If you think you can't...

If you think you can't possibly walk around the block backwards once, consider Umbrealla Man, a local Santa Cruz fixture. He walks up and down the street every day, very slowly, dressed in a fine pink skirt, full makeup, and with a pink umbrella.

For more on Umbrella Man, click here.

A great photo of him: here.

Walk about!

Walk around the block once, backwards. Make sure to smile enigmatically at everyone you meet.

Spend only a dollar today...

Today your challenge is to be creative enough that you only have to spend $1 to get through it...

For a further action, pay only in change! (Or if you go over the $1 amount, pay only with change for the rest of your purchases...)

Crafty Young Thing...

Today, do a kid's crafty or educational project, you know like the one where you make a volcano out of paper mache and then pour food colored baking soda & vinegar in it and watch it explode? Or the one where you put a hard boiled egg over the mouth of a bottle, drop a match in and watch the egg get sucked into the bottle? Or maybe you're not the science type, but you have fond memories of those little metal looms on which you stretched colored loops until you had a potholder? What about God's Eyes? Get some yarn and sticks and watch the decorative possibilities unfold as you flash back to Girl Scouts or church camp.

Even better: Do this with your children. If you don't have a kid, borrow one for a couple hours.

If there's a finished product, don't forget to give yourself a big gold star and hang your masterpiece on the fridge.

Submit: The Poetry Vandal Project

Poetry needs to seep beyond the pages of a book, needs to arise where it is not expected. I am looking for poems (or short, short prose) to put on stickers and place around the city. If the piece is longer than one sticker, there will be a small line at the end indicating where to go to view the next piece. There is no payment, no publication that you can put in a resume, but your art will be a piece of a living, breathing, city.

This is from craigslist, and you can find the ad here, should you want to submit. Please note that no one at Art in Action is saying you should vandalize property!

The beat of your own drummer...

Today, dance to the beat of your own drummer. Turn on the music, and just let go. Close the blinds and turn the music on in your bedroom, or if you want the neighbors to get a good chuckle (or scare), do it on the lawn with a boom box. Make sure to move your *entire* body. Dance for at LEAST three songs, and close your eyes for one of them!

Sidewalk Art

Today, go buy some sidewalk chalk, and decorate your walkway or driveway. If you are not feeling Picasso-like, and you don't want to do a fine Martha Stewart border down to the mailbox, create hopscotch squares and place a little pile of rocks next to them for passersby. Or, if you live in a retirement community, draw a shuffleboard. If there's a lot of crime in your neighborhood, perhaps some festive body outlines are in order. (And yes, the last two suggestions are sarcastic...)

Non-dominant...

Use your non-dominant hand to write today. Or at least endeavor to do so. Then, before bed, take out a blank piece of paper, pick up your favorite writing utensil (crayons are a-okay) and draw a picture, also with your non-dominant hand. It's a good work out for the grey matter, and when you switch back to your dominant hand, it seems so *easy* to write things. If nothing else, you'll at least get to confuse cashiers when they check your signature, and perhaps empathize with those kindergarteners who are just learning to write on that grey-hued, fat-lined paper...