SORT OF UPDATE (01.26.06)--artworks, cover art, cartoons... Oh yes, volunteers and writers!

SUNDAY WORKING SUNDAY!

[ ] AS YOU ALL WELL KNOW, we are coming up with two more magazines this March or spring. These are BLUE SKY ASHEVILLE (healthy living, yoga, musings&ruminations etc) and EPICURIAN (food and art). Blue Sky, like The Indie and Wander, are black&white publications. Epicurian, which is a co-publishing venture with Carlos Steward or Courtyard Gallery & Agency, is partly color. All publications are under the nonprofit Loved By The Buffalo Publications (except Epicurian, which is a co-venture). Buffalo is a sideproject (with The Traveling Bonfires, Rain Management, among others) of The Independent Communications Inc, a national (NY-registered) 501c3 organization.

If you have some filed artwork that you may want to donate/contribute to these publications for cover art, complementing/accompanying art to articles etc, feel free to email them to me via either pasckie@yahoo.com or indie_asheville@yahoo.com. For color materials, please cc Carlos at purplecoca@aol.com. I will be working on my PCs for the first 3 publications, the MacIntosh (with Carlos) for Epicurian. I dont know the graphic/color (DPIs, resolutions etc) intricacies of Macs but Carlos works on Macs, so he's the mainman for that one. Of course, these are all pro bono work, but if you are interested to do long-term/consistent work, we might have something about $$$ later.

Those who have expressed willingness to contribute work are Jen Larkin (New York City), Duane Lucas Pascua (Manila), David English (Venice Beach CA) Matt Mulder, Revela Cronus, Cynthia Potter-Steward, and John Pfifferling (Asheville).

[ ] MEANTIME, Loved by the Buffalo will also be publishing Gaither Stewart's novella, "Russia Is Far Away" ("It is about espionage and terrorism, and contains as usual in my stories some kind of social message but also full of action and interesting characters. It is 20,000 words..." --Gaither) Proceeds go to The Indie/Buffalo's fund. His Russian friend contributed the cover print/art.

Fitness instructor and health food cookbook author Tanya Lee Sheehan, from Canada and currently Asheville resident, applies to write for either or both BLUE SKY and EPICURIAN. Tanya is local astrologer Kelly Lee Phipps' girlfriend... I also invited Kelly (who used to be The Indie's resident astrologer) to write for Blue Sky. [Him and current Indie starman Benjamin Bernstein are collaborative astrologers in a podcast program.] A Cordillera mountains (north of Philippines) herbolario or herbalist, whom I simply call Apo Lakay, will also be writing for Blue Sky.

[ ] MY LONGTIME Manila assistant/associate Olive Obina is back in the fold--after a sojourn in Japan. She will be Manila Bonfires/Indie's mainperson. Her first mission is "clean up" of the mess that the past Manila leadperson left on her devastating wake. Remember the October Manila show that get enmeshed with the sad Mars Hill NC Bonfires? That last four months (including my Mom's passing) of 2005 was a tragedy... we can only rise from the ashes, as the phoenix says. Olive was my last assistant in Manila before I left in 1998. I took her in, fresh from college. We ran between typhoon downpours, waded around floods, shared meals while on maddening presswork. She's still the same, an avid supporter of the madness.

In America, I have been looking for younger souls who could do school homework, do personal stuff, and do some "madness" gigs such as these with equal passion, focus, and inspiration... some young spirit who could bang at my front door at 6am to get me to work, or spend time at Kinko's at 3am whether there's snow or rain or it's a cool weather. I remember those days when I was a stubborn, gangling 15 year old, having to muster and heal bruised egos and emotional agony after editors hurled and made fun with my manuscripts at my face, "If you want to be a journalist, you have to do better than this shit!" I remember those days when I begged, "Please, just 30mins on your lunch break, please read my poems..." with older poets in Manila. I am not 15 or 25 years old anymore, but it seems I have more energy, focus and fire than the average 15 or 25 years old these days... Those days, we didnt have computers, vehicles, cellphones, laptops -- lack of money wasnt the real threat, Martial Law's super-zealous Gestapo-like soldiers and hitmen are the real scare.

So volunteers, interns etc--please come over without being asked and tell yourself, "This is for me, not for Pasckie, not for Marta The Nicer Osbourne, not for Carlos, not for The Bonfires, not for The Courtyard, not for my rent, not for my boyfriend or girlfriend, not for my school credits -- BUT FOR ME!" We have all the tools that you need to challenge the thunder and dare the sun -- you have to do it yourself, the Blue Sky God/dess always provides the rest, mostly those that you cant hold or touch.

Four magazines, one TV show, weekly activities, special shows... and free coffee and a movie. Beautiful life, isnt it so? Einstein said, "One percent inspiration, 99 percent perspiration." Funny, in America, we only basically perspire a lot when we do the threadmill at a claustrophobic gym or have condomized sex.

BUENAS DOMINGOS, AMIGOS Y AMIGAS!

--Pasckie