tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64963803075053091942024-03-05T05:00:01.457-08:00La MagnificaAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-21339559976812596832015-02-02T17:49:00.001-08:002015-02-02T18:24:53.961-08:00Your damage is not my damage, but your damage is OK<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"Because... reasons."<br /></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;">Over the course of your life, <br />have you met at least one <i>true asshole?</i> <br /><br />No, not somebody with a different opinion, who is otherwise acceptable. I'm talking about full, </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saffir%E2%80%93Simpson_hurricane_wind_scale" style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;" target="_blank">Category-5</a><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;"> douchebaggery.</span></span></div>
<span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;"><br />My dad would call these jokers, <i>"clinical assholes."</i></span><br />
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<span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;">Dad worked as a psychologist since before I was born, retiring from a job with </span><a href="https://www.omh.ny.gov/" style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;" target="_blank">the State of New York's Department of Mental Health.</a><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;"> He specialized in </span><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;">the dual-diagnoses of mental illness with retardation. </span><span style="color: #111111; line-height: 26px;">As a state employee, it wasn't surprising that New York's "worst of the worst" were also his clients: the criminals, the violent cases.<br /><br />One beautiful and uniqe snowflake went so above and beyond that Dad felt the usual diagnoses just didn't explain it well enough. He wrote the diagnosis as: "Asshole." </span><br />
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<i>The higher-ups took issue with that.</i>"Asshole" was not a diagnosis anywhere in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders" target="_blank">DSM-III</a> (the manual that mental health, in the 1980's, used to diagnose people.) <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diagnostic_and_Statistical_Manual_of_Mental_Disorders" target="_blank">It was not included in the revisions, either</a>. <i>(...although I think it should have been.)</i><br />
Dad was told it was not appropriate to diagnose a patient as a "Clinical Asshole."<br />
"Spend 15 minutes in a room with the guy," Dad offered. "You'll see exactly what I mean."<br />
The lead psychiatrist took his challenge, and, after 15 minutes, walked out of the room. Dad's diagnosis stood.<br />
Yes, friends, this means that, somewhere, in the dark, dusty record-keeping of NYS, there is one recorded case of a patient with the disorder: <i>Asshole.</i><br />
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If you're laughing at this story, it's probably because you've met your share of Clinical Assholes.*<br />
I know I have.<br />
There's a deeper truth to bring away from this: Clinical Assholes happen, <i>but they're also rare.</i><br />
Yet, I am probably not alone in feeling terrified of sounding like that asshole, of<i> being that asshole.</i><br />
I over-analyze the hell out of everything I do. <br />
<i>Re-read, edit, revise, "sleep on it," re-visit it to make sure it still sonds good the next morning...</i><br />
I claw myself up with self-criticism.<br />
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Your inner critic works overtime to make sure your conscious mind is hyper-aware of everything that could go wrong. Please remember this. This is my gift to you: <i>the chances are better than good that you're not a Clinical Asshole.</i><br />
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Usually, when I have been criticized, the real meat of the criticism comes down to, "I have is a different viewpoint than you do." The most often, what I see is, "Your opinion differs from mine." but, sometimes, it's closer to "You have your own damage, and your damage is not my damage."<br />
If there's one gift the writers of the internet have given us, it's the chance at a much wider perspective. There are so many voices, all coing from different backgrounds, each with <i>very different point of view. </i>Often, their point of view feels like the Grand Canyon. meaning I can see the other side but I just can't get there from here. Even at that, we're still not into Clinical Asshole territory.<br />
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A quick test: <b>If you're worried about being the asshole in the room, it's a good sign that you're not being the asshole in the room.</b> In my experience, the people who are the most concerned with being percieved as assholes are <i>the least likely to be the assholes.</i> (Clinical assholes, by definition, do not care about this... it's one of their defning features.) Concen over how others react to us and our actions is the guard-rail that keeps us from falling into that canyon and being killed during the fall. <br />
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Trust yourself, come closer and share the view.<br />
<i>You're doing fine.</i><br />
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<i><span style="font-size: xx-small;">*If you've been deeply offended by this story, it's probably time to step away from the internet for today.</span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-60514766652075963562015-01-28T11:14:00.000-08:002015-01-28T11:14:00.674-08:00A Kite is a Victim<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">A kite is a victim you are sure of.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">You love it because it pulls</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">gentle enough to call you master,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">strong enough to call you fool;</span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">because it lives</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">like a desperate trained falcon</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">in the high sweet air,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">and you can always haul it down</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">to tame it in your drawer.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A kite is a fish you have already caught</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">in a pool where no fish come,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">so you play him carefully and long,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">and hope he won't give up,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">or the wind die down.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A kite is the last poem you've written</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">so you give it to the wind,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">but you don't let it go</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">until someone finds you</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">something else to do.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">A kite is a contract of glory</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">that must be made with the sun,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">so you make friends with the field</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">the river and the wind,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">then you pray the whole cold night before,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">under the travelling cordless moon,</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">to make you worthy and lyric and pure.