Changing Places

Via Eschaton

It bothers me when people call undocumented workers “illegal immigrants”. Yes, they’ve entered the U.S. by an illegal procedure, but people themselves are not illegal. The shorthand of labeling people, in any form, leads to limited thinking about who people are, and any time we think of someone as “other” in some way, we create an excuse to think we are entitled to some privilege over them, for whatever reason.

All Americans are here from somewhere else. Native Indian tribes have the longest claim, but they, too came from somewhere else originally. The claims that we have to a particular place may be permanent, temporary, or “just visiting”. They shouldn’t define us.

Certainly a better process for immigration is needed, and a better way of protecting our borders. But punishing those who are here, legally or illegally, for taking low wage jobs, for trying to better themselves and their families, is not going to solve our problems.

Our largest problem is really the overvaluing of those at the top of the income scale, and undervaluing those at the bottom. Someone working 10 to 12 hours in a field certainly works harder, physically, than someone working 8 hours in an office. But that skill, that labor, is undervalued, so that we can have cheap food. Someone working 8 hours in construction is working harder than most CEOs, but their labor is undervalued so we can build houses cheaply. I know of one woman who is heir to one of the largest builders in San Diego, who gets $15,000 a month just for waking up in the morning. Is this really the legacy we want America to leave, where inheriting wealth is derived from the cheaply valued labor of others?

I’m not advocating communism or socialism but when CEO pay increases 24%, and workers pay increases 3%, something is horribly, terribly wrong in this country.

CEO pay soars in 2005

Median 2005 pay among chief executives running most of the nation’s 100 largest companies soared 25% to $17.9 million, dwarfing the 3.1% average gain by typical American workers, USA TODAY found in its annual analysis of CEO pay.

Via Bartcop…

The minute you walked in the joint,
I could see you were a man of distinction,
A real big spender…

By Danny Gregory

Another aspect of modern life is reflected in the last essay I wrote here, about the effects of globalization on our environment. The more homogeneity there is, the more we seek quirk and particularity in others and ourselves. If everyone’s wearing clothes from the same stores and eating food from the same restaurants, we have all the more need to make our own mark, to stand out from the crowd. While the world imposes consistency on us through megabranding, it is also providing us with a lot of tumult and anxiety. We are looking for answers and perspective and sitting down with a blank piece of paper and a pen is a great way to start looking.

It also seems that organized religion hasn’t managed to give us a strong enough sense of meaning in the modern world. I don’t feel that the Pope or the mullahs or the Christian Right are providing any answers I can relate to; instead it seems it’s up to me to get to the bottom of things and chart a path for passing through these troubled waters. Again, slowing down and meditating on the moment with a pen in my hand brings me peace and balance.

Why have you started journaling? And what role does drawing play in it?

I started to think about art journaling this year because of the work I did last year on blogging about the Tao. The Tao attracted me because it was a way to connect with the natural world, and for me, art journaling is a way to connect with the world as a whole, both natural and what we make of it. There is an aspect of writing and drawing about our lives that brings out not only what we may feel internally, but our connection to the world as a whole, and how our part of that world fits into it.

As Americans, we tend to be pretty self-absorbed, and like Danny, I don’t really feel that traditional religion really gives us a path out of that self absorbtion. Sure, there is “love they neighbor” and all of that, but for too many, religion becomes the excuse to sin, rather than the reason not to. If all can be forgiven, than our little daily trangressions become meaningless, right?

But, in thinking daily about our lives, how they relate to others and how we relate to the world, we are forced to confront ourselves. Did we really need to be unkind to someone, or ignore those close to us to satisfy our own desires, or selfishly acquire more and more while seeing every day that much of the world is starving, at war, or suffering from our high standard of living? In confronting these questions about ourselves and our nation, and our place, we grow and change, and learn every day what is working in our lvies, and what is not. And from there, we come to care about the larger world, and begin to ask how we, personally, can make it a better place.

To me, that is the power of journaling. And drawing forces us to notice what is really there, not merely what we imagine is there. We see through our drawings what things we are noticing, what is important to us. Sometimes, we can be very surprised by what that is. And that is the power of art in our lives.

Warja Honegger Lavater HomoSapiens

Great Posting at BibliOdyssey today on art books – check it out! And check out lots more cool art books at the Otis art books site.

