Beauty

 

Sensible

 Every sensible parent knows to steer their children away an education in the arts. There’s just no money, no opportunity and no future. Art only hangs obediently on the walls as a pleasant backdrop. Music makes party chit-chat enjoyable and restrooms comfortable. And books are good to talk about even if you haven’t read them.

Of course, parents must understand that all this dribble about art is not a measure of the value of art but of the value the general culture places on art. And that money is not always a reward for creativity, beauty and aesthetic pleasure.

It would be a useful exercise to imagine that everything in the world touched by an artist suddenly disappears. And maybe the children would grow up to put it back.

Hail Mary

 In the past, I’ve rewritten the Our Father and the Ten Commandments. Here’s my rewrite of the Hail Mary.

Hail Mary, who lived as grace, spirit life begins in you. Blessed are you and blessed are all women carrying life. Blessed is the fruit of every womb, that this fruit becomes love. Holy Mary, mother of the God in us, guide us from ignorance to love, now and for all the days we are alive

Pride

 Pride Month

Everything in the physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual domain of human beings is characterized by variety and complexity. That is why it has been a limitation and an untruth to think of gender as a male/female dichotomy. Like all human aspects, gender and sexuality are also expressed in varied and complex ways.

We waste time and create problems for ourselves when we try to force rigid ideas about gender and sexuality on others. Our real task is to live out our own beliefs in ways that are healthy and loving and let others do the same.

Violence

 I’m sick of all of it. I’m sick of white policemen killing black citizens. I’m sick of white men with AK-47’s killing whoever they decide to. I’m sick of black men who kill black children. I’m sick of workers who use grudges to murder their colleagues. I’m sick of murder based on ethnic and religious hatred. I’m sick of men who rape and physically abuse women. I’m sick of bullies. I’m sick of entertainment media that make murder glamorous and macho. I’m sick of Congress who are impotent in passing strong gun control legislation.

We have to recognize that in America we communicate through violence. It’s the language we to frequently use when we are angry, when we are frustrated, when we feel inadequate, when we have grudges, when we lack attention, when we don’t get what we want.

We try to deal with all the individual situations and transgressions, but until we confront our obsession with violence, our solutions will only be partial.

Life and love

 Life and love

Sperm meets egg

The winner is declared

Everything else is up for grabs

Name

Love

Flame

Game

Same

Same

Tame

Same

Blame

Came

Damn

Lame

Love

Game

Arm yourself

For llfe’s

Broken arms

Disarming

Armour of

Amour

Costs an arm and a leg

In the army of

Love

Hello

No

Why not?

Bye

You again

Pretty eyes

Maybe

Dinner

Oysters

Kiss you?

Okay

Tomorrow?

Sure

Come in

I do

I do too

I mean it

Belly

Baby

Baby

Belly

Billy, Benny

Daddy

Did

Double

Diaper Duty

Mommy

Mammary milk

Makes

Daddy

Diaper

Double

Duty

Star quarterback

 I’m no lineman or center. I’m the star quarterback, and my team is nationally ranked. I’m the entertainment. The one who scores the TD’s, takes the hits, gets the interviews and makes the big bucks for the school. It’s my name fans want on their jerseys. I’m pro material.

So give me my own dorm suite, steak dinners, massages, a hot tub, a sauna, and flights home at Christmas. And, thanks, by the way, the blonde escort was an education in itself.

And I’m the coach. Since I make the school money and bring it recognition, I make multiple times the salary of the Nobel Laureate professor and even the school President. I get a large support staff and a big recruiting budget, with lots of money for meals and flights. I’m responsible for a relatively small number of young men, but they are the most important students on campus.

So I get them tutors and special courses. I can see the day when they will get college credit for time on the field--sports marketing, performance, acting and more. In my mind college=football.

Help

 I need help with some questions.

If I get hair plugs, is that being dishonest to my DNA?

If my ear lobes are not perfectly balanced, is it too vain to have this cosmetic work done?

If I still have a pair of my high school girlfriend’s panties, should I return them to?

If I have toenail fungus, should I put that on my online dating profile?

Is it strange to enjoy captioned Bulgarian crime dramas?

Can I tell friends I read War and Peace if I only skimmed it?

Should I get my tattoo of “Goofy” removed from my inner thigh?

Nation of laws

 We are a nation of laws, laws like…

ones that seek to limit citizens’ voting

ones that allow the very rich to pay no income taxes

ones that give Congressmen perks ordinary citizens don’t get

ones that limit women’s rights

ones that make assault rifles easy to get

ones that take gun manufacturers off the hook

ones that go against the wishes of the majority of Americans

ones that are never passed because of partisan politics

ones that ignore the rights of indigenous peoples 

ones that increase inequality rather than decrease it

This limited list makes it clear that citizens can’t be complacent. To remain a nation of laws we have to be a nation of laws that reflect the nation we truly want to be.

