Hopefully by now you have had a chance to read the latest story from the One series. For the Love of All is written by a best-selling, award-winning author along with a counselor who happens to be a talented author, as well as an outdoor enthusiast.
I want to thank Melissa and Scott for sharing such a beautiful story and taking the time to do this interview. Let’s jump into the first question:
MM: What inspired you to write this story?
Scott: A chance meeting that turned out not to be chance at all. In the summer of 2011, during a silent mediation, walking, and writing retreat in Taos, New Mexico, I met a traveler who seemed to be on a journey similar to mine. Brought together by forces beyond both of us, we discovered a connection of remarkable depth and intimacy. What followed was an intense recognition of each other that was so stark and clear, even though we had never met before – at least not in this lifetime. Almost immediately, we began to realize a series of synchronicities so profound and frequent that they were undeniable, pointing us toward relationship, collaboration in writing, and united purpose in matters close to our hearts.
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I am a fiend with a digital camera. I come from the desperation school of photography—take enough photos, and a few are sure to come out. In the old days of film cameras, each decision to shoot was an economic one—how much do I really want a picture of Aunt Milly in the flower garden? So-called snapshots were rare. If you didn’t have time to actually frame and compose a photograph, you didn’t take it, because who wanted to pay to develop a blurred image of a roadrunner’s butt?
Now that I am free to shoot away, I do. I’ve taken photography classes several times, but find that many of the principles sieve through my mind like sand through a colander. Likely cameras, like cable television, are too sophisticated for me. But I’ve learned enough about my little digital camera to take some pleasing shots. Out of a hundred or so. Happy accidents that capture the truth of a place.
I use my camera as a substitute for my imperfect memory. I can remember things from childhood like the fifty states in alpha order or Frost’s “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening.” But when writing in my journal, I find myself calling over to my long-suffering spouse, “What was it we did today?”
When I use a camera, it’s all about story telling. What photographs do I need to tell this story? How can I recapture the atmosphere, the light, the scents, the experience of being in Taos, NM.? Little things—what were those flowers along the river that smelled so good? Who were the innkeepers and what was their story? What were the colors that smacked my eyes—the browns, the oranges, the multiple shades of gray—so different from the greens of home?
The mountains are called the Sangre de Cristo Mountains—the blood of Christ. How do I capture that?
I take dozens of photographs, because I am acutely aware of the limitations of the camera lens compared to the human eye, with its filters of emotion and memory, the other senses layered onto the images it captures. I am always a little disappointed in my photographs. But it was better than that, I think. I can’t always get at the truth in a photograph. It doesn’t produce the same emotional experience as the real thing.
We saw the Georgia O’Keefe Abstraction exhibit at the O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe. Quotes from O’Keefe annotated the paintings, most done early in her career. Much of what she said seemed to apply to writing, too.
One can't paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt.
I had to create an equivalent for what I felt about what I was looking at - not copy it.
I often painted fragments of things because it seemed to make my statement as well as or better than the whole could.
Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting
[Today's regular columnist Tatiana de la tierra will return after dealing with personal matters. We wish her well.]
If events depicted in the movie 2012 ever really happen, and aliens land here a thousand years from now, consider how they might analyze the constructs and actions of us norteamericanos.
What will they think of remnants of the Border Wall built to keep out southern, dark-skinned immigrants, while no such wall exists to the north where live, largely, lighter skinned neighbors? Will they wonder why Mexican illegal immigration was just called the spade that it is--an informal system of slave labor?
We seem to be more turning into a nation of idiots (with some exceptions).
the Taos village idiot
Last summer the new owner of a Taos hotel decided to forbid his Hispanic employees from speaking Spanish in his presence, and even went so far as to tell them to Anglicize their names, for the sake of customers who couldn't understand the accent. If this entrepreneur knows no German or Japanese, people from those countries can only hope he never takes over businesses there, either.
Understand: the owner is in the tourism business, planning to make money off an area that's been occupied for at least 12,000 years by indigenous Americans, for nearly 500 years by Spanish speakers, and draws tourists from throughout the world looking for New Mexican food, art, history, culture, archaeology (and, yes, beautiful sunsets).
You can go here to read about the trouble he came up against, but, hopefully, those future aliens won't find a trace of him when they arrive. After all, they might think we ceased to exist because of some genetic brain disorder that made some try to erase cultural history.
Denver cowtown idiots
Those of you in the Nebraska, Montana, Wyoming, Kansas and Denver area might want to hope the aliens don't find remnants of this billboard out front of Wolf Automotive Group in Wheat Ridge, Colo., a Denver suburb.
