Adam Blatner

Words and Images from the Mind of Adam Blatner

Table of Contents:

My Favorite Things

Fairies

I became interested in fairies before they were featured in Tolkien’s Return of the King trilogy. In fact, my interpretation of these non-physical beings is that they appear in whatever form the audience imagines, as in the Christmas song, Some Children See Him Lily White. In fact, faery beings appear as imagined through the filter […]

Favorite Cartoonists

I just wrote another blog about Roz Chast and mentioned also Gary Larson. Here are some others, just to play the game of listing “my favorite things”: – Gary Watterson’s Calvin & Hobbes series of cartoons now in books, both for his art and his themes—especially those that speak to philosophy and the enjoyment of […]

Finally, a Blog!

It’s been many months and I’ve been writing about a blog entry a day, but I haven’t had a way to post them. Now I do, so stand back!

Flister-Fluster

There are some words like “flister-fluster” that have not yet entered our vocabulary because what they mean isn’t yet known to humankind. Flister-fluster is a flipping kind of thing between dimensions, and one must have some sense of how dimensionality works to even begin to entertain such a concept. (This relates to the previously posted […]

Folk Dancing as Soul Celebration

One of my goals is to encourage people to re-own their participation in the arts, in drama, singing, the visual arts, poetry, various kinds of dancing and movement, all in a spirit of play. These are powerful vehicles for vitality and authentic self-expression. Ballroom dancing (learning cool steps!), square dancing (also called “friendship put to […]

Fruit of the Soul

I like mandalas, and this one by Leslie Kell titled “Fruit of the Soul” appeared on the cover of a little magazine titled Austin All Natural in August, 2012. The lower figure shows an enlarged view of the center of this piece. Lovely, and I want to acknowledge Ms? Kell as one of many who […]

Gary Larson, Cartoonist

This is the non-anniversary of Gary Larson’s retirement, which was around December 1994. Gee, it occurs to me that many people have grown quite up without knowing about this wonderful cartoonist. He introduced a madcap style of  cartooning that has been followed by others. When he left I felt bereft, but I just found two […]

Give Yourself a Medal

Marian Henley, a cartoonist who did “Maxine!,” created “medals” (back in 1999)! She created:   The Triple Star Telephone, for refusing to surrender under heavy barrage of telephone solicitation calls;    The Silver Cereal Box. for extraordinary strength of will, courage, and endurance displayed by simply getting the heck out of bed every day!   […]

Goals for Now (and 2013)

I just asked a friend, “what are you trying to achieve at this point in your life?” Then realized: What a question! Ask it of yourself! So here I offer some provisional answers: 1. Love my beloved wife, Allee, and give her a wonderful life; and enjoy being with her as she becomes ever happier. […]

Happily Ever Aftering

What a sweet idea, part of the lyrics to the title song in the 1960s Broadway Musical, “Camelot.” How appreciative I am that I seem to have settled into this condition with my soulmate-wife, Allee, and our wonderful home and community. Yet happiness is by no means complacency or stasis: There is work to be […]

Happy Springtime! (2018)

Glorious Spring! Birds are singing, and mocking-birds (my favorite) are impro-vising ! We’re all dancing! We are creating in multiple ways in the service of God-Becoming in an exponential-experiential  way. (I just made that phrase up!) I’m writing on my next project, which is an anthology of ways to use Moreno’s psycho-dramatic methodology (or related […]

Hello and Good-Bye

I’ve just written birthday cards to friends and relatives and I realized that these may be among the last few score or hundred that I ever write. If you’re not in email contact with my descendants, you’re “out of it,” literally. Postal mail, greeting cards, are going the way of penguins and parrots. It may […]

Holiday Greetings from Another World

My flying-saucer-little-green-man friend — "Zordak" by name— sent this in response to my trying to explain to him our Holiday season. “He” (actually, gender in his world is not so easily characterized, but we’ll use that pronoun rather than go into it) wanted to share in the spirit, and he sent this little message: Actually, […]

I Gotta Be Me (?)

This cartoon by Gary Larson over 20 years ago struck me as funny. There’s a part of me who is this penguin. There’s another part who finds my stance pitiful, because I know that there are thousands, millions of other entities working “in the fields of the Lord” to advance humanity and the evolution of […]

In-Between Dream Songs

We finished our spring concert of the Sun City Singers, and the songs keep running through my mind. This happens: By about three weeks before a concert to about three weeks after, the songs become invasive, filling the time between dreams. I’ve been in this singers’ chorus for over 18 years and three times a […]

International Folk Dancing Links

Among other things, I’ve done this kind of dancing for 53 years, on and off. More about this on my website. I am by no means an expert in this form, but I guess I’m okay at an  intermediate level. I’ve learned many hundreds of dances, which, when played, seem like old friends. To get […]

Intra-cellular Dynamics Illustrated

Here is a video my son found this on the internet and passed along. He wrote, "I understood 1% of the text, but the visualization of what’s going on inside our cells is astonishing. Check it out: A must see! … And I agreed. To this I would add the following comments: Yes! And what’s […]

Leaping Beyond Our Positive Thinking Base

I am honored to have Marilyn Schoeman as a friend. She is known as an author, international speaker, thought leader, creativity catalyst and game developer in Seattle, Washington:  gogreenlightway.com. Her book, GO! How to Think, Speak and ACT to Make Good Things Happen, introduces the Green Light® language, mind set. The Green Light®.  Goal: Create […]

Liberating the Mediocre to Enjoy the Arts

One of my missions is to foster the liberation of the mediocre, which refers to the majority of the population. Most people are not all that great when it comes to singing or dancing or making music or doing drama or whatever—but these are important vehicles for self-expression, self-discovery, and having fun. It is a […]

Life Enrichment

For a score of years I taught at a lifelong learning program for senior adults in my community in mid-Texas. It was one of the activities we enjoyed. Reflecting on this, it occurs to me that much if not most of education should be elective like this. It may not be practical for all sorts […]

Lox & Eggs: A Recipe

Here’s a special breakfast my dear departed mother taught me:  ( Per serving, enlarge proportionally for more:) 2 eggs, ½ onion, about 1½ oz of smoked salmon (“lox”), a little salt Dice and sautee onions until just beginning to brown (use just a little bit but not too much oil) Dice and add lox and […]

Mairzy Doats

This was the name of a novelty song put out in the mid 1940s: Mairzy dotes and dozey dotes, and liddle lamzey divey;    A kiddle edivey two, wooden shoe! (Repeat)  If the words sound queer, and funny to your ear, A little bit jumbled and jivey.    Sing mares eat oats, and does eat […]

Making Stuff Up

I’m afraid I’m profligate—er, no… promiscuous? wrong word. Un, precocious, preternatural, portly? No. I do expressive myself a lot, though, through many channels. Check out my website and especially the section on confabulations. The latest one is relevant to current events, I think. To confabulate is to make stuff up. One then may or may […]

Mandala Cooker

My mandalas are by no means perfectly symmetrical and might better be called differentiated mandalaforms or something like that. They give the impression of symmetry but a little inspection reveals disorder amidst the apparent order. This is because that’s the way it really is in the cosmos: There are “layers” of disorder interspersed with “layers” […]

Mature Love

I’m having a love affair with my own wife! Yay! It’s a mature kind of love, not young love— that’s why I bother writing about it. Nothing need be in secrecy. Mature adults can be deeply, sweetly in love.. I get a kick out of her. I get a kick out of thinking of nice […]

Archives