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‘PROJECTS’ Category

  1. Happy birthday! You are dead, but I wrote you this letter

    02.14.2011 by Shannon

    (It is Valentine’s day. It is also my brother’s birthday, who passed away 3 years ago.)

    Dear C- (more…)

    Category Narrative, Over in Oakland, Unthinkable Loss | Tags: | 4 Comments

  2. In Service of Love

    08.27.2010 by Shannon

    Two of my friends are getting married tomorrow. I was asked to officiate the wedding. I’ve been blown away at what an honor this has been!

    Which is why I ask all of you readers to not tell anyone that I just now finished my wedding speech(!) The wedding is in 17 hours.

    I always say: creativity works best under pressure.

    ///
    When M. and G. asked me if I would officiate their wedding, I was blown away with what an absolute honor it was. I think I can speak for everyone here today when I say that I feel so lucky to be in M. and G.’s life. But getting to officiate wasn’t just an opportunity for me to get to show M. and G. how special they are to me, but it gave me the opportunity to be part of creating love.

    They showed their love by asking me to do this, I got to show my love by saying yes.

    So, because I was so touched, I went about doing research. I was not about to mess this one up. (In fact, I’m still hoping that.)

    I asked a friend who has officiated over 50 weddings with her husband how she comes up with the perfect way to honor each couple. She said she sits down with them, and asks them about their values, and has them think about what they want their marriage to look like.

    “Every marriage is wildly different,” she said. “There is no one right way to do marriage.”

    So I sat down one night with M. and G. and asked them:
    “What’s important to you, and do you want your marriage to look like?”

    “Family. Community. Supporting each other’s growth as individuals. Being independent, but making something that is better than what either of us could do on our own.” That’s what they told me.

    Creating something that is more than what any of us can do on our own. That is the gift. And love can take many forms: family, friendship, community, or marriage. But no matter what, it is something bigger than ourselves, more than what we could create with just our little will. Right here, in this moment, look at what we are all creating together.
    An expression of love. We’re all part of it.

    I think it’s really clear that Melissa and Genaro are two amazing individuals who are full and complete in and of themselves. But it is in their choosing to be together, that they create something even more amazing. A sum that’s greater than its parts. The gift they give each other is not just a gift of themselves; it’s the opportunity to create love, every day, for the rest of their lives.

    So today, you both get to show your love by asking. And you get to show your love by saying yes. ///

    (Congratulations, M. & G. I love you both.)

    Category Daily1, Love Project | Tags: | No Comments

  3. Sometimes Sense is Nothing More Than a Fraction of a Dollar — A Poem in 5 Lines

    08.14.2010 by Shannon

    Sometimes Sense is Nothing More Than a Fraction of a Dollar

    Sense
    Is rarely a thing of any sense
    More likely,
    Total Serendipity, Randomness, Just-Because-ness–
    Just like this poem

    Category Daily1, Poetry, Writing & Language | Tags: | No Comments

  4. The Momentum

    03.17.2010 by Shannon

    Keep it Up!

    Category Over in Oakland, Slinky | Tags: | No Comments

  5. v-day

    02.13.2010 by Shannon

    I knew this February 14 would be spent un-romantically: I don’t have a boyfriend, husband, or even lover. And that darn vow!

    But Valentine’s Day, especially over the past couple of years, has never been strongly associated with romance, Hallmark, and candy hearts for me; rather, the 14th day of our second month is strongly tied to  loss and memory, to spirituality and hope. Valentine’s  is both my brother’s birthday and a very special weekend I spent meditating alone in the northern mountains of Sa Pa, Vietnam.

    But, as Valentine’s Day nears, I see that it will be exactly perfect: I will be traveling with my ex-boyfriend, to my parents’, to visit my brother’s bench.

    I sat zazen this evening and realized that — no — not the most romantic day, but a day certainly full of love on all fronts.

