"This work is unlike any other, in its range of rich, conjuring imagery and its dexterity, its smart voice. Carroll-Hackett doesn’t spare us—but doesn’t save us—she draws a blueprint of power and class with her unflinching pivot: matter-of-fact and tender." —Jan Beatty

Posts tagged ‘elders’

Quarantine Prompt a Day <3 Elders

26 March 2020 

My grandmothers. Two women from completely different worlds, cultures, backgrounds, across a vast socioeconomic divide, brought together at the end of their lives, because my parents loved each other, and loved them.

From Miz Pearl I learned about survival, food preservation, foraging, mending, how to find and create beauty even on the darkest days, and the power of prayer, especially when it’s sung. From Miz Ann I learned about the joy to be found in making things with your hands, the value of being a smartass, the pervasive connection of laughter, which fork to use 🙂 and how even the brashest and most self-regarding among us can learn the power of gratitude and humility. 

Fierce women, strong women, wise women, loving women, despite the brokenness life dealt both of them. When they lived together, sharing the same room in my parents’ house, in the twilight of their lives, they became unlikely friends and sisters. ‘Cause that’s what Love does.

Make art about what you’ve learned from elders, about the gifts they bring to our lives. 

Category:

2020 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Family, fiction, Food, freedom, Gratitude, healing, Love, Nature, nonfiction, One Love, peace, poetry, prompts, self care, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Unsung

28 June 2019 

Make art about underappreciated, unsung, nobility. 

unsung nobility

Image by MonoRenal from Pixabay

Category:

2019 Prompts, activism, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, fiction, Gratitude, healing, Love, nonfiction, One Love, peace, poetry, prompts, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 Grandfather

16 June 2019 

My dad was one of the funniest, gentlest souls to ever walk the planet. I wish my youngest son had had more time with him. 

Make art about grandfathers.

Category:

2019 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Family, fiction, Gratitude, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, prompts, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Love <3 She

11 June 2019

Make art about the wisdom of old women, about the dangerous old woman. 

old woman

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

Category:

2019 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Family, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, healing, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, prompts, Writing, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt Catch-Up! Storms, and Shrines, and What We Can Learn <3

10/4/2016

I grew up in Hurricane Alley, eastern North Carolina, so the preparation for these big storms is something I learned early. Hurricane Matthew has ripped through Haiti, and is on his way to the US East Coast. All my provisions are laid in, flashlights and emergency equipment in place and ready, and I’ve battened down as much as I can. But sometimes Mama Nature’s just too big and unpredictable for any kind of preparation.

Make art about preparing the best you can.

hurricane-preparation-checklist

10/5/2016

Thinking a lot today about all the ways people find their way to, or demonstrate faith. Took me immediately to one of my top three favorite songs, The Mountain, by Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer.

Excerpted Lyrics by Dave Carter

Some build temples and some find altars,
some come in tall hats and robes spun fine.
Some in rags, some in gemstone halters,
some push the pegs back in line.

I see the mountain, the mountain comes to me,
I see the mountain and that is all I see.

Make art about temples or altars or shrines, faith in some unexpected way.

 

10/6/2016

Road Angel Andrea at Walmart today told me about her grandmama teaching her to sew, first by making curtains, long straight hems, she said, over and over again, summer curtains, winter curtains with their heavy lining. She said her grandmama was patient but tough, making her tear out crooked stitches, and try again til she got it right. “I learned to take my time,” she said. “I learned to take my time, look ahead of the foot, and how a pair of curtains can make all the difference in a room.”

Make art about curtains. Or about what you learned from an elder.

my-curtains

 

Category:

2016 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Books, Creativity, Family, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, Music, Nature, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Daily Prompt <3 When the Ancestors Are Us

10 June 2016

Your ancestors will surround you as you sleep
             keep away ghosts of generals presidents       priests
             who hunger for your
             rare and tender tongue
             They will keep away ghosts
             so you have strength
             to battle the living
from “Tal’-s-go Gal’-quo-gi Di-del’-qua-s-do-di Tsa-la-gi Di-go-whe-li/ Beginning Cherokee” by QWO-LI DRISKILL

Make art about ancestors, about what we can do to be good ancestors. 

ancestors

 

Category:

2016 Prompts, Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Dreams, Family, fiction, freedom, Gratitude, Love, nonfiction, One Love, poetry, Writing, Writing Coaching & Workshops, Writing Prompts

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Some Much Needed Wisdom

from my beautiful late husband ❤ John Little Bear Eaton ❤

John tribes meme

Category:

Art, Artists, Bless the Day, Creativity, Dreams, Family, Gratitude, Love, One Love, Writing

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