Jodi Hills

So this is who I am – a writer that paints, a painter that writes…

Category Archives: liberty


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Picture this.

By the end of the day, I am tired — which is a good thing. It’s a lot to keep one’s house in order. I don’t mean making sure there are no dishes in the sink (Well, of course I mean that too. I hate dirty dishes in the sink) but I mean the bigger picture. The bigger picture for me is working at my craft, painting, writing; learning (oh boy, I have so much to learn, not the least of which, French, and the toughest one, learning each day to be a better human); attending to the needs of those closest to me, which often includes just listening, caring, loving. My big picture might seem small, but it seems to fill my day. I can’t understand how people have the time to police the actions, thoughts, beliefs of others. It seems to me we all have enough to do to keep ourselves in order. How little exists in the life of a person who tries to control someone else?

Now I’m not saying we turn a blind eye to the events around the world. No. Absolutely not. (This for me falls under the being a better human category.) We stand up for what we believe in. But, in my humble, and maybe naive mind, I don’t think standing means knocking down the so-called others. But for one, aren’t we all others?

Being a human. This is something. Overwhelming at times for sure. But when my big picture gets way too big, I try to simply look around. Is there love? Yes. Is there hope? Sure! Is there joy? And how! Is the sink clear? You bet! (or that’s betcha for my Minnesota friends) I grab the nearest sketchbook and paint a pear. I call my mother. I kiss my husband. I take a walk in the sun. More than enough to fill my heart, to fill my day.

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Swooping in.

I don’t know what they looked like, the radio announcers on KXRA, the early morning show. But once, maybe twice a year, I imagined them in full super hero gear, red capes, powerful arms reaching out to save the day. 

We didn’t get that many “snow days” – days when the weather closed the schools – but oh, when they came, it was glorious. The seed would be planted before bedtime. The bad weather might be on its way. It was like going to bed on Christmas Eve, so filled with hope you could barely sleep. When the alarm went off, we raced to windows, praying to see only snow. And if there was a pane filled with white, we raced to the radio. Did they say it? Did they announce it? Usually it would start with a delay… two hours late… no, that wouldn’t do. “Close it, close it, close it,” we pleaded with the radio airwaves. A delay meant still getting dressed. No school meant pajama day. Pajama day – PLEASE! The announcer started reading the school districts by number. Please 206, please 206. And when you heard it – oh my! And it wasn’t like we were tired – no just the opposite. How exhilarating! The freedom! The possibilities in that day. All because those super heroes on KXRA said our school district number out loud on the radio – but what I heard, what we heard was “You’re free!!!”

There is no snow in Aix en Provence. All of our trees are in bloom. On our way home from dinner last night in Marseille, it was late, and we started talking about sleep, bed… and for some reason we brought up pajama day – what if tomorrow was pajama day? It felt good to dream about it. Wait for it. We smiled all through breakfast, knowing we had the power to decide. We had the power to be our own super hereos. To swoop in, no matter the weather, and claim the day. All things possible. Everything in bloom. 

Now, I am no Patty Wicken (our local radio star), but I tell you in my best radio voice, save yourself today, do something you love, be someone you love, because in the blossom of today – You are free!!!


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This little light of mine.

We got a new vacuum cleaner. It has a very bright headlight. It was amazing, and a little bit frightening, what I could see in the corners, under furniture — see what I had been missing. The great revealer, this light. It was so satisfying to know that I was actually making a good cleaning. It felt good, and I found myself vacuuming with enthusiasm. I can’t go back now, to the old vacuum, the old way…I know too much.

I suppose it’s that way with everything. At least I would hope so. But in so many ways, I think we are failing. In the few minutes of news a day that I allow myself (my heart can’t take too much), I see, what I can only call filth. The absolute worst of us, making the same mistakes over and over. And we allow it. We shine the light on it, and still refuse to see it. We have to do better than this. We know better. Right and wrong are not that difficult to see.

Get your house in order, they say. And I guess that’s right. I will do my best in my little corner of the world. Try to make it as beautiful as I can. It was what we were taught, wasn’t it? This little light of mine? I’m gonna let it shine.

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Self evident.



The first thing we saw while visiting the home of Thomas Jefferson was a collection of tools. A hammer. It made me smile. You would have thought the Declaration of Independence would be front and center, but it came after. Of course it did. First, there was work to be done. And there still is.

It was, I suppose, self evident that all men were created equal. Yet, they still had slaves. Today, we don’t have slaves, but there is still so much work to do. So the “hammer”, the work, must remain in the foreground. Knowing this, is a start. Maya Angelou always rings in my ear, “When you know better, you do better.” I want to do better – in everything.

I’m working on a collection of my daily blogs. It is entitled, “Pulling Nails.” Each time I make a frame at home in France, I take the reclaimed wood, pull out the nails, sand it, sand it again, and again, cut, strengthen, build something stronger, and it is beautiful. I suppose that has always been my goal. Take what has been given, and make it better. I hope I can do this. I hope we all can do this. Pull the nails and make something beautiful.

Let’s get to work.



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Anyone.

After seeing it, the Liberty Bell, I had to look up the actual definition of the word. The thing is, we always think we know. There are many interpretations of course, but the words that kept popping up were freedom, rule of law, and not depriving anyone else of their freedom. Oh, we get the first part so easily, freedom, freedom, freedom. Me, me, me. But do we get the second part? The anyone else’s? That’s the hard part, I suppose. That’s where the crack comes in. This is where we fail so often.

We stood in line to view it, this line of anyone else’s, this line of every color and age, this respectful line that moved slowly in the heat of the sun – the great disinfectant. We were quiet, polite, respectful. For we were all in search of the same thing – proof that this was still the case – it could be done peacefully – this search, this daily march toward liberty. This daily march together in our differences, together in our similar pursuit.

We only got a few minutes to stand before the symbol, this bell. But it rings in my heart. I pray it rings in yours. I am your anyone else, and you are mine. And we march together, search together, work together, to ring out the great truths we all want to hear.

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