T-shirt Models join forces with HGBG!

On September 26, I announced the search for ten people willing to model a T-shirt for my small business, Honey Girl Books and Gifts LLC, in return for a donation of $100 on their behalf to Fusion Kung-Fu and Movements Arts: a martial arts school that we all love in central Seattle. (That’s our teacher in the cover photo, with a Kung Fu student. The student may be taller than Sifu Michelle Pleasant, but I doubt she is mightier than our teacher.)

Today I’m delighted to announce that we did it!

We made an alternative economy happen.

We invested in this school, our community, because we are aware of the joy and convenience it gives us to learn martial arts, without travelling too far from home. (And we are aware of the high cost of Seattle real estate.) If you’d like to join the effort, please do!

Great thanks to all of those who contributed–I’m sure readers will agree that everyone looks marvelous!

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Seattle really is that kind of place. Proud to be born here, to work here, and to have HGBG become a new member of SEATTLE MADE, a network of local artisans and creators who sell products all over town, even at SeaTac Airport. (Wow, what a thrill that would be; maybe one day!)

P.S. Get your own HGBG T-shirt for only $19.95 while supplies last…

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Announcing the HGBG T-shirt model search (and fund-raiser for Fusion Kung Fu)!

Hello clever people who read this blog!

To evade the ever-building gloom of rain in the PNW, we’re launching the coolest look for fall: the HGBG T-shirt! The Ts are modeled here by me and Honey Girl on this cloudy morning.

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First ever HGBG – FUSION KUNG FU Fund-raiser

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FREE T FOR THE FIRST 10 MODELS!

Conditions:

1. You agree to model an HGBG T for use in HGBG advertising (no names, your photo will simply serve as a model of the T-shirt on our two websites: https://www.honeygirlbooks.com/ and https://www.etsy.com/shop/HoneyGirlBooksGifts ).

2. In order to participate in the FREE T-shirt give-away (FIRST 10 PEOPLE ONLY):

a. You request a free T-shirt by email to juliawsea@gmail.com.

b. In your letter of request, you agree to email me at least one photo of you wearing the HGBG T-shirt, in jpeg format (cellphone photo), within 48 hours of receiving the T. You designate the preferred size: Youth Medium; Adult Small; Adult Medium; Adult Large; or Adult Extra-large. You provide me with a mailing address.

RESULTS:

a. You keep your word, and thereby not only look cool in person and online, but also feel good about life and spread positive energy through the universe.

b. (FIRST TEN ONLY): Your generosity will prompt a donation of $100 to the Go Fund Me campaign underway for Fusion Kung Fu and Movement Arts: an awesome woman-owned martial arts school in Seattle (where I am learning the Japanese art of Aikido, as in the photo below, of an Aikido uniform with a Fusion hoodie).

BTW: This is how we keep cultures alive, by taking matters into our own hands. This is an example of an alternative economy that serves a local community and the brave folks who run small businesses. In this case, both businesses are run by women. That this fund-raiser serves to keep our bodies and minds in top form, by propagating the strong yet peaceful practices of Aikido and T’ai chi, is simply icing on the cake.

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P.S. Thanks to Luvvie Ajayi Jones and her book, Professional Troublemaker, which gave me the courage to launch this campaign with photos of myself. –embarrassed yet proud emoji !!!

respectfully yours (and homage to Yayoi Kusama)

Respect quilt no. 1 has rolled out of production as you see below!

If there is one lesson this work is teaching me, it is to focus on the center. Start at the center. Get the center right and the rest falls into place gracefully. It holds for stitching up a quilt as well as standing on one leg in a crane pose during T’ai chi.

As legendary martial artist Peter Ralston reminds us, “Centering is perhaps the best way to calm our thoughts and emotions. Putting attention and feeling in the center region of the body allows for a shift to a state of being that is calm, nonthinking but aware, balanced, in-the-body, grounded, present, and alive. It coordinates and harmonizes all movement in the body. Every action and movement is done with more power and control when directed from the center.” (The Principles of Effortless Power, p. 10).

