Blog # 16 Allegra's Birthday

Blog #16
Allegra's Birthday
April 30, 2018

Gentle Reader,
One of the more difficult aspects of traveling and being away from home is that I miss events.  Today is Allegra's birthday.  She is the youngest of four daughters, and she turns 19 today.  To celebrate, she went to a Vegan/Vegetarian Festival in Novi over the weekend.  It was held at their Convention Center.  She told me she was happy to be among her people!

She also went to Sultan's Restaurant in East Lansing.  I had taken her there when I was in Michigan in March, and she really enjoyed the many options that fit her lifestyle on the menu.  I was happy to hear she had the appetizer with roasted cauliflower again... and a mango smoothie.  She also enjoyed a vegan chocolate cake from Whole Foods.

I missed being at her celebration, but was in communication with her throughout the day.  Here's the photo-poem I wrote for Allegra in honor of her birthday...



May your dreams continue
     to reach toward the sky



May you bloom even on days
     that feel dry and rocky



May butterflies rest gently
     around your beautiful spirit




May your life be filled with eternal spring,
      as on this mountainside.

********************************************************************

Allegra is an artist extraordinaire, and she captures so much of life and living in her paintings.  She is a Gender Studies/Art/Environmental Sciences student at University of Michigan, Dearborn campus.  She had three art classes this past semester, which was quite the load, along with her other two classes. She is forming a Vegan Club on campus, too.  She will be working at University of Michigan Family Alumni Camp, near Lake Walloon, this summer, as a lifeguard and possibly as a worker in the art studio.  I took Annelise and Allegra to this camp for a few years when they were elementary age.  Their grandfather, Bob Forman, was alumni director at University of Michigan for about 25 years, so he is especially proud that Allegra is attending U of M and will be at the alumni camp this summer.  It's a family camp, with activities for families, children, and adults.  One of my favorite events was hearing talks from various professors at U of M in the evenings.  The children loved the beach, the creative sand projects, and the unicorn that occasionally galloped through the camp.  The nature hikes were favorites, too.

So, happy birthday to you, Allegra!  I hope you know I am there with you, in spirit and love.

Here's us at Broad Contemporary Art Museum in March, just outside the Andy Warhol exhibit:



I will end today's blog with some quotes about artistry, to honor Allegra.

“Inside you there’s an artist you don’t know about… say yes quickly, if you know, if you’ve known it from before the beginning of the universe.”
― Rumi

“As artists, we are eternally heartbroken.”
― Lady Gaga

“Everyone wants to understand art. Why not try to understand the song of a bird? Why does one love the night, flowers, everything around one, without trying to understand them? But in the case of a painting people have to understand. If only they would realize above all that an artist works of necessity, that he himself is only a trifling bit of the world, and that no more importance should be attached to him than to plenty of other things which please us in the world, though we can't explain them. People who try to explain pictures are usually barking up the wrong tree.”
― Pablo Picasso

“... so this is for us.
This is for us who sing, write, dance, act, study, run and love
and this is for doing it even if no one will ever know
because the beauty is in the act of doing it.
Not what it can lead to.
This is for the times I lose myself while writing, singing, playing
and no one is around and they will never know
but I will forever remember
and that shines brighter than any praise or fame or glory I will ever have,
and this is for you who write or play or read or sing
by yourself with the light off and door closed
when the world is asleep and the stars are aligned
and maybe no one will ever hear it
or read your words
or know your thoughts
but it doesn’t make it less glorious.
It makes it ethereal. Mysterious.
Infinite.
For it belongs to you and whatever God or spirit you believe in
and only you can decide how much it meant
and means
and will forever mean
and other people will experience it too
through you.
Through your spirit. Through the way you talk.
Through the way you walk and love and laugh and care
and I never meant to write this long
but what I want to say is:
Don’t try to present your art by making other people read or hear or see or touch it; make them feel it. Wear your art like your heart on your sleeve and keep it alive by making people feel a little better. Feel a little lighter. Create art in order for yourself to become yourself
and let your very existence be your song, your poem, your story.
Let your very identity be your book.
Let the way people say your name sound like the sweetest melody.

So go create. Take photographs in the wood, run alone in the rain and sing your heart out high up on a mountain
where no one will ever hear
and your very existence will be the most hypnotising scar.
Make your life be your art
and you will never be forgotten.”
― Charlotte Eriksson

May your day be filled art you love, with art you create...

Namaste,

Marianne