The transition from conception to birth is amazingly complex and mysterious.
The transition from birth to human adulthood is just as complex and mysterious.
Yet the most mysterious transition of all is the transition from human being to spiritual being consumed by love.
Few make this last transition, a transition that should be the goal of all life learning.
Our eyes have eyes.
Our hearts have hearts.
Our minds have minds.
Our spirits have spirits.
How else could we unravel the world and discover what makes us human in it?
Great artists unleash everything they know in their work, Michaelangelo did that on the Sistine ceiling. The Van Eycks did that on the Ghent Altarpiece. Diego Rivera did that on his great Detroit murals. Picasso did that on Guernica. William Kentridge did that on his animated drawings.
Art is the measure of the artist. Art is the measure of what the artist has the courage and endurance to give.
New autobiographies
Donald Trump: Look at me. No, look at me.
Melania Trump: Life is a Runway: No Clothes to the Very Best Clothes
The Kushners: Look Good, Accomplish Nothing
Rudy Guiliani: Law and Buffoonery
Mike Pence: My Life with Donny and Mommy
Lindsay Graham: Senate Slap Happy Lap Dog
Falling in love is just what the movies tell you it is. The first kiss, the first sexual encounter, the proposal and the wedding. That’s where the movie usually ends, but falling in love doesn’t stop there. It continues through the bumps, the day-to-day tussles and the little discoveries till at some point falling in love becomes being in love.
Being in love hints at the enduring nature of love. Being in love is wonderful but is no guarantee of staying in love. Staying in love is really honoring the solemn commitment made at the wedding. Staying in love is loyalty, duty, true intimacy, endurance through hardship, full acceptance of the lover—all of it.
No matter how many carols. No matter how many trees with colored lights. No matter how many cards. No matter how many presents. No matter how many Santas. If you don’t spend a least a little time thinking about the true meaning of Christmas, then it’s just another Xmas.
Donald Trump requires some new words be invented just to describe him and his antics. Feel free to use them in you day-to-day speech.
Asstrollnomical
Dick-tater
Narcissistopath
Pricksidential
Nutsodipsomaniacal
Mememenopath
Despicoraunchable
Pustulanatory
Obestial
Buttliar
Crotchalacious
This is what I’d like to see. A regiment of artists each carrying a bullhorn walking the city, pointing and saying: Look! Beauty! Look! Beauty! Look! Beauty!
After all, what are artists for?
From an artist’s perspective, there is nothing in the world that can’t be mined for its beauty.
Every ugly, brutal and evil act will eventually be called out for what it is. But beauty is honest from start to finish.
Don’t settle for pretty when you can have beauty.
Recognizing beauty in the world awakens something deep inside.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but true beauty is in the soul of the beholder.
Thump Mister Trump
On his quite ample rump
Kick out, Mister Lout
We’re tired of his pout
And his family gang
We’ll eject with a bang
And Melania too
Every dress, every shoe
Grabbed by the hair
Unglued from his chair
Oval Office then yearns
That integrity returns
Clean the whole place with care
Disinfect everywhere
Taco shells, fast food wrappers
In the bedrooms and crappers
DeVos and her schools
All the cabinet fools
Goodbye and farewell
To the President from hell
D oing the checkbook is no longer possible.
E asy tasks are difficult.
M emory is shot and repetition becomes the norm.
E ach day brings little signs of slipping away.
N oise and disruption cause confusion and distress.
T ime and place get muddled.
I ntelligence is eroded.
A nxiety is a constant companion.
If dementia was a longer word, there would still be much more to say.
Call me a grouch, but I’ll say it again. I’m not overwhelmed by all these celebrities who give their time and money to support good causes. Why? Because they get more press, more notoriety, their names on all kinds of things, bunches of accolades for doing something which ought to be automatic and expected and does not affect their comfort in the least.
But one of the consequences of covid is that the news media has begun to pay a lot more attention to ordinary folks whose contributions to their communities is extraordinary. Nurses, doctors, first responders, social workers, pastors, community organizers, artists, school children.
The ordinary citizen gives time and money not necessarily out of their excess. The ordinary citizen doesn’t expect attention for what they do. It’s just what’s expected of a decent person.
I hope that after this pandemic subsides, the news media will continue to give due attention to these ordinary extraordinaries.
Know yourself is a simple but powerful Socratic adage. It’s impossible to achieve fullness as a human being without accomplishing this task. But it isn’t an easy task. It requires reflection, failure, forgiveness, attentiveness and courage. And it only happens over time.
Knowing yourself means recognizing that you as a human being are inhabited, in some degree, by every bit of the spectrum of being human. You contain good. You contain evil. You contain pain. You contain anger and greed. You contain compassion. You know what I mean. You experience these. You live these. You are human.
In turn, knowing yourself in this way allows you to see and accept the full humanity of others. You meet them on their journey because you have made the journey.
This time of year children will be showered with gifts, part of the joy of the holidays.
But
Children need time and attentive listening.
They need help turning their concrete picture of the world into a rich and pliable one.
They need help building self-confidence--not trophies and empty praise.
They need role models to follow--and rebel against.
They need to discover that play is their job.
They need to experience the value of hard, honest work.
They need to learn how to fail gracefully.
They need to experience that giving is getting.
They need love delivered in words, touch and action.
Be nice.
Be kind.
Be fun.
Be true.
