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EDIT: Hi! We just found out there are actually a few signed prints available – which is SUPER great for the Unity Shoppe!
We asked Brian if he’d help out a little more on this first one, just to make it extra special, and he said, ‘How about an original drawing?‘ and he didn’t even have the question mark out of his mouth when we said ‘Yes!’ There’s no end to the stuff that’ll happen when you’re in the mood to be part of something bigger …
In just two days, the auction will end on a ‘Connection’ print signed by both Kenny Loggins and Brian Andreas. The auction proceeds will benefit the Unity Shoppe of Santa Barbara. You can find it right 
here and bid with gusto. Or cheer on the other bidders. 
(If you’re copying and pasting: http://is.gd/4URBX)
There couldn’t be a better story for this organization, a local pearl – you know, one of those gems that isn’t shiny and show-offy, but the reward of a lot of grit – and luminous for it.
Allow me to remind you how that story goes:
there came a moment in the middle of the song when he suddenly felt every heartbeat in the room & after that he never forgot he was part of something much bigger -
When it comes to helping each other, people do what they can do. And there are countless reasons why they do it, why anyone steps up at any time to give support or lend a hand. 
Nothing is better, though, than the hand reaching out because it knows the hand it’s reaching for wants the same warm feeling of safety, the same strong grip of hope.
Or the voice that advocates or negotiates for the one who is just trying to findthe the right way to talk of a future to its children.
Or mind that opens wide and creates solutions and imagines EVERYone flourishing.
This is exactly how the Unity Shoppe operates. There are no halos on parade. There’s just a promise that’s made and met every day: dignity for the clients. Real dignity.
I don’t know if it’s in their mission statement or a formal matter of policy, but I’m going to trust my experience and guess it’s borne out of a vision of our connection. 
It seems as if all involved know this to be true and so, whatever they say, however they assist, whenever they’re organizing or distributing – there is nothing but an unfailing attitude of unity.
It’s 
wild and it’s wonderful and fills all of us in this community with big gratitude. What other way could you feel when you’re invited to be part of something much bigger?
** I’ve included a few pictures of the grocery store and children’s clothing boutique for anyone who wants to be stubborn and refuse to believe it. Ha. Each of them gets a little bigger when clicked.
http://www.unityshoppe.org/
http://www.logginsfans4unity.com/
Way at the beginning of the month, we entered a cartoon into a competition for holiday animations.
These are the last few days to see our entry in the contest (it’s three minutes long). Here you go! For anyone who likes to copy and paste into their own browser – http://is.gd/3FOCA.
We love imagining things like this – a StoryPeople cartoon on network tv.
We love imagining places where we can play with all sorts of ideas and ways of telling stories. In fact, we love that you often cover territory we never thought of.
It’s just big fun (which is kind of convenient since we can’t help ourselves). Some people are really good at being doctors. Or librarians. Or … politicians. (I would, admit, like to meet a few more of those. The ones who are good at it, I mean.)
We’re good at playing.
Although, I think it deserves admitting that making a cartoon is not all play. Since the whole goal was getting this cartoon in front of People Who Know Their Cartoons, we had to wear serious faces on more than one occasion. The People Who Know etc. etc. are really nice people, we’re sure, but they do have an awful lot of rules and restrictions and guidelines.
Okay, sometimes? When you’ve animated a whole scene and realize it doesn’t work – it just DOES NOT WORK – and that scene needs to be tossed? Okay, that is definitely not play. That is highly poopy.
Still, mostly, it’s wonderful. Ful of wonder. (Does make you think it should’ve been wonderfull, doesn’t it?)
It can’t be that different from those moments you have on your own blog, in your own writing and photography and dance and acting. You deliver the exquisite line on Facebook, you have a conversation with someone really listening.
Those are wonderful moments, aren’t they, when we know we’re spreading the tendrils of stories. And those stories are changing things.
Imagine THAT. Wheee!
They’re back! & in four different designs… We’ve brought back the ever-popular “Big Strange Family” & created three brand new never-seen-before totes, including one sleek & sophisticated black & white design. You can see them all up close right here.
We’ve been noticing for quite a while that even though we haven’t had totebags available for almost a year, “StoryPeople Totes” has continued to be one of the top searches that has brought readers to our blogs. It’s been a little bit agonizing for us, actually, knowing that we didn’t have something a lot of you were looking for. So you can imagine the relief, excitement, even pleasure it brings us to be able to announce on each of our blogs (“ingredients of stuff” & “PeopleStories”) that they’re back. They’re ready! We’ve got what you’re looking for…
What’s that? Oh, sorry. If you’ve come looking for an art print that features a Brian Andreas story about the perils of “Overexcitement“, well, we’ve got that, too, along with all kinds of other cool & quirky stuff over at www.storypeople.com.
The future is a funny thing. All that power, all that unbelievable expanse and a billion routes and ways to be and choices to make again and again and it STILL lets us settle into little ruts. So far, I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t found themselves stuck on occasion.
You’d think the future would send out a few guides with maps, to fix tires and give nudges. Hmm.
On the other hand, now that I’m thinking about it, maybe getting stuck is one of the secret joys of being a human being. Getting stuck and then having the wonderful experience of getting UNstuck. We’re forced to probe our minds and spirits for the beauty and possibilities of everything. We get to teach ourselves to discard and embrace and discover all over again.
It’s really why this cartoon was one of my choices for the ‘Let’s Celebrate the Future’ series. It’s always a good sign when I realize I’m kind of pouting and worrying and wishing that the fun would show up that I’ve somehow gotten off track of BEING in it all. Suddenly, there it is – the perfect chance to shift my mind and head out into a different future, one with a few more sparkles. And a lot more fun.
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The art is in & the bidding is under way! Our “Worlds of Good” silent auction to benefit local food pantries has garnered some fascinating contributions, as you can see above. (Sorry, but a couple of those pictures were taken through the front window of the studio. I didn’t want to move, or break, anything.) In the upper left you see Karen Haas Misseldine’s ceramic “The World on a Platter” with Kathy Erickson’s ceramic hemisphere hanging in the background. The upper right photo features the one & only StoryPeople “Imagining World” Globe. Jeremiah Johnson’s “World in Bloom” globe sits in front of David Kamm’s “Balanced Diet” sculpture in the lower left & the lower right photo shows “Peas on Earth (in 2D & 3D)” by Maxxximum Madcap.
If you want to see all the pieces (there are many others which are not pictured here), please stop on in to the StoryPeople Studio at 113 E. Water Street in downtown Decorah, Iowa. We have bidding sheets sitting on tables right inside our front entry, but please feel free to chat with The Crew or even take a tour of the Studio if you like. Also, if you don’t live near Decorah but still want to place a bid on any of these Worldly Creations, (the auction ends August 7th) just give us a call at 1-866-564-4552 & ask for Karen or Juli. They know what’s going on. Well, they say they do anyway…
