Magic Happens

Creative Life

Notes from a

• ESSAYS • CONVERSATION • AND • SONG •

As I was chopping vegetables the other day, and at the same time planning on what spices would work well with the cheese tortellini I planned in the soup I was creating, I had the realization that I was, once again, just playing restaurant. Remember when, as young children, we forced the adults in our lives to sit down and order from our imaginary restaurant and then wait for the imaginary food to arrive on plastic mis-matched tableware? I did this as a child, became the grown-up for my kids thirty years ago and now play it with my grandchildren. Lucky, privileged me.

• FOLLOW • ALONG • THE • JOURNEY •

The Unreliable Narrator

My 84-year-old mother came over for dinner the other night. It was just her and me. We exchanged pleasantries while I cobbled together a dinner of whatever leftovers were in the fridge. This, after I had completed my first full week of back to school/work school year 2023-24 teaching my elementary age art students. My mother always asks, “Anything new at school?” Usually, the answer is some silly story that a kid has said or done. Not this night. She got a tirade of how v

The Art of Living Creatively:

with Lu Lu and the Duz – S2 Ep 2 Conversations between the bandmates of the ARTs dept. Lucy Dallman and Billy Van Duzor. L: And we are BACK, ladies and gentlemen. ( breaks down laughing ) B: Just like Terry Gross. L: ( still laughing ) Do you know that she is a super short human? B: Yeah, super short! L: Super short. B: Tiny. L: A little mite. A mighty mite of a person. B: Did she retire? L: I don’t know. B: She may have retired. L: All the good people are retiring. B: I wond

“Wading”

Verse: When I showed up this morning And I didn’t see your face These docks aren’t the same without you And I feel so out of place I wondered about the lighthouse. How to make our way back to shore I remembered what you told me. You said I’ve done it a thousand times before. Chorus: You said, “we were always better together.” You said, “let all the little things go.” You said, "Remember the anchor can be hoisted-“ Many hands, many hands make lighter the load. Verse: Storm clo