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In Search of Truth and Beauty | Cycles between Here and There

BY JONI TAKANIKOS
March 21, 2014

Fallen branch in springtime
Gone before the bloom.

Spring is a dangerous time of year. Delicate buds form on the branches, new shoots push up from the dark underground and we human beings clean out our closets, wash the windows and picnic on the warm green grass.

But amidst these gentle breezes and warm sunny days, a thundercloud may suddenly form or a roaring wind blows from out of nowhere, it seems. Or, worse yet, a sudden freeze comes in the night. Picnics are canceled, trees and branches come down and some of the fragile new shoots and sweet buds of spring will not survive the dangers of their new beginnings.

Photo by Joni Takanikos

A new transplant to our island recently asked me this perennial question on a recent picture-perfect day: “Is it always like this in Spring?” I answered truthfully, “Yes, it is always this beautiful, and spring is capricious and she could change her mind about this warmth and blue sky any minute.”

I recently experienced a day that was bookended by the celebration of two friends. One of them is nearing the end of her life at the age of 69 and many had gathered around her bedside to tell her how profoundly she had affected their lives with her gentle ways and teachings. The other celebrated his 80^th birthday with a lively bash that reflected his incredible vitality and passion for life. We really cannot know what wind, thunderstorm, freeze or dream will take us from this life; we can only continue to push through the underground darkness of winter to proclaim our new beginnings each and every day throughout all our seasons.

I am a student and a teacher of yoga and find myself continually astounded by the vast richness of this field of enquiry and study. I suppose it is well fertilized by my passionate relationship to it.

Just today, on this glorious spring cycle of sun, rain and yet more sun, I have learned that one of Pantanjali’s Eight Limbs of Yoga—pranayama—which I have always known as the “study of the breath,” may also be translated from the Sanskrit with a deeper meaning. Pranyama can mean “to expand the awareness or to expand the dimension of the vital force.” And I discovered that pranayama itself does not live in the breath but, instead, resides in the space between the inhalation and the exhalation.

Photo b y Joni Takanikos

This beautiful bud of new wisdom comes to me in the field of spring, forty-two years into my relationship with yoga. This is the renewal and beginning that is always with us, in between each breath, but is especially felt in this season when all around us nature is daring to let its new growth come forth with courage and the hope that all will be well no matter what comes.

Joni Takanikos is a poet, singer and gardener. She teaches Chandra yoga at Half Moon Yoga Studio in Langley Village. She is sending out her new shoots come what may, always hoping for sweetness to take root and buds to blossom.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

March 20, 2014
Duff ’n Stuff | Glorious artists, gratifying process

BY PATRICIA DUFF
March 14, 2014

Lately I’ve been charged with paying close attention to the work of other artists. I work part-time these days at Rob Schouten Gallery at Greenbank Farm where I spend time talking to patrons about 30 or so fine artists whose works and processes I’ve come to know fairly well. It’s a happy job, selling art. It’s kind of like selling the best spirit of someone else, selling a product that brings joy and beauty into the lives of others. It’s a positive pursuit, and when I sell a piece of art I feel somewhat as if I’ve done a good deed for the day—something that adds to making the world a better place. I know, kind of schmaltzy, but true for me.

I also continue to write part-time about artists. Currently I am writing a story for the first print edition of WLM about a handful of young artists who grew up on Whidbey Island, all extremely talented and each an inspiration to me as I follow the trajectory of their artistic careers. When I write about artists, I absorb a bit of vicarious satisfaction from knowing that here is still a segment of the population that will go out into the world with music, art, entertainment─all those things that come back to beauty and truth, things that add alacrity and grace to the world. Don’t worry, I tell myself as I turn away from yet another disconcerting story in the news, here are more of the saviors coming up in the world, those who will push back against a culture somewhat overwhelmed by technology, climate-change, poverty, wars and extinction. Here are the positive ones, the “interestings,” the non-cubicled, the beauty-makers. I thank my lucky stars every day for them and those like them.

All this focus on other artists makes me pine for the days when my life was focused on a purely artistic career. I spent about 12 years after college seriously pursuing a life as a working actor. I miss the days of marginal living, when memorizing scripts, rehearsing late into the evening and pounding the pavement for that next part were the focus of my youthful self. Although I must admit, my memory is selective and romantic, and if I force myself to remember the whole picture, much of it was drudgery. Eventually, I realized I couldn’t hack such a life and I went back to school for writing. But the memory of the pleasure of being preoccupied by a pure artistic pursuit remains.