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/52060.Leonard_Cohen" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Leonard Cohen</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/1478074" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">The Spice Box of Earth</a></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-49672513478198780672015-01-27T11:01:00.000-08:002015-01-27T11:01:31.284-08:00They can keep their cliché and coincidence...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i style="background-color: #6fa8dc;">“Those around you can have their novellas, sweet, their short stories of cliché and coincidence, occasionally spiced up with tricks of the quirky, the achingly mundane, the grotesque. A few will even cook up Greek tragedy, those born into misery, destined to die in misery. But you, my bride of quietness, you will craft nothing less than epic with your life. Out of all of them, your story will be the one to last.” </i></span></span><br style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2362.Marisha_Pessl" style="background-color: white; color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">Marisha Pessl</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">, </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/910619" style="color: #666600; text-decoration: none;">Special Topics in Calamity Physics</a></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-34859075552406852112015-01-27T10:29:00.001-08:002015-01-27T10:29:59.912-08:00In the language of dreams...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="background-color: #ead1dc;"><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br />“The best fantasy is written in the language of dreams. It is alive as dreams are alive, more real than real ... for a moment at least ... that long magic moment before we wake.</span></span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">Fantasy is silver and scarlet, indigo and azure, obsidian veined with gold and lapis lazuli. Reality is plywood and plastic, done up in mud brown and olive drab. Fantasy tastes of habaneros and honey, cinnamon and cloves, rare red meat and wines as sweet as summer. Reality is beans and tofu, and ashes at the end. Reality is the strip malls of Burbank, the smokestacks of Cleveland, a parking garage in Newark. Fantasy is the towers of Minas Tirith, the ancient stones of Gormenghast, the halls of Camelot. Fantasy flies on the wings of Icarus, reality on Southwest Airlines. Why do our dreams become so much smaller when they finally come true?</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">We read fantasy to find the colors again, I think. To taste strong spices and hear the songs the sirens sang. There is something old and true in fantasy that speaks to something deep within us, to the child who dreamt that one day he would hunt the forests of the night, and feast beneath the hollow hills, and find a love to last forever somewhere south of Oz and north of Shangri-La.</span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">They can keep their heaven. When I die, I'd sooner go to middle Earth.” </span><br style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;" /><span style="color: #181818; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px;">― </span><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/346732.George_R_R_Martin" style="color: #666600; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">George R.R. Martin</a></span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-27390106608191087142015-01-09T16:19:00.000-08:002015-01-09T16:19:58.158-08:00"If you're afraid to fall, you'll fall because you're afraid." -Daniel Ilabaca<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGXOzZNRD7TYqZWdrXyq3mhj6aymwoLLe0lNExZsQ4SIg0T8aAYsO3_1nTAMT5UJCgS372DxmxZBqeT1acrPtEK3Xhs-eeQpf9l7Re0LVqN39ugkSc1wh63RTh8jHp_eeZnlVopcdROo/s1600/afraid+fail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifGXOzZNRD7TYqZWdrXyq3mhj6aymwoLLe0lNExZsQ4SIg0T8aAYsO3_1nTAMT5UJCgS372DxmxZBqeT1acrPtEK3Xhs-eeQpf9l7Re0LVqN39ugkSc1wh63RTh8jHp_eeZnlVopcdROo/s1600/afraid+fail.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-26348729926101666672014-06-02T23:46:00.000-07:002014-06-02T23:52:33.762-07:00What Fauna has in common with Leonard Nemoy<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/MaxBeaut/Zz273-59.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/MaxBeaut/Zz273-59.jpg" height="521" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Above: from "the Full Body Project."<br />
Photographer: Leonard Nemoy</td></tr>
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Art-modeling is one of the greatest, and least-expected, ego-boosts I could imagine. I say this as a woman who had not been in front of a lens before the age of 35, for any reason other than the usual snapshots at family gatherings, and had no experience in glamour or fashion modeling at all. I look nothing like a fashion model, and never have. However, I understand that this is one of the reasons why <a class="g-profile" href="https://plus.google.com/116749833240978523706" target="_blank">+Fauna Reeves</a> of <a href="http://ladyfauna.com/">Lady Fauna Photography</a> asks me to get in front of her lens. I've played several different "roles" in the collaborative "theater-of-the-mind" that becomes <a href="http://www.foxandjackal.com/">Fox and Jackal.</a><br />
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I love the fresh... no, <i>pure.</i> <b>Untarnished</b>. ...perspective young photographers bring to the table, so waited until after the shoot to send a message and ask if she had seen the hardcover book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Full-Body-Project-Photographs/dp/0979472725">"The Full Body Project: Photographs by Leonard Nimoy"</a><br />
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Yes, it's *that* Leonard Nemoy, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Am-Not-Spock-Leonard-Nimoy/dp/1568496915/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401740633&sr=1-3">of "Spock" fame.</a> He went on to have a<a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/Leonard-Nimoy-Gallery.html">n amazing career as a talented photographer</a>, with two different photo-books (that I know of) so far. (The other one is "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shekhina-Leonard-Nimoy/dp/1884167160/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1401740633&sr=1-6">Shekinah</a>," and it's just as powerful.)<br />
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Both collections are on display in the <a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/contact.html">Michelson Gallery</a>, Northampton, Massachusetts, just outside of the city where he "<i>first experienced the magic of making photographic images as a teen-ager in the early 1940s. His darkroom was the family bathroom in their small Boston apartment. His subjects were family and friends."</i> <a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/Leonard-Nimoy-Gallery.html">~biography</a><br />
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The Michelson courteously offers a view a lot of the images themselves, plus many of <a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/Artist_Pages/Nimoy/pages/Leonard-Nimoy-Gallery.html">the photographer's insights</a>, from both collections.<br />
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I share them here for those of you who, like Lady Fauna and Mr. Nemoy, do not believe beauty is confined to a size range that falls between a size 0-6, or an age between 15 and 25. <br />
