{"id":362,"date":"2013-01-18T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2013-01-18T20:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hometeamproductions.tv\/blog\/?p=362"},"modified":"2013-04-07T11:01:47","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T15:01:47","slug":"the-massacre-of-trees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hometeamproductions.tv\/wordsworks\/the-massacre-of-trees\/","title":{"rendered":"THE MASSACRE OF TREES"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"stump<\/a>I’ve been a bear lately.\u00a0 And with good reason, I believe.\u00a0 There’s a crew chain-sawing centuries old trees in the church complex next door to us, towering beauties that provided a partial screening out of the busy main road near our cottage.\u00a0 I can hear the boom as the earth shakes with the force of the felled limbs, along with the nasty, incessant whine of the saw.\u00a0 Healthy trees, Reader!\u00a0 And this a church famed for its “pro-life” stance.\u00a0 I guess it doesn’t apply to trees.\u00a0 I am saddened to the core of my being.\u00a0 To add to my malaise, there’s an awareness that they’ll be gunning for our<\/span> few trees next; word has it the roots are causing damage to the school gym that abuts my beloved garden, a work-in-progress for some twenty years.\u00a0 So it goes as the suburbs give way to urbanization, as a new pastor replaces the old.<\/p>\n

I’m pondering the meaning of it all.\u00a0 Growing things, cut down in their prime, in the dead of winter, never to see another spring.\u00a0 Only raw stumps left, a piercing momento mori.\u00a0 Akin to a resounding NO to life.<\/p>\n

\"stump\"<\/a>For me, this connects in a visceral way with making art that isn’t heard or seen, a theme that is particularly resonant as I send my work into the world, as I must, and am met with a blizzard of rejections, or worse, resounding silence.\u00a0 Part of the process, I tell myself, and sometimes those words fall hollowly.\u00a0 There ain’t no easy way out, as dear Tom Petty sings.<\/p>\n

It’s either give up on chasing pavements, or reject the rejections.\u00a0 That’s what it comes down to.\u00a0 At the moment, I am still inclined to the latter.\u00a0 I choose life.<\/p>\n

\"stump<\/a>I cling to the fleeting things that provide small joys and bits of solace.\u00a0 Everyday things we often tend to overlook.\u00a0 My kittens at play.\u00a0 A dazzling winter sunlight.\u00a0 A robust hike alone in nature.\u00a0 The dream of spring.\u00a0 And I sure do love my husband, Vic, partner in life, work, art and soul.\u00a0 Did I mention I’ve been a bear lately?\u00a0 It isn’t easy for him — he’s got his own struggles in life and art.\u00a0 He has his good days and his bad days, same as I do.\u00a0 We sat today at lunch, glumly, eating fast-food Chinese and paging our way through our respective newspapers.\u00a0 Then he made a gesture that turned today around for me, a little endearing thing he does from time to time.\u00a0 He stood and dropped the fortune from his cookie onto the table in front of me, as if to say “for you.”\u00a0 It read: “Perceived failure is oftentimes success trying to be born in a bigger way.”\u00a0 He knows me.\u00a0 Thanks, Vic.\u00a0 I needed that.\u00a0 And I love you.<\/p>\n

Watch for an excerpt from THE DARK SIDE OF TIME, coming soon.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been a bear lately.\u00a0 And with good reason, I believe.\u00a0 There’s a crew chain-sawing centuries old trees in the church complex next door to us, towering beauties that provided a partial screening out of the busy main road near … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n