Fermenting in a Fertilized Creative Hot Bed

I ferment in the fertilized creative hot bed of who I've become.  I tell myself  " There's a lot more to be done in a short amount of time so get moving!" and then I turn to my CREATOR and ask
"OK, WHAT? What do ya want? I want what You Want so Please (and I believe it is a collaboration)  SO PLEASE, GOD, help me figure this out - I don't want to get it wrong." And I think I'm hearing back...."Girlfriend, relax, keep on doing what you do..... we'll figure this next challenge out - don't worry, I already took care of that wrong part." Whew! - Thanks! gOd GoD goD

The Rock and Roll Transcendence of Jerry Chamberlain

He gets out of his head and goes to another place

He glows as the conduit, channel, and circuitry load

He glazes over in a wash of moody blues and purple haze

He greets Moses and Elijah!

Pam Mark Hall's Top 100 List of "MORE and LESS"

1. More do - Less talk
2. More God - Less religion
3. More faith - Less* guns
4. More polar bears - Less* pole dancers
5. More imagination - Less* pants on the ground
6. More wise kids - Less* widgets
7. More recycling - Less* landfills
8. More love-making - Less sex
9. More sensuality - Less pornography
10. More negotiating - Less fighting
11. More loyalty - Less cheating
12. More tail wagging - Less barking
13. More determination - Less whining
14. More walking - Less driving
15. More gratitude - Less complaining
16. More contentment - Less anxiety
17. More flowing - Less flinching
18. More confidence - Less fear
19. More sharing - Less hoarding
20. More believing - Less doubting
21. More nurturing - Less destructing
22. More effective - Less perfectionism
23. More singing - Less sulking
24. More generous - Less greedy
25. More deliberate - Less impulsive
26. More contained - Less compulsive
27. More other-directed - Less self-conscious
28. More requesting - Less demanding
29. More relaxed - Less tense
30. More journalistic integrity - Less scandalous sensationalism
31. More compliments - Less slander
32. More satisfaction - Less craving
33. More humility - Less arrogance
34. More learning - Less ignorance
35. More garlic - Less salt
36. More natural - Less synthetic
37. More amused - Less cynical
38. More adoption - Less* orphans
39. More logic - Less paranoia
40. More inclusion - Less exclusion
41. More magnetized - Less polarized
42. More beautiful - Less profane
43. More hand-holding - Less nit-picking
44. More back-rubs - Less headaches
45. More peaceful - Less vociferous
46. More fairness - Less exploitation
47. More manners - Less rudeness
48. More kindness - Less cruelty
49. More value - Less hassle
50. More giving - Less taking
51. More negotiable - Less hostile
52. More assertive - Less aggressive
53. More deliberate - Less tentative
54. More hope - Less despair 
55. More in-bulk - Less packaging
56. More solutions - Less politics
57. More unique - Less* copy-cats
58. More sexual-responsibility - Less sexual-repression
59. More empowering - Less power-mongering
60. More curiosity - Less* assumptions
61. More integrity - Less scandal
62. More shared-abundance - Less need
63. More grace - Less shame
64. More compassion - Less blame
65. More role-modeling - Less preaching
66. More mercy - Less condemnation
67. More simplicity - Less chaos
68. More space - Less clutter More focus - Less scattered
69. More lean - Less fat
70. More tone - Less flab
71. More praise - Less criticism
72. More creative - Less excuses
73. More authenticity - Less posing
74. More experimentation - Less derivation
75. More substance - Less hype
76. More charity - Less condescension
77. More hummingbirds - Less* crows
78. More butterflies - Less* rats 
79. More corporate environmental accountability - Less* oil-spills
80. More common sense - Less stupidity
81. More homemaking - Less neglect
82. More stir-fried - Less deep-fried
83. More negotiating - Less fighting
84. More Main Street - Less Wall Street
85. More sustainable - Less disposable
86. More prudence - Less risk
87. More reliable - Less flaky
88. More modesty - Less exhibitionism
89. More creative community - Less cult of personality
90. More social concern - Less social media
91. More eye-sparkle - Less bling
92. More bike-paths - Less pollution
93. More urban town-centers - Less fossil fuel consumption
94. More coal-mine regulations - Less* coal-mine tragedies
95. More reaching out to others - Less* lonely people
96. More prioritized city budgets - Less* pot-holes
97. More financial intelligence - Less debt
98. More patriotism - Less nationalism
99. More little-guy/gal general stores - Less WalMart
100. More affordable health care - Less hospital bill-initialized financial ruin
101. More general practice physicians - Less* cosmetic surgeons
102. More American made exports - Less* job losses
103. More research for cures - Less disease re: Alzheimer's, Cancer, Huntington's Korea, Multiple Sclerosis - et al
104. More real music - Less Lady Gag Me
105. More Mashable - Less wasted time lost meandering on the world wide web.

*I know, I know. The correct word in this case is not "Less," but "Fewer."

Please add your own More and Less.

"Quilted Icon"

Seth Godin's business blog post, "I Quilt", reminds me of my grandmother, Cora Bess Campbell, and the patchwork quilts she made for all her grandchildren.

