Healing Therapy Through Art: MONARCH SCHOOL
Originally titled
BUTTERFLY ART
(First published in Fine Magazine, August, 2009)
by
Sonya Ziegler and John Butler
Like a butterfly emerging from its chrysalis, the metamorphosis of the art program at Monarch School has gone from a mere crawl to spreading its wings and taking flight. This important art program for homeless and at-risk kids dates back to 1998, when Chicano Park muralist, painter and activist Mario Torero worked with a group of students from The Monarch School to create a series of murals. Drawing upon the challenges, hopes, dreams and dread of these children, the mural focuses on what it means to be homeless, from the child’s point of view. To this day, these murals greet everyone who enters the school and proudly shows that art is the heart of the school.
Dedicated to providing homeless and at-risk children with an accredited education while caring for their basic needs, Monarch School is located in downtown San Diego and is one of only two such school left in the United States. With more than 100 kids between the ages of 7 and 18 enrolled at any one time, the professionals there are making sure that these fantastic, sometimes forgotten kids, get the accredited education they need to break the cycle of their family’s pain. With the average age of a homeless person being just 9 years old, there are more than 2,200 homeless children in San Diego and more than 300,000 nationwide! Touring Monarch School, witnessing the creativity of the kids and the dedication of the staff restores hope and reminds all of us that we can help these young lives.
Through art, this diverse assortment of students express themselves in a way that is meaningful, beautiful and personal. “The arts provide such a real way for students to stay connected to their cultures and to share their cultures,” says Rachelle Jacobson, Monarch’s Expressive Arts Therapist since the evolution of the position in October 2007. Originally hired in 1998, she has witnessed the development of the art program since the mural project spurred the school into officially starting an art program; to today, when artistic expression is used as a therapeutic tool for these challenged kids. With a Masters Degree in Expressive Arts Therapy, Rachelle is pioneering this new program using an array of artistic outlets that allow the child to show, rather than tell what is going on inside of them. Helping these kids deal with the challenges that have been presented to them so early in their young lives. “When insecurity takes energy away from learning, artistic expression, such as theater, dance, painting and sandtray therapy, can restore a child’s strength by creating safe experiences to draw from.”
“It took me four years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child,”
Pablo Picasso.
With no stigma attached, Rachelle says that students receiving Expressive Art Therapy are not mocked by other students, but are instead envied. “Once, a student came up to me and asked. What do I have to do to come and see you?” Rachelle replied, “You just need to be facing some challenges.” The little girl, who was just 9-years old, remarked adorably, “I’m psycho…”
“What a powerful medium the arts are in a school program. It engages the kids, nurtures them, gives them another, creative way to communicate and express themselves. In addition, homelessness is not the biggest issue. These are kids trying to figure out who they are. They want to know where they fit in. They are dealing with parent issues, kids picking on them and all of the normal issues you would expect to see at a regular school,” Rachelle goes on to add that, “The students of Monarch School are not the reason why their family is in a shelter, or on the street. They’re only kids!”
Help these kids bridge the gap that divides them from the life they know, and the one they dream of. Today, you read about these kids, what are you going to do tomorrow? Go to their website, www.monarchschools.org, and volunteer, donate art supplies, join with Fine Magazine in doing something now.
Credits
Sonya Ziegler is a Professional Organizer, Event Planner, and CEO of Aim to Simplify. John Butler is a professional Ghostwriter and Freelance Writer living in San Diego’s historic Gaslamp District. Inocente Izucar, whose art decorates these pages, was in 8th grade when she created these works of art.
JB’s office
A new client sent me some research material to read…
What? Your office doesn’t have a view?
Sent from my iPhone.
Eating Water by John Butler
Eating Water
By
John Butler
“I know so many people out there right now that are struggling to make ends meet, struggling to put food on the table, struggling to keep a roof over their heads. Struggling just to struggle…” JB
Never underestimate the value of a $3 cigar.
Even when everything else in the world seems to be rotting on the vine, holding onto a single, small treasure like a cigar can give you at least a moment to look forward to at the end of a long, long week of sending out resumes, trying to scratch a living off of the internet, eBay, or Craigslist. With benefits having ran out, they take on an even greater meaning that my friend could not quantify. To me, it felt like he was searching for a word that wrapped hope with fond memories and when lit, turned into a moment – a timeout – from all of his troubles.
When all you can afford is one drink, make sure you drink on an empty stomach.
