Drawing

 I admit it. I’m a drawing dinosaur. I believe that drawing is fundamental to visual expression and exploration. I believe it’s the most intimate expression of the artist. I believe that a hand and a tool touching a surface to draw educates the hand, triggers creativity and informs intuition. The works of the great practitioners of drawing are not very accessible to us in the flesh, but they are inspirational, even in reproduction.

Eccentric

 It’s the eccentric human beings that remind us—if we listen—that we are at root absurd creatures. We are driven by molecules, hormones, chance, failure, nature, the seven deadly sins and our own urges and yearnings, a brew we really don’t understand. Yet we believe that all the laws, rules and conventions we make are signs of our instinctive rationality. Of course, we need structure and order to live together; but we can’t lose the humanity of the clown, the buffoon, the oddball and the rebel. 

Sexuality

 Age brings perspective and a sense of the flow of change. In the 1950’s, TV parents slept in separate beds, though my parents didn’t. The Catholic Church was my go-to place for teachings on marriage, divorce, premarital sex, contraception, masturbation, impure thoughts and homosexuality. Though the Church stood firm on its teachings on sexuality, the culture began to have its own ideas on sexual and marital relationships.

The Sexual Revolution seemed to happen first on the fringes of society, among the young. If homosexuality, pre-marital sex and sexual experimentation didn’t fully come out of the closet then, at least societal awareness did. Gradually these practices were represented, even if cautiously, in entertainment media. This took time, and it wasn’t without controversy. 

The Internet, social media and easy access to pornography have brought with them easy access to all kinds of sexual content. Media brings us images of what may be uncommon in our own experiences, the edgy and prurient.  All this, though, has not necessarily led to any healthier discussion of human sexuality. 

Now, each individual must ask: What is healthy sexual practice for me? What role does sexuality play in my life? How do love and intimacy relate to my sexual life? Answering these questions doesn’t come from rules because sexuality is too personal. It comes from personal values, proper education, guidance, open conversation and responsible decision making.

Affliction

 Every human being has an affliction—big or small. It’s inevitable in a living world driven by the randomness of evolution and the improbabilities of life.  An affliction could be a mental illness, a physical illness, a disability, a phobia, a perversion, an obsession or an addiction that would come with birth or from the sheer activity of living.

Recognizing this teaches us to be humble in our understanding of others. It also requires us to rise above victimhood and deal with the particulars of our own lives. I’ve been able to manage mine, and I hope the same for you.

Complacency

 For all its wars and genocides, humankind has moved forward. For all its hate and cruelty, humankind has moved forward. For all its destruction and abuses of power, humankind has moved forward. For all its subjugation and exploitation of others, humankind has moved forward. For all its failures of religion, humankind has moved forward.

In the end, what will destroy us is complacency.

God or not

 God or not

It’s there, the universe

More than enough stars 

To carry all our names

Enough life for each of us

To practice loving

God or not

From inside our tiny sliver of time

We’ve unraveled the universe’s billions

Understanding is a theory

That morphs into illusion

That always ends in mystery

God or not

We’re here, the human race

Believing desperately 

That we mean something

Complex beyond understanding

But only molecules

God or not

Life and death link hands

To carry us where they choose

Despite our persistent cries

That we would rather dance

Because that’s we make beauty

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Universe

 Have you ever had the experience that you understood the universe with absolute clarity and depth? That it was right there and graspable? I have. It lasted mere seconds, but in those seconds, there was an overwhelming sense of placidness and joy. And it came more than once. I generally credit this to mental illness, but who really knows. Human history is full of stories of spiritual ecstasy, transcendence and heightened perception. Who knows what is beyond the dome of reality. Maybe God. Maybe just a gift of the human brain.

Education

 No nation can sustain its health and stability without fundamental values that are shared by its people, values that can carry the nation through inevitable problems. A nation’s values are sustained through citizens who are decent human beings, who embrace integrity and compassion.

But how does this happen? Families are in trouble. The government is failing its citizens. Churches, for many reasons, have lost their ability to meet the spiritual needs of their followers.

The answer to this problem, to me, is in the schools. But this is not an easy solution.

Schools are underfunded. Teachers are under-appreciated, under-paid and over-worked. Schools must put energy and resources into security concerns. Students are experiencing unprecedented mental health problems. Parents are interfering in the job of teachers. So many obstacles.

Look at the fat in the defense budget. Look at the waste in government programs. Look at how the tax system lets the wealthy off the hook. We have the money. This is the time to put all we have into assuring—for the health and future of the country—that every child has access to a quality education, an education which aims to produce capable citizens and decent human beings.

Gasm

 Please indulge me. I can’t get -gasms out of my head.

