Women’s Empowerment

This week’s piece was inspired by a photo taken during a recent trip to Five Below. I knew this poem was going to be hard when the suggestions started rolling in. Most people provided light-hearted ideas, but I got stuck on the fact that this Wonder Woman mask has no mouth. I mean, how can a person speak his/her truth without a mouth?! In the end, I used 4 lines from followers, but mostly I went my own way. 

Thanks to everyone who participated.

NOTE: If you’d like to get in on the fun, all you have to do is follow me on my Rasjacobson Art Facebook Page. On Wednesday mornings, I share a random photo and ask people to add a single line of poetry in the comments from which I attempt to cobble together a cohesive piece of writing. 

At the Intersection of Snickers, Double Bubble & Halloween Blowups

Her task was to be good

To put on a happy face 

The mask kept her performing 

And at a breakneck pace, the mask

was there to keep people at bay, 

it reassured everyone 

she was OK, the mask she wore 

since she was a child 

reminded her to be nice,

agreeable, not to be wild.

To keep her legs closed, 

put a smile on her face, 

don’t slow down, 

don’t be a disgrace, but

it’s hard mask up every day 

& I’ve always been suspicious 

of Wonder Woman, anyway 

With her fancy silver bracelets 

Her lasso of truth 

she had stamina & speed 

& the empathy of Ruth.

Armed with serum from

the Get-You-Drunk-Tree, 

she had flight, healing powers 

& telepathy. 

A woman, they say, 

is not as strong as a man.

A woman, they say,

Can’t do what he can.

But wearing a mask

is exhausting, indeed

It takes courage to remove it

And she took the lead.

Shoulder to shoulder with a marshmallow man, 

She challenged him 

to leave his mask at the door,

Asked him to open 

a little bit more, but

he was an immovable object,

not up to the task 

no flawless perfection

just struggles retold

for heroes are human

with shadows & fears

and even a plain girl

can be a Wonder Woman

after a few beers.

They said it wouldn’t last 

And they were right 

Women are built different

This is their plight.

And man, according to another,

named Freud, seemingly hardwired

to ignore & avoid,

her heart & her alter ego 

on display, she softened 

for a moment, then

was heard to say,

“Only love can save the world.

This is why I stay.”

So she went on pretending

Every damn day. 

On Wednesdays, I post a photograph on my Rasjacobson Art Facebook Page and ask people to add a single line of poetry in the comments from which I attempt to create a cohesive piece of writing. This week’s collective poem came slower than usual, and I didn’t use every line offered by participants. Inspired by last month’s harvest moon and unrequited love, this piece represents the combined efforts of nine people. Many thanks to everyone who participated.

I KNOW WHY DOGS HOWL AT THE MOON

His laugh, the way

He squeezes his eyes shut

When something is funny

Almost as if in pain

Yesterday I wanted to speak of it,

In the courtyard

At midnight, the moon

Locked in itself, calling

To our wild side, my werewolf self

there in the sky, ghosts

Splitting, our heads looking up

Invisibly walking by

The chemistry between us

A monster come to dinner

Huge & hovering

Suspended mid-air

Like an uncatchable ball

My head exploding

A private sledgehammer

Heavy & loaded with grief,

His heart illegible and scrawled

With disbelief.

Face me in the dark.

See me

is what I want.

What he cannot give.

Our knees touch, but

Our fingers are pruning.

The trees dying in front of us.

A faucet drips.

And he is barefoot in the grass

Under the glow

His body dancing away from me,

Wild and slow.

It is time to return

to a safer distance.

Oh, two-faced moon,

there are thousands

Of miles between us,

that fine line

between faith & madness.

 

Yesterday, I paired the image below with a few evocative words & invited people on my Rasjacobson Art Page to add an additional line of poetry or prose in the comments. I then promised to transform our collective effort into a poem within 24 hours.

HERE’S WHAT HAPPENED & WHAT I DID

1. At 9pm, I sat down to see what I had to work with.
2. Nine people participated.
3. If someone added more than one comment or multiple lines of poetry, I selected a single line I liked best.
4. I eliminated extraneous words & redundancies & changed verb endings to create a unified flow.
5. I changed the order in which the entries were received.
6. I transformed the last entry into the title.

NEUTRAL CANVAS FOR INFINITE INSPIRATION

Stacked high upon a table

Dozens of volumes

Foretelling the awakening,

Stories waiting patiently to be discovered.

In the corner chair, I sit and stare

Invisibly awaiting there.

Summer sun glistens through tall windows.

In the gray room, I wait alone.