Mirror

 Wondering who you really are? Look in the mirror. No, not that mirror. Look in the mirror of your significant other. Of your parents. Of your siblings. Of your friends, especially the best ones. Of your work colleagues. Of the strangers you might meet.

This is where who you are is reflected back to you. Where you see who you are in how you have impacted the lives of others.

Dignity

No one can take away your dignity. But you can give it away.

Someone who tries to take another’s dignity away, loses his own.

Once dignity is given away, it’s hard work to earn it back.

Having dignity is worth the effort of keeping it.

Dignity is a badge of being human.

 

Ordinary

 Recently there’s been increased coverage of the strides that people of color are making to increase their representation in TV and movies. But even if this becomes equitable, the discrimination that remains is what has always remained. 

The beautiful people, with their good looks and fine bodies and box office appeal, will always get the top billing and lead parts. The ordinary-looking actors with their ordinary bodies won’t get to fall in love, to have great sex, to live happily ever after. They will remain forever in sidekick-ville, die first in the shootouts and act the buffoons.

Sadder truth

 Almost any teenage American male has relatively easy access to guns, drugs, alcohol, tobacco and pornography. These have all become means of adventure, escape, false manhood and the pretense of adulthood and independence to young men whose brains are not fully developed enough for reliable decision making.

The sadder truth is that all of these temptations are big money to relentless sellers at big costs to the users. What may seem like obvious dangers to a healthy life have become common addictions. How did this happen when we claim to love our children?

Myself in my dreams

 

Just life

 You're cruising along. The sun is shining. Life is good, a smile on your face. Unbeknownst to you, the Chairman of the Board of the Cosmic Council has just made a motion that gets unanimous approval: Let's kick this guy in the nuts.

Ouch. That hurts. But what can you do but deal with the pain head on, learn your lessons and move on. After all, the cycle is probably going to happen again. That's just life.

Second Amendment

 The Second Amendment has put us at war with ourselves. There are more guns than people, and people have them. More guns of kinds insanely beyond any needs for hunting or self-protection. The people we should trust with guns, law enforcement, we trust less and less. Gun battles on the streets, in homes and businesses have become daily routines. Legislators don't even bother to express their sympathy anymore. Money and politics render them impotent. In truth, any of us could be shot to death anywhere, anytime.

Cicada lessons

 Nature functions in abundance. The cicadas have taught us that, and the cicadas have taught us about ourselves. All of us eventually come out of our holes. At 17, we are at our most fecund. Some of us mate successfully, leaving our offspring to the world. Some of us are great flyers. Some of us get fried or covered in chocolate. Some of us make the national news. Some of us have our wings crimped before we even get started. Some of us have our butts fall off. Some of miss the earth and land on the concrete. Some of us get stepped on. And, in the end, we all die.

Listen

 Experience tells us that God

Speaks only in whispers

(The angels are the noisy ones)

So we must be attentive

A difficult task 

In this clamorous world

We have to be quiet within ourselves

Crafting our ability to listen

For the messages that have already

Been sown within

So we can make the noise 

That makes us human

Diversity

 We embrace variety and diversity in the botanical world. We embrace variety and diversity in the animal world. We even embrace variety and diversity in the insect world.

But in our own world of the human species, we fear variety and diversity—in race, in ethnicity, in religious practice, in behavior, in sexual practice, in all of it. This is a stubborn and destructive reality that we can’t seem to let go of.

Why? We’ve been trying to figure that out for a long time. But for a start, make friends with an artist.

EREC

 Dr. Ethan Rection and Dr. Tess Tostroni, board certified and world renowned cosmetic surgeons, are proud to announce a new and revolutionary procedure—penile sculpting. This procedure has been recently approved by all the male members of the FDA.

Guys, this is the dawn of a new era for male cosmetic surgery. For you men who want to get ahead in the world, to look your best and feel confident, this is the procedure that will make it all happen. Patients can choose from a number of sculpted models, including the pipe, the hammer, the obelisk and the scythe.

All procedures are confidential, and all patients must be 21 or older. Convenient payment plans are available. For information or to schedule an appointment, call 513-555-EREC.

Serious artist

 If you’re a serious artist in Cincinnati, in your whole career you will not get as much news coverage as a high school quarterback.

If you are a serious artist in Cincinnati, in your whole career fewer people will see your work than those who attend a Reds game at the worst of their season.

If you are a serious artist in Cincinnati, in your whole career there will be no column in the newspaper dedicated to covering the work of you and your peers.

If you are a serious artist in Cincinnati, in your whole career your name won’t have as much significance as that of a mediocre Bengals player.

If you are a serious artist in Cincinnati, in your whole career what you have to say won’t be as heard as the clichés of a coach’s after game interview.