Becky Ann Baker, Frances McDormand and Estelle Parsons played the leading roles in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2011 production of “Good People.” / Photo from www.thelmagazine.com

I’m happy to bring back some of that happy countenance when I plunge myself into a play at a local community theater, as I do now with a part in David Lindsay-Abaire’s “Good People” for OutCast Productions in Langley. I often tell my friends that I’m happiest when I’m creating something; acting is my anti-depressant of sorts and I’m grateful to playwrights who give women such juicy parts. I play Margie Walsh, a blue-collar, middle-aged woman who has lived all her life in South Boston, and who has lost yet another job and now faces eviction. There’s more to it than that, but for now my main goal is to memorize, get the dialect right and think about how a woman who has spent her entire life trying to stay one step ahead of debt collectors would walk, sit, laugh, stave off misery and endure. Oh joy, oh process!

Hopefully I will add my own bit of positive artistic something to the world as do those I admire most.

(“Good People” opens May 9 at the Black Box Theater at the fairgrounds. Visit www.outcastproductions.net for more info.)

Patricia Duff is a freelance writer and journalist, seller of art and sometime actor.

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March 14, 2014
Minding the Sky with Zeno in Mind

BY JUDITH WALCUTT
March 7, 2014

A thousand years ago, when I was in graduate school, a friend asked me to type his critical essay on an early 20^th Century British fiction author. This gentleman’s fame may have vanished down the literary dustbin of time, but he had an insight into the writer’s life that I will never forget.

This is partly because I made a terrible typographical error when transcribing it from the hand-written draft, and partly because it is a simple summing-up of the daily life of an author, whomever he or she may be.

The line, which my friend found in some correspondence between this obscure author and someone truly famous, such as E.M. Forster, was simply this: “It is really very difficult to write a good book!”

The unfortunate typo that, fortuitously, my friend discovered before handing in the paper read: “It is really very difficult to write a good boo!”

All these years later, I remember them both and find them both unequivocally true—it IS really very difficult to write a good book and equally difficult to write a good boo. And by “BOO” I mean: something with kick, something with surprise, something that turns the mind around and makes a sudden unexpected difference—which is what, I think, a good book and good boo ought to do. Make you laugh, make you cry, make you feel something, make you see something—DO something, and not just sit there like a lump of words on the page!

This is the predicament I have been wrestling with since I last wrote here and the one I continue to face today. As I write this I am staring at the cover of my latest rendition of a book for which I wrote the first full draft in 2008, based on a tiny sketch of a prose piece written in 1997. I am now at version 5.5 of draft 28. That’s right. Draft 28. And I’m not done yet.

Judith Walcutt’s own “Zeno’s Paradox” novel—holding at version 5.5 of draft 28

Sue the Screenwriter and I have been commiserating of late on the subject of reaching completion. She, too, is chasing the white rabbit of a novel down the hole of never-ending revision. Over a glass of good red at Ott and Murphy, we discussed the situation.

I have likened the process to a pantomime of one of Zeno’s paradoxes. It proposes that all motion is an illusion; for example, if we cross a room by half, each time we make the crossing we find that not only do we not get across the room but, eventually, we are moving backwards!

This is what revision looks like—a process of going halfway across the room every time we venture to reach the imagined end. Meanwhile the actual end recedes further and further into the distance. This ever-present vanishing horizon of conclusions has surely plagued every scribbler since language became a graphic phenomenon.

One whole version of my draft 28 was spent ferreting out unwanted repetitions of words or phrases that, once read, should not be read again. For example, how many times can you use the word “luminescent” in a vivid prose description before you have used it up?

And need I say that the condition I think of as Rewriting Reflux––or “the need to change words endlessly” is exacerbated by our available technology? In the old days—BPCD (Before Personal Computers, Duh)—you had to actually type words on a page, then make changes on that page and retype them all over again on another page! This was time consuming and, no doubt, contributed to many an author’s writer’s blocks, instilled either by a phobic fear of using too much paper or, alternately, the sheer terror of the single blank white page.

Modern technology has made it possible for me to have my cake, eat it too, and have another one besides. I can change whatever I want, as often as I want. And that’s the problem that engages a whole other kind of writerly angst: fear of changes that could potentially turn out to be bad ideas, such as renaming all your characters with silly alliterative monikers.