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<a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/pages/Shekhina.html">Shekhina</a><br />
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<a href="http://www.rmichelson.com/artist_pages/nimoy/pages/MaxBeaut.htm">The Full Body Project</a><br />
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Personally, I came to today's shoot as a model, so my job is taking direction from the photographer while the camera is clicking. Outside of a shoot, I'm still my own artist. Many different body-types have appeared in my drawings and paintings.<br />
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I find runway models beautiful like gazelles or greyhounds or sculptures of cats made of spun class. but that doesn't infringe in any way on the beauty of the women who radiate power like wind and Holy Fire. Neither of these change my love for those who have abundant bodies like landscapes and Earth Goddesses. All, to me, can hold beauty, so long as a good photographer is willing to show it to me.<br />
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My attitude about women and men, as well as my taste in them, is very similar to Robert Heinlein's. It's fortunate that <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/108237317005256349669/posts">my husband</a> agrees with me. <br />
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I'm enjoying Fauna's bravery in tackling the unconventional, uncomfortable aspects of human sexuality that lie somewhere along the fringe of "acceptable," and I'm proud of her for her courage. Today was one piece of a much longer series, but playing a part in today's shenanigans resulted in hilarity on a level that is clearly, <i>clearly!</i> unacceptable (!) for respectable and civilized people. Raise your glass, dear, and let's have a toast! <i>"God Bless and Keep the virtuous far away from me!"</i><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-71872995694235164882014-04-28T21:34:00.001-07:002014-04-28T21:34:52.597-07:00Four Ways in Which Showing Up Is More Important Than Having Talent<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This is sheer, insightful brilliance. Counter-intuitive, maybe, and unromantic, certainly, but true and real as sunshine or cold water. I wish that I could tell you differently, and pass along the magic spell for overnight success or or glowing, white-hot inspiration. Even inspiration requires work or it won't ever become anything more than a doodle or a pile of notes. You've got to take it to the wall yourself.<br />
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<a href="http://www.amyventura.com/four-ways-in-which-showing-up-is-more-important-than-having-talent/">Four Ways in Which Showing Up Is More Important Than Having Talent</a></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-12386847365826542312014-01-28T23:25:00.001-08:002014-01-28T23:26:47.056-08:00Snow Angel<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglac1UygAz26o4nqmx8c2Xf60Oig3UMWAia6Fvgy97O-Z45tgtxiXrx9hu0rmCkmD4XmJIVhX7K3Zyy0PAFYudK1zM4PmYx9Md01a40wL1rSVzjAHp6LH8Rt4BAYXiAmtaNPuBA4w_DG2w/w534-h641-no/Snow+Angel+-+300DPI+WatermarkedRedux.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglac1UygAz26o4nqmx8c2Xf60Oig3UMWAia6Fvgy97O-Z45tgtxiXrx9hu0rmCkmD4XmJIVhX7K3Zyy0PAFYudK1zM4PmYx9Md01a40wL1rSVzjAHp6LH8Rt4BAYXiAmtaNPuBA4w_DG2w/w534-h641-no/Snow+Angel+-+300DPI+WatermarkedRedux.jpg" height="640" width="532" /></a></div>
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New Piece: "Snow Angel"<br />
Portia St. Luke, <br />
Mixed Media on Paper<br />
January, 2014</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-79951595128635939872014-01-28T20:08:00.000-08:002014-01-28T20:08:43.890-08:00Stop, Drop, and Roll<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Getting stuck in a negative thought spiral feels like the worst thing on earth. </span><br />The day that I figured it was possible to break one of these spirals <i>(if I could see it happening) </i>I knew I'd gained a new and powerful tool. This is not a lofty claim that I'm a perfect, enlightened being, capable of mindfulness at all times. Some days, the demons win. Other days, I'd <i>swear </i>to you that they win far more often than I do, and I <i>really suck at this</i>... but, hopefully, I would stop myself and find a way to interrupt that thought pattern, right there. Full stop.<br /><br />Writing for <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/">the Elephant Journal</a>, <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/author/michelle-fajkus/">Michelle Margaret</a> shares this piece of wisdom:<br /><i>When I was in elementary school and they taught us about fire safety, the rule if your clothes caught on fire was to “stop, drop and roll.” For some reason, that slogan came into my mind recently, and I realized that it’s applicable to daily life practice, too.</i><br /><br /><i>When you get caught in a pattern of negativity—ill will, jealousy, anger, fear, self-hate or whatever it may be—stop.</i><br /><br /><b style="font-style: italic;">Stop.</b><i> Notice that you’ve been swept away from the present moment.</i><br /><br /><b style="font-style: italic;">Drop. </b><i>Let it go. Just as simple as that. Surrender. You don’t need to hold onto it anymore.</i><br /><br /><b style="font-style: italic;">Roll.</b><i> Life goes on. Continue on your way until you need to stop, drop and roll again.</i><br /><br /><br />Michelle offers us nine more great suggestions for re-aligning your spirit in her article, <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/12/how-to-be-free-10-simple-transformative-daily-life-practices/">"How to be Free: 10 Simple, Transformative, Daily Life Practices."</a> None of them require a lifetime of study or an advanced knowledge of Eastern Mysticism. They're suggestions and ideas, each with the potential to become daily practice, should you find they help you. </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-31430382213643718172014-01-12T23:00:00.001-08:002014-01-12T23:00:26.661-08:00Imagine Finding Me<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://api.ning.com/files/LxgTrYw8Icmpm7iwfcdqHop1-*fARd0nM0MYYPICZT52tzQLznGMvzQxNELHzmFATSmScCQfakPvNU0iNOr3wC*7ENNNoMyn/chinootsukaimaginefindingme2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="444" src="http://api.ning.com/files/LxgTrYw8Icmpm7iwfcdqHop1-*fARd0nM0MYYPICZT52tzQLznGMvzQxNELHzmFATSmScCQfakPvNU0iNOr3wC*7ENNNoMyn/chinootsukaimaginefindingme2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption">Above: Otsuka, Chino "1982 and 2005, Paris, France," photo manipulation from her series titled <a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chino-otsuka-imagine-finding-me">Imagine Finding Me.</a></td></tr>
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<br /><a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chino-otsuka-imagine-finding-me">This photo collection</a> is such an interesting take on time, perspective, even age... or maybe it's really just about how much fun one photographer can have with Photoshop and I'm over-analyzing things.<br /><br /><i>Tokyo-born, London-based photographer Chino Otsuka takes the past and present photo project to a new level of expert photo manipulation with her series titled Imagine Finding Me. Rather than simply recreating old photographs as an adult, she inserts her present-day self into photos from her childhood. The result is an incredibly believable image that features photos of Otsuka as a little girl in the 70s and 80s standing side by side with herself as a modern-day woman.<br /><br />Essentially, the series presents a double portrait of Otsuka and the many places she's visited as a kid. With the advantages of using digital software and technology to merge her past and present self, the photographer is able to create these unique self-portraits. She says, "The digital process becomes a tool, almost like a time machine as I'm embarking on the journey to where I once belonged and at the same time becoming a tourist in my own history." -From <a href="http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blogs/chino-otsuka-imagine-finding-me">mymodernmet.com</a></i><br />
