Mina’s Power Stick:  Mina Pauses, Doesn’t Yield, approx. 12" tall, ceramic, by Tammy Vitale

As promised, today I am responding to Karen’s tag.  There will also be an interview with a poet, more ArtOMatic interviews and a special surprise artist’s interview coming up.  Which means I don’t have to scrounge too hard for something to write about.  Sometimes (these times) this is a very good thing.

I suppose, in its own way, this is like an interview with me!

What are five things that give you physical pleasure?

1.  A feather comforter on a cold night

2. A hot cup of (what passes for) coffee between my hands in the morning

3.  Playing in clay

4.  walking barefoot in the grass

5.  lying on a hot beach with a cool wind

What are five things that make you immediately angry?

1.  Any of the current administration’s faces on tv talking – it pretty much doesn’t matter what they’re talking about because for sure I won’t agree with them

2.  Yet another woman being killed because she couldn’t get a protective order, or the police figured this was the umpteenth call so why bother (and they know the guy anyways, and she was probably asking for it – yes, that still happens), or she believed that "this time" it would be different

3.  Bureaucrats who are more interested in keeping their jobs than in serving the constituencies that created their jobs

4.  Loggers who cut down redwoods and Watermen who overfish a stock and then moan about how their way of life is being taken from them because the fishery is closed

5.  People who want to force their beliefs on my life.

What are five things that make you automatically happy?

1.  My husband’s eyes

2.  My daughter’s wisdom

3.  My son’s intuitive abilities

4.  My grandson’s smile

5.  Working in clay (and cuddling with my dog – but that’s six – but I can’t leave her out)

What are five things that make you automatically sad?

1.  Dead animals on the road

2.  People’s inability to see the earth in all her glory (and that sometimes includes me)

3.  A belief that precludes following your heart because _________ (fill in the blank)

4.  How hard it is to create community these days (or maybe it was always hard, and we’re just listening to the fictional stories)

5.  A culture that says greed is good (thank you Ronald Reagan and trickle-down economics)

I’m tagging:  Leah, Tinker, Jana (who loves these things), MK, and Eileen