Yesterday I had a great conversation with a spiritually inclined Long Island poet and professor, and our conversation steered around to stuff—how we live in a time with an ever-progressing hunger for stuff, thinking it’s going to fill some sort of void. But does it truly?

Does stuff really make us happy? In a sense that we feel fulfilled and content? OK, maybe that giant helping of MickeyD’s fries tastes good for those first few bites, or that new pair of shoes makes you feel oh so cool for the first few minutes you wear them (until inevitably they start to chafe and ache). But have you ever noticed it’s a fleeting sense of contentment? Too often, we end up feeling empty, devoid of satisfaction, maybe even just plain bad.

Searching for some sort of meaning in our increasingly hectic lives—between meetings, appointments, stocking up, dropping off, and all that techno-babble that sucks us in—is becoming more and more difficult…even more so now during these challenging times.

After all, how much stuff do we really need? I’m convinced that if we stop anxiously pursuing the accumulation of stuff, and thereby create more time to take a breath and relish a bit in simplicity, we just may find some meaning in just being. As the old saying goes, less is more. It’s the mantra of the sustainable lifestyle, and there is much to be said of those 3 simple words.

I’m hoping this wise professor, a colorful poet with a cool perspective on life and an amazing way with words, will begin contributing to canvas his thoughts on the state of spirituality, how we might search for something better than just surrounding ourselves with more and more stuff. He has a lot to share with the canvas community, so stay tuned to canvasli.com and with luck you’ll hear from him soon on this website.

—Diana Murphy, canvas editor in chief

Happy new year! For 2009 I’m resolving to turn over a new leaf and start blogging more, as well as trying even harder to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

As many folks may have done during the current financial crisis, this year our family held our first giftless holiday. As it turned out, on many levels it was one of the least stressful, and most eco-friendly holidays we’ve ever had. No shopping meant not only saving money on purchases but also saving gas and freight, plus kept heaps of wrapping paper, scotch tape, tissue paper, boxes, shopping bags, and other gift refuse from ending up in the landfill.

Christmas dinner with the Murphy clan was also one of the most pleasant ever—without the usual chaos of handing out and ripping open endless presents (we are a big family, so this was always the craziest part of the celebration), it was a peaceful, relaxing evening where we could truly enjoy each other’s company and focus on good food and conversation.

So while I feel pretty good about lessening our carbon footprint by going giftless—let’s face it, who needs all that stuff, anyway?—there was one thing that tripped me up this holiday. Cookie guilt.

Every year I bake a variety of Christmas cookies, box them up, and give them out to family, friends, and neighbors. It’s one tradition I didn’t want to ditch this year, and am glad I didn’t as I finally hit upon the long-strived for secret to thin, crisp, perfect cookies (though that’s another story for another blog). However, during my cookie-baking bonanza, the eco-guilt began to creep up as the trashcan began to overflow.

Between the homemade English toffee and batches of oatmeal-craisin, chocolate chip, melting moments, chocolate wafers, and sugar cookies, I ended up discarding 15 cardboard boxes from butter and brown sugar (though luckily, my town finally began recycling cardboard in 2008), 40 wrappers from each stick of butter, 1 oatmeal canister, several plastic bags from the chocolate chips, craisins, almonds, walnuts, and brown sugar, 1 bottle from the vanilla extract, several eggshells and sheets of parchment paper . . . you get the picture. The guilt started to mount when I considered how much natural gas I was wasting with all that baking, and that the boxes the cookies got packed in and ribbons that tied them up negated the eco-friendly part of the giftless endeavor if my recipients aren’t as conscientious as me about recycling cardboard and re-using ribbon. Not to mention the reams of waxed paper I’d nestled the treats in that would surely get tossed.

I’m not sure what made me feel guiltier—the garbage I created or all the cookies I ended up eating (one must taste-test, after all). So while I feel good about keeping up the one tradition I know everyone enjoys, I may need to reconsider whether to continue the cookie extravaganza next year. Is the sweet-tooth bliss worth the global impact?

—Diana Murphy, editor in chief, canvas

Last evening canvas hosted another great GreenDrinks event at Maxwell & Dunne’s Steakhouse. There were plenty of interesting folks in attendance, and given the final presidential debate was happening later that night, you can imagine where most of the conversations tended to lead.

I’d mentioned to someone that a couple of weeks ago I posted a blog about Sarah Palin, and then quickly deleted the post a few minutes later, realizing that as an editor of a magazine and member of the media, it wasn’t appropriate to publish my personal views on the subject. I found last night it was even harder in person, especially after a cocktail, to keep mum on the subject. What I did find last night, and throughout this campaign in particular, is that people have very definite ideas about who they support and why, and are more passionate and vocal about it than I remember from past presidential races.

Being very steadfast in my own opinion, it was particularly hard (and admittedly I wasn’t too successful) staying neutral at the event. Especially when a new friend (who shall remain nameless—but she knows who she is) I’ve met at the past few canvas events and really admire told me who she’s backing, and then later pulled me and the publisher of canvas outside to look at what we thought would be the full moon, and turned out to be John McCain’s motorcade leaving the hotel across the street , heading for Hofstra to the debate. Given the situation, and our quick near-brush with possible-presidential fame, I confess that I failed to hold back, and pretty strongly at that. So I apologize to our publisher Tom, the two gentlemen having a smoke who watched the spectacle with us outside the restaurant, and to my new friend who I still like despite her political preferences (and know not to talk politics with anymore).

