Studio sale Umatku challenge!!!

At the studio sale you got a little slip of paper with a number on it.

Please do the action below that has your corresponding #.

Pass it on to a friend or stranger if you’d like

and please leave a comment on this post if you wish to share

about your experience.

Thanks!

xoJennifer

#1:  e-mail a friend you haven’t spoken to in a long time

#2:  make a gratitude list – 10 things you are thankful for

#3:  let go of something you have been holding on to in your mind

#4:  invite a friend to tea, coffee or for a beer

#5:  say hi to three strangers in the next 48 hours

#6:  smile more often

#7:  write a letter to an old friend or partner (but don’t send it) thanking

them for something they taught you in the time you knew them

#8:  give a gift to someone for no reason – it doesn’t necessarily have to

cost anything

#9:  choose one thing above that you want to do and give your little slip of paper to someone else

message...

just wanted you all to know...

this needs to mean something... we need to do something...

the beckoning of lovely by Amy Krouse Rosenthal

i saw this over a year ago... it made me cry... her newest one is at the top.
she is just too cool for words... it's 10 minutes of viewing that will change
your mood:)

Triumph

Triumph

Like a wounded heart on suicide strings

I unfold you, and let you down easy.

This precious envelope I fit in,

is covered up with lacy glue,

tepid tape and acidic postage.

I am lifted into heaven

with your clever handshake

and supple smile and I am in awe

of your workman's hands and your

fashionable attaché.

I am yours.

The tension in my lips grows numb.

My feet ache in your direction.

I don’t even know you.

My fear is my love,

and my heart is awakened as once before.

I am beautiful again.

I am a boat crossing a sea, a mountain completing the scenery.

I am the sky’s grace. I can hold all the weight.

I will grow, I will blossom, I am passion, I am greed.

I am again comfortably alive!

Alive among the ruins of my dreams and again

I climb to you at the top of the stairs.

©jnl

A Beautiful October

Tonight
I had my own
underground renegade
below
the high tops of green Pitch Pine.

I couldn't tell which was exploding more;
the heavy, fat white flakes of snow
or
the three fingered points of needles
stretched out
as if they wanted
to accept the challenge
of supporting the weight
of an early fall
storm.

I had my own
underground renegade
as the storm within myself
began to churn
and pick up speed.

I can't tell
which is exploding more;
the worries of a sacred friend
or
my outstretched arms
ready to accept the challenge
of suporting
his dying weight.

-Gib

Make love not war...

Just in passing I found a wall painted with this message.
Being a child of the 50's it struck me as familiar.
Hope everyone has a day full of peace, love and light.
Gloria

karin sent us a post:)

pretty cool - huh?
tom - thought of you :)

subway message...

went to see thich nhat hanh today

at the beacon theater in nyc...

it was a 1/2 day mini retreat of mindfulness.

he started with talking about his connection

to martin luther king jr. and then began to

speak of "beloved community"...

he urged us to support obama

(Thay, as his friends call him was nominated

for a nobel peace prize by MLKjr...)

he asked us to be obama's beloved community

(or sangha, as the buddhists call it)

because there is no way that he can change the

world on his own.

are you with me on this one?

you can see more about Thay here:

http://www.plumvillage.org/

and here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aubF7v-MlMM

mindfulness, peace and love,

j

hope.

one of my students offered me a cupcake today...

it was her birthday.

i don't usually accept them, but this one just made me smile...

how could i say no to a peace cupcake?

it gave me hope...

congratulations obama!

inspiring...

along the lines of m.c. yogi - who raps and sings hip hop

versions of ancient kirtan chants.... i had heard of matisyahu

a while back... i think music can really inspire change...

if you want to hear, click the link below.

enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=as7Y-mCiFaM&feature=player_embedded

Pass It On! Project Peace Flag October 11th!!

peace flag by jeannie thomma

WHO? Umatku-ites near and far...

WHAT? PROJECT PEACE FLAG (make a flag for Peace!!)

WHERE? The Total Life Care Center, 152 East Ave., Norwalk, CT

WHEN? Sunday, October 11, 2009, from 4-6pm

WHY? To share your vision of PEACE!

RSVP! Space is limited, call the Total Life Care Center to say you'll be there!! 203-853-4852

COST: $22 per flag

EXCITING STUFF!!: Look for articles about the October 11 Project Peace Flag event in the Norwalk Citizen and The Hour this week!

