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#Happy Thanksgiving. A poem by #Thich Nhat Hanh

11/27/2014

I like to walk alone on country paths,
rice plants and wild grasses on both sides,
putting each foot down on the earth
in mindfulness, knowing
that I walk on the wondrous earth.
In such moments, existence is a miraculous
and mysterious reality.

People usually consider walking on water
or in thin air a miracle.
But I think the real miracle
is not to walk either on water or in thin air,
but to walk on earth.
Every day we are engaged in a miracle
which we don't even recognize:
a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves,
the black, curious eyes of a child-
our own two eyes.
All is a miracle

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

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"I will not dance to your war drum" #Suhier Hammad

11/23/2014

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Following on from my last blog entry, I would like to talk about poetry as an art form for social change.
Poetry can take on many forms, and like fine art, can be appreciated on different levels. Just as one can analyze a piece of classical art, someone else might prefer abstract, or a piece of cryptic graffiti. Like music, it could take on a popular rhythm like rap or rock, complex and classical, or it could be contemplative like a slow waltz. Depending on the style of the writer, poetry can be more evocative than any speech, or verbal plea for social change.

I would like to introduce you to Suheir Hammad, a Palestinian -American writer and poet, who was the recipient of the American book award, and the Arab American book award for poetry, in 2009.
Although some of my readers may already be familiar with her work, she epitomizes the voice of women for peace, in her "Poems of war, peace , women and power."
Her poetry grabs the listener from the first word, and elevates you to a place where you cannot help but listen intently, and become an involved spectator of women surviving in Palestine, women in Garza, and on the war torn streets of Iraq.
She uses a form of poetry where she throws up short sentences, and finely tuned word salads, that ultimately fall in perfectly punctuated patterns, illustrating her rebellion, her refusal to participate in the war dance, her cries of protest.
These poems are rap-like, almost as complex as jazz, yet her message clear and focused as a piece of Mozart.
  "This heart beat is louder than death; your war drum ain't louder than this breath."
She astounds the listener with stunning statements that resonate long after the poem is over,
"Do not fear what has blown up.
  If you must; fear the unexploded."

I do not compare my poetry to that of Suheir Hammad. The only thing we have in common is that we both write poetry for social change.
I do not presume to be an expert or critic on the matter, or the mature poet
she is.
In my book, The Moon of Compassion, my poetry is simple, and designed to appeal to a different audience; an everyday audience, looking for an everyday expression, maybe stimulating thought and a different perspective.
But I address very uncomfortable issues, such as terrorism, bullying, emotional abuse, and homophobia. I use illustration to add an extra dimension to the perception, and I add audio files so the reader can hear my own rendition.

However, my message today is essentially this:
  Read or listen to what moves you. Listen to the pulse of politics and people. Listen to, or read poetry with a message of positive social change.

I am putting a link to Suheir Hammad's performance on TED talks below.
It is well worth your while....
http://www.ted.com/talks/suheir_hammad_poems_of_war_peace_women_power

Composit illustrationby Womensvoice1

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To everything there is a season, turn,turn,turn, a time for #social change

11/16/2014

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It is easy to dismiss Art as frivolous or unnecessary when we are bombarded with such pressing social issues as starvation, rape, war and violence in our everyday news.

However, there is sound evidence throughout history, that art can penetrate the social conscience better than any other medium of education or indoctrination. Artists have been exiled, killed or expelled from institutions for their often rebellious messages, or anti-establishmentarianism.

Art, including poetry, fine art, theatre, photography, and music can help one visualize, and engage the brain, to actively participate in the message it defines. It can help the audience identify with the victim, or perpetrator, or satirize patterns and attitudes of a culture.

In writings as early as Ecclesiastes 3, we find wisdom, and profound teachings expressed in the form of poetry.
Verse 1. To everything, there is a season, and a time to every purpose under heaven.
Verse 2. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
Verse 7. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak.

We see satire and social comment in renaissance paintings.
For example, Botticelli painted Venus and Mars in 1483.

Mars is in a deep sleep, while the Satyrs mischievously play with his armor to amuse themselves. They playfully blow in his ear through a seashell, and wear his helmet, while the Goddess of Love stares at him in his sleep. She seems smug in the knowledge that her sexual prowess has overcome his taste for war.

The contemporary street artist, Banksey, practices guerrilla graffiti as a form of social comment.

Soap operas and Standup Comedy inspire, provoke and comment , pushing boundaries, and confronting authority.

