Do YOU know Ricë Freeman-Zachery?

My original intention today was to post about Visual Poetry with Susan Tuttle. However, for some strange reason, Ricë Zachery-Freeman kept knocking at the door. Please forgive me. It near feels sacrilegious to mention the two names in the same post, let alone the same paragraph.

Yesterday I attended this workshop via a video conference with Sagehill Community Futures Development Corporation. Judy Slivinski, the teacher, spoke about how with "packaging", you can "build your image or reputation". I immediately thought of Ricë. You HAVE TO look at her picture on her blog if you have NO IDEA who Ricë is.



And now you must be asking why, when I am taking the Visual Poetry online course as well as participating in Art Everyday Month, I am thinking so much about this personage and seemingly being so side tracked. Ah, but I am not being side-tracked at all. I am finding focus. This writer, free spirit, is helping me to find discipline.

I happened to be caught totally off-guard by the e-mail announcing Susan Sorrell's live blogchat with Ricë, happening right now. This was Sunday. OK, so I happen to get distracted occasionally. I decided to click on the link. Sounded like a good topic. I picked up some handy tips about applying text on fabric before I even got into the main discussion. The topic seemed important to me. But as I followed the discussion, the word procrastination was not being mentioned. Seemed to me a lot of my friends have this same relationship with the p word as I. I never once imagined Ricë would have any problems with it. I could tell by her picture, her art, her confidence that she might not even recognize the p word. Yet I thought perhaps she may have some gem of advice to assist me. Maybe I could even pass the gem along to some of my friends. I asked about it. This is what Ricë had to say: "Procrastination is usually about something else--fear, uncertainty. Find out what it is that's at the root, and go from there." At first glance, just some words. To me, they were profound.

In pondering what Ricë had to say through the whole chat, I was left feeling stronger, more on the path to how I need to proceed with my art, perhaps my life. The concept of deadlines and the use of calenders was outlined. I grasped this idea.


In the past years I have kept my calender in my head. I have learned that mistakes can be made, important things forgotten. Mostly I realized quite some time ago that keeping these calenders and lists in my head does not allow much space, within which my muse might play. The ideas get blocked because there are too many other things trying to save their own spots.

I could carry on at length. Perhaps I'll re-visit this topic another day. Probably not. I want to create. I want to set priorities. I want to set some realistic deadlines for myself which I may be able to achieve. I am feeling the strength already in the discipline.

I will leave you with this quotation from last night's Robert Genn letter of the Painter's Keys:
The more I study the successes of self-actualized artists, the more I come to understand how they value themselves. People with a decent amount of self-esteem tend to find quality within their work and within their lives. It's this trust of the universe that leads to great art, great fortune and great happiness. "Deal with yourself as an individual, worthy of respect and make everyone else deal with you the same way." (Nikki Giovanni)