Important Announcement

Update July 8th
Shelly, with the help of a really kind lady from Helping Heroes / National Vigil For Hope has put up a myspace page for Ben. It has the latest update in the blog portion and is full of great photos, links and a video of Ben singing to his mom. What a sweet kid.

Update June 18th
Ben is now in the database for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

There are new developments but I am holding back until the investigators say it is ok to release the info. What I can say is that it appears from phone records (the cell-phone has since been turned off) that Jim had not left Arizona as of June 9th and the aforementioned white Ford pick-up was a short-term lease and has been returned. No new vehicle description is available. Someone out there is helping him. He has a long history of using people and scamming them for money.

Shelly is a strong, beautiful and loving mother but as each day passes Ben's abduction is wearing on her. She has been dealing with Jim's defiant and willful ways for the past nine years. He has never once paid child support and thumbs his nose at all laws. As each day passes he digs himself into a deeper hole. When and if you say a prayer for Ben's return, Shelly's mantra is "safe and sound."

We recently found this video up on youtube to give you some perspective on Jim's parenting skills. Ben is the boy in the gold sweatshirt.



Update June 11th

This news item from yesterday.
If you want to leave tips or sitings, please call the Chandler Police. If you want to extend your support to Shelly, feel free to look at my profile and email me. I will forward them to her. :)

Keeping comments off for now. Big hugs!

Update June 9th
Since I posted the first link a couple of hours ago. It has popped up in almost all the local media.

3TV (video) | The Arizona Republic | East Valley Tribune | KSAZ Fox 10 | ABC15 | KPHO CBS 5

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My good friend Shelly's son has been abducted by his father. Please look at the missing persons poster below. Click on it to enlarge. Feel free to copy and distribute.

Thank you very much!

Kill Them With Kindness

For me, the term "kill them with kindness" simply means to return any nastiness or negativity with a gentle kindness that has the potential to change the dynamic of the situation. It can be challenging at times depending on what is going on in your own life.

But, hey! I just like being kind to others too. Like last week, I helped a complete stranger who had locked her keys in her car, at high noon, temps reaching slightly past 100° while I was wearing a black t-shirt with black flip flops on the asphalt (black) parking lot at the Walgreens. (Youch!)

Of course I later negated that act of kindness by rolling my grocery cart into the woman who was blissfully unaware that there were other shoppers who needed to get down the pasta aisle. Hey, I am not perfect. (I apologized profusely but I don't think she heard me... only perhaps seeing the devil horns I was hiding under my hastily updo'd hair.)

Facebook has continued to hold my interest as now I have friends from my current work in the arts field, friends from high school, college and ones from over 15 years ago. And of course, I can see Julie, Michael, Tommy, Pammy, Vicus, Donnnnnn and Whitesnake over there as well.

So on this note I lay my blog to sleep. I considered deleting it but have thought best to just let it lie dormant for now. It has been fun and I may return someday.

Love and kindness to one and all.

Kindness prevails

Work is slow. Such is the state of nonprofit art orgs. I have not been busy lately. Trying to keep my hours under 10 a week while trying to maintain the same level of service. I recently realized that I am in a state of depression. No biggie. Been there... done that.

I am not completely numb but have found my ability to use words to express what I am feeling lack. I am coming back from the depths. (I am writing this now... see?)

I find myself spending lots of time sitting out on my back patio and just watching the birds I have managed to attract to our little piece of suburban land. I feed the hummingbirds with yummy sugar water and treat the mockingbirds, finches and Gila woodpeckers with fresh halves of oranges. They have been good company.

I became consumed just last week by the plight of one of my mockingbird families because this little fella showed up:
A baby mockingbird who fell out of the nest too soon. I obsessed over his safety and later discovered it happens often and that both mom and dad keep a close eye on their offspring (I got to see mamma and pappa mockingbird dive bomb my neighbor's cats and at times feared for my own safety... bless them.)

I found him later to be happily alive and living in my neighbor's bush, growing his tail feathers... surviving. A couple of days later I saw him on top of the tree.