TIME.com: “Why I Think Rumsfeld Must Go” — Apr. 17, 2006 — Page 1

Two senior military officers are known to have challenged Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the planning of the Iraq war. Army General Eric Shinseki publicly dissented and found himself marginalized. Marine Lieut. General Greg Newbold, the Pentagon’s top operations officer, voiced his objections internally and then retired, in part out of opposition to the war. Here, for the first time, Newbold goes public with a full-throated critique:

In 1971, the rock group The Who released the antiwar anthem Won’t Get Fooled Again. To most in my generation, the song conveyed a sense of betrayal by the nation’s leaders, who had led our country into a costly and unnecessary war in Vietnam. To those of us who were truly counterculture—who became career members of the military during those rough times—the song conveyed a very different message. To us, its lyrics evoked a feeling that we must never again stand by quietly while those ignorant of and casual about war lead us into another one and then mismanage the conduct of it. Never again, we thought, would our military’s senior leaders remain silent as American troops were marched off to an ill-considered engagement. It’s 35 years later, and the judgment is in: the Who had it wrong. We have been fooled again.

From 2000 until October 2002, I was a Marine Corps lieutenant general and director of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. After 9/11, I was a witness and therefore a party to the actions that led us to the invasion of Iraq—an unnecessary war. Inside the military family, I made no secret of my view that the zealots’ rationale for war made no sense. And I think I was outspoken enough to make those senior to me uncomfortable. But I now regret that I did not more openly challenge those who were determined to invade a country whose actions were peripheral to the real threat—al-Qaeda. I retired from the military four months before the invasion, in part because of my opposition to those who had used 9/11′s tragedy to hijack our security policy. Until now, I have resisted speaking out in public. I’ve been silent long enough. …

There’s nothing in the street
Looks any different to me
And the slogans are replaced, by-the-bye
And the party on the left
Is now the party on the right
And the beards have all grown longer overnight

I’ll tip my hat to the new constitution
Take a bow for the new revolution
Smile and grin at the change all around
Pick up my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I’ll get on my knees and pray
We don’t get fooled again
Don’t get fooled again
No, no!

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Welcome to Iran…

Via Hoffmania…

I don’t know why anyone is surprised by Seymour Hersh’s column saying these idiots want to use nukes in Iran. It was all in the PNAC years ago. Those of us who bothered to read the PNAC before 2000 knew all this was coming. Why the media didn’t publicize what these people wanted to do then still bothers me.

Just wait ’til they get to the biological weapons part – then we’ll see the real “shock and awe” at what these assholes are capable of dreaming up…

‘New methods of attack — electronic, ‘non-lethal’, biological — will be more widely available … combat likely will take place in new dimensions, in space, cyberspace, and perhaps the world of microbes … advanced forms of biological warfare that can ‘target’ specific genotypes may transform biological warfare from the realm of terror to a politically useful tool’;

Happy Birthday to Ronni at Time Goes By! Since Ronni was complaining the other day of the lack of songs for older people, I found this one for her:

We know an old lady, she tells great stories,
She’s seen things you’ve only read about in books.
She gets such joy, from filling us up
With her love and with the great food she cooks.
And after we’ve eaten, we sit by the fire,
She hums a song that’s from a far-off land.
I notice a photo of her as a child,
Imagine all that’s happened since then!

CHORUS:
Older people have so much to share,
Look in their hearts for the treasure waits there.
The key to unlock it is show them you care…
Older people have so much to share,
So much to share, they have so much to share.

The old man next door, he lives all alone,
He’s traveled through life many a mile.
It feels so good, when we visit him,
To see his face light up with a smile.

CHORUS

The hands of the young, the hands of the old,

Reaching out for hands to hold.

Love is a feeling between two hearts,

Age can’t keep us apart.

CHORUS

So much to share, they have so much to share.

This song is available on Vitamin L’s Walk A Mile CD.

Found at Songs For Teaching

Thank you, Ronni for all that you do – you do tell great stories. I love your blog and I learn so much from you!

UPDATE : Be sure to read Ronni’s post today on turning 65 – as usual a great read!

Dixie Chicks

I made my bed and I sleep like a baby
With no regrets and I don’t mind sayin’
It’s a sad sad story when a mother will teach her
Daughter that she ought to hate a perfect stranger
And how in the world can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they’d write me a letter
Sayin’ that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I’m not ready to make nice
I’m not ready to back down
I’m still mad as hell and
I don’t have time to go round and round and round
It’s too late to make it right
I probably wouldn’t if I could
‘Cause I’m mad as hell
Can’t bring myself to do what it is you think I should

The Cellar Image of the Day

Pakistani children ride a ferris wheel over a heap of garbage in a slum area of Karachi, Pakistan, reads the official WaPo caption on this one.

What a strange statement on humanity – that in the midst of this living condition, it’s worthwhile to spend a little effort to put together something to entertain the young ones for a few minutes.