More Info:ProjectPeaceFlagBLOG

ok. this is not an ad for starbucks.

i know it looks like one...
but really, it's just a little message of hope...
to help each other more, do some small things that matter
that add up to putting some really good energy out
there into the world.
and it just happens to be sung by m.c. yogi...
no need to go to starbucks to do this!


Grassroots Movement from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

ganesh is fresh!

mc. yogi rocked jivamukti!
if you are not familiar with his music
you can check it out here:
http://mcyogi.com/
we went to see him last night
and i had a great time... dancing, singing
and hoolahooping - yes tom - hoolahooping!
... boys can hoolahoop - we saw them doing it there!
his concert had a few messages that i think connect to
what we are doing here:

1. spread the love (through singing or whatever floats your boat)
2. connect with the greater community (he and his musicians are doing a great
collaborative project with music from other parts of the world)
3. do something nice - that makes a difference

yup, that third one - so umatku... at the end, he actually challanged everyone
in the audience to come up with something to do that would make
a difference - no matter how small...
still haven't figured out what i'm going to do
what rock star does that? not many - unfortunately...
and he warmly said hello to me in a "namaste kind of way"
- a total stranger - most people don't even take the time
to do that to people they see every day (including me!)
thank you m.c. yogi, valerie, jenn and will!!!!!


m.c. yogi from jennifer mazzucco on Vimeo.

Ok, I'm In

Alright, I'll bring the pink and purple pool to the studio sale. However, I really would like some additional effects to be added since I'm not going to be rushed out there like the grocery store debacle. I'm thinking of maybe a bag of sand and some floating rubber toys or something. Maybe even a few of those water floating candles? That might look pretty cool.

Anyway, for the time being, I've decided to go back to basics. I think the SOS thing was a bit overboard (ha ha no pun intended), and therefore I'm going to kick it down a notch and send messages the old fashioned way: via balloons! It's stupid and overdone, I know. But think about this. I can get at least 30 or 40 kids to volunteer for the event. Just like your peace rock, Jenn. It was way too inspirational, and I saw my daughter's face light up when you pulled a rock from the little bag to give to her. She painted all the rocks in my walkway for crying out loud! Anyway, I can use all the messages I already made and create a few more. Then, I will buy two bags of balloons. I'm thinking the fifty per pack bag of balloons. I'll stuff all the envelopes with a single balloon, a hopeful message, and a pre-formed note about the mission. Then, I am going to rent a helium tank (I've got a good friend in the food industry; Will, you know, big Tommy from Mona Lisa), and he is going to hook us up with the air. I will then proceed to assemble all the kids at Frenchtown School and give them each one balloon to release! We'll have some kind of formal count down and let em' rip.

Now, on each envelope I will label the state of CT. When it eventually lands, hopefully someone will find the note and fill the provided unused balloon inside. They will package a new message, provide one balloon, and repeat mission. How many states do you think this can cover? Are balloons really bad for the environment? Will people just throw them out? And what do we have to do to get kids involved with the situation other than "I don't want to get rid of the balloon" and having fights ensue?

On another note, Will sent me some Taylor Mali video "stuff" a while back. I've been following Taylor Mali for some time now and actually read at a Dodge Festival several years ago when Taylor was the featured reader. Anyhow, I wrote a piece a year or two ago and really haven't done much with it or to it, but it is a "retaliation" of sorts to the poem by "I quit teaching turned poet" Mali. I really do like his work...very much. I was in one of those moods that just....well...felt like telling my side of the story. I could use some feedback or help because it isn't where it needs to be and may never be for that matter, but I'm going to post it anyway because I've had one of those weeks at school......

What Teachers Really Make:
The New Translation of Taylor Mali’s Poem What Teachers Make


I make coffee
Before the crows
Even think about tearing open the curbside garbage.

I make enemies
Because I care
enough
To make a difference
And eat lunch
With a bunch
Of screw-ups
Who show up
To talk
Instead of work.

I make enemies
Because I don’t
Give a rat’s ass
About
The paycheck
Unlike most
Who wear them
Like pocket protectors,
Every other Friday,
As if
It’s going to put a dent
In the oil bill or mortgage or credit card debt.

I make enemies
Because
I don’t promise parents
Anything.
Because the autistic child
Will always be autistic
And the alcoholic father
Will always be more of an influence
Than me.
Because I admit
That I will never
Replace
Music or drugs or sex.
I make enemies
Because I teach.