Cartgasm—what old men feel driving around the golf course

Dartgasm—getting 3 bullseyes in a row

Fartgasm—if you have kids or a goofy uncle, you know what that means

Heartgasm—what you feel on your wedding day

Martgasm—what Walmart shoppers feel when then enter the store

Quartgasm—you can figure that one out

Startgasm—what marathon runners feel at the beginning of the race

Wartgasm—once all those nasty things are removed

Decent

 We can make billions of widgets to perfection, build bridges over vast expanses of water, produce all kinds of products and medications with high quality control, design sophisticated spacecraft. But after all these years, we still don’t know how to reliably produce decent human beings. And we don’t know how to recall and repair the defective ones.

Each morning

 Take a big gulp of beauty each morning.

Sing in the shower—Amazing Grace or an Abba song or whatever.

Dance with your significant other…or a broom if you have to.

Contemplate the universe for 5 minutes.

Find a deserving person and plant a juicy kiss with a robust “I love you.”

That ought to do it.

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True artist

 A true artist is always art horny, always hoping for an artgasm.

Absurd

 Does it seem absurd that professional athletes make average salaries in the millions and feel underpaid while our nation’s teachers struggle to make ends meet?

Does it seem absurd that people fill stadiums at big ticket prices with no guarantee of a good game while symphonies play at levels of consistent excellence and can’t fill the halls?

Does it seem absurd that people pay for clothing to advertise their professional and college teams but don’t have money to support their kids’ schools?

Does it seem absurd that many military win Purple Hearts and Bronze Stars with almost no recognition while entertainers vote award after award for themselves for just one performance.

Does it seem absurd that we trust celebrities to sell us all kinds of stuff, but we don’t trust the people we elect to serve us?

Does it seem absurd that many work unnoticed for their whole lives to make the lives of others better while celebrities give from their excess time and money and get lots of media attention?

Does it seem absurd that these things reflect our social values while we don’t even recognize their absurdity?

Children

 How to talk to children:

1. Listen, pay attention.

2. Recognize that they are trying to figure out adult language.

3. No baby talk.

4. Don’t be afraid to expand their vocabulary.

5. The world is absurd; be silly sometimes.

6. Help them move from concrete thinking to metaphorical thinking.

7. They are curious and are interested in “big people” things.

8. Read to them and let them read to you.

9. Make what you say affirming, respectful and loving.

10. Listen, pay attention.

Enigma

 

Each of us is an enigma to ourselves

All the more reason to flaunt our mystery

Mystery makes us unique as anything else

Stumble in front of the whole world

Then get up and demonstrate

How authentic humans are supposed to do it

It’s our failures that bind us

And our recoveries that are miracles

😨

Education

 No nation can sustain its health and stability without fundamental values that are shared by its people, values that can carry the nation through inevitable problems. A nation’s values have to be built through citizens who are decent human beings, who embrace integrity and compassion.

But how does this happen? Families are in trouble. The government is failing its citizens. Churches, for many reasons, have lost their ability to meet the spiritual needs of their followers.

The answer to this problem, to me, is in the schools. But this is not an easy solution.

Schools are underfunded. Teachers are under-appreciated, under-paid and over-worked. Schools must put energy and resources into security concerns. Students are experiencing unprecedented mental health problems. Parents are interfering in the job of teachers. Many obstacles.

Look at the fat in the defense budget. Look at the waste in government programs. We have the money. This is the time to put all we have into assuring—for the health and future of the country—that every child has access to a quality education, an education which aims to produce capable citizens and decent human beings.

Values

 No nation can sustain its health and stability without fundamental values that are shared by its people and can carry the nation through inevitable problems. A nation’s values have to be built through citizens who are decent human beings, who embrace integrity and compassion.

But how does this happen? Families are in trouble. The government is failing its citizens. Churches, for many reasons, have lost their ability to meet the spiritual needs of their followers. The answer to this problem, to me, is in the schools. But this is not an easy solution.

Schools are underfunded. Teachers are underpaid, under-respected and over-worked. Schools are forced to put too much of their energy into security concerns. Students are experiencing unprecedented mental health problems. Parents are interfering in the job of teachers. Many obstacles.

Look at the fat in the defense budget. Look at the waste in government programs. We have the money. This is the time to put all we have into assuring—for the health and future of the country—that every child has access to a quality education, which aims to produce capable and decent human beings.

Love

 Let’s live in the pink cloud of love

Glitter sparkling in our sweet dreams

Of romance everlasting

Love is the cotton candy 

Of our lives and the marshmallows

Floating on warm chocolatiness

Life in its tender

Delusions of forever days  

Sunshine and big iced muffins

And drops of nectar falling from

The pink cloud of love

Drawing

 A good drawing is not the thing itself. A good drawing is the accumulated practice of the artist. A good drawing is the nuance and intelligence of its marks. A good drawing is the seeing it communicates. A good drawing is its enticement and memorability. A good drawing is its ability to give satisfaction from the first look to the closest inspection. That’s a good drawing.