I also discovered that someone who I believed to be an online friend was really a manipulative liar. While it hurt to discover these lies it was a great relief that contact had been broken some time ago and I was able to process the pain (BTW, this person is not among my blogger friends, thank higher powers.) All the wisdom they proclaimed to possess was just a front and a con job. I truly am grateful that I am able to move on and only feel empathy for the people who may still be blinded by this false light.

I also hope that this person will actually come to realize the love that could be inside them, once they shed the selfishness of self gratification that has ruled their life, as much as I hope I continue to grow in the lightness of being.

I felt I was being mindless and yet now I realize I was just processing the crap I allowed to enter my life. I am feeling better. Kindness does not always beget kindness but I will not let that deter my quest to be kind.

So this evening as I went to pull another orange from our Arizona Sweet orange tree (that term, Arizona Sweet, has kept visitors coming to my inactive blog, BTW) this little sweet creature passed by me.
"Oh... you look like an escapee," I thought. I coaxed her to my arms, scooped her up and brought her to our backyard. I called and left a message on the number on her dog tag and just when I was about to go borrow dog food from a neighbor, the phone rang.

"I have Daisy here with me," I said to the panicked voice on the other end.

Her mommy came immediately to our house to collect her. The hugs that followed has made my day and helped me heal... helped me pull out of this slump.

Kindness is back and will visit all my blogger friends shortly. So much love to you all tonight and every night as I bless my lucky stars for the really good people in my life.

What??? It's March Already?

Where did February go?

OK... so February is the shortest month of the year but still... I do, however, have lots and lots of excuses.

I did find the time to change the profile picture. I mean if your spouse got you a Lebowski Fest Urban Achiever t-shirt for Valentine's Day you would take a picture of yourself in it and be all proud and stuff. I like how my built in camera reversed the the word "Achiever." Seriously... that shirt is always in the dirty clothes. I get so much done when I wear it. I am wearing it now.

Our Celebrity Waiters Dinner and Art Auction went really well despite the economy. We cut back on the number of pieces we auctioned off and had fewer tables but overall none of the works were undersold or without the usual bidding war. The Rita Blanco (*coughs*) Virgen de Guadalupe piece I (*clears throat*) donated for the silent auction had a few bids and ended up going to the same gentleman who has purchased her work before. He even gave me his card and asked that I keep him up to speed on her other work. Rita is so unpredictable though.


The very next day I was off to the far north of the Valley and up a long a ridge in the high desert for a long overdue visit with my friends, Julie, Mary Jane and Diana. We first came together back in 1992 at Arizona State University in the Office of Communication and Marketing. Despite going on our different paths we have always stayed in touch and I treasure these women as some of my dearest friends. (Notice the shirt I am wearing?)

Last week I received an email from my marvelous friend, the artist, Marv. He has been experimenting with portraiture (see my earlier posts of his aluminum can portraits.) When I helped him resin his portrait of his son he asked to take my photo. I was more than happy to oblige... what an honor to be the subject of one of his works. So... he used my photo to experiment in a new medium... This is made from 4d 1 1/2" finishing nails.
I am absolutely thrilled! I wrote back to say that I believe he has "nailed" my likeness [insert sound of wah wah pedal.] For a brief moment I became only slightly disturbed at the thought of someone looking at my photo and them hammering nails into a board but that feeling has passed.

On a more serious note my son the sailor called Saturday evening. He was just back from going around in circles in the Atlantic testing operations with the Marines attached to his ship. Oh... he sounded so tired... he had been up for nearly 22 hours when he called. He let us know that his fireman skills had been put to the test. (!!!) It seems some numskull on another shift could not walk thirty feet to the designated smoking area and lit up in a workspace that has a powerful exhaust system. Yup, the lit cigarette got sucked up into the exhaust and landed on a paper filter. My poor baby led a crew that fought a nine hour fire on board, his first real test. I nearly cried as he told me, "My adrenaline kept me going the first two hours but after that I got really scared. The flames were over our heads."

Fortunately no one got seriously hurt although one crew member suffered smoke inhalation. Of the fifteen sailors on duty in that area, not one if confessing to the violation. The incident is under investigation and I hope they make an example of that idiot. Millions of dollars of damage and putting my son at risk... I wish I could get my hands on that person myself...

