What is it
about corn husks,
besides their enticing shade of
light green, fanlike spread on the pile,
and their capacity to
​protect?

For me, it is
much more than the
reassuring taste of what they contain.
It has to do with their history, and the fact that corn
was originally a gift from the indigenous people who lived in
New England to my people, who showed up
500 years ago, unannounced and
unprepared. The results
were not pretty.

I am deeply 
grateful for the gift
of corn then and now. Though
today it has a different purpose, perhaps,
inspiring a new point of view on the conversations
that gift started centuries ago. Who has the
right to what land and for what
purpose? And who is 
going to care
​for it?

It is an honor
that later today I will
be among friends new and old,
celebrating these Compost  Compositions.
They are at once framed compositions of color, shape
and texture as well as narratives about what it
means to live in our world today - - the 
beauty and the mess of it all. Some
days it feels more beautiful
​than others.

Today,
I choose to see
the beauty of what is,
not just in the compost pile,
but in my life. Please come see the
show at AVA Gallery.
​It's really cool.

And also, please
take a moment this weekend
to express gratitude for all those before
us who made our current
harvests ​possible.

And
​there is more.
Behind these photographs
there is me, a woman in mid life
choosing to share her work
and, by default, her
story - - 

Perhaps
that is why last year I had
so much fun dismantling and composting
my Harvard and UVA Degrees.
​Why not explore? 

Or, perhaps
that is why I am OK
sharing my first attempt at decorating
a silk dress with embroidered
imagery of my own
design.

Now
​that it is Show Time
the connections between these
experiments becomes
clearer. 

​