If you subtract all the life experiences that came from people who were nice, kind, fun and true, what would be left?
Last bit of nonsense. I promise.
Santa brings presents
And lots of good cheer
He loves all the cookies
And bottles of beer
But he does so much more
When he comes for a visit
You’re probably thinking
So tell me what is it
Well, down through the chimney
And up in a flash
He cleans out the chimney
Of soot, cinder and trash
While the reindeer are waiting
In the garden they poop
To fertilize the veggies
That will go in our soup
If a shingle is loose
He’ll tap it down too
And cleared snow from the driveway
As away that he flew
When he stops for a gas up
He’ll buy some beef jerky
And some snacks for the reindeer
Cause their diet is quirky
He supports local business
With his time and his money
And that’s why dear Santa
Is a helpful old honey
Ding dong ding dong
Someone at the door
The man was dressed in red and white
His beard hung to the floor
His sleigh and dozen reindeer
Were parked upon my grass
His load of wrapped up presents
Left me quite aghast
Hello, he said, champagne for me
The reindeer need snack
We’re hardly half way through the trip
And I’ve trouble with my back
Your chimney’s filled with soot and muck
I couldn’t wiggle down
Loose shingles made the reindeer slip
And the sleigh slid all around
He laughed and said, but that’s okay
It’s Christmas time, you know
Even dummies make me smile
When there’s colored lights and snow
So where’s the champagne that I need
Fa la, I’ll take the bottle
That will send me on my way
With joy and at full throttle
Dad was in the bedroom
Jumping on the bed
His feet were wiggling in the air
And the ceiling hit his head
Mom was making pancakes
Flipping big and small
Some flew out the window
Some stuck to the wall
Sis was in the backyard
Making mud pies with the dog
The postman brought a box
Of kitty cats and frogs
The frogs were hopping on the bed
And having fun with Dad
The kitty cats were chasing down
The kitchen mice we had
Grandma knocked and walked right in
To find the house a mess
“Oh, my!” she said, I have a frog
In the pocket of my dress
She screamed and screamed
And whacked it on the bean
And ran to do a back flip
On the backyard trampoline
BREAKING NEWS
Melania is offering a one million dollar prize to anyone who can build a protective shield that will keep all of Donald’s character away from Barron.
The Country Music Association has issued an urgent call for clichés. They are currently quickly running out of them for song themes.
Rudy Guiliani is seeking two million dollars for his role in the Borat sequel where he actually does pull his pants down.
Mike Pompeo reports that once he is no longer Secretary of State he will have the time to devote to his Noom regimen.
The Proud Boys announced that they have organized the Proud Girls, a cheerleader group that will perform at all rallies. Their costumes are now being designed by Melania’s hairdresser.
Many have experienced frustration and utter confusion in the study of mathematics. “I don’t understand it, and I don’t see why I need to know this stuff.” Well, here’s a true short, short story demonstrating…
The Power of Mathematics
In high school I was nominated to attend Pelican Boys State. We went to the State Capitol in Baton Rouge, LA to learn about government through mock elections and law making.
One day, when I entered one of the rooms in the government building, there were four boys, kneeling, pants down, their penises erect. They invited me to join their competition for who could ejaculate the farthest.
Being a good, repressed Catholic boy, I declined—a decision I regret to this day.
Why? Because I knew that at a 45 degree angle, the parabolic arc of the ejaculate would span the greatest linear distance. My love cannon, suitably angled, would have won the contest.
And that, my friends, is the power of mathematics.
If you experience a mental illness and come out healthy, you realize that that your brain concocts the reality that you experience as your own. Reality that seems so solid is very fragile. Reality that seems so clear can turn into a muddle. reality that seems fixed can evaporate in an instant.
Reality is a delusion, but it’s a delusion you need for your sanity. The brain runs the show, and we have to live with its contradictions and whims.
Boys will be boys. That’s a given.
Men will be boys. And that can be the end of it.
Men will be men. This is where the work happens.
Men will finally achieve equality when:
There is a “Masculine Protection Products” aisle at Kroger’s
and
Male pole dancers make as much as female pole dancers
and
Men can go to the office in a nice sleeveless summer shirt
and
Men can show affection in public as they want without shame
and
Did I forget anything?
We can’t dismiss the value of naked time. Gone with the clothing that protects us from outside forces. Gone with the uniforms that define us. Gone with the fashion that we use to depict ourselves. Forget concerns for hair or for the creams and oils for anti-this and anti-that.
Let go of vanity. Return to your day-1 outfit. Spend time with yourself, free in your own body. Nakedness for its own self.
So sleep naked. Lay around naked. Swim naked. Watch TV naked. Vacuum the house naked. And no, just wearing underwear doesn’t count.
Men.
Glory in your role as pack animal. For you cannot bear the burden of childbirth.
Men.
Glory in your role as seed bearer. You cannot carry the child, but you can sow and mow and row and tow.
Men.
Glory in your stereotypical role as the bumbling husband. Then your natural responsibility and skills will reap surprising rewards.
Men.
Glory in your role as doting father. Doting looks really great on FB and really ups your empathetic abilities.
Men.
Glory in your cooking skills beyond the BBQ grill. Chefs are really sexy these days, and it’s the manly thing to do.
Men.
Glory in your ancient role as hunter. Go fishing, kill rodents and spiders, trap raccoons and possums.
Men.
