Tag: politics

Mood: Monday


Choose Peace

Art print on wood, date unknown
Rebecca Puig, USA

The situation in Israel is unspeakable, and the divisions it’s causing between different factions in the United States, as in the rest of the world, seeks to achieve the goal of terrorists. We all have a responsibility to denounce acts of terrorism and work together to find peaceful solutions and resolutions.

This past Saturday night, artists Annie Lennox, Joni Mitchell, and Brandi Carlisle sang in concert together at the Hollywood Bowl, and Annie shared Brandi’s opening remarks on her Instagram account. Artists can have powerful, positive voices in times of chaos and confusion, and I thought I’d share her remarks here, too.

There’s no elegant way to describe the fear and anxiety and anger that we’re all feeling about the devastation in the Middle East. But there’s no honest way forward into an evening of revelry without addressing it. And it’s only just so that we can enter into a state of revelry together. Without me saying that I’m with you, and I understand how much pain the world is in, there’s no point to a rock and roll concert. For all of my friends out there reeling from the anxiety and generational fear that this is causing, I want you to know that you’re safe tonight, and we love you… We should also never underestimate the power of 16,000 collective souls, 16,000 people desperately wanting peace and non-violence. If you can compel your creator in whatever way you can compel your creator, however you believe, (and) pray for peace and non-violence for Israelis and Palestinians. … Let me and my friends on stage tonight be an elixir for your troubled souls. We came here to you with the only gift that we know how to give, which is music, and we plan to lay it down at your feet. I also want you to know, it’s OK to feel joy tonight. It’s OK to smile and laugh and sing and dance. We’re here collectively to have fun, and to be powerful and innocent together, pals. Peace. That’s our intention tonight — peace.

Brandi Carlisle

Featured quotes on this art print include:

Make love not war
All we are saying is give peace a chance. – John Lennon
What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family. – Mother Teresa
Teach Peace
If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other. – Mother Teresa
Happiness is the new rich. Inner peace is the new success. Health is the new wealth. Kindness is the new cool.
Peace begins with a smile.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me.
Smile, breathe, & go slowly. – Thich Nhat Hanh
Shalom
Imagine all the people living life in peace. – Lennon
Breathe out peace.
If there is to be peace in the world, there must be peace in the nations. If there is to be peace in the nations, there must be peace in the cities. If there is to be peace in the cities, there must be peace between neighbors. If there is to be peace between neighbors, there must be peace in the home. If there is to be peace in the home, there must be peace in the heart. –Lao-tse
Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
Peace is our gift to each other.
People for peace
Peace is always beautiful. – Walt Whitman
Come Together
Each moment is a chance for us to make peace with the world. – Thich Nhat Hanh
Sky above earth, below peace within
The planet does not need more successful people. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of all kinds. – Dalai Lama
Paz
May you be well. May you be happy. May you be peaceful. May you be loved.
Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. – Ralph Waldo Emerson
There is no path to peace. Peace is the path. – Gandhi

the attack on reading

Now that I’m back, I’d wanted to post something yesterday about banned books. Last week was Banned Books Week. Though none of my published books have been banned to my knowledge, I’m sure at least some of them would go on a list of challenged books if any of the groups determined to police and suppress books were aware of them. That’s because all of them, whether written as Timothy James Beck or Cochrane/Lambert novels with my writing partners, or my own two contemporary romances, present a diverse set of characters, among them gay, lesbian, and transgendered folk, as well as characters of different races as part of the stories.

I follow an account on Instagram created by a musician who features banned and challenged children’s books. He might show some of their pages (if picture books), read brief excerpts, and describe what the books are about. Consistently, teachers respond to share how some of those books have been the ones their students most enjoyed because they learned new things or saw themselves or their situations represented. Other commenters ask why these interesting, funny, informative, or historically accurate stories are being challenged, and the answer is invariably the same: They feature characters who are different from what’s regarded as “mainstream,” whether because they are Black, Indigenous, reflect a non-white or first generation home or situation (for example, parents or grandparents are Asian or Hispanic), or whose lives are perceived as somehow “less than,” perhaps because of a one-parent home, or two of the parents are same sex (which means not only, for example, a gay couple, but even a dad and a stepdad, or mom and a step-mom). They may also feature stories set in periods of history or accurately including events that make people uncomfortable (e.g., school desegregation, World War II internment camps for Japanese Americans).

