THE UNCHARTED SPACE CALLED CHANGE

 

A series of essays….

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
ARE YOU READY FOR CHANGE?

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

With the beginning of a brand new year, a certain amount of change is inevitable. Resolutions are firm decisions to do or not to do something. And, sure enough, most of us resolve to make changes, hopefully for the betterment of our lives: lose weight, read more books, advance our career with a better job that pays more money, quit smoking, eat more healthily, share our love for others more openly, and improve our lives in general. 

Often, our resolutions prove to be difficult to keep as the days and weeks of the new year roll out before us. Our intentions are good but the hard work required to see the changes take place can prove long and tedious and life itself often gets in our way. 

Yes, some might choose to call this added pressure that we place on ourselves. After all, we were born to be real and not to be perfect. It’s always nice to know that we tried even though we may not always succeed.

This past September marked my ninth year of diligently placing my weekly stories out into the ethos with my individual thought processes, mindset, floating along the waves of social media and direct to you. I believed that if I understood what made me tick (travel, people of other cultures, new landscapes discovered), I could better understand what makes others tick and share ideas and experiences with them.

My ideas evolved into so much more as time passed. Life rubbed off on me—in a good way.  My travel recollections progressed into childhood memories, to fictional characters sipping coffee and tea in their neighborhood coffeehouse while exchanging ideas about life, to the positive side of politics that, suddenly, became the negative side of life in general on Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Yes, politics engulfed me and I felt it my duty to express truth over all of the evil that surrounded us during his four years in office and beyond!

My innocence back in September of 2013, right after my return from the Wild Atlantic Way of coastal Ireland, was coupled with passion for the two things that pulled at my heart and soul—writing and travel. My Blog post was entitled Moving On…2013 and was born out of guts and determination. It reflected my love for travel, but it proved to be laying the groundwork for something much bigger and stronger: my imagination. 

I was building a forum for my thoughts and expressions that knew no boundaries; was open to my own interpretations and could float me along an uncharted space by just closing my eyes while choosing which direction to travel inside my mind that particular week. It was a very heady scenario for me as a writer which, eventually, proved delightful and often quite therapeutic. The research alone behind most of my stories was a form of knowledge and enlightenment that opened up my mind to even bigger and better things. And then, I got to write about it and share it all with you.

You may or may not have noticed the mini-vacation from my Blog post these past few weeks. I’ve taken this time to try and work out several aspects that have relentlessly nagged at me after nine years of blogging. I asked myself if blogging was the best way to communicate with my readers and was I able, via my Blog, to reach out to more readers each week? Given the algorithm employed by Facebook, readership was not growing. 

I discovered that more hard work was needed and that submitting to various writing journals for publication would be a favorable addition to weekly posts. I understood the importance of making time to publish my manuscript that began long ago but continues to pull me in multiple directions like a small child freed from parental restraints. This work has taken me back to the reason I fell in love with writing in the first place, as a young elementary student reading Nancy Drew mysteries I’d checked out from the school library.

So—I believed that my attempt at working out what is right for me was better accomplished during the busy holiday weeks when time can be filled with organic detritus and white noise anyway. I could afford to take a mini-break. Being with family and friends helped me think about what my future plans might be; place what is most important into proper perspective.

Some of you missed my weekly frolic into the unknown, simplified, and unsupervised world of my imagination. Thank you for noticing and expressing your thoughts. I’ve written about this, before: the ego of most writers (artists in general) is happiest when it is stroked by those who appreciate all of their hard work and effort. I, unabashedly, fit into this portrait and attribute some of my best work with this thought in mind. After all, you, my readers, are who I aim to please and, for this reason, I take my work, seriously!

So, with the New Year, 2023, right around the corner, I resolve to make various changes in my work, hopefully, for the better. If you, as a reader, decide to leave my story hanging like a piece of fruit on a tree—I must either accept this or work even harder for your comments and reactions to my posts. Also, with you sharing my work on social media it would help to play it forward for more people to see, read, glean and harvest the messages my stories are sending out.