Glory in your manliness and manhood that are the gift of testosterone. Hormones are not forever.
A very few of us have the reach to embrace the whole world, learning to love everything in it. But each of us has the capacity to embrace a piece of it, a piece we choose to love. If we choose do this, this small love gives us to understand the power of big love.
The behemoths of government, religion and education can be demanding, constricting and rigid as they go about their job of creating structure in societies. The arts are pervasive and eternally present in their task of revealing and explaining what makes us human.
The behemoths and the arts are neither culprits or saviors. The behemoths can be oppressive or can give us the tools to save us from ourselves and the chaos we are capable of. The arts can be complacent or self-centered or give us hope, beauty and appreciation of our humanity.
We need both of these. We need to allow them to do what they are tasked to do, but we need to work vigilantly to make sure they are doing their tasks well. We need to recognize that they work best when together they collaborate in healthy and respectful balance.
The world is there, at your feet
Take a piece, a chunk
Or the whole thing
But be reverent
That what’s it’s there for
Fear is a phantom
Debilitating and dead weight
Even if it’s bitter
The world is sweet
And all you have until
You unravel it into
Raw clay in your own hands
So shape it, pound it
Make it what it has to be
The same world, the new world
Your body in another land
Hair matted and full of lice
Eyes milky and unfocused
Cheeks chapped and raw
Teeth rotting and yellow
Neck and shoulders with insect bites
Chest sunken
Stomach distended
Hands calloused and black
Genitals with a rash
Legs thin and wobbly
Feet with bleeding sores
Your body in another land
People say, “I’m just one person, what can I do?” The reality is that everything human beings have ever imagined, built, organized or created has been the consequence of one person taking the lead. Each of us has this capacity to act in and on the world in the way we choose and as we are able.
Hymn of the Christian Right
My Jesus saw refugees on the road and ran and closed the gate.
My Jesus met the meek and gave each of them a gun.
My Jesus met the woman in trouble and told her to just get on with it and have the baby.
My Jesus saw the power of white people and became white also.
My Jesus met the poor and told them they should stop being so lazy.
My Jesus wants me to be wealthy and tells me to have an Amazon.com Christmas.
My Jesus can walks on water to chase the immigrants back across the Rio Grande.
Hold out your arms
So I can stack the bodies
Of the dead children in them
How many can you carry
Before you are crushed
Under the awful weight
No, instead, hold out your arms
So I can stack the grief and loss
They weigh more
A legacy stolen
The future with a gaping hole
We thought would be filled with flowers
I didn’t spend more than 40 years being a serious artist just to be weird, quirky, stylish, obscure, edgy or any of that. I spent those years in genuine effort trying to make sense of that piece of the world offered to me by my education and my life experience.
I believe that this work is worthy work, work that deepens the humanity of my art and my own humanity at the same time. This is not a selfish process because any effort by anyone to discover their humanity is a gift to the world.
I believe it is honest to see art and to make art in this way.
All men are not created equal. Inequality starts at conception. After that, it’s all up to us.
Children are built to need love, but adults are not always built to give love. Haven’t you noticed?
The task of older people is not to go quietly and cooperatively into a senior living setting. The task is to assess the wisdom gifted by age and volunteer it, offer it or inflict on young people—even if they don’t always listen at first.
The task of young people is not to accumulate stuff, have fun and practice me-ness. That will come. The task is to know enough to know there is wisdom to be had and to search it out thoughtfully.
The human brain is arguably the most complex and astounding creation of evolution. It is how we perceive, understand and negotiate the world—sensations, images, sounds, emotions, ideas, languages, everything. The brain builds the mind, stores memories and is the gatekeeper of our consciousness. It ‘s ready at birth to do its work. It assembles the mind mysteriously and lets the mind crumble away mysteriously.
For all its wonder, the brain is also the source of devastating mental illnesses. It can distort the world, wash the mind in darkness and even call for the execution of the self.
This is what we see in the current world of stress, addiction, isolation and COVID. This destruction happens in all ages, economic classes and races. Our nation is killing itself and its spirit in so many ways, and the suicide rate is one clear measure of that.
I have been a professional artist for more than 40 years. I have done all that a professional artist ought to do—national and international exhibitions, teaching, curating shows, mentoring young artists, getting work in museum collections, giving lectures, volunteering for art causes. I have worked in numerous 2-D and 3-D media as well as performance, text, public art and video. In that time I have maintained a coherent vision in my work.
And still my studio is filled with quality work that I can’t sell at a fair price. And I know plenty of artists like me in the same predicament, with studios full of topnotch work that they have to curate.
So I ask myself, where does all this work wind up when the artists die? Does it float up to art heaven? Is there a giant underground vault maintained by Goodwill where it is stored? Does it become just another commodity with a shelf life? Is it waiting for a PhD candidate in art history to find it and resurrect the life of the artist? Should there just be an annual bonfire of unsold art?
Do you have any suggestions?
Some thoughts:
The societal issues of the campaign—violence, policing, racism, inequality—sometimes seem less crucial to me than figuring out how to combat the fear and ignorance that are the fuel for Republican popularity.
How can any Christian buy the argument that Donald Trump is the savior of anything when his life repudiates every one of the Ten Commandments?
I believe that at one time political parties offered different visions of how to build the best America. Now they offer combative visions that they use and forget the American people in an effort to gain personal and party power.
