How do we know

How do we know when a work of art is great?

How do we measure excellence in a work of art?

How do we aim for excellence if we can’t recognize it?

Why do some works of art endure and not others?

Why do some works of art have to die and be resurrected to be valued?

Why are some works of art locked up in vaults, completely against their will?

Why are minor works by great artists valued more than great works by minor artists?

What makes a work of art timeless?

Why do some works of art never cease to be provocative?

Is it necessary for works of art to be held to a high external standard?

Must a work of art eventually have to speak to a broad audience?

Should a work of art have expectations of a viewer?

Does a work of art owe any responsibility to its viewers?

Do any of these questions really  matter?

Art school

Art school is one of the very best ways to spend your early adulthood. Though you seem to be there for a career, you are actually there to start your journey as a lifelong creative. You learn languages of the head and the hand--and often of the spirit. Your task as a student is to explore the world and your place in it. In the process you explore yourself, supported by artist mentors.

Creativity urges you to question rules as  much as follow them as you question yourself as well. You are challenged by others doing the same thing. In the end you are left with a body of work which is a tangible measure of who you are.

HC #5

Holy Church of Get Off Your Ass and Do Something

Sermonette #5

The Gods sit on their thrones, but we don’t have that luxury.

The Gods give us a broken world, and we have to fix it.

The Gods create us as homo sapiens, and we have to turn ourselves in humans.

The Gods make us all different, so we can learn we are all the same.

The Gods are very serious, but we have to learn to laugh at them.

The Gods don’t expect perfection, so why should we?

We entertain the Gods, and they love us for it.

The Gods get upset when we don’t love their creation.

The Gods expect us to get off our asses and make a difference.

Lockdown lingers

Lockdown lingers, so I gotta stay busy. Yep, a new projects list.

1. Make a dried flower portrait of Dr. Anthony Fauci

2. Research the puberty rituals of Arctic tribes

3. Make an album of all the golf course shots of Trump’s fat ass

4. Knit sweaters for the squirrels in my yard

5. Memorize the speeches of Joe Namath and Tom Selleck in their  commercials

6. Rename all the dogs that appear on my facebook page

7. Make some prank calls: Do you have Prince Albert in a can?

8. Polish my candelabra

9. Rewash all my used plastic bags

10. Make up a sonnet to rival Shakespeare’s

Bananas

As a proud American, I thought I was lucky that I could get my free book on mesothelioma and could hope that Kelly Clarkson would appear in my kitchen. Just two examples of how much I am cared about and how much my needs are anticipated.

But now, as a male always in search of my maleness, I can buy underwear that’s temperature controlled and bulge enhancing. Finally I can stop buying all those bananas.

Outraged

We need to be outraged any time any person of any race murders any person of any race.

We need to be clear about what we want from policing and then support that with our time and money.

We need to demand legislative action on gun control.

We need to call attention to the social circumstances that lead to violence.

We need to own our role in the society we build.

We need to get out of our cocoons of convenience and comfort and make a difference.

We need to find authentic heroes to lead us to a better society.

We need to make our voices heard through our actions.

Police

Police “protect and serve” the communities that give them authority. But policing is responsive to the kind of community its government and citizens build. Policing in too many American communities must confront violence, racism, guns, drugs, mental illness and family dysfunction, among other issues, all reflective of the community itself and its values.

Certainly, policing must reform and improve, and this will surely help. But it ‘s not the primary means to making the necessary changes in community values. Policing must be a consequence of communities and governments enacting thoughtful and effective legislation, actions aimed at turning their cities and towns into ones that live the values they espouse.

After all, the community is the reason the police exist “to protect and to serve.”

Nice

I used to think that “nice” was a flabby word—easy to say, noncommittal, flabby. But then I began to notice that the people I thought of as nice were doing kind, generous, big hearted things, things that really made a difference, and they were doing them all the time.

So now I see the muscle in “nice” and try to be nice myself. Try it.

Education

The impact of the corona pandemic, which closed schools and required extensive online learning, is not what has really caused a crisis in American education. That crisis has been going on for a long time.

Educational inequality, lack of sufficient funding, cost of higher education, low teacher pay, uneven teacher training, lack of digital access for all students and, of course, Betsy DeVos.

But beyond that, education has lost its focus, especially at the post secondary level. Education has become primarily about careers and less and less about preparation to be a productive human being. Skills become more important than character.