<br /><br />Photography is not the same as illustration. A world is not created: it's already there. the lens captures light and shadow in a very scientific way, and this requires all photographers to be realists, on some level. Photographers are not afforded the luxury of pure fantasy or pure abstract the way that painters are, so to make us think, they have to bend things, but just a little. How is that best accomplished through a lens? Great photographers ask this all the time, and the ones that achieve it make us ask questions of ourselves and the world around us that we might otherwise have never asked. This is the power of that little box when held in the hands of such a magician. <br /><br />I love presenting "artists to watch out for," but see no reason why photographers shouldn't be counted as artists, especially when they make us think, feel, or remember we're alive and essentially human in some way. Whether it's digital photo-manipulation, oil on panel, or a really good blues solo, isn't that the entire point of art? <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-36126611476269556672014-01-06T06:32:00.000-08:002014-01-06T06:45:48.445-08:00Firearms: Yes, it's a women's issue (I have opinions.)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Lyudmilapavlichenko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Lyudmilapavlichenko.jpg" height="320" width="236" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko">Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko</a> (July 12, 1916 – October 10, 1974), </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">a Soviet sniper during WWII. She is credited with 309 kills, </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">and regarded as the most successful female sniper in history. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">(Photo courtesy of <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page">wikimedia commons</a>.)</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Russian Female Snipers in WWII <br />were feared by </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">combat trained German troops. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><i>(So much for guns being a macho-man only sport!) </i></span></div>
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In fact, there were approximately 2,000 female <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper">snipers</a> in the Red Army, of whom about 500 survived the war. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyudmila_Pavlichenko">Lyudmila Pavlichenko</a> (pictured above), <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Lobkovskaya">Nina Lobkovskaya</a>, and <a href="http://english.iremember.ru/snipers/21-klavdia-kalugina.html">Klavdiya Kalugina</a> (who was only 17 at the start of her military service in 1943) were among <a href="http://www.firearmstalk.com/entries/Lady-Killers-Female-Russian-Snipers-of-WWII.html">the thousands of women </a>who put themselves in the line of fire for Mother Russia. They were armed with slightly more accurate but less-rugged <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_rifle">sniper rifles (</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sniper_rifle">German: Scharfschützengewehr or SSG),</a> than their conscripted brothers: an upgrade from the cheaper <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assault_rifle">assault rifle.</a><br />
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While I have openly said that we, as a culture, really ought to consider just how "universal" that "right" to own a firearm really is <i>(Hey, we do have a licencing process to drive cars, showing that we're not going to act like a damned fool when behind the wheel, correct? Most NRA members that I've talked to understand gun safety and the rules of firearms so well that they could teach a gun safety course themselves, and agree this is reasonable.)</i> ...guns are also a <a href="http://www.offthegridnews.com/2013/05/06/the-best-self-defense-gun-for-women/">women's right's issue,</a> in that they truly become the great equalizer. I am not a small woman (or a woman who should ever own a firearm) but I understand the fear that my petite friends feel when at risk of being beaten, abused, or raped. Cornered and out-massed by 200 lbs. of angry pot-roast is no place to be.<br />
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<i>...but one bullet is one bullet. </i> Nothing says "I'm not getting raped <i>(mugged/ beaten)</i> today!" like a large-caliber round to the center chest. Simple, eloquent, and to-the-point. The vast majority of rape cases will never go to trial, the majority of those that do will never be convicted, and, if you grew up in the United States, you probably know the rest. Dead men can't become repeat offenders. If she is fighting for her life, no further argument is necessary.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-88714032333593489372013-12-25T05:00:00.000-08:002013-12-25T05:00:06.482-08:00Have Yourself a Leyendecker Christmas<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvijGDMshu6Xma2saQPJm0x0oAhLVfhjNexk-TWiMgaRDpDXuNVfp7zB8i_OFQTNFbzUPc6t1IQbDuaJnpNlddiPQMFsxvWkmA9AACNHviDiJh9ehNwjnpSU0j5wzTagJ8WXU_pR2owM/s1600/tumblr_lvpsojJIf21qbwvhpo1_500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlvijGDMshu6Xma2saQPJm0x0oAhLVfhjNexk-TWiMgaRDpDXuNVfp7zB8i_OFQTNFbzUPc6t1IQbDuaJnpNlddiPQMFsxvWkmA9AACNHviDiJh9ehNwjnpSU0j5wzTagJ8WXU_pR2owM/s640/tumblr_lvpsojJIf21qbwvhpo1_500.jpg" width="460" /></a></div>
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"Artists to Watch Out For" is one of the favorite things that I do for the Blogosphere. It's my gift to the world, and my way of sharing historic and contemporary art and artists that I love but that you may not have seen in a standard college art class... and if there's one that says "20th Century Christmas," it's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Leyendecker">J.C. Leyendecker.</a><br />
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I'm not alone. When fellow painter and blogger Clinton T. Hobart <a href="http://clintonhobart.blogspot.com/2012/12/a-few-of-my-favorite-christmas.html">listed his favorite Christmas illustrations</a>, I saw three different Leyendeckers made the list, with one earning the added distinction: "one of my favorite illustrations ever." A realistic painter himself, Hobart writes, "J.C Leyendecker has always been my favorite for Holiday Illustration."<br />
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Leyendecker's impact on the Golden Age of Illustration is immeasurable. His influence on the later Norman Rockwell is something often forgotten by history. <u>Saturday Evening Post</u> cover illustration was almost synonymous with this man until Rockwell followed in his footsteps. The entire opus of his life's work includes over 300 covers for the <u>Post</u> alone... Obviously, the holiday covers are a very small tip of a giant iceberg.<br />