I thank you for your kind patience. Soon, I will be changing the look of my site with regards to freshness and being a bit brighter, softer. Sometimes change comes easily and sometimes it takes a village to make things happen. Surprisingly, I’m all for change if it is a means for making things better and clearer for others to understand and accept.

Here’s wishing all of you one of the Happiest New Years you could possibly imagine. After all we’ve been through in the past several years, I think each and every one of us deserves it! Let’s embrace the changes being made in order to accept all of the wonders this coming year has to offer. And, let’s make ‘Love’ shine through in every way possible…!

Live Kindly

Laugh Wholeheartedly 

Love Deeply

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

YOU MUST HAVE, TOO!

 

A series of essays….

HUMAN LIFE AND WELL-BEING IS REFLECTED IN THE BEAUTY 
OF NATURE. ALL LIVES ARE BEAUTIFUL AND EACH ONE OF US
SHOULD BE TREATED WITH DECENCY AND RESPECT.

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

“Yesterday was a good day for democracy and for America!”

                                                                  —President Joseph Biden

Recently, I remember having lived (uncomfortably) through the rumblings of lies vs. truths (boy, how this one covers a lot of territory!), hate vs. love, what is wrong compared to what is right, and possibly learning how to exist within a world so foreign to most of us that our lives would be compared to those living in an insecure, developing country. You must have heard the rumblings, too!

And, the deep rumblings continue to be heard. I feel them in the depths of my being. Then—yesterday happened! People of all ancestries, religions, and ethnicities helped pull together, literally, at the ballot boxes, drop boxes, and via the USPS and gave us hope to cling to. We are not perfect, by any means, but we sure know how to work together when we need to. You might be feeling this, too!

Whether Democrats can hold on to the House, as well as take the Senate remains to be tallied. Democrats are resigned to the fact that anything worth having is not something that is easily obtained. That’s just the nature of the beast. But, we are learning to fight harder, be stronger, and not accept the easily conjured lies that bounce off GOP walls, as out of control as a bright red, rubber ball; the skid marks left behind indicating chaos and decline. You might be seeing this happening, too!

I have never been a poll watcher or even believed in the speculative accumulation of numbers based on sections of lives gathered by a handful of others. I feel good about this choice. Yesterday’s voting proved to me that my feeling about never following polls is a good one. Knowledge over conjecture is a winner every time. Do you feel this way, too?

The future we desire is not based upon our politics alone. Up until six years ago, we were able to live under a red or a blue administration because we realized that to be happy and progressive, it was best to learn how to work with one another rather than against one another. And, this was pretty much the political standard we all enjoyed within a democratic society as we continued to carry-on in our daily routines. Do you believe in giving everyone the benefit of the doubt? 

I now have renewed faith in our youth and believe that they do care and are concerned about the future. They are not little robots being fed certain data and expected to grow into their parents footsteps, without personal feelings or hope. The protection of the Earth and climate related concerns do take priority in their lives. They are the tough ones who have had to live through the murder of a fellow classmates and the distinct possibility of not owning the rights to their own body after believing that they did. Their struggle to survive is based on their strengths and personal experiences. We must learn how to place ourselves in their shoes in order to understand where they’re coming from.

We continue to grow-up together, side by side, and strive to be stronger than ever! Yes, the deniers still exist after yesterday’s elections. We have, unfortunately, allowed them to infiltrate our daily lives. Their undoing will always be their lack of proper, working policies that would propel us forward in peace and harmony, as well as their unwavering hatred of hard work and forward thinking. I recall my dear Mother insisting that it’s always better to just tell the truth. Lies can only lead to more lies until you can’t distinguish the lies from the truth. Do you remember this hard learned lesson of your youth? When did the Republican Party forget about this?