Back to the lighter side of life... my silly husband loves to go shopping at the Oriental market in our neighborhood. For some reason they have the widest selection of beers and wines and he loves to peruse that aisle.There are so many varieties and I love to look at the various label designs as well. He also has a penchant for buying weird cookies. Last night he broke open his latest acquisition and was munching on them as we watched TV. I noticed a horrendous smell but figured he had removed his shoes or let one rip (not unusual.) But no, the gagerific smell was coming from those cookies! "I thought they were lemon wafers," he says.

NOT!!! They were Durian flavored wafers. In case you are not familiar with this exotic fruit, please watch the following video:

Most disturbing of all is that he vows to eat them all. I woke up this morning and I could smell them! (I had a Gagtasm--I seriously couldn't tell if it was the cookies or one of the litter boxes.) He will NOT be eating them in our house.

At least he came home with a wine that now tops my favorite label of all time. I think I will just sit back and have a glass right after I put those cookies outside.

Facebook is killing MySpace...

... and is working pretty hard at killing this blog. Where da hell have I been?

Yeah, facebook. I never thought I would get into it. I have a MySpace page to keep up with my assorted kids but facebook is keeping me very busy (let me go poke Vicus and Michael again... maybe Donn and Tom too... Whitesnake... where are you?)

Seriously, work has kept me hopping the last three weeks. Our board president kidded with me that my name should be "Rita Blanco." We had a successful grand opening which you may read about here.

In addition, we have invited our artists to paint a section of our floor. I was so humbled to watch Joe Ray, Frank Ybarra, Ruben Galicia and Francisco do wonders last Saturday:

Joe Ray and his floor painting, Para Los Good Times (<== Says it all)

Frank Ybarra's grilled tribute to Xico... (see the X?)

Ruben's two-headed serpent...

... y Francisco with son... simply lovely works all around.

Now we are tackling our 21st annual Celebrity Waiters Dinner and Art auction on Feb. 20th. Trying to get it all worked out and planned.

Unfortunately, the economy hits nonprofits as hard as many of our sponsors (where is the nonprofit bailout? LOL... jk.) We are struggling to get by. I have even offered to work for prints instead of a paycheck. Oh yes, yes... this soon will be mine:


I love love love this David Manje print... I finally got to meet him (he christened me with the simple street name, "Blanca."--LOL) I plan to sign up for one of his printmaking classes as soon as it is in the budget.

Anyway...

I have been so motivated by the unique energy and positive feedback I have received recently that I finally finished my latest work. My Virgen de Guadalupe:


I will donate her to Xico Inc. for the silent auction on Feb. 20. You don't have to be Hispanic or Native to contribute to the silent auction. It is just my way of saying thanks to an organization that has taken me in and inspired me at the same time.

Margarita Blanco

“So, Kelly, what is your middle name?”

“Kelly,” I say.

I was named after a nurse/nun who was present for the birth of all my siblings. So when Mom was in labor with me, Sister Margaret Kelly asked my dad what names were under consideration.

“If this baby is a girl we will name her after you.”

Yeah… when I first reveal the fact that my first name is Margaret I get a lot of “Hey Margaret! I’ll have another beer.” “Yo Margaret, the bathroom is out of toilet paper.” “Margaret!” “Margaret?” And then the fun dies off and it's back to “Kelly.”

At Xico Inc. we promote Chicano and Native American culture. Our programs reach out to youth-at-risk or under-served communities. Our events are meant to educate the public at large. Our printmaking workshops give artists the opportunity to print. We get to keep roughly 30% of all prints created which we in turn sell or put up for auction to raise money. We are a 501c3 nonprofit who relies on sales, grants and donations from people like you. ;)

I have attended three printmaking workshops. I stay in the background and try not to interfere. I document the workshops with my photographs that are used in a variety of ways to promote our organization. Our latest one was last weekend.

Saturday was a busy day… we had the cream of the crop with Martin Moreno, Frank Ybarra, Joe Ray and Cristina Cardenas working the plates at Segura Publishing. What a day. Pure joy in watching them create amazing pieces.

On Sunday, we had artists that were new to Xico coming. I arrived at Segura to discover that two of the four artists scheduled to work were not able to be present.

Midway through the day my boss shows up to deliver lunch… looks at me and says… “Kelly… print!”