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<a href="http://flickrhivemind.net/Tags/illustration,leyendecker/Timeline">This Flickr Collection</a> is copyrighted, but enjoyable.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-84440022966923898682013-12-19T09:52:00.000-08:002013-12-19T09:52:40.934-08:00Sisters<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption"><span style="color: #274e13;">St Luke, Portia. "Clever Fox." 2008. Mixed media on paper. Original available.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #274e13;"><a href="http://youtu.be/b-kB-Ytjcdg" style="font-size: x-large;">"Has anybody here seen Kelly?"</a><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></i><br /><span style="color: #274e13;">~ C.W. Murphy, (Music and Lyrics) 1908.</span></span></div>
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The husband opens the Yuletide cards from that day's mail. The envelope is the nondescript "holiday red" of every card this season... but my eyes light up and I start giggling like an 8 year old chasing a Siberian Husky in a blizzard. Husbeast looks at me. The eyebrow ...happens.<br />
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"It's from Cookie!" I shriek. Yes, I'm 8 all over again.<br />
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"How do you know.?"<br />
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"I'm psychic! I always know!"<br />
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Eyebrow grows steely.<br />
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"IT'S A FOX!!!"</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-63801078535659638232013-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:002013-12-14T20:29:09.583-08:0019 Acts of Kindness, plus one.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-shot-2013-06-04-at-10.21.21-291x300.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://www.rebellesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Screen-shot-2013-06-04-at-10.21.21-291x300.png" width="387" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image by Google Images</td></tr>
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<br />Yesterday, I had the joy of sharing a great find called <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/the-best-drug-of-all/">"the Best Drug of All," by Craig Arthur James.</a> This gem is a beautiful reminder of the subtle power to be found within arms reach, every day, through the simplest acts of kindness. <i>I love this stuff.</i><br />
<br />
Let me put it in perspective: it's so cold outside that the air feels like a thousand tiny knives stabbing into your flesh, and you know the only way to make them stop is to get someplace warm. The commute to work can be deadly if you haven't practiced the skill of driving on slick roads. The dark feels endless, and spring is only a promise held in the heart. Depression kills. So, yes, I love this stuff, not only because I'm a sap and a romantic, but also because it gives me hope and a little extra faith in humanity. <i><b>"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness." </b>~ Eleanor Roosevelt (att.) </i><br /><br />Maybe an angel knew that I needed just a little extra encouragement today, and so these <a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/06/06/19-random-liberating-acts-of-kindness/">19 more ways</a> to light that candle found their way to me. So much joy and love! Does the cold and dark of mid-winter bring you down, too? Maybe you'll find a way to smile (and send ripples of happiness out to others around you!) with these <a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/06/06/19-random-liberating-acts-of-kindness/">19 Peculiar Acts of Kindness</a> by <a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/author/tanya-lee-markul/">Tanya Lee Markul.</a> For a nice, even 20, please, for me, encourage others to do the same, and keep it going.<br /><br />Remember the umbrella story from the <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/the-best-drug-of-all/">Best Drug of All</a>, and understand that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compersion">compersion</a> <i>(ie: joy because of another person's joy, or sorrow over another's sorrow)</i> is part of what ties us together as a human tribe. Why keep this precious gift to yourself? It's not limited, it will neither wear out nor deplete with repeated use. In order to light a candle for another, one was lit for us first. Each lights the next. When enough glow together, the collective power can light and warm an entire church. I've seen it, felt it, and it's still magical to me.<br /><br />It's as magical as human compassion... or two umbrellas, in the right hands, on a rainy day. Now it's your turn. Keep it going! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-17870370601573004642013-12-13T22:12:00.000-08:002013-12-13T22:12:52.165-08:00The Best Drug of All<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ralphyUmbrellas.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://screwballuniversecity.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/ralphyUmbrellas.jpg" width="224" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Artwork by Ralph Solonitz</span></span></td></tr>
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Give a man with a warm soul, like Craig Arthur James, <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/the-best-drug-of-all/">two umbrellas</a>, and the miraculous will happen. His short story, <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/the-best-drug-of-all/">"The Best Drug of All,"</a> published at <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/">Screwball Universe City, </a>reminds me of the goodness to be found in the simplest deeds, often within arms reach. Being a superhero or a miracle worker so rarely requires powers beyond those of mortal men. Sometimes, it's something as simple as <a href="http://screwballuniversecity.com/the-best-drug-of-all/">an umbrella on a rainy day.</a></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-35542880950629828552013-12-13T07:21:00.002-08:002013-12-13T10:29:42.508-08:00To love is to be vulnerable<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJa0YDCeo4-JKv-P4PKuUDFftSB_hvSAPNSfBjS6u6DS9Axr7LrOGUUCiVgJgWyECR4mHLTBSo7VHFZ2iN1qTXoDWnF0SRjpCw80ZxqeHRvqMBZXqA9VLPidW1AY3MxEddQhbJKDyHFTz/w733-h550-no/IMG_20110803_192506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQJa0YDCeo4-JKv-P4PKuUDFftSB_hvSAPNSfBjS6u6DS9Axr7LrOGUUCiVgJgWyECR4mHLTBSo7VHFZ2iN1qTXoDWnF0SRjpCw80ZxqeHRvqMBZXqA9VLPidW1AY3MxEddQhbJKDyHFTz/w733-h550-no/IMG_20110803_192506.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”</span></em></h6>
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<em style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #660000; font-size: large;">~ C.S. Lewis</span></em></h6>
