World of Possibility

Today is more than just another day in your life…..

Candee Basford — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 14:15:36 +0000

I’m happy to pass this along.

With many blessings.

By Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg,busic is by Gary Malkin and narration is from Brother David Steindl-Rast.

Grant Opportunity for Ohio River Valley Artists

Candee Basford — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 17:43:36 +0000

Heads up local artists. The Fast Track grant application process is open until February 1, 2011.

I can speak from experience. I’ve received this grant 3 times over the years. It’s not a huge amount of money but, I’ve been pleasantly surprised each time by the interest and passion this gift of support generates. It is well worth the effort. So, go for it!

More details:

The Artist Fast Track grant program is open to artists and craftspeople, part-time or full time with professional experience who live and work in the Ohio counties of Adams, Ashtabula, Athens, Belmont, Brown, Carroll, Clermont, Coshocton, Columbiana, Gallia, Guernsey, Harrison, Highland, Hocking, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mahoning, Meigs, Monroe, Morgan, Muskingum, Noble, Perry, Pike, Ross, Scioto, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, Vinton, Washington or theWest Virginia counties of Wayne, Cabell, Mason, Jackson, Wood, Pleasants, Tyler, Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, Hancock.
Artists and craftspeople may apply for grants of up to $500. You may not apply for more than one grant in the state fiscal year period, July 1 to June 30.

Download information at the link below. To request an application, write to Bill Howley, project director at billhowley@hughes.net

fasttrack

Earth and Fire Pottery

Candee Basford — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:55:58 +0000

Horsehair Raku Vase by Eric Preston

I love artists who allow themselves to dive, dream, play, listen, create, move to the edges – with joy and dogged determination. I love artists who keep doing what they love in spite of a million obstacles. Eric Preston is one such artists. Eric listens to clay, allowing it to speak it’s shape. He senses the future the clay is trying to express. He assists, midwifes, enables clay to be reborn in the shapes, lines, and colors it was meant to have.

See more of Eric’s assisted births here

THE Right Way to Read –

Candee Basford — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 14:04:38 +0000

Love this story by John McKnight about the right way to read.

More good stuff at “Abundant Community.”

Have you every felt your ideas, experiments, dreams sabotaged or undermined by the right way? Or by best practices? Or by we don’t do that here?

Blessings

Candee Basford — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 14:24:36 +0000

A Woman's Way of Knowing©

Just found this loving kindness meditation led by Sylvia Boorstein. I hope to practice this meditation everyday for the rest of my life. From the Being Blog.

Making Art is like fire in the dead, cold night of winter

Candee Basford — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:14:09 +0000

Making art in a destitute place is like making fire in the dead, cold night of winter. It gives out warmth, gives out light, gives direction and rekindles hope.

Lily Yeh

One Crease, Much Beauty……….from the Being Blog

Candee Basford — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 17:07:18 +0000

One Crease, Much Beauty

by Susan Leem, associate producer

The documentary Between the Folds won a Peabody Award this year for chronicling origami artists who reinterpret the world through folding paper. Though the film features elaborate technical mastery and the possibilities for physics, Paul Jackson, an origami teacher from Tel Aviv, Israel, describes a broader philosophy by demonstrating the elegance of a single fold of paper and the unexpected shapes that can be created:

“This is the lesson of one crease, that you don’t need to have a very strong knowledge of origami technique to make something beautiful that you feel is in some way significant and interesting.”

Be Good to Yourself – Be Your Own Best Friend

Candee Basford — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:48:13 +0000

Patty Foote, a student in my public speaking course wrote the following essay in preparation for her ‘Persuasive’ Speech delivered to the member of her class (115 so1) at Southern State Community College in June 2011. Originally posted on the class blog. With Patty’s permission and my GREAT JOY, I’m re-posting it here.

I knew from the beginning of the quarter what I would want my persuasive speech to be, and now that I have gotten to know everyone somewhat and got a glimpse into your lives, I know this is the perfect choice for this audience – YOU!

My speech is BE GOOD TO YOURSELF – BE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND

As I have listened to all of you the past two months, I have no other message that I think is more important. I have done a good deal of reflection since going back to school. When I listened to your own stories and reflections, I can identify and connect with many of you. Trust me, I have many more years of life experience than all of you and I have spent years of what you might call just surviving because I did not know my value, or I let someone else define it. I am far from that road I was on and still traveling away from it.

I will discuss these points; I like to call them valuable thought lessons.