Death

 Sometimes I think everything

Is dying…death is life’s only real

Promise, missing nothing

A dead sparrow in the grass

A child felled by a stray bullet

A Ukrainian daughter in a mass grave

And your loved ones too

All the flowers in our gardens

More than these, words are dying

Words that call us to believe that “human”

Is a title worth earning

And images capturing our spiritual selves

Our feeble times cannot keep alive

The wisdom blowing across our graves

In the end death is the agent 

That turns the flowers, birds

And all of us into particles

That are as close to eternity as it gets

Every

 As we approach the apocalypse, we must remember that humanity is every first breath and every last breath, every kiss, every killing, every prayer, every story, every act of kindness, every evil action, every expression of love, every hateful thought and action, every sign of compassion, every plant put in the ground, every lie, every destructive act of power, every law, every rite, every burial, every poem, every image, every note of music, every slap, every abuse of another human being, every greedy plan, every thought, every act of defiance, every creative act, every humiliation, every failure, every stumble, every sign of courage, every child loved, every child saved, every dream, every notion of God, every memory of everyone, every suicide, every message sent or gotten, every conversation, every sexual act, every sigh, every tear, every joke, every burst of laughter, every secret, every vow kept or broken, every lingering trouble, every affliction, every word of wisdom, every whisper, every broken bone, every lost child, every act of faith, every poisoned heart, every misstep of love, every caress, every angry punch, every feat of the practiced body, every body left to grow useless, every look of desire, every hand shake, every plot, every autopsy, every cadaver a student dissects, every heart attack, every stoke, every unmet desire, every good idea forgotten, every dysfunctional family, every affirmation, every longing for justice, every act of defiance, every marriage that endures, every intimate human bond of love, every act of reverence, every act of holy submission, every orgasm, every scar, every scream, every moral test, every moral failure, every struggle, every obsession, every perversion, every failing body, every anxious choice, every belief in someone else, every frozen stare, every promise kept, every political move, every word unsaid, every cry of a baby, every lost soul, every nasty remark, every dive into the unknown, every puzzle solved, every cold shoulder, every blessing, every missed opportunity, every life lost saving another, every goddam good and evil and meaningless and sublime thing that humans have ever done.

Philanthrophy

 If I were a wealthy philanthropist in Cincinnati, this is what I would do for the arts.

--Fund a new wing at the CAM dedicated to research, study and exhibition of drawings.

--Start at new K-12 school whose mission was to teach all disciplines as languages with the goal of finding beauty.

--Organize a march from the CAC to the CAM of all the artists in Cincinnati.

--Fund a million dollar prize for the composing of an anthem of all nations that would be played at events before a national anthem.

--Support Saad Ghosn in creating a Museum of Cincinnati Art with an attached building for reasonably priced artist studios.

--Start an art bar with a stage for poetry readings and performances, a space for art videos, a professional gallery and plenty room for conversation.

Still more chest

 Still more off my chest:

1. Unexpected or unwanted pregnancy…single mother raising the kids…what’s missing from this picture?

2. I grew up with “Father Knows Best.” In retrospect, certainly simplistic and stereotypical. But representing a time when parents were respected and children were expected to take responsibility for their actions. Now, in all too many TV dramas, fathers are absent, have a girlfriend, are addicted to drugs or alcohol, behave like juveniles or are narcissistic workaholics. The kids are savvy, in charge, also addicted and screwed up by social media and rarely responsible for their behavior.

Maybe we need a new program called “Father Shows Up.”

3. Every candidate for public office should be required to: demonstrate they have personal integrity, they are competent,  they are in it to serve the public.

4. I think a program of required national service is just what we need right now: military, teaching, conservation, apprenticeship.

Off my chest

 More stuff to get off my chest:

1. Why don’t corporations support schools like they support athletes and teams. Certainly there are lots of fans of schools. Schools could have quality facilities and well-paid teachers. Athletes could probably make do on half a million or a million a year. If the school is top-notch, so what if it’s called Doritos Junior High.

2. If you take a helicopter tour of Cincinnati and you see three one-billion dollar stadiums sitting empty and multiple homeless encampments, what do you do?

3. Bill Russell said that if you do something better than most other people, that’s art. I say that if you so something with more passion and compassion than most people, that’s art.

4. A pro football player makes a winning touchdown. Millions cheer and talk about this for days. He’s earned his multi-million dollar contract. A 7th grade teacher spends a whole year teaching students with all kinds of social and emotional problems. She spends her own money for classroom needs. She puts many extra hours into her students. At the end of the year, she gets modest admiration and a small raise.

5. The Republicans are resisting supporting a bill to aid military who have experienced burn pits. We have a military budget full of waste and bigger by a lot than any other country in the world. Shouldn’t their needs be automatically covered by this budget?

lists

 

This is National Make Your Lists Week

SATURDAY

Make a list of the secrets you have kept for others.

Lists

 This is National Make Your Lists Week

FRIDAY

Make a list of the most compelling works of art for you.

Lists

 This is National Make Your Lists Week

THURSDAY

Make of list of the mysteries that most pique your curiosity.

Lists

 This is National Make Your Lists Week

WEDNESDAY

Make a list of your most beautiful life experiences.

Lists

 This is National Make Your Lists Week

TUESDAY

Make a list of the people who have most influenced your life.