Featured Artist: Corinne Theile #thrivingartist

"I'm not OshKosh. I'm Corinne!"

That’s what Corinne declared, at four years old, while demanding that her mother cut the OshKosh labels off her clothing. 

In hindsight, that was a pivotal moment. Her mother explained that Oshkosh was a brand (not a name), and that was when Corinne became fascinated with the world of branding + marketing. 

 

As the daughter of small business owners, Corinne discovered her aptitude for sales when she was tall enough to see over the counter at her parent's lamp shop. Her love of photography also started early. The daughter of a film major, she spent time behind and in front of the camera. 

During her teenage years, when most girls hung posters of teen heartthrobs on their walls, Corinne instead decorated her walls with torn-out advertisements from magazines and product packaging she found especially clever and fascinating.

Corinne is known for doing things her way. She loves exploration and discovery, whether through travel or when sampling the latest offering from a local restaurant. Her colleagues have called her "a visionary whose creativity is not limited by the usual constraints known to others."

So, how does Corinne herself view being an artist? "We are constantly surrounded by and interacting with art and design. There has been no other time in history when creating and sharing art has been easier. From how we decorate our homes to the clothes we wear, the words we put onto paper - and the photos we take and share on social media. We can be and are all artists!”

That Night Court Podcast, Ep 2: The One With Michael J. Fox #nightcourt #podcast #rewatch #michaeljfox

 https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/fangirling/episodes/That-Night-Court-Podcast--Ep--2-The-One-With-Michael-J--Fox-e2267m0

Yes, it's back, That Night Court Podcast. In this episode, I review season one, episode two, "Santa Clause is Coming To Town". From Marty McFly as an angry run-away teen, to Dan being not fully formed, to Bull's innate belief, and Harry's struggle to go with his heart and believe in the unseen, or stand by the law, it's an episode worth a listen.

Thanks for your patience in getting the second episode out! Thanks for listening!

#nightcourt #podcast #rewatch #michaeljfox

Lovelink: A Dino, A Convict, A Cam-Girl & A Bailiff #nightcourt #lovelin...

In this episode, Roz makes a new connection, catches up with Austin Russo, the poet convict, & has a somewhat frustrating convo with the Cam-Girl!

The Effects of Purity Culture #purityculture #fundamentalism #christianity

When I was a preteen, I went to Bible camps because my single dad got me a scholarship and it was free babysitting for a week each summer. At the end of every Bible camp, they would ask if anyone wanted to“give their life to the Lord.” At 13, I made this decision. My dad didn’t go to church, but my mom and my new stepdad did, so I got baptized at their church.

Fast forward through my teen years, where I was hanging out with friends older than myself and going to concerts and parties. I was 18 when I met my (now ex-) husband and we were married when I was only 19 years old. The honeymoon quickly faded revealing him to be very controlling and told me I needed to stop hanging out with my friends. He also insisted I get rid of my music, my life at the time. He was not a good person to me but I was blind to his controlling nature. He was a textbook narcissist. 

During our marriage, I was abused emotional, sexually, and religiously. He used the Bible to control me for his pleasure, condoned by the teachings of the church which states their belief that the husband is head of the household. I became increasingly more depressed through our 12 year marriage, and  developed many chronic pain and health conditions. I felt alone as I was alienated by my health added to the reality that I did not have close friends in the church to truly check on or help me.  This was a reality I was unaware of at the time but would eventually make itself apparent.

When we finally went to marriage counseling, it was suggested that I go to a counseling center out of state for my depressione. While there, I realized the spell I was under by my narcissistic husband and was slowly able to begin the process of breaking free from him, enough to kick him out of the house (that I was paying for!) not long after I came back.

Since then, I have gone to many different counselors to work through the abuse and to heal. I am still in counseling a decade later. I’m scared to go to church because everyone sided with my ex during our divorce, revealing the truth that they were never really my friends. Thus, I decided to start new in another state closer to my family. However, I still won’t attend church for many reasons, but that’s a whole other story I can explain later. I do try to date, but my health is still a hardship making it difficult to leave the house.

Yes, I do still believe in God, but my struggle is with Bible itself. Today,  I consider myself “spiritual” instead of religious. I am open to remarrying if I ever meet the right person, but I have a lot to work through first. I hope my story can help others who are trapped in an abusive marriage to consider a change.

