The News From Artful

There have been a lot of changes to Artful Ambiguity in Second Life. We have our own sim now, complete with market, rental homes, castle, tavern, beaches and gardens. I'm planning an underwater dance area for under-sea events as well. If the homes continue to be vacant I may turn that area into a garden dance area, but that remains to be seen. It would have been nice to have the Awesomeville sim as well, but I think giving that up was a smart move; I can always open a new sim at another time. I need to concentrate on what I already have rather than start on a new project.

Besides, I do have real world issues to cope with these days which are more important. Second Life is a great place, but you can't live there. It's virtual, even though the friendships formed may be real as well as the emotions those relationships bring up. I can't let a virtual world dictate the real one, especially as I originally entered SL as a place to learn and play. So here is to the boundaries. Enjoying SL and helping to build it and cultivate my corner of it, but to keep it there when I log out for the night.

It's a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

Rebirth of a Blog

I have been thinking about starting this blog up again as my creative dry spell appears to be over and I'm in the mood to stop ignoring the world in general. At this time I'm not 100% sure what I'll be blogging ABOUT, but a general theme is probably pointless anyway considering the blog's title. A good amount will likely include bits about Second Life as that is where a lot of my creativity has been manifesting. There is also a good chance that I'll muse about my continuing unemployment in this rapidly dwindling summer break.

Anyway, I'm not promising to blog regularly but stay tuned to this space because there is bound to be something :)

Testing

I'm just making sure this blog still works. There is a strong possibility that I will be deleting it as I really don't use it anymore and Blogger has become so difficult and frustrating to work with. However I'm not ready to make a final decision just yet. There is a chance that I will need this blog in the fall.

Blogging

I hadn't realized how long it had been since I posted anything to this blog. Not that I have not been blogging at all, I just have not blogged here. There are a couple of reasons for that. One is that this has been a very busy semester for me and free time has been at a premium. The other, and more relevant to this site, is that I find blogger to be very frustrating to work with, so I've been saving myself the frustration and using other sites.

Updated blogs can be found on my MySpace page: http://www.myspace.com/lavenderk5 and I use Twitter, and the URL to follow me there is on the right side of this page. (You'll need to copy and paste the URL to my MySpace page as I cannot insert a working link. This is a big part of the frustration that happens regularly on blogger blogs.)

This particular blog will stay open, I'm just not sure how I will be using the space, therefore I'm going to let it stay idle for the time being.

Jen

ICSC New Faculty Search

Dear Colleague,

I am writing to ask for your assistance in our search for a newly created faculty position, Assistant/Associate Professor for Leadership and Creativity at the International Center for Studies in Creativity (ICSC) at
Buffalo State College. I have attached a position description for your information. Please pass it on to qualified colleagues who may be interested in the position.

It is an exciting time at the International Center for Studies in Creativity as our Master of Science in Creativity, our international certification in Creativity and Change Leadership and our minor program at the undergraduate level continue to grow. Recognized as the "Credential in Creativity" for more than 30 years, our educational programs are designed to provide professionals with the necessary knowledge and skills to become
transformational leaders, both in business and education. We are currently developing an undergraduate minor in leadership and this newly created faculty position reflects our commitment to enhancing leadership studies and
articulating the natural connection between leadership and creativity. For more information about the ICSC please visit our website:
www.buffalostate.edu/creativity

Please feel free to contact me or Sue Keller-Mathers, Search Chair at
(kellersm at buffalostate dot edu) with any questions regarding this position.

Thank you for sharing this with anyone you feel may be interested/qualified.

Click here for a downloadable version of the position description.
(Just scroll down a bit for the link to the Word document.)

Creative Process

I've been thinking about process a lot these days, especially as mine seems to be stunted somehow. It's not that I don't want to make anything, because I do, it's more like I just don't have the energy. So that brings up the question of what is it that I need in my environment to enable my creative process, and where is it now?

There's the usual, get plenty of sleep, eat right and exercise. Sleep needs work, but I've been making the effort to eat better and to get more exercise. That, right there, is part of my current problem: I'm not used to regular exercise and have been dealing with a certain amount of muscle strain lately. So yesterday, for example, sitting at the computer just reading was a study in pain so art-making was not going to happen. My hope is that I'll sleep better with regular exercise, but I really don't think sleep is contributing to the current creative drought as I haven't slept well since 1984, and I've certainly been creative since then.

No, I think this is psychological. At the moment I'm waiting to hear about an application to an Art History grad program, so I'm on pins and needles to see if I'm in or not. Waiting patiently is not something I'm good at. The problem is that if I don't get in, I need to come up with something else to do this spring. I'd rather not do that because I really want this program. There are other Art History departments in the SUNY system, but I like this one and it means I won't have to move. So there's that pressure on me because I find not knowing very stressful. Then there are plumbing problems in my apartment which are taking forever to fix, which is a whole other set of stressors.

What I think I'm going to have to do though is just jump in and get started on something. The last thing I need right now is to get stressed out over being stressed out. Once I actually start making things I'm hoping I'll get caught up in the flow and, hopefully, that will take on a life of its own.

Back to Business

I do have some projects in the works, which is why posting on this site has been so slow lately, but I do plan to return to regular blogging on this page later in the coming week. The website may need to take a backseat to everything else right now, but the blog should be what passes for active again soonish.