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For the past year Alive, the east bay magazine, has allowed me the wonderful opportunity to share with you my belief that the arts are important to society, especially to our children, for so many important reasons. I have been echoing this cry for us to support these organizations in society that allow us to engage with and find value in the many forms of creative art available to us.  I have to keep asking myself, why do people in power positions such as politicians and administrators often demand cutting funding to the arts so that limited funds can only go to math, science and other academics, and/or their own pet projects, with the belief that the arts are not important?

In the January issue of Psychology Today, columnists Michelle and Robert Root-Bernstein declare in their current Artsmarts column: “Why Cutting Arts Funding is Not a Good Idea – – that “Congress is once again making plans to gut the National Endowment for the Arts!” According to W. James McNerney, Jr., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Boeing Company, “At Boeing, innovation is our lifeblood. The arts inspire innovation by leading us to open our minds and think in new ways about our lives – including the work we do, the way we work, and the customers we serve.” His remarks are repeated over and over again by other key professionals, including George David, CEO of United Technologies, and Randall Tobia, CEO of Eli Lilly and Company. They all reflect a similar thesis, “Don’t Gut the Arts”. In other words, support the arts! This article can be found at: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/imagine/201102/artsmarts-why-cutting-arts-funding-is-not-good-idea.

Today, I would like to share with you my story of Alamo resident, art teacher-instructor and artist, Fariba Sasson, who owns and operates the very popular art party place, Colorbundles Art Studio at 301 Hartz Avenue (#104) in Danville. This colorful studio and gallery provide a gathering and opportunity space, where children and adults can have fun while learning to draw, paint, create mosaics and engage in other forms of art creation with their friends in a summer camp or birthday party atmosphere.

Fariba told me that when she was a young girl she always loved to draw and carried a sketchbook with her everywhere she went. Her parents recognized that she had a special affinity and talent for art, so they began sending her to art classes. The older she got, the more classes she sought. She did everything from painting on canvas, painting on glass, painting on fabric. “When you are interested, you are thirsty to explore more concepts.” She did floral arrangements and jewelry making, and then she had children, three sons which changed her life’s focus for a number of years while she raised her three boys. When her third son was in the Alamo elementary school, the teacher knew that Fariba was an artist so she asked her to come to school and assist the teacher with their art program. While assisting the school with an art fundraising program, Fariba expressed her desire to show them different ways to do a more hands-on kind of art program, which turned out to became very popular. They tried out Fariba’s new clay project in which the children learned how to make grape shaped objects out of clay. The ending result was a beautiful three-dimensional art project on a china plate. It was fun for the children and easy for them to make with their little hands in their third-gradeclass. Fariba quickly realized how much she enjoyed working with children and how much excitement and satisfaction she received. This prompted her to start her own business of an art summer camp which then led her to also create a throughout-the-year birthday party art program using simple concepts to introduce children to art. Before long, Color Bundles Art Studio became a fixture in Danville.

Once a month on a Wednesday or Thursday, the Color Bundles Art Studio painting class in which the subject matter might be a lighthearted personal caricature images of people and animals. Adults or children may be asked bring a photo of their favorite pet which can become the subject matter for their next art project. Monthly art classes will begin in February but there are always birthday party art classes every weekend.

Fariba explains that when a third party, such as the teacher, praises your child’s work it seems to have a greater meaning than when parents alone support their child’s passion. When the children paint in a party atmosphere it becomes a collective experience. They discuss what they are creating with their friend sitting next to them, in a noncritical sharing. It can change lives, as a common bonding experience can overcome insecurities and build confidence. So now, when I think about it, incidental, perhaps even accidental art exposure may well create better art awareness. What a great way to introduce the great fun and satisfaction that can be derived in creating works of art.

Two young ladies, Sydney and Laney, who first attended Fariba’s birthday party classes became so excited about painting that they took additional summer camp classes for two years with her and eventually asked if they could help her with her birthday party or summer camp classes because they loved working with the children as well as creating the art. Laney Hogue fell in love with painting, drawing and art creation at the elbow of her older brother who had a natural talent in creating art as well. Laney, now a junior in high school, is planning to go to an art college pursuing goals that include becoming a professional artist and perhaps even a teacher of art.

