Questions for my Readers

1) Do you consider you’re self to be a complete artist: be it musician, photographer, studio production, drawing, writing or blogging (I’m even guessing that you would deem cooking & gardening artist passions). Can you explain what motivates your compositional flow be it whatever medium you’re working in?

2) Do you consider yourself to be an integral artist? Can you explain what the interiors and exteriors of composition mean to you.

Change Your Perspective

In photography the best photo are always when you change your perspective. In life your happiest moments are always found after changing your persepective.

Pittsburgh PA - 8/24/09

Moment

Current Reading: The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Music: Reprieve by Ani Difranco
Mood: Happy in mind tired in body
Sounds: See this
Sights: Gray skies & tree tops horizons
Smells: Coffee
Temperature: Mostly cloudy with a chance of showers or storms by evening. High 79. Wind NW to SW 5-10 mph
Thoughts: There are never flaws in wood working only character in the design.

Music Makes Your Brain Happy

See this, this ,this & this & this

A Book That

Changed my life?
Living Buddha, Living Christ by Tich Nhat Hanh
Thus Spoke Zarathus by Nietzsche
Practice of the Wild by Gary Snyder

I’ve read more than once? (Brilliant)
The Zen of Creativity by John Daido Loori

I’d want on a desert island?(gotta keep the faith)
The Bible

Made me laugh?
A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Made me cry?
Grace & Grit by Ken Wilber

I wish I had written?
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami

I’m currently reading?
Manifesting God by Father Thomas Keating
Free Play by Stephen Nachmanovitch

I’ve been meaning to read? (People are always asking me if I read these two books. I haven’t? I will soon- promise!)
Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance by Robert Pirsiq
The Hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy by Douglas Adams

5 Question Interview Series with ~C4Chaos

I blog today because I read ~C4Chaos yesterday. About three years ago I was doing a Google seach for Ken Wilber and a blog link popped up referencing posts about KW written by the blogger previously know as coolmel. From that day on I started my day off with coffee and reading ~C4Chaos. Then from his daily hyperlinking to other bloggers, today I read about 10 to 30 different bloggers religiously. Serendipitously today I get to post an interview with my personal catalyses for blogging.

1)Your life seems to be a journey that is totally expressed by blogging: Do we know the real you or do you keep a private life that is not told to your readers?

you can never know the “real” me. i even have a hard time knowing my real self. but getting the philosophical side of things out of the way, yes i prefer to keep a private life. hence the stupid monicker :)

2)The social entrepreneurship direction that you have been moving your blogging/life towards has struck a strong chord with me. Can you outline some small steps that we can all take in our daily lives to move more into a social entrepreneurial direction?

good question. to be honest, i'm still working on it. i'm still on the first step. i just got recently introduce to the concept of social entrepreneurship myself. the primary reason i blogged about it is to make a personal affirmation. i do that a lot on my blog. if i want to do something, i blog it first. that clarifies my intention and sets me up on a serendipitious quest.my first step would be to find out more information about this subject to know the people who are out there engaged in this thing. so i created a zBooks book shelf on the topic of Social Enterprise. i also started zPod:SSE so i can collectively learn with others and attract people who are already deep into Social Entrepreneurship. my goal would be to understand how social entereprenuers out there think and act in the “real world.”the next step would be to discover my own place(s) in social enterprise domain. i think i've already found one of those places since i already work for Zaadz :)

3)What is the longest you went without hyper-linking in the last 3yrs?

LOL. i can't remember. probably the same longest time i was offline.

4)Your photography at Flickr is quit vast in style, from fun to silly to documentation to the subtle awareness of the small things around you. (Which are my personal favorites) Can you express how you compose a photograph? What does photography bring to your life?

man, i don't know. sometimes i have a theme on my mind before i take a shot, but most of the time i don't have any idea where i'll use those photos. i simply get attracted to colors and things. then i enjoy tweaking them later using Photoshop. then later on when a blogging opportunity comes, i love to associate photos i took previously with my blogs. that's another way of working with serendipity i guess. a good photo organizing software is a must for my habit. and Flickr fits the bill perfectly. and here's my favorite photographic equation: Photographer + Camera + Subject = Photograph.

5)What is next for ~C4Chaos? You work for Zaadz, you get to cross post on Kew Wilber.com. A Goggle search under ~C4Chaos brings up 158,000 links. What is the next stage of your hyper-linking development? Any coming attractions in your life you wish to share?

what's next? no idea. blogging for KenWilber.com? didn't see that coming until a couple of weeks before they released the site. working for Zaadz? didn't see that coming until i blogged my heart out and poured my energy onto Zaadz. and that 158,000 links? don't get fooled, that's probably me linking to my own stuff :)but as far as my hyper-linking development is concerned, probably the next development would be to bring over that hyperlinking thing offline. meaning, real connections on meatspace as well. Zaadz and my personal blog would be my means for accomplishing these things. and that's another one of my affirmations ;)

thanks for asking!~C (for Carpe diem!)

