Osiyo

[Nashoba]

Hello, everyone. I thought I'd introduce myself. My name is Visionary Bri. Educated at Ball State and Naropa Universities, I am a Native American writer, artist, speaker and activist. I am also an advocate for those with Lupus. I am a mama of 2 with large tattoos and, oftentimes, purple hair. I am a creativity specialist and roving spirituality / adventure seeker.

I came upon this forum not knowing that this kind of thing ever existed. Like most young girls in the 80's, "Splash" and "The Little Mermaid" captivated me. I spent many a day trying to perfect the 'just emerged from the water, Ariel hair-toss move" in our family pool.

In my life and writing, I seek out people who are following their passion and those of you here are totally doing that! After lurking about and seeing all of you, I feel a great kinship to the mer community and I think I've picked a mer name - Salamonie - it's a reservoir in Indiana (not far from me).

I could go on more about what I do, but I'll save that for another post if it seems that anyone is interested.

Many Blessings to EveryMer.

-Salamonie

[spottedcatfish]

Welcome VisonaryBri, to Mernetwork.

[Echidna]

welcome!
there can never be enough mers :)

[Rain]

Hi Osiyo! It's nice to meet you :D I would definitely love to know more about the kind of work you do, I have a bit of Native American in me, and I feel I would find your job very interesting and informative.

[telzey.amberdon]

Welcome!

[MerAnthony]

Welcome an enjoy. Any questions don't be afraid to ask.

[Nashoba]

Hi Osiyo! It's nice to meet you :D I would definitely love to know more about the kind of work you do, I have a bit of Native American in me, and I feel I would find your job very interesting and informative.



Osiyo is Cherokee for "hello"!

So, more information about what I do and a bit of background on me -

I have been diagnosed with Systemic Lupus. With this has come 2 strokes - my first one at age 27 and my 2nd one was this past October. I am married and have one daughter and a stepson. I was trained as a medicine person and I furthered my education to include Massage Therapy and Reiki. Then, I got sick. My Lupus caused me to not be able to do such physical work as a massage therapist anymore and, honestly, I really miss being so directly involved in healing work.

But over time I came to realize that my healing work didn't have to stop, it just had to morph. Now I run the blog Visionary Bri. I write articles and make spiritual / healing centered art. I search for people who are using their creativity and following their dreams in life, and I help them along in their journey. This helping includes running giveaways to help small businesses gain exposure, do reviews of small business' products and I conduct interviews as well as do a lot of activities for Lupus awareness / research. I also do pieces under the title "Adventures with Bri" which consist of my adventures around the world. I hope to add "I'm a Mermaid" to this list of pieces.

So far there is Skydiving Samadhi - a freefall adventure to enlightenment (http://visionarybri.blogspot.com/2012/09/skydiving-samadhi-episode-1.html) in 3 episodes
Absinthe Drunk and God-Mad (http://visionarybri.blogspot.com/2012/10/absinthe-drunk-and-god-mad-episode-1.html)
The Tuna Fairy (http://www.visionarybri.blogspot.com/2012/11/give-away-out-with-old-and-tuna-fairy.html)
and
The Nightmare Should Be Over (http://visionarybri.blogspot.com/2012/11/the-nightmare-should-be-over-dealing.html)- dealing with PTSD


My upcoming projects are reporting on GenCon in Indianapolis and interviewing Eva Kor. Eva is a survivor of Dr. Mengele's experiments in Auschwitz and subject of the documentary "Forgiving Dr. Mengele." The first post I wrote about her is here (http://visionarybri.blogspot.com/2013/03/forgiving-dr-mengele-inspirational-story.html) and the second is here (http://www.visionarybri.blogspot.com/2013/05/forgiving-dr-mengele-episode-2.html). GenCon is a HUGE gaming / cosplay convention held in Indiana. If any merfolk are going, I'd love to meet up with you and write a feature (http://visionarybri.blogspot.com/2013/04/operation-gencon-2013.html) about the community.

The past few days, since I found this site, I've been reading about becoming a mermaid almost nonstop. I really want to get a tail and meet up with some lovely merfolk to splash around maybe do some nature / water environmental awareness activities. Since I am disabled, I'm on a fixed income and really can't afford to buy a tail, but I happily do features and promotions for trade. If any tail makers out there would like to do a tail on trade, I'd be happy to take said tail to GenCon and pass out any advertising / promotional info you'd like. I'm doing this for a couple of other small businesses that are geared toward the fantasy and creativity world. A list of companies I've worked with, previously, are on the bottom of the page here. (http://www.visionarybri.blogspot.com/p/product-and-service-promotions.html)

I'm absolutely loving all the threads that are going on, here and have fallen head-over-heels for his community.

Feel free to come by the site or find me, Visionary Bri on Facebook. I look forward to learning more about you all.

-Bri

[Sea Pearl]

Welcome to MerNetwork VisonaryBri! Glad you found us :)

[Mermaid Muir]

Welcome to the forums!