It eludes me how easy it is for Republicans under Trump to lock their consciences in the basement.
How many times must we experience the butterfly effect of violence? One event explodes into national or international protests. Then the same events follow every time. Press frenzy before the complete picture is evident. Peaceful protests that turn violent and lead to looting and arson. Heavily equipped police face-to-face with ordinary citizens. Politicians fanning the flames for personal gain. Is this necessary for change to happen?
The Republicans will throw “socialism” at the Democrats even though all Americans benefit from some major legislation that is socialist at its core. They will try furiously to hide the term “authoritarianism” that is at the core of the Trump view of the governing. Americans have to be educated to see this at every turn.
Trump has drained the swamp. And he has filled it with vile and stinking excrement.
We have to have hope and do the work necessary to ensure that we build a government that really does make America great again.
That body next to you
In bed is flesh
Telling tactile stories
Accumulated over decades
Intimacy is the measure of love
Interrupted by twisting and turning
And the small distances between
Sometimes canyon wide
Conversations in the dark
Kids, money, why? Say it
Minutia, but always at the end
I love you
We imagine that coitus
Is the main event
It’s not
Just that body, warmly there
Next to you in bed
In these times “the American people” is a fiction. We are a country divided, even fragmented, even shattered, even splintered. “The American people” is used by politicians of both parties to pretend full support for ideas and programs, which have purely partisan character and intent.
“The American people” does take on a transitory meaning when there is a major natural disaster or a 9/11. Americans become one and focus on solutions and healing before they forget and split apart again.
America is a socially, religiously, ethnically, culturally and racially diverse nation. So it is not unexpected that we face many obstacles to being one people. So maybe “the American people” is just a dream. Still it is a dream worth believing in and working toward, bringing with it benefits we can only imagine and hope for.
The womb is cozy, warm
But all of us get outed
Taking all the umbilical considerations
With us as we become us
Sometimes pain
Sometimes eyes forced open
Sometimes the prodigal son
Sometimes meeting the trickster
But always mystery if we pay attention
There are other wombs
Like a warm eucalyptus bath
Or wrapped in the Adagio for Strings
Or in the arms of a lover
But none are available in the grave
God is real to the degree that justice and love are real. We struggle to define all of these elusive things. We fail as human beings if we do not believe in them, and believe in them with fierceness and humility. We remain empty if we no not take them into ourselves.
My sleeping brain dreams
With its own absurd logic
A dance of fears
And the oddest juxtapositions
Dramas juggling yesterday
And the never happened
I fall asleep hoping for
The dream of flying, again
But mischief, hurt and terror
Come tonight
Ferociously uninvited
Holding me to the pillow
Dreams have morphed into myths
And changed the world
And filled men with the madness
Of right living
Dreams just make me wonder
If I am never not dreaming
One of the best art exhibits I ever saw was “1492.” This exhibition presented some of the greatest art produced by all the cultures making art in the year 1492. The range of objects and imagery was staggering in quality and diversity.
In our times there is also a great diversity of art, especially since we are living in a world of more than 7 billion people with wide freedom of expression. In the midst of such visual clamor, critics and art historians take on the task of producing some kind of order and sense. The result is usually naming isms and movements, clustering artists together and identifying--de facto--which art is most significant.
These decisions filter down very often to educational, museum and coffee table book contexts. The artists missed in the ism sweep are often passed over or forgotten until individuals with an appreciation for those artists give the time and effort that leads to rediscovery.
Art presents itself as all about the artist who is original, marginal or “out there.” Yet these are the artists often excluded or forgotten in the identification of style or fashion. To me, this is the reason why excellence should be a primary criterion in asserting the worth of art.
For the ancients and for the indigenous peoples, nature was intimately connected to the gods. Over time, we have dislodged God from a place in nature, trying conscientiously to find a place for God.
Nature did not intend us or have any expectations for us. We just happened. We are the ones who assigned ourselves the task of overseeing nature—the domain that gave us life.
It’s time to recognize that even if we take God from nature, sacredness in nature still remains. In our time, to believe that God is creator of the world means we are poisoning God, choking God, raping God, mutilating God. This can make God as creator very uncomfortable.
But sacredness remains. Sacredness makes sense. Sacredness can be sustained as a vision. Sacredness is true.
Here we are.
America is being shamed.
Many are showing their lust for power.
The chance to regain a conscience is being thrown away.
The most powerful man in the world is dangerously erratic.
Ears are deaf to calls for healing.
Everything is oppositional.
The law had its pants pulled down.
Lying seems effortless.
Hope is behind a high fence.
The world is gasping, sighing and breathing in relief all at once.
Heads are rolling.
Heads are spinning.
Heads are aching, aching, aching.
With a new name, I think I need a new outfit… especially if I get invited to the Inauguration.
