consider the lilies

shanghai arts community (SHAC), the arts movement that a group of friends and i formed a couple of years ago, is tackling an exciting and ambitious endeavor entitled "the urbanity project". the basic premise is to produce a publication that compiles work from artists of various disciplines and nationalities, all centered around the theme of "seeing the city in its people." we will also hold a series of events connected to the publication in the art studio that some of us are collectively renting - exhibitions, possibly a film showing or reading, etc. the push is to emphasis the value and dignity of each individual in urban centers such as shanghai - to not forsake humanity for the sake of modernity and progress. we want to push past the question of "are humans valuable?" to wrestle with "WHY are humans valuable?"

for more details, you can check out our website: www.shanghaiartscommunity.com

you can also follow SHAC on twitter: http://twitter.com/ShanghaiArtsCom

i'm also happy to announce that SHAC is now officially "friends of International Arts Movement", and we are now included on their website:
http://www.internationalartsmovement.org/shanghai

woo hoo! very nice.

i'm really excited about this project on so many levels, and i'm looking forward to thinking through and working out what my own submission will be. i love what we're doing in SHAC because i think it resonates with a simple, profound truth: art is essential to who we are as humans. there is intrinsic value in the arts, and art enables us to process, understand, experience, express and enjoy the world around us in ways that otherwise would be impossible.

frederick buechner sums it up nicely here:

"literature, painting, music - the most basic lesson that all art teaches us is to stop, look and listen to life on this planet, including our own lives, as a vastly richer, deeper, more mysterious business than most of the time it ever occurs to us to suspect as we bumble along from day to day on automatic pilot. in a world that for the most part steers clear of the whole idea of holiness, art is one of the few places left where we can speak to each other of holy things." (buechner, listening to your life)

in the same passage, buechner also references a letter poet emily dickinson wrote to a friend, in which she mentions that "consider the lilies of the field" was the only commandment she never broke.

"consider the lilies of the field"...such a simple thing, really. yet so easily lost and forgotten in the whirl and buzz, the constant rush and incessant noise of daily city life.

cups of coffee: 1 + 2 cups of green tea

mood: thinking ahead

psalm

a lovely modern psalm from luci shaw. quite appropriate for ushering in the new lunar year and feeling the gradual warming of winter to spring...

Psalm for the January Thaw

Luci Shaw

Blessed be God for thaw, for the clear drops
that fall, one by one, like clocks ticking, from
the icicles along the eaves. For shift and shrinkage,
including the soggy gray mess on the deck
like an abandoned mattress that has
lost its inner spring. For the gurgle
of gutters, for snow melting underfoot when I
step off the porch. For slush. For the glisten
on the sidewalk that only wets the foot sole
and doesn’t send me slithering. Everything
is alert to this melting, the slow flow of it,
the declaration of intent, the liquidation.

Glory be to God for changes. For bulbs
breaking the darkness with their green beaks.
For moles and moths and velvet green moss
waiting to fill the driveway cracks. For the way
the sun pierces the window minutes earlier each day.
For earthquakes and tectonic plates—earth’s bump
and grind—and new mountains pushing up
like teeth in a one-year-old. For melodrama—
lightning on the sky stage, and the burst of applause
that follows. Praise him for day and night, and light
switches by the door. For seasons, for cycles
and bicycles, for whales and waterspouts,
for watersheds and waterfalls and waking
and the letter W, for the waxing and waning
of weather so that we never get complacent. For all
the world, and for the way it twirls on its axis
like an exotic dancer. For the north pole and the
south pole and the equator and everything between.

cups of coffee: 1

mood: happy

happy valentiger's day!

celebrating chinese new year in shanghai will never get old for me. i love the flurry of activity right before the holiday commences: the mobs of people preparing for their mass exodus out of the city, migrant workers with a bright smile on their faces and extra spring in their step as they look forward to long-awaited time with their families, flashy red and yellow signs promoting this or that sale amid supermarket aisles overflowing with bags of nuts and candy, the crackle and pop of the occasional early firecrackers set off by eager party people.

but the eve--oh, the actual eve of chinese new year!