Elegant Thorn Review

"Elegant Thorn Review is a new blog that seeks well-crafted and spiritually intelligent poetry. There are no limitations on subject or spiritual tradition, nor are there limits on style and length."

Great big bows of thanks to William Harryman of Integral Options Cafe for placing one of my photo's on his new blog.

Alex Gray: The Chapel of Sacred Mirrors directed by Nick Krasnic

Alex Grey

wow. Check out this amazing trailer directed by Nick Krasnic
(post via Brian Johnson CEO of Zaadz)

Art and Skill

HDW expands on a previous post of mine: very well thought out - go check it out. Be sure to check out Bre comments. I think I will be bloging about her view soon.

Art does not apologize

“Art does not apologize” this article is perfect for expressing the joy’s and frustrations of digital photography. This morning I was just thinking about how I have not been blogging about photography or composition. Then it hit me that I have been immersing my self in software application Aperture and Photoshop and technical books. Don’t get me wrong I love digital photography and all the glorious technologies that go along with it. (But) in no way do I think digital photography is art, digital photography is a skill that can be constantly honed and developed. Composing a photograph is the “art” and no matter what format you choose to compose in composition is the transcendental moment when your skills can be transform in to art.

Catallaxis

-everybody sing - "Let me introduce to to you the one and only Catallaxis "

Catallaxis an integral economics weblog: check this site out very informative with great writing. Be sure to read Whats in a Name? and the book excerpts section that is list on the left hand side tool bar.

When Education does not Influence Behavior

“When education does not influence behavior”: That was the statement made by Bill Clinton at the recent AIDS conference in Canada. That sentence has not left my head I have been pondering for the answers with no luck. At first I wanted to answer the statement with levels of development. Simply the culture is not at the moral stages of development needed to progress to the next higher stages of growth. (But) that is not an answer? Transformative techniques are need but what? Consciousness or spiritual development is still education and how would we implement those types of program with out inflecting judgment and avoiding biases? The only starting point to a possible answerer I can think of is in an older blog post: In time of war send the musician in first.

5 Question Interview Series with Desiree` Annetoinette

Desiree' Annetoinette is an Eco-clothing designing momma, poetry writing, professional model, out-to-change-the-world-one-positive-moment-at-time type of girl. I was introduced to her through a serendipitous poem that she sent out to her Zaadz friends. From that poem on I have become a fan and supporter of Desiree’s work and purpose. Enjoy the interview and be sure to check out all the links, especially edgeware.biz

1) Can poetry change the world?
Anything and Anybody can change the world if they desire it enough!

2) How do you know when a poem is finished? (Read her poetry here & here)
Poetry is never finished… it is a constant work in progress as far as I'm concerned. (already edited “I climbed a mountain this morning” three times in two days! :-)

3) How do you use creativity in your life? How do you include it in your day to day work? Does your work feel like playing?
Creativity ooozes from my pores… I have no choice! My soul have been blessed with such passion so I have to express it or I die inside. Being thus, it encompasses every part of every day for me. My whole life feels like I'm playing… and I wouldn't want it ANY OTHER WAY! ;-)

4) Can you expand about Edgewear.biz (i.e. what a current day is like & future goals for the business?)
Well, today I'm cutting down about 400 pounds of material for the second round of the Fall/Winter line (no… not in one day?!! :-P) and as soon as I leave here to take my son to his doctor's appointment I will be sitting in the lobby-waiting for him-and finishing an article to submit to parenting magazines about a recycling project. It really depends on what day you catch me as too what I'm doing! :-P Future goals? To be the founder and major activist of the recycled material fashion industry. Just a little goal! :-)

5) On your Zaadz photo page you have some excellent photo's especially those eyes pix's and Diva pix's are you also a professional model? Can you expand upon what you thinks make a great photography?
I have been a professional model since junior high and worked with major guilds/agents for years prior to having my son. I LOVE the camera, always have… and think the best thing about ANYTHING in life (photography/modeling included) is that you have to see ALL ANGLES of it… so if your a photographer try being a model or makeup artist. If your a model be a MUA or photographer… and if you've never worked in a social industry (restaurants, retail, selling, etc.) get your butt out there and DO IT! You will NEVER appreciate compassion for another unless you open yourself up to THEIR EXPERIENCE!I hope this helps! Let me know if I can give you any more!Hugs from Beautiful Boulder!-Desiree' Annetoinette

Walking Through the Forest

Walking through the forest as, I have often done before I notice that I am not familiar with my surroundings. I identify the path, the direction out I know the landscape, but I do not know the names of the trees, plants, and insects that inhabit the land. The environment that I have spent so much time in is now a mystery to me. I stand a stranger in a place that I frequent.

