Hello All,<\/p>\n
Welcome to a much delayed version of the Mike Varley Plain Dealer.\u00a0 It was an erratic four months to be sure.\u00a0 As always, speed readers should look for the bold.\u00a0 Let’s begin:<\/p>\n
Truly…manic.\u00a0 As some of you know, Erin and I broke up in the middle of November.\u00a0 As even less of you know, Erin and I got back together a month later.<\/strong> I’ll learn from the mistakes of my previous break-up email and keep it brief and mysterious: I’m trying my best to be a loving person and I feel like I’m on a good path again.\u00a0 For those of you I know well, I appreciate your support on that path.\u00a0 To those of you I don’t know well, I extend the same thoughts.<\/p>\n In other closely connected personal events, I’ve taken up an interest in mindfulness and meditation after exploring the books and lectures of John Kabat-Zinn and Thich Nhat Hhan.<\/strong> It all rings true to me and I want it to be my latticework for a new way of personal thought.\u00a0 To those who sympathize, I appreciate your support.\u00a0 For those not on board, I’ll say it again.<\/p>\n The tour guide position does not look like it’s going to happen in the immediate.\u00a0 To be honest, I lost my wind when I learned they had over hired.\u00a0 Tour guide: not recession proof.<\/strong> Highly recession inflammable.<\/p>\n As with other things recently, I’ve shifted my focus on thoughts job-related.\u00a0 In order to be happy in the present moment, I need to not think of my current job as something I need to shed to be fulfilled.<\/strong> This does not mean I will discontinue job search, but it does mean I’ll allow myself to love and honor my job again.<\/p>\n I’ve rethought how I want to create, or perhaps truly defined my role as a creator for the first time.<\/strong> I want to create as a gift, to further the Human Project in my incremental way.\u00a0 I don’t believe this jives with our contemporary model of a creator, who thinks suffering is implied and reproduces pain for the world’s consumption.\u00a0 That’s not to say this art shouldn’t exist, but there’s an imbalance in the ledger and I only want to write with black ink from now on.<\/p>\n Creative Life<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n One of the reasons I held off so long on the update was I was waiting to have a big announcement of the movie being finished.\u00a0 Mark got a new job, however, and it’s commanding a lot of long hours from him, so production has stalled.\u00a0 We’re this<\/em> close.\u00a0 All we really need is to build the DVD menu and we’re set.\u00a0 I want this done by February 6th.<\/p>\n Here’s a video I made of the trip Erin and I took to Acadia National Park over Columbus Day weekend: I’m also working on a new canvass<\/strong>, the first of something I’m tentatively calling The Twin Canvass Project.\u00a0 Here’s some video of me preparing the mystery project.\u00a0 If we’re lucky, I’ll have pictures by next update:<\/p>\n The Pour<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Hole Building<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Here’s a song from my band\/music collective, The Secret Lives of Crossing Guards<\/strong>.\u00a0 We’re sort of a cultural movement, meeting every Monday from 6-10 and having fun.\u00a0 Anyone that’s in the Brooklyn area is welcome to come and play or just hang out: Nothing earthshaking going down at MikeVarley.com right now.\u00a0 I’ve started doing a weekly segment on cool internet links, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n That’s it for now.\u00a0 Happy 2010 and expect more news in February.<\/p>\n Regards,
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\nPersonal Life: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n
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\nAcadia National Park, set to The Mountain Goats’ “Going to Maine”<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n
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\nThe Secret Lives of Crossing Guards, “Ess O Ess”<\/em><\/a>
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\nI’ve undertaken a project at the nursing home to try and get local art showcased in the hallways – a sort of Carillon gallery space.\u00a0 Initial interest has been promising, so hopefully I’ll have something good to report in a few months.<\/p>\n
\nMike Varley<\/p>\n\t\t