When I feel a wave of “fear of change” (changing anything—including a comma, to changing everything—including the plot) I have the easy technological solution. I can copy the entire document first and paste it in a new, empty space—a new draft, leaving the ghost of the old one behind in case, later on, I find it was better the first time.

And that’s where we return to where we started, halfway across the room with Zeno’s Paradox Novel—the one that won’t quit—ever closer to the end, ever further away.

Now that I have arrived at Draft 28, however, I am taking a moment to assess the situation. I am finally letting people other than my husband read the manuscript. And those readers, despite my best efforts to eliminate all examples of the little horrors from the text, keep turning up typos! It really is very difficult to write a good boo!

Because I have been too much alone in my writer’s room of late, I plan to go to the Hedgebrook-sponsored evening at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts at 7:30 p.m. on March 12. The event will feature locally based Hedgebrook authors Betsy MacGregor, Peggy Taylor, and Vicki Robin, who will each be talking about their recent books. I am certain those three remarkable women wrestled with the same dilemma of how and when a book is finally, finally finished. I think I’ll ask them how they did it!

Judith Walcutt is an award-winning writer for radio, stage and TV. She has been the CEO of Otherworld Media, a production company for educational and entertaining public media, for over 30 years. Draft 28 of her novel, “The Painter’s Girl,” about smashed hearts and making art, patiently awaits her next set of changes and corrections.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

March 7, 2014
The Storied Stylist: Much Ado about DOGS!

BY JULIE CUNHA
Feb. 28, 2014

Years ago, when I was a program manager for a small non-profit, we were in need of a new look so I scoured the local want ads for furniture. A friend of mine told me her neighbor was planning an estate sale and had invited her for a preview sale. So guess who she brought along? It was fate meets destiny.

I was told the woman had kept most of her furniture since she was married in 1968. And she was ready to part with it. I was beside myself. Could this be a time-capsule moment?

That night, I rode home in the back of our truck, sandwiched between an avocado green and blue floral circular sofa and a red velvet captain’s chair straight out of Graceland. The furniture was, indeed, from another time and it was in MINT condition.

But there was a sad part to the story: Before I was allowed to write her a check, she sat me down, took both of my hands in hers and said: “Do you have any idea why this furniture is in such excellent shape?”

It felt as though the purchase was contingent on my ability to listen to her story. Her eyes began to water and she said, “I never allowed my pets or children on the sofa without those darn plastic slip covers.” And then she added, “I regret that decision, and I wish that I could have put my children and pets first.”

I was a puddle of pudding in her hands. I had never met anyone who had been haunted for over 40 years by plastic slipcovers.

She made me take a vow that I would never do this to my family or my pets, and then she accepted my check.

The author’s furry, four-legged family member, Fifi

Speaking of pets, when it comes to Whidbey Island residents and their relationship with animals (specifically on the south end), there are basically two camps: those who have “pets” and those who have family members who happen to have four legs and fur from head to toe.

There is no doubt which camp I’m in.

Case in point: Several years ago I was grocery shopping and was standing at the meat department, looking frustrated enough to catch the attention of an employee. She asked if I needed help. I told her I was looking for a minimally processed, extra-lean hamburger for my dog.

She threw her head back and laughed! And said, scornfully: “I should have known. Most dogs on the south end eat better then most people!”

How does one respond to a statement like that? I decided not to make an issue out of it, so I quickly scampered away.

In our household, the dog has virtually no boundaries. It is what it is. When it comes to lounging on the sofa, it’s equal opportunity for everyone, including the dog. But I’ve learned over the years that we don’t have to allow our homes to look or smell like dog kennels.

We just need to know a few tricks.

I have two velvet sofas; by most standards that’s not a good idea when you have pets. But I discovered I didn’t have to sacrifice my personal style because I have animals. Instead, I developed a strategy that enabled me to preserve the integrity of the sofa and maintain the aesthetic consistency of my home.

My sofa is red, so I have a collection of red “throws” that I rotate on a frequent basis. And when I say “throw,” I mean a sheet or bedspread. A sheet is much easier to match; you can almost always find a sheet in a solid color. Besides, a sheet washes better.

Now, we don’t need to run out to our favorite big-box store and snap up every color that matches our sofas. My recommendation is to go to the local thrift stores. Over the years, I’ve managed to acquire 10 sheets in this way. If you decide to go this route, you’ll be saving big bucks!

Repurposed dog bed by local artist, Nora Harrell.

Or how about creating a space for your dog that is just as appealing as the sofa? This is just one fabulous example from a local artist, Nora Harrell. This item is currently for sale at Red Rooster Antiques in Freeland.

