The Artist in the Office: How to Creatively Survive and Thrive Seven Days a Week

admin — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:01:00 +0000

I was looking forward to reviewing The Artist in the Office because it seemed so relevant to the situation many people I know find themselves in, myself included. Making it as an artist these days is tricky, and without a patron to support them, most emerging artists need another job to make ends meet.

In this book, Summer Pierre hits many of the emotional highs and lows people in my position feel: guilt because they’re not doing art full-time, frustration that they are unable to be creative at work, suffocation at the restraints of a nine-to-five schedule, and the constant nagging question of what your “real job” is. An artist herself, Pierre demonstrates noticeable insight in to the day-to-day life of the average creative worker.

There’s a lot to be talked about on this topic and no easy answers. This book never tries to solve the “problem” of how to be an artist in the office, which is for the best because there’s no magic solution that will resolve this anxiety. What Pierre does suggest is a change in approach. The most solid advice I took away from this book was to remain positive and keep focused on the specifics of what you really want. I know from experience that it’s easy to get stuck in the “If I only had xyz than I would be happy” mindset, which gets you nowhere. Pierre reminds us that working in an office—having a “day job”—while being an artist is hardly the end of the world, and in fact can often benefit your creative work.

Unfortunately, when these benefits are discussed in detail, the book tends to lose some of its insightful commentary and switches to somewhat condescending advice and cutesy pictures to get the point across. Most artists who work in an office hardly need a full-page illustration telling them how the company photocopier can be useful for... photocopying. Or how work computers can be used for non-work stuff. Surely most of us know these things already? The book also could have done without the handwritten doodling of things to do on your lunch hour or how to play “bingo” on your morning commute.

This book is at its strongest when the author seriously engages with the question of what it means to be an artist in a culture that doesn’t necessarily value art. Part four of the book, “Ideas for Change,” is the strongest section. It reads like a heartfelt conversation with a friend who in the end convinces you to not be so hard on yourself and reminds you that you have to value yourself before anyone else will.

Written by: Jennifer Burgess, March 31st 2010

It's Not About Food: End Your Obsession with Food and Weight

admin — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 11:11:00 +0000

By Carol Emery Normandi, Laurelee Roark

Perigee

The new year is upon us, and it’s not just because George W. Bush has finally left the White House. Whenever we decide to turn on our televisions, the Resolutions Monster is there. It appears as a perky model that lost fifty pounds after some fad diet. We look at our own bodies in disgust, poking at the extra pounds of flesh formed after gorging extra slices of pumpkin pie. Summer suddenly creeps up on us like our monthly cycles and those dreams of wearing a bikini are shattered.

There aren’t many options in combating the Resolutions Monster. We could either eat all the greasy Chinese we desire, or shove fingers down our throats in hopes that the salad from lunch hasn’t turned into fat. Fortunately, two women have discovered a new solution, one that will hopefully put an end to the vicious cycle of vanity.

Carol Emery Normandi and Laurelee Roark spent years of struggling with eating disorders because, like millions of others, they yearned to look and feel 'beautiful' every year. Despite fasting, vomiting, and dieting, they've never won the bulge battle—at least not until they formed the nonprofit organization Beyond Hunger, which targets the negative viewpoints of weight created by women. In their latest revised version of It's Not about Food, Normandi and Roark expose the appalling relationship women have with their bodies and how they can overcome them.

Along with personal tales of how they punished themselves with laxative pills, these women reveal advice on taming hunger and how releasing years of shame is the key to respecting and loving every inch of us. The mission seems impossible, but their insightful chapters are nothing short of inspiring and worth the read until the very end.

One of the surprising exercises that Normandi and Roark suggest to readers is eating exactly what you want. Whether it’s freshly baked chocolate chip cookies or potato chips, eat away! It may sound like a terrible trick, but it’s the first stepping stone to being at peace with food. "It is very helpful to have with you at all times snacks that you like and can eat whenever you feel hungry," they explain. "This cuts down on the cycle of binging. You won’t get too hungry and slam down any old thing if you have your favorite foods with you." While this may be true, should we just give up fruits and vegetables for fried chicken and cheesecake?

Before the book is thrown out for seemingly lacking the knowledge readers need to physically improve themselves, Normadi and Roark provide step-by-step meditation rituals on savoring each bite we eat, when to know the signals of being full, and how to stop relying on food for emotional support. They state, "Go into your body and get into your sensual feelings about your body—excited, passionate, turned on, or climactic. Let yourself become childlike—be absolutely delighted with your body."

In other words, discovering all those curves and erogenous zones that make us feel like goddesses is good for our hearts, along with keeping a journal, complimenting yourself in front of a mirror naked, and creating plans to nurture your shape. Does bubble baths and personal massages ring a bell?

It may be a new year, but that doesn't mean we should force ourselves to hate who we are just because we don't look like Beyonce. We must learn to overcome a society that believes Jessica Simpson's new voluptuous shape is newsworthy. It's Not about Food provides women of all ages the tools needed to not only become content with so-called flaws, but also the determination to build much-needed confidence for happier lives. It is then that we can focus on ways to become healthier without dieting to death.

Written by: Stephanie Nolasco, February 24th 2009