Artists on my mind:

Charlie Isoe

Octavio Ocampo

Octavio Ocampo

Sulamith Wulfing

Art of the Japanese Internment Camps

Days of Waiting is a documentary about the life of Estelle Ishigo before, during, and after her experience within the Japanese internment camps during World War II. Although her only connection with Japanese heritage was through marriage, she was still removed from her home and placed in a camp named Heart Mountain.

On that note...

Imagine going from this....

....to this.

Zen Buddhism emphasizes meditation.... Something I wish came more naturally to me. However, while I guess it is something that should come more easily to me than it currently does, I think the majority of our society (or the world?) shares my problem.

Do you meditate?

The first time the idea of meditation was presented in my life was during middle or high school for me. I rented a book from a library on meditation for teens or something to that effect.

They gave the example of imagining yourself as under water, with each thought you have being represented as a bubble of your breath floating up towards the surface of the water. Every time you experience a thought, you are supposed to let it rise to the surface, your only interaction with it being that you are watching it float away. Do not respond to the thought with another thought - although that reaction is practically inevitable until you get the hang of it.

Thinking: Buddhism

Here are a few quotes that caught my eye from The Zen Teachings of Master Lin-Chi.

p. 41

"Whatever confronts you, don't let yourself be imposed on. If you entertain even a moment of doubt, the devil will enter your mind. Even a bodhisattva, when he starts doubting, is prey to the devil of birth and death. Learn to put a stop to thoughts and never look for something outside yourselves."

p. 47

"The various phenomena in this world and other worlds are in all cases devoid of intrinsic nature They are also void of any nature that manifests itself. They are empty names, and the words used to describe them are likewise empty. But you insist on mistaking these idle names for reality. This is a great error. Even if something did exist, it would in all cases by no more than an environment that changes with what it depends on."

p. 49-50

"A true student of the Way never concerns himself with the Buddha, never concerns himself with bodhisattvas or arhats, never concerns himself with the blessings of the three-fold world. Far removed, alone and free, he is never entangled in things. Heaven and earth could turn upside down and he would not be perturbed....Why is he like this? Because he knows that all things in the phenomenal world are empty of characteristics. When conditions change, they come into existence; when there is no change, they do not exist. The threefold world is nothing but mind, ten thousand phenomena are nothing but consciousness. These 'dreams, phantoms, empty flowers-why trouble yourself trying to grasp them?'

Making

After someone cracked my mirror, I had the desire to break it more and glue selected pieces onto a canvas.

After a couple hours of messing around with it, this is what I came up with:

It is done.

Now to wait for its arrival!

wish me luck

I decided that this summer, I want to teach:

1. A class about Movies, where teens can discuss certain themes within the context of movies... such as race, different cultures / cultural appreciation, and the like. The class would probably be 45 minutes long, with a little bit of free internet time before and after as bait. I want to get teens talking about what they watch, instead of having a passive role in movie-watching. When I have asked them about a movie they saw recently, I usually get responses like "it was cool" or "it sucked" etc. While I don't expect them to give me a full-blown review, it would be great if they had a more thoughtful, individual response.

2. a class about Lyrics & Poetry. I would love it if I could get kids to think about the type of words they listen to though music. I want to open their minds to the vast array of types of music out there, and how older music can still be relatable to them, even if they other see generations as completely different from themselves.