Tag Archives: creating the work you love

The Value of a Residency

August 14, 2015 Opal Palmer Adisa 1 Comment

I have arrived in Assisi, this picturesque town, framed against the blue-green verdant mountains, where I will reside for the next three weeks.

The house where I am housed is up a gravel road, far away from any other houses and quite a trek to arrive here on foot. Luckily, I was picked up by car.

I am told there are wolves, foxes, wild pigs, and in the rooms at night the bees are as big as the width and length of my middle and index fingers combine.

I am told neither the bees nor the wild animals are harmful, but when I was going for a walk this morning was given a stick and told to always have one handy just in case I encounter any such animals. I only spotted a deer, but woke to the sounds of unfamiliar animals.

I was also told there were no snakes, but on the way back from my walk, I saw a dead snake in the road, a foot long. No poisonous snakes here either.

The land is welcoming. The silencing is encompassing.

It is hot and hot and hot, and I love the heat as a Caribbean woman, but it is hot.

A church, somewhere in the two rings its bell at noon and six pm. Otherwise time means nothing to me. The day is irrelevant. I am present to what is here and here there is much.

The mountain range, which is like a wall, demands my attention, my homage, and it comforts me as the Blue Mountains of Jamaica, my homeland. When I sit here on this balcony it is before me.

This is the desk in the room upon which I am writing and upon which I will write for the next three weeks.

Already it says sit down. Attend to your task. There is nothing here to distract you. I embrace your words and ideas and will provide the clarity you need to string them into a pattern that piques the senses and assures the heart that there are endless tomorrows awaiting you…

When I glance out the window I see beauty. I inhale the peace and privilege that this place provides.

This is the moth that perched itself on the wall last night behind my bed and refused to leave, bidding me to sleep well and be comforted by its orange wings that nurture dreams.

I am happy and grateful to be here. I will write here and accomplish my goals.

I have brought Haiti here, its stories and its people to help make sense and show its resilience.

I am quenched here, and did not realize until I arrived that I was thirst.

I have already engaged in dialogue here with the other artists and found affinity.

I write knowing that writing is my job, this is what feeds my soul, and this is what I was born to do.

A residency provides an artist with the space and place she needs to create and be free and brilliant in that creation…affirming the legacy will continue.

Inseparable Individuals

July 12, 2015 Opal Palmer Adisa Leave a comment

Almost forty years ago, Bishop made the simple knot known as the Friendship knot (also called the false-lover knot) as a ring. However, he was inspired to revisit this idea, and make it as a bracelet when he was asked to teach two high schoolers some basic steps in jewelry making.

Perhaps he was thinking of his own contented life — celebrating 40 years of being a jeweler, and the owner of Crucian Gold, that his son, Nathan now runs. Bishop says, “The idea of being joined, yet remaining separate individuals,” is the meaning of a mature relationship that is based on mutual respect and love.” Like a wedding ring, specifically, the Turks Head, that he pioneered the technique in metal forty years ago, Bishop wants his jewelry to represent more. “This is what this bracelet symbolizes for me –two individuals who want to be connected always, but maintain their separate identities.”

Bishop is still at the top of his game and his passion for designing and manufacturing has not waned. In fact, like good wine, he has gotten better, honed his craft, and his new Cuff bracelets,

available in silver and gold, confirm his talent.

Inseparable Individuals, is his revisiting of an old favorite, the “Friendship” knot, and bringing it forward while infusing it with greater meaning for lovers as well as friends.

Because love and friendship matter to all of us, Bishop hopes you will want to get this special piece in solid gold, especially for the mature individual, when only gold will do. However, it is also available in two-toned, gold and silver, which adds a special touch and highlights two distinct individuals; or in silver with a hammered look –Nathan’s added touch.

The Inseparable Individuals bracelet is only available at Crucian Gold, and is as distinct as the Crucian Knot bracelet, where feel the love is embedded in every piece they make.

Visit Crucian Gold – www.cruciangold.com – and mention this blog and receive a 5% discount.

Creative Non-Fiction, Inspirational

Go Out on Your Own – Take the Step

February 17, 2015 Opal Palmer Adisa 1 Comment

This morning, I declared aloud to myself and the birds and lizards who were near by that I absolutely do not want to work for anyone any more, ever, and truly, I don’t understand why I have taken so long to arrive at this realization.

I have been afraid. There. I have said it. Working for someone else meant there were many things I didn’t have to worry about, but it also meant there were many things I wanted to make happen and could not within the confines of someone else’s agenda. I have always known this, but kept trying, working hard and negotiating. Once I decided I had a bottom line, that this was absolutely what I would accept, and nothing less, the fear fell away. Truthfully, the fear remained, but I ignored it. I am worthy and my projects, regardless of how impractical they might appear to someone else, are important and that is where and only where I want to place my energy at this time. On self, me, my work, my ideas, my dreams, my ability.

While from very young we are socialized, especially in the school system, to work within established governments, institutions and/or private businesses, the great majority of us forget that all of these structures were created by someone else. We too can create what we want. I have spent almost forty years in service to others, helping them to shape and grow their business, and trying to get them to include some small portion of my dream into their frame-work. I thought that was the logical route, and for many it might be, but it is no longer applicable to me. I want and deserve more. I am capable of so much more.

Well the flowers bowed down and the clouds applaud me today because I am sure. Today I am confident. Today I say yes to Opal. Yes to my dreams. Yes to my university. Yes to my books, yes to my plays, yes to Opal. I will honor and reward myself. I will carve out a place for who I am and what I want to create for myself and others to come forth, knowing that I am capable, knowing that the support I need is already at hand, knowing that it is all divine and I am finally ready to be my best yet self.

I remember distinctly coaching my children not to seek jobs as adults but to create their own work reality and make that work for them. I am so delighted because I think all three of them have someone been on this path.

I urge you to start living and investing all your time into making your dream happen.

Go on and take the step. Everything that exist now, and that will ever exist began with one person saying yes to their truth and reality, then building a team. If you know that you have many ideas, and you are always trying to get others to buy into them, you need to branch out, run with the wind…Yes you might get swept off course, your might get blown to the ground, but you also might be lifted off the ground and experience a vantage point you did not know existed. It is time to love your dream. It is time to soar. It is time to create something from a kernel that shelters a mountain.

I am taking off. Join me and become part of my team, until you find that your dream is bigger than mine and needs its own university. Ase.