My friend is a realist in that he sees things as they are and not with labels. The glass is neither half full nor half empty, it’s simply a glass of water that doesn’t look like it will slosh out and splash all over you if you walk with it. Meeting for Happy Hour one day, he sat there with his one, $2 beer and pondered something for a few minutes. He looked up and said, “You know, I can only afford this one beer. But, since I haven’t eaten, this is turning out to be one great beer!” Obviously already buzzed, he slowly sipped the pint and looked more relaxed than I’ve seen him in a long time. Stress manifests itself in many ways and with him it was a weight that bent his back. Hunched over, it seemed like a weight crushed his gaze inevitably downward. But, that one beer on an empty stomach seemed to give him just enough of a buzz that it made him visibly relax; his shoulders loosened, his posture shifted and his eyes lifted up and instead of looking at the ground he found himself watching people walk by. Being able to sit at a restaurant amongst people once every eight or nine days, enjoying something as simple as a beer, seemed to matter more to him than a cheap, enjoyable buzz. It meant, for a few sips anyway, being able to be part of society instead of being almost homeless…
White on White: Mayo packets stolen from the corner sandwich shop and mixed with rice and salt.
When you can only afford a scoop of rice per meal and not much else, anything edible that you can add to it to make it different from the last twenty meals makes a world of difference. Everyone says they crave stability, yet I don’t think anyone would apply that word to their diet. Eating basically the same thing, everyday, is what Jimmy Buffet sang about in Cheeseburger in Paradise, “Warm beer and bread they say could raise the dead…” But, when you are living on $3 a day, variety is usually something you shake out of a spice jar.
Back in our college days, where most of learned how to be Top Ramen gourmets, we quickly learned how to make the most of our beer budget by adding other ingredients to those golden noodles. Moi? I loved cracking an egg or two into the kettle after the noodles were done. They soaked up the spices and became little entrees amongst the noodles. But, when you are on the unemployment insurance diet, loosing weight isn’t a problem. After almost two years on it, you are guaranteed to fit into those “skinny jeans” of your younger years. My friend has dropped over 30 pounds, almost 6 inches of waistline, and every ounce of baby fat he ever had in his face. In fact, looking at photos taken of him three years ago, to looking at him today, you can see how his facial features have sunk. His jawline is more pronounced, his checks seem thin—you can see muscles under his skin if he is eating something crunchy—and his eyes seem bigger somehow…
One day, we were walking through the food court at the local mall and I caught him pilfering condiment packets out of the corner of my eye. Like a pickpocket eyeing a target, he casually drifted towards the table with the napkins and condiment packets of a hotdog stand, pulled a napkin from the dispenser and made a show of wiping something off his hand, all the while looking casually around to see if anyone was watching… Obviously, what he was contemplating bothered him (equally obvious, he sucks at poker). Pulling out a couple more napkins, he grabbed a few mayonnaise and spicy brown mustard packets, covered them with the napkin, shoved them in his pocket as he walked away.
Later, I asked him about it and this is what he told me about his cooking experiment, White on White. Since he is limited to only a microwave to cook with, rice is the bulk of his daily diet. Rice for breakfast and rice for dinner. He couldn’t afford to eat lunch. White on White is cooked rice, salt to taste, then stir in a few of those mayo packets and, voilà, you get something new to eat!
Friendships are rentals.
Friends and family seem to vanish either because we push them away or because we drift apart. But sometimes, we lock ourselves away into a self-imposed exile because of pride. We are embarrassed by our circumstances. We are no longer who we were, at least from our depressed point of view.
Showing up at Happy Hour is uncomfortable at best, often painful, or simply draining of what energy we had left as we simply just to show up. There are so many people out there that have no clue that the person standing next to them (1 in 10 here in California (circa 01/10)) might be unemployed… It’s at those times that you realize that the term “friend” has meaning. It becomes a word that is used to describe those people in your life you can actually talk to and escape your personal exile with for a few moments. They are the ones that will float you $20 until your next Unemployment check so that you can buy 10 days worth of groceries (5lbs rice-$5, fresh veggies-$7, chicken bouillon cubes-$4, special entree of the week (4 cans of chili-$4, pasta sauce, 2 for $4, et cetera)…
Other people in your life will, hopefully, never know or realize that you are (were?) unemployed. These are the people whose “friendship” was rented. They were friends as long as you bought a round from time to time. They were friends when you joined them for Happy Hour once in a while. They were friends that were there only socially.
You know they are rented friends if they never ask, “Hey buddy, what’s up? Haven’t seen you for awhile… Everything okay?”