(a) a black beret, a sterling silver nose ring, a skin-tight black sleeveless shirt with aluminum foil trim, jeans with no knees, Keds, a fluffy fake leopard fur belt
(b) a sky blue Lycra body suit, a Himalayan cap, a black thong, rainbow colored wrist bracelets, gold bling necklaces, knee high boots
(c) a Che Guevara cap, a red neck bandana, camouflage shirt, cargo shorts with studded pockets, ammunition belt, combat boots with colorful laces
(d) jeans, pink leather chaps, Tom of Finland leather vest, red cowboy boots, pink leather wrist cuffs, cowboy hat with snakeskin band
(e) yellow silk shirt with balloon sleeves, sleeveless argyle sweater, green corduroy pants, striped elastic belt, white wing tip shoes
My backyard in November
Even the dry brown oak leaves
Are afire in the late evening sun
The bushes are yellow
But mostly red, red
The lawn is a patchwork of grasses
Weeds and errant perennials
The Virgin Mary, out from behind the irises
And summer milkweed
Commands the yard again
Winter will come, and the fireplace
I will wait impatiently
For snow drops and crocus
And the explosion of flowers
We call spring
It’s done. Now both sides must act with humility and generosity if we are to right the American ship. Hope, courage, leadership, competence and compassion are the qualities that will move us forward. But this will not happen magically or easily. It will take hard work—damn hard work. Every day.
This not something that will happen only from the top. This is a task for every politician and every citizen. Each individual must decide what is possible for them to contribute.
So celebrate and then nose to the grindstone.
Each of us struggles to reach a balance between our needs and wants. For children needs and wants are the same thing. For marketers the task is to convince us that wants are needs. For many people in debt, wants trump needs. For savers needs are clear.
In many cases the wants/needs issues have a moral basis. This becomes clear when we vote for elected officials. If our vote is one that is based on our wants, it can seem selfish action. If our vote is one that is based on our needs, it can be seen as an action in support of community.
This is an important consideration in a culture which is too often: “I want it. I deserve it. And I want it now.”
I think it’s time for me to get a new persona. Which new name?
Gary Gaga
Spice Boy
DJ Gaffney Thug
G-yonce
Art-Delicious
G Rap Daddy
Dixie Dick
G-punk Malicious
Garyatric
Buster Cred-Z
Gary Man Rocket
What I’ve been thinking
The most destructive addictions in America are not drugs, alcohol and sex. They are consumerism and convenience.
I have been recycling, composting, growing some of my own food, conserving water and energy for decades. I still create too much trash, and all of it can’t be recycled. I just think we will just slowly choke ourselves to death.
Politics is about government. Government is about laws. Laws create order and are not moral imperatives. We need to sort out our values first. Politics can’t do that.
When did we stop expecting integrity and leadership from those who govern us?
Less talking, more listening.
Make MAGA mean what it really should mean.
Though there have been many casualties on the way, history shows that the good is the most powerful force.
Freedom should not be me-dom
America is not first when America is worst
Patriotism is never hate-triotism
Anti-abortion should not be women’s extortion
American fear brings the dictator near
The racist wars are American scars
The privileged cower at the loss of white power
From the beginning of the American democracy there have been those who have tried to undermine the core values of this nation and its Constitution. In recent times we have had Huey P. Long, Strom Thurmond, Joe McCarthy and the Ku Klux Klan, for example. Now we have Donald Trump.
Trump, like these others, bullied and lied their ways to a power place that is about personal power and out-of-control ego. Worse, they are capable of bringing out the demons of racism, inequality and privilege.
You’d think we would have learned our lesson after all this. But racism, inequality and privilege are stubborn weeds. We mow them down, and they grow. We mow them down and they grow. When they are fertilized with the shit of power for its own sake, the thicket is ugly.
I died because
My brain is dead
One day we will be able
To mine the neurons still busy
Alive and remembering
They will still speak
The ways we lived love
And raised the children so they
Needn’t undo our job
In adulthood
And surely there would be enough neurons
To recall the ten thousand little things
That made our lives our own
The box you want to think or live outside of is not a box. It’s a home, a house of worship, a school, an office or government building. A home can be seductively comfortable. A house of worship can be rigid. A school can be dogmatic. A building can demand conformity.
It’s the individual who determines when these boxes are constricting or oppressive. It’s the individual who measures the risk and summons the courage to push out of the box. It’s the individual who sees life expand.
Because so little is known about the historical Jesus, we have created many a Jesus over time and for our needs.
Fairy tale Jesus: a white-people Jesus who is there for us, saves us and helps us keep our privileges
Bro Jesus: a friend who walks beside us, lets us walk in his shoes, answers our prayers and give us an elbow bump when we need it
All-suffering Jesus: helps us understand pain and suffering as an inescapable aspect of life, and takes on our suffering even unto death
Radical Jesus: teaches us how to be out in the streets, to be passionate about righting wrongs, to do whatever is required for change.
Love Jesus: invents love in a new guise, explains it to us, calls us to it and then shows us its ultimate consequence
WWJD Jesus: lives in a bracelet around our wrists and acts as our conscience in a time of big and small moral crises
Your personal Jesus: all of the above and more Jesuses are with us. You can make Him whatever you need Him to be. If he’s real to you, you’ll know it.
Suppose we believed that there was a gossamer sphere high above the earth that trapped the souls of all the dead.
Suppose we believed that someone was tasked with recording every act of genuine love.
Suppose we believed that every leaf of every tree had its own name.
Suppose we believed that everyone had an inner voice that sang with beautiful intensity.
Suppose we believed that we were God’s well-behaved children.
Suppose we believed that a billion years ago evolution planned you and me.
Suppose we believed that humanity was one big dance.
Suppose we believe in the magic of believing.
Practice singing this song:
Ding Dong the Trump is gone
We dumped the Trump
The Trump is gone
Ding Dong
The wicked Trump is gone
Ding dong he’s out the door
His rump is kicked
He’s very sore
Hi Ho the Derrio
We went high when he went low
We kicked the rump of Trump away
Donald Trump has earned a Biden landslide. Don’t ya think?
