27
Dec 12
“Eleven” by Sandra Cisneros…
I’d forgotten all about this wonderful gem of a short story by Sandra Cisneros. I loved it the first time I read it and even more now.
The timid yet insightful narrator, eleven year old Rachel, has wisdom beyond her years, but also realizes that experience comes with age. Her understanding of the difficulty of growing up is fascinating as well as enlightening. Enjoy!
Please click HERE for the full text!
14
Dec 12
Bartlett Pear – Project Flickr: 50/52 Still Life
Bartlett Pear – Project Flickr: 50/52 Still Life, originally uploaded by James Milstid, aka PapaJames.
I love to photograph pears! For whatever reason, I think they’re one of the most sensual foods on earth. And I get to eat them after the photo session!
I shot this on a sheet of glass painted espresso brown on the back side. The backdrop is a simple piece of black fleece.
I lit it with a single 60W daylight LED lamp on a dimmer. I’d say its dimmed to more like 15 or 20 watts.
14
Dec 12
“A Bunch of Crazy, Ignorant Fools”
Thom Hartmann interviews Bruce Bartlett, Historian/Domestic Policy Adviser to President Ronald Reagan/Treasury official under President George H. W. Bush. Bartlett writes for New York Times, Financial Times, Fiscal Times, and Tax Notes magazine. This man is an old school Republican who realizes what the Tea Party really is: a bunch of crazy, ignorant fools.
Part 1/2
Part 2/2
27
Nov 12
The Three Graces… Joy, Charm, Beauty
The Three Graces, by Antonio Canova
The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. They were the special attendants of the divinities of love, Aphrodite and Eros, and together with companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo made upon his lyre.
In some legends Aglaia was wed to Hephaestus, the craftsman among the gods. Their marriage explains the traditional association of the Graces with the arts; like the Muses, they were believed to endow artists and poets with the ability to create beautiful works of art. The Graces were rarely treated as individuals, but always together as a kind of triple embodiment of grace and beauty.
In art they are usually represented as lithe young maidens, dancing in a circle.
23
Nov 12
Thanksgiving 2012
So, it’s the day after Thanksgiving, time to kick back from the festivities for a bit then gear up for the next big holiday, Christmas. It’s also Black Friday for so many shoppers who are willing to fight the hoards and save a few bucks on all the bargains offered by the retailers. No thank you… I’ll pass!
I’m in Arizona right now, away from the rest of my family, and planned on making my own Thanksgiving dinner. I was OK with it, we’d Skype for a while and then go take our post-dinner naps.
Then a few days ago my neighbors, Ken and Cathy, invited me to have dinner with them. I like Ken and Cathy and quickly accepted the offer. They’d also invited a couple other neighbors. Fawn is a delightful Canadian woman who moved to America 12 years ago. Alan is a very effusive 72 year old English man who moved here 26 years ago. He’s very proud of his becoming an American citizen 20 years ago. The conversations that ensued were lively and full of humor.
Oh-oh… The conversation turns ugly
Eventually though, the subject matter filtered down to religion and politics. Wow! I’d suspected that my hosts were somewhat conservative, but we’re talking uber-conservative religious right.
Ken started us off with the comment that we are feeling God’s wrath because of the sinful liberal agenda we’ve embraced and the entitlement society we’ve become. I was taken aback by his conversation starter. He’s a quiet man, but very outspoken about religion and politics.
Alan joined right in and threw in our immigration policies and cheered Arizona’s steps to curb the illegal alien problem. “Send them all back to Mexico. If they want to come to America, they should do it legally, like I did. But they (Mexicans) won’t do it because they’re not smart enough. They’re stupid, lazy people.” I came very close to getting up and leaving after that comment. I made a few rebuttals, but they fell on deaf ears.
And of course there was Obama bashing. Every tea-party issue came up… especially the so-called birther controversy. And now I don’t know how Obama is going to solve our economic crisis… I learned that he can’t even balance a checkbook. I also learned that our President is a wimp when it comes to foreign policy. And that he’s done nothing, accomplished nothing, and will continue to do nothing to move our nation back into prosperity.
Oh, and by the way, We knew where Osama bin Laden was on Bill Clinton’s watch. Clinton did nothing about it, leaving the time bomb for George W. Bush to defuse. And Clinton should have been able to get to Osama bin Laden, apparently we had the intelligence then and knew where he was.
When I asked why Bush didn’t get bin Laden, it was because Clinton’s lack of foresight ultimately allowed 9/11 to happen. Osama bin Laden went into deep underground and was impossible to track down. “Ahh…”,I said,”he must have been hidden very well. We didn’t find him until Obama became president.” The subject changed after that.
By the time I left, everyone knew that I voted for Barack Obama. Ken and Cathy were gracious hosts… they told me they’d pray for me.