 I asked Fariba if I could attend an upcoming weekend birthday party and take pictures of the children to exhibit what they were doing and how much fun they were having in this party atmosphere in which they would learn the basics of painting. My images show birthday girl Rachel and her younger sister Alison together showing off their work, as did their friend, Emily. Assistant Laney Hogue and her mentor, owner Fariba Sasson are shown as well.

 I believe the party consisted of 10 to 12 guests, most of whom were probably 10 to 12 years of age. This party became a fun-filled experience for everyone; parents, children and even myself as the observer. In the art studio one table was set up with small portable easels on which the children would experiment with their artwork. Nearby was a separate table adorned with birthday decorations similar to what you would have in a normal birthday party. After the painting introduction class, this is where the children sit with the birthday party girl or boy, eat the party treats, share the birthday gift package openings, and give their birthday salutations.

Fariba and her assistant, the very talented and friendly Laney Hogue, both guided the children through the experience of painting the subject matter on their canvas. This group of young ladies laughed excitedly and chattered back and forth between each other as they listened to Fariba’s carefully orchestrated instructions on how to use different sized paintbrushes, how to meld, blend and apply the colorful layers of colors, and how different strokes can add depth and context to their work. I stayed through most of the party and took a few photographs of the young ladies having a great time with something that was totally new and exhilarating to most of them. Fariba provides all the painting materials, including the paints, brushes and canvases on which the student party goers will share their painting experience. Following the painting work, the canvases were signed by each participant, then dried so that they were safe to handle and were set aside to be retrieved when the birthday party itself was concluded.

It is my belief that if you teach kids at a young age how to use the creative side of their brain in a way that will be fun and get their creative juices flowing, they will most likely continue with this openminded and creative path that can last them a lifetime. Reiterating what corporation executives are saying, a foundation in the Arts can provide the building blocks that could lead the way to success as adults in whatever vocation the decide to pursue.  Not only do the arts provide creative thinking, they also provide an outlet for relieving tension and stress in one’s life, much as going for a walk, taking a yoga class or watching or playing a sports game.

I encourage you to engage your children in what I think is truly great way to introduce them to art, a program that might even seem to be an incidental or accidental art awareness program, but a program that is working quite well! I would suggest that you call (925) 727-3137 to book your own child’s birthday party or visit Fariba’s website at www.colorbundle.com to more fully understand what happens in this fun-filled atmosphere.

In my article that appeared in the January 2019 issue of ALIVE Magazine, entitled Where Did Humans Come From? I offered some possible answers to that question. Several people have approached me after reading the article and commented “What you wrote, was very interesting and kind of made me think.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“But then,” they went on, “where do you think that the creators who created us came from?”

I had no simple answer for them. I told them, it was complicated, and I would write something about it in a future issue. I didn’t want them to think that I didn’t know. Actually, I myself hadn’t thought about it for some time, so I decided to get back to my sources and do a little digging.

Many hardcore religious believers do not want anybody to dissect the bible or any other holy scriptures. In light of modern day understanding, the traditional explanations of biblical personages interacting with divine beings who had mysteriously arrived from the heavens, riding on whirlwinds, golden boats or chariots, or flaming dragons, would more likely be interpreted today as a “close encounter of the third kind” with extraterrestrials.

Not having the technological understanding or vocabulary of today’s space travel vehicles and capabilities, those ancient writers had to rely on creating vivid, archaic imagery to describe those apparitions and encounters.

Most of us today have seen the flights of the space shuttle or Saturn rockets lifting off for a flight to the moon. We see jet planes flying overhead, and many of us have travelled in them. We have seen spaceships in movies and some of us may even have observed a UFO, you know, an Unidentified Flying Object, also known as a Flying Saucer, in person or on TV in the X-Files. We don’t need to create any sort of imagery to explain what we may be observing.