Festival Season 2024 has begun! I have bins *filled* with new original work to share, things that aren’t on my website, including new magnets & luggage tags! I hope you’ll check out at my schedule and consider coming to at least one of these amazing venues to support your favorite artists & makers. And if you aren’t local, be sure to find the festivals in your area! We can’t do it without the support of our art patrons!

NOTE: I will update this page throughout the season. Please follow me on Facebook or Instagram where I always do my best to provide my exact location at each event as soon as that information becomes available.

June 1 & 2
Fairport Canal Days • Fairport NY • 10am-5pm • Booth 507 in the Box Factory Lot, across from Mulconry’s Pub

June 8 & 9
Keuka Arts Festival
Keuka Outlet Trail, Penn Yan, NY • 10am-5pm

June 15
Figgy’s 2nd Anniversary Shop & Studio Pop-Up
251 Park Avenue • Rochester, NY • 11am-5pm

July 6 & 7
Lavender Festival • Ol’factory Lavender Farm
12973 Upton Road, Red Creek, NY • 10am-5pm

July 13 & 14
Corn Hill Festival • Rochester, NY • 10am-5pm  (I’m on Frederick Douglas Street in Booth 08-020.)

July 27 & 28
Spencerport Canal Days • Spencerport, NY

August 3 
Park Avenue Stroll • RMSC Grounds • Rochester, New York • 11am – 5pm

September 15
Artist Row • Public Market • Rochester, NY • 10am -4pm

September 21 & 22
Purple Painted Lady Festival • Palmyra, NY

September 28 & 29
Naples Grape Festival • Naples, NY

November 22-24 • RMSC Holiday Bazaar • Rochester Museum & Science Center • 10-5pm

December 7 & 8 TBD

December 14 & 15 • Let’s ROC Market at The Marina at Charlotte, 1000 North River Street, Rochester, New York 14612 • Rochester, NY • 10am -4pm

My website is open 24/7 & I’m happy to fulfill your order! Be sure to use coupon code RASJ10 to save 10% off your purchase of $100 or more.

This Friday, I’ll be at my old stomping ground, The Hungerford Building in Studio 426.

Local artist, Loree Harpole, has generously invited me to join her to kick off “Art for Action Month,” during this time, many resident artists will be collecting for Willow, a local organization devoted to helping survivors of domestic abuse.

On May 3rd at 9pm, I’ll be raffling off this original 8×10 painting, with 100% of the proceeds going to benefit Willow. (*Or, if you prefer, you can select any print from my website!)

You do NOT have to be present to win!

➡️ There are 2 ways to enter:

1. In-person on First Friday; and
2. Online until 8:59pm on May 3rd, 2024.

Raffle tickets are $5 per or 5 for $20— and 100% of proceeds collected will go to Willow Domestic Violence Center. Donations in any denomination are gladly accepted.

HOW DO I PAY?

~Venmo
~PayPal
~ Square

This is an opportunity to support local artists/makers & community organizations that help us all thrive.

I hope a bunch of local peeps will come out to see us IRL, but if you live far away or you have a conflict, I would truly appreciate your donation to go to this organization that I hold near & dear to my heart.

Thank you in advance for your generosity!

Many years ago, I inherited one of my grandmother’s plants: a heavy pot of thick roots and tens of long, robust green leaves with rounded tips. At first, I thought it was an orchid, but after showing it several florists who could not identify it, I decided to love my weird, unknown plant, no matter what it was.

I’ve had this plant for forty years now, and I remember how – just a few days after I moved into my first house – eight gorgeous orange blossoms appeared clustered atop one tall, flat stem. I hadn’t seen the stem growing or noticed any buds, so it was a complete surprise when it arrived on the scene.

Before that day, I had no idea the plant ever bore flowers, and I remember feeling a strong connection with my grandmother, a complicated woman, to whom I was always very close.

Despite the fact that I fed and watered it dutifully, decades passed and my plant never flowered again.

In fact, I kind of forgot that the plant flowered at all…

…until June 2016.

I was moving through a difficult divorce…

…when my plant burst into color for the first time since 1997.

At the time, I posted a photo of it on Facebook, asking if anyone could identify what it was.

Almost immediately, my friend Regina sent me a link about a rare African lily, Clivia Amaryllidceae, which – according to the article – stated that the plant normally blooms once every 20-25 years.

And as you can imagine, I was beside myself and I spent way too much time telling everyone about my amazing rare lily. I loved seeing my plant bloom again, and I made peace with the idea that its beauty would be impermanent.

