I've decided that I am going to accept that my Grandmother is slowly dying. In fact, we all are...I'm embarking on a new project of photo essays called 'Elders in the Light'. For now, my grandmother is the first subject of the portraiture work. I plan to document her store house of our family's oral history, and the many stories to make them part of my 'store' of knowledge, and to love her fully (along with all of the loved ones in my life) each and every day that we breathe, and even after that...with my heart relaxed and full of love...
(www.jjleatherman.com) All Images Copyright and property of Jessica Joy Stowe
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Portraits of Grandma
I've decided that I am going to accept that my Grandmother is slowly dying. In fact, we all are...I'm embarking on a new project of photo essays called 'Elders in the Light'. For now, my grandmother is the first subject of the portraiture work. I plan to document her store house of our family's oral history, and the many stories to make them part of my 'store' of knowledge, and to love her fully (along with all of the loved ones in my life) each and every day that we breathe, and even after that...with my heart relaxed and full of love...
Monday, October 27, 2008
Revisiting Synchronicity : The Last Docking of The Delta Queen in The Port of Paducah, Kentucky
(c) jj leathermanThis morning I woke up with The Delta Queen (song by Nathan Lynn and Bawn in the Mash) playing in my head...then all this morning, I think I am hearing the Calliope Whistle loudly announcing??? Something...So, I peruse the Ol' BLOG and find that we are nearing that sad anniversary. I think it's worth a re-post and a re-visit. There is something about synchronicity and nostalgia that never grows old...
SAVE THE QUEEN~October 27, 2008
On Synchronicity: The Delta Queen and Nathan Lynn
We went early and made a day of it starting with a good morning salute to the Queen, and then headed to the River Maritime Museum, then onto the Railroad Museum, next for lunch: Kirchoff's good soup and sandwiches and then onto Wildhair Studios to pick up my first music purchase of Bawn in the Mash's Atomic City, their first album. Finally, we got back in the car and re- parked right down by the river to watch the Queen leave the Paducah Port for what could be the very last time.
Still in the sunny part of our day before the Queen's departure while relaxing in the warmth of the car by the river, I put the Atomic City album on and listened and stared at the old gal that is the Delta Queen paddle boat, and tried not to cry too hard in front of the children, but I was really sad, and then a head pops in our window~who but the singer of our farewell serenade: Nathan Lynn: http://www.nathanblakelynn.com/index.php.
He popped his head in and said, 'hey I sing that song, that's me singin'" The boys were delighted, and I went and got his autograph, and he gave me a cd! I felt like the most privileged of fans.
www.save-the-delta-queen.org
After I hopped back in the car, my eldest son didn't believe that the person on the cd that we were listening to was who he said he was there at the river front, right in front of us, so I said~'hey, he's got that guitar on his back maybe he's about to prove it." So, then the boys and I shamelessly followed Lynn and Dixie up to where the river gage runs and Nathan commenced to singing his beautiful tune about none other than The Delta Queen. It was such an honor to be there at the confluence of great art and history.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Japanese girl
Japanese girl
Tinted albumen print from a japanese photo album of the 19th century.
Uploaded by ookami_dou on 28 Jan 07, 1.11PM EDT.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Tree of Life Series by JJ Leatherman
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Belly Casts
Finally, 4 and 6 years later, the boys and I put gesso on on our belly casts. I say ours, because they were the little beings that caused my figure to blossom so bountifully. You'll notice that one is larger than the other, as I was much more supple to stretch ;)..i think both forms are absolutely beautiful in their own way, just as my children are in their own way…
My eldest wants to paint our first house on his…while my younger insists that he is Venus. I want to have the moon and sun be central in each one of their designs as I feel that I am the earth and they are my sun, and moon. My husband is that vast space that holds us, elemental like me, earthy, the tree rooted in me….
One is my egg, the other, my igloo…
I'll post the next phase in the process, sanding, hopefully very soon.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Vale Que Tengas
Lyrics to Vale Que Tengas by Ely Guerra:
Me enteré de como se sumerge
en el ácido el corazón,
puedo claramente ver las gotas de dolor,
una mezcla de ignorancia y falta de pasión,
una indiferencia que engrandece el desamor,
un silencio enorme que ensordece.
Vale que tengas tiempo para soñar,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentirte feliz,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentirte infeliz,
porque la vida es así, la vida es así...
Vale que tengas tiempo para volar
vale que tengas tiempo par sentir el amor
vale que tengas tiempo para sentir el dolor
porque el dolor es mejor cuando se entiende.
Me enteré de como es que se encienden
los temores, la desilusión
puedo claramente ver la poca inspiración
el vacío al que se enfrenta nuestro corazón
una indeferencia que engrandece al desamor
un silencio enorme que ensordece.
Vale que tengas tiempo para soñar,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentirte feliz,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentirte infeliz,
porque la vida es así, la vida es así...
Vale que tengas tiempo para volar,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentir el amor,
vale que tengas tiempo para sentir el dolor,
porque el dolor es mejor cuando se entiende...
porque el dolor es mejor cuando se entiende.
Monday, November 5, 2007
NaNoWriMo~the thrill of finally writing a novel
Writing a Novel in a month in honor of NaNoWriMo: National Writing Month
I'm not going to put this off any longer! I'm going to do this. I am trying to write a novel in a month….
Pedaling through the streets of Palermo or Paducah I have felt joy in realities far less than perfect. I want to write a novel about the concept, 'I create my own reality' and I want to create simultaneously this parallel universe, that of the novel. Essentially it will be a new reality based on the philiosophy of it's creation: a creation about reality creation. Must I truly learn how to create my own reality before creating another one within the confines of a book?
How wonderful to have a home birth through my character! How wonderful to have a mother and a father through a character. A happy world spun and created from despair and love is the essence of our society. I do not want to go to dark places~yet, I'll save those monsters for Stephen king. I love flow, I love writing practice in a notebook, but I also love sitting here at my key board clunking away. I realize that handwriting slows you down, and this is the reason that it is good. It makes you think a bit more. I think I will do both for this novel. I just want to get started.
I will write in the voice of ???? a character from ??? alice walker went all over the world in Temple of my Familiar. She was in touch with her essence, she channeled …
Monday, October 29, 2007
दिस्कोवering जाने रॉबर्ट्स ऎंड सेठ...
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
Learning how to let go:
Let Go….
To let go does not mean to stop caring, it means I can't do it for someone else.
To let go is not to cut myself off, it's the realization I can't control another.
To let go is not to enable but to allow learning from natural consequences.
To let go is to admit powerlessness, which means the outcome is not in my hands.
To let go is not to try to change or blame another, it's to make the most of myself.
To let go is not to care for , but to care about.
To let go is not to fix, but to be supportive.
To let go is not to judge, but to allow another to be a human being.
To let go is not to be in the middle arranging all the outcomes but to allow others to affect their destinies.
To let go is not to be protective, it's to permit another to face reality.
To let go is not to deny but to accept.
To let go is not to nag scold or argue, but instead to search out my own shortcomings and correct them.
To let go is not to adjust everything to my desires but to take each day as it comes, and cherish myself in it.
To let go is not to criticize and regulate anybody but to try to become what I dream I can be.
To let go is not to regret the past, but to grow and live for the future.
To let go is to fear less, and love more.