Groups of people who intend to limit what other people can read have placed themselves on school boards and in community groups, and are determined to get these books off the shelves of schools and public libraries. I agree with those who say, “You have every right to decide what YOUR CHILD can read, but absolutely NO RIGHT to decide that for the rest of us, whether as readers or parents and grandparents of readers. These groups’ methods are fear-mongering and perpetuating outright falsehoods on social media and in town hall meetings about children being forced to read age-inappropriate books. Of course, they don’t simply target children’s books, they also go after young adult books and books read by adults from college level and well beyond.

The books on my shelves and in my eBook shelves are full of titles I’ve read throughout my life deemed inappropriate and even dangerous. I’m grateful every day for the teachers who introduced me to books, librarians who found books for me, booksellers who recommended books, a kind minister who encouraged me to read by buying me children’s classics, and for my parents whose shelves were full of all kinds of books and who, rather than censoring my reading, turned my choices into opportunities for us to talk about books.

Historically… well…

Framed!

Frames were what I forgot to get on my shopping excursion the other day. Fortunately on another errand with Tom and Debby, I was able to pick up a couple. I needed them for prints I received from Laurel Storey. Longtime readers might remember Laurel from LiveJournal, which is where I likely became acquainted with her through ‘Nathan and Dan (all in Canada, and I suspect their original connection might have been BookCrossing). Later, I followed Laurel on her blog Alphabet Salad, where I think she stopped writing around 2017, but by then, we’d connected via her Instagram, where we still interact. I like keeping up with all the adventures she and her husband enjoy (trips, music, art, restaurants, Lego® kits, photography, desserts, cats!).

I’m not sure when Laurel began pursuing her interest in Zentangle (quick explanation: the Zentangle Method allows an artist to create images using structured patterns, called tangles, by combining dots, lines, simple curves, S-curves, and orbs). Laurel is now a certified Zentangle teacher, who teaches and exhibits her art at the Walkerville Artists Collective Gallery in Windsor, Ontario.


No surprise that Vincent Van Gogh’s sunflower paintings, including this one from 1888, are among my favorites of his work, since I not only appreciate his art, I’m also a fan of sunflowers. I was delighted to see a Zentangle piece created by Laurel that was inspired by the Van Gogh painting, and I ordered a print.

 


(Sorry for the reflections you can see in the glass.)

When I received my order, she’d generously included another print that I also framed.

Here’s a bonus photo from Laurel’s Instagram of the crosswalk outside the gallery this past August to celebrate Pride. Pride Month comes again in June, but another significant date coming up on October 11 is National Coming Out Day, so it’s a good time to share this. I’m always happy to join other allies like Laurel in support of LGBTQ+ equality.

©Laurel Storey, 2023

Here are the two prints hanging over one of the windows in the office at Houndstooth Hall.

Thank you, Laurel!

Tiny Tuesday!

My newest action figure from FCTRY: ZELENSKY.

Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy is a Ukrainian politician and former comedian and actor who is the sixth and current president of Ukraine since 2019. Born to a Ukrainian Jewish family, Zelenskyy grew up as a native Russian speaker in Kryvyi Rih, a major city of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast in central Ukraine.
Born: January 25, 1978 (age 45 years)

Source: Wikipedia

Backdrop photo: April 2022 ©Joseph O. Holmes of original sticker art on wall by brooklynbitchbakery.

Tiny Tuesday!


“She’s An American Girl”
acrylic and glitter on 4×6-inch panel canvas and 8×10-inch back-stapled canvas, 2013

Wishing you a safe and satisfying Independence Day. I’m thankful for all we have, hopeful for a better world ahead, and grateful to artists who remind of us of both. Here’s a favorite song/video, and a favorite interview.

Button Sunday


July 2 is National I Forgot Day. Seriously!

