Mindfulness

Being a creative often requires a fuller sense of awareness and acceptance of self. These posts feature the tactics creatives use in observing their feelings and thoughts through their art.

A circle of people dressed for cold weather standing in a circle on sand - Pyragraph

A Body of Many Bodies Flowing with sonic collaboration along the Rio Grande

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In There Must Be Other Names For The River, we ask ourselves about our personal and structural relationships with the drying river that today we call the Rio Grande. In this sound performance, listeners hear the voices of six singers channeling the river. Each singer represents a point where streamflow data have been collected from the 1970s to now and into possible futures.

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Vigil for George Floyd by Fibonacci Blue - Pyragraph

Full Circle

Joy Ike, Singer-Songwriter - Pyragraph

The problem isn’t that our laws are flawed (even though they are). The problem is that we care only to the degree that it won’t be an inconvenience or mess with our comfort…or even worse, our narratives. This is our problem.

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Keshet Dance Company, National Water Dance 2018 - Pyragraph

Clean Water is Our Right: Dancing for Water in New Mexico

Keshet logo - Pyragraph

Guest Blogger Lara Segura of Keshet shares: “I find that dance, as a nonverbal art form, can make subjects that may be difficult to discuss less abrasive and more accessible. My aim with National Water Dance is to invite the community to share their thoughts, words, and movements about the universal right to clean water.”

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John Fugelsang on Pyragraph LIVE - Pyragraph

Pyragraph LIVE: John Fugelsang

John Fugelsang is in Albuquerque to perform “Unpresidented: The true story of a comedian trying to raise a toddler while his country was electing one” and we were lucky enough to get him into the Pyragraph LIVE studio (a.k.a. my office) to talk about comedy, politics, religion, and how he’s pulled all those elements and more into his unique creative career. 

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Fish box (torobako) guitars by Stephen Faulk - Pyragraph

Torobako (Fish Box) Guitar Shop: A Primer

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All I wanted to do was make a cigar box-style guitar, and in this town there were no cigar boxes to be found. The next best box to find for free were the torobako, the crates used to ship sanma from northern Japan to southern ports.

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Dear Little Bobby - Pyragraph

Dear Little Bobby: Waste Not, Guilt Not

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Far too often in this country we throw things away that would still be wanted by someone else. Everything from perfectly edible food which places like Whole Foods throw away because the bananas are “a little too yellow” to the unwanted pets that get thrown away by fools who get a dog without wanting the responsibility of its care.

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Image by Annie Mok, distributed under the CC-BY-NC-ND creative commons license.

Mental Health Care Is a Human Right (and Artists Are Humans)

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Guest Blogger Katie Alice Greer: “OK Sadness means the machine in my head is working just fine and Not OK Sadness means, just like a runny nose, upset stomach, or a hacking cough, that I am currently sick. Plenty of factors both genetic and environmental mean I’ll always need to keep an eye on how things are going in my head.”

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Dear Little Bobby - Pyragraph

Dear Little Bobby: My Head Is Going To Explode

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You have probably heard it said that we “can’t fix stupid,” but I do not agree. Quality education can fix stupid. But what we cannot fix is someone who chooses to be ignorant and to stay ignorant. You can only explain the difference between socialism and fascism so many times before you are just wasting your breath.

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