Art, Internet Technology, and Entrepreneurship

Internet technology has revolutionized how I work and create, and as an artist/ writer, peace activist, and entrepreneur it has been an invaluable ally. It doesn’t replace the creative process, but enhances it and enables me to reach a broader audience and market.
I had always liked the atelier (workshop) model for artists, where a team creates art, and the internet and the technology enables me to create a virtual atelier
I have a team of part time workers that I only interact with via the internet. I have an administrative assistant and a web admin person in the Philippines, one short term assistant who is editing videos from a recent play, one SEO (Search engine optimization) person in Bangladesh, a designer in Italy who is from India translating my drawings of a Peace Garden Fountain to a CAD and engineering drawings, a telephone transcriptionist from Jamaica who transcribes my voice memos, a writing editor in Texas, and an audio person in Florida who is engineering my new CDs. Depending on my needs and the work flow, I can utilize these people as little or as much as I need. They have the choice to work on multiple assignments around the world and they set their own price. When I need photos edited there is a specialist in the Czech Republic who does this for me quickly. Today, I needed someone to assist with a Peace project in Washington D.C., I posted the job at 8:30, and at 9:30, a person with a terrific resume and long experience in this applied for the job, at 9:40, I hired the person for a week.
My virtual assistant world is O Desk, where I can scan for the employees I need. More importantly, it gives me the time and the privacy to write and create using this group of very talented employees. By using this pool of workers, I can increase my creative time and effectiveness. Odesk has been one of my major creative tools in the way that a computer is an essential tool for me. I live most of the year in southern Vermont where the high-speed internet access is erratic and I wish that the authorities in Vermont recognized that internet access is not just "an interesting new fangled thing,” but an essential tool for work.
On this current project "B4 Peace”, I have SEO (Search engine optimization) people who are creating a social media, viral and twitter campaign. I use the team to manage and assist with our various community development projects like www.gracecares.com. When I went to Haiti for medical work my "virtual assistant" helped to coordinate many aspects of the trip. However, even for me, the technology can be a bit bizarre. This morning I went on the computer and my assistant in the Philippines was on my computer and transferring files. It’s as if she was sitting at my desk instead of 5,000 miles a way. I am also able to reach out more effectively to a broader audience. It is the ultimate democracy of the marketplace. I publish my books directly on the internet at www.namayaproductions.com; E- books can be downloaded directly from my website; combined E-Book with photos, audio, and music Vermont My Home on Blue Heron Pond (pending); and a series of CDs without the hassle and ecological waste of CDS. It is far easier for someone to click a button and download songs, stories and music to the web with an MP3, and if they want the nice pictures and lyrics, we include them. The artwork like the Vermont My Home series we have as “physical copies,” but we’re working on downloading the “virtual art,” however, people can still purchase the pictures.
I plan and continue to use the internet in a variety of ways and see the internet and the social media marketing not solely as a tool to promote my art, but as “art” unto itself. In the project called “Pornography of War,” it is in a virtual museum tour of my artwork against war, videos, and performances. It is enormously difficult to get new and controversial works out, but with a relatively modest budget, the internet provides an opportunity to interact and engage with a very broad audience. More importantly, it provides a way for audiences and galleries around the world to see my work. My play “Beatnik Café,” is very expensive to produce and promote it, and what makes a far more cost effective way is to record it in a video studio, edit it, and then have it for view on the internet on a high quality site for the admission price of say $2. Again, the internet, like any technology can inspire us to think more creatively and to reach a wider audience. Live performances are ideal and will always be the preferred way to see a show, but the internet, wisely used can help us to achieve a broad market.
Some people have complained that I’m using cheap offshore labor, but as one assistant said, "I love working for you, I live away from the capital, and there isn't enough work for me as a programmer, but I can work remotely at home, for an excellent salary.” Though I do have profound concerns about all the cheap manufacturing abroad, as many other things in life, it is the wise and judicious use of resources. When I can, I use and work with my local workers, but the pool of talent is not always available; nevertheless, my Vermont Art Projects are produced and made in Vermont
The key is not to have the technology overwhelm the creative work, but to complement it and magnify it. Skype enables me to talk and have a video conference with employees in the Philippines, talk to my music director for a show and play music in real time during the call, plan a community development project with a colleague in the Dominican Republic, and even taking a guitar lesson from a teacher in England.
My new novel "Jubilation" I recorded on my I-phone for about 6 hours a day for two weeks, uploaded it to the computer, and then a program automatically changed it to written text. Unfortunately, the technology is a bit behind the curve on this, and my I-phone only uploaded 75 percent of the files. Nevertheless, I was able to send those files to my transcriptionists in Jamaica and the Philippines, and in a few days, a completed document arrived at my inbox. The creative process is intact and the foundation of the novel written was done in a fraction of the time. I am able to focus my energy on editing and rewrites.
This whole realm of technology is a phenomenal leap in all the ways that I work and create, it doesn't make my creativity any better, it just makes it far easier, and gives me more time to focus on what I do best writing/ art.
Despite the technology, I love the care and the craft of what I do as an artist and poet. I love the privacy and joy of writing a poem with pen and paper. I will always delight in the sensuous creativity with pastels and pencils.In all the technology we have, there is still the powerful, necessary instinct for me, to create directly, and to explore a blank sheet of paper. If I am making a sculpture I want my hands to feel all the dimensions of this sculpture and as a storyteller or performance I want the live audience. The internet helps me to make that connection with as wide of an audience as possible.
The internet technology for this artist and writer has opened a new world of possibilities and audience connection, and used wisely can be a marvelous ally. Nevertheless, while I like and well use the technology, I will always value the intimacy and art of a blank sheet of paper and a pen. However, it is empowering when I’ve finished a drawing, I can scan it to my website and publish it after I’m done, or that I have written this blog entry and now anyone can read it. Imagine the powerful and creative uses of the internet and technology.

