Mindsay Reunion Tour -- the Valentina Version

When I first decided to join the legions of bloggers I realized that I wouldn't just need a site to post my thoughts, I needed a blog site where I could easily post the progress of my artwork. I don't just write, I draw out my thoughts, sometimes I photograph myself in an exploration of who I am, or photograph my environment in an effort to share, to reach out to old friends and friends I had yet to meet. I explored just about every blog site out there and was vastly unimpressed with their communities, most at the time bent on debating politics or sports or just bubbled with complaints. There were a few celebrity and artist blogs I liked to read occasionally, but what I searched and longed for was a place that felt more like a home -- the online equivalent of a college-like meeting room where I could display images and share a poem or short story and maybe get a constructive comment or more from people of a like mind with similiar ambitions seeking mutual inspiration. I wasn't going to start a blog where I could just log on to gossip and leave dozens of abbreviated internet/text message speak to show my emotions. Offline I am a journal writer, I love creating autobiography, and I like reading the life stories of other people, too. When I was in college I was blessed by writer friends who really knew how to share and think out loud. As a young writer and artist I benefited from the support of other creative people and I still miss being part of a ever-growing, continually changing, never dull, collaborative group. By December 2004 I found myself alone, just getting out of hospital, moved away from my best friends in Milwaukee back to the small city where I went to college at and found Stevens Point a place that was not yet home again. Gone were the old friends I once drew and wrote and imagined with.


I needed a soul connection.



The very name "MINDSAY" attracted my imagination and sense of poetry. I liked the sound of it. It spoke to me, told me that was what I wanted to say, to shout out to the world that this is my mind's say. Other blog site names weren't appealing to my senses like that (and still don't). But would Mindsay have an easy to use/edit system where I could explore the inner workings of my blog page and would it be easy to upload for friends new and old to see? Mindsay was the first blog site I joined. Seriously joined. And Roses are Romantic was my introduction to this community. Already I was feeling out my possibilities here. At the time I was busy creating my own interpretations of the Tarot deck which, for lack of a better title, I named after myself "The Valentina Tarot" and, looking back on it, I recognize images of the ex-lover and representations of the healing process I was undertaking to regain my self esteem and sanity. I realize now I need to go back to creating more and more cards, perhaps make it less autobiographical and more impersonal, but then... I change my mind again. The great thing is here on my "mind's say" I can turn back to my original thoughts and know exactly what provoked me to draw and paint those images. It's a record of how I am establishing myself as an artist and, better yet, as a human being.



As I write this, I am comfortably relaxing in the home office of a fellow Mindsayer and come to a lovely conclusion and realization: Mindsay offered me the best opportunity to reach out to friends I hadn't met yet and my confidence is reassured, my heart full, and my arms hugged full with family. I have too much to write about and the day is ripe with sunshine. My fingernails slide and slip over Josh's keyboard. I hear his voice in the other room, Rachael just braided my hair, and I can hear Rebekah bouncing around upstairs in preparation for the day's activities. Where once I was alone and emptied, wondering where I was going to get my next hug, I am now happily dancing within the circle of friends. This is what it's really all about, kids! And why I stay put.



Home is here.



And I'm here with an endless amount of mind saying.