around mid month in April i got sucked into the end-of-semester rabbit hole and lost track of my weekly posts. but i'm back now and all caught up. check it out:
Wk. 15, Book 15: MemeOries & Notes
my husband actually made this book in a journal workshop and gave it to me because he knew i'd want to do something with it besides gurgle over the spongy covers. i started to title it "The Sponge Bob Book" because it offers a nice tactile experience, but the lined signatures suggested a functional, utilitarian purpose. so i added the graphic elephant pic and the title. why? because my husband is memory and spelling challenged, hence the elephant metaphor and the misspelled "memeories" in the title. i'm giving the book back to him to use as a memory journal. i like this size, too--4" x 6"--and the plastic spiral binding makes it that much nicer to hold in your hands.
Wk. 16, Book 16: Conscious Life Design Wisdom #1
twenty-six years ago, during the worst period of my life, my dear friend Rev. Bernette L. Jones shared a piece of wisdom with me that completely changed me, forever. she told me that I could design my life any way I wanted it, and she gave me some powerful tools to sculpt and shape and reframe my life at five essential levels: spiritual, personal, relationships, life work and community. Bernette calls it Conscious Life Design Systems (CLD). this little book captures an important CLD teaching: the key to peace of mind is a life intentionally designed to maintain and sustain a conscious awareness of GOD.
Wk. 17, Book 17: What The Protests Gave Us, Part 1
with the death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, centuries of racial discord, divide and disharmony came to a head--again. it happened in '68 after the death of Rev. Dr. King, when black folk almost burned this city to the ground. history repeats itself until we finally get it. could it be how to heal centuries of pain extending back to the enslavement era?
this book was inspired by Frida Kahlo's painting, "What the Water Gave Me," a meditation on metaphors, real and symbolic images relative to the artist's healing process. i used the cover from the April 29 - May City Paper for this 10" x 11" book. the inside cover is a painting of an angel, and the signatures include an END THE PROTEST poster, statements about Freddie Gray's murder and a flyer.
i have no idea why these pics came in upside down, but i left them here anyway, so you can get an idea of how some of the pages appear in this first volume.
Wk. 18, Book 18: What the Protests Gave Us, Part 2
this second volume, collected during a protest at Baltimore's City Hall, includes newspapers representing different groups and/or published by different community and activist organizations. i felt somehow responsible for pulling together a small sampling of publications and stories published by the people who write for the people who live outside the mainstream and do not subscribe to mainstream media babble. i wanted to create something that represents a consciousness of revolution. the challenge was how to do that without a 3-ring binder.
i spent several days working on different folds and ways to attach publications and finally decided to use only those stories and articles on the Baltimore protests; all of that other paper was getting to be a bit much. the book unfolds vertically, with the last page of each story taped to the first page of the next publication. the folded size of this volume is 11.50" x 7.50" and is bound by a silk ribbon.
unfortunately, the national coverage of the Baltimore protests didn't fully capture the many different groups of people, representing every facet of community, that peacefully protested together at various locations around the city. that was the real story, and not the riots, which lasted on for 2-3 days over 3-4 weeks of protests.
Wk. 19, Book 19: What the Protests Gave Us, Part 3
there's so much going on in this city now, with so many different groups coming together to support people and businesses that were directly affected by the riots and the curfew. one such gathering is a visionary circle initiated by Rev. Bernette L. Jones, Senior Pastor of the One God One Thought Center and dedicated to visioning together the new community that is emerging in Baltimore. and while we have a ways to go before that "beloved community" as envisioned by Dr. King takes full form, we can see the foundations of love and understanding being laid by people all over the city.
that's what this final volume on "What the Protests Gave Us" speaks to--the Love of people for each other, our city and respective neighborhoods, and an understanding of what's evolving. this book is 2.75" x 4.25" and the signature is a non-linear accordion fold.
Wk. 20, Book 20: Reflections on the "No Justice No Peace" Mantra
the finished folded size of this book is also
2.75" x 4.25" and is made of tissue paper. there's a punch-out design made of card stock on the cover, on which i wrote "NO JUSTICE" and a diagonal line across the peace motif. the book unfolds to an 8.50" x 11" page with four even rows folded in the middle.
the content is a short-short essay on whether it is possible to have peace without justice, i.e., can we achieve a state of internal equilibrium in the face of external turmoil and dramatic change? will we, collectively, ever know peace while others among us suffer and are stripped of their humanity? i put on the back of the page a photo of a peaceful place in nature, taken around sunrise when the mist was beginning to dissipate and everything within that setting begins to appear.
Wk. 21, Book 21: The Book of Psalms
it seems after the last four books, prayer is in order. i had this beautiful 6" x 9" leather bound cover from a calendar book someone gave me back in 2011. i tore the old calendar out and changed the ones at the bottom of the cover to fours, to the date to 2044. go figure. as for the new content, i have an old, coverless Book of Psalms purchased over 30 years ago at Old Grandpa's candle shop here in Baltimore. this book includes recipes and rituals and instructions for using the psalms for virtually every purpose you can think of. it's a real treasure worth restoring. i put a green silk ribbon between the cover and first page to reinforce the spine.
it turned out to be a little 3" x 3.75" redesigned book with mini chapters on 10 of the 12 spiritual powers--Faith, Love, Wisdom, Imagination, Understanding, Will, Order, Zeal, Renunciation and Life. the original book had a weird accordion fold that didn't quite work. so, created regular signatures, 40 pgs. total. the previous book also had soft, cloth paper covers; i created hard covers for this design with a satin finish wall paper. 
what i like best about this little book is the visible spine, which i made with a strip of tyvek glued to end papers. the fun in making this book was working with the size, which took some finger dexterity and a lot of patience.
it turned out to be a little 3" x 3.75" redesigned book with mini chapters on 10 of the 12 spiritual powers--Faith, Love, Wisdom, Imagination, Understanding, Will, Order, Zeal, Renunciation and Life. the original book had a weird accordion fold that didn't quite work. so, created regular signatures, 40 pgs. total. the previous book also had soft, cloth paper covers; i created hard covers for this design with a satin finish wall paper. 