Slugs as Great Lovers

Precious Time

An odd spring,
one day
t-shirt and
shorts
weather,
then the
next
cold.

Today
wrapped
in winter
jackets
Zoe and I
walked
in the woods
by the pond.

We found a
sunlit spot
by the stream
and laid down.

My head
resting on her
tummy
as we watched
clouds
amble by
and fell asleep
as the nascent
spring grew
beneath us.

Slugs as Great Lovers
Never thought of slugs
as great lovers until
today. I saw a nature
movie that captured
their amorous adventure.

Slithering in a mucous
rapture towards estrous
leaving a scented train
of the equivalent of a
bed of fresh roses,
Belgian chocolates,
and the promise of
hot sex spoken in
a fragrant bouquet
of pheromones.

I was getting a little
excited as the two
danced and
coiled around
one another in
a spiral of love
for hours in the
slow juicy
exchange of
fluids.

In their
hermaphroditic
ecstasy their
luminescent
blue penises
glowed in the
dark.
After
the climax
one dropped from
the tree in
a sated orgiastic
thrilling fall.

It laid
on the ground
exhausted
thoroughly
spent and
musing,
"Man, she/ he
was hot!"

Missing the Intimacy of a poem

… I’ve been dreaming
with colored pens, my guitar,
and plotting revolutions. I peer
through the window, a man
is writing with a black pen on a
white lined sheet of paper, he
is writing slowly and carefully.
He pauses, plays the
Spanish guitar and I can
faintly hear an arpeggio in
a minor E.

Bastard's Paradox

Oceans of oil
pour from the Gulf of Mexico.

The womb ripped
open.

We bleed
black death.

Dolphins, turtles,
fish and kin
drown in the
venomous ooze.

Bells toll for the
evening watch.
Blood red sun
on the bow
surrenders to night.

Evening star obscured.

The bastard’s paradox --

oil fuels
progress
and
the closer
we come to the
enigmatic omega point,

where progress can
save our world,

the closer we come
to the apocalypse.

World Peace at the Help Desk

Computer desk support from
India was most helpful and
at the end of the call she asked,
“Will there be anything else?”

She asked with such
sincerity, I had to ask for
what I really wanted,
“Yes, I would like world peace.”

“Yes, sir, let me check that in my
computer.”

For several moments I was very
excited as I heard her tapping
keys and industriously searching
her computer for the answer.

Finally, almost weary, but not
defeated she said, “I am sorry sir,
I don’t seem to have it in this department,
but if you wait I can transfer you
to my supervisor.”

The supervisor was most agreeable
as I again asked for,
“World peace, please.”

She responded promptly,
“Let me check to see if I have
it here.”

While waiting on hold, I imagined
all the computers in heaven were
chugging away to find world peace,
and realized that maybe, just maybe
the problem is not enough people
ask for World Peace.

Alas, she came back on to the phone,
“I’m sorry, I can’t seem to locate it
at this time, but if you give me your
email, I can contact you as soon as
we have it in stock.”

When people now ask me,
“Will there be anything else?”

I always say,
“Yes, world peace, please.”

Asshole Magnet?

Do you ever feel like
you’re a magnet for
assholes?

Please, don’t think
me rude or insensitive,
but the usual crowd
of:

parasites,
sycophants,
money grubbers
love vampires,
squeeze me –
need me
vampires,
jealous
friends,
ex-friends
who remember
you in times
of their need
and the ordinary
mind and life
fucking little
parasites who
crowd your
life.

any of those who
sound familiar?
asshole a dark
malodorous
tunnel that
suffocates and
squeezes the joy
out of life.


Are you a magnet
for these kinds of
miscreants of pain?