Via Neatorama.

When you’re feeling down about your life, just remember – there are ways to have fun even when you have nothing. Look at the effort of these people to put together a ferris wheel from scraps to amuse their kids. How rich we are, and what a luxury to have time to feel sorry for ourselves in the midst of all that we have.

An Angry Old Broad

Dear Oppressed Christians,

I will begin to take your”concerns”about being “Oppressed” seriously(without laughing,promise)when the following things begin manifesting themselves:

1)Brand new state of the art Coliseums begin springing up,stocked with hungry lions.Along with commercials on the TV advertising”Sunday,Sunday,SUNDAY!!!!It’s the Christians vs. The Lions!!!Be There!Bring the Kids!Fun for the Whole Family!Sunday!Sunday!SUNDAY!!!!”.And if the whole thing is also available on pay-per-view,then yes,I’d have to agree with you,the whole nation has gone ’round the bend,and we have a problem.

Heh. Go read the rest – love it….

Because then, I believed.

And now, I know.

Namaste…

Women Bathing, Cezanne

Inspiration via Contagious Creativity (thanks, Kat!)

1.) A roof over my head today keeping me out of the rain that is pouring down outside – and the sunshine in between the rain showers.

2.) Two gorgeous golden retrievers at my feet to keep me company.

3.) The Tao, and the wonder of finding and exploring it with others.

4.) My wonderful husband and kids and extended family, who are so loving and caring.

5.) Hot showers. Sometimes my absolute favorite thing out of an entire day is a nice, hot, luxurious shower.

Yet another reason to like Russ Feingold – bravo, sir, for being brave enough to understand that same-sex couples have a right to marriage and family, too.

Feingold Backs Legalizing Same-Sex Marriages

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), a prospective 2008 presidential candidate, said yesterday that he thinks bans on same-sex marriages have no place in the nation’s laws.

Feingold said in an interview that he was motivated to state his position on one of the most divisive social issues in the country after being asked at a town hall meeting Sunday about a pending amendment to the Wisconsin state constitution to ban same-sex marriages.

Feingold called the amendment “a mean-spirited attempt” to single out gay men and lesbians for discrimination and said he would vote against it. But he went further, announcing that he favors legalizing same-sex marriages.

That puts him at odds with many prominent Democratic politicians who support gay rights but not same-sex marriage. Should Feingold decide to run for the party’s presidential nomination in 2008, his position would put him to the left of many likely rivals.

“Obviously, it’s a very difficult issue and evokes a lot of emotions,” Feingold said in a telephone interview yesterday. “I think it’s something ultimately that people throughout the country will accept, but it’s not an easy issue.” He accused the Bush White House and the Republican Party of using same-sex marriage as a wedge issue “to hurt Democrats who are against discrimination.”

The Wisconsin senator said he is prepared to work with supporters of same-sex marriage to ensure that it is legal in the future.

“Further steps would be appropriate,” he said, noting that his first priorities are to defeat the proposed Wisconsin amendment as well as a federal constitutional amendment that is expected to come to a vote in the Senate later this spring.

Portfolio 1 – Michael Dashow
Wage Slave

Every few months, the wonderful web site CGTalk holds a large Challenge, an art contest open to computer artists worldwide. There are two categories – 2D and 3D – and a theme, and artist are invited to not only come up with a great image for the theme but to also post their progress every step of the way. So we post our work and everyone comments on it and gives us advice, hopefully strengthening the art along the way. It truly is a multinational effort, with illustrators from literally all over the world, as well as skill-lvels across the board, too. The mid-2005 Challenge had the theme of ‘Master and Servant,’ and attracted entires including overtly dominant/submissive images, pieces about substance addiction, as well as genies, Frankenstein monsters, robots, and more sexy women with giant beasts than you can shake a stick at. I opted for a workplace theme, which many could relate to. However, I intermingled it with a bunch of H.P. Lovecraft overtones. This is the result, which was awarded an Honourable Mention in the contest.

Via Neatorama

TIME.com: Q&A: Tom DeLay Talks with TIME — Page 1

DeLay:My main point was that this country was built on morals and religion. Our greatest leaders were very strong believers. There is a connection between religion and politics, and religion and government. There has to be for this country to have accomplished all it’s accomplished and for its future. How many times have the great leaders—Ronald Reagan, Roosevelt, Lincoln, George Washington—have said there is a connection between morals and religion. And there has to be. The people that go to church understand that a country has to be based on some sort of religion and fear of God because they understand that.