True story–I didn’t forget what I wanted to say, but it’s taken me some time to figure out how to phrase it.

I’m open to anyone who wants to financially back my proposition to transform a nonexistent “wrong” done to me into a lawsuit and take it through the court system all the way to our highly dysfunctional, partially corrupt and perjurious, capricious and contradictory, Supreme Court of the United States. If you’re an attorney with an outraged reaction to injustice, hit me up for details.

If you’re not an attorney, forget this post. It’s your lucky day!

ETA: This should have been read in /sarcasm/ font.

changing my mind

I wrote a long post about the Neverending Saga and then I reminded myself no one cares and I deleted it. What might you care about? A dog? One of them ate part of my leather purse. I need a new purse now. There’s no way to know which dog, so I’m not blaming this one. This is just a recent photo of Jack in which he seemed to be deep in thought. It was taken before the Incident of the Purse.

Here’s the playlist for what I’ve listened to during writing sessions on Thurs/Fri/today.

Sinéad O’Connor: “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” and “Am I Not Your Girl?”; The Paris Sisters, “I Love How You Love Me Plus 30 More Hits”; Pancho’s Lament: Self-Titled, “Leaving Town Alive,” and “3 Sides To Every Story.”

And if you look at the below meme-ish things and wonder why I’m putting them here, I’m wondering who’s benefitting from all the hate being stirred up toward certain groups of people.
Continue reading “changing my mind”

Coloring

Since I’ve written most of the day, and I’m exhausted and I should be in bed, and I forgot to play music so I have nothing to show you that I’ve been listening to, here’s a random post about coloring.

I ordered a coloring page from an artist referred to me by a social media friend. The artist, who I knew only by her social media name “Duchess of Lore,” provided this Artist’s Statement back in March of 2022.

I am joining in on the #makersforukraine initiative. This piece features a Ukrainian woman wearing a vinok – a traditional Ukrainian flower wreath. These flower crowns are an important symbol of Ukrainian culture. I was inspired by the beautiful work of @third_roosters. The piece also features 2 common nightingales, which are the national animal of Ukraine.

Working on this piece has helped me channel my profound grief over the war in Ukraine into something tangible. As the granddaughter of Estonian refugees who fled Soviet terror during WW2, the horrors the Ukrainian people are facing now hit close to home. My heart breaks for everyone who never asked for this monstrous injustice, including the people of colour experiencing extra barriers in fleeing Ukraine and finding refuge due to racial injustice, as well the Russian citizens who do not want this war and face imprisonment if they protest – which many continue to do despite the consequences.

This piece is available in my Etsy shop as both a digital download and a physical print. You can also purchase a version with just the line work, so you can colour it in yourself. The link to my shop is in my bio.

All proceeds will be donated to The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal run by the Canada-Ukraine foundation @canadaukrainefoundation.

Only a couple of months after that, the artist had raised more than $1500 for the foundation from sales. I purchased a copy in the form of a coloring page in March of ’22. I didn’t start working on it until last month. I had to limit myself to short sessions because it’s very detailed, and I needed to be considerate of my eyes. I finished it today.


I absolutely stand with Ukraine.

I believe the artist is Elizabeth Lennox, and here is a copy of the original artwork as she created it.

Mood: Monday


Name that mood!

Ralph Fasanella, May Day, 1974
oil on canvas
Photo of screenprint © RoGallery

Reading Fasanella’s Wikipedia entry provides an interesting look at how an artist develops, is influenced, and how his reputation, recognition, and popularity can be swayed by shifts in politics.

Among other things, I was struck by this: In a press release regarding his death, John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, declared Fasanella to be “a true artist of the people in the tradition of Paul Robeson and Woody Guthrie.”

I discovered so much about Paul Robeson doing research for the Neverending Saga, and Woodie Guthrie has always been an important cultural reference for me.

About this painting in particular: Fasanella’s art was highly improvisational. He never planned out works, and rarely revised them. He said of his 1948 painting May Day, it “just came out of my belly. I never planned it. I don’t know how I did it.”

I suspect many writers can understand this, as well as musicians.