Thought lesson 1 – You are Important

Thought lesson 2 – You Deserve the Best in your Life

Thought lesson 3 – Learn from your Past

Thought lesson 4 – Be Good to Yourself, Be Your Own Best Friend

You are Important

There is only one you on this planet, Earth. You have talents, gifts and ideas that no one else has or can offer to this world. You are unique and no one can take your place. Don’t let anyone in your present, your past or your future dictate who you are and where you are going. The people that surround you will be better off because you are in their life. You are Important. Remember that!

You Deserve the Best in your Life

The Best contains all your goals, your dreams and any star that you dare to reach out and grasp. Don’t settle for less than what you wish for. Write your goals and your dreams down and go after them. If you don’t know what your goals are right now and are finding your way, that’s okay. Just wait on it – it will come. It’s okay to be uncertain. Live everyday being confident in who you are. Just live everyday the best you can.

If you find a time in your life when you are discouraged and fear you may not reach your dreams, or think you don’t deserve them, stop! Take captive that thought, grab it and throw it in the trash bin and remember these words – YOU DESERVE THE BEST AND YOU DESERVE TO BE HAPPY! YOU CAN MAKE IT AND YOU HAVE IT IN YOU TO DO SO!

Learn from Your Past, but leave it behind

Many of you have shared painful, but moving stories of your life and your life experiences, and you are well on your way with life lessons learned. We make choices in life and sometimes those choices affect the people around us. If you have been affected by someone else’s choice, learn from it and go on. Use your past to push yourself forward. If there are those in your life whose good choices have influenced you also, in a positive way, cling to the ones you know in your heart are right for you and use them to build strength of character. Someone’s bad choice can be just as positive as a good choice, if we learn from it. Use your past to take advantage of your present and your future. You are not bound to your past – today is a new day and yesterday is over. Believe it!

Be Good to Yourself – Be Your Own Best Friend

What is the definition of a best friend to you? Someone in your life you admire and spend time with. We have fun and share special moments with our best friend. We might share secrets and thoughts with our best friend that we don’t share with others. A true best friend is someone we can trust and depend on to help us in our life’s journey. Someone who is always there no matter what we’ve done – they don’t condemn and judge, they are there to help and encourage us. A best friend takes high priority in our life, even though they would probably not ask for it. Most of us would drop what we are doing to go help a best friend in need. We put extra thought into picking that special birthday gift because we want to make them happy. We love our best friend. Our best friend knows us like nobody else does. They have our best interest and happiness at heart. You may be a best friend to someone or have a best friend like the one I just described.

But, today I would to encourage and persuade you to be your own best friend.

Be good to yourself – treat yourself with respect and honor – don’t judge or condemn yourself –

Take note of the good qualities in your character – take pride in your accomplishments and celebrate them – treat yourself to a special event, maybe a special dinner or whatever you like – pick out a special gift for your own birthday – let your differences be an asset to you, after all there is only one you, you are unique, you don’t have to be like everyone else –

If you make a mistake, learn from it and go on – be kind to yourself – be happy with yourself -

And finally, relax and know that your life counts in this world and so do you and tell yourself that!

To bring this all to a closing, I would like to recap briefly and please remember and tell yourself often:

You are Important

You Deserve the Best in your Life and you deserve to be happy

Learn from your past and put it behind you

Be good to yourself and be your own best friend

Patty Foote

Prenatal Care or Selective Breeding?

Candee Basford — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:12:28 +0000

According to the Mayo Clinic’s website “Screening for Down syndrome is offered as a routine part of prenatal care.“ That statement is difficult for me to grasp given that 95% of fetuses identified with Down syndrome are aborted. That hardly sounds like prenatal care to me. So, what is it? Social engineering? Dare we say eugenics? And, even more important than what to call ‘it’, what in the world can we do to cut through the biases and prejudices?

From the “What Sorts of People Should there be ?” Blog.

Down But Not Out

Faced with a positive test in pregnancy for Down Syndrome, what would you do?

Last year, New Zealand introduced a new blood test as part of an improved screening programme for Down Syndrome. But a group of parents provocatively calls it eugenics; the practice of selective breeding of the human race. Because worldwide data shows the better the testing programme, the more Down Syndrome pregnancies are terminated. 60 Minutes reporter Paula Penfold meets those who live with Down Syndrome to see what kind of lives they do lead, and asks the question at the heart of the issue: should they, or shouldn’t they have been born?

The show airs in New Zealand

Living Sculptures

Candee Basford — Sun, 22 May 2011 12:43:39 +0000

Theo Jansen’s website