Attention to athletics swamps the arts and sciences and becomes a primary identity of the college or university. Signifiers of achievement in academics don’t appear in the trophy case and seem only secondary accomplishments.

As schools struggle with how to reopen and how to educate, this may the time, not to just keep heads above water, but to seriously rethink what education needs to be and how it needs to be delivered.

Start with the belief that a quality, human-centered education for all is owed to every young person and that such an education makes America better for all.

HC #4

Holy Church of Get Off Your Ass and Do Something

Sermonette #4

Brothers and sisters, the couch is for the weary, not for the lazy. We’ve gotten a clear message that the world is broken. Cracked up like Humpty Dumpty. But unlike Humpty, it can be put back together. There’s no doubt it can be done. Human beings are always in the process of putting the world back together.

But it will take a lot of work, work that won’t get done while your ass is on the couch. Get the hell up. You’re a human being. The people out there are human beings. Live that in the world out there, and we’re off to a great start.

Black lives matter

Black lives matter.

All lives matter.

This is how I see it.

Every human life has worth and dignity.

Dignity cannot be taken away, but only given away.

Whoever takes away another’s dignity, forfeits their own dignity.

Worth remains, and this is why dignity can be restored.

This takes work.

And this is the age old story of fall and redemption.

This is what we must live out now. All of us.

Some thoughts

Some thoughts:

There has been a lot of news. There has been a lot of information. There has been a lot of statistics. There has been a lot of commentary. There has not been much wisdom.

There is no doubt that policing needs to be reformed in relation to violence and discrimination against African-Americans. But if we look honestly at American society, we need policing reform in relation to gun violence, sexual abuse, mental health, drug use, drunk driving, family violence and all the other ills of society.

And we also need policing, not only that citizens want, but that citizens are willing to pay for and work for.

We need a much broader social willingness to give up our wants to achieve the needs we express for society. While we are seeing irresponsible behavior by too many police, we also live in a permissive society that tolerates irresponsibility in its citizens.

For people to really work against racism, Americans will have to address their addictions to comfort (NIMBY), consumerism (I want it now) and convenience (me first).

In the streets

Jesus’ church was in the streets. He stirred up crowds and inspired folk to act and to believe in a new world and a new order. Jesus confronted the power of the Roman Empire and pushed into the cracks that had already begun to appear in that mighty power structure.

So we know history and we see how history continues to happen. We know how insidious power and privilege can be and how hard they can be to give up. The message of Jesus continually needs to be alive in the streets.

Right now we have a global non-denominational church, still in the streets and led by ordinary folks who are asking the same things Jesus did. Any change that will happen will depend completely on the will and the courage of each of us as we spend our own time in “the streets.”  

Power and wealth

Throughout human history, power has needed slavery to maintain itself—physical, emotional, social, sexual, military and economic. Serfdom, black enslavement, economic dependency, colonialism, farm workers, sex slaves, social discrimination and more. Every race has, in some form or another, enslaved its members or the members of other races.

Power needs wealth. Wealth needs human capital. Human capital loses its humanity as it serves power. Power is insidious. It’s a form of lust that leads to a lust for sex, money and control of others.

A food production system that abuses laborers is slavery. A corporation that requires its foreign workers to work in dangerous situations for low pay is slavery. A government that favors the few and the wealthy, does not fully demand justice and equality, supports slavery.

As a culture we admire wealth and fame in entertainment and athletics. We give these individuals power. We assume that power belongs to our elected officials as they acquire wealth and influence. This needs to change.

We need to expect and demand leadership from our elected officials. Leadership is generous. Power is greedy. We need to be much more selective with our heroes and the criteria we use to identify them.

A truly equal society—equal in respect, treatment and opportunity—is a threat to the powerful and wealthy, and they will do all they can to maintain their privilege. To become the society we want to be is in no way an easy task. It requires change from deep within ourselves—change of values and change of heart.

You know what

You know what?

I’m glad to live in a neighborhood where the folks who walk the streets are all races, many ethnicities, different sexual orientations, residents of a group home and volunteers who walk to keep the streets safer. Even many different breeds of dogs.

How about you?

HC Sermonette #3

Holy Church of Get Off Your Ass and Do Something

Sermonette #3

Brothers and sisters, I will never forget a sermon I once heard that was only 5 words long: What if God is black? That was it.

Well, who knows if God even has a color. But Jesus was a man of color. Remind yourself of that. Look a black man or a brown man in the face. Do you see God there?

