Leanne Shawler, Artist

In April, I finished reading " Grounded: Finding God in the World -- A Spiritual Revolution ", by Diana Butler Bass. There were many things that were great about the book, and it was a good beginning (it inspired me to write a poem ) but by the end it felt like a whole other book could now be written. This is because I had some reader-baggage / preferences that came up as I read the book, and rather that writing to the author and complaining, I wondered what about the book discomfited me. Each chapter starts with a theology of grace, even abundance (in the non-prosperity gospel sense of the word!), rejoicing in these gifts that we have been given on "this earth, our island home" (a quote from a Book of Common Prayer Eucharist service) but halfway through a number of the chapters it switched to a scarcity-based theology: good soil and clean, fresh water is disappearing, air pollution, etc.  It is all true. Good soil is disappearing, air pollution is maki...

I have gone silent a bit lately because well ... I have dogs once more. Two adorable, smarter-than-me, could-do-with-some-training (and they're getting it), wee dogs that have been taking up a lot of my attention lately as we settle in together. They're shelter dogs, were turned in as strays, and had terrible matted coats so they have some serious separation anxiety issues but we're working on them. Earlier in the year, I finished reading " Grounded ", by Diana Butler Bass. The opening introduction inspired me to write a poem about the two Mt. Calvarys. ( Mt. Calvary is a monastery retreat house in Santa Barbara.) The one on the hill top before it was destroyed by fire and its current location. I thought I'd share the poem. On a mountaintop My heart broke open, filled with God's warmth In a city sanctuary: Conversations with bees, Rubbing wood prayer beads As storm blue clouds loomed, bad exhausts and loud music Whittled away in...

My superpower is to get out of a crowd quickly. I'm not a small person, so I do indeed treat this as a particular gift. While I do have, in some measure, kindness and empathy, it is seasons like the one we're currently in where I wish I had it to the extent that it is a superpower: Empathy Girl. (See, I already have a name for it, and I am longing to do a portrait of her too.) The articles I've found are about coming together as human beings to love and care for one another. First, though, I highly recommend this Meditation When the World is Falling Apart by Christianne Squires at Still Forming . It is a beautiful thing. How to Listen when you Disagree: A Lesson from the Republican National Convention at Urban Confessional Hospitality and the Secret Power of Weakness by Micha Boyett at Grace Table Holy Spirit and Holy Empathy by Scott Gun at Seven Whole Days,  a lovely reflection on how things went down at the recent Anglican Church of Canada synod Send Fo...

Happy Pride! I’ve never been to a Pride Parade before, let alone walked in one.  It’s the crowds, you see, and the heat, as I told a friend. But after the tragedy at Pulse in Florida, I felt a pull toward showing my support for the LGBTQI community, but by that time entries into the parade had closed. No worries, our new deacon at Good Sam got a small handful of us organized and we walked with St. Paul’s Cathedral, along with about four other churches on Saturday. Three church ladies walk in a parade... As we waited our turn to go, we cheered wildly for the various police departments and law enforcement that passed us by. Because, Dallas. I have no idea how San Diego measures up against the reformed police department in Dallas, but in that moment, it didn’t matter. I looked up at the streamers carried by the St. Bart’s youth, that usually represent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost in church. And here they were in the world. Yes, I thought. The Holy Spi...

I have an update to my overhaul of my art space and it is also an opportunity to link to this year's Where Bloggers Create , hosted by Karen Valentine at My Desert Cottage . I found that I needed somewhere to put a palette/paint mixing place, and as the goal was not to use the icon writing space for anything but icon writing, I brought a piece of furniture that had been banished from the space for a few years, put some plastic wrap on it to protect the top and I'm currently using palette paper for the mixing. When I run out of that, I'll look into get some glass or perspex or something for the top. Here is that part of the space before: and after (apologies for the lighting, it was twilight when I took the photo): It's a pine bedside table that I painted and used for storage for a while. So if you haven't seen my overhaul that I did in June, you can see that at this link . And for previous instantiations of my craft room now art stu...

It's been a horrible few weeks in America. There seems to be some sort of madness infecting the population: fear, hatred, anger. And let's be honest, we've all felt one or more of those things in the past month, whether it's anger at our government for failing to implement protective measures for its citizenry (come on, not even a little gun control?!), fear of being hurt, dispossessed, rendered voiceless, etc. If you took a good look at yourself, you've probably at least reacted to something in fear, or anger, or frustration. I know I have. It's part of being human. But as a nation, we are out of balance. We are letting our darker natures get the better of us. After each police-caused death of an African-American, we cry out for anti-bias training in the police forces as part of the reform. Yes, but where do police officers come from? From our towns, from our churches, our temples and our mosques, from our friends, and from our families. Where do you ...

Hubby and I on a rainy day in Disneyland eating churros The title seems to maybe have the wrong number of negatives, but you know what I mean, right? How to write romances: early on I joined Romance Writers of America, because that's what I was writing and I didn't know anybody outside of my husband's family How to spell without a "u", e.g. "colour" vs "color" fish tacos churros I really doubt I would've learned more about my faith, the Bible, Christian history thanks to taking Education for Ministry and from becoming members at Good Sam Benedictine monastery food is really good I would've have pronounced "Cursillo" incorrectly. (Hint: it's not Curs-ILL-oh) How amazingly wonderful Disneyland is  Judaism: working in a synagogue has taught (and is teaching me) a lot. Not a whole lot of opportunities to work in a synagogue where I grew up Baseball. Not that I’m particularly interested in team sports, but the fi...