For more love, and <a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/2013/04/12/a-pocket-guide-to-love-21-essentials/">21 Lessons They Didn't Teach You in School</a>, check one hell of an entertaining online creative hub, "celebrating the Art of Being Alive," <a href="http://www.rebellesociety.com/">Rebelle Society</a>.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-60182256216787455352013-11-28T21:14:00.000-08:002013-11-28T21:14:24.013-08:00A Well-earned Salute to Pin-Up Art<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/270849_524495914248951_965199567_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="452" src="https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash2/270849_524495914248951_965199567_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Above: Illustration by WWII-era French pin-up artist <a href="http://tanksandtrenches.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/wwii-comic-artist-romain-hugault/">Romain Hugault</a>,</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br />for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/M-A-L-A-K-Photographycom/202563443108868">Michael Malak's</a> forthcoming collection of pin-up art, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/M-A-L-A-K-Photographycom/202563443108868">"Wings of Angels". </a></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">The is Model <a href="http://www.caitlincupcake.com/">Caitling Litzinger</a>.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span style="line-height: 17px;"><i>My thanks to </i></span></span><i><a class="profileLink" data-hovercard="/ajax/hovercard/user.php?id=100000336534191" href="https://www.facebook.com/ArdalofAntioch" style="background-color: white; color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;">Dennis Coppinger</a><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="line-height: 17px;"> for sending this one my way. <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thepinupfiles">Facebook's "the Pinup Files"</a> is a real treat for fans and collectors of pin-up art. I love the vintage, but was so thrilled to see the top-notch work from contemporary artists Authentic, well-done... With an aesthetic that grew out of the era before silicon and special effects. This is how I imagine the ideal "Venus..." <a href="https://www.facebook.com/thepinupfiles">What a great collection! </a></span></span></span></i></span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/thepinupfiles" style="font-size: x-large;"><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;" /></a><br style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 17px;" /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-19980507084764932492013-11-24T14:45:00.000-08:002013-12-13T07:57:47.365-08:00The Wisdom of St. Therese<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSSLUno63Mic3IFR-RM8bho9sizMpZfSEX17dfWcm-0G2Ma_2x6PJpqJ9t3le5vpzr-YbePRT92wXpC24Abh_vPrtTV9_tsQYgFJnW0u0REwbVEbbnbkNBLx6n1nClVrNVkj8L67OmMlT/w827-h550-no/DSC_6698.JPG" width="640" /></div>
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My kind-hearted neighbor, bottle-feeding rescued kittens in the <a href="https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos?pid=5886373976381252322&oid=117499268435687346477">Spring of 2013.</a> </div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #333401; font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; line-height: 13px;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><i>"There is no artist who does not like his work praised, and the Divine Artist of souls is pleased when we do not stop at the exterior, but penetrating even to the inmost sanctuary which He has chosen for His dwelling, we admire its beauty."</i></span>~<a href="http://www.littleflower.org/abouttherese/learn/loveOthers.asp">St. Therese de Liseux</a>, ie: Theresa, "of the Little Way," Story of A Soul, Chapter I</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-23867898105221942532013-11-24T12:34:00.001-08:002013-11-24T14:46:40.204-08:00Great video: God's Gonna Cut You Down (The Boondock Saints)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"What's done in the dark will be brought to the light..." ~Johnny Cash<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/bB_NmxfYV2E" width="459"></iframe></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-68565054162203809792013-11-24T12:23:00.001-08:002013-11-24T14:48:06.347-08:00"And Shepherds we shall be, for Thee, my Lord, for Thee."<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Do not kill, do not rape, do not steal. These are principles which every man of every faith can embrace." ~Boondock Saints<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="344" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/rhWw943avOc" width="459"></iframe></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-49195197338761486632013-11-21T06:45:00.000-08:002013-11-21T06:45:32.317-08:00Love for John Donne's "Broken Heart"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Poet and satirist John Donne, a contemporary of William Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth I, is a long-time personal favorite. I feel his work has an intensity that remains unmatched to this day. This piece sings to me. </b></span></i></div>
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<b><u><span style="color: #b45f06; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: x-large;">The Broken Heart </span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <span style="font-size: large;">He is stark mad, who ever says,</span></span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>That he hath been in love an hour,</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>Yet not that love so soon decays,</i></span></div>
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<span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><i>But that it can ten in less space devour; </i></span></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who will believe me, if I swear </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">That I have had the plague a year? </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who would not laugh at me, if I should say, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I saw a flask of powder burn a day? </span></i></div>
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<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0b5394;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDCSabbaZZd0EgsPjp_Y9AH-6nzAd_k8lIvqLFOesPP4Xpa_y9kOdM7heU3ZxdW-hunPqGejWK5ShXYQpbXpmKQtegBCMaVuGkfA0fGH0hdCp0x6CJQv2ZPizdkEFR8uZWU1lymUr0Ng/s200/Melancholia.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="200" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #783f04;">St. Luke, Portia. "Melancholia." <br />Ink on paper with digital color.</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDCSabbaZZd0EgsPjp_Y9AH-6nzAd_k8lIvqLFOesPP4Xpa_y9kOdM7heU3ZxdW-hunPqGejWK5ShXYQpbXpmKQtegBCMaVuGkfA0fGH0hdCp0x6CJQv2ZPizdkEFR8uZWU1lymUr0Ng/s1600/Melancholia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></a></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ah, what a trifle is a heart,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If once into love's hands it come!</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All other griefs allow a part</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To other griefs, and ask themselves but some;</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">They come to us, but us Love draws,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He swallows us, and never chaws:</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks to die, </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry.</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If 'twere not so, what did become </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Of my heart, when I first saw thee? </span></i></div>
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</div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I brought a heart into the room,</span></i></div>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But from the room, I carried none with me:</span></i></span></i></div>
<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">
</span></i>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><i style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If it had gone to thee, I know </span></i><i style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Mine would have taught thine heart to show</span></i></span></i></div>
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</span></i><br />