Do you think heaven is segregated into souls of different colors and classes? Then make certain it doesn’t happen on earth. Do you think skin color matters in heaven? Then don’t make it matter on earth.

Amen

Black Lives Matter

I listened to an NPR interview with the incoming president of University of Maryland. The interviewer asked him how Black Lives Matter would affect the university in the fall. The president responded that the university embraces Black Lives Matter and its goals. That seemed a narrow and safe answer to me.

The answer I would have given is: A major task of our university is to help each student form a strong and viable moral foundation for their life as a decent human being. This would prepare each of them to engage any important issues that come with life.

I felt the president’s answer was a PR response instead of an answer based on the role and responsibility of the university.

Crucifixion

One more time it takes a crucifixion for us to pay attention to injustice.

Injustice that we knew in our hearts was there all the time.

So we are the ones who are now challenged wake up. We are the ones responsible for our own resurrections.

Violence

I attended the Cincinnati Citizens Police Academy and volunteered with Citizens on Patrol for several years, walking  and driving my neighborhood. I know a number of police officers and understand the range of social, medical, family and mental health issues they have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. This is something you learn when you begin to see inside the issue of policing.

I have no tolerance for the egregious and horrific examples of policing that lead to the bullying and death of any citizen. It’s past time to develop the right policies and procedures for professional 21^st century law enforcement.

We have to realize though that we live in a violent society that we ourselves have built. We tolerate violence in our homes and streets. We have a great appetite for violence in entertainment. We tolerate courts and legislatures that believe it’s OK for citizens to carry assault weapons in the streets and guns in bars and churches.

Congressmen listen more to the NRA than to their own constituents. So police must be as least as well armed as the criminals in the streets. The mental health worker is vulnerable against the abuser with a gun. The social worker is not prepared for dealing with guns in schools.

These are big problems, and attacking one them in part will not be effective in the  long term. We hope for solutions, but we don’t vote or volunteer. We don’t want to pay taxes because we believe the money is wasted; yet we want that perfect green lawn, 2 or 3 cars and the latest of everything.

Reality is a bitch, but we have to face it and face our part in the violent society we tolerate. There’s no other choice. Violence, poverty and racism make for a toxic soup.

Coverage

I’ve watched a great deal of coverage of the protests that have happened since the death of George Floyd. I’ve heard the words of anchors, authors, writers, commentators and editorialists.

What was frustratingly missing for me? The words and images of important visual artists. Why wasn’t Kara Walker or David Hammons or Glenn Ligon or Carrie Mae Weems or other visually powerful black image makers who have been active for years.

I saw murals and graffiti briefly mentioned or noted as a back drop to reporting, but it’s disappointing that visual artists are virtually ignored.

Personally

Personally, my main concern is not whether big time athletes can protest during games but whether the homeless have a voice that’s heard.

Personally, my main concern is not what the experts say we should do but what the ordinary heroes are doing every day.

Personally, my main concern is not what people hope will happen but what people right now are making happen.

Personally, my main concern is not how often people are washing their hands but how dirty their hands are with the hard work of change.

Personally, my main concern is not the fashionably dressed and made up commentators but the poor who struggle daily with how to be clothed and fed.

Personally, my main concern is not how wealthy individuals and corporations can part with their resources but how I can live my life without being a hypocrite.

Something we could use

This is something I think we could use now, but I don’t have the expertise to make it happen. Maybe you do.

It’s a program or app that first asks you to put in a head portrait. Then if you have Caucasian skin, the program gives you African-American skin. If you have African-American skin, it gives you Caucasian skin.

Then a set of questions appear for contemplation. For example:

In your new skin:

What does “privilege” means to you?

What is it like to walk the streets of your neighborhood?

What about the future for your children?

Do you want your old skin back?

HC Sermon

Holy Church of Get Off Your Ass and Do Something

Sunday Sermon

Brothers and sisters, though it’s not in the New Testament, I am certain that Jesus danced, probably at the Cana wedding feast. That is why we must all get off our asses and our knees and dance.

Find someone who is alone and needs another and ask them to dance. Dance joyfully, then take them to the snack table to eat and drink. Then dance some more.

Dancing is a partnership through which you gain a partner and become a partner. Among strangers, dance is a bridge to human touch. The bigger human dance flows from it.

At least, that’s how I think Jesus would have seen it from the dance floor.

Now love

The protests will end at some point. Actions, big and small, will follow. Laws, procedures, guidelines and policies will be written, all with the goal of defeating racism.