This wakefulness brings me to the contemplation: what else do I embrace myself in that is a mystery to me? To many times I have stumble through life avoiding awareness consciously. The forest has been a second home; I go there for serenely to think to meditate to walk my dog to share conversations with my wife to introduce my daughter to the wilderness.

In the end - the understandings of what is in your intellect is equally important as the understandings of the soil underneath your feet.

Photo of the day

, originally uploaded by Craig-Photography.

Soil

, originally uploaded by Craig-Photography.

Click photo to read or here for larger view

Elegant Thorn Review

William from Integral Options Cafe is launching a new blog that focuses on poetry and photography, submissions guidelines are posted. If you wish to know more about William and Integral Options Cafe check out a past interview I did with him.

5 question Interview series with HDW

High Desert Wanderer is a Blog that focuses on graphic design, personal views and random mutterings. I was attracted to this blog because of the Faces of Iraq series on photography, and then Photoshop and graphic design tips kept me coming back. Be sure to cross post this interview so other people can find this wanderer.

1) Why blog? How did you get started with blogging?
Due mostly to chance, I’ve tended to work with people who are non-designers, some older, but mostly younger. I’ve also tended to work with people who’ve spent most if not all of their lives in very urban areas of the East Coast. While I can work well with just about anyone, I find that we have little in common outside of our work to talk about. Over time I came to find this a little stifling. I started blogging in September of 2004 as a way of expressing myself.

2) Is the practice of blogging developing your graphic design skills?
More than anything the process of blogging has helped clarify my thoughts on graphic design and other subjects. I’ve found that it has been useful as a form of intellectual exercise. The process of sitting down and writing about something forces me to consider a subject as a whole rather than the bits and pieces I’ve picked up over time. My opinions and ideas about graphic design haven’t changed a lot, but they are clearer, and I can express them more clearly to my clients and coworkers.
The process of designing and maintaining my own site has also been beneficial. It lets me experiment in ways that I wouldn’t do for a paying client. It’s my site and I can crash it if I want to.

3) How do you use creativity in your life? How do you include it in your day to day work? Does your work feel like playing?
My work often does feel like playing, and my playing sometimes feels like work. I really enjoy the production process of graphic design. I actually quit a reasonably well paying Art Director position about two and a half years ago partially because I wanted to get back to the hands on process of graphic design.
I express myself creatively on a day to day basis. I take a lot of photographs, a few of which I have published on my site, and I paint and sculpt as well. My education was actually in Fine Art rather than graphic design.
My wife and I have remodeled one house completely and are working on our second. The first house included a lot of carpentry which I very much enjoyed. The current house has a lot more landscaping involved, and I’ve been enjoying as well.
I mentioned my playing sometimes feels like work. One of my creative exercises this last year or so has been building rock walls. I’ve currently built two dry fit rock walls in my yard from rocks I’ve found on the property. Very strenuous work, but rewarding as well, and they look great.

4) You have postings of photographs of the Iraq war; can you tell us how the media affects your view on current politics?
They’ve caused great frustration more than anything. I’ve been in some aspect of the publishing business for more than a decade. If I was to do the sort of sloppy work I’ve seen on network news and in the mainstream media lately I would no longer be working in this field. This recent controversy about the Qana photos is a good example. The news networks get a controversial story, and publish it. When the authenticity of the story comes into question, they don’t follow up. It’s bad for our country, it’s bad for the industry, and it’s bad for the individual networks. They are quickly loosing any semblance of integrity. They are becoming just another political pawn to be maneuvered.

5) Can you give us an explanation of why you chose High Desert Wanderer as your blogging title/name? Also, that is a great photograph in your title bar. Is that you? And is that a true moment or a graphic designer completed work?
I grew up in central Washington State. My first paying job was driving cattle on horse back. I also broke horses to help pay for college. I spent a good part of my youth literally wandering around the high desert country of that beautiful state on horseback. That aspect of my life defined who I am more than anything else.
The picture was taken by me for a college photography class, but it isn’t of me. It is however, my hat, jacket, and duffle bag in the photo. The subject of the photograph was a college roommate of mine who agreed to get up at the crack of dawn and pose for the photo. I took it with 35mm slide film and it is mostly unedited. I did extend the color slightly to the left to better fit the header. The right half of the image is original; the left half has been extended. The streaking on the left side was in the original, but I extended it about 20 percent or so. I’m also very fond of the repeating image down the left side. That is a tiled image of the tooling in my father’s saddle. I inherited the saddle when my father passed away in 2001 and it is one of the most beautiful pieces of craftsmanship I’ve ever had the honor of owning.
I did post a photo of myself a few days ago, but I didn’t identify myself in the post.

