What brings you JOY?

What makes you feel ALIVE?

What feeds your SOUL?

Have you ever felt stuck in a rut? Or smiled when you felt awful on the inside? Have you ever wondered what would happen if you did what you REALLY want to do in life? Then the SOUL ALIVE workshop is for you!
Guided by Dana Berry, you will begin by taking a look at what currently brings you joy, followed by defining your core values and what makes you who you are. Next, you will dive in and identify what makes you come alive and develop action steps to feed your soul and take your life in a new direction.

Don’t miss this half day session; it might change your life!

Saturday, October 9th, 2010
8:30am – 12:00pm
Concordia University, Kenosha, WI.
Register now, space limited to 24 people.
Visit www.soulera.com to register and for more information.  Or contact Dana Berry at dana@soulera.com

BONK! 23
SATURDAY, AUG 28th
RACINE ARTS COUNCIL
316 6TH STREET
RACINE, WI
6PM(doors open at 5:30)

Featuring:

• spoken word artist MARIO WILLIS
• writer/translator CJ HRIBAL
• presenter/musician SARAH CORSO & RITA BURGESS

Also, the winning chapbook of the Racine Racquetball Chapbook Tournament (feautred in BONK! last April) is ready and available online. Nick Twemlow’s “Your Mouth is Everywhere” can either be bought here (via the paypal button below) for $7, or you can access a free pdf of the chapbook here: http://racquetballchapbooktournament.wordpress.com/

This is going to be the gnar gnar. Check out the links for the performers; take a look at what tremendous talent we have coming to Racine. Can’t wait to see you there!

Nick Demske:

ExposeKenosha/Racine is excited to introduce our readers to Mary Tompsett, whose monthly humor column “Posing as Normal” runs in Foolish Times (Santa Cruz) and Cleveland Women. Her work has also appeared in Renaissance Magazine and Dane County Lifestyles in Madison. The following piece, “Right to Bear and Date Arms” won first place in the April/May 2010 humor contest at www.HumorPress.com.

Tompsett is a self-syndicated humorist who lives with her dog and cats in Racine. Her horse left the family for a more stable environment. For more of Mary’s humor, visit www.marytompsett.com.

Copyright © 2010 by Mary Tompsett

Did you hear about the Korean guy who married a pillow? He joined in holy matrimony with a body pillow imprinted with a female cartoon character. I wonder, was it Marge Simpson? Or Dilbert’s co-worker Alice with the big hair? I’m not a betting man—actually, not a man at all, despite a couple of rogue whiskers—but I’ll put money on The Littlest Mermaid. Trust me, after a gestation period, the newlyweds will hatch a litter of fish sticks.

Marrying a pillow may be demented, but it’s also resourceful. Imagine the difficulty in finding a clergyman who’s also a stock clerk at Beddings-R-Us. And how brave! A person would need a huge glob of courage to enter a legal commitment with an entity that over a lifetime will house legions of skin mites.

The average marital road is bumpy enough for two Homo Sapienses, but ethical boundaries get blurry in a hurry if you tie the knot with a sack of feathers. For instance, when traveling, is it adultery to snuggle up with an airline pillow? Can you ever sleep on the couch cushions?? OMG, what about your car headrest?! Even if you kept a plastic dust cover on it for “protection,” the moral ramifications boggle the mind. And if thy mind be liketh unto mine, it dwelleth knee-deep in bogglement.

Hence, I’m not mentally or emotionally equipped to marry a pillow. I do, however, date them. I don’t cavort with cheap throw pillows that are all glitz and no stuffing. Au contraire, my fellow neurotics, for some time now I’ve been seriously dating a “man arm” pillow. Not the deluxe kind with Johnny Depp’s face. Mine is the cheaper model patterned after Joe the Plumber. It has dirty fingernails, and sweats like a Clydesdale.

But the arm is a romantic at heart. Is that anatomically possible?? Whatever. I duct-tape it to my own arm and we stroll through the park, holding hands.

Did your grandma ever wear a fur shoulder stole? Maybe not mink, but two or three foxes hung around her busom, biting each other’s ass? My granny had a stole made from chipmunks, and her shoulder parade of tiny vermin resembled a furry rosary, with tails. Why am I telling you this…?? Anyhoo, I drape the man-arm over my shoulders so it can open the car door, or carry the groceries, etc. And while doing dishes, all three of our hands wear rubber gloves. For dependable, renewable energy, nothing beats denial.

This relationship tops any I’ve had with my own species. I hang the arm on a door frame, insert drapery hooks into the fingers and…Aaahh…scratch that unreachable spot between my shoulder blades. Never again must I bear the shame of leaving tufts of my back hair snagged on the bark of the neighbor’s trees.

Pssst. I also have a secret crush on my electric mattress pad. Matt’s only a twin, but hey, performance over size, and all that. He lets me control the heat between us, and accepts that often my moods, and pajamas, are ugly. Every spring, Matt heads for the linen closet to brood in the dark until fall. Yet, while we’re apart, I trust him to keep his coils off the pretty guest towels. Like, that bad boy is so unplugged. I may be cuckoo, but I’m not stupid.

