Refined and Classic: The True Gift Nature Gave Me

Things don't change. You change your way of looking, that's all.

-Carlos Castaneda

When you look at the natural world around you, the first thing you might focus on are the popular choices-a lush pink rose with iridescent drops of dew decorating its petals or a picturesque sunset that turns the sky a painterly shade of red, grey and white. If you've never really looked at the striations of a weathered tree branch or the rough texture of a sun bleached rock you're missing out on the part of nature that reveals its beauty in an alternative way. In French this type of unusual loveliness is called "Jolie laide" or "pretty ugly".

There have been many famous people who've utilized these traits to their advantage, whether it was playing up a distinctive nose like Barbra Streisand, dark skin and a severe haircut like Grace Jones or a rough, but sensuous face, that's simultaneously soft and hard, like Tom Hardy. Fortunately as our society becomes more inclusive and diverse this definition of attractiveness will replace our traditional standard that used to lean towards perfection and conformity and eschew the different and unique.

One day after returning to the bus stop in front of 74th Street Elementary School, a school I subbed at as a "Special Education Trainee Assistant" from January to March I noticed a tree next to the bus bench with a series of large mushrooms growing out of it. Ordinarily I wouldn't notice something like that, but ever since I was diagnosed with Stage II A Breast Cancer in 2010 and had to view my altered body in the mirror daily, I've become more attuned to things I might have ignored because they looked slightly grotesque and unsightly. Now they fascinate me and I study them enough to see their allure.

As I examined the balletic way the exterior of the dark brown and white mushrooms clung to the rustic, splintery trunk of the tree I couldn't help being inspired by the palette of gray and brown. I took a series of photos of this natural art piece, over a period of time, and shared them with the class I was working with at the school. Despite having to leave early, because I was still recovering from kidney stone surgery, I left a xeroxed copy of one of my photos of the tree for the teacher and wore an outfit inspired by the tree.

Transferring the gray and brown color scheme to clothing, I coordinated a gray wool pea coat over a gray tie-front DKNY cardigan, light gray Sharagano button-down blouse and vintage Levi's flares. I then accessorized my outfit with a beige lace and floral turban and beige Guess sneakers. While coordinating this outfit I became a designer, and utilized something that influenced me (the mushrooms attached to the tree), a color scheme that complimented my skin tone (gray and beige), and I found a way to reinterpret and update a pair of 1970's flares by pairing them with a contemporary coat, cardigan, blouse and sneakers.

After I recovered and returned to the class, the teacher told me the class took a mini walking field trip to examine the tree and she taught a lesson about "the cycle of life" which included "producers" (green plants), "metamorphosis" and "photosynthesis", "consumers" and "decomposers". She also told the students to read Fungi by Mary Kay Carson, The Web of Life by Melvin Berger and The Producers by Melissa Stewart.

Throughout this whole journey the main lesson that stayed with me was how reliable and comforting nature is for rejuvenating the creative spirit and soul in times of despair.