Yesterday, I learned that there are more people expressing hope and love than people embracing the open greediness established six years ago in Washington D.C. I heard the bells ring on top of the hill drawing people from all walks of life into a much better, kinder place. Our love for Mother Earth and all of the lives she nourishes are the musical voices that are learning to harmonize in glorious solidarity. The tide is turning. I do have faith in the bells, voices, sighs of hope and love that I hear surrounding me today. You must have, too!

Thoughts: let’s be patient, but strong; unified in being truthful and honest with one another. Understand that spreading lies is a sign of weakness. Truthfulness will shine a light on progressiveness. Please remember that democracy is not for sale!

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

HOMELAND

 

A series of essays….

NATIVE AMERICANS HAVE LIVED HERE FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS,
TRANSFERRING KNOWLEDGE FROM GENERATION TO 
GENERATION THROUGH STORYTELLING.

Photo Courtesy of PNSN

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Some say that with age comes wisdom. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case. After all, how many years does our ex-president carry with him, as do many of the Republican members of the House and Senate? It would be far more simple to get my point across here without the added frustration of a retro punch (Hitler, Putin, and the demise of our democracy) of negative politics. Becoming totally oblivious to the events that shape our world is a choice I refuse to make.

My philosophy is if you don’t allow yourself to live with it, you will never be a part of the system that will, eventually, solve it. Therefore, the current situation we face in Washington D. C. will and should always be on our minds even if we’re able to tuck it away long enough to proceed with our daily lives. The more wisdom we seek—the closer we come to achieving the wisdom we require to make this a better world in which to live in.

When I was quite young and watching the wonder of television (test screen and all) while seated on the living room couch with my older brother, our young lives were surrounded by stereotypes of Indigenous People the likes of Tonto, the Lone Ranger’s sidekick. But mostly, we were affronted by the ‘Indians’ who scalped white settlers, kidnapped young white children and raised them within their own culture, and Indians who overindulged in drinking  ‘firewater’ (whiskey) and stole firearms to be used against the settlers who purportedly had the right to push them off their own land.

That was our guide in forming the concepts behind Indigenous People; black and white movies depicting European immigrants forcing their way onto native lands, pushing them back in order to spread out into this new land of possibility and opportunity. These immigrants were harbingers of their own religious beliefs and failed to recognize these lands as being a part of a world and its people who had existed here, without them, for centuries.

While playing cowboys and Indians, we were quick to depict  the cowboy as the good guy and the Indian as the bad guy. Who defended the rights of the Native Americans for protecting the only lifestyle they’d ever known? Certainly not the adolescent boy or girl of the 1950’s. Hollywood films were the counterpoint to historical reality. Historical reality was not to be found in classroom history books or on the small screen in our own homes. As children, our reality had been twisted with untruths that were embedded into our moral psyche for years to follow.

George Armstrong Custer became one of our unlikely heroes during the American Indian War while attempting to push the Native Indians off their own lands. His death, along with every soldier he led, became romanticized as “Custer’s Last Stand.”

Even George Washington resided on the side of our dark history with regard to Indigenous People and sought their land for his own prosperity. Due to his apparent greed for more land, he would offer the Natives a selling price. When it was not accepted, Washington declared them uncooperative and ordered what we would deem as genocide in order to remove them from their land. He would then claim what he called legal rights to the land for himself.

All powers have two sides: the power to create and the power to destroy. Once again, we are standing on the threshold of having to choose one side or the other.  We must learn to create a balance between them. This is exactly the current position of the Ukrainian people with Volodymyr Zelenskyy as their president and political leader. He stands straddling the line between saving his people and land by utilizing his power in an attempt to destroy their aggressor, Vladimir Putin. President Zelenskyy has had to create that balance of power out of necessity for the good of Ukraine itself; fighting for the homeland he loves so much.