And I’m not a slut. Promiscuous is a classier word, from the Latin term for “friendly.” Besides Joe and Matt, I’m really friendly with my snooze alarm. All bliss and zero commitment, every day begins with several nine-minute quickies.

Are you too shy to date household items? Join millions of other social misfits, and call a sex hotline. But be careful. I misdialed and got 1-800-FONE SOX, whereupon I listened to a non-tenured professor murmuring, “Ooh baby, feel my argyles, oh yeah!!”

But it was the sound of support hose soaking in Woolite that really creeped me out.

Nourish your mind and put playfulness back into your heart at a new, monthly, public series, Read • Play • Ponder, starting this Fall in Kenosha, WI.

The series takes place on the fourth Friday of the month, beginning Friday, September 24 from 7:00-9:00 p.m., at Carolyn’s Coffee Connection, 1351 52nd Street, Kenosha, WI. Admission is free. The series is sponsored by ExposeKenosha.com and Kenosha Community Media.

Read • Play • Ponder is designed to engage people in penetrating, yet playful conversations on topics such as the arts, technology, science, health care, entertainment, and more. It serves to inspire and challenge everyone toward better living and a better world.

The topic for the Friday, September 24th event is the Art of Possibility, based on a passionate book of the same name by classical music conductor Benjamin Zander and his wife, Rosamund Stone Zander, executive coach and family systems therapist.

Christine Northrup, M.D., has called this book, “one of the most inspiring, practical, and uplifting books I have ever read. The very act of reading it with an open heart and mind will improve your health.”

Participants are invited to read this book prior to the September 24 event; however, participants may attend even if they have not read or finished the book. Paperback copies of this book are available for purchase online and at area retailers.
The evening will also feature a talk by Benjamin Zander form his appearance on TED.com. Zander is a gifted speaker with an engaging philosophy of “one buttock playing” in musical performance as well as in day-to-day life.

In addition, David Schripsema will introduce the upcoming season of the Kenosha Symphony Orchestra and the series at First United Methodist Church of Kenosha.

This series continues on the fourth Friday of each month, excluding the month of December, with a new topic, book, video, and special guests each time.

For more information, visit www.ExposeKenosha.com and www.KenoshaMedia.org

A Message from John Bloner Jr.

Greetings:

Art Matters, including artists and supporters of the arts from Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois, are invited to attend our next gathering on Thursday, August 26 from 6:00-8:00 p.m. at Regency Mall, 5538 Durand Avenue, Racine, WI, home to Harmony Hall and the Dairy Statesmen.
See agenda below.

We are fortunate to welcome Raymond Roberts as our moderator for this meeting. Raymond is a local business owner and musician; many of you met him at our last meeting at Carolyn’s Coffee Connection. ExposeKenosha.com provided this information about him: “Raymond Roberts has been writing and performing his original music for almost a decade while traveling the country to learn about the people, places, and things that he helps protect when serving as a member of the United States Armed Forces. Alongside his original acoustic works, Raymond lets you hear cover songs that you know and love again for the first time through his soulful renditions of classic rock songs from times past.”

Many thanks to the Dairy Statesmen and to Dan Schaumberg for welcoming us to Harmony Hall for this evening. We will enjoy music by the Statesmen and view a DVD.

We hope that you find these gatherings informative, engaging, and fun.

Bring your friends. Art Matters welcomes everyone.

John Bloner, Jr.

AGENDA

ART MATTERS
A gathering of artists and supporters of the arts from Southeastern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois
Thursday, August 26
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Regency Mall, 5538 Durand Avenue
Harmony Hall
Enter through southeast side doors to Mall.
Meeting space is next to Talbot’s.

Hosted by the Dairy Statesmen

Evening’s Moderator: Raymond K. Roberts, Local Business Owner and Musician

Actions/Activities

• 1. Who Are We?

-Define the group’s mission and purpose.
-Name the group.

• 2. What Do We Do?

-Determine the group’s areas of operation and influence.

• 3. How May We Better Serve The Area and Its Artistic Community?

-Create an online Artistic Master Calendar of Events for this region.
-Discuss need for Art Matters involvement toward an online and print version Artists Directory.
-Develop and host Educational Classes and Forums related to business and the arts (e.g., Marketing Your Work; Working with Business and Corporate Sponsors; Effectively Promoting Your Events; Collaborations for Bigger Markets, et al.)
-Attend a symposium, “Altering the Face and the Heart of America: The Gard Symposium”, September 24-25, 2010, Lowell Center, UW-Madison Campus.
-Develop and host a 2011 Kenosha/Racine Spring Arts Studio Tour.

• 4. What’s Next

-Items for next agenda.

Presentation/Performance

• 1. Thank you to our host, the Dairy Statesmen.

Networking & Socializing

• 1. Bring business cards, flyers, brochures and other information that highlights you as an artist or as an artistic organization and of any events or activities that promote the arts.