Thank you, and I Ching divinations for early Tea & Gin project backers

I'm thrilled with the early, positive response to my Tea & Gin Kickstarter project.  Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of my project backers! (Stefanie, Iris, Alex, Jen, Chris, Jesse, Josh, Louise, Callista, Kate, Jan, Nancy, Andrea, Becca, Eric, the Raven bookstore, Karyn, David & Kelli, Tommy, Charlie, Robert, Jornylee, Mary, and David M.)

In addition to my thanks, I also thought it might be fun to use the I Ching (and some coins) to come up with a divination for each of you.  I've been trying to develop some different serial and procedural poetic forms I may use in Tea & Gin, and possibly in Concessions Contained, and casting the I Ching seems analogous to some of the poetic exploration I have been doing. So, without further adieu, here are the I Ching divinations for my first project backers, in no particular order, along with some photos:

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Thank you, Karyn!

Divination:

Hexagram 49 (Revolution): Accept revolutionary changes

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Thank you, Stefanie!

Divination:

Hexagram 35 (Progress): A time to make progress.

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Thank you Nancy! (a.k.a., Mom)

Divination:

Hexagram 50 (The cauldron): Lay the groundwork for something new.

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Thank you David & Kelli!

Divination:

Hexagram 2 (Yin, the receptive): Do not force matters but go with the flow.

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Thank you Eric!

Divination:

Hexagram 61 (Inner truth): Keep to the middle way.

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Thank you Becca!

Divination:

Hexagram 49 (Revolution): Accept revolutionary changes.

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Thank you Iris!

Divination:

Hexagram 42 (Increase): A period of increase.

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Thank you Jornylee!

Divination:

Hexagram 30 (Shining brightly): Cooperate willingly. Dependence.

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Thank you Robert!

Divination:

Hexagram 11 (Tranquility): You are on the right path.

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Thank you Tommy!

Divination:

Hexagram 47 (Exhaustion): Meet adversity with resolution.

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Thank you Charlie!

Divination:

Hexagram 12 (Stagnation): A time of stagnation is about to end.

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Thank you Andrea!

Divination:

Hexagram 20 (Observing): Time for stocktaking. Take a good look at yourself.

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Thank you Alex!

Divination:

Hexagram 48 (The well): You must understand basic truths.

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Thank you, Raven bookstore!

Divination:

Hexagram 13 (Fellowship with others): Work hard in hand with others.

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Thank you Noah!

Divination:

Hexagram 11 (Tranquility): You are on the right path.

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Thank you Mary!

Divination:

Hexagram 34 (Power of the great): Use your strength prudently.

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Thank you Jan!

Divination:

Hexagram 38 (Contradiction): A time of estrangement and opposition to overcome.

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Thank you Kate!

Divination:

Hexagram 60 (Restraint): Know your limits.

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Thank you Jen!

Divination:

Hexagram 10 (Walking carefully): Pay close attention to your conduct.

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Thank you Chris!

Divination:

Hexagram 34 (Power of the great): Use your strength prudently.

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Than you Jesse!

Divination:

Hexagram 7 (The army): Learn the art of leadership.

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Thank you Josh!

Divination:

Hexagram 32 (Constancy): Continue methods and policies that have worked well.

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Thank you Louise!

Divination:

Hexagram 3 (Initial difficulties): Birth pangs before the creation of something new.

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Thank you Callista!

Divination:

Hexagram 24 (Return): A time for renewal.

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Thank you David!

Divination:

Hexagram 16 (Enthusiasm): Harmonize your aims with those of others.

TEA & GIN/Tianjin/天津 Kickstarter project

The race has begun!  I've launched a Kickstarter project to raise the funds to return to Tianjin this summer, in order to finish my collection of poetry, prose poetry, and docupoetry titled Tea & Gin.  While in Tianjin I will be producing a limited edition chapbook of poetry, prose poetry, and photographs titled Concessions Contained for backers of the project.

Starting on Monday, I'm going to begin a series of posts on this blog thanking the individual backers of the project.  Whether or not I successfully reach my Kickstarter funding goal, I am fascinated with the use of Kickstarter to crowd-source arts projects.  If you'd like to learn more about my Kickstarter project, just follow this link, or watch my project video below.

 

home again!

Just a note to anyone who has followed my blog--Erin and I are back in the U.S. We are in Seattle visiting my parents and will be heading back to Kansas soon. This thing has been woefully without updates, but only because the Chinese government started blocking all blogger access in April. I'll try to make some kind of final post and put up some pictures here before I start updating my other, non-travel blog.

Factory 798

I've been wanting to visit the Factory 798 district of Beijing since we first arrived in China, but we didn't really have a good time to explore the place until last week. The galleries were on par with the Great Wall for me. That's not my characteristic hyperbole, either.

Liking 798 shouldn't be too much of a surprise for me, since I'm a sucker for a good gallery, and a giant sucker for an entire conflagration of good galleries. One of my favorite things was this gigantic installation we saw. I don't even know if installation is an appropriate word--it filled a room the size of a small auditorium. All of the parts of the room tied into the piece. The artist used the existing girders and beams in the room, all of the floor, and every part of the wall space. There was also a sculptor Erin and I were into named Li Chen. It's hard to get across the scale of his sculptures. They're gigantic. They make you feel dwarfed by them in the best possible way.

The good thing is that the gallery district exceeded all of my expectations about what we'd actually find. The bad thing is, I now want to go back there about 8 more times before we leave in the first week of July. Wait, do I even have eight weeks left? That's a strange realization. I can't believe we've already lived in China for almost 8 months. It doesn't seem possible. In any case, here are some pictures from our trip. Erin and I are both excited to go back to Beijing this weekend and get a chance to hang out with a friend of hers from Lawrence.

picture day

Apparently, Chinese High Schools have something that's sort of like a Yearbook. The book is only for the graduating seniors, though. The teachers asked me if I would get my picture taken so that I could be in the yearbook. The flurry of activity surrounding picture day has been very interesting. The teachers fixing their hair, the students being fascinated by the teachers fixing their hair, etc. One of these pictures is of some students who were, ostensibly, visiting the restroom, peeking into the room where the pictures were being taken.

Mysterious Chinese Fruit, Part 1

One of the most amazing things about living in China is the low cost of fruits and vegetables here. We buy them all the time from the open market area in our neighborhood. Chinese pomellos are the most amazing fruit I've discovered so far. They're different than the pomellos you can buy back in the states--I think they're a little sweeter, and taste a little more like your average grapefruit. Also, they're juicier and not quite so mealy. I love them. You can buy whole pineapples on the street here too, and the people selling them will peel them and core them for you, while you stand there. Sadly, it's no longer pomello season, so I figured I should try all of the fruits I can't eat, or have never eaten, back in the states. I pantomimed to the woman selling this first one, asking her if I eat it like an apple, or if I should cut into it. She conveyed that I should cut into it. I don't know what the names of these are, but they're starting to come into season here. They're little melons. They taste like a cantelope to me. It's kind of cool that they're small enough for one person to have their own little melon. Using the asian Pomello as a perfect 10, on a 1 to 10 scale, I give these little yellow melons about an 8.

This is what happens when all of the heat, in all of the apartment buildings in an entire country is turned off on March 15th...

Ninjas!