In which I issue the first

Dear Reader,

It is with great determination and genuine pleasure that I present to you the first issue of "The Adventures of Cat B. Dito, Creative At-Large."

For it is true that I am an artist: I paint and I sketch and today I am here on God's expansive Internet to sell 200 T-shirts and several completed prints and canvases.

But I am also so much more: I write and I knit and I crochet and sometimes I bake loaves of Japanese milk bread for egg sandwiches and one day I will direct and complete a musical and make pottery and who knows what else? I am not ONLY my actions or one of the many crispy words in the "occupations" chapter of your standard English language textbook.

If I needed to pick a word (as I feel pressured to do so), I would choose, "creative," as I am a humble reflection of the Great Creator Herself. I create. My mission in life, no matter the method, is to be creative.

And it feels a lie, a denial of our true natures as human beings, to simply restrict myself to "artist," a word here which I love and adore and strongly identify with, but seems too closely associated with palettes and easels to adequately do the job. Maybe musicians also draw also sew also solve math equations. Perhaps designers dance direct derive dissemble. And so herein, I have picked the word "creative" in a bid to encompass it all and articulate my humanity to the fullest extent the English language will allow me.

Because if there is anything in the world I am clear about, I may create stickers and albums and novels and chocolate eclairs, but they all come from the same place: an overflowing love of life and humanity.

I love so many things and oh so many people and I create to reflect back that beauty in such a way that I hope others look too and say, "Wow! What a beautiful world we live in!"

Thank you for joining me on this journey.

With love,

Cat B. Dito, Creative At-Large