I mean
I really teach.

I pick up the pieces of
A shattered weekend
Every Monday
And put it back together
By 8:25 a.m.
And begin reading.

I read their faces
Their eyes
Their laughter
And cries.

I take time to stop
The out of control
Curriculum
From running all over their precious
Bones.

I make enemies
With
All of those
who
supposedly
teach.

I make enemies
With all of those
Who know nothing
About their lives.

I make it a point
To know
What kind
Of bike they ride,
What movies they love
And what they’re going to eat for lunch.

I make
More than a difference.

S.O.S message in the bottle...

I LOVE TOM'S IDEA!!!

LET'S DO IT!

(or can I at least invite gibbler, "the pappanator" to do it

at my studio sale - saturday, nov. 14th?)

wow tom, that is just such an awesome idea.

i am guessing w*mart? or stop and shop...

Ancona's Market may just be the place - you name the time

and if i am free - i am there with you, the swimming pool

and my paint pens.

it reminds me a little of the time i sat

at the farmer's market in ridgefield and gave out

signs that read "we are free - tibetans are not"

in protest of the olympics being in china opening on 08/08/08

people walked 10 FEET AROUND ME... looked at

me strangely and didn't really want to have anything

to do with me.  i tried to explain that i didn't think the olympics

were bad - just the idea of having them in CHINA?!?

anyway - TOM - your idea is so much more of a POSITIVE ONE

and i am LOVING that you tried and even more so that you

posted about it. you rule.

this was my post on my blog:

finally back at home.... in my studio.... and inspired

to do a protest/art thing... it was 8/8/08 and the opening of the olympic games

so i made a bunch of these cards

and brought them to the farmer's market in ridgefield to hand out to people

i told them that i was trying to inspire mindfulness about what is

going on in Tibet and the Olympics in China.

i am not boycotting the olympics, i just want people to think about how

badly the Chinese government treats the Tibetans

and i can't support them hosting something that is supposed to

symbolize freedom (like the olympics)

Thanks a lot, Umatku

Well, I knew it was only a matter of time before I ruined the energy on this blog! I should have stopped at the pathetic moon rendering attempt. Anyway, after posting and getting excited about finally having a few good, like-minded, and healthy folks on my side, I decided to set up shop outside the local grocery store (famous chain whose name shall not be mentioned out of fear and possible free advertising which they do not need as it is). Anyway, the way I figured, I am close to enough citizens of this town (who are well aware of my eccentric and at times "weird" behavior) that I decided to send some "messages of hope" to the local tribe. Everybody else, it seems, is pushing an agenda of sorts outside the electronically controlled doors; high school football players carrying helmets to fund their road to victory, politicians promoting their twisted agendas, veterans looking to rid themselves of one thousand fake red flowers, and various other groups asking for help. Well, I thought I could solve two problems at once. I wanted to offer help and send a message of good will and enlightenment. Not to mention, I was going to promote recycling and economy savings, too!

Ok, so it wasn't a very good idea, but let me tell you.....I had the best intentions in the world, and nobody had a clue what I was attempting to pull off. My plan was to kindly borrow my daughter's plastic swimming pool, and using the permanent hose outside the grocery store which is there for plant watering, I was going to fill up on location. Next, I planned to use the discarded bottles inside the "REDEMPTION CENTER" and stuff them with random notes like "You're beautiful" or "Tomorrow is going to be better than today" or "Remember when you were four and laughed at anything silly?" or even "Please leave a happy message for someone else". Then I was going to prop up a pre-made board which read "Send an SOS to the World: I Hope That Someone Gets My Message In A Bottle".

Let me cut to the chase. It was bad enough carrying a huge purple and pink swimming pool through the parking lot and even worse to be asked "Sir, what are you doing? You can't set this up here."

I aborted the operation, but smiled heartily at the attempt and thought of pulling it off.

Here is an introduction for a Roman City-State simulation game I am developing in my sixth grade social studies classes. Narration by Jenn Mazzucco and Augustus played by Christopher Mathews.

AAA from Wm.MathewsJr. on Vimeo.

Thanks for watching. -=WHM2=-

The Moon...

This is not a painted Moon, but it's a beautiful half moon, shy and suggestive.
Loved the poem!
May the new moon light your way tonight.
Gloria

Is this what I'm supposed to be doing here?