Naive

Courageous enough to be naive applying effort the practice of composition begins.

Art and the World

Art has become a meditation to me in the practice of how I see the world.
Art has become a service to me on how I give back to the world.
Art is what I leave to the world as a thank you for my time spent.

Moment

Current Reading: A Place in Space by Gary Snyder
Music: iPod shuffle
Mood: Excited, anxious, nervous, happy, titillated
Sounds: Humming of an air conditioner (thank you God)
Sights: Dark windows with the blinds pulled down (But) in my mind!!
Smell: Fresh fruit and coffee
Temperature: Hot, real hot, damn f’n hot
Thoughts: I love the universe, two possible out comes and there both ok with me.

5 question Interview series with William Harryman

Today I start a new 5 question Interview series by interviewing William Harryman of Integral Options Café. Harryman writes a Blog that focuses on integral theory, Buddhism, personal growth and self-reflection. I became a daily devotee to his writing during his gratitude series and his personal poetry writing. Additionally, Harryman does a great job at photography selection for his postings. Which you know I am a fan of photography!

Why Blog & why focus on integral?
When I started blogging, it was mostly an excuse to write more. I started with an eclectic blog (Raven's View) that became more and more political the more I blogged, so I spun off my Integral Fitness blog. After about six months, I decided that the primary blog was going to be totally political, so I started Integral Options Café. I let the political blog die in April of this year in order to maintain my sanity. It had become a dead weight on my soul.
So why do I focus on integral? I had been a big fan of Ken Wilber's for quite some time. I have found the integral model very useful for making sense of a world that sometimes seems to make very little sense. Wilber also introduced me to Spiral Dynamics, a competing integral model. I'm less a fan of Wilber these days, but I still find his model very useful as one of the lens through which I view the world. It just made sense to build my blog around that model – it allows for an exploration of so many different realms of human experience.

I enjoy your poetry and photo selection; can you explain your poetry writing process?
Wow, explaining my writing process. I haven't been doing much poetry of late, but when I do write, the poem usually begins with a word or phrase that sticks in my head. It often happens when I am reading other poets whose work I admire. The word or phrase comes, then it becomes a line, usually a first line. Once I have the first line, it feels as though the poem simply finds itself. If I can get out of the way, the words come until there aren't any more. I usually go back and edit a bit, change line breaks, fix word choices. But the poem usually comes in one piece.

How do you choose your photos to go or along with your poetry and posting (any favorite photographers)?
I often choose photos by doing a Google Image search with a keyword or phrase from the post. With poetry, I often try to find an image that matches something from the poem. Often I simply have to go by what feels right for the post. Landscapes work great for that. I have a few landscape photographers bookmarked, ones I like a lot: Ray Rasmussen, Robin Constable Hanson, David Whitten, and Michael Fatali.

Do you have any future plans on publishing a book base on your poetry and Blog?
I don't write enough poetry anymore to even think about publishing. And trying to do something with the poetry and photos I put on the blog would be a nightmare of permissions and fees. The blog is what it is.
I am thinking about a new blog, and this is something I haven't talked about with anyone in the cyber world until now. The new blog would be a place for people to publish their poetry and for photographers to get some exposure for their work. The end goal, over time, would be to do a print magazine with the poetry and photos from the blog. In the meantime, if I decide to do this, I would periodically collect the poems and photos into a nice PDF format that people could download for a small fee, which might allow me to pay a small “best of” prize to one poet and one photographer.

What have you gained from the social networking associated with blogging? Particularly your Zaadz pods; Integral Relationships & Integral Fitness?
I've actually made some good friendships through blogging, people I hope to meet in real time at some point when I am traveling near where they live. As someone who is not fond of social gatherings, blogging is a way to meet people with similar interests and share ideas. I have learned so much from so many people since I started blogging – it really has been very rewarding.
As far as Zaadz goes – what an amazing community. The pods have allowed me to explore topics I am passionate about with people who are also passionate. In the pods I have created, I make a real effort to maintain open, civil dialogue, and to provide space for everyone to have their viewpoints without fearing they will be beaten down for having the “wrong” view, or a less than integral view. None of us have all the answers, and no one is 100 percent wrong all the time, so there is much to learn from other people, and the pods provide a great way to do that.

Thanks, John, it was fun to answer these questions.

Homage to Gary Snyder

No answer, but the question itself brings peace. Nature created this soil, these elements that gave me birth.

Reaching, I grasp a handful of soil. I think of the natives that have died to create this soil. Their past lives permeate my existence. I am born of this earth. I will die and return to the soil. What may I offer the earth in return for this life granted to me?