Perpetuating the racist propaganda of the freakish Limbaugh-types, Wolf Automotive repeats the Big Lie about President Obama's birthplace, while at the same time comparing him to Osama Bin Laden.
If the aliens find evidence of 9/11, they might well assume that the U.S. disappeared after we turned our 9/11-paranoia-hate inwards, even against our own President.
Palin, the national idiot phenomenon
And when the aliens do land, hopefully all the 1.5 million copies of the Sarah Palin book will ha
So, I joined NaBloPoMo. I just can't help myself signing up for one more thing. Friend me?
And here is my photo mosaic for October's Project 365 . I am posting the photos one at a time each day on my photo blog, and you can also see them in the flickr set here. I have enjoyed getting out doors as much as possible this month for the fall colors.
This month I decided not to try to be perfectly equally balance in how many pictures I post of each of my sons. The littlest is around me most when I am taking pictures, so there he is. I admit I usually have an internal critic asking if I favor one over the others and what that says about me. Ah well.
This month I decided to take more pictures of myself. I was profoundly disappointed in 95% of them. The face I see in the mirror is softer, kinder, prettier, more alert and happier than the face I see in the photos I take of myself. Why is that?
This month I took a lot of pictures of food. I was conscious of myself intentionally stocking up on goodness and sweetness, preparing for a stressful fall and a long dark winter. I sought out bright bold colors. I tried to record this month of summer. I watched the light fall on different types of surfaces.
This month I felt frustrated with my camera. I long for a better one. This one is a moderately priced point and shoot. The close focus is not good. I am frequently disappointed in my shots in anything but bright sunshine.
I am doing the Project 365, posting one a day. I am keeping all my photos in a Flickr set because I can't keep up with another whole blog. Browse other 365 blogs:
Jayfish
Scrivener
Ampersand
Bright Star
Liane
Ianqui
Parts-n-Pieces
Follow their links to lots more.
As I write, it's Friday afternoon 7/20/2007 and we’re driving through the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, heading toward Utah. It’s difficult to write, though, not only because the views are stunning up here at 10,000 feet, but also because the narrow roads are snaking back and forth through the valleys and are making me queasy. More about Colorado in a bit. First, I’ll bring you up to date. Karen helps out—she’s in a different font.
GREEN CHILLI AND GATOS, GATOS, GATOS IN NEW MEXICO
MARK: New Mexico is truly one of my favorite places on earth. I spent a summer in Albuquerque in 1994 and fell in love with adobe houses, pow-wows, green chilli, and the Spanish language. I met Karen the following spring and I think my introduction to the Espanol of New Mexico played a role in my early spark with her – Karen’s family is from Argentina, and from the very beginning I was eager for her to teach me Spanish, which is why I can speak it today.
I think every state has its own unique personality, but in my humble opinion there are probably none so distinct as New Mexico’s. When you’re there, you know it. “The Land of Enchantment” (that’s the state nickname) just looks and feels different from anywhere else.
SANTA FE
KAREN: Santa Fe is beautiful. We spent most of a day walking around the town center. We visited the Georgia O’Keefe museum which was very interesting and gave us a good look into her life and why she loved New Mexico so much. Then went for lunch at a great Mexican restaurant called Tomasitas, where they were amazingly kind to us. Ignatios Patsalis, the owner/manager, showed us the royal treatment by giving us a tour of the restaurant. He took us into his the kitchen and showed us how they make Sopapillas. (MARK: A sopapilla is kind of a deep fried New Mexican donuty thing that, unfortunately, I can’t get enough of.) KAREN: Here is Ignatios showing us a barrel of red hot chili peppers. (MARK: Unfortunately, Lucy decided to stick her finger in and touch one, prompting Ignatios to have us wash her hand with soap immediately, before any of the spiciness got in her eye and burned her. Ahh, life with Lucy…) KAREN: Yes, even Evan ate the red and green chilies! It was the best Mexican food ever!! Thanks Ignatios and Tamasitas!
