“The power to concentrate was the most important thing. Living without this power would be like opening one’s eyes without seeing anything.”
― Haruki Murakami
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Creation Engine by G A Rosenberg
Monthly Archives: October 2012
Glory for Dappled Things
Pied Beauty
Glory be to God for dappled things–
For the skies of couple-colour as a brindled cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold,fallow, and plough;
And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.
All things counter, original, spare, strange,
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow, sweet, sour,adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
Praise him.
—————-Gerald Manley Hopkins
Blue Iris, grown by and photographed by Barbara Mattio
Women’s Vote
Women, this is the opportunity to protect our lives and the lives of several generations of young women coming up behind us. There was a time, in the late 1990’s, we thought we had made our point. We had made a difference and we had worked and marched and pushed and made America a better place for women.
Well, having participated in that era of pushing for Women’s Rights, I feel so sad that we are back again;back at the place where women are demeaned, pushed to a side, ignored, and passed over. The conservatives feel a need to control us and to undermine our lives and the lives of women all over the world.
November 6 th, we have the “Ability to Move Beyond Words.” We have been working to speak our truth, speak up for the rights of women and children. We have been pushing back against those who have started the new “War on Women.” Well, it is time, ladies, to take off the gloves and to remember as we fight for ourselves, we are fighting for the young ones. Society will decompose unless we work hard to stop this war.
The truth is, as women we can’t ever stop fighting against those who have no respect for women. There are many men, and fundamental religions who feel women need-must be controlled and subjected. They have never loved a woman, and are intimidated by strong assertive women. We can’t let that stop us or future generations. We can’t ease off, become less diligent because we are strong, independent, capable women and we are important too.
So ladies, on November 6th, you need to vote like your life depends on it because It does. We are at a crossroads here in America. We have to preserve what we have gained and we have to ensure the future for other women. Your ballot is the key to freedom. Our ballots are the answer to the War on Women. We must win the fight for ourselves and for women all over the world who are being victimized even as I sit here at my computer typing my words to you.
”
The Huffington Post:
O-WNED – BARACK BRINGS THE HEAT
Obama Launches ’47 Percent’ Attack..
Candy Crowley Fact Checks Mitt Romney On Libya (VIDEO)
Brutal Obama Hit.. Candidate Called Out.. Mitt Mulls Position-Switch
Related articles
- The Candy Crowley Kerfuffle (themoderatevoice.com)
- DEBATE MUST-SEE: Mitt Romney Interrupts Candy Crowley as She Tries to Reign Him In (foxnewsinsider.com)
- Free Candy Crowley! (washingtonpost.com)
- October 16, 2012 Debate Number 2 – The Moderator Has A Bias… (davidscommonsense.wordpress.com)
- Obama, Romney camps both worried that Candy Crowley will ask questions (washingtonpost.com)
Here are ten life changing tips inspired by quotes from the great Sufi poet, Rumi:
1. Challenge Fear
“Run from what’s comfortable. Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious.”
2. Be Bold
“Do not be satisfied with the stories that come before you. Unfold your own myth.”
3. Have Gratitude
“Wear gratitude like a cloak and it will feed every corner of your life.”
4. Take Action
“Why should I stay at the bottom of a well, when a strong rope is in my hand?”
5. Have Faith
“As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.”
6. Embrace Setbacks
“If you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?”
7. Look Inside
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”
8…
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Your Artistic Voice
Magnolia, Oil pastels By Barbara Mattio
Being a person who has the desire to create is a gift and a burden at times as well. There are some days you are in “the zone” and you are on fire with the desire, the need to create. To create what is bursting to be released from your soul. There are also days when you want to work and your creativity is stuck inside as if it were a geni in a bottle and the cork is solidly blocking the neck of the bottle.
It is important to work hard at developing your artistic voice and equally important to be patient with people who are struggling to find their own voice.
I feel that we can’t really understand all of our work. We create from a place inside which defies even our best attempts to understand it. It is almost impossible for others to understand our work. Many go into great detail describing what an artist meant with their poetry, print making, compositions, paintings or their dance. It is important to attempt to understand as we can grow as artists, but also important to remember in the back of our minds, that we probably have only a glimpse of where that art came from and what its etiology could have possibly been.
The good thing is that the more we use our artistic voice, the stronger and clearer it will become. It is important to remember, all great artists of any medium have worked long and hard before they felt they had created what was striving to burst out of their soul. Dancers, writers, poets, musicians, sculptors, painters, graphic artists,and actors put a lot of time and effort, sweat and tears into their craft before they are satisfied with the results.
Then there are the critics. Those self appointed judges who make a living tearing what you have created apart and then putting it together again in ways they feel is best. This is where you need to be true to your artistic voice. You can’t please all of the people all of the time; please your soul. Do what you were meant to do, even if critics don’t “get” it. You are an artist and this is a gift you were given. Be proud, nurture it. Work hard to accomplish what you know you must do and be fearless.
The more you use your artistic voice, the closer you will be to artistic purity. Remember to breathe, feel, love, live in joy. You are growing alongside your work..
My pond in Autumn Photo by Barbara Mattio
Thanks to Feminist Men
Dalai Lama is a Feminist
One’s – Self I Sing
“One’s self I sing, a simple separate person,
Yet utter the word Democratic, the word En-Masse.
Of Physiology from top to toe I sing,
Not physiognomy alone nor brain alone is worthy for the
Muse, I say the Form complete is worthier far,
The Female equally with the Male I sing.
Of Life immense in passion, pulse, and power,
Cheerful, for freest action form’d under the laws divine,
The Modern Man I sing.
————–One’s-Self I Sing, Walt Whitman
While many of us women have been working to prevent the loss of rights, I believe it is important to thank all of the men, who over the last 40 years have believed in this cause and have become feminists. Men can pay a price for caring about the equality of the genders. A feminist man is a man who is very sure of his manhood and can rejoice in a strong assertive woman. He treats his female family members and friends as equals and partners.
The Feminist man is a man of quality in the eyes of Feminist women. They are still fairly rare in 2012, however they mean so much to women who have worked for decades to right injustices and speak out for the rights of women. 2013 brings us the next opportunity to win equal rights legally. Just as every woman needs to stand up and say she wants to be equal, we need our friends, the Feminist Men to stand by us in the coming fight.
I have had conversations with men who have actually laughed-deep belly laughs-when I mentioned legal equality for women. Why would we want to be legally equal? The simplest answer is because it would be much harder to take rights away from us and future generations of women. If we would take away men’s legal equality, we would see how important it feels to them.
So, to every great man who believes in equality for all, including women, thanks for caring. Thanks for standing shoulder to shoulder with us, and thanks for having the courage to stand up and speak out despite how your male friends react. The bottom line to this entire question is that all human beings are equal. All humans should be treated with the same respect and justice. May we accomplish that ultimate goal.
Protest and March for Women’s Rights With Men of Equality
A proud man of Quality
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