What I'm Fired Up About at the Moment

Leafy Kimono - Collagraph Handprint by Susanne Clark

 Next week I'm off to Portugal on holiday.  I thought I would write about a few things that I'm fired up  about before I go.

smARTist Telesummit 2011.  Last week I took part in this one week online artist's career telesummit for the first time.  I was a bit dubious about spending the money in case it wasn't worthwhile but it was great.  There were some very good speakers whose presentations were both inspiring and helpful and although quite a lot of the material wasn't new to me I still gained a lot of new ideas and info.  It was pretty overwhelming because of the large amount of info over a short period of time so thankfully I will be able to listen to it all again online and when the set of cd's arrive.  There are handouts and a workbook to work through as well.  Even though it was a online event there was a lot of interaction between the participants.  I liked it so much that I may sign up for it again next year.  Before then though I have a lot of ideas to implement.  Link to smARTist

The China Diet.  I just finished reading this book and I think it's something that everyone should read. Once again I knew quite a lot about the diet that is written about in this book and yet it still made a big impression on me.  It clearly makes the connection between cancer, and many other diseases, to a western diet.  I've been a vegetarian for 30 years and I'm not thin, unfortunately, or pale and sickly looking which seems to be the general idea about veges,  and now I'm thinking of moving to a vegan diet after reading this.  The big problem, it appears, is animal fat.  I love cheese, yogurt and an egg a few times a week but I am going to cut that right back.  One of the interesting points is that animal fats make young girls menstruate at a much earlier age and then as they age they go into menopause later. This exposes women to more estrogen over their lifetime, something not good for breast cancer.  There are a lot of reviews on Amazon the average being 4.5 out of 5.  I would strongly encourage you to read this.   Read more here on Amazon.

The last thing I'm fired up about at the moment is how people seem to get so upset about seeing nudity on TV or a woman breastfeeding and yet they have no problem watching hours of violence on the tube.  North America seems to be worse about this than anywhere we have lived.  All advertising here seems to be based around sex and yet a woman breastfeeding seems to send nearly everyone into shock.  Huge artificial boobs are OK but using them for what they are designed for is not.  I don't like porn at all but have no trouble with nudity.

Now that I have shared my feelings I can relax and take off to Portugal.  Watch for a few posts from there.