GARCIA STREET BOOKS
Santa Fe is the home of Garcia Street Books, a charming independent bookstore just a short walk from the center of historic old Santa Fe. They host quite a few authors. Here I am with bookseller Adam Gates, a recent transplant from the east coast. :-)
OUR FIRST STRING OF HOTELS
So far on our trip, we’ve been fortunate to be able to stay in the houses of generous friends and family on all but one night. In Santa Fe, though, we started a string of evenings where we actually had to spring for hotels. :-( But the good news is that we’ve been running into terrific people wherever we’ve been. Here we are with Vince, Heidi, Nick and Sam Battelo of Redland, CA. We met Vince, Nick, and Sam at the Holiday Inn swimming pool. Nick took this underwater picture of Evan as he jumped into the pool. Way cool! Great to meet you, Battelo Family! :-)
YOUTH HOSTELING, CATS, AND A CHURCH-GOING BIKER GANG IN TAOS, NM
Just outside of Taos (which we loved!) we stayed overnight at a youth hostel called “The Abominable Snow Mansion.” It was warm so we had the window open. All night long a parade of cats kept walking in and out through the window, and I kept getting up to shoo them out. I’m allergic to cats. Lucy loved it, though. She has since said those cats were one of her favorite parts of our trip so far.
Staying with us at the hostel was a fun gang of bikers from the Ft. Worth, Texas area. Here we are with Dwight Wilson, Scott Dishnow, Malcom “The Dukester” Duke, Craig Bearden, Jeff McDonald, and Noel Yandell. They told us they are all from the same Sunday school.
MOBY DICKENS
Taos is the home of the fantastic Moby Dickens bookshop. In addition to having an excellent selection of new books, they also order and research rare and out of print books. Another draw to the store is Ruby the Cat, who appeared at the store’s door in 1995 and has lived there ever since. Ruby apparently has a slew of fans who visit the store just to see her. Here I am with Mary Raskin, Carole Vollmer, Elizabeth Shuler, and Susan Hilliker. I didn’t catch the name of the gorilla. :-)
LIVING THE ARTIST'S LIFE IN COSTILLAS, NM
KAREN: On our way from Taos to Denver we stopped by to meet Linda Louden a friend of my cousins Bernie and Liz of NYC. Linda is an artist who dropped everything in her high-flying New York life to move to a one-bedroom white adobe house in Costillas, NM with her dog Daisy. Now in her backyard she has a re-vamped trailer that she converted into a studio. When you walk into her house you feel an immediate sense of tranquility, and she is surrounded by her art and the art of her friends. There is nothing in the town except for a few houses…it made me appreciate Georgia O’Keefe’s reasoning to go into the New Mexico Desert to create art. Here we are with Linda, who gave us osha, a new Mexican root that is rumored to heal just about anything, and some hot cheese & jalapeno bagels. Thanks Linda! You are an inspiration!
UPS AND DOWNS IN THE MOUNTAINS OF COLORADO
MARK: By two days ago, when we came to Colorado, we’d been traveling for 22 days. We passed the 5,000 mile mark in Denver—which is why I upgraded my total-mileage estimation from 9,000 to 13,000. I think that’s why yesterday we all seemed to crash a little. We were tired. We needed a down-day. We’ve recovered now, but our little dip in energy meant that we didn’t do full justice to Denver. I’m sure it’s a lovely city – and what little that we saw of it (see below) was very nice – but we definitely benefitted from lazing around the hotel room and staring at the boob-tube. All better now. :-)
OBSERVATIONS ON TRAVELING IN THE LEMONADE MOUTH VAN WITH THREE KIDS
A yellow van that says “Lemonade Mouth” in big, bold letters seems to sometimes confuse passers-by. Here’s a guy in Denver who came over to ask if we had any lemonade for sale.
Sorry, overheated Denver guy. No actual lemonade here.
BTW: We’ve christened the car Penelope.
Another thing, we’ve been seeing so many amazing sights for so many days now that I think the kids are starting to get a little jaded. Example from this morning: “Look, Lucy! Have you ever seen such an interesting-looking bridge? I know I never have!” Lucy momentarily glances up from her Barbie laptop and in a bored singsong monotone says, “Whoah. That certainly is an interesting bridge.” Then back to Barbie.
As I type, we’re still driving through the Colorado mountains toward Utah. I’ll ask the kids what was their favorite part of the trip so far and report it here. Here are their answers:
LUCY: When the kittens slept with me. (MARK: That was at the youth hostel in Taos, NM).
ZOE (Note that she and I only speak to each other in Spanish): ?Te acuerdas el caballo mecanico? (MARK: Translation – “Do you remember the mechanical horse?” She’s talking about a horse ride in the center of Taos, one of those rides for little kids where you put a quarter in the slot and the horse rocks back and forth for a minute or so. I wish I’d taken a picture. She really did love it.
EVAN: Burger Beach in Fort Worth. Remember? The big pool with all the diving boards and swings?
