lake.  Now this is my forest. My wilderness. My place to walk and process and plan the next phases of my life. This beautifully restored ecosystem, billions of years in the making, so I could walk through and introduce my little one to his first memorable glimpse of our country's emblem and protector.

Seasons and cycles are ever changing, but some things will always remain.

Assigning Value

Jam-packed, chaos-filled building from the ground up...

Making something from nothing on two very different projects; both unexpectedly challenged my own internal assumptions about value.  Particularly, negotiating that delicate balance between self assessment and the expectations of others.

So many factors come into play! Self esteem, self worth, the racism, sexism and classism that we know influences the value the others assign to our work, and which we ourselves have also internalized.

It is such an act of will and bravery to even attempt to proceed through these murky waters, fraught with emotional reaction to these points of lifelong sensitivity!

Perhaps it's just easier to let others assign their value and just go with that...

But no, not for me... I had to be the child of a rebel mom - challenging every possible notion of mediocrity, status-quo and assumptions wherever possible.

And so, I inherited the obligation to continually learn how to stand up for myself... to be proud of who I am... and to teach the value of what I do... the value of what we all do, when we bring our whole, complete selves to the table.


Our future is inextricably linked to our past and sharing with each other who we are is not only valuable but invaluable to the success of our collective future.

 

Time for everything

Everything is relative.

Time and space as we know them have such special and interesting qualities when we look at them from the perspective of human memory, will and intention.

Timing is everything.

Chronology, the sequential count of units of measurement, is only one of the many characteristics that compose the observable concept of time.  While this chronological sequence may represent points along a line, that line does not necessarily present itself in a linear form.

Reflections of my personal human condition are much more akin to abstract patterns that move like a honey bee tracking nectar producing flowers than a predictable geometric construction.

This month in particular I am experiencing an interesting array of "time warps."

The first was an announcement by the Belize Institute of Archaeology of the uncovery of what is possibly the second largest piece of carved jade in the Maya area at Nim Li Punit where I developed and curated the Visitor Center and Stela House exhibitions 17 years ago!


The second was a return to the summer camp classroom after a 24 month hiatus from educator duty, reminding me of how much I love to share my learnings with the young people beyond just my sons.

And finally, beginning to realize that regardless of how long it takes or how far we travel or don't, we each have the capacity to improve our skills, strengthen our families, and build our communities wherever we are because our human family is interconnected with all of  life as we know it, and we are all depending on each other to be and become the very best of who we are.

Holding Silence

Full moon tonight/ tomorrow. Perhaps it’s true what they say… that you can create the life you want for yourself. But I’m just wondering… is this a superpower we’re all just gaining access to? ‘Cause I think I can believe it, when things are going great. But when everything seems like it’s falling apart… I’m not so sure I possess this power. And I’m pretty sure my great, great grandparents didn’t want to see themselves in the midst of an apocalypse we now neatly box and label “slavery” in our tidy file cabinet of life and human history.  Nor do I think it was the life intention of my other great grandparents to release a child into indentured servitude as a coal miner. This whole concept of “creating one’s own life” seems a little loaded given the hefty weight of history upon my life story…

But that in itself is something we do have the power to create.  The way in which we choose to reflect, remember and recount our own life his/her/our-stories is something that falls entirely within our own grasp.

Our audience, our listeners, the other half of our circle plays as much of a role in the stories we choose to form, shape and weave into the context of a dialogue or monologue, prologue or epilogue as we ourselves have. Learning, sharing and growing is a cooperative venture… a reflection of the community as much as the individual or family. All of our voices are valid and necessary… each of our dreams need to be realized and our potential attained in order for our collective well-being to reach its maximum.

Perhaps, in retrospect, it is easier to identify those paths or practices that did not lead to the results we anticipated.  In these cases, knowing and acknowledging what does not produce desired outcomes is just as important as knowing the steps to success. That is I suppose where exerting positive pressure on one another, like first aid to an open wound, is effective in encouraging each of us to take a step into the limelight, whether at the kitchen table, on the playground sand, or in the boardroom.  We must hold each other to the task of finding, knowing and sharing our own truths – even when that means holding silence so that something more might be heard….

Conscious design - present, past, future!