Jess Hart is an artist, rescues cats, and enjoys punk music. She lives in West Texas.

Jess Hart https://linktr.ee/thisisjesshart

Rise & Fall #holyweek #universal

 

This week, April 2, 2023 thru April, 9, 2023 is known as a Holy Week for at least two of the major World religions, that of Christianity and Judiasm, with Palm Sunday, Passover, Good Friday, and, finally, Easter.  As I was preparing the scheduled social media posts for this month's birthdays and holidays, I was reflecting on how, as an ex-fundie Christian, I would express the importance of this week, especially that of the Christian religion. It struck me that the symbolism of rising and falling, death and resurrection is one not singular to Christianity or even one spiritual path, but one that can be found across cultures and religions throughout history.  

Relevant links: 

https://psy-minds.com/resurrection-several-religions/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/life-after-death-different-religions-philosophy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dying-and-rising_deity

Religion and spirituality is an attempt to make sense of life and of existence.  The ways in which spiritual walks seem to be varied and different is actually a mask for their similarities.  One of which is the narrative of death, dying to self, endings, then resurrection, born again, and new beginnings.  The reasoning for this can be discovered within the workings of humanity and nature.  For into each life a little rain must fall, but joy comes in the morning.  In every life, no matter the race, nationality, or even species, good things befall as well as hardships.  We rise up, we fall down, we rise again.  If then, spirituality is a means of attempting to make sense of the chaos of life, then the texts and teachings of the various religious and spiritual teaching are figurative explanations for finding understanding and hope.  As it is written that deities of old, such as Jesus, died and rose again, so to, we experience losses, sorrows, the deaths of life which then lead to the enriching experience of rising again with renewal. 

Model I Am #lifemodel #artmodel #actor #thrivingartist

Sitting in a California café in my late twenties, a friend sitting beside me, who had a wee crush on me, made the off-hand commented, "She should be a model." I, jokingly pointed to my face, full of hard acne at the time from Lithium and other psychotropic medicines and side effects from yet undiagnosed celiac disease, "Not with this face!"

Yet, deep underneath the need to detract from the compliment, I held an inner gratitude for the friend's comment.  For throughout my whole life, I had had a desire never yet to be tried for, deeply buried with the hopes of pleasing others whose choices for my life reversed my own journey, to pursue the creative professions such as performance and modeling.  In my earlier twenties, I had tried my hand at pursuing theatre in college only to feel more beaten down by both the rejections of that profession along side the continual abuse of a toxic boyfriend among other negative inputs.  I had watched enviously as friends' modeled au natural for art classes and workshops, inwardly wishing I had the guts to do that while outwardly proclaiming the Christian rhetoric of likening it to the striptease or even pornography. 

  

Finally, in my early married life, struggling to find work with a husband who not only abused me but would disappear into his own mind of psychotic conspiracies, I finally took the stage at a local art gallery for the first time as life model.  Yet not too successfully the first time, I continued forth on that journey, at last scoring a recurring gig as a model for the local university and community college from about 2014 until present day.  This impetus to pursue this profession came on the heels of my auditioning for my first play and successfully being cast, followed by several other voyages into the theatre world.  

Eventually, this actively choosing and carving out my own path led to my freedom from my abusive husband and continual release from other toxic relations.  As I further stepped boldly into being true to myself, healing continued in full force, and the knowledge of success as a place of inner peace became  a mainstay.  

In recent years, during the pause and reset of the lockdown of Covid19, I was able to reflect upon my life, my connections therein, and realize the fullness of what I have achieved without fully acknowledging or realizing my own successful abilities.  From years of personal abuse history, I still found it necessary to downplay and degrade my successes, strengths, and self-worth.  Furthermore, the years of fundamentalist Christianity as well the left over puritanical beliefs still lingering even today upon our society, kept me from fully appreciating my career as life model, that a good portion of my income has come from such source for nearly a decade, and I have become sought after in that way.

Perhaps, all that long ago, my friend's comment was a prophecy, that which, was meant to lead me to my true calling if only I would be obedient to my inner voice and desire.  

 

Lovelink Night Court Style: Roz matches with a cat! #nightcourt #lovel...

In this episode, Roz deepens her feelings for Eve, taunts Austin the convict, has a date with the cam-girl (meh), and matches with a cat. (It's not what you think!)