for the past few years, some good friends have kindly offered their apartment and roof-top access to hold the new year festivities. cleverly combining chinese new year with valentine's day (the moon and stars somehow lined up in such a way this year), we celebrated "valentiger's day" with yummy treats and fun games. the climax was definitely trekking up to the roof, some of us with wine and cigars in hand, only to be surprised by big soft snowflakes! it rarely snows in shanghai, especially flakes as large as these.


watching fireworks explode in bouquets of light around the city, catching snowflakes on our tongues....it was all very magical.

in honor of valentine's day, here's one of my recent favorite blogs: missed connections. whimsical drawings accompany real-life ads placed in the 'missed connections' of the personals sections on craigslist. this artist captures the flight-of-fancy that colors these ads: serendipitous encounters that last only a few heartbeats, lengthened in memory by the coulda-woulda-shoulda's.

here's a great example of one that i love:


cups of coffee: 2

mood: warm

life itself is grace

with my love for polaroid shots, i was very disappointed to find out they were discontinuing the film (nostalgic blog post here). so when grace told me about an application called "poladroid" that allows you to upload your digital photos and transform them into polaroid-like images, i was nothing short of ecstatic. after seeing the photos she posted on her blog, i was inspired to upload some of my own images.

i've wasted most of my lazy sunday afternoon going through photos on my computer and "poladroid-ing" them. here are a few favorites:







i felt like i took a nice little jaunt down memory lane as i looked through photos on my computer, laughing out loud as i recalled some of the stories attached with the images. there's something about the look and feel of a polaroid shot that, for me, captures a moment in a wonderfully appropriate way. faded as if washed in a bit of time, the edges slightly fuzzy as if you are conjuring the image straight from the vault of your memory.

recently, i've been reading frederick buechner's listening to your life as part of my daily meditations. this quote, from which the book obtains its name, has stayed with me the past couple of weeks, stirring itself to the forefront of my mind particularly at moments of the mundane:

"Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace." - Buechner

life itself is grace. what a beautiful truth.


cups of coffee: 2 + 1 ginger milk tea

mood: soaking it in

new(er) mood

new year - new resolutions? new plans? new hopes?
sure.
but mostly, new playlist with current music fixations!

i have a new playlist entitled "newer mood" that i'm currently lovin'. so here's some of what's been spinning round and round on my ipod....

thanks to friend billy's amazing music blog, i've discovered a few bands occupying comfortable slots on my playlist. included are:

matt and kim have a fun and upbeat sound that catch your ear and get your foot tapping. check out "lessons learned."

noah and the whale. "blue skies" had me at the drop of the drum beat and first few chords.

phoenix plays brilliant pop. "girlfriend" is great for dancing around the apartment.

other bands that have been around but i'm just getting around to (cut me some slack. i'm old and i live in china.):

owl city. just missed his performance here in shanghai! i love the crowd pleaser "fireflies". and the song "umbrella city" makes me feel like i can fly.....or be a video game champ.

kings of leon. the first few measures of "use somebody" is absolutely stellar.

i love, love, LOVE ingrid michaelson. discovered her from "gray's anatomy" soundtracks. i can't get enough of "you and i". then again, i'm a sucker for anything with a ukulele.

the avett brothers. yes, i'll gladly jump aboard the new folk wave and confess my love for the avett brothers.

i came across "neverends" by vijay kishore on a compilation album i downloaded. this is simply a lovely swoon of a song. great listen for when you have an achin' heart.

i think it was off the same compilation album that i found ben howard's "cloud nine." intriguing guitar, great voice. i love melancholy love songs.

and a couple of sweet little ditties for the softer side. i've been listening to mindy smith for years and love her airy and sweet-as-whipped-frosting voice. "it really is (a wonderful life)" was a free holiday download from amazon and though christmas is over, i am still adamantly listening to this song. makes me feel like i'm walking through some snowy wonderland, sipping hot chocolate, making snow angels, holding hands and getting warm fuzzies. love it.

another lovey-dovey song without teetering into complete saccharine sappiness: sam & ruby's "this i know." jazzy instrumentals coupled with ruby's slightly raspy vocals and sam's tinge of a twang. feel-good stuff.

finally, some great recommendations from good friend and music fiend oli:

caravan palace! it's like 1920s swing jazz on acid. it works and it's absolutely brilliant. "dragons" especially gets my heart pumping and my groove on.