These actions will be social, governmental and legal directives that things must change, but any real and lasting change must happen in the heart. And this is the task of love.

But this is not greeting card love or romantic love. This is love that understands persistence. This is love that requires you love yourself to have the courage to love others. This is love that is its own reward. This is love that is not always seen or acknowledged. This is love that is not bounded. This is love that is fearless.

But this is not new information. The great philosophers and poets, Jesus, St. Francis, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Albert Schweitzer and many others have reminded us of this. Now is just another chance to listen.

Yo, white people

Yo, white people.

Call attention to problems by participating in protest marches. But solve the problems by actions, even small ones. The next day. And the next day. And the next day. And the next day.

Do your elected representatives know how you feel?

Do you have a friend who is black?

Have you hugged a person of color?

Have you taught or nursed a black person?

Have you socialized with a black person in your own home?

Have you had a boss who is a person of color?

Did you ever pass a black person on the street and call him “Sir”?

Does a black family live on your block?

Have you read a book by an author of color?

Have you addressed a prejudice that you didn’t even think you had?

Does your compassion and generosity extend to people of color?

Don't

DON’T TURN AWAY

LET COURAE DISMISS FEAR

WEAPONIZE LOVE

LIVE WHAT MATTERS

Privilege

Sharing privilege as wealth is generosity.

Sharing privilege as power is leadership.

Sharing privilege as education is opportunity.

Sharing privilege as mentoring is giving yourself.

Sharing privilege as friendship is enriching.

Sharing privilege as humility is God’s work.

Privilege is not a currency of less and more. Properly considered, it increases as it is shared and perverted when it is as a blunt instrument. It is legitimate when it is legitimately earned and false when it is simply taken as a right.

The protests

The protests coming out of the killing of George Floyd seemed aimed, as they should be, at unjust and discriminatory procedures in policing people of color. I’ve listened to and read considerable commentary on the protests and their goals.

One thing that has surprised me is how little the discussion goes beyond policing procedures. Maybe this is a big enough issue that it must be tackled specifically. But I see things as a web of interconnected concerns.

Lack of adequate low income housing, black-on-black crime, poverty that crosses all racial and ethnic boundaries, lack of political will to tackle these problems and violence in the home and in the street and guns everywhere are all concerns.

These issues all have been with us for a long time. They are all tangled. It will take sustained work, the will of government and citizens and a good dose of the right kind of love for a long time after the protest energy has waned.

Some thoughts

Some thoughts:

(1) Protest is the voice. Action is the solution.

African-American is a race. Policeman is a career. Neither of these is intrinsically good or bad. They are just a race and a career. Yet we get into trouble when we live and act based on stereotypes attached African-American and policemen.

The real issue is character. We should call out bad character whenever we see it and honor good character whenever we see it.

(2) The protest marches and the subsequent looting bring complex and tangled issues to the forefront. Among them are two issues that are intertwined and need much consideration: privilege and entitlement. They both need to be taken out of their accepted contexts and thoroughly rethought in the light of these protests.

(3) Why did it take such global rage to call attention to problems that have been right under our noses for so long? That in itself is a problem.

(4) Donald Trump stands in front of a church he never attends holding a Bible. He doesn’t understand that every New Testament page in that Bible indicts his actions in the world: greed, envy, pride, sloth, lust—the whole package.

My understanding is that EvangelicalChristians are intensely committed to living the words of Christ. How then could any Evangelical Christian look at this Bible thumping man and not cringe in disgust.

(5) When these protests in the streets of America are over, success will be measured in the accumulation of transformative day-to-day acts, small and large--as we can each manage--that make change lasting.

(6) Now we are calling for intense scrutiny of bad behavior. That’s fair. But we must also call for intense scrutiny of good behavior. That’s where character, good solutions and integrity are.

Protest march

This would be my idea of a protest march.

Young adults have the fire, the idealism and the awareness that the world will soon be theirs. Older adults have the experience, the wisdom and the life perspective.

So I would pair a young person and an older person to spend the march getting to know one another, discussing the issues and talking about solutions. These pairs would be mix up by gender, race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.

After all, change starts when people work together.

Knot

Many issues that knot themselves around the recent death of George Floyd—racism, violence, privilege, injustice, toxic power, poverty and hunger—have been a part of every human culture and civilization.  Sadly, this is nothing new.

But it is real and palpable now. With persistence and perniciousness. The real and necessary courage comes in recognizing this and continuing to give life energy to trying to make things better.