    Category Celibacy Vow, Over in Oakland | Tags: | No Comments

  6. Dangere! Danger~

    02.09.2010 by Shannon

    Evoking (and invoking) Socrates, all I have to offer for tonight’s post are more questions:

    • Can “crush” (generation 2)  actually mean “learning to love anew”?
    • Are some types of love more dangerous than others?
    • Doesn’t all love carry with it some inherent danger?
    • Is it “dangerous” to be vulnerable?
    • Isn’t love, really, the safest bet of all?
    • When is love “not worth it”? When is it worth everything?
    • Does love have a quantifiable value? If so, would you pay it?
    • If it’s probable to re-love an old love, is it equally probable to un-love a new love?
    • What if that new love and old love are the same love?
    • Is love is love is love? Was all love created equal?
    • Since when does having a crush mean breaking a vow of celibacy?
    • Can one have sex and still honor the original intention of abstinence?
    • How is it that I don’t care about any of these questions, and that I already know the answer?

     ”Substract love from love and the remainder is love” – Upanishads

    Category Celibacy Vow, Over in Oakland | Tags: | 2 Comments

  7. 02.06.2010 by Shannon

    (oops)

    Category Celibacy Vow | Tags: | No Comments

  8. Wow.

    02.03.2010 by Shannon

    Wow wow wow wow wow wow, wow.

    Category Celibacy Vow | Tags: | No Comments

  9. Sciatica & Sexuality

    02.02.2010 by Shannon

    Ooh. Those great foam rollers everyone loves. The ones you crawl around on to stretch out the muscles. The perfect self-massage. I do a solid 30 minutes before bed. Ah, now I’ll really be able to sleep. (more…)

    Category Celibacy Vow, Over in Oakland | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  10. Vow of [name TBD] Extended

    02.01.2010 by Shannon

    As yesterday was the Official Last Day of my “vow of celibacy“  [I'm officially re-naming this project after having received much confusion and outrage over its apparent misleading moniker. Name TBD], I have to admit to being a little sad.

    (more…)

    Category Celibacy Vow | Tags: ,,, | 1 Comment

  11. How Do You Spell Resolve?

    01.15.2010 by Shannon

    Wow.

    This vow is harder than I thought; and easier; and more effective. Oh, the opportunity to self-learn is excruciating.

    Do you know how liberating it is to go out clubbing in ratty jeans, an over-sized t-shirt, and sneakers bought in Vietnam that now have worn holes on the toes while everyone else is in spandex?

    Very.

    But do you know the kind of response you get when you bust a move to Bel Biv Devoe in downtown Oakland while not giving two licks what you look like?

    Pretty positive.

    And please don’t mention to anyone that you are on a vow of celibacy / flirting or dating haitus; trust me, they will take it as a bona fide challenge, and it doesn’t help.

    Thankfully, I made it home un-satisfied.

    Category Celibacy Vow, PROJECTS | Tags: | 1 Comment

  12. Starting to Re-think a Few Things

    01.13.2010 by Shannon

    1. My loyalty to ATT (still typing on iPhone… Stupid “U-verse”

    2. Coffee at 4pm

    3. Attempting to make risotto in under 10 minutes

    4. Telling new coworkers I write a blog

    Category Celibacy Vow, This Modern Life | Tags: | No Comments

  13. Picasso, The Story. Installment #3

    11.12.2009 by Shannon

    * * *

    For the next 48 hours, Picasso turned into a submarine. A black stealth metal whale diving to depths only giant squid and phosphorescent fish occupied. He was slow and deliberate, moving through dark waters displacing particle for particle, as if water had become metal, and then metal to water, and back again to hard steel. He lost all of his skin and was an empty skeleton, no blood, no veins, no pulse. He became the ocean itself, a frozen body of water, the moon and surface merging. The center of him was empty, and his limbs were everywhere.

    That is when he knew he was home. That was the second kiss.

    * * *

    Category NaNoWriMo | Tags: | No Comments

  14. Picasso, The Story. Installment #3

    11.11.2009 by Shannon

    *     *     *

    “Kissing is weird.”