A week later, as each petal shriveled and fell off the stem and onto the floor, I thought about how grateful I was to have been able to enjoy such a simple pleasure so fully.

I resumed regular care of my lily, which meant watering it on Saturdays, and I figured I’d have to wait another 20 years or so before I’d see it bloom again.

But guess what?

It has bloomed again EVERY SINGLE YEAR since.

So much has happened in the last ten years.

I’ve experienced the most intense physical and psychological pain that I could have ever imagined while coming off the powerful anti-anxiety drug, clonazepam. The terror that I experienced daily for nearly 2 years is almost indescribable. I cannot believe I survived it.

There was a period where my brain was so damaged that the concept of beauty was just a memory of an idea. I could feel nothing at all. If a friend tied to touch me, her hand was too rough. If the sun was shining, it was too bright. If children were laughing, it was too loud. I was certain people were trying to hurt me. I was certain my food had been poisoned.

Trapped in a pain cycle, all the highly paid “experts” told me I was crazy, that it was “absolutely impossible” for me to still be experiencing withdrawal symptoms after 24 months.

And while the best conventional minds told me I was mad, there were others who knew better. People reached out to me and told me that I would be okay. That I just needed to hold on for another moment.

And another moment.

They reassured me that all the tiny moments would add up.

They said the moments would grow into minutes.

Which would grow into hours.

Which would grow into days.

They told me there would be days where I would go backwards, where my symptoms would intensify. They told me it was all part of the healing.

They told me to trust the nature of things.

Nature knows what to do, they told me.

I’ve always believed in angels, and I believe — more than ever – that we are all surrounded by a powerful, invisible magic. I’ve tried to speak of this many times while I was growing up, of my intense connection to something beyond the visible, a cosmic force that I have experienced directly many times, but I was teased and laughed at.

Today, I’m in touch with something beyond this world, something that other people don’t seem to be able to access as easily as I do.

These days, I am certain that my grandmother is communicating with me via this plant that we share, this tender life that we have spent over 100 years nurturing, separately, yet together. Today, she is telling me that I’m on the right path, reminding me that beautiful things happen when we aren’t looking, or waiting, or expecting or trying to control everything.

I know that many of you are going thru something hard right now.

As someone who has been there, I hope you will allow me to share something with you on this most beautiful, sun-filled May day.

WHENEVER YOU ARE IN THE MIDST OF SOMETHING DARK, WHENEVER YOU FIND YOURSELF IN THE MIDST OF SO MUCH UNCOMFORTABLE CHANGE, UNDERNEATH ALL THE FEAR AND THE DREAD, I CAN TELL YOU WITH ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BE OKAY.

You will bloom again, too.

 

I am so looking forward to Festival Season 2023! I have bins *filled* with brand new work to share, things that aren’t even on my website yet! I hope you’ll check out at my schedule and consider coming to at least one of these amazing venues to support your favorite artists & makers. And if you aren’t local, be sure to find the festivals in your area! We can’t do it without the support of our art patrons!

NOTE: This page will be updated throughout the season, and I will do my best to provide my exact location at each event as soon as that information becomes available.

April 1 & 2
Makers & Shakers Market
140 Lee Road
Buffalo, NY • 10am-5pm

April 27
Figgy Shop & Studio Pop-Up
251 Park Avenue • Rochester, NY • 5pm-8pm

May 5-13 • JOYfilled Online Art Market •
This event takes place in the JOYfilled Facebook Group & it’s a great show for people who live on Pacific Standard Time because as of the vendors are out west! I know it *sounds* weird to do a virtual art show, but this one is top notch! There will be giveaways & treasure hunts, auctions & interviews!  Click HERE to join us! 

May 6
Syracuse Crawfish Festival
100 S. Salina Street • Syracuse, New York • 11am-7pm

May 27
Mind Over Metal Fest • House of Guitars
646 Titus Avenue • Rochester, New York • 1pm-6pm

June 3 & 4
Fairport Canal Days • Fairport NY • 10am-5pm

June 10-11
Keuka Arts Festival •
Keuka Outlet Trail, Penn Yan, NY • 10am-5pm

July 1 & 2
Lavender Festival •
Ol’factory Lavender Farm •
12973 Upton Road, Red Creek, NY • 10am-5pm

July 8 & 9 • 55th Annual Corn Hill Festival, Rochester, NY • 10am-5pm • I’ll be on Frederick Douglas Street in Booth 08-020