Donald Trump has earned a presidential library right in the middle of Disney World. Don’t ya think?
Melania won’t need all those clothes, so why not donate a bunch to Goodwill? Don’t ya think?
We can’t wait for Eric and Don, Jr. to write their dad’s biography. Don’t ya think?
Ivanka needs a new look for her new life—maybe a pixie cut. Don’t ya think?
Luckily, Jared will no longer be in charge of saving the whole world. Don’t ya think?
Rudy needs a much bigger role in the next Borat movie. Don’t ya think.
Mike Pompeo will finally have time to do Weight Watchers. Don’t ya think?
Betsy De Vos will report to the Principal’s office for a long stay. Don’t ya think?
Do we act like we are:
(a) God’s special creatures
(b) God’s private zoo
(c) God’s circus
(d) God’s failed experiment
(e) all of the above
In the long history of evolution, nature has created life forms beyond counting. And here we are, its crowning achievement and its most intelligent species, on the brink of making itself extinct. How ironic is that?
We’ve been the chronicler of evolution, unraveling its past and unlocking its secrets. Now we are turning it on itself with dumb vengeance.
A number of people suggested I watch “The Social Dilemma,” which I recently did. It is very informative and very frightening in the way in which it lays out its arguments for the dangers of AI and the strategies of corporate tech.
For older people like me social media is not like the air we breathe as it is for younger people. What’s to be done to address the dangers of the effects of social media on our lives? What’s to be done to counter the way psychology is used to seduce and manipulate us?
For me, the answer is right in front of us. It’s making sure we do the demanding work of acquiring high personal standards and a clear moral compass. All of the intended assaults of social media can be defeated this way.
Contemporary art and the media
--Pay attention to how contemporary art and artists are used and portrayed in TV programs and you will see how contemporary art is seen in contemporary society.
Writers and actors hawk their latest efforts on late night TV. Where are the visual artists?
--Pay attention to how contemporary art is used as a backdrop, a status indicator, a foil in TV commercials and how no one pays attention to it or comments on it.
--Pay attention to how absent any coverage there is of contemporary art in the news media, except perhaps wall murals in the background.
--Pay attention to whom local news media care about. A professional artist in a lifetime will not get the airtime that a high school quarterback will.
--The voice of the contemporary artist seems to bounce around within the visual art community but never really escape.
Humans have always anticipated and feared the end of the world. Now is the first time they could bring it about by their own hands.
We are in the midst of a slow burning apocalypse.
Change is fundamental to the nature of nature. There are always enough restless and creative human beings that human culture will always change.
Though resisting change may seem comfortable, fearing change is a waste of life energy. Embrace change as natural and inevitable. Look for the change that you can ride. Accepting change can be the change that helps you grow.
Galaxies spinning languorously don’t notice us at all. Evolution splurges in diversity,
but didn’t intend us. Natural disasters don’t look at maps first. The tiniest particles of matter don’t know they live in our bowels.
We’re just not that important. Our glorious insignificance could make life trivial and meaningless, but instead we make making meaning life’s purpose. We tell our stories, make our discoveries, create our realities and buy our own delusions.
We don’t trample down hope or curiosity. Even if we are unintended, we intend.
That’s something evolution couldn’t expect, but we have delivered.
Black people have gone from slavery to 3/5 of a person to emancipation to segregation to integration to free in a world of discrimination and white privilege. It’s clear there is still much work to do to tackle racism and inequality in American society.
In the same time frame white people have gone from hypocritical Christians supporting and benefitting from slavery to willing to die for the nation to supporting emancipation to working in the courts and the streets for racial justice, all the time pushing against white privilege.
What this says to me, and what is not often noted, is that the journey for equality for the black people is intimately linked to the achievement of white people of true Christian behavior and deep moral character.
With the potential elevation of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, there is again much discussion of abortion. In all of this discussion, there is almost no consideration of the male voice and the male role.
This is odd since the male is an equal partner in the start of any pregnancy. Males play the major role in the drafting of legislation related to abortion. Men are the fathers, lovers, abusers, rapists, the ones responsible for child support.
The woman is legally given the right to choose the future of the child independent of the father’s wish to be childless or not. But once the child is born, the father becomes responsible again. The result is a large number of single mothers raising children, children without fathers in their lives and adequate financial resources.
The law tries to sort out issues of responsibility and consideration for the well being of the child if it is born or of the mother if it is aborted. And this to me is where the law struggles to determine the moral dynamics of any situation where abortion is considered.
Of course, human life is sacred. But that is not only an issue of abortion, but of hunger, war, human trafficking, economic deprivation and lack of health care. The legal, moral and ethical considerations regarding abortion are not easy. But men have a clear responsibility to approach this issue with a broad, empathetic, educated and open minded view.
I’m in favor of as much art being put into the world as possible and of as many people as want to expressing themselves through their art. Social media and its range of public access have made it much easier for individuals to make themselves visible to wide audiences—think TikTok and Instagram, for example.
These expressions can be fun and entertaining. They can allow people to say, “This is me,” and “This is what I can do.” But they can also swamp excellence in a sea of mediocrity and make mediocrity seem like excellence.