In my lifetime, I never believed that the possibility of losing the freedoms offered by our democratic society was even something to have to think about—until recently. Unfortunately, our natural inclination to do right by the world is stifled, breeding despair when it should be inspiring action! Our treatment of Mother Earth is a prime example of not doing enough to change a negative course into a positive one. The intensity of weather patterns is placing the entire planet in jeopardy. This chain of events should be more than enough to inspire action in all of us. If survival is a basic instinct, then the greed and hunger for power within the Republican Party seems to tug even harder on the human soul!

Having recently read the book Braiding Sweetgrass written by Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, a Native American and ecologist who shares her knowledge of all plants intertwined with the rich history of the Indigenous People of her homeland, I profess to being able to better understand the plight of her people. I see a people that received the gifts of the land in the form of food, shelter, and love with open eyes and hearts and gave back to the land by planting the seeds so that all could continue to share the benefits of this living world. Always giving first via blessings in gratitude before taking what would sustain them, these soulful and generous people lived in harmony with Mother Earth. 

Their basic belief was, “Never damage Creation and never interfere with the sacred purpose of another being. Sustain the ones that sustain you and the earth will last forever.” What a beautiful philosophy this is. If only it were possible to turn back the hands of time and reproduce this mindset today.

Man’s greed in the belief that more is better, not returning back to the land what we have taken from it, and the power to create being less important than the power to destroy—will be our downfall. As Indigenous People cautiously welcomed the European immigrants onto their shores, their innate kindness and role of being one with Mother Earth blinded them to the possibility of others being cruel, greedy, and detrimental to their own well-being, as well as to the fate of their precious homeland.

History has been bent on suppressing anything from our past that would support or reveal the negative side of humankind. Why else are specific books being banned (as they have been in the past) if not to suppress knowledge, eliminate growth, and promote the dumbing-down of the general population? Isn’t it easier to control a less educated population than one that thrives on free thinking and the power behind learning?

As a child we were taught to believe in the harmful acts of Native Americans inflicted upon the ‘innocent settlers’ who, in actuality, were changing, by force, the entire lifestyle of a nation of people whose love and respect for their homeland extended back thousands of years. 

I must forgive my generation for being brainwashed against Indigenous Peoples. But, I cannot forgive those who, by now, have failed to learn the truth and continue to disrespect others by feeling superior towards them. 

Around twenty years ago a friend told me that our country was imploding, democracy would be the first thing to be eliminated, and it would happen in the not too distant future. At the time, I scoffed at the improbable idea of this ever happening. I do not make light of his predictions in the world we live in today. Today, I pray that we become students of mindfulness (focusing one’s awareness) and are able to utilize the power of creation over the power of destruction—or, at least, find a comfortable and working balance between the two…

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

THE CONSEQUENCES OF OUR ACTIONS AND SURVIVING NATURE’S WRATH

 

A series of essays….

SUNSET AS SEEN FROM THE BEACH ON CAPTIVA ISLAND

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

Once again, you forgot to put the dog on a short leash to take her outside for her morning constitutional. Once again, you paid big time for it. When will you learn? I know, you’ll be asking yourself that same question over and over again and answering it in the very same way the next time she pulls you outside the front door, slamming your left hand against the glass at what seemed like one-hundred miles per hour…

Consequences. Yes, we bear the consequences and must accept the responsibility for our actions as the result of them. Even when we’re forgetful enough to erase the memory of the pain these activities precipitated; the swollen, black and blue left hand, the result of meeting the glass head on, rendering you helpless, forcing you to slink down the front stoop in absolute pain after transferring the handle of the leash to the right hand. 

The sound of flesh and bone hitting the glass with such ferocity that you immediately looked around the neighborhood thinking that someone else must have heard it. Someone will surely step out of their door to see what caused such a loud commotion as you double over in unimaginable ‘hurt’ with the dog pulling your right arm straight out and your already purple left hand clutched to your chest before you work up the nerve to splay it out and gingerly check for broken bones. Someone must have, at least, heard your shocked scream with its tearful results as you trailed the dog into the backyard—oblivious to the consequences of her own actions.