I’d like to take a moment here to destroy the vision of perfection many of us have, because of the media, of incredibly beautiful homes. Here is the truth: IT’S ALL FANTASY! There is no household on this earth that looks like it came out of the pages of a magazine.

Wouldn’t it be a great idea for a coffee table book to create side-by-side images of pre-staged rooms and post-staged rooms? The truth of the matter is: most of us are slobs to a certain degree. And, gone are the days of sterile perfection that took its shape in the form of plastic lampshades and plastic sofa covers!

As for the lady at the store who made that remark? If she’s right, we may need to re- evaluate our diets and—consider eating more like our dogs.

Julie Cunha Interiors specializes in expertly edited restyled vintage and modern designs. She lives and works on Whidbey Island.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

February 28, 2014
Play That Song Again: Love Songs for your Valentine

BY ERIK CHRISTENSEN
February 14, 2014

Valentine’s Day? St. Valentine was a martyr; as some historians report, he was a third century Roman priest who defied Emperor Claudius II’s attempted abolishment of marriage. Others cite the Hallmark-Card-like highjacking of the February pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Then there’s that hopeless romantic, Geoffrey Chaucer, who might have been the first to write about “St. Valentine’s Day” in his work “Parliament of Foules” around 1375.

Ok, so let’s forget Hallmark. Let’s forget those chalky candy hearts that taste horrible but are still irresistible. Let’s forget chocolate hearts, chocolate kisses and chocolate roses. Let’s get to—forgive me—the heart of the matter. Love is respect, and acceptance, and damn hard work.

We’re talking about a love that lasts.

So here’s my all-time, Top Five Love Songs for Valentine’s Day.

“My Funny Valentine”

Pick any of the hundred versions; for now, let’s go with Frank Sinatra. This Rogers and Hart musical number is simple and direct, with just the right amount of quiet confidence and realism. I will love you every day.

“But don’t change a hair for me
Not if you care for me
Stay little valentine, stay
Each day is Valentine’s Day”

“Every Part of Me”

A song from 2011 by Texas songwriter/activist Steve Earle. A nakedly honest and open outpouring, not afraid to admit shortcomings:

“I love you with everything
All my weakness, all my strength
I can’t promise anything
Except that my last breath will bear your name”

“That’s the Way Love Goes”

A much-covered Lefty Frizzell country classic—one that always struck me as very honest about how the world works and graceful in its acceptance and resolve.

“Losing makes me sorry
You say, ‘Honey, don’t worry,
Because I love you, too.
That’s the way love goes.’

That’s the way love goes, dear
That’s the music that God made
To make the world to sing
It’s never old, it grows”

“Love Minus Zero/No Limit”

Bob Dylan has always spoken the deepest part of you, articulating your feelings that you didn’t even know you had. This guy has always spoken to the mysteries of your heart, and I don’t think there’s ever been a better opening to a song of pure admiration and enchantment:

“My love, she speaks like silence
Without ideals or violence
She don’t need to say she’s faithful
Yet she’s true, like ice, like fire”

Who in the world could’ve inspired such imagery? Who else could build on it and end the song with the following:

“The wind howls like a hammer
The night blows cold and rainy
My love, she’s like some raven
At my window with a broken wing”

“Elephant”

Jason Isbell is quickly shaping up to be the only serious contender for the next Bob Dylan title—someone who can shout rock and roll to peel the paint off the walls, and also write the most heartfelt, poetic ballads you’ve ever heard. “Elephant,” from last year’s “Southeastern” record, is the story of someone caring for a love who is dying of cancer. The “elephant” is, of course, death—the elephant in the room that they both try desperately to avoid. Real love sticks around during the good times and bad; real love hopes against all hope.

“She said, ‘Andy you crack me up,’
Seagram’s in a coffee cup,
Sharecropper eyes and her hair almost all gone.
When she was drunk she made cancer jokes,
Made up her own doctor’s notes,
Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone.

I’d sing her classic country songs
And she’d get high and sing along.
But she don’t have much voice to sing with now

We’d burn these joints in effigy,
Cry about what we used to be,
And try to ignore the elephant somehow.”

Hug the people you love this Valentine’s Day. Devote yourself to those who bring out the best in you. Give these songs a listen and maybe check out the honorable mentions: “Smile a Little Smile For Me” by Flying Machine, “Let’s Stay Together” by Al Green, “In My Life” by the Beatles, “Chances Are” by Johnny Mathis, “All I Have To Do Is Dream” by the Everly Brothers (Rest in peace, brother Phil) and “You Make Me Feel Brand New” by The Stylistics.

