On Freedom
Freedom On listen to this essay here June 2022 “How are you holding up?” Vaimo asks on the phone the day following the US Supreme Court overturning Roe v....
The Art of the Spark
Listen to my narration of this essay here The Spark of Art I was trained (and according to my MBTI profile) have a propensity to critique, tear down, find...
Bound Homeward
Homeward Bound Listen to the essay by clicking on the image or here. Dedicated to Cindy Johnson, dear friend, neighbor and fellow deep thinker and feeler....
The Art of Collapse
The Art of KCF Newsletter Turns 2! I'm celebrating 2 years of my newsletter's launch. And because I'm me, I thought you all deserve a little treat. So, I...
Art of the Hack
Hack of the Art Vaimo and I donned some going out clothes and grabbed our N95s for an outing to town a couple of weekends ago. Our first dates included spur...
Hitting the Wall
Wall of Art One might assume after forty years in this body and two (three?) decades of pushing it to the max that I would know better than to get to the...
Art of KCF: The Weight of it All
All of the Weight Last weekend I was gifted the experience of spending time outside with an Association of Nature and Forest Therapy trainee. She guided me...
Vinyl Painting
Painting Vinyl “Ah, wouldn’t it be kind of cool to have a record player again?” He said to his shopping companion as he strolled by me. “I remember going...
Art as Teaching
Teaching as Art Teaching others has been a lifetime mission of mine, formally and informally. I always loved playing school growing up. Pretending to do...
Art of Perfection
Perfection of Art Picture this, a young Chicanita at a desk, legs swinging, too short to touch the ground, pencil poised in right hand forefinger curled and...
Birthing Art
The Art of Birthing Saturday I visited a friend who recently had a baby. He had only been this side of the womb for five weeks and as I held the weight of...
Only Weather
Only Weather It is the depths of winter in Minnesota and we just came through a pretty intense stretch of sub-zero air temps that began in late-December. In...
Art as Legacy
Legacy as Art At a training I recently co-facilitated my friend V announced as part of her introduction, “I’m a bell hooks feminist.” Gathered with the board...
Reading Fundamentals
Fundamental Reading I just want to read. I just want to read. I just want to read. I just want to read. The current mantra that I’ve been chanting lately is...
Train of Thought
Thought of Train “I want to write on the train” I told Vaimo after waking up from a quick nap in our sleeper car. “You are” she replied with a smile in her...
Art is Making It
Making it is Art Over steaming bowls of caldillo Tía L made us I dipped a charred corn tortilla in the warm tomato based broth as my tongue burned from the...
Hobby or Art?
Art or Hobby? “Do you think we need hobbies?” I casually asked Vaimo as we sat on the couch that used to sit in my parents living room. “Speak for yourself”...
Art is a Jump Scare
A Jump Scare is Art You know that moment in a scary movie when the music has set the scene, anticipation is in the air and you know something is lurking...
Married to Art
Married to Art In a different timeline I can imagine my life just like the “dream” of this country’s supposed promise: a suburban home, the white picket...
Art is a Road Trip
A Road Trip is Art Have you ever journeyed across the country to pick up three large paintings you dropped off after a series of unfortunate events, really...
Art of KCF: Art is Home
Home is Art During the pandemic my bestie and I read Chani Nicolas’ You Were Born for This and held a two-person book group to discuss our findings. If...
Special Dispatch from Matfield Green, Kansas
I made a pot of beans the first morning of my residency and wondered when was the last time this space held the aroma simmering pinto beans. I wondered when...
Art of KCF: Art is Overpacking
Overpacking is Art Delta sent me an email welcoming me back into the air since the pandemic began. I was charmed in the way that one can be charmed by a...
Art of KCF: Painting is Dreaming
Dreaming is Painting Sometime last week I was in a beautiful dream. I had just wrapped up the last class of the semester as professor, though I couldn’t tell...
Art of KCF: Art is Death and Rebirth
Death and Rebirth is Art I wish I could give you a polished essay, as it is this brief correspondence arrives to in-boxes one day later than the arbitrary...
Art of KCF: The Sport of Art
The Art of Sport The thrum of the beat starts and most folks know exactly what’s coming next. The bass and guitar strum one after another, building momentum....