Now, some of the events in various holy writings date back three to five or maybe even ten thousand years. The divine entities from the past being written about, obviously had the technology that made their space vehicles possible; ergo, they had to have been more advanced than us. And, in most cases, they had to have come from someplace else, other than planet Earth. And yet, had they tried to explain the technology to the earthlings of the time, those earthlings would not have understood a word. To them, it may even have sounded like holy or magical utterances.

Interestingly enough, I have found that some debunkers claim that NO other intelligent life exists anywhere out there, in the whole Universe; therefore, UFOs are not real, and no ancient aliens ever existed. It is unfortunate that these folks, just sit around in their underwear, in their parents’ basement, and probably don’t believe what Carl Sagan, or Einstein or Werner Von Braun have postulated about the possibility of the universe teeming with life. They actually believe that all of us humans, animals, in fact all living things that exist on planet earth, all come from the earth, because they claim that there is no scientific evidence to prove otherwise. My opinion: they have closed minds and have probably never ventured outside their parents’ basements. Maybe, they’ve never even seen a jet?! My philosophy is: if you keep an open mind, you’ll be amazed at what you can learn!

Think about this: According to Wikipedia, there are about one hundred billion galaxies in the known universe, on the order of 100,000 in our local supercluster alone, and an estimated number of about one to two trillion in all of the observable universe. There are about 400 billion stars in our own galaxy, the Milky Way (not the candy bar). Since astronomers have been studying the data from the Kepler Space Mission, they have guestimated that there could be as many as 40 billion Earth-like planets orbiting Sun-like stars and red dwarfs in the Milky Way; 11 billion of which may be orbiting Sun-like stars. So, the question for you is: with the possibility of billions and billions of planets just like ours, wouldn’t you think that we might just have a couple of them with humanoid inhabitants out there, in our planetary neighborhood? Why would God waste all that real estate and only plant some humans in his own image, on only one lonely ball of mud?

Even the folks at the usually closed-mouthed and close-minded (for a space exploration organization) NASA, have now admitted that we might run into extraterrestrials in the next twenty years. I actually believe they are here now. Some have actually been caught at our southern border, along with other Illegal Aliens (a little humor).

Let’s see where all this knowledge might take us.

As I indicated in my January treatise, the creator who set up the biodome in the Middle East and created Adam and Eve through genetic engineering, was a flesh and blood, divine humanoid being of superior intelligence, who came to Earth, to populate it with modern Homo Sapiens. Adam and Eve had two sons, Cain and Abel; and you know the rest of the story. However, there were already other humanoid beings inhabiting the general area of the biblical garden of Eden, where they built cities and ran their own commerce. Where did these beings come from? Were they perhaps created in a similar fashion, in an Eden-like environment and then sent out to multiply like Adam and Eve, by another Lord Creator? And, where did their creator or creators come from? Were they competing creators?

After I wrote my January article, a blurb appeared in my favorite alternate science and other esoteric topics magazine, Atlantis Rising, informing readers to check out the UK Express website for an article entitled “Secret CIA documents claim evidence for Martian race wiped out by environment disaster.” Sound familiar? What I learned from this article was that a secret project co-sponsored by the CIA and the Department of Defense entitled Stargate Project, started in 1978, enlisted a team of “Remote Viewers,” to use their ability of Extra Sensory Perception or telekinesis, second sight or remote viewing, to look into the past history of the planet Mars. For those of you who haven’t heard of the term, remote viewing is the ability to view at a distance, other parts of your surroundings. The very developed operatives can see any part of the world and even other parts of the universe at any specified time.  

According to these clairvoyants, an alien race lived on Mars and was wiped out by an enormous environmental catastrophe several millions of years ago (Remember what I wrote in my original article?). Some of the Remote Viewers spoke of seeing tall pyramids as well as humanoids fighting against the oncoming disaster, and the final collapse of the Martian civilization. There are individuals out there (me among them) who believe that the Viking Lander took photographs of a face-like feature on Mars, which NASA actually tried to hide, by modifying the pixilation of the image and claiming that it was just a natural feature. Since then, other “manmade” features have been discovered, lending credence to the possibility of the existence of an advanced civilization inhabiting the red planet in the distant past. The secret files from this experiment which lasted until 1999, even suggests that the first humans on Earth may have been the descendants of that Martian race. So, did the creator of the human race come from Mars to set up the biodome called Eden? Was their commander “Lord Creator,” or as his new creations called him, “God?”