Culture and religious dogma act as a form of resistance to social commentary.
Governments, especially those with strict doctrines, such as communist China, Russia, and Iran have expelled artists such as Shrin Nashat, ( an Iranian female Artist in exile,) for exposing the vulnerable belly of Truth

Mallika Sarabhai, a civil rights activist from India, is a pioneer of using dance and theatre for social change.
She is a great advocate of Art's power to challenge social injustice and achieve change through theatre, touching on issues such as rape, water sanitation, and the escalation of violence in society.
She points out that Art should be an integral part of the process of Science, Economy, Education, in order that our vision be broken down, and we can see things in new and innovative ways.
Mallika recently said, during a TED talk,

"If we think we can all agree that we need a better world, a more just world, why is it that we are not using the one language that has consistently showed us that we can break down barriers, that can can reach people? What I need to say to the planners of the world, the governments, the strategists is, ‘You have treated the arts as the cherry on the cake. It needs to be the yeast. "

This could be the subject of a whole thesis.

I am just summarizing today for my blog, and will continue this subject in my next blog installement.
But clearly, this is a subject that could be explored in great depth, with many more examples than I have included here.

I would like to invite readers to comment and contribute to this blog entry, suggesting artists, poets, or writers, who in their opinion have contributed to positive social change.

I would love to embrace new guest blog contributors, or just a paragraph or two to add depth to this subject.

I close with a picture by me of a dancing Goddess, entitled "Dance to change the world."
The clay Goddess is the work of Betsy Doan, a local Dallas artist of Mud Puppy studios.
She produces dancing Goddesses for the garden or the wall . Her contact information is
betsysmudpuppystudios@sbcglobal.net

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#Book Creator may help you to realize your dreams!#Insights into the e-book creating process.

11/8/2014

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Today, I am going to toot my own horn, and talk about how I published my book, using Book Creator, by Redjumper studios in England. They are a fabulously supportive company with a fantastic product, and I say this with no reservations, or kick backs of any kind. The program is super easy to use, and if you are creative, and dream of writing a book, this may be the program for you.
Here is an extract from their Blog, written about me. I made the headlines:)

60-year-old uses Book Creator for the first time to publish her poetry

You’re never too young to start using Book Creator! We love the fact that people from 5 – 105 years old can use our app and publish their stories.
Sue Golden was born, raised and educated in Cornwall, England. Sue has been a nurse since her 18th birthday, and moved to America in 1981.
This is the story of how she realized her dream to publish a book.

Through my experiences as a woman, a mother, and a wife, I have absorbed many life lessons, eventually finding that these influences have colored my perception of the world.

It has been a growing seed in my heart, that if women had a greater voice, the world would be a very different place. I began to write poetry, and I dreamed of writing a book, to reflect my ideas and my philosophy.

I wanted to find a program that would allow me to express myself, using the written word, illustrations, and allow me to include audio files. I had looked at several templates, but none of them rose to my expectations.

Enter Book Creator! After a brief Google search, I discovered Book Creator by Red Jumper Studio.
Not only did it seem to match my expectations, but it is actually formatted to meet the requirements for iBooks publication.
Woohoo! Bingo!
The sheer beauty of Book Creator is that it has allowed even me, at 60, (and not HTML savvy) to “spill my guts and wax eloquent” – to use illustrations to add depth and meaning to satire, AND to use my voice as an instrument of delivery!

This is the story of how I was able to produce The Moon of Compassion – verses for a voice, poems for a new age.

>> Download The Moon of Compassion from iTunes

Writing on the go I like to use my iPad and/or my iPhone to write poetry, when I am on the fly. I might write one or two lines, and then come back to them later. I sometimes record my thoughts into a voice recorder, especially if I am driving on my way to work, and cannot stop to write things down. (I don’t text and drive!)

My two favorite programs I use to write are Textilus on the iPad, or Write on the iPhone. They both sync with Dropbox, so I am able to retrieve my writing later to incorporate my scattered thoughts.

Now I have to interject here, that you do not need an external word processor to compose and write in Book Creator. The great thing is that you can write, edit and even spellcheck directly on each page. You can change fonts, the color of fonts, and indent your writing any way you want.

Plus, you can align titles, verses, and pictures with the help of grid lines, which was very useful in my particular endeavor. You can even add hyperlinks! Very impressive! (My family think I am super clever).

