Durga Blossom was inspired by one of the most incredible people I have ever known. I first met Ginny Bass-Carl in Leadership Oklahoma City at the very beginning of some very dark years. Ginny has been through a great deal of adversity herself and has been a wonderful friend and mentor. She was one of my LOKC classmates that I became the closest with after our LOKC year and years later we were reunited as classmates in Leadership Oklahoma. The piece is named after the Hindu goddess Durga who like Ginny is popular and widely revered. Durga represents protection, strength and motherhood and her legend centers around combating evils that threaten peace, prosperity and the power of good over evil. Durga is believed to unleash her divine wrath against the wicked for the liberation of the oppressed and employs destruction to empower creation. When I was researching Durga I immediately thought of Ginny. I have received a lot of help from so many people over the years, but Ginny is always there to guide me and unleash her wrath on the wicked who seek to oppress me. The festival of Navrati celebrating one of Durga’s great victories is celebrated over nine days with a color for each day. Ginny like the festival of Navrati is wonderfully colorful so I decided that this piece should be as well. If you don’t know her, I hope that you someday get the joy of her friendship. For those that do know her I hope that I have accurately represented her and perhaps you now see her in a new colorful way.