I recently discovered some fascinating information in the Book of Mormon, regarding the (possible) home planet of God; sort of. This comes from the Book of Abraham, which according to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, came from translations of papyri discovered in Egyptian catacombs. They are attributed to Abraham, having written them while living in Egypt. They are of course not included in any of the Judeo-Christian Bibles or other writings. What I also discovered is that some in the Mormon religion (perhaps all?) believe in their divine pantheon being made up of extraterrestrial divine beings. Sort of an outer-space-based religion?

Abraham writes of dialogues with God, in which he is told by the Lord, from which planet He (God/Lord, Jehovah) came from. Mormon theologians agree that Abraham was told by God that he came from the planet Kolob in the constellation Cancer. Kolob means “the First Creation” which is “nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God.”

The actual passage comes from the Book of Abraham, chapter 3, verse 3, and goes as follows: And the Lord said unto me: These are the governing ones; and the name of the great one is Kolob, because it is near unto me, for I am the Lord thy God: I have set this one to govern all those which belong to the same order as that upon which thou standest. God goes on and explains to Abraham that Kolob was created first and Earth was created much later on. He also tells Abraham that one day for God on Kolob is equal to 1000 years on the planet that he (Abraham) was standing on—Earth.

I would like to add some clarification to the above information. In some of the writings that I have read, Kolob is considered a planet, purple in color, in others a star. However, whether it be a planet or a star, Abraham is told that it is the place that God’s throne is nearest, or actually located on. In other writings on the topic, there is mention of God having brother gods, who may also have created other worlds and other human beings. In the prequel to this article, I brought up my confusion about the land of Nod, east of Eden that Cain wandered into, and met and mated with suitable females. This new information (to me, anyway) may explain how that could have happened. Did brother gods run similar programs as “God” in the land of Nod and possibly other lands and maybe even other planets?

There are instances in the Judeo-Christian Bible, of other heavenly beings visiting Earth from up there (outer-space) travelling in nuts and bolt, high-tech flying vehicles. The best such instance (s) is a series of encounters which are explicitly described by the prophet Ezekiel. He should have been a reporter. He was very observant. He goes on about describing in minute details, using as precise and descriptive a vocabulary of his time, what he encountered; what these objects looked like, what sounds they made and how it made him feel after he was flown about and redeposited on terra firma.

Ezekiel tells us of being brought in the presence of the Lord (God, the Commander of the space vehicle) who sat in a magnificent throne.

Have you ever seen the pilot’s seats in the cockpit of a jetliner, surrounded by electronic gadgetry, with beeping sounds and blinking and flashing instrument lights, reminiscent of precious jewels? That could have been what gave Ezekiel the impression of a magnificent, bejeweled throne. The humanoid beings he interacted with at these encounters, instructed him to tell his people everything he had seen and heard. So, these extraterrestrial beings weren’t trying to hide anything. They probably also knew that no one would believe poor Ezekiel. Whether Ezekiel ever presented his people with the facts of his encounters or not, he doesn’t explicitly tell us. Over a period of some twenty-five years, Ezekiel experienced at least four of these encounters with extraterrestrial visitors. That is what we are aware of, because those are the four encounters that Ezekiel had documented.

If you would like to get a deeper, technical understanding of Ezekiel’s experiences, you may want to read an excellent book by Josef F. Blumrich The Spaceships of Ezekiel. Blumrich designed airplanes since the late 1930s in Germany, until he got transferred to NASA, following WWII.