Illustrations to catch the eye
For my pictures, I wanted to create child-like illustrations, almost cartoon like, to catch the imagination, and appeal to people who would normally find poetry boring. My subjects are quite diverse, and sometimes a bit controversial, so illustrating them with simple eye catching pictures was my goal.

I am a keen photographer, and used some of my own photography as back drops. Then I layered open source clip art, or my own drawings, in all sorts of combinations to achieve my message.
After that, I added texture and depth using a variety of techniques and different programs, including Adobe Photoshop.
I used the page color options in Book Creator to provide pop and variety from page to page.

Now for the narration
There are several ways to record your own voice or music to incorporate into Book Creator. I used a combination of ways. You can record directly into the program, using the microphone on your device. This is very effective (as long as you gag any children and/or dogs before you start!).
I also used a third party voice recorder, because I wanted to use some different voice effects. But for one particular poem, I played my recording on my computer, with the speakers facing the iPad, and sang over the playback directly into the iPad.
(Ha! Very sophisticated, although I say so myself!).

Book Creator allows you to import iTunes recordings into your book, so I was able to record in a third party app, send it to myself via email, drag it into iTunes on the computer, and then sync my iPad. Then my recordings would show up under ‘Songs’, and I could import them into the book.

Book Creator also allows you to embed your audio into a page, but keep the audio icon invisible. This results in a much more polished presentation.

>> Support: Working with audio in Book Creator

Support for uploading to iTunes The uploading of the book was a little more challenging, although I found the Book Creator FAQs, and Dan Kemp’s detailed guidelines on the blog very useful. I would highly recommend reading both.

I experienced a few hiccups along the way, partly because I do not own an Apple computer, (and I am less familiar with their interface), and partly because I had to trot over to a friend’s house to do the upload, and each time I had to follow up on iTunes Producer. Mind you, I had dinner and/or a glass of wine each time, which added to the enjoyment of the process!
Apple are responsive, although you have to read their FAQs; and there is a phone number to call if you have trouble.

The Book Creator team are extraordinarily responsive, and offered me help along the way, especially with the index, which had to be re-formatted due to some new Apple requirements. They also assisted me with re sizing the cover art work, and the sample pages, which have to be of certain proportions; (see Apple submission guidelines in iTunes Producer).
Using Book Creator was positively addictive!
I want to stress that I had so much fun putting everything together and importing it into the Book Creator template. The process of using Book Creator was easy! It was positively addictive!
And, if I didn't like something, I could delete it and put something else in its place without any difficulty. I could also add, delete, and move pages around.

If ever I needed assistance, and could not find the answer in the FAQs , I would send out a support ticket SOS, and I would receive personalised assistance within 24 hours. The customer support is unmatched in my experience!

All in all, my experience of the uploading process was very positive. I learned a lot, and feel very accomplished. Plus I am better prepared for next time and I know I can do it (even me!).
I have already started on the sequel to The Moon of compassion, and am extremely proud to have followed through with my ambition.
I encourage you to do the same. If I can do it so can you!

If you have dreams to write a book

and your life’s work you would pursue,

Then search no more and take a look

with Book Creator YOU CAN TOO!

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Your Strength as a Woman

11/1/2014

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“Much of your strength as a woman can come from the resolve to replenish and fill your own well and essence first, before taking care of others.”
― Miranda J. Barrett, A Woman's Truth: A Life Truly Worth Living

As I stoop to fill my cup

Imagination wander,

I drink to nurture and pick up

My soul, my heart’s responder

Without this precious Adam’s ale

My body desiccation be,

My strength would dissipate and fail

My passion drain to dust, debris

And so it is with Spirit strength

Of Woman’s essence, breast milk flowing

The yield proportional to the length

Of dedication to the sowing

Spirituality, the soul

So shall ye reap,

The precious whole

Take time to feed yourself, refuel

Your time to rise is now, rebirth

Your inner strength, reborn, renewal,

Time to shine, to show your worth

“A woman’s work is never done “

Then time to stoop and fill your glass

Recharge at every deed begun

And you will all your dreams surpass.

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A free woman's voice opens as a flower to the sun.

#Happy Thanksgiving. A poem by #Thich Nhat Hanh

"I will not dance to your war drum" #Suhier Hammad

To everything there is a season, turn,turn,turn, a time for #social change

#Book Creator may help you to realize your dreams!#Insights into the e-book creating process.

Your Strength as a Woman

Susan Golden

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