Art of KCF: One Full Year
One full year A year ago I was deep in revisions of paintings and a digital book chapter for a feminist publication celebrating the 50th anniversary of the...
Art of KCF: The Exorcism of KCF
The Exorcism of KCF I’m working on an artist statement related to my Kitchen Saints that will be hosted soon on an online space connected to a larger project...
Art of KCF: Dispatches from Rural MN
The Ghosts of our Past: Dispatches from Rural MN The first time I laid eyes on this group of lionesses in the Chauvet Cave of Southeastern France I felt...
Art of KCF: Stuck Like Glue
Stuck Like Glue Astonished that I had made it through a life of over three decades never having to remove wallpaper, last April I took to the internet for...
Art of KCF: When the Heat Goes Out
When the Heat Goes Out Sub-zero temperatures have a way of reminding you of the marvel of nature. Stopping and truly taking the time to observe nature often...
Art of KCF: The Tree-Huggers of the ChicFinn Cottage
The Tree-Huggers of the ChicFinn Cottage “Ya’ll aren’t tree-huggers are you?” Brian, the excavation contractor asked as he surveyed our dirt driveway before...
Art of KCF: Halloween Lady Beetles
Halloween Lady Beetles I have no empirical evidence to support this claim -- only experiential, but I'll declare it anyways-- country homes are particularly...
Art of KCF: A Much Needed Scrub
A Much Needed Scrub When the clock struck midnight on January 1st, 2021 Vaimo and I were deep into our first REM cycle. Having long given up on any fantasy...
Art of KCF: The Ghosts on Our Shelves
The Ghosts on Our Shelves A year ago to the day I was frantically trying to meet my Goodreads book challenge goal. In 2019 I had set a goal of 52 books for...
Art of KCF: Fear of Bats
Fear of Bats As an eternal fan of a scary movie type thrill, you’d think I would've been more into the bat cave exhibit I frequented annually on school field...
Art of KCF: The Ghost in the Well
The Ghost in the Well It had been three days and I’d called three different “businesses” and a neighbor before I finally talked to a human who could help us....
Art of KCF: The Haunting of the ChicFinn Cottage
The Haunting of the ChicFinn Cottage We knew we had a problem when the floor board creaked and it sounded like someone stepped on a waterbed. As the sloshing...
Art of KCF: Ritual Routine
Ritual Routine Seven months ago I doubt any of us would have thought our lives would be so significantly changed on such a collective level as is our new...
Art of KCF: Ritual Memory
Ritual Memory “I love art almost as much as I love books. It’s hard to explain how I feel when I see a beautiful painting. It’s a combination of scared,...
Art of KCF: Ritual Plan
Ritual Plan The 2021 Passion Planners have been released into the wild and as a planner it is difficult to contain my pure joy of a fresh planner. This marks...
Art of KCF: Ritual Rest
Ritual Rest You know that bone-tired, weary feeling after pushing yourself so hard all day for multiple days in a row, not sure where to fit it all in...
Art of KCF: Ritual Anxiety
Ritual Anxiety It was sadly much longer into my time on this planet than I would like to admit that I realized not everyone lives with the constant feeling...
Art of KCF: Ritual Change
Ritual Change Ten years ago if someone would have told me that I wouldn’t be the same person as I was then, I know I really resisted that notion. At 28 I was...
Art of KCF: Ritual Mantra
Ritual Mantra When stay at home protocols went into effect for many in the US in mid-March, I suspect many of us experienced major adjustments related to our...
Art of KCF: Ritual Question
Ritual Question After a lifetime in academia, I returned to the beauty of the biography about a year ago as a means to try to make sense of my new world. At...
Art of KCF: Ritual Pride
Ritual Pride As a baby queer Wednesday nights at Flannigan’s were my weekly ritual. Some weeks, we’d gather at someone’s house or apartment to pre-game and...
Art of KCF: Ritual Protest
Ritual Protest Dr. Sami Schalk, an esteemed Black feminist disability scholar tweeted out late last night a query for her Black twitter community, “How many...
The Art of KCF: Ritual Walk
Ritual Walk Vaimo and I met up for a socially distance date with her sister Jennifer on her birthday in early May. We were headed to the closest Minnesota...
Art of KCF: Ritual Meal
Ritual Meal I have this habit of listing during my writing process. Let me try to show it here. I like to create, to play, to follow a line of inquiry...