Erik Christensen Band plays at Front Street Grill in Coupeville from 6-8 p.m on Wednesday, March 19 and at Blooms Winery in Bayview from 3-5 p.m. on Sunday, April 20.

Erik Christensen teaches English at Oak Harbor High School, writes songs and poetry and, 23 years ago, copied those Bob Dylan lyrics in a note to his then-girlfriend, who was impressed enough to marry him. Thanks, Bob.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

February 14, 2014
Sirithiri | Practice Makes Perfect (or at least better)

BY SIRI BARDARSON
Feb. 7, 2014

I have always had a secret disdain for football – but not anymore. “Go Hawks!” is all I can say. We all love a winner, but coach Pete Carroll is bigger than the win. Wow, talk about leadership! Here is a man who has committed his life to inspiring others to do difficult things and do them well.

Carroll and his Seahawks have captured my imagination and I can use some inspiration right now. How about you? Do you have a new goal for the year? Are you going to learn something new or try to improve what you already do?

And just what helps us humans become really good at something? Dropping my disdain, I did some research and found a video of the coach talking about football practice. Let’s see if there is something for us in his playbook.

To hear Pete Carroll tell it, practice is everything. I learned to practice my cello a long time ago, fifty years ago to be exact. What practice means to me, how it feels when I sit down, the process and format of how I learn something new on the cello is as familiar to me as my own name. But the truth is, I’m not getting good results. I have new goals and I feel stuck.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll

Carroll talks about practice as an energetic, competitive-level activity. His daily planning includes specific goals for every practice session, from warm-ups to drills to group work. The competitive edge he insists on bringing to all aspects of practice is nothing less than his constant refinement of the process vis-à-vis specific goals. The moment practice begins for the players, the focus is on improvement, improvement, improvement. There is constant movement; no one stands around, and the athletes are guided by their coaches.

In the video, Carroll uses the words focus, intensity, discipline, structure, organization, competition and energy in rapid-fire succession. He doesn’t speak directly to reflection, but he must do it constantly to achieve the goals he sets for the team. Reflection, discovery and using the information to inform and refine an idea lie at the heart of critical thinking and all creative endeavor.

By comparison, my practice session starts with a very generalized idea. “Hmm,” I say to myself, “I have a gig in two weeks.” Then I make a cup of tea, gather my music stand and instrument, tune and then warm up with scales and an etude. I do not enter the practice with a specific goal in mind. In fact, I think I enter into a historical trance littered with the way I used to play and not the way I play now. Lastly, I don’t have a teacher and I am guessing that a good teacher and coach is not a DIY proposition.

Just what is my game plan?

I have a terrific concert coming up at WICA. The pop jazz duo, “Siri and Steve,” that I play in will be featured in the 2014 “Local for Locals” Concert Series at WICA in March. This goal has been on our minds for most of the last year but now, as we get down to the last five weeks, it’s all about applying the polish to the set list. I am so happy that I watched the Super Bowl because now I can organize my practice.

Here are some new ideas that I’m going to act on. I want to practice smart, listen well, reduce critical judgment, maintain a positive mood, eliminate time-wasters, have a specific plan that identifies the size of a project and the look of the necessary practice, and inject new practice material. I want to be competitive with clear goals and accountability. I want to be better at what I do.

Football and Art, who knew? I’m looking for more connection and cross-pollination with things far removed from my cello playing. What can energize me and motivate me to acquire the discipline of better performance?

So I’ll see you out there on the creative field. Keep your eye out for me; I’ll be the cellist wearing the blue and green dress.

Here is the link to the Pete Carroll video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEB9s6LTmMQ

Siri Bardarson is a musician who writes a lot. She is ecstatically happy when she makes stuff!

February 7, 2014
Pigment, Pandas and Perspective | ‘By the Power Vested in Me …’
BY ANNE BELOV
Jan. 31, 2014

It’s always a dangerous thing to give power to someone, but darn if that isn’t just what the folks behind the screen at Whidbey Life Magazine have done.

Bwahaha!

Last fall, they asked me if I would be interested in selecting and inviting visual artists to appear on the Virtual Gallery Page here at the magazine. So, I said sure, and it has mostly gone pretty well, except when there are people who are less technologically adept than I am. My knowledge is shallow yet narrow, so it doesn’t take much to flummox me, in the tech realms.