MY NASTY, NASTY BRUISE!

Underestimating the strength of your puppy creates negative consequences just as underestimating the power and sheer force that pushes a major hurricane along towards the destruction of property and life down its path. Hurricane Ian sits right off the Gulf shoreline with its eye making landfall near our beloved Sanibel Island. Ian is playing ‘ugly’ with sustained winds of 155 MPH and wind gusts reaching 190 MPH equaling a category 4 hurricane. These are numbers too high to even imagine. The imminent destruction to property and lives (if you have not evacuated by now) is the consequence of your non action and will be catastrophic in proportion. 

Having lived in Orlando from early 1997 through August of 2018 and personally experiencing quite a few hurricanes in that span of time, let me say that they are certainly no picnic to live through. The 2004 hurricane season hit Orlando like a nonstop freight train barreling down the tracks, spawning tornadoes in their aftermath. Charley relocated a large live oak tree in our neighbor’s backyard by unceremoniously tossing it into ours.

Charley, Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne, names I’ll never forget, took aim at Central Florida in rapid succession and spread their ugliness across the state between August 13 and September 26, 2004. The windowless main bedroom closet, equipped with a battery operated radio, became a retreat and sanctuary. Our Cocker Spaniel, Brûlée, was so used to this space that he would find his way into the closet during normal thunder storms for many months afterwards. 

The physical act of covering all windows with plywood and having to live in candlelight and flashlight glow day and night, filling the bathtub with water, packing the car in the garage with our most precious possessions, and backing our truck snuggly against the outside of the garage door in the hopes of preventing the door from blowing inwards— all reflect the preparation of hunkering down before a hurricane passes through. With any luck, all of this hard work will pay off or, at least, the worst of it will pass by you and the sun will come out again the following morning. Did I mention that all of these hurricanes happened long after the sun set and on into the very early hours of the morning? The secrets in the dark haunt us forever.

Ian, a very slow moving disaster, is going to crawl across Florida for the next several days while flooding this low-lying state via initial storm surge and potential rainfall. Charley, Ivan, Frances, and Jeanne moved swiftly by us with minimal flooding. This one will be different. Every morning, following each storm, large parking facilities of lineman from all over the country were waiting outside the main storm areas to do their job by restoring our power. Ian, I’m afraid, is going to keep the lineman busy for quite some time.

My heart aches regarding the potential destruction of my beautiful Sanibel Island and Captiva Island while landfall is making its way even as I type. We purchased a timeshare unit on Sanibel while visiting there on our tenth wedding anniversary years ago and enjoyed wonderful family vacations at Sanibel Cottages until moving permanently to Florida when we, eventually, sold our unit. This area is among the most picturesque in the state and draws people there from all over the world. We were exulted at having been able to purchase a small piece of paradise and create amazing family memories for many years.

Watching the official correspondence out of Washington D.C., President Biden recently spoke to the people in danger of damages and loss due to Ian and verbalized the federal government’s intent to be there for them via FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency. My fervent hope is that, politics aside, the governor of Florida and the president will work to evaporate their differences and secure the means required in order to assist the people of Florida after Ian moves on. President Biden warned that raising gas prices by major oil companies after the hurricane will not be tolerated and action may be taken if this happens. How important recovery will be after such a major hurricane sheds its devastating impacts on Florida and beyond.

Lessons are learned after every storm and every storm can be entirely different. I do understand that no matter who you are or where you live, disaster can strike at any time. Natural disasters can place us in survival mode and impact multiple people at once with great speed and precision. Cooperation with one another is the ticket to survival. That’s a major lesson learned while living in Florida all of those years. You learn to appreciate the beauty of the land, as well as respect all of the possibilities that come with it. 