July 29 & 30
Spencerport Canal Days • Spencerport, NY

August 5 
Jack Craft Festival • Larkin Square • Buffalo, New York • 11am – 5pm

August 11
Henrietta Summer Concert Series & Art Show • Veterans Memorial Park • 595 Calkins Road, Henrietta, NY 14623 • 4pm-8pm

August 12 & 13
Brockport Arts Festival • Main Street, Brockport, NY • 10am-4pm (*plus after hours music from 4:30pm-10pm)

August 19
Painting Workshop • Talulah’s Fancy Wildflower Farm & Studio • 1076 Rochester Street, Route 15A • Honeoye Falls, NY 14472 • 2-4 PM

NOTE: This workshop is by reservation ONLY and space is limited. Please reach out to Tara at (585) 734-5683 or tamara@talulahsfancy.com.

September 2
Irondequoit Art & Music Fest • 400 Bakers Park • Rochester, NY • 10-6pm

September 17
Artist Row • Public Market • Rochester, NY • 10-4pm

September 23-24
Remsen Barn Festival • Remsen, NY

November 18-19 • RMSC Holiday Bazaar • Rochester Museum & Science Center • 10-5pm

My website is open 24/7 & I’m happy to fulfill your order! Be sure to use coupon code RASJ10 to save 10% off your purchase of $100 or more.

Anyone who purchased anything from me in 2022 was automatically entered to win & additional entries were added when people joined my mailing list, liked, shared or commented on certain posts.

This year’s lucky winner is #679:

Erinn Prestige

I met Erinn at the Naples Festival, and I will reach out to her privately to let her know what she’s won!

Okay, big exhale.

I’m off to take a much needed vacation.

See you in 2023.

I’m working on my Annual Year in Review post for 2022, and I am curious about how y’all are doing.

What has worked for you this year? What has gone to pot? What are planning to work on in 2023?

Feel free to share your thoughts here, on Facebook, via DM or email. It always helps me to read your words, and – if you post publicly – chance are, your words will help someone else, too.

And if you leave me a comment, I’ll enter you to into my LAST FREE ART GIVEAWAY of 2022. 

WHAT THE HECK IS A FREE ART GIVEAWAY?

A few times a year, I like to put together a little bundle of goodies which I package up & send out to one lucky person — for free. It will have original work, stickers, a handwritten note & other random stuff.

I’ll be announcing the winner on 12/25/22 LIVE on my Rasjacobson Art FACEBOOK Page at 1:11 PM EST! Anyone who made a purchase in 2022 is automatically entered to win, so if you’d like to find out if you’re the lucky winner, be sure to follow me there! (PS: I’ll also announce a few other totally random facts like who made the first purchase of the year and who made the last purchase of the year, weird trivia like that.)

Also, I’ll be at Radio Social on 12/11 between 11am-3pm for my last Lucky Flea of the year.

Hope to see a bunch of you there.

xoxo Nay

I was recently interviewed about my benzodiazepine journey by August McLaughlin of Girl Boner Podcast. August and I “met” each other waaaaaay back in 2012 and became blogging buddies. She has stuck with me during my entire healing ordeal, and I feel like this is probably the best interview that has ever been done because she approaches the topic from a totally different angle, which speaks to the problems asscociated with Western medicine and how doctors  are getting it very wrong when it comes to women’s health. So many women find themselves “psychiatrized” after postpartum experiences, and August’s non-judgmental focus on the way I made my way to psychiatric medication is nuanced, compassionate and especially revealing, I think.

The episode is called Becoming Unf*ckwith-able, and here’s what August had to say:

After a difficult pregnancy, traumatic childbirth and near death experience in the hospital, Renée Schuls-Jacobson (Rasjacobson Art), endured “next level insomnia.” Little did she know the dark places her attempts to feel better would gradually lead to. Her story is also one of mighty healing, hope and vibrancy—in the Girl Boner department included.

Renée hopes the episode will “offer hope to those moving thru #benzowithdrawal & #iatrogenicillness.” And I was personally so moved by the self-embracement and sexual empowerment she’s cultivated.

There are several places where you can listen to the podcast.

The links are included below.

Blog (includes a transcript):

https://augustmclaughlin.com/renee/

Apple Podcasts/iTunes:

https://apple.co/3HneOSZ

Amazon Music:

https://amzn.to/3ok28EF

I’d love to hear what you think and if any of my story resonates with you.

*** NOTE: This episode contains mentions of traumatic events and suicidal ideation. If you’re struggling with such thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255 ***

Click the link to check out my book, – Psychiatrized: Waking up after a Decade of Bad Medicine.

Thank you all so much for your continued interest in my healing journey and my artwork.