mumford & sons. wow. wow, wow, wow. talented musicians, and a commitment to honest and raw lyrics. they are quickly becoming one of my favorite bands.

there are a few more, but these top the list.

any other recommendations for a new playlist?


cups of coffee: 1 and a nice cup of yerba mate

mood: tiiiiiiiiired but happy

holiday recap!

december was a whirl of parties and food. the first day of 2010 finds me on the couch, trying to recall what happened this last month, sorting through photos on my computer while slowly digesting both the mound of food and alcohol in my stomach and the mishmash of thoughts in my head.

in brief:

a few friends from the arts group and i are chipping in to rent a studio space situated in an alley where tons of artists work. besides using the space for our own creative efforts, we are also hoping to host various events and commit the space as a nucleus for community. christmas was the perfect opportunity to throw an inaugural bash, and a bash we threw indeed! mulled wine, yummy treats, sing-along, and interactive art...we managed to squeeze in about 100 people in our small studio.


continuing our caroling tradition, some friends and i took it to the streets of shanghai again this year. perhaps it's because of preparations for the world expo, but the police were much more vigilant this year and we were shooed (firmly but politely) by security guards and cops on three separate occasions for drawing a crowd and creating a "potentially dangerous" situation. at one point, a newspaper photographer snapped some shots, which appeared in a local newspaper the next day - online version (in chinese) here.

we planned for our finale to be in the lobby of this big shopping mall that featured a wonderful open atrium with amazing acoustics - we sang here last year and it served as a fantastic finish. to our surprise, we arrived to find a large stage set up smack in the center of the lobby with bright lights flashing and techno dance music playing. they were setting up for some kind of performance, with "christmas carnival" sprawled out in purple and pink above the stage.

our fearless group leader, morris, asked the guys running the show if they wouldn't mind turning off the techno music so we could sing a few songs, and to our surprise they not only agreed but invited us to sing on stage! so we ended up as the "opening act" for this brazilian dance number that featured scantily clad women with huge feathered headdresses and one bare chested man whose hip-wiggling could rival that of ricky martin's.


we hosted our annual christmas party at the gallery, and our non-profit highlight this year was 'compassion for migrant children' (CMC). there was a special exhibit of CMC photos set up for sale, and we held a lucky draw with ticket proceeds benefiting CMC. it was a great turnout this year - especially a lot of young chinese folks who had heard about the event via word of mouth.

(photos by henry sha)

i hosted my own christmas gathering at my place - a small brunch on christmas day. nothing like hearty fare, fun friends and even a little impromptu music to celebrate christmas.


last but not least: new year's eve. kicked off with a dinner at my place. the menu ran the gamut from beef pasta casserole to dumplings to krispy kreme donuts (yes, we have a krispy kreme in shanghai now!), and of course, lots of wine and bubbly. we rented a van this year (after the nightmarish ordeal of trying to hail taxis on a freezing new year's eve last year), so we rode in style to azul/vargas grill for drinks following dinner. after reaching midnight and being showered in confetti, we were ready to groove and headed over to lost heaven on the bund, a gorgeous restaurant/lounge/bar with DJs that laid down some heavy beats for the evening's celebrations.


whew! so, that's the holidays at a quick glance.

2009 - it's been grand. thanks for the memories.

2010 - bring it. i'm ready.


cups of coffee - 1

mood: laaaaaazy

advent

a little work in progress.....

Advent

We did not know

cosmic ripples ricocheting

from the faint, small wail of a newborn.

Heaven and earth held their breath

one millisecond—

the Divine became tangible.

Prophets prophesized,

soothsayers soothed,

kings rose and fell, dynastic waves

pummeling the bars of history,

and a people in constant exile,

eyes squinting at the horizon.

But still we did not know.

New world order

toppling our Babels,

our Sodoms and Gomorrahs,

reinventing Eden—

not just a system but life itself—

somehow we become infants, too?

And still we do not know.

Bloody birth and bruised death,

ashes to ashes but dust no more,

all that was torn asunder

re-knit to wholeness. Hope—

initial pinprick of light

on the canvas of night,

growing and pulsating until

it swallows the very darkness that once consumed—

more than enough for us to fathom.

cups of coffee: 3....including one with a splash of kahlua

mood: brrrrrrr......