BEAUTIFUL, COLORFUL
SANIBEL ISLAND

Every action has its very own consequences. These past few days have made me even more aware of this as I recall fond memories of Sanibel Island, as well as a painful slam into a glass door leaving a wicked bruise on the back of my left hand. (Bree fails to understand her own strength and how it can affect all of us.) As the eye of Hurricane Ian makes landfall, I shiver to think of its consequences on the people and landscape of Central Florida. 

I wish everyone the opportunity to ride this storm out safely and experience a positive outcome when all is said and done. Storms of this magnitude are not to be second guessed or trifled with. Stay safe people of Florida. Live to tell your grandchildren how you survived Hurricane Ian back in September of 2022!

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

ALMOST FIFTY YEARS AND HAPPILY COUNTING

 

A series of essays….

A SHARED AGREEMENT MARKING THE 
BEGINNING OF A NEW LIFETIME:
LOVING KINDNESS - COMPASSION
EQUANIMITY - JOY EQUAL TRUE LOVE!

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

I tend to write about stories on subjects that interest me even though my readers aren’t particularly keen on the subject. Case in point: marriage longevity. Since this topic tends to outline my world right now, I will proceed by blending my words gently into the soft folds and multi-angled layers of reality; a truth and consequences reality that shapes us into the human beings that we are and the human beings we hope to become.

Okay, we did it! Forty-nine married years later we have remained calm (well, for the most part) and carried on through thick and thin and everything in between. I’m quite proud of us, actually. There are others who, given the many trials and tribulations encountered in nearly five decades of married life, would have and did just walk away—never to look back again, with no regrets whatsoever and no accounting for the effort and time it takes to enter into marriage in the first place.

Granted, since I don’t live down in a dark hole, I understand that some marriages were never meant to be and the realization of this is to know when to walk away as calmly as possible (hopefully, before having children), create space, and go on with life within a kinder, healthier atmosphere. To all of you, I award hero status because continuing to live a lie is never a healthy scenario.

Going into marriage with the realization that nobody is perfect, especially yourself, and trying to create a good life together while retaining your own individualist qualities is a challenge we all face after (and before) saying these two words, ‘I do.’ No one is truly prepared for the commitment required to keep this union thriving until you commit to living with someone 24/7 for the rest of your life.

The rest of your life—this may sound like a death-knell for some. For others, it signifies comfort and stability. 

Whether we begin our marital journey blissfully, chaotically, or,

solely by contract—we have agreed to honor ourselves by honoring another within a lifelong pledge to love and be responsible for the well-being of one another. If we are committed to a strong foundation, this show of obligation will become a desired theme throughout the marriage and both parties will discover, one way or another, how to make this happen. Wedding vows were never meant to be taken lightly.

And this is exactly why it took me nearly four years to say, “Yes, I will marry you!” Stubborn, perhaps. Afraid, not in the least? Insecure, more likely. Tossed between desiring a solid, stable way of life including all of the obligations and outcomes of being a wife, a husband, we were both quite young. Did we really know what we were doing? Did we know what to expect? I believe we did. Hence my apprehensions. I had such lofty ambitions career wise and society was dictating that they would never transpire if I placed being married before a career. I wasn’t certain I could do both, especially after having children.

Dan always seemed to understand what he wanted from life. Just as college groomed his career, marrying me, he believed,  would align his world with the huge push forward towards peace, cooperation, family, and happiness. He never counted on the stubborn lass he chose to marry! Or, perhaps by now, he did. I was the writer, soon to be world traveler, the possible stewardess (flight attendant), committed francophile, and everything else that made me who I was and the person I always needed to be. I was the romantic who fell in love with the realist. 

My make believe world often collided with his stronghold on reality. What do they say about opposites attracting one another? Let me walk this back a little and say that a wee bit of fear may have crossed my mind the first three times he asked me to marry him. 

