The UPLIFT:Take 2

On Wednesday this week I was a guest on Capitol Public Radio's" Insight" hosted by Beth Ruyak. When Beth floated the invitation, it took me by surprise. When she called  a day later, offering me a slot for the very next day, I was terrified. Still, I said yes. Something about stepping outside my comfort zone…

Tuesday afternoon, Beth followed up with  a “chat map” with questions that would guide to our conversation. I read Beth’s  questions and wrote clever, thoughtful responses to each and every one.  Who could predict that,  when that techno-curtain lifted, foot-in-mouth would meet brain-in-fart?

Historical Flashback: At the beginning of each and every performance I’d ever been in, I always fumbled my   lines.  And, of course, there was that painful  appearance during a KVIE art auction...

On Wednesday morning at 9:50 a.m.,  Beth began with this : "Have you ever been in those conversations where you find yourself thinking of the silver linings of the stay-at-home experience  or those unexpected plus-times and good that come from unexpected outcomes? UPLIFT,  every day, celebrates  that kind of spirit. Today's guest, Sacramento artist Caren Halvorsen, seems to be in the midst of that part of the experience. Joining us by phone from her home studio today…”

​Somewhere between “Hello, Beth,” and “Thank you for inviting me,” the adrenaline hit. Inexplicably, I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around Beth’s first question. A question  I already knew!  A question I had a pretty solid answer for!!!

Allow me to describe the experience: in the moment, it feels like being perched on the rim of a gigantic blender while an unseen finger pokes “frappe”. There’s a momentary free-fall right before the blades…

But then I remembered. I ALWAYS falter out of the gate. It’s part of my “process”. I admit it’s a flawed process, which I call "frappe or fight". 
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Beth Ruyak was amazing! Sensing her guest was about to self-liquify, she pivoted her approach,  which got me out of the blender and lurching toward topic. Because of Beth, the rest of the interview went better. Beth gets an A+ for her performance; I'll stick with pass/fail.  

​Retrospectively, this is where I goofed:  “me” got in the way of the message.

And this is the message: If  an #artgurlartifacts no-strings, free donation could help your business, contact me.

Here's the backstory: full disclosure, Beth Ruyak and I live on the same street and, in a recent  and perfectly appropriate socially distanced conversation last weekend, I mentioned I’d been making so much jewelry during our shelter-in-place time that it would be great to do something helpful with  it. I might have even have floated a “Bling-it-Forward-” hashtag.  I confided to Beth that, in the prior week, I’d sent out letters to seven or eight self-employed and small business owning friends asking if I could donate some of what I'd been making, but hadn’t heard much  back. That’s when Beth suggested a wider audience…

My sincere thanks  to Beth "The Bridge-Builder" Ruyak,  and the amazing "Insight" team : Cintia Lopez Montes, Kyle S. McKinnon, and Aram Sarkissian. 

The bridge-building is working! These beauties are going out today!  Stay strong Delta Mind Body Center . Click the link to learn about this dynamic women-owned  business.

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And, ​If you'd like to experience what it sounds like to free-fall into a whirring blender  you can listen here.