“Blob, Blog” by Anne Belov / All rights reserved by the artist

Be that as it may, now that we are moving away from a membership based model, ALL artists, not just members, are eligible to have their work displayed in the Virtual Gallery. If you are wondering what an appearance here in these digital pages might do for you, here is a recent comment from Diane Tompkinson, whose work was featured in October 2013:

I wanted to thank you and the staff of Whidbey Life Magazine for the opportunities that have come my way since being featured as one of the visual artists for October this past year. Because of that feature and story, I was invited to participate in a pop-up market for ten weeks where I did very well. Additionally, that exposure led to being invited to be a featured artist this year by two different art galleries on Whidbey Island for the coming year. It is wonderful what some exposure can do in terms of future opportunities. Thanks so much.
Diane Tompkinson

Diane Tompkinson, “Raven.” / Photo courtesy of the artist

I thought it might be helpful to share some FAQ’s about the Virtual Gallery, since up until this point, the gallery was by invitation only. I will still invite people whose work I think needs to be seen by a wider audience, but now we are inviting artists to submit work for consideration for the Virtual Gallery without any prompting from us. We know you’re out there!

Virtual gallery F.A.Q.’s

What is the Virtual Gallery?

The Virtual Gallery is a Whidbey Life Magazine forum to showcase the work of visual artists on Whidbey Island.

How often do you change the work in the Virtual Gallery?

Every month, we profile two artists, who have some common thread to their work.

Are there other benefits to being a Virtual Gallery Artist?

A feature story on each of the artists in the VG is assigned to one of our excellent writers at WLM, during the month of your show. These stories bring additional attention to the work of the artists showing in the VG. The previous VG’s are archived and can be accessed by readers of WLM.

Why would I want to show my work here?

You have the opportunity to reach readers of WLM who might not be aware of your work. Previous Virtual Gallery features have resulted in new exhibition venues and offers of representation for artists, leading to more sales of work. Read the testimonial above, written by Diane Tompkinson. (Actual results may vary and are not guaranteed.)

OOO! How do I sign up?

You can submit work to the Virtual Gallery Curator, for consideration. The VGC will consider the work submitted and determine with whom to pair your work. (More about the specific requirements to follow below) Send submissions to anne@whidbeylifemagazine.org

What if I want to show my work in a specific month?

When you submit your work, you MAY request a specific month if, for example, you have an upcoming exhibition for that month. We cannot guarantee that we can fulfill these requests, but we will do our best to accommodate requests made at least six months in advance.

What will I need in order to get my work into the Virtual gallery?

You will need:
1. A short artist’s bio of 150 to no more than 350 words, saved as a word .doc (NOT .docx)
2. An artist statement of no more than 350 words, saved as a word .doc (NOT .docx)
3. Information on where to find your work: website, gallery, including links if available, etc.
4. A numbered information sheet, listing all the titles, medium and sizes of the work submitted, saved as a word .doc (NOT .docx)
5. 20 high quality images of your work
How do I prepare my images for the VG?
1. Images must be saved as jpgs. at 72 res.
2. The largest dimension in either direction should be 600 ppi at 72 res.
3. File names should be formatted exactly as follows:
  01.Title, medium, size. Example: 01. La Giaconda, oil on linen, 20×16
4. DO NOT use any of the following characters within your file names:
  “ : ; – / in other words, no quotation marks, colon or semicolons, dashes or slashes. You may use commas to separate title from medium from size.
What if I’m a technological Luddite who doesn’t know how to format or name my images?

We can connect you with someone to format your images for you for a fee of $35 an hour. If your photos are of high quality, expect to pay for one hour of editing time minimum. You will need to supply the information sheet as specified above.

What if my photos are beyond redemption?

We can suggest a photographer on the Island to photograph your work. If you give them the specifications for the VG, they can include resizing of the full size images, for their customary hourly charge.

What happens once I’m accepted into the VG?

Once you have a month assigned, you will be sent a dropbox folder into which you’ll put all of the aforementioned items. Even if you have previously submitted these materials to the VGC, YOU will have to put these items directly into the dropbox folder that was sent by our website tech guru. Please do not set up your own dropbox folder to share with us.

What are the deadlines to submit?

At the present time, there are no deadlines for initial submissions (don’t make me regret saying this.) Once you have been accepted for a specific month, please have all the materials ready no later than the 15^th of the month preceding your assigned month.