Just as the Trump (I did not just type that name!!!) legal staff was told by the special master, “You can’t have your cake and eat it, too!,” I gave into true love after four years and four proposals and believed that everything else I’d longed for would, eventually, fall into place. 

We have traveled to places that my heart desired to see for many years. We climbed a mountain in Ireland, taken our two daughters on a four country, European journey while initiating the so-called ‘travel bug’ into their life itineraries, met lifelong friends in France and Ireland, and deliberately immersed ourselves into the cultural aspects of every place we visited. And, I have had ample opportunity to collect enough amazing memories for my writing to last—well, to last until the next journey we take if and when we can feel comfortable doing so. COVID-19 has rocked the travel world big time and now we must learn to adjust, believe, and move forward even if it’s with baby steps.

So, next year will mark a milestone anniversary for us. Fifty years isn’t too shabby considering we’ve been fortunate enough to be quite healthy along the way. I pray we stay so blessed. Marking time by age/anniversaries is truly just a number when things run smoothly and everything adds up to be in working order. Encouraged by a world coming to terms with a pandemic that has devastated so many families in its wake, we will continue to get our various boosters and hope that most of the world’s population does, as well.

Reintroducing myself to the wonderful poet, essayist, and author, David Whyte, on social media, I recently came across his words defining the word BEGINNING from CONSOLATIONS: The Solace, Nourishment and Underlying Meaning of Everyday Words. I leave you with an excerpt from his brilliant interpretation of the word beginning as I recognize it after almost fifty years of riding the roller coaster of married life.  And, a solid foundation was built… 

“BEGINNING

well or beginning poorly, what is important is simply to begin, but the ability to make a good beginning is almost close to an art form: beginning well involves a clearing away of the confusing, the irrelevant and the complicated to find the beautiful, often hidden lineaments of the essential and the necessary.”

—David Whyte and Many Rivers Press 

Thank you, David.

Dan and I may just be working on something very special for the BIG 50 next September! We’re both pretty psyched about it! Specific details to follow in a later post.

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

All rights reserved

SPECIFIC FACES NEED NOT APPLY: Shelby, Where Are You?

 

A series of essays….

SISTERHOOD FROM THE SERIES: THE COURAGEOUS 
BY SHELBY MCQUILKIN 

….as seen through my eyes!

By: Jacqueline E Hughes

The world remains vast, marvelous, hopeful, and somber at times, especially at the death of one of the strongest and most forthright woman ever to be illuminated in the public spotlight for over seven decades. Queen Elizabeth II.

Due to this vastness of land and its peoples that comprise a world meant to be thoroughly discovered, those of us who enjoy becoming a temporary part of a place, domestic or international, are rejoicing! Doors are opening up for all of us, once again. Whether literally or within our own way of thinking, these doors may still be creaking a bit due to lost time and lack of usage but, their sound is growing louder as the opportunities keep emerging. We are lost souls following the light from a newly opened cellar door; joy to be had in the discovery of stored, fine wine to be served during better days and shared with family and friends. 

While reading and understanding more about the dedicated life of Queen Elizabeth II to her subjects on social media, I came across the artwork of the American contemporary artist, Shelby McQuilkin, and fell, instantly, in love with her work. And, eventually, with the artist herself. 

THE COURAGEOUS BY SHELBY MCQUILKIN 

Her painting, The Courageous, was “dedicated to the courageous women who went before us and did what they said we couldn’t do, who went where we weren’t permitted, who spoke when we were told to be silent. This is for the women who suffered to make way for those of us who came behind them. It’s for the suffragettes who were beaten, arrested, and rejected by their families so that I would be given the right to vote. It is for those who had to work a hundred times harder than a man for that first medical degree, first pilot’s license, first director’s chair, and first senate seat. Thank you to the women who have shown courage under fire, who have persevered, taken the hits and made the path a little easier. We can take courage in your example.”  —-Shelby McQuilkin 

We can ALL take courage in their example!

