31 May 2017
For years I suffered with mazeophobia, the fear of getting lost. One family member, I remember before one trip, scoffed, asking if I was afraid of flying. No, I said, I’m afraid of airports. What I actually was fearful of was getting lost in the airport. Not long after that, I ended up stranded in the Minneapolis airport for seventeen hours, walking, walking, every inch of that airport. By the time I finally boarded my plane, I wasn’t afraid of airports anymore. But…the fear of getting lost in general remained.
I bought and studied an atlas. I bought a Garmin GPS. I learned how to use the GPA on my phone. I created a system of tracking my entire journey. I not only got in my car and traveled with others, I got in that little red car and traveled by myself, thousands of miles every year, two lane backroads, me and Garmin and my maps and my notes and my music.
I still have a phobia of becoming lost, but I am more afraid of being trapped, limited, by my fear.
Make art about what it means to be lost.
1 June 2017
Make art about what’s being bought and paid for.
2 June 2017
Make art about the decline of an empire.
Mary Carroll-Hackett: Poetry and Prose 
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