Are there any suggested bribes with which I can ply the VGC to gain expedited exhibition of my work?

The current VGC is especially fond of cuppycakes, particularly with butter cream frosting.

Anne Belov is a visual artist, cartoonist and writer living on an island in the Pacific Northwest. You can find her paintings at The Rob Schouten Gallery in Greenbank, WA, her cartoons on her blog The Panda Chronicles, and read her guest posts on Whidbey Life Magazine, an on-line journal of arts, food, and culture on Whidbey Island. Her first book was funded by her second successful Kickstarter project. Her only regret in life is that there is no MacArthur Grant awarded for panda satire.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.
January 31, 2014
Chief Milkmaid | Not your momma’s chicken noodle soup

BY VICKY BROWN
Jan. 24, 2013

AchoooOOo!!

‘Tis the season. No, I don’t mean Christmas or even New Year’s; I’m talking about the winter cold and flu season.

I have two thoughts that can help.

1) If you’re sick… STAY HOME!

2) Chicken noodle soup… or maybe, if you’re ready for something with a bit more flavor, try this Chicken Tortilla Soup (it’s excellent for those that aren’t sick too!).

I love chicken noodle soup, and honestly was never that fond of tortilla soup. Living in San Diego for 20 years, I had ample opportunity to consume all varieties of delicious Mexican food. I tried and tried, but never found the tortilla soup to tantalize my taste buds.

Then there was a date night. My husband took me out to San Marcos Brewery for the “best chicken tortilla soup ever.” Still in the blush of new love, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I didn’t care for tortilla soup (or beer). We went and enjoyed the best soup I’ve ever had. It turns out it was more than just the companion I was sharing it with.

We married, moved to Whidbey Island and longed for good Mexican food. Fortunately, I discovered Tres Gringos and now have access to food like I remember from San Diego, including excellent soups… but not “our” chicken tortilla soup.

The last time I visited San Diego, I found the San Marcos Brewery had closed. Luckily, after several failed attempts, we found a way to recreate the experience from so many years ago in Southern California.

Veggies and cilantro! / Photos by Vicky Brown

We use a slow cooker, and it’s easy!

Chicken Tortilla Soup

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
2 cups white rice
1 large yellow onion
2 tomatoes
2 Hass avocados
1 lime
1 clove garlic
Chili powder (to taste – approx. ¼-½ tsp)
Black pepper (to taste – approx. ¼ tsp)
Salt
Tabasco Chipotle sauce (or any other good chipotle sauce or actual chipotle peppers if you’re lucky!)
Tortilla chips (I recommend Juanita’s or make your own)

This recipe is enough for at least 8 servings. I usually freeze half for quick easy meals later.

Start the chicken in your slow cooker with water as high as your cooker permits, add about ¼ of your onion, garlic clove, chili powder, black pepper and a small amount of salt. We don’t add much salt because the tortilla chips add a LOT of salt at the end. If you want the soup without tortilla chips you will need to salt to taste, otherwise make sure your salt level stays somewhere in the vicinity of terribly-bland low.

The tastes of Southern California.

Cook your chicken for at least two hours on the highest temperature of your slow cooker. Your broth should be nearly boiling (boiling is okay). At this point, take off as much of the broth as you can and reserve it for later. (I put it in a bowl, wait for it to cool and then put it in Ziploc freezer bags and freeze it for future use.) Add enough water to cover your chicken again. Cook for approximately another 2 hours, or until your chicken is falling apart and your broth looks rich and golden again. Turn the heat off and let it cool a bit so you can separate the chicken from the bones.

While cooling, now is a good time to start your rice.

At this point I separate the chicken. It’s easier to do it now and it makes storage of leftovers for future soup a breeze.

As the rice finishes up, chop about 1/3 of your bunch of cilantro and cut up about 1/3 of your onion, a tomato, an avocado and a lime. You will use the rest of your fresh veggies for the next serving, so store them well.

Chop chop! Squeeze.

Once the rice is done, spoon about 1/3 cup into the bottom of each bowl. Add chicken and hot broth to the bowl and then generously add in chopped onion, tomato, cilantro, and avocado. Squeeze in a wedge of lime, splash on some chipotle sauce and crush some tortilla chips on top.

Dinner is served.

Chicken tortilla soup. Yum.

Vicky Brown, Chief Milkmaid at the Little Brown Farm, puts her passions on the page writing about food, agriculture, and the tender web of community.

CLICK HERE to read more entertaining and informative WLM stories and blogs.