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was not prepared (just look at the pics below and you will know this to be true) but I make the most of the opportunity. It was such an "in the now" experience. The joy is indescribable.

My first time in years working with an oil-based medium (I am loving lithographers ink.) Although I would prefer to have had some templates prepared to work with I free-hand inked this plate.

Master printer Brent, is wiping down the edges before placing it on the press. After he gave me the quick lesson on how to work with the ink he said, "We are here to serve you. Anything you need, let us know." I almost cried..

Brent slowly pulls the paper from the plate. The folks at Segura Publishing are simply the nicest bunch you could ever hope to work with. Since the plate had a lot of ink left on it Brent suggested I rework the plate and make another print.

This is my reworked plate on the press. I added a little ink and splashed some solvent on the background area to give the print a different character. With monoprinting you never know what you are going to get. It always looks one way on the plate so what it looks like on paper is always a surprise.


I won't be in any shows or promoted by Xico Inc. since I am neither Hispanic nor Native American but Brent asked what my full name was and since my maiden name is White we came up with Margarita Blanco. Today my boss and I joked around with my possible biography.

No one has ever really met Margarita except Brent and Angela, his talented printing assistant. Ruben and Raquel were so intensely creating their own work, they barely remember her. She is the daughter of humble hard-working immigrant parents from El Centro, CA. She is young and pretty (LOL! I added that.)

Maybe... just maybe I will pass... NOT!

What a gift and a great learning experience. I was not happy with my final prints so the lessons learned is what I come away with. One of those lessons is that I will begin to develop my templates, buy some brushes and will bring them just in case another artist comes down with the flu at our next printmaking workshop.

I am blessed.

2009, this year in review...

I am rolling through in another big ball of bleh. No inspiration for the blog. All good things are going on but when I try to come up with a post I dunno... I get to thinking "Oh... who cares?"

Does anyone really care that I can't roll a bowling ball down the lane without it going into the gutter?

Nope, no one could care less that I actually made it past the 7th frame without knocking one pin over (although other patrons nearby found it funny--one of those "You had to be there" kinds of funny.)

Then I took the slightest sliver of skin off the tip of a finger using our Christmas gift to each other, a set of Wustof knives. Sparing you the bloody photo but it is amazing how much a finger can bleed. It got me out of doing the dishes that evening and I now have a new-found respect for fine German cutlery.

My left girl got retraumatized by the mean old mammogram machine. Unless it comes back and says time for another biopsy... I am not concerned so no one should care about that either.

Our darling and talented daughter-in-law now works for the "W." (The "W" as in hotels... not the "W" that may first come to mind.) She arranged for the six of us to stay at a Starwood resort in Scottsdale at a killer rate plus we got a 50% discount on all food. There is no way we could afford it otherwise. The food was great but the prices were still ZOMG!

She also hired a professional photographer, Erika Griffin, to do a photo shoot of us at the resort the next morning. Erika put this little slide show together:



I still need to decide what photos to buy. In fact it is something I should be doing now instead of struggling to write this post. No one cares about that either (except maybe Erika!)

On the work front we have opened our retail/gallery to the public. There are three of us that share the responsibility of maintaining retail hours. I love it. People wander in, ask questions and often times teach me a thing or two about our Southwestern culture.

We are gearing up for a Grand Opening Reception on January 16th while continuing to prepare for our big fund-raiser of the year on February 20th. This weekend I will photograph my third printmaking workshop with my absolutely favorite master printer not to mention a lovely group of talented artists!

A couple of artists who already printed this year have begun work on the mural that will be our floor. Here is Jose and Oliverio getting started...


On top of everything else... I am making changes to our website and adding a group blog. I can only imagine the neglect this one will get once I get that one up and rolling but now that I have made my whiny "I don't know what to blog about" post I may get back up and rolling on this one as well.

Then again... who cares?

Happy New Year!

We brought in the new year with New York. We may make it to mountain time...

In the meantime I made a smart playlist with anything that has the word "love" in it.

Dancing about the house as my dear sweet husband drifts in and out of consciousness. ("Zero to Love" by Del McCoury playing now... "Love Struck Baby" by Stevie Ray Vaughn on deck...

Gotta go dance!

I love you all.

Warmest Loving Wishes To All

:)

Self Portrait 6