“The government of the United States is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion” — George Washington

“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God.” — Thomas Jefferson

“On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another, for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man”
– Thomas Jefferson

“I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“The authors of the gospels were unlettered and ignorant men and the teachings of Jesus have come to us mutilated, misstated and unintelligible”
– Thomas Jefferson

“The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus by the Supreme Being in the womb of a virgin, will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter.” — Thomas Jefferson

“The loathsome combination of Church and State”
– Thomas Jefferson

“In every country and every age, the priest had been hostile to Liberty.” — Thomas Jefferson

“Religions are all alike — founded upon fables and mythologies”
– Thomas Jefferson

“All persons shall have full and free liberty of religious opinion; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or maintain any religious institution”
– Thomas Jefferson

“Dissent is the highest form of patriotism”
— Thomas Jefferson

“Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism”
– George Washington

“It will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deprive a man of his natural liberty upon the supposition he may abuse it.”
– George Washington

“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.”
– Abraham Lincoln

“It has been my experience that folks who have no vices have very few virtues.” — Abraham Lincoln

“I believe that every individual is naturally entitled to do as he pleases with himself and the fruits of his labor, so far as it in no way interferes with any other men’s rights” — Abraham Lincoln

“I care not for a man’s religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it” — Abraham Lincoln

“When I do good, I feel good. When I do bad, I feel bad. That’s my religion.” — Abraham Lincoln

“The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism – ownership of government by an individual, by a group,” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and senators and congressmen and government officials, but the voters of this country.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

“No business which depends for existence on paying less than living wages to its workers has any right to continue in this country”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“If I went to work in a factory the first thing I’d do is join a union.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“A conservative is a man with two perfectly good legs who, however, has never learned how to walk forward.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Today we are faced with the preeminent fact that, if civilization is to survive, we must cultivate the science of human relationships – the ability of all peoples, of all kinds, to live together, in the same world, at peace”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt

“Selfishness is the only real atheism; aspiration, unselfishness, the only real religion.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

“We’ve gone astray from first principles. We’ve lost sight of the rule that individual freedom and ingenuity are at the very core of everything that we’ve accomplished. Government’s first duty is to protect the people, not run their lives.” — Ronald Reagan

“I made a speech by that title [A Time for Choosing] in 1964. I said, “We’ve been told increasingly that we must choose between left or right.” But we’re still using those terms — left or right. And I’ll repeat what I said then in ’64. “There is no left or right. There’s only an up or down”: up to the ultimate in individual freedom, consistent with an orderly society — or down to the totalitarianism of the ant heap. And those today who, however good their intentions, tell us that we should trade freedom for security are on that downward path.” — Ronald Reagan

“If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. It is true that you may fool all of the people some of the time; you can even fool some of the people all of the time; but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” — Abraham Lincoln

“Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder.”
– George Washington

“I have not observed men’s honesty to increase with their riches.”
– Thomas Jefferson

“I hope I shall always possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an “Honest Man.”” — George Washington

Arizona Daily Sun

Two young men charged with sodomizing 18 boys at a youth camp last year have been offered a plea agreement that may net them little jail time and no record of sexual assault.

Clifton Bennett, 18, the son of Arizona Senate President Ken Bennett, and his co-defendant, Kyle Wheeler, 19, were charged in January with 18 counts of aggravated assault and 18 counts of kidnapping for the incidents, which happened at a youth camp last June.

The younger Bennett confessed to police that he and Wheeler sodomized the 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in at least 40 incidents, court documents show.

Yavapai County prosecutors now say they’ll drop all but one assault charge and likely recommend little or no jail time if Bennett agrees to plead guilty.

What is wrong with these people that they can’t teach their kids simple things like respect for other people? Sickening.

Fever – Trish Biddle

Never know how much I love you, never know how much I care
When you put your arms around me, I get a fever that’s so hard to bear
You give me fever – when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever – in the the morning, fever all through the night.

Sun lights up the daytime, moon lights up the night
I light up when you call my name, and you know I’m gonna treat you right
You give me fever – when you kiss me, fever when you hold me tight
Fever – in the the morning, fever all through the night.

Everybody’s got the fever, that is something you all know
Fever isn’t such a new thing, fever started long ago.

Romeo loved Juliet, Juliet she felt the same
When he put his arms around her, he said “Julie baby you’re my flame”
Thou givest fever, when we kisseth, fever with thy flaming youth
Fever – I’m afire, fever yea I burn forsooth.

Captain Smith and Pocahontas had a very mad affair
When her Daddy tried to kill him, she said “Daddy-O don’t you dare”
Give me fever – with his kisses, fever when he holds me tight
Fever – I’m his Missus, Oh daddy won’t you treat him right.