Do you feel that cosmic
chilly blood sucking
draft whenever of
the AH Magnets
are near?

Families and even
children who suck
you into their world
of pain, blame you
for their suffering,
and then devour
your soul?

Is there a way to
demagnetize
and rid your spirits of
the assholes who
wander into your
life?

Autumn, Creative Directions, and Peace Work

Autumn creeps forward with bits of auburn color, splashes of yellowing leaves, and clear blue skies that we’ve missed this past summer. The air is crisp and refreshing. I’m in a time of renewal, with new projects, artwork, and learning to centering myself in the creative process. The creative flow has felt like a tidal wave in the past six months and now, like a veteran surfer, I’m finding the perfect wave, my relationship to the ride, and learning to balance on the powerful tide. The creative balance is between my work as an artist and my commitment as a peace activist.

I’m productive and relaxed, letting go of many outside commitments that were diverting my attention away from writing and creative work. I’m writing each morning about 2-4 hours daily without strict deadlines, able to write what I want and pursue my creative projects. I’m able to follow the wild muse and enjoying the ride. Though this creative free form schedule has been difficult in terms of getting work out, published, and/or produced, I’m enjoying the privacy of creativity. This creative process includes the writing, designing and drawing new installation peace projects, writing and playing music, photography, and the time to savor the freedom of creativity.

Richard Lovelace in his poem “To Althea from Prison” captures this freedom of spirit so well:

Stone walls do not a prison make

nor iron bars a cage;

Minds innocent and quiet take

that for an hermitage;

If I have freedom in my love

and in my soul I am free,

Angles alone, that soar above,

enjoy such liberty.

September through October getting ready to perform my newer work - iR Reveren'jAz and jAZ mU eXperience. 17 October 2009 I will be at 5C Café on Avenue C in NYC with some excellent jazz cats. Then I am on to Cambridge and Boston for shows. Stay tuned for details. I am slowly planning for additional shows at colleges in the region. I’m approaching shows differently, each show as a unique creation with the improvisation of jazz, word, and multimedia.

One of the new projects I’ve been very keen on (but and dragging my feet) is the performance multimedia project “Four Prophets” Jesus, Mohammed, Moses and Buddha meet in a Public restroom.

This November I’ll (hopefully) visit a new community development project in Haiti. Then over to Dominican Republic to follow up on on-going community projects we have there. GRACE CARES supports small-scale community development projects around the world. We have one project in India that teaches health care and English and those project holders are creating a larger community health project.

In January through February, I’ll be in Palestine and Israel observing, writing, performance, and hopefully teaching and engaged in homeopathy for children with PTSD.

In the late spring, if things go well, back in Europe performing for a two week tour.

I am a peace activist and artist, and have continually tried to fuse this work and find the balance. Some of this work is on my website at www.vermontpoet.com/gallery and in the music and book section, as well as the section on Landmines. I am designing a Peace/ Meditation Garden using old military weapons and building fountains and art projects. It combines alternative energy, community development, and design. I have a potential sponsor for this in Florida.

I also have the poem One Hundred Flowers that we are aiming to translate into 100 languages.

One Hundred Flowers

Let there be one hundred flowers

of peace that bloom in the garden.

let there be one hundred hours of peace

for every moment of war

let there be one hundred acts of kindness

for each instance of hate.

let there be one hundred years of love

for each minute of violence.

let there be one hundred voices of peace

for each one of war.

let there be one hundred flowers

of peace that bloom in the garden.

namaya 2001

Another integral part of my peace work is looking at ways that my contentious and feisty self appears in the world. In working towards a world of peace I need to center myself, less caught up in my petty arguments, the small egocentric vanities of anger, and focus my attention on the real work in life. I am clearing out the emotional junk that has lead to a lot of unproductive anger. Truly, I am a work in progress. I will always be a feisty person, but the necessity is to do it with a bit more graciousness and humor, learning to find the cruising speed and the easy idling, and avoid the temptation for constant over-drive.

My renewed attention is to the on-going military debacle in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The US needs to turn over its share of the war to the EU nations. If the EU, Russia, China, and other countries see that Afghanistan is such an imperative, then it needs to put its soldiers and commitment there. Why is Obama continuing the same failed policies of the Cheney/Bush misadministration?

I campaigned for Obama and think he has the potential to make a difference, but his administration is still fundamentally committed to the failed policies and militarism of the previous administrations. The U.S. is in a pivotal moment, while we need to engage and create peace partners internationally, we must resolve the catastrophic problems in the US: 2 million homeless; 25 % elderly poverty; the lack of affordable health care; the vanishing manufacturing base; our deteriorating education system; and the lack of regulation of the Wall Street Capitalist gangsters.

Eisenhower said it best, “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. This is not a way of life at all in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”

In the time of personal renewal I am looking at my art and writing as a voice to speak for peace.