The youngest of twelve, born and raised on an Arkansas farm, Cora Bess Yingst (age 16) married LeRoy Campbell (age 19) shortly before they hopped a train to California. Roaming like gypsies, picking crops with migrant workers up and down the West Coast, they fished, camped and made life-long friends along the way.

They settled in San Bernardino, California. Nightly, he used Lava soap and a brush to scrub the auto-shop grease from off his hands and under his fingernails. Even before he'd spent a chunk of his weekly pay at the bar, it was hardly enough to feed, cloth and house a family of five. Cora Bess chose to rise to the creative challenge of turning scraps into things of beauty, form and function.

Grandma Bess, a meticulous seamstress, made my large, colorful quilt out of little scraps of material left over from the perfectly-fashioned cotton dresses she'd made for me from flour sacks. I'd sit on the floor next to her, cutting fascinating buttons from old clothes I'd never seen, and add them to the glass jar of her enormous collection. I'd sort and stack various sizes of empty wood thread spools while her fingers expertly guided the flowered fabric under the bobbing needle of her foot-powered shiny, black Singer sewing machine. I was enthralled by her talents. I can still conjure up the aroma of pinto beans, cornbread and greens cooking while she taught me how to take remnants of seemingly worthless material, and come up with a creative, beautiful and functional design.

Seth's, "I Quilt", helped me view circumstances and/or relationships like precious scraps of unique materials with the potential of special uses and re-uses. Cora Bess's gift to me is now a "Quilted Icon" - symbolic of my perpetual option to create beauty with whatever, as little or as much, is at hand. Like scraps of varying weights, textures, weaves and sources of materials are sometimes difficult to stitch together; so, too, are some jobs, people, and circumstances. I'm grateful for the compatible remnants with which I've been able to design, handle and stitch a life together. I want to make the most of what I've been given - and I'm remembering how to do that by visualizing my grandmother creating my very own "Quilted Icon".

Sex Appeal for the Cause

Mary Travers gave “If I Had a Hammer” sex appeal with her silky, swanky, swinging blond hair – those amazing Cleopatra eyes; and that expressive mouth and gravelly voice. It seems to me that her sex appeal helped deliver the “Peace and Equality” message of my generation. Sex appeal helped the movement to magnetize and reach critical mass.

Peter, Paul and Mary, JFK, Bobby, Martin Luther King, Dylan, Baez even Mother Theresa and Ghandhi had it! So what is my definition of sex appeal? Sex appeal is not about the appealing for acts of sex. Sex appeal is that God-given mysterious transmuted powerful energy-source that once harnessed to visions and goals, can help accomplish great things.



Like Mary Travers, I want to use all I am and have been given for the benefit of my circle of influence - however large or small that is.

Carpe Manana - Again

I pray for the visitation of my childhood dreams - those I incoherently long for in my exhausted-adult sleep-state. I want them back! The ones that woke me up early - excited to play my guitar before breakfast. The ones that gave me energy to walk several miles home from school, eat a quick snack so I could sing and play for hours at my beloved piano - the huge old upright given to me by Maida Mark, my grandmother.

Are those dreams still hovering there in the ether? The ones that kept me believing that someday I would write and record songs that would be played on the radio? Those dreams came and inspired me to give myself to the discipline of the doing, the reaching, the persevering, the believing and I did it! I wrote the songs, recorded them, and heard them on the radio!

I did all of that before I was twenty-four years old. If I did that then, I should be able to do all of that and more, now, as a middle-age woman. Have life's experiences worn me so far down that I don't dream anymore? Is it simply about energy? Do I have a certain number of bars on the battery and that's it?

I once fully believed it was possible to do what was revealed to me in the night. What changed? Are my dreams and visions now dulled, blurred by the need to grasp at security? Helen Keller once profoundly stated that security is an illusion.

I need my dreams on perpetual-recycle to keep reminding me that I can still, at any age, live the life I was conceived and born to live. Carpe Manana

Pax,
Pam Mark hall

"Get Back"

Forty-one years ago this week, the Beatles played their famous last concert on the roof of their London headquarters.

The Beatles were a mess in that January of 1969. The recording of an album tentatively titled 'Get Back' was meant to be a 'back to the basics' return to their roots, but personal problems between the Beatles escalated and culminated in George Harrison's walking out on the band.

After letting feelings calm down a bit, they got together again towards the end of the month at their company's headquarters, Apple Corps, at 3 Saville Row, London.

On the afternoon of January 30th, 1969, the Beatles walked out onto their roof and into history with a 42-minute gig that brought central London to a standstill.

With Billy Preston joining on keyboards, the Beatles played a great concert that re-energized them and got them through the rest of the year. Featuring now-classic songs such as "Get Back" and "Don't Let Me Down", the videos are a wonderful look at the last live performance of the 20th century's greatest music phenomenon.



The experience is instructive.

Like the Beatles did, when your life (be it job, music, relationships) is stuck in recrimination, emotional turmoil, and stale, unproductive patterns, change your environment. Get out of your den, go for a run, shake your head in the breeze, grow a groovy beard like Paul, and change your routine. It will give you a fresh perspective and a new outlook on things.

Oh, and be sure to be as polite as the always-sly John Lennon when he addressed the audience at the end, saying, "I'd like to say 'Thank you' on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition." (this is a revised email message from Mark Cenedella, CEO of Ladders.com)