Blumrich originally set out to prove that Eric von Däniken (author of Chariots of the Gods) was full of baloney when he claimed that the prophet Ezekiel had had encounters with extraterrestrial beings, and actually rode in their very strange space vehicle(s). After carefully studying the words of Ezekiel, Blumrich had to eat his own words, as he had to admit that what von Däniken had been saying actually made a lot of sense. So Blumrich, reinterpreting Ezekiel’s writings, designed a space vehicle following the information gathered therein, that turned out to be a shuttle of sorts that was used by the divine beings to travel back and forth from a mothership orbiting earth, and to flit around while interacting with the earthlings. This book is well-worth the read.

I have now given you some possible answers to the question, “Who were the creators, where they might have come from, and how did they get around while on Earth?”

Here are some final thoughts. The universe is between 11 and 14 billion years old, as determined by people a lot smarter than yours truly. If you look at the complexity of its makeup and the shear number of galaxies and stars, surrounded by billions and billions of planets, you will see that there is a good possibility for a purposeful design; that most of us may not yet understand. Possibly, never will. The possibility of some of those many planets being inhabited by beings not unlike us, in various stages of development (evolving) is infinite. I personally believe that a supreme and divine entity was at work to create it all. Some of us may call Him “God.”

I don’t think I would make it as a kid today. For starters, I’m terrible at video games. Unless I’m mistaken, the only way to be accepted by a middle school pack of boys is to be a proficient gamer. There is a plethora of other challenges that the kids (more specifically boys) contend with daily, which leads me to believe that most of us who grew up in the 70s and 80s couldn’t hack it in today’s world. My guess is virtually all of us would crumble like a high protein energy bar if we were to somehow spend time as a middle school student today with a junior high school student mentality or frame of reference from yester-year.

My Isaac Newton Graham Junior High School days were filled with school, friends, sports, girls/hormones, TV, family, and my neighborhood. I lived a typical suburban life similar to the one described in Steve Rushin’s book Sting-Ray Afternoons. My unofficial book review rates this a must read for anyone 50 to 60 years of age.

School is a lot tougher than it used to be. There’s more pressure than ever to deliver good grades and establish good study habits straight out of elementary school. Most of my buddies and I pretty much skated through the 7th and 8th grade on our wit and good looks. We all thought you didn’t really need to apply yourself until high school. Nowadays, you would think your kid’s middle school grades are part of their UC college admission application. “Sorry Mike, you’re just not UCLA material due to that “C” you got in 7th grade woodshop class.”  Candidly, I was never UCLA material.

Grant H, 8th Grade Los Cerros Middle School: There’s a lot of pressure to do good in school and it’s tough juggling school with sports and everything else. There’s always a lot of work to stay up on and you can’t afford to get behind if you want to maintain good grades.

Kevin A. 8th grader at Harvest Park Middle School. School puts a lot of pressure on all of us. It’s not just from parents and teachers. There’s a lot of competition with friends at school. Everybody wants to do well at school, sports and everything to prepare for high school.

In our day, it was the jocks and cheerleaders who ran the school, but today, its science and mathaletes who call the shots. Future app developers and start-up entrepreneurs control the lunchroom power as they offer stock options for early VC funding.

Sports –Dressing for PE was mandatory in the 70s and it didn’t take long to figure out who the alpha males were based on their size, speed and skill set. Guys like Russell Peoples, Frank Dowse, Ron Mendez, Mike Lara were feared and revered due to their superior athletic abilities. PE class, after school sports, and neighborhood pick-up games taught us the importance of teamwork, communication, time management, and conflict resolution. It seems today, boys are either over-committed with overlapping team activities or they can opt out of sports for any variety of reasons including anxiety, stress or having an allergic reaction to AXE body spray. A lot of tween-age boys’ idea of exercise in 2019 is playing FORTNITE online.

Reilly G., 8th Grade at Charlotte Wood Middle School. There’s always pressure at school because we have so much going on after school. I often feel overworked and tired because I go from one thing to another without a lot of down time.