But, these are the social networking friends that we must ply in our search for employment. These are the old colleagues we bump into from our long lost paycheck days, and lie to, telling them that “oh yeah, things are great now that I’m not with…”
It’s a lie we, the unemployed, tell ourselves, too. We have to. Pride is also rented.
Looking for work is harder than work.
Being unemployed is such a misnomer. Those of us who’ve been unemployed for double-digit months know all too well that we have jobs: Our work is looking for work; our job is getting out of bed every day and trying to remember what day it is (think Groundhog’s Day to the tenth power); our job is trying to force ourselves to get out of bed and tell ourselves that, “Today will be productive.” Sending resumes to every job opening that you want morphs into sending them to anything that you feel you might possibly be qualified for—even those jobs that you have to dumb-down your resume for by cutting out all references to graduate level education (i.e., a Bachelors of Arts degree in Psychology when you’re applying for a job at Subway), redacting all accomplishments (i.e., 10 years of experience as a Technical Field Trainer), and turning past employment into plain vanilla bullet points (i.e., 14 years of management experience morphs into “People Skills”).
My friend has about 20 different resumes that he sends out. Rewriting and editing each one to match the job opening he is applying for because he knows that they will run a keyword search on the resume to see if the correct buzzwords are present long before anyone will take the time to even bother to read it.
My favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. quote.
This has always been my favorite quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with a fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time…The ‘tide in the affairs of men’ does not remain at the floods; it ebbs…. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: Too Late.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
January 15, 1929—April 4, 1968
This quote reminds me, as a writer and as a human being, to not to put off that which I deem as being important in my life. It reminds me to: write, right now; to make a good choice when I have a choice; to say thank you—or, I love you—in the moment.
Ghostwriting
Ghostwriting a 300 page manuscript, on average, takes 3 to 4 months to complete. And while the time and dedication needed to complete a book seems out of reach to most, turning into a recurring New Year’s resolution, there is hope: me! From the initial concept meetings, through development of the project, to a finished manuscript that is polished and ready for publication through a Print On Demand service, I help people fulfill their goal of getting their book written!
As an example, the fee for a 300 page, non-fiction project starts at $25,000.00.
Please contact me for a quote on your project and to check on my availability!
“I don’t fear the blank page…
It is but a canvas waiting to be painted with words, your words.”
-JB
An open secret throughout the ages, Ghostwriters have been used by executives, professionals, celebrities, politicians and kings to control their mythologies, their legacies, and secure their moments in history. They know that “writing” a book requires a level of dedication that they cannot afford to give lest they take their eye off their own tasks… They know that their time is too valuable or too limited for them to dedicate the weeks, months, and sometimes years needed for them to be able to finally get their book written…
They have known that which you now know; Ghostwriters are the enablers of the written word.
- 20% due on signing; 20% on delivery of detailed outline, 20% on delivery of first draft of a sample chapter, 25% on delivery of first draft of entire manuscript, 15% on delivery of revised manuscript.
- All required travel expenses (at the current, per-diem IRS Rates for food, hotel, mileage, and if required, airfare) will need to be pre-paid by the client prior to leaving San Diego. Travel time is billed at $45 an hour, and is due weekly on Fridays. Typically, pre-approved travel is needed for interviews and for research based on the client’s needs and/or requests.
- Open to discussing temporary relocation for duration of project, both nationally and internationally.
- Signing of a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) is a standard business practice (and the occupational hazard of being a Ghostwriter).
“After everything is said and done,
it’s your name on the book!”
-JB
iPhone fun!
J o h n D. B u t l e r
FREELANCE WRITER
Well, it appears that my ever trusty iPhone might be getting senile, or I have somehow accidentally, repeatedly, figured out how to take screen shots!
When and if it happens again, and if I can figure out how I’m doing it, I’ll update this…
So, is this a glitch with an old iPhone? It is an original, 8GB unit. Or, was it a software thing? If so, then it might not happen again as there was an update to the software yesterday. Or, is it a hidden function like I’m hoping for? I would love to take a couple screen shots of the second screen as it is nothing but social media icons that I like to update on the fly! To me, my iPhone is my laptop as I blog with it, tweet for clients when opportunity knocks, write in the moment of the inspiration… Always being with me, the capabilities of todays smart phones is incredible. While I have great respect for Blackberry and its products, services, and functions the iPhone nudges ahead simply because it seems to seamlessly work with everything I do, every website I go to (EXCEPT FLASH WEBSITES… Okay, that issue bugs me!), and because I always have it on me, I rarely ever take the laptop with me anymore.