Okay, so not exactly the o-beautiful-for-spacious-skies answers Karen and I were hoping for. Still, I know that they really have enjoyed themselves so far. We all have. And they’ll always remember this long road-trip discovering America with their family. At least that’s what Karen and I keep telling ourselves. :-)
THE TATTERED COVER
No book-lover's trip to Denver would be complete without a pilgrimage to The Tattered Cover. It's the second largest independent bookstore in the country. And it is huge. Sidney Jackson and Judy Bulow and met us and showed us around. Their Colfax Street location is in an old building that used to be a theater, and it still has the curtain, the lobby, the orchestra pit, etc. It’s way cool. Here I am with Sidney. Thanks, Tattered Cover!
THE BOOKIES
The Bookies is a smaller but absolutely amazing bookstore away from the center of town. They specialize in books for kids and also teacher resources. Karen is a high school Spanish teacher, so she immediately got absorbed by the Spanish teaching resources and ended up buying a pile of loot. Here I am with Suzi Fischer, Vicki Hellman, and Mary Lou Steenrod. Such nice people!
HOTEL FROM HELL
Our hotel in Denver wasn’t that great. It was cramped, one of the beds actually broke when we sat down on it, and the TV didn’t work very well. Then as a final farewell just as we left, the toilet overflowed and ran out all over the floor. Lovely.
Goodbye, gushing toilet from the Hotel from Hell! :-)
THE BOULDER BOOKSTORE
This morning we went to The Boulder Bookstore, another big independent that makes you want to lose yourself in its many comfy, shelf-lined rooms. Arsen Kashkashian met us and was very kind. Tonight is the big release-party for Harry Potter 7, and the Boulder Bookstore is having live owls, an actual wizard, and a lot of other fun stuff including this gigantic papier mache sorting hat!
TAJIKISTANI TEA WITH LUCY
While Evan, Zoe, and I went to fetch the car from our distant parking spot, Karen and Lucy had tea at The Boulder Dushanbe Teahouse, which is a big ‘ol fancy Tajikistani tea room in the middle of Boulder. Apparently the barista, Rama Kho, did magic tricks with Lucy and gave her a complimentary hibiscus flower tea.
TROUBADOR BOOKS
Troubador Books is a lovely independent bookstore outside of the center of Boulder. It specializes in new books and books on performing arts. Deb Evans and Julie Leonard really went out of their way for us, including providing lemonade and helping us figure out our route to Utah. It’s amazing how friendly booksellers can be! Here I am with Deb and Julie. Thanks, guys! :-)
HERE AND NOW
As I type, it’s 6:42 PM and we just got out of a lengthy traffic jam on Route 70 heading toward Grand Junction, CO. I took this photo of the Starbucks in the mountains because it seems very Colorado: half coffee-place, half camping store.
Next stop, Utah!
--Mark
LEMONADE MOUTH (Delacorte Press, 2007)
I AM THE WALLPAPER (Delacorte Press, 2005)
www.markpeterhughes.com
Here is my photo mosaic for June. I see a lot of round stuff here, and a lot of pink. Time passing, milestones, playing, growing, blooming, fruiting... that's June for me. I have had time to sit in the sun, walk on the beach, enjoy good food, cultivate new habits and plan for the future. I love this month.
I am doing the Project 365, posting one a day. I am keeping all my photos in a Flickr set because I can't keep up with another whole blog. Browse other 365 blogs:
Geeky Mom
Scrivener
Ampersand
Bright Star
Follow their links to lots more.
Yay for May 1st! Here is my mosaic from the last month of daily photos in my 365 set. I am doing the Project 365, posting one a day. I skipped a few days in this collection because I am keeping my son's pictures private. I really like all the green and new flowers that I captured this month.
I learned how to do close focus with this camera, which I was really clumsy with before all this practice. My camera is a Kodak Z730 Z00m. It's not a particularly good camera, but I am learning to use the mode settings and find it does a pretty good job. I would like to be better at taking close ups of my kids and doing portraits, so I am toying with the idea of spending a whole month taking just that. If I do that I won't be posting them here for privacy reasons, so I am afraid you won't get to see them. The good news is May is great for flowers!
I am keeping all my photos in a Flickr set because I can't keep up with another whole blog. Browse other 365 blogs:
Ianqui
Rev. Dr. Mom
Scrivener
Ampersand
Bright Star
Follow their links to lots more.
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Before I even saw the title of this post I recognized those playful pups. And so fun to see the mom and daughter drawing after you stalked them at the pueblo! Beautiful as usual!