Newsletter Three; March 23, 2021

 As we emerge from the pandemic, I wanted to include my personal symbol of hope for this challenging year of 2020.

 
It is the lemon tree outside my veranda window that blossomed throughout and comforted me with the natural beauty that it showed every day. The image of the greenery with the lemons sustained me as the months passed, the seasons changed, but the lemon tree was resilient and beautiful. I asked my friend, the artist, Avigail Gottlieb, who lives in Israel, to paint a lemon tree for me. Here are two renditions of the lemon tree she created. Now I can share it with all of you, and share the hope and beauty that it brings not only in nature, but in art.  I thank her for the inspiration and the gift of her work.
 
Jennifer Ewig in her essay, “How Art Has Made All The Difference,” questions what she would have become in life if not an artist. She shows us all the paths she took to test her talents, and out of all of them, art won out. The Chicago Art Institute provided that new world she so needed. In fact, she calls it “an exotic art palace” where she could try out drawing and paintings in the same space of huge collections of masterworks.  How many of us have found those “art palaces” or wonderous writing spaces that are meaningful and transform out lives?  Her essay of experimentation to a creative, fulfilling road will resonate with many.

Leigh Verrill-Rhys in her essay, “Giants, Fairies and Foxes-Oh My!, describes her ability and desire to write inscribed in her DNA. Her opening sentence shows us how much writing means to her when she writes, “Story-telling is in my DNA and I became aware of this proclivity at the age of three.”  How many of us know that exact point of demarcation when we just knew we loved to tell stories? Leigh takes us on her journey from age three to elementary school to college to the completing of her novels.  It was then she felt she could say, “I’m a writer at last.” I think she was a writer at three, but it certainly helps to achieve some kind of recognition. I hope you all enjoy her essay which includes a tribute to our imaginations and the ability to create.

 Thanks to Rebecca Mikosz who puts this all together with a wave of her magic computer hand!! 
 Feel free to comment. These essays come to life with your responses and comments.