In design, the center draws in the eye and creates a feeling for the whole. Yayoi Kusama understands that so well! Her Infinity Rooms are none other than spherical objects–with an invitingly open door. When people go inside, they are thus engulfed in the aesthetic, caressed by its special air and light, the weirdly round architecture giving us an unforgettable memory of coziness and wonder.

In fabric, things work a little differently, though I certainly hope people will one day wrap themselves in my Respect quilts!

The message is straightforward, if told through abstract shapes: in no. 1 (on the left below), the central red and black squares resemble the African continent (top) and a couple of ships bobbing at sea (bottom). They remind us of the slave trade, life’s vicissitudes, and the urgency of action. In Respect quilt no. 2, the central red and black squares resemble a curvy female form (top) and people talking or embracing under a blazing sun (bottom). They memorialize women’s vitality and community-building powers. None of this was premeditated; the images just came to shape when I unrolled that tantalizing package of African fabrics from Cultured Expressions: it’s magic!

Road trip day five and beyond: in our new home at last

Hi everybody,

Sorry to leave you up in the air like that, on the road trip! The fifth day began in Moses Lake–a vast and wind-swept desert setting. It was fun to see the sign for George, WA–I had not thought of that town since my days at WSU–and like every other tourist I could not resist:

 

 

As we spiraled down into the Columbia Gorge, signs finally started listing Seattle–what a thrill to the traveling trio, five days away from South Bend!

Snoqualmie Pass is beautifully mysterious, with its sudden waterfalls and misty views:

 

I drove for the last leg, with tears of joy as I realized that our dream had come true: we are home at last!  Honey Girl likes it here too.

 

arriving in WSEA July 2, 2018

That enormous moving truck made its way down our tiny street (a dead end) the very next morning. It was truly an engineering miracle to see him get that rig into the street, and to back it up all the way out. Hats off to Daniel, the North American Van Lines driver, who navigated the whole move like a true pro and is a nice guy too.

I made a bee-line to the Seattle Kung Fu Club as soon as I could and I’m grateful to now be among the T’ai chi students of Grandmaster John S.S. Leong and his staff. (So far, I’ve been relegated to doing long arduous stretches for the duration of the 1 1/2 hour classes, but I look forward to learning the Wu Form in due course). It is wonderful to look into the eyes of people at the Seattle Kung Fu Club–they all look so vital, healthy, and alert.

To go there, I walk down a dizzying street from our house on the top of a hill to Seacrest Park at sea level and take the water taxi 15 minutes to Pier 52 in downtown Seattle. Then I walk through Pioneer Square and beyond the eclectic mix of upscale art galleries and fancy restaurants alongside homeless missions and the people who gather nearby, to a tiny building in old Chinatown. It is a minuscule second-floor studio with an enigmatic grandmaster who inspires reverence among all of us sweaty people–just perfect. What a feast of sensations!  the dazzling water and lively boat traffic to see, the smell of diesel, the sound of the waves and the rumbling engine, then the strangely relaxing and familial smell of sweat and body warmth… it is just what all the “mindfulness” books suggest leads to wellbeing.  Check out the pics of the commute below. That long grey ship seems to be sending us a message to persevere in the inner arts and to stay strong with exercise… The pagoda-like entrance to King Street and the dragon mural at Hing Hay park delight the eyes and bring a smile to the spirit, every time:

 

 

I’m in heaven. With both brothers (and fabulous sisters-in-law) nearby, nieces, nephews, and one out of two sons close to home, family is finally near at hand. Yet there is much I do not know. Who knows what lies on the other side of that doorway in our backyard?

Maybe it beckons to inner space: leading into the Space of Now. As philosopher Eckhart Tolle famously wrote, “you may be surprised that by becoming aware of the space of Now, you suddenly feel more alive inside. You are feeling the aliveness of the inner body–the aliveness that is an intrinsic part of the joy of Being.” (A New Earth, 252).

Thanks for joining me on this journey. There really was a rainbow waiting on the other side!