Now you’ve listened to my story, here’s the point I have made:
Chicks were born to give you fever, be it Fahrenheit or Centigrade
They give you fever – when you kiss them, fever if you live and learn
Fever – till you sizzle, what a lovely way to burn.
What a lovely way to burn.
What a lovely way to burn.

Words and Music by John Davenport – and Eddie Cooley

Yes, this is my homework for voice lessons this week – the Peggy Lee version. Fun, huh?

I am 65% Evil Genius.

Evil courses through my blood. Lies and deceit motivate my evil deeds. Crushing the weaklings and idiots that do nothing but interfere in my doings.

Take the
Evil Genius Test
@ FualiDotCom

OK, I retook the test. I feel better now.

I am 84% Evil Genius.

I am pure evil. I lie awake at night devising schemes of world domination, and I will not rest until all living souls bend to my will.

Take the
Evil Genius Test
@ FualiDotCom

That’s more like it!

Our hearth

So… this session of Artist’s Way is over, although hopefully the warm, rich community created will continue. So what have I gained from doing Artist’s Way in this online group?

Well, the group, mostly. I’ve certainly enjoyed seeing all the creativity, reading people’s stories and seeing so much inspiring artwork. I’ve enjoyed sharing some of the art I have done, and some of my other thoughts as the weeks have progressed. I didn’t do morning pages every day, but did them most days, and have gotten a lot further in my progress towards art journaling. I’ve discovered lots of great art journaling resources, lots of great artists, and started taking voice lessons, which is very exciting for me. Considering I haven’t done voice lessons in 30 years, that’s quite an accomplishment.

I didn’t always think about really having an artist’s date, although I did take some good ones. But even my ordinary outings became artist’s dates, as a new way of seeing the world opened up for me. To explain the photo in this post, for instance, one of the places I frequent sometimes for lunch is my local Panera. It has a large print on one of the walls of a painting with the word “Hearth” in it. I started to see all the words within that word – hear, ear, heart, earth, and of course, ART. I would sit and meditate on that painting at times, and listen to the voices around me, hearing snatches of conversation. One time I was reading Bruce Babbit’s book “Cities in the Wilderness” which is all about revising our national policies to preserve our watersheds and resources, when I noticed the word “earth” in hearth. It made me think about how our homes, our hearths, relate to the earth and the way the earth is our home, our hearth.

I didn’t do all the exercies in Artist’s Way. I did a few, but for me, having come through the journey I have, a lot of them felt redundant, and I am introspective enough to have considered already my past, my childhood, the many things and people that have led to where I am now, and to be at peace with all of it. I don’t have a lot of the issues that block other artists. For me, the main block is probably lack of space, even though Cameron says that is an excuse. But to not have a dedicated place to create art is limiting, for me.

I found my other big block is probably jealousy. I would often feel some jealousy about what others were doing, or the friendships they had, or silly things like how many comments they would get on a post. I felt jealous of those who had a studio space, or those who didn’t have limits created by family, or those who were already professional artists with a following. Now I find myself getting amused when I feel that jealous flare-up, and realize it is about my own ego and the idea that I “should” be doing that. And I can usually let it go pretty quickly.

I’ve had anger flare up at times – at my husband for limiting the time I felt I could spend journaling or doing art, at my lack of studio space, at myself for not creating something. I came to realize how deprived my little artist child really was, how much more indulgence I need to spend on myself. Having lost friends over being called selfish, I find it difficult to do that sometimes. I don’t like to feel selfish, but I know how cranky and out of sorts I can get without enough time to be by myself, and know it isn’t selfish of me to take that time, it’s necessary. What I’m finding now though, is that the space I need is also necessary, and it will be a challenge for me to figure out how to create that space or find space to rent or borrow. But, it’s something I’m going to have to do.

And lastly, I need to figure out where my next focal point will be. I have Camerons other books, “Walking in this World” and “Vein of Gold”, but feel I need a break from her process. I’m thinking I will work with Gwen Diehn’s “The Decorated Journal” and try a lot of different art journaling techniques to find what works well for me. One thing I’ve done while doing artist’s way is a lot of collage work, so I’m curious to try some of the layering techniques and other collage and mixed media techniques Diehn demonstrates.

And I need to work on my drawing skills. I find I’m comfortable with painting, but not drawing, and I tend to move towards doing the things I’m least comfortable with. I guess that’s different from the approach most people take, but to me, the joy is always, always, always in learning and challenging myself. And the one challenge that always continues to fascinate me, no matter what, is the journey within, and how to express that journey and help others to make it. And so, that journey, as always, continues.