As an example, I had a pitch session for a Social Media Marketing client last week and decided to do it via the iPhone and my website. It worked out very well because do what I do, being on the front lines of technology only enhances the mythology of what I do and adds to my legend – my backstory. Showing a synced iPhone podcast of the websites SMO 101 presentation had a very good effect on the suit and tie audience and the Apple polished my credibility a little with the client. Yeah, I know… But sometimes, a presentation has to have some smoke and mirrors, a little flash and glitz to make it memorable, to make it successful. 10 years of standing up in front of crowds and giving technical training presentations taught me that. You have to keep the audience’s attention! You have to make them mentally participate, and you have to engage them visually as well as mentally. And that is where this little glitch with the iPhone could prove interesting – at least as far as presentations go. That’s why I’m adding the pictures to my website…
Ciao for now!
JB
John D. Butler
FREELANCE WRITER
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The Obligatory Blog
Blogging is our digital voice in this electronic age. Laughing with friends on social networks or screaming from a keyboard, blogging has given the world a billion new writers. Let loose from Pandora’s Box, blogging is testing the limits of Free Speech around the world as the internet gives voice to everyone.
“Because I would burst if I couldn’t write, iblog! iPhone in hand, blogging allows me to capture a moment with words and in real time.”
-JB
My Gilded Cage,
San Diego is an amazing, naturally beautiful city that is blessed by a moderate climate year round. This photo was taken at sunrise at the Gaslamp Trolly Stop. It was cold, about 50ºf – hey, that’s what we refer to as cold around here, then again, it is the middle of winter!
I love taking a walk at dawn, either at Mission Beach if the tide is right, or downtown while the city sleeps. The key with downtown is the contrasts. The Gaslamp District is a lot of fun at night; busy, noisy, masses of people eating and drinking, a cacophony of music from the pubs and bars competing with the music of the various street performers on the corners. If the Convention Center at the end of Fifth Avenue is booked, or there are cruise ships docked at the Embarcadero, or if there are any aircraft carriers docked across the bay at North Island, then the streets are filled with people from all over the world in a mild mannered Mardi Gras that goes on most nights. But at dawn, almost all of these people are still asleep and the Gaslamp is quiet.
A morning walk downtown would not be complete without seeing the bay someplace. My favorite spot means a hike up the heart pounding steps of the Convention Center - which is worth the effort beyond the obvious aerobic benefits. This is the vantage point, overlooking the same Trolly Stop later in the morning. You can see the Omni Hotel on the right, PetCo Park, then the Hard Rock and Hilton hotels. The trolly line is lined with palm tree’s and at the bottom right you can just see the Coaster pulling into the train yard just down the tracks, which it seems to do every morning between 9 and 10, adding a unique touch of city noise to the morning mix with its deep horn and the dull clang from crossing guards bells.
Then, on the far side of the Convention Center, there are parks, Seaport Village, and of course, the bay. With varied artists featured, the Port of San Diego, which manages the waterfront, does a fantastic job of showcasing art from around the world. For a year, Bernar Venet’s work is featured around the city. These iron sculptures are simply called 220.5º Arc X 15 and are located at Embarcadero Marina Park South. In the background of this visual feast is the Marriott Marina and Hotel and the towering Manchester Grand. The final two shots are of 97.5º Arc x 9 bathed in the morning sunlight.
JB
Welcome
JBWrites.com is up and running!
To learn more about this San Diego based Freelance Writer, click on the logo below!
With a lifetime of dedication to the craft of creative writing, John Butler is a passionate wordsmith.
Offering over a decades worth of experience in marketing research, television ratings, business management and training, JB shifted gears in 2007 and opened shop as an Freelance Writer. Serving the needs of small business owners, professionals, and business executives, he specializes in providing award winning Ghostwriting and Copywriting services. As a sought after Ghostwriter, JB is able to accept only a select number of projects each year. Do you have a project that you would like to have considered? Or, would you simply like to learn more? Don’t put it off, again… Email him today about turning your “someday” dream into a reality.
“I don’t fear the blank page. It is but a canvas, waiting to be painted with words…”
-JB
Whether enjoying a freshly ground cup of coffee while journaling before dawn, blogging from his iPhone while out and about, or showing up at the keyboard and writing a thousand words before most people even get to work, JB is a writing workaholic (writeaholic?).
“My job as a Ghostwriter is simple,
I fill in the blanks between the covers…”
-JB
via Welcome.
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