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">More pity unto me: but Love, alas,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At one first blow did shiver it as glass </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yet nothing can to nothing fall,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nor any place be empty quite,</span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore I think my breast hath all </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Those pieces still, though they be not unite; </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">And now as broken glasses show </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A hundred lesser faces, so </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">But after one such love, can love no more. </span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #0b5394; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">~ John Donne (<span style="line-height: 16px; text-align: left;">1572 – 1631)</span></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-73473047648642927132013-11-03T11:52:00.003-08:002013-11-03T11:57:13.506-08:00Go outside, look at the sky!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Courier New, Courier, monospace; font-size: large;"><b>Imagine if you got a call from a buddy to check the sky outside...</b>
</span><br />
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<a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/DMfxx#.UnORenHLWkM.google_plusone_share" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="360" src="http://i.imgur.com/XmqQuvu.jpg" title="" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm so glad <a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/DMfxx#.UnORenHLWkM.google_plusone_share">they took pictures.</a><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">For more photos from this amazing experience, <a href="http://imgur.com/gallery/DMfxx#.UnORenHLWkM.google_plusone_share">click here.</a></span></i></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-38961036960535584272013-11-03T11:22:00.000-08:002013-11-03T11:22:08.725-08:00Artist to watch out for: Rogan Brown. <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://s3.otherpeoplespixels.com/sites/45873/assets/lO9dApiCc5oTJis9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://s3.otherpeoplespixels.com/sites/45873/assets/lO9dApiCc5oTJis9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Above: Brown, Rogan. <a href="http://roganbrown.com/artwork/3152840_Seed.html">"Seed."</a></span></div>
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<br />Artist to watch out for: <a href="http://on-msn.com/1bAYp90">Rogan Brown</a>. Yes, I can enjoy the "wow" of the intricate layers of cut paper that Rogan Brown uses, but his work has its own power that shines through. For me, this is evocative design at its finest and the non-representational as it should be: pure form shows that it can compel the imagination, without declaring itself to be anything more than shape, line, depth, repetition... humble cut paper, and so much more. MSN compiled this great <a href="http://on-msn.com/1bAYp90">slide-show collection,</a> with still more joy to be found at the artist's website, <a href="http://roganbrown.com/home.html">"Paper Sculptures."</a><br />#roganbrown</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-126377612290760362013-10-26T12:24:00.000-07:002013-10-26T12:24:01.404-07:00Counsel for the Sincere Seeker<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9u9i0iFHI80Kq6UjY57yAuUyW71CdldVYbXwwCOIcexrn6MW-tFLp4-1xiRdf5JCrzqChfU3GBH_VQ7Am_u3KeNu-f2pVKzYFWWu2krqFzZZ_dsEDsntnxFLE2_wkM4SztsmGtnDeMO7/w467-h351-no/Nude_Ball.jpg"><img alt="Early/ student work, 1998. Figure drawing on paper." border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9u9i0iFHI80Kq6UjY57yAuUyW71CdldVYbXwwCOIcexrn6MW-tFLp4-1xiRdf5JCrzqChfU3GBH_VQ7Am_u3KeNu-f2pVKzYFWWu2krqFzZZ_dsEDsntnxFLE2_wkM4SztsmGtnDeMO7/w467-h351-no/Nude_Ball.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title=""Nude Ball," c. Portia St. Luke. Graphite on paper, 1998. " width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis9u9i0iFHI80Kq6UjY57yAuUyW71CdldVYbXwwCOIcexrn6MW-tFLp4-1xiRdf5JCrzqChfU3GBH_VQ7Am_u3KeNu-f2pVKzYFWWu2krqFzZZ_dsEDsntnxFLE2_wkM4SztsmGtnDeMO7/w467-h351-no/Nude_Ball.jpg">St. Luke, Portia. "Nude Ball." Graphite on paper. 1998. </a></td></tr>
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Hongaku Zeshin</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;">Daihonzan </span><span style="font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://www.boeddhisme.nl/boeddhisme2/SuirenJiFrame.html">Suiren-Ji</a> *</span></i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"></span><br /></div>
</div>
<span style="font-size: large;">Hear, grown woman, the child in your eyes <br /><i>just put the skipping rope down.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Hear, grown man, you put this serious mask just yesterday on.</span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">With respect for the inspiration of the ancestors, </span><br /><i style="font-size: xx-large;">I say this only once,</i></b><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><u>for we should never meet each other like this again.</u></span></div>
<b>This is a dream! An illusion.</b><br />
<b>The self you assume you are is a dream image.</b><br />
<b>A clear distinct personality.</b><br />
<b>Just as the movie star projected in shimmering light on the silver screen, you, too, are a projection.</b><br />
<b>The light of a star exploded long ago in time of yore, the movie star long gone.</b><br />
<b>Walk out of the cave of Plato, leave the movie theater.</b><br />
<b>I know !!… It is a captivating movie, one you do not let go.</b><br />
<b>But the captivity that binds you is as illusionary as the movie.</b><br />
<b>Lose yourself in the movie,</b><br />
<b>become one with it and discover that your illusion consists of pure suffering.</b><br />
<b>Just as a table is made of wood, your dream is made of suffering.</b><br />
<b>O, sincere seeker, through the whole world you find monks, nuns, beggars, and hermits</b><br />
<b>who jingle bells, beat drums and gongs, blow horns, and cry out to wake us up.</b><br />
<b>To warn us that our illusion consists of pure greed, of burning passion for suffering.</b><br />
<b>Forget, forget your illusion, turn around, turn back to the place woven for the time.</b><br />
<b>Wake up, break the endless confusion that men teach each other.</b><br />
<b>Eternity is now, and now is eternity.</b><br />
<b>Hereafter does not exist.</b><br />
<b>There is only the eternal and forever lasting moment of now.</b><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">An egoless now, no I to attach to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Who, what, where you are <i>or should you be.</i></span><br />
<b><span style="font-size: large;">What would you do with a self?</span></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><i>Ah, to give a name, confirm, affirm, captivate, and try to affix the illusion.</i></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<i><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>~And that is an illusion indeed!~</b></span></i></div>
<br />
