By Jason Fierstein
Arizona Daily Wildcat
She gets paid to sit around in her pajamas, paint all day and cry in the bath tub. Does SARK (Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy, a writer from San Francisco) have a hard life?
After wandering into the city by the bay in 1982 with only $30 in her pocket and a hand-printed sign that read, "Artist Available for Dinner," SARK has come a long way professionally. With the release of her latest book of inspirations, Living Juicy, SARK has definitely found the career to match her romantic, right-brained childishness.
Living Juicy is the fourth SARK book full of daily affirmations and creative boosts aimed at people caught up in the rat race of life. Her traumatic life experiences as a youth and an incest survivor have been turned into more beautiful and energetic philosophies on life and living.
SARK's book is divided into 52 chapters, each a philosophical exploration for every week of the year. The month of June focuses on dreaming. On June 12, SARK asks the reader to imagine "dreamsicles as popsicles gone dreaming." In fact, the suggestion to write yourself a permission slip for enjoyment follows every section of the book.
Living Juicy is a therapeutic tool of self-awareness and self-discovery, but is not meant to be taken too literally. SARK's intent is to inspire creativity and a sense of self-love and friendship through daily thoughts and spirit boosters, but some daily messages, such as sending telepathic hugs (Nov. 29 excerpt) or listening to an animal (March 14) seem a little too arbitrary and flamboyantly childish.
Yet, overall, Living Juicy is a worthy offering of hope and guidance to those overinvolved in, and overburdened by, the professional world.
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SARK's, Living Juicy, $14.95, is published by Celestial Arts and is available at most bookstores.