I am intrigued by, not only her artwork, but by her direct and obvious words of praise for generation after generation of women who helped to shape and bring the power of womanhood out of the dark ages and into the light. I began reading her Blog entitled Wet Paint in order to learn more about her. I discovered that she began her Blog two months before I did in 2013 in order to promote her amazing talent and keep in touch with her fans. (My Blog, Moving On…2022, began in October of 2013, with the purpose of expressing the joy I gained from all of my travels.)

SHELBY MCQUILKIN 

While reading Wet Paint I discovered why so many of her fans wondered where she had been for several years after her abrupt disappearance in 2017. Curiously, her last posts, Returning to the Easel (August 10, 2018) and Growing Strong (August 11, 2018), remain the last on her blog site.

Shelby herself goes on to explain how, on July 1, 2017, she’d suffered a heart attack, possibly induced by the repetitive use of Advil. While experiencing extreme stress in her life, she said she’d temporarily given up painting in order to concentrate on becoming healthier through eating well and exercise. 

ITZCHAK TARKAY ~ INK AND WATERCOLOR 

STARVING ARTISTS GROUP ~ ACRYLIC PAINTS

I promised myself to make contact with Shelby McQuilkin, if at all possible, via email, her Blog, Website, and let her know that there are many of us who truly appreciate her abstract figurative, colorful, contemporary artwork that is so expressive and filled to the brim with the power of sisterhood.

What drew me to her piece, The Courageous, was her effective use of anonymity or impersonality created by her abstract figurative pieces. (When I discovered her series about Paris from 2014, I was hooked for life.) If you are familiar with the artist, Itzchak Tarkay, you will notice his subjects are female and have minimal and undefined facial features. Often, with their eyes closed, these ladies, for me, represent colorful neutrality allowing the observer to insert her/his own beloved faces onto the subjects in the paintings. While living in Orlando, Florida, we purchased several ‘Tarkay-like’ paintings of woman lounging together with unidentifiable faces, eyes closed, that had been for sale by the ‘starving artists’ group in the area. These paintings became a focal point on my family room walls offering bright colors, maternal comfort, and insight into the world around us.

THE PARISIANS BY SHELBY MCQUILKIN 

McQuilkin wrote extensively about her love of travel and The Parisians became a part of her series on France released in November of 2014. “I feel that travel is important, especially for an artist,” she explains. “We find new inspiration and fresh perspective with a change of landscape. Our world view expands; a view of the world that is different from our own. Travel challenges us. We are challenged  with a different language. Traveling educates us. History, art, geography, politics. You can learn so much about other places. Travel changes us. New motivation, new perspectives on life, and a renewed vision in our eyes.”

Writing about the above ideas regarding the positive aspects of travel is why I began my own Blog nearly a decade ago. As long as my love of travel exists, Moving On… will exist, and I am very proud of all of the effort that goes into keeping it alive week after week, year after year. I truly believe that travel can breathe new life into all of us.

I congratulate artists, including Itzchak Tarkay, Shelby McQuilkin, and all of my ‘starving artists’ who elevate the power and intelligence of woman by giving them a strong and colorful voice within their powerful artistic endeavors. They have given us a view of the world that is very important, stimulating, and in tune with reality: women are strong and always have been and will continue to make headways into a world that has been dominated by male voices and ideas for far too long.

GROWING STRONG

OUT OF THE ASHES

TWO PAINTINGS DEPICTING THE ARTIST AS 
GROWING STRONGER AND HEALTHIER

My hope is that with our new expansion of world views through art and travel, we will be enticed to come together with one voice, united and focused. We will be able to attach our own faces of woman we know and admire to the abstract figurative individuals depicted by these artists and honor every woman who has, is, and will contribute to a Sisterhood that everyone is proud of. Woman from all over the globe— unite with restored motivation, cooperative perspectives on life, and renewed vision in our eyes!

Copyright © 2022 by Jacqueline E Hughes

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