History - Rage - Creativity - Design - Future

Knowledge - Awareness - Understanding

Working to educate not incarcerate

Consolidate not incinerate

Learning how to listen

for OURstories in hisSTORY

Through the recycled

building materials

of life

Carbon

Hydrogen

Oxygen

Iron

We renew our commitment

to being human

every time we raise our

question

who are we

what have we come through

and where are we headed...

Each time we ask

why, how or what...

on every occasion when we feel the desire

to act, heal or change...

there is a spark

of creativity

of potential

that we all have

to return

to our true

sane

original

selves

and to go together

through

endless work

of being

of becoming

human

together

through smoke - fire - water and drought

We have that spark

of hope

that will burn

into a fire of

accountability

of truth

resting on a foundation

of justice

that is not the

weapon of war

but the bedrock

of our mother

earth

A short spring photo journal poem: The conflicted life of a parent... Artist...

Sometimes I feel so supported and surrounded by the beauty and encouragement of family, friends, and of life herself...

And sometimes I feel forgotten, forsaken by all that walk and breathe and live...

 That is, I suppose part of the dance of life, revolving with the seasons....

Ever thankful for each moment of joy and freedom.

 Life... birth... death...

Let us see what mischief we can find while we can

What beauty and justice lies in wait....

Earn to Learn

Miramar monarch

Bromeliad ecosystem

Beautiful banana

In my current relationship with the world in which we live, I haven't quite disentangled the basic elements of my life: food, shelter, clothing - from the overarching socio-economic system that permeates and dominates every aspect of life here in the good ol' USA.

Garden lizard

Try as I might to liberate my mind and body, and those of my family, to develop a healthy spirit of in- & inter- dependence, autonomy and self reliance...

Pineland cocoplum

Tiny beauty

The road to recovering and reclaiming our ancestral indigenous systems of economics, governance, health, education, housing and food distribution seems as difficult today as a journey to mars... and yet we know there are many among us who are choosing and treading that path.

Valentines 4 change

"The Distribution of Food"

What would it mean were we all to follow our dream?

In the free market economy 

will we truly succeed

through

the

test

of

time

?

In this buying power system where everything is bought and sold 

- from food to body image, hair to headgear, makeup to multivitamins - 

We are losing our intrinsic systems of accountability, apprenticeship 

and appreciation for the learning journey.

With everything in the world available at our fingertips,

the process and discipline of earning the right 

to acquire knowledge, skill or materials is quickly becoming a lost art.

Earning to learn is a values based approach to traditional knowledge acquisition that has transcended millenia of wars, genocide and systematic targeting and elimination of knowledge keepers.

As we move toward solving the perennial question of how best to ensure inter-generational transfer of knowledge, we would do well to bear in mind that our process is at least as important as our outcomes.  In fact, a little self-paced sweat equity may be just the infusion of sanity that our US public education system is lacking here in the 21st century.

Just another sunset

Ecology IS our Economy!

Like all of LIFE, I am in a transition... in a state of invisible change, measured only by the wisdom of reflection and analysis which will happen AFTER the time of the present has passed.

Our gift is this moment - exactly where we are right now.  From here, we can observe, understand, learn, choose, acquire, release, assess and project our future past.

From right here, we can see our parents, and theirs.  We can watch our children and theirs emerge. This space and time that we occupy together is our place of power and joy.


Here is where I am learning that my life is connected to everything everywhere. Right here we can see the cycle of life on Earth - birth, death, human impact, restoration... a closed system with open minds, not withstanding the bottomless pockets and excess waste that only we humans can produce.

Here we begin again every day - living, reliving our life and the lives of all those who have lived, breathed before us. Here we begin again every day - the human search for knowledge, understanding, meaning, love, life...

We begin to ask questions, find answers. We begin to assess what is needed in our system - individual, family, community.

We begin again to understand that I am because you are.

"We are one and yet not the same"

That in diversity exists

the ingredients for life

And that with

each life lost

our system

dims and

must be

ignited

with the

hope

that

our

bio

diver

sity

will

flourish

once more!

Ecology IS our Economy!
Entrepreneurship is building our COMMUNITY!

Like a fetus in harmony with our Mother's body

We ARE the environment
our environment is US

We are the children of our Mother the Earth
We are connected to all of life

Yes, it's a simple concept - let's apply it!