Every Day Is Yours To Win . (Lyrics by R.E.M./image from album Collide In The Now) …… with the walk and the talk . and the tick tock clock . with the rock and the roll . and the bridge and the toll . with the brilliance and the light . and the stink and the fight . and the road ahead of you . i cannot tell a lie . it’s not all cherry pie . but it’s all there waiting for you, yeah you . hey yeah, hey yeah . hey yeah, i know . with the warp and the wooze . and the subterfuge . does it all look bitter and blue? . well i’m nothing but confused . with nothing left to lose . and if you buy that, i’ve got a bridge, for you . hey yeah, hey yeah . hey yeah, i know (rpt) . every day is new again . every day is yours to win . and that’s how heroes are made . i wanted to win . so i said it again; . that’s how heroes are made . hey yeah, hey yeah . hey yeah I know (rpt) .
I hear rural folk have trouble with downloads on the internet so rather than a video clip I’ve created this one as a Clunk and Jam note for you. Click on the typewriter to view and print. Pass it on …
For a woman that was the embodiment of the golden era, Poet and Singer Patti Smith resists the pull of the past, instead inhabiting the space between now and tomorrow…
“I believe that we, that this planet, hasn’t seen its golden age. Everybody says it’s finished…art’s finished, rock and roll is dead. God is dead. Fuck that! This is my chance in the world … If only each generation would realise that the time for greatness is right now when they’re alive. The time to flower is now.” Start the year by passing this Clunk and Jam note on through your Facebooks (icon below) and get friends on board to support The Black Dog Project too… click on the typewriter to print a Clunk & Jam note to stick up somewhere (private or public). If you’re new to this, more about Clunk and Jam and how to make wallpaper from the notes here.
2011 has been a busy and creative time … with the realisation of a small, quiet dream. So I thought I’d share some snaps and words that capture this, and the community spirit of the Dog (turning 7 in March next year – pictured is its home)..
The small, quitet dream? Crafting beautiful picture books and printed things, to give to children and young people who are struggling in mind and life. I truly believe that this act of kindness itself, along with the love and community spirit in which the gifts were made, would seep deep and soothingly into their world. Provide a reassuring hug of hope. And while the website provides a virtual experience of a ‘gift’, you just can’t beat the tangible, sensual, keepsake qualities of books and paper things.
(A hand crafted version of the new ‘Clunk & Jam’ book, being published next year along with the ‘Rock The Boat’ book – story here)…
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We shall bake a black promise. One that rises to fill every soul, leaving no room for sticks and stones. We shall sit at a table round and bare, with no heads, no wooden spoons or cups to fill. We’ll play games for no prizes, make rainbows without green and red, black and blue. We’ll shed tears and fears into a well so full it forever flowed into holding hands, as trees grew back tall around us and grass reached out lush and long, holding us so high in endless respite – there would be no end or beginning. Click on typewriter for Clunk & Jam note you can print and keep close. Photo of a group of young people who came up with this symbol of shared strength.
Just some light conversation and things to think about as the red man approaches…. Morticia Addams used to cut the flowers off roses and arrange the thorned stems in vases. An alternative is to put the flower tops in a small bowl – they last for ages and dry to shape in the pot… if you neglect them long enough. I gave my ‘wise man of the couch’ (psychologist) one of these black iron pots (pictured) and often bring him a rose bud picked fresh from the garden. When I return for the next session, the rose is still there in its pot. And it would actually last forever just like that. It’s symbolic of containment for me I think – and maybe a sense of continuity. But all that analysis aside – it’s also about the joy of giving. With Christmas upon us check these previous posts… ‘Wanting Small’. This about ‘Less is More’. And something the think about in relation to ‘Unhappiness’. Pass it on Morticia style – click, click…
A strange phenomenon… when I go on Youth Focus camps and spend time with young people – one thing strikes me everytime. 20-25 young individuals arrive to spend a weekend together and often there’s only one thing they have in common – they’re all different. That ‘difference’ too, seems to be the carrier of loneliness, the feeling of disconnection and lack of sense of place in the world. But, over the space of a weekend, that very difference is what unites and strengthens them. Why? Because, unlike the world outside the camp environment, difference is valued and accepted there. So it’s safe to reveal their true selves, however strange, weird and unacceptable that might be to the outside world. And they are safe also to try on new ways of being without judgement and criticism. And it always makes me wonder … what if being different meant you’d never be alone again….what if society valued and appreciated difference as opposed to casting aside those who don’t fit the mould.
What if individual flags were flown in the face of the ‘one size fits all’ (we know it doesn’t). Wouldn’t the world be a far more interesting (and safer) place to be …. pass it on or click on the typewriter for a Clunk & Jam note you can print and stick somewhere to get others thinking about this strange phenomenon- and perhaps make some strange difference to the world….
Drawings by Ann James found in an old school magazine called ‘Blast Off’.