Jenn, I think the idea of creating such a community is beautiful. To me, it's kind of like planting wild flowers in the side lawn of an elderly neighbor's forgotten patch of grass. You know, the patch that has not been mowed in years because it's brown and lost among the overgrown privet or myrtle or whatever? Not to mention, the owner can't tend the lawn anymore because he's too old and weak. He might even be in a wheelchair or something. But at any rate, the wildflowers will pop up...eventually...and showcase themselves as the one bright spot in an otherwise empty plot.

So, this first post had to mean something to me because it means so much to you, too. And therefore it is fitting that I waited until tonight. It marks the beginning of tomorrow on many levels. First of all, in one minute (as I write) it will be midnight or the start of September 27th. I begin my day writing to this community of (mostly) folks I've never met! It also happens to be the night of christening fire for my new Vermont (handcrafted) wood stove which Will embarked upon a crazy mission with me to acquire. I sent him a "live" photo in order to be a part of the initiation. And finally, today marks the first time I ever left a bar and decided to not go home.

Last night I decided to paint. I never paint. I am not a "canvas" painter. So I made do and headed north just after 11:30 pm (Sep. 26th). Probably not a good move considering I was drunk but nonetheless motivated to have a pep-rally of sorts in order to kick this blog's effort off. The Saugatuck Reservoir was just up the road from Barcelona's, and my truck has enough oil paint and scrap lumber to do the trick. I figured on painting the moon. It turned out to be a terrible rendition considering a 2X4 piece of cedar and Benny Moore HC 38 have nothing in common, but I must say; it was one hell of a good time. Not to mention, it reminded me of my love for poetry.

Gravity

Quit complaining
and paint your own damn moon.
You can make it a full one, too.
Or maybe
you just feel like a sliver
and don't care
about the possibility
of all the world's oceans
spilling out
from their unknown depths
and leaving us with
a cavernous rip. Tied
into so many knots,
I decided to paint
my own moon
with
my own face
plastered on the surface
and pulled tight
from speeding at the speed of light
because they say
you can witness the reflection
of every human experience
ever experienced-
and I hope to find
hope.

Nikki Giovanni

Tonight I saw Nikki Giovanni at Bucks County Community College

It was so nice to go to a poetry reading...but it was so much more than that.

Political, funny, living out loud

She rocks...

66 and better than ever

I bought this Hip Hop Speaks to Children

and can't wait to look and listen to it with my son

She said one thing that was really great:

"Stories heal"

And she spoke of when all the soldiers come home, before anything else,

they will need places like community colleges and safe places

they can be to tell their stories.

Thank you Nikki

bliss

tonight i was chanting and dancing with Miriam Zernis & Friends

at a local kirtan (beautiful Pia & Annil's house)

just wanted to share her music: http://www.sitaslight.com/music.html

and something she said that stayed with me on my drive home,

"every day we should take a few seconds to wish peace and happiness

for others in this world... even if we are in a bad mood, to wish freedom

of suffering for those who may be suffering more than us..."

love it - and it goes with our theme...

and there was a wonderful community of people sharing

stories, ideas, information about drum circles and connecting...

and so much gratitude in the room.

Namaste,

Jennifer

"Loka Samastha Sukhino Bhavantu"

a few versions of the chant just in case you are interested:)

Imagine... a world without borders.

It would be wonderful if like John Lennon, once wrote the lyrics for the song "Imagine" we had a world without borders. However that is not the case. But within our own worlds we can try and join our communities. Last March in our tiny Todos Santos community (Baja California Sur/Mexico) I organized the Todos Santos Wall of Saints project. 39 artists from Latin America, US, Canada and Europe came together with 39 children from Todos Santos for a joint project. The only language we spoke was "Art & Paint", there were no differences. It was a joyful event, which brings a smile to all when we drive by the wall everyday. This was one of several projects sponsored by A.R.T.S (Artists of Todos Santos) and The Palapa Society.

In Gandhi's Shoes

thank you m.c. yogi - for posting this on facebook!
this is what i'm talkin' bout:)
yay!

International Peace Day - 9/21

this is the peace one day project i did with my students. got some rocks donated, every student at my school decorated them, i read them the book, "Peace One Day", by Jeremy Gilley, we watched the documentary (the Day After Peace), then i took all of the rocks and gave one to over 100 businesses in town to promote awareness about the day and spread the peace... hope you enjoy:)