Friends are often our lifeline during the turbulent times of adolescence. Keeping in mind that my middle school years took place shortly after the very first video game (Pong) was released, unlike today’s youth, my gang of hooligans didn’t let it take over our lives. Jeff, Derek, Mark, Luis and I chose to occupy our after school and weekend hours with an assortment of neighborhood games (tag, hide and seek and doorbell ditch) along with riding our bikes. “Be home by dark” was my mom’s go-to line as I headed out the door. I liked that line much better than “Just wait until your father gets home.”  I had a paper route with the San Jose Mercury News to make a little spending money. Kids today probably don’t know what a newspaper is let alone the notion of folding, packing and throwing them at houses from a moving bicycle. Do kids even ride bicycles anymore or do they rely on Uber to get them everywhere even if it’s just a few blocks away? A bike used to mean freedom and independence. That said, my Uber driver’s name was “Mom” and she always helped me deliver my newspapers on rainy days.

Cooper P. 8th grader at St. Isidore School. I love the time away from school when I get to work out in the gym. The more you put into it the more the more you get out of it. The trainers at Cal Strength really help you to learn the proper techniques to help you reach your goals.

Girls or just an attraction to someone of the opposite sex (or same sex – no judgment here) is a confusing realization at any age, but in those early teen years it can be downright petrifying. Who of us understood what we were feeling or thinking, let alone the reactions our body was processing during that turbulent time of puberty? My harmless early crushes included Pam, Linda, Judy, Elise and Kristy, among others. They don’t even make names like those anymore. It’s a shame that I couldn’t bottle and sell nervous perspiration because I had plenty of that coursing over my body anytime one of those young ladies crossed by path near a locker, in the lunch line or sitting next to me in a class. Thank goodness for school dances and Forget Me Not fundraisers.

Our pre-disco era school dances were held on Friday nights and hosted live bands covering the most popular songs of The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac and Steely Dan. This was the best time to talk, flirt and interact with someone you were smitten by, but couldn’t muster the courage to approach during the typical school day. A Forget Me Not fundraiser allowed kids to send flowers or candy to someone during sixth period, usually around a holiday like Halloween, Christmas or Valentine’s Day. Thankfully, we could also send an anonymous FMN to a special friend we might be “crushing” on. Even though none of the girls mentioned above were ever interested in me, they probably all received a carnation or candy cane from me with a note signed Your Secret Admirer. Today, that would be grounds for expulsion for expressing unwanted attention, but back then it was just “sweet.”

Hannah O., 8th grader at St. Isidore School. Some boys are really immature and some are nice and polite. Our school doesn’t allow us to use phones on campus so it kind of forces us to talk to each other more, but all of the boys are obsessed with video games and that’s all they ever talk about.

Television is obsolete. Despite having hundreds of mainstream and cable channels to select from, most kids don’t seem to have time for television. As a kid, I spent way too many hours in front of a TV. I don’t want to brag, but we had two TVs in our house, one color and one black and white. Today, on the rare occasion when kids do have down time, they stream Netflix on their computer or phone in the privacy of their bedrooms. Our TV viewing was always in the family room, usually with Mom and Dad as company. Programs such as MASH, Good Times and Happy Days have been replaced by the likes of Stranger Things, The Walking Dead and Ridiculousness. I would gladly trade being the human remote for a little me time.

Social Media –Since texting has replaced talking, I would first need to become immersed in social media for all my communication needs. Every middle schooler today seems to have an Apple iPhone 10X, Apple Watch and wireless Apple ear buds and I’m barely able to operate my two-year-old iPhone 6 without having to ask my teenage daughter how to insert a smiley face emoji in a text. I long for the days when my entire family shared one landline with a very long extension cord for those private closet conversations. I’ve already written about the fear every teen boy had when calling a girl’s house and getting her dad on the line. I still break out in a sweat thinking about Mr. Boudreau’s phone interrogations and I’m older now then he was then. What type of trouble would I have gotten into with Snap Chat or Instagram you ask? Trust me, you don’t even want to know.

I get the impression that kids are under a lot of pressure these days. Pressure to do well in school, excel in sports or other extracurricular activities, and even social media pressure. I’m sure we had pressures too, although for the life of me I can’t remember what they might have been. I think of the wasted days and fun filled nights we had and I feel bad that kids today don’t know what it’s like to have that type of freedom. It’s a different time and I get the impression it’s much tougher to be a kid today.