WLM stories and blogs are copyrighted and all rights are reserved. Linking is permitted. To request permission to use or reprint content from this site, email info@whidbeylifemagazine.org.

January 24, 2014
Creativity Cafe | Energy follows action

DEB LUND
Jan. 11, 2014

It’s late. Late at night, and late for turning in this blog entry.

I’m at my desk. My eyes are closed, but I can still see the glow of the computer screen. The old-fashion white page is blank enough without this version blazing through my eyelids. My chin presses into my palm as my elbow pushes into the edge of my desk. I’m supposed to be writing. But instead I’m thinking about …

Curling up on the couch in front of the fire.

Digging for chocolate.

Getting a real job.

Sometimes we need a nudge. Another voice to hear us, to feed back what we say. In our home, that might mean my husband saying energy follows action to me. No, he’s not prone to that sort of thing. He’s just parroting back words he initially heard from me.

And from the caverns of the rest of our house he appears and peers at my screen at the dribble above. That’s so authentic. Great start, Deb. But instead, I’m thinking…

This is not a moment to be so positive.

Whoever said energy follows action was definitely being too positive.

The couch, the chocolate, and the real job still look pretty good.

Okay, Deb. Let’s try a new tactic. When has energy follows action worked for you? (Inner creativity coaches can sometimes be as annoying as inner critics.) I roll my eyes (at least they’re open now) and consider a trip to the refrigerator. But instead I’m thinking about…

Designing and building our house. (OK, with a contractor friend.)

Meeting with teachers and artists to create a school.

Partnering with others to help them follow their dreams.

Energy does follow action for me. It’s just so easy to get stuck on what I’m not doing instead of what gets done.

If you’re resisting, hesitating, anxious about stepping out without a net, listen to your inner creativity coach, too. Recall times when the energy for a project appeared because you took some action. If you’ve done it before, you can do it again. And when the energy and action don’t happen, you get to forgive yourself and start over.

Go ahead and roll your eyes, but leave out the trip to the refrigerator. Unless that’s where you hide the chocolate.

Deb Lund is an author, a teacher, and a creativity coach who doesn’t have it all together. It’s why she’s so effective helping others with their inner critics and inner creativity coaches. Don’t miss her upcoming “Fiction Magic” presentation! Find details here.

“Act,” from Deb Lund’s deck of Fiction Magic cards.

January 11, 2014
In Search of Truth and Beauty | Endings and beginnings

BY JONI TAKANIKOS
Jan. 3, 2014

As I write this post, the year has not yet turned, but I can feel it beginning.

I avoid revolving doors when I can, but, ready or not, I am entering a new year in a mere two days’ time.

After the spinning top of these sweet, literally sweet, festive holidays, it is time to take stock of what to bring forward, and perhaps what to leave behind.

On New Year’s Day or Eve, I make a list of what I would envision for my life in the coming year. I am often surprised by how many of those visions come to pass by the end of the year. So while we are often encouraged to make resolutions to give up a bad habit or two, I would rather concentrate on seeding some good habits and experiences. It seems that if we are driving on the road of healthy pursuits, many of those lesser habits get left on the roadside, as we no longer have room for them in our trunk of goodies.

So I am going to make a guest list of what I want to invite into my life this year, and I expect that any of those lingering negative guests will have no room at my party, and simply slink away into the night.

As I prepare for a glorious night of New Year’s Eve dancing and merriment on this lovely island in Puget Sound, I give thanks for this beautiful land I reside on. And for all of us who live here together, in a mostly cooperative spirit, inspired by the starlit sky, the birds, the animals, and the woods — this place on earth that enlivens all our days in uncountable ways — I wish you a Happy New Year filled with sweet passion and joy.

There are so many lovely walking trails, parks and beaches on Whidbey Island. One of my favorite walks is Ebey’s Landing; I think I will begin my new year there, walking the bluff and envisioning a 2014 filled with Truth and Beauty.

My trek on Ebey’s Landing. / Photo by R. Halmans

The Turning

This wind moves through us
Catches on the branches of longing,
The still places we return to,
Those sighs and shudders turn
their heads to face east.
Never mind casting about to raise
the sails, because a steady wind
Underlies the mooring,
Each wind a pillow, anchoring
Our navigation systems
To the stars.

Joni Takanikos is a traveling poet, singer and a yoga teacher at Half Moon Yoga in Langley, ever grateful to live on this revolving piece of earth we call Whidbey Island.

January 3, 2014