If you are serious artist in Cincinnati, your death won’t get as much acknowledgement as a professional athlete’s hamstring pull.

Our job as parents

 We sometimes think that our job as parents is to hold on to our children and protect them from the world. This is, in fact, impossible. It is our job to send them out into the world as competent, decent, productive adults. 

Children instinctively know that their job is to cut the umbilical cord. It begins with their first “No.” Then the bike, the skateboard, the car. If they can never escape, they never really come back.

Parents want to keep hold of their children, when, in truth, a child should be raised to be a gift to the world. Children should be loved, celebrated, educated and then sent off to discover for themselves how to succeed at being human.

Change

 Every culture in the history of the world was always in the process of falling apart, crumbling, not working anymore. Always in the process of sloughing off its old skin. Change is the essence of all living organisms, including human systems.

Cultures resist change, believing holding on brings comfort and stability. Each culture has its own DNA in the form of its visionaries. These are the saints, scientists, artists, writers and social rebels who must bring innovation to the world, who are driven to show us how and why change must happen.

It’s their very courage, persistence and faith in their ideas that make them seem dangerous, so dangerous that they must be crucified.

When

 When is art a prayer?

When is art at a loss for words?

When is art your conscience?

When is art just what you expected?

When is art an answer?

When is art the only way out?

When is art in disguise? 

When is art a siege?

When is art everybody’s business?

When is art the death of art?

When is art a window?

When is art the next best thing?

When is art too much to bear?

The Cadaver in the Nice Suit Part 1

 He made certain his will was airtight, all the paperwork carefully completed and in the hands of his sister. He was a skilled carpenter and had worked on the construction of more houses than he could remember. He had a sturdy build, which gave no indication of the enlarged heart he knew he had.

His doctor had diagnosed this condition when he made his first-ever visit to a physician…in his 30th year. The doctor lectured him, warned him and suggested a follow-up visit, all of which he ignored. He had no one dependent upon him, and he had always lived his life as he wanted. Why did he need more doctoring?

Most of the houses he had worked on in the new subdivision were now finished. A few remained. It was a hot day in mid-summer, his heart gave out and he fell from the ladder to the ground, dead. He knew it would be coming someday, but not today.

His sister sorted through all the papers. He had long ago prepared her for this. The only document that gave her a start was the certificate that confirmed that he had donated his body to the local medical school. Its only stipulation—and the medical school had agreed to this--was that he be dressed in his best suit, a suit he bought for this occasion, a suit he would have worn in his casket. Whoever dissected him needed to undress him first.

The doctor who presided over the anatomy lab asked for a volunteer dissect the dressed cadaver. A response was slow in coming, but finally a young woman named Willa agreed to take the man. She was a smart, capable student with a quiet and determined demeanor. The oddity of the circumstance appealed to her.

After the doctor’s initial instructions to the class, she began slowly undressing her cadaver, unloosening and removing his tie, shoes and socks. She noticed that the coat’s breast pocket, which would normally hold a handkerchief, actually held a folded piece of paper. She opened it carefully and read: “I’m yours. Do with me as you wish.”  It wasn’t signed.

It was necessary to use a scissors to cut away his jacket and slacks in pieces, for easy removal. She stopped to look at his face, ruddy with a little stubble that had continued to grow after his death. His cheeks were full with a small cut at his jaw line. His hair had receded some and was sprinkled with gray. She covered his head with dark cloth, an expected part of the dissection ritual.

What could she learn about or feel about the dead stranger she was about to cut into? As she worked at the dissection, she would surely fantasize about his life. Who were his relatives? How would she come to know him through the physical history that was his body?

Bullshit

 Bullshit is a part of the conversations about art as it is about any creative endeavor that puts news ideas into the world. To me, bullshit relative to art takes a number of forms in the contemporary world.

Auctions that turn art into status commodities that the rich can lock away are bullshit. Art placed as a backdrop in commercials and dramas for pure ambience is bullshit. Making art the excuse for a social gathering is bullshit. Talking about art that one has not carefully looked at is bullshit. Not expecting the most from art that it can give is bullshit. Writing about art so that the writer becomes more important than the art is bullshit. For TV news and talk shows to ignore art is bullshit.

Anything I missed?

Make-a-Wish

 If there is an adult version of the Make-a-Wish Foundation, here are my wishes.

1. In every other romantic comedy made, the ordinary looking, overweight guy will get the great sex and the handsome stud will be the dumbass sidekick.

2. Every newscast will give as much time to the arts as to sports.

3. Every American would chip in some time to clean all the litter off the highways.

4. Netanyahu and Abbas would dance a few waltzes, taking turns leading.

5. Every gun in the world would be melted down and turned into a portrait bust of someone the owner loved.