I admit that this can seem elitist, but I don’t think it is. I believe human beings have improved their lives and deepened their understanding of themselves as a result of their search for excellence. (Excellence steers the boat, mediocrity rows the boat.)
Excellence is not mere talent. Excellence is not arrogance. Excellence is the consequence of hard work, focus, inspired vision, courage and unrelenting drive. The pursuit of excellence is a gift to all of us.
Humans have been able to build amazing structures. Unlock the secrets of the universe. Understand the biggest and the smallest pieces of matter. Learn how the body and the brain work. Create masterworks in all of the arts. Explore other worlds, landing human beings on them. Cure diseases and heal with great expertise. Feed and house billions of people. Lay out and maintain cities of complexity and grandeur. Fail spectacularly but never give up.
All this and we still struggle to love one another.
Obesity in America?
Walk the candy, cookies, snacks and soft drink aisles in any American supermarket.
Race in America?
How many Americans would be comfortable living in a mixed race neighborhood?
Policing in America?
How many people voted against police levies and won’t come forward as a crime witness?
The land of plenty?
How many children in America are homeless and hungry?
Democracy in America?
Obstacles to voting, truth suppressed, dysfunctional Congress, flabby patriotism.
World leadership?
Allies uneasy, laughing at us behind our backs, emergence of China and Russia
COVID crisis
America being first at being worst.
From the time that Donald Trump descended the escalator on his way to the Presidency, I think the God of Decency has gone on sabbatical and left America in the hands of a brigade of reveling satans.
Would you rather die by drowning or hanging? That’s how many voters in 2020 in America feel.
We live in the most technically advanced and wealthy nation in the world. Yet we are under leadership that has failed to control COVID. People are motivated by fear instead of hope. Racial and economic problems are not solved but are magnified to create division.
We have been trained to fear. To arm ourselves with guns and ignorance. To put our security in the hands of authoritarianism. To turn our backs on justice and equality. To close ranks.
Think of the person you admire most in the world. What are the aspects of this person’s character? Now do the same for Donald Trump. What does this mean for you?
I think it’s very possible that Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” are those voters who tipped the balance for Trump in 2016. And this may happen again if those same voters don’t have their concerns acknowledged. While the legitimacy of these concerns may be arguable, they drive a mass of voters.
Trump voters must realize that the fear of socialism is not nearly as dangerous as Trump’s consistent drive to authoritarianism, with behaviors that reflect those of Putin and Kim. Trump voters must realize that the swamp has not been drained but filled with corrupt and unqualified officials. Trump supporters must open their eyes to the swelling numbers of former Trump followers who are now critics.
Trump voters must acknowledge that the border wall has not even come close to being built and immigration has not been solved. Trump voters must realize that what’s happening in the streets of America is happening on Trump’s watch with nothing but talk by him as a remedy.
Trump voters must ask themselves if, under Donald Trump and a Republican majority in the Senate, America is really great again in the economy, in the streets, in our homes and on the world stage.
Patriotism, law and order, American values, privilege, racism, economic inequality—the list goes on—are issues that must be addressed, but not by rigid adherence to issues which can only be resolved by thoughtful consideration and hard work.
Teachers, students and parents complain about the excessive time and effort necessary for students to pass the mathematics, science, social science and writing tests for graduation.
For my money their regular classroom education should provide them with that knowledge. Then they would have time to prepare for tests in decency, integrity, honesty and citizenship.
We want love to be the defining force of the world. We sing love songs and write poems and stories of love. We try our best to love one another. But why doesn’t this work more often?
The answer is that love struggles in a world of hierarchies, castes, class and power. These social constructs are designed so that some people can use and control other people. But love requires respect for the dignity of others.
Many powerful stories of love are stories of love across ethnicities, races, social classes and nationalities. These stories often end in tragedy, demonstrating how difficult it is to bridge these divides.
We’re not angels. We don’t have wings. We are just humans stuck mucking around in our own human messes. We want to bring light and hope to the anger, hate, brutality, violence and greed that are of our own making. We know that it is up to us to do something.
It was essential to the life of many indigenous cultures to see the world as sacred, to live and act in a way that showed reverence for what was around them. It was important to their survival. For modern civilizations the idea of a sacred world can seem old-fashioned or even ridiculous.
But look at the world we live in now. Look at how we treat one another and our environment. Look at the consequences of decision-making based on a material vision of the world. Look at a world economically, socially and spiritually out of balance and harmony.
Take a little time to really stand in awe of the created world. Take a little time to imagine your actions in a world you saw as sacred.
Welcome to LoveHub, the Internet’s premier site for love porn.
Watch a son feed his ageing father.
View a couple fully give of themselves to ease the distress of each other.
Watch a man risk his life to save a drowning child.
Watch a single mother work two jobs to support her children.
View a teacher go far beyond expectations to help a homeless child.
Learn tactile responses to communicate love to family and friends.
Watch a woman wait with a mentally ill person until help arrives.
Watch a man tell his good friend, I love you, buddy.”
There’s much more to see on LoveHub, and it’s free.
LoveHub…Let us arouse love in you.
New services available in 2020
Beautiful Virtual You
Tired of that aged look? Disgusted with those wrinkles and sagging skin? Want a young vibrant look? COVID has kept you isolated. Friends have forgotten what you look like.
So let us create a new you. Send us a recent photo, and we will return a you with clear, radiant skin, beautiful long lashes, full lips and a neck to die for. This image will be yours to distribute freely. The Beautiful Virtual You is the you you deserve.
