"The first side represents my relationships and promiscuous sex - and my realizing the reason I did that was fear, loneliness. I was insecure with myself. This lead to despair.
"So I jumped to the second dead-end road—alcoholism, which leads to nowhere except death and destruction.
	"And as a result of that kind of lifestyle I felt like I was caught in between the highways of negative emotions and missed opportunities, especially after I found out I was HIV positive.
"Then I found the narrow road to recovery through 12-step programs, which helped me look at myself and change the way I feel about myself - take charge of my life again by accepting who I am.
	"The top of the box depicts who I think of myself being - a mighty oak in a meadow surrounded by green grass and blue skies, full of sunshine and gaiety."

INTERVIEW WITH LARRY
by Adrienne Fritze

While Doing the Box
When I first asked Larry to do the box and was explaining it to him - he told me he felt afraid.

I shared with Larry that I'd invited another friend to do a box during an E&M workshop. This man was eager to participate when he showed up to the session. However, when I explained the thinking behind decorating the box, my friend couldn’t bring himself to do a box. He put his empty box down on the table, got up and left the room apologizing.

The outcome was different with Larry - he took a box with him. By the time Larry got home he knew what the theme was going to be, and as he was doing the box, he later told me that was feeling the emotions that are depicted on the box - flowing through him - fear, loneliness, frustration. He also had this strong urge to get it done because he felt he wouldn’t have to go over these issues again. There was a budding sense of freedom.

The first night he did 2/3 of the box which dealt with the negativity of himself that he had to process. And for awhile he felt stuck in that negativity. and then he called a friend to ask that friend to explain to him what the box was all about - which he did - which helped Larry to finalize the last two panels of the box. He went to sleep knowing what he was going to do to finish the box - and then didn’t touch the box for another day or two. The box stared at him. Then he got up the following morning, did his meditation, and that’s where the affirmations on the box came from - his meditation book. The back of the box is the root system of his tree of strength, with the last two affirmations, on one side he carries with him peace and tranquillity and on the other side he carries God, because without him he could not be the strong and mighty oak in the middle of the field.

After Larry finished the box, he sat with it for a few long minutes and cried because he felt the heavy weight that he had been carrying all those years being washed away with those tears of relief from his self-made bondage. Which has given him a new sense of gratitude for friends and his life that he never thought possible to achieve.

For more information on this project, or to receive a box, or to volunteer time or materials to the project, or to invite Adrienne to present a creative work session with your group or classroom, please e-mail her at adriennef@aol.com, or leave a voicemail at 503-445-1268 with your name and telephone number.