    Picasso absentmindedly plucked his thumbnail against his front tooth.

    “I mean, just think about mouths. These gaping wet holes with banana slug inchings, strange muscles, flipping and flopping about –not to mention dental fences along the property line, and lip hedging that seal off an entrance. Extraño…muy extraño“

    (more…)

    Category NaNoWriMo | Tags: | 1 Comment

  15. NaNoWriMo turns NaBloPoMo

    11.08.2009 by Shannon

    No, I’m not speaking in tongues, I just was thinking that, maybe NaNoWriMo was a little ambitious? I probably should have signed on for this one instead: http://www.nablopomo.com/

    Does this post count as one? Okay, fine: back to Picasso.

    Category NaNoWriMo | Tags: | No Comments

  16. Picasso, The Story.

    11.06.2009 by Shannon

    NaNoWriMo off to a… er… um… start. Not sure what kind of start. Forgive me, Oh God of the Written Word! (Forgive me NKS readers) Now I remember why I don’t write fiction… Chapter 1:

    This is a story about a man who is beautiful. He will be named Picasso. Picasso is stoic and strong, small in stature but a spirit with as much rigidity and ice as a frozen bag of coffee. The smell of him is just as amazing. Soft. His wrist alone could slay princesses in Morocco. When he shifts — throws it into 5th as he goes speeding along the damp freeway overpass, just newly dewed upon — he is fluid and powerful as water. He drives lightly and with arrow-straight speed, no wasting vectors, and his lips are always pursed as he looks 12 cars ahead – as skillfully as a chess player thinks 12 moves ahead – and even though you could say he was Driving Itself, it is cold-as-snow-apparent in his caramel face that he is condemned to self awareness.

    I think I am in love with this Picasso.

    (more…)

    Category NaNoWriMo | Tags: | 1 Comment

  17. NaNoWriMo 2009: Late Start!

    11.05.2009 by Shannon

    Shoot!

    NaNoWriMo 2009 has begun and I’m already 5 days behind!

    The past days a blur and hardly taking note that the 11th month of the year has already started, I woke up in the middle of the night audibly crying, “Oh, crap! It’s November! NANOWRIMO noooooooooooo!”

    Now, without the faintest idea of a novel concept, already 8,000 words behind, and with the knowledge that I’m on vacation for two weeks this month, the smart thing to do would be to surrender and forgo a NaNo novel this year… but we all know I’m not all that bright.

    (more…)

    Category NaNoWriMo | Tags: ,,, | No Comments

  18. Faint & Forgive (but not Forget)

    10.06.2009 by Shannon

    What does loss teach us about love?

    Loss is a fluid that eases with time but never goes away, only shifts and eddys, pooling as memory. Its pokes and sharpnesses dull, but always is stored in a pocket of the heart, and balloons from time to time when triggered and bumped.

    (more…)

    Category Unthinkable Loss | Tags: | 1 Comment

  19. Rough Video Cuts from “BURST”

    09.10.2009 by Shannon

    Making efforts to coordinate a PHX production of “BURST” before heading back home to my beloved California. In the meantime, you can enjoy a snippet of the show with some new footage from my opening show in Santa Fe, NM.

    For all you long-term readers who were around from the beginning and remember the Craiglist “20 Dates in 20 Days in 20 Words” Project, you can rejoice because I finally was able to use the material, and incorporated it into my show:

    “20/20/20″ scene from Act I:

    For more video and photos from “BURST,” click here.

    Category 20/20/20, Performance | Tags: ,, | No Comments

  20. David Bromige – Collaborative Poems IV

    06.24.2009 by Shannon

    “The quality which makes man want to write and be read is essentially a desire for self-exposure and masochism. Like one of those guys who has a compulsion to take his thing out and show it on the street.” – James Jones

    More collaborative poems with my mentor David Bromige… (more…)

    Category Poetry, Sonoma County Splendor | Tags: , | No Comments

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