the beginning of the beginning

Do you want to know the hardest part about starting a blog? The name. It's all in a name, right? Well, to think up some brilliant name, clever and coy and subtle, takes the work of three and a half people, at least in my life- the half, being my friend Ilana, who promised she was sending naming energy in my direction from the land of Florida fronds. Now that I have my name, Under the Tucson Sun, what exactly I'll write about doesn't seem nearly as daunting. I'm kind of a talker; I breathe words and lyrics, scribble them incessantly, speak them ungracefully yet energetically- I think that words pave pathways that take us places, they're the stepping stones from our dreams to our futures. It's all about who you know, who you are, and what you do with what you're given. That brings me to the premise of this blog- a summer of artistic passion. I'm going to be interning with two fantastic groups of people in the following months, both of them devoted to the promotion of the most inspiring creations, performance and visual arts. Picasso once said, albeit in Spanish, "Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life." I believe that every single being that lopes across this planet has artistic inclinations, the desire to mold something with his or her or its own hands (or paws, or hooves, or...this is where my friends would say they get the point). So, I get to work with geniuses, men and women who drizzle their communities, this community, with honey thick passion, painting, dancing, singing, performing.

One, I will be the eagerly smiling intern at a group called UA Presents, the organization that brings artists from all around the world to the University of Arizona. I'm predominantly in charge of student body outreach and marketing, leaking and leading the buzz of artistic melodies throughout the campus, directing my passion straight towards the hearts of others. Did you know that most students at different colleges, mine (UNC Chapel Hill aka perfection on earth with a side of sweet potato fries) included, have $10 tickets for students? That means I've seen the frantic fiddling of Eileen Ivers, the desert jams of Tinariwen, the muscle pulsing of Alvin Ailey...all for 10$. Be envious- I will be in 2 years after I graduate. My other job is working in an art gallery, the Diana Madaras art galleries. Check out the link to her website: http://www.madaras.com/

The drawl of the southwest, the adobes huts and saguaro (pronounced sa-waar-o, not sag-waar-o) greens, flutters outwards from the her canvas planes- bold colors capturing your gaze in a geometric mish-mash of shadow and light. In one of my art history classes, I learned about the movement in the mid 1900's to breach the borders of painting confines- artists like Rauschenberg in his work, "The Canyon," used pillows, stuffed birds, anything that clawed its way forward into reality. Madaras' art defies 2D boundaries to me- you want to learn about the Southwest? Look at her pieces- it's just as wild, untamed, surprisingly colorful, and raw as you would imagine.

So...what can YOU (think Uncle Sam index finger) expect from my ramblings? Quotes and notes and life's momentoes-- pictures and fixtures and smiles incarnate-- misused words and things I've heard and volcanic explosions of life and the living- the connections I crave and day to day and the rhythmic shocks of reality. I'm pursuing my path- destination: (Sue Sylvester voice) unknown. Emotions: totally ok with the unkown. Bring me the whitenening silhouettes of dreams lurching into my road a few miles down the way- I'll get where I'm going when I get there, and then I'm off someplace entirely new. A few of my guiding stars so far:

"Pursue some path however narrow crooked in which you can walk with love and reverence." ~Thoreau

"VITALITY! That's the pursuit of life, isn't it?" ~Katharine Hepburn

"If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to be a horrible warning!" ~Catherine Aird

My favorite:
i thank You God for most this amazingday:for the leaping greenly spirits of treesand a blue true dream of sky;and for everythingwhich is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birthday of life and love and wings:and of the gaygreat happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeingbreathing any--lifted from the noof all nothing--human merely beingdoubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake andnow the eyes of my eyes are opened)