One of the topics that came up last night was how this political campaign is dividing people, including friends and family who have opposing opinions on the subject. One of my sisters-in-law has banned it from conversation, since she’s rooting for the other team and prefers not to let it impede on our friendship. I’ll bet plenty of you are having the same issue, and it continues to get more heated every day. I can’t wait for the election already. Enough is enough!! (And may the better man win.)

But getting back to McCain’s motorcade, there were what seemed like more than 20 motorcycle cops, followed by several police cars, a long string of black SUVs, and a dozen or so white unmarked vans. All with flashing lights, of course. I’m sure Obama had a similar parade of protection. Do these candidates have such a large entourage wherever they go, or was this just because it was New York? And is this what our tax dollars are paying for? These were the things running through my mind as I watched from across the street. And later, while listening to the debate on TV, I wondered about our tax dollars some more, vis a vis the plans the candidates laid out, as I’m sure the rest of the country was, wondering and weighing, and hopefully committing to vote one way or another on November 4th (with all due respect, hopefully for the right man).

The debate was supposed to rival the Superbowl in audience; with any luck, and so much passion about this race, here’s to having a record-breaking turnout at the booths. That’s one thing we can all raise a drink together to toast about.

—Diana Murphy, canvas editor in chief

While editing the August issue of canvas, a very interesting moment occurred while conversing with our copy chief, Lucy Saunders. I asked her to write about it for canvas’s blog, and here’s what she had to say:

Celebrity sightings are no big deal to us New Yorkers, and believe me, I’m not that easily impressed. But I had the best encounter ever the other day—and it was all because of canvas.

I copy edit the magazine, and have numerous conversations with editor Diana Murphy while it’s being put together. We had a talk scheduled recently while I had to be out and about, so I found a quiet corner right next to a side exit in the lobby of the Hyatt on 42nd Street. As we were chatting about one of the articles, a hotel employee approached me and said they were “moving a dignitary” and would I mind staying where I was for the next few minutes? Sure, no problem, I told him.

Well, the next thing I knew, I was five feet away from the Dalai Lama! And still on the phone with Diana, but not talking about work at that moment! I’ve heard him describe himself as “a simple monk,” but he has some kind of “energy field” around him that’s so strong I almost felt as though I could see it! Hard to describe, but he seems like the calm at the center of a storm. I literally got chills when he passed by me.

So, thanks Diana, because I never would have been there for that incredible experience if I hadn’t been working with you.

—Lucy Saunders, canvas Copy Chief

Lucy mentions she got chills when the Dalai Lama walked by, and I can tell you that I did, too, the moment she mentioned who the passing dignitary was. It seemed so fitting that while we were discussing copy edits on the upcoming article we’re running on taking “inner vacations”—meditative relaxation techniques to promote inner peace and well being—that the world’s most famous living embodiment of peace and well being should cross our path (well, hers, literally and mine via our cell phone connection).

To Lucy’s dismay, she didn’t get a photo of the Dalai Lama as he walked by (my fault as she had her hands full of layouts with copy fixes and couldn’t reach into her purse for her ever-handy digital camera quickly enough); but at least she had me as a witness to share that special moment—one we’ll both surely remember for the rest of our lives.

And it’s me who should be thanking you, Lucy, for sharing this brief encounter and helping canvas mind our Ps and Qs, no matter where you are or what celebs you may be brushing shoulders with. We appreciate your continual hard work and dedication, and are so lucky to have you as part of the canvas team.

—Diana Murphy, canvas Editor in Chief

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend. I had the pleasure of spending the Independence Day weekend in the Berkshires at my mother’s lake house, where we saw a plethora of wildlife, took long walks with our dog, went kayaking, and enjoyed some of the local cultural offerings. The area around Lenox, Stockbridge, and Great Barrington, is a hotbed of activity in the summer, drawing crowds of people to attend local theater, dance, and music, stroll countless galleries and museums, and dine in restaurants hawking a delicious array of seasonal, locally grown foods. It’s truly a cultural mecca, and one that I’m happy to see being emulated here on Long Island in more and more areas including Huntington and the East End.

A couple of highlights of the weekend included stumbling upon a gallery in Kent, CT, on the drive up to Massachusetts, where an amazing sculpture drew our attention enough to prompt stopping for a closer look. A giant raven perched upon an equally giant acorn was poised on the precipice of a thick stone slab bench. “This would be fabulous at the edge of the lake,” I said to my husband, before inquiring about the sculpture and finding out it was sold (alas, at $38,000 it was way out of our price range, anyway, but it’s nice to dream). Later in the weekend we attended “All’s Well that Ends Well,” at Shakespeare & Co., which put a fresh spin on the classic with a troubadour leading the chorus with a sort of Celtic-rock schtick. Apparently it received a terrible review, but we thoroughly enjoyed it; after all, how boring can it get performing the same play year after year, decade after decade, century after century; it was refreshing to see the director take a chance by breathing a modern twist into an old saw. Campy, yes, but fun nonetheless, and Shakespeare doesn’t really get campier than “All’s Well that Ends Well” so why not take it to the Nth degree? Bah humbug is all I can say to the reviewer.

We are so lucky to have such a wide array of cultural happenings available to us here on Long Island, and nearby in New York, the Berkshires, Boston, and D.C.  Pity the poor fool that says “There’s nothing to  do!” as there is PLENTY to do and see. Just take one look at the canvas calendar of events and you’re sure to find something fun to do. I’m looking forward to the upcoming canvas events, including Open Mic Night on July 10 and Green Drinks on the 17th. Hope to see you there!