Paying My Dues

Back to the old grind of emailing schools, colleges, and disability organizations trying to get speaking engagements. It was nice that Service Coordination had given me the opportunity to be their keynote at this year’s Self Direction Conferences. I do hope they are satisfied with the advice I could offer during my presentation.

I also hope that Wifey and I did not give Mike too many heart attacks with out last minut5es decisions, or our 10 minutes ETA calls.  This is on top of planning his wedding that is in 5 days. I know his wedding and marriage will go as smoothly as our presentations!

One could that this type of opportunity like Service Coordination Inc. gave me, could fall in one’s lap once, or twice in a lifetime.

Bad To The Bone

PWD are going to hell no matter what!  There are still people out there who still think PWD are just possess by demons. Yes I do have story to back that up, it is some where on my blog. I even had to go to court for it.
To make the story short, I was rolling home from TU and this person chase me for 3 blocks. Hitting me on the head to cast out the demons in me. Although she was the one foaming out the mouth.
Then when we do fall in love, it will be more difficult since benefits will be cut.  When this happens one person becomes the soul provider and puts more strain on the relationship. So to some people it might seem that we end up living in sin.  I respect what people believe, I just think this respect goes both ways.
I say fuck it, I will live me life to the fullest and if I get judge at the end, bring it on. So far I only have one regret in life!

I Still Love The Smell of Clbolt Blue in The Mornings, But...

 
I did this at the end the my MFA work. I was thinking what choices we make and the obstacles comes with each choice. As I use pieces of imagery from my art work to create my videos, I will be posting the whole art piece for you to enjoy. I did show Prof. Stein from King Gimp the video/animation that I have been creating that is still a work in progress and he was very interested.  In fact, he might have me go to TU next Fall to play in their new computer lab to see what direction I could take with film.  Although, the computer stuff is interesting and easier on my body, it can never replace working on the surface of the canvas. The idea of me working in film, is to still have the marks that I make. When I do start using a new medium, I think of as a new accent for my art vocabulary and how it relates to my body of work

Trust Worthily, Brave, Loyalty…

I feel as if disabled people need to develop a sixth sense, because we need to trust people so much.  There has been cases where PCA have stole disabled people income, but it would be so simple for a “friend”, or “PCA” to take one’s identity.

Trust and being able to read people needs to developed at an early age. I know what I am saying goes against parents’ and families’ instinct to protect their disabled child, at the same time they need to be prepared for the real world. When I was in high school Mrs. G., my assistant, said I do not have much privacy since I always asked her to go into my wallet.

There might be a connection between being able to capture people’s emotions in paintings and knowing how to trust people. Over the years, I have given myself credit that I could count my best friends’ one my hands. Those friends are also my networks of support, I can look towards these people to help me with any problem but in return they know things about my life that most people only share with their partner’s.

What I am saying this sixth sense to read people is really a gift. Not only from a money viewpoint, but more importantly for one’s emotional being and this talent of trusting needs to start early in life.

Talk About Double Whammy

Some how in our last move, I lost my painting head-stick. This was a double lost, because not only the head-stick was custom made, but also the brush holder on the goes on top too.  They each were design by difference places. My head-sticks have been made by an OT at Kennedy Krieger since forever. Up until 2004, when I wanted to use a different brush I had to wait for someone to change it for me. They had to un-tape one brush and re-tape another brush to the stick.

Then I was introduced to the wonderful people at VME, now V-LINC who volunteer their time to design equipment to make life a bit easier for the disabled. I knew it would be sample to get a new head-stick base from KKI. In fact, they can use the measurements for my lost visit and mail a new base to me.

When I contact V-LINK to get a new brush holder, this would be more challenging. It has been 9 years since the piece was designed and the person that I worked with move out of town.  They could not find my file; it was looking like the design process was going to start from scratch.

Some times it does pay to save years and years of emails, because I was able to find the designers email but it did not work. Being that we live in this wonderful world of social networks, I found him on Facebook.  He offered to call V-LINC and fill them in on the design on the holder. The ball is rolling down for a strike and is not going into the gutter.

There Are Many Ways To Start Movements

Here is gimp history for you. Check out "The Power of 504 (open caption, english)" by @DREDF


I don't think I'm much of a protester myself, although I might get caught up in that mentality at that time. Over the years I have been lucky enough  to have a voice that people have been willing to listen to. Even before the whole "king gimp" thing, I had a way to write letters that really got people's attention even if the reaction was not to benefit.  At least I was able to get people to start thinking and that is the first step to changing what people value.

Doing It Differently Panel Discussion

RT@Edgar_Allan_Poe Without art there is no humanity. How fitting that this quote would appear in my twitter feed today after last night.
I had the pleasure to be part of a panel discussion about about the accessibility and inclusion of art in schools and museums. This panel was Moderated by Marcus Civin from MICA, I really enjoyed how he guided the event into more of  a conversation and let the audience be involve through the event.  To me this type of format is only beneficial for all.