<span style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;">Zen has become a comfort, in the way that the rhythmic praying of the rosary was before. Allowing time for daily meditation has allowed my mind the time to find stillness, without judgement or criticism. Zen never denies God's grace, and never ridicules me for feeling<i> "the deep magic" (~ C.S. Lewis)</i> as an undeniable force in my life. All it asks is for me to release that, if only for now, and allow it to rest. In this, the deep magic can live alongside a deep peace. I don't need to be the ideal of enlightened perfection... Like <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raku_ware">raku pottery</a> or lovingly mended <a href="http://www.elephantjournal.com/2013/01/kintsugi-breasts-broken-is-better-than-new-nancy-miller/">kintsugi ceramics</a>, the irregularities that critics condemn as flaws are cherished because of the unique beauty they add and the story they tell. <br /><br />Irony or paradox, but while Zen allow joyful acceptance of my own truth, it prevents hanging too much identity on it. Whether I see myself as that intentionally imperfect raku pot, warped before I was ever fired, or the ["sweetly broken"][http://youtu.be/O5_Z3ZZYLDc] kintisugi, Zen reminds me perception is <span style="font-family: inherit;">limited and distorted to the point that it might as well be complete illusion. There may be no "imperfection," at all... or each of us might be a hot mess. What matters is that it does not matter.</span><i><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/5832-argue-for-your-limitations-and-sure-enough-they-re-yours"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">"</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">Argue for your limitations</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">, and sure enough </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">they</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">'re </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">yours</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;">." - Richard Bach</span></a></i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br />"Convictions create convicts." ~ <a href="http://www.rawilson.com/">R.A. Wilson</a></i></span><br />Meditation is a daily practice, minutes to learn and a lifetime to perfect, but I am enjoying the journey. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">* </span><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Daihonzan = Head Temple (of) <a href="http://www.boeddhisme.nl/boeddhisme2/SuirenJiFrame.html">Suiren-Ji</a> = the Soto Zen school where this was written.</span></i></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6496380307505309194.post-54845783977396369972013-10-18T18:57:00.000-07:002013-10-18T18:57:40.553-07:00Kittens, and their use in Repelling the Devil<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<i>A kitten is licking my face.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
My eyes aren't open yet, but I know it's morning. I also know it's
going to be a bad brain day. <i>Hold perfectly still, don't move, don't
twitch, wake up slowly, take stock of every sensation.</i> My mind is
screaming, but, apart from a snoring husband, the giant cat sleeping
between us, and the tiny face-licker, nobody else is here... nothing threatening, anyway... <i>It's safe to move. Move slowly.</i> <br /><br />I stretch. Giant
sleeping cat stretches, too, and snuggles further into me. <i>Does he
know it's a bad brain day? Can he feel, maybe smell, the chemicals
that nature already released inside my skull? Is that why he's here?</i>
Not important right now. Open your eyes, dammit. Breathe deeply.
You're stronger than your biochemistry. Ask yourself, “What do I
have to do today?”<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Not fail. Not completely fail. At Life.</i><br /><br />The devil pulls
the chair out from my drawing table and sits down. He looks pretty
comfortable.<br /><br />“Just here to help,” he says “You're
planning out your day, and that's being productive, healthy and
functional. My friend, you're trying to take control of that brain
before it takes a hold of you. So, what would you say 'not fail'
includes?”<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>Rectify all of my past wrongs, accomplish everything today that I
need to accomplish, and anticipate everything that could go wrong in
the future so that nothing ever will. Today. By the end of today.
Yes, that's what the world would expect.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
The Devil slowly lights a cigarette. “What if you fail at this,
too?”<br />
<br />
<br />
My brain shudders like it's been hit by a blast~wave, and I close
my eyes. <i>Of course I'll fail at this</i>... but my mind is on fire, and
there is no sense of reason. All I know is that I<i> have to fix
everything in the world, today, right now, and, dammit, it's just not
possible. </i><br /><br />
<br />
I never want to open my eyes again.
<br />
<br />
<br />
I keep my eyes closed, but it's too late. The other fuzzballs
have seen movement. They know they can play with me, and, with
feline-single-mindedness, attack my face in licking and purring. <i>Do
they know it's a bad brain day? Could they tell before I opened my
eyes, like I could?
</i><br />
<br />
<br />
They're still licking my face. I can't concentrate on anything
else. This is perfect, since the Devil hates to be ignored.
(Pride...) <i>Focus on the kittens, you can do this. Nothing else
really matters right now. This is pure joy. Know that even if you
feel that you've failed everybody else in the entire world, you saved
the lives of each of these tiny fuzzballs, and watched them grow into
beautiful young cats who see you as the source of all love and safety
in the world.<br /><br />You. Yes, <span lang="en-US">you</span>, right now.</i><br />
<br />
<br />
Gently displacing kittens, I sat up and put my feet on the floor.
Lying in the muddle of the open doorway into the hall was my copy of <a href="http://www.eckharttolle.com/books/now/"><b>the Power of Now</b> by Eckhardt Tolle. </a><br />
<br />
<br />
I looked at the kittens, now jumping off of the bed and racing
each other to the door. They're known for moving stuff, but it's
usually hair-ties and favorite toys, not books. Besides, kittens
can't read. Pure coincidence. Coinci-Dance? Synchronicity? Does
it matter, if the message is good? Take what works, throw the rest
out. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.eckharttolle.com/books/now/">The Power of Now</a> is a favorite book, but maybe I
need to remind myself of the book's message; maybe read it again. I
can't atone for everything in the past, nor can I possibly anticipate
everything in the future. I can not possibly accomplish everything
that I would, ideally, want to accomplish, in one day. I can only
handle one day, and that's today, one moment at a time. I can handle
<a href="http://www.eckharttolle.com/books/now/">Now</a>, and, right now, that's going downstairs and making sure these
little creatures have everything they need.<br />
<br />
<br />
<i>I'm the source of all love and safety in the world, remember? I've never failed them. They believe.</i><br /><br />
<br />
This is the power of unconditional love. While I may never
completely understand the science behind it, a pile of kittens is one
of the best tools in my toolbox for fighting a bad brain. A wise,
kind woman told me once, “If God is love, animals are angels.”
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Yes, I just repelled the Devil with the power of kittens... The
anxiety and self-loathing that pulls us away from the unconditional
love in the heart of the universe was sent away because, right here,
right now, none of that matters. A stupid idea, if it works, isn't
stupid. Holy water? I suppose, from a certain point of view, all
life is mostly water. The most sacred holy water is the blood
flowing through a beating heart that lives because of you and loves
you completely. Purr on, little brothers and sisters. Lick my face
every morning for the rest of your life. You're a gift from something
greater than myself.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11913474494015874695noreply@blogger.com0