My Holiday Wish: 30 Minutes a Day.

Here's my Holiday Wish:

That every kid had 30 minutes a day just to make something.

Could be a scribble, or a paper doll, or a rubber band ball, or whatever.

But, 30 minutes of open-ended, make something time.

I wish this were built into the school day.

If it were, we'd be telling our kids that we want to know something about them, every day.

We'd also be telling them that we are willing to make room in their day for their own ideas, and that they should do the same for other people.

30 minutes to shift your brain away from the "right" answer,

30 minutes to just be you,

30 minutes to make a mess.

(and maybe a few extra minutes to clean it up.)

Here's how it would work:

Every kid would have, somewhere, a little box of something like yarn, or paper and crayons, or clay or something - maybe at the back of the classroom, maybe in a little shelf in the dining room - somewhere.

And every day, they would pull that box out and mess around for half an hour.

That's it.

I wish everyone had this.

I think it would make the world better.

That's my wish.

The Peace Dragon Goes Hollywood

Okay, not really.

But I'm really excited that Syracuse Cultural Workers is carrying the Peace Dragon card this year! So if you are one of those really organized people who thinks about your holiday cards now, please consider using these. The dragon is happy to go out and share a message of peace with all your far-flung friends and relatives!

Invite an Ipp to come Hang Out with You!

The Ipps are loose and they want to come see you...

They want to come to your house.

They want to come to your office.

They want to be your friend.

So far there are a space, viking, rock and roll and sports Ipp.

They are magnets, so you can put them where you want and accessorize as you like.

Since they are hand-assembled, they come in a fashionable sandwich bag. Since that's what I have. And I want to use after-market and salvaged materials as much as I can.

It says there's one in stock for each style, but that's not really true. I can make more.

So, invite an Ipp to hang out with you! Or get several and mix their accessories up. Or give one to a friend - they are good karma I'm told.

Love.

Okay now that I've blathered on about art awhile, here is some.

It's a little early for Valentine's, but here's what mine's going to look like this year.

BTALD: Compliments of...

So it's a New Year, when we're supposed to get all Big-Picture and try and resolve to do things differently. Or, boycott the process because we think it's dumb. Whichever you prefer.

If you don't have any particular resolutions, or can't think of any, I'd like to propose one: Pay more compliments.

You can make a person's whole week just by saying something nice to them. I know that when I get an email from a reader saying a cartoon made them laugh or they put it up in their office or sent it to a friend, that makes my whole career worthwhile. Seriously.

It's a really big deal for people to feel like they are seen. We do so much seeing of celebrities and lifestyles and reality TV and cheap plastic junk and... and...

What really makes a difference to a person is to BE seen.

And if you pay someone a compliment, it means you saw them and you noticed them.

So, that may not be a big ol' resolution like losing 50 pounds or traveling somewhere or whatever, but then if you did those things it would all be so worth it if someone complimented YOU on your tan, or how slim you are... see?

Big Thoughts About Little Drawings: You Idiot.

Today my three-and-a-half-year-old son came in and said to his sister, "You know what? We are imbeciles." I said, "Do you know what that means?" He replied, "It's another word for idiot." It's all about those cool new words when you are three I guess.
So in honor of the New Year, here's to all of us proud Idiots - Here's to those of you out there who just finished cutting the hair off the back of your kid's doll trying to get it out of the packaging after you gave it to her for Christmas, and everyone who found out the turkey does slide really easily off the counter, and everyone who discovered that their new Christmas lights only reach halfway across the front of the porch, and everyone who put their foot in their mouth at some holiday dinner or other, or got their spouse's boss' name wrong at the holiday party, or whatever other Idiot-type stuff you might have pulled off this year. Be proud. I know I am.
And, I'm going to try this funky mobile-posting thing while I'm out of town the next few days, so we'll see if that works -- otherwise, see you next week!

Peace: Take Some, Pass It On.

Here's my holiday image for this year -- and I'd love for you to share it with your friends and family.
Feel free to copy/paste it, or email this posting to people. I'd love to send as much Peace around as possible. I'm hoping that each time this illustration goes to somebody, it'll carry a little bit of good karma with it.
So, have at it! And enjoy. And, peace.