Spotless
We’re all human aren’t we? We all have those annoying little transgressions that follow us through life. Well, now, with our help, your life slate can be Spotless again. We’ll research the necessary government files and business and school records. For you, we’ll even do some hacking if we have to wipe get your record clean. Anything to make you Spotless.
We all deserve a fresh start.
You Rediscovered
Need a new identity? Tired of that old financial and emotional rut you’re in? If the FBI can create new identities for criminals, we can do it for you. Just fill out our personal interests survey, and let us do the rest. We will present three complete scenarios for you to choose from. Once you make your final choice, we will take care of the rest—transportation, documents, living arrangements and even a starter job.
Make that fantasy life come real.
Torso Tonsure
Men, you’ve replaced that unsightly bald head with a new head of thick curly hair. But what about that embarrassingly bald chest? You know you’ve always admired those men with virile hairy chests, so now you can have one of your own.
Just go to our website to chose from among the 200 chest hair patterns available. Once you make your choice we will send you all the necessary ingredients and instructions you need.
Today is Labor Day. Today we remember those who built the pyramids and the Great Wall of China and the magnificent Gothic cathedrals of Europe. Those who tilled the fields as serfs and picked the cotton and harvested the fruit while they lived in shacks and were ripped off by the company store. Those who worked in the mines and steel factories. Those who worked as child laborers and worked endless hours in sweat shops. Those who were beaten by hired thugs just because they wanted fair working conditions. Those who still work at minimum wage and barely feed their families. Those who work multiple jobs to keep their families above water. Those who still work diligently even as wealth pours into the coffers of the rich.
Happy Labor Day.
Overheard on the streets of America
“With this corona crap, I can’t party. I can’t get drunk. I can’t get all the sex I want. I can’t go to football games. What is my tuition good for anyway.”
“Black lives matter. All lives matter. White lives matter. That’s why I moved into a gated community.”
“Donald Trump is a lying, cheating, narcissistic, bully. But Joe Biden is a Catholic, so as a fundamentalist Christian I have no choice but to support Trump.”
“Me and my girlfriends thought the Republican Convention was great. So many women speakers. And their clothes and heels were so beautiful. I loved their hair and makeup too.”
“I’ve seen them on TV, and some of them are good actors. But I had never seen one on my street. I felt a little anxious until I checked to make sure my gun was loaded.”
“I’m free to not wear a mask. If I go into a bar, people are free to get out of my way. This is America, and there’s plenty room for everybody.”
“I’m not sending in my ballot by mail. I hear they have special X-ray scanners that can check your ballot to see if it’s Republican or Democrat. And the scanners are made by Louis DeJoy’s company”
“I heard from a QAnon friend that Donald Trump is the secret messiah, and that when the end of the world comes, all believers will own a golf course and have a trophy wife.”
Some people sleep with hate under their pillows.
Some people carry a backpack filled with hate.
Some people feed hate to others as a poison.
Some people use hate as a bludgeon.
Some people can never scream away their hate.
Some people use hate to hide their fear.
Some people coat their hate in a veneer of pleasantness.
Some people hate without admitting they hate.
Some people would be empty without hate.
Some people hate for a living.
Some people sleep with love under their pillows.
Some people carry a backpack filed with love.
Some people feed love to others as sustenance.
Some people use love as a blanket.
Some people can never stop the flow of their love.
Some people use love to conquer their fear.
Some people never cover up their love.
Some people love with humility.
Some people will never feel empty because they love.
Some people love as a calling.
I’m an artist.
So what does that mean?
It means that creativity is unrelenting…even in the little daily things.
It means that I’m curious and passionate…even obnoxious about it.
It means that I experiment, I fail, I learn, I question, I offer…even again and again.
It means that I find beauty in the world… and I want to celebrate that.
It means that I have a vision that I believe in…even if it’s “weird shit.”
It means that art reminds me that I’m human…and I want to share that.
It means that I want to have a conversation with you…if you have some time.
I think it’s time to move past the approaches we have been taking to racism and ethnic and religious discrimination. We speak out when one race hates another or one religion hates another or one ethnicity hates another.
But some whites hate other whites. Some blacks hate other blacks. You see my point. The focus becomes on the hate that divides us more than on the means of healing those divides.
Since the root of all of these problems is in the individual, the healing must come through each individual. How do we become successful loving people? How do we become compassionate and courageous lovers? How do we become the kind of individuals whose love is so powerful that hate and discrimination are no longer useful to us?
This kind of love does not just happen. It takes education, nurturing, practice, example and commitment. As a culture, we believe we just stumble into love, and there it is. No. It must be something a culture wants and is willing to commit to fully. This is thinking beyond hate and racism to the only genuine solution.
Two quick poems
I offer you an authentic piece of me
You offer me an authentic piece of you
This is the first step to saying we are human
I seek more authentic parts of you
You seek more authentic parts of me.
This is the first step to being in each other’s lives
I take some of your pain away
You take some of my pain away
This is the first step to showing we are one another
I say “I love you” and I really mean it
You say “I love you” and you really mean it
This is oneness pure and simple.
Nothing lasts forever
But some things linger
Everything must die
But we can invent heaven
Memories will fade
But they turn into dreams
The universe has not decided
But maybe our atoms will recall
