Recently, I’ve been privy to two close bloggers’ grief. One lost her father, the other her grandfather. The pain they are experiencing is beyond what words could ever express and my heart goes to them.

Thoughts of death always make me go into introspection. I can’t help but examine my own feelings regarding the deaths of my parents. Which are pretty non-existent when I am in survival mode, which is to say, my every day mode.

When my mother died, I didn’t cry. I even wondered at some point why I didn’t feel like crying when everyone else was but I just couldn’t. The answer -at the time, was very simple*. I was glad for my mother. I was glad that she was not going to suffer anymore. There was even the possibility that she had gone to a better place where she could be happy. But even if one takes…

Posted From The Sting Of The Scorpion’s Android.

Stark brutality
A lash tells many
many stories
Bruises form beneath
hidden, innocent skin

Poverty’s child
Wide eyes hopeful
Pitiful question
There’s no alibi
given in this moment

Wondering glance
A passing interest
is just passing
Never sees the darkness
in this fractured world

Passerby smiles
come far too cheaply
No clemency
or true sanctuary
is ever offered here

© Helen Valentina 2014, All Rights Reserved

This video from the USA says about itself:

“We have nothing” – The plight of migrant workers in Southern California

27 mei 2014

The impoverished California towns of El Centro, Brawley, and Calexico are home to thousands of agricultural laborers–including a countless number of undocumented immigrants. Many Mexican workers make the commute across the international border on a daily basis, leaving hours before the sun rises. In this video, workers and residents speak about social conditions in the area.

Related articles

• Around 2,000 African migrants attempt to jump Melilla border fence
• Calls for better treatment of migrant workers in Hong Kong
• Hicks Camp: A Mexican Barrio
• Former Undocumented Mexican Migrant Worker Becomes Brain Surgeon
• Who Is Dayani Cristal? A Tale of Death in the Desert
• California’s paid sick leave bill up for hearing next month
• Advocates for migrant dairy workers focus on housing

This video from the USA says about itself:

“We have nothing” – The plight of migrant workers in Southern California

27 mei 2014

The impoverished California towns of El Centro, Brawley, and Calexico are home to thousands of agricultural laborers–including a countless number of undocumented immigrants. Many Mexican workers make the commute across the international border on a daily basis, leaving hours before the sun rises. In this video, workers and residents speak about social conditions in the area.

Related articles

• Around 2,000 African migrants attempt to jump Melilla border fence
• Calls for better treatment of migrant workers in Hong Kong
• Hicks Camp: A Mexican Barrio
• Former Undocumented Mexican Migrant Worker Becomes Brain Surgeon
• Who Is Dayani Cristal? A Tale of Death in the Desert
• California’s paid sick leave bill up for hearing next month
• Advocates for migrant dairy workers focus on housing

I enjoy the colours of the flowers in spring: yellow, red, pink, violet. The colours are a balm to a spirit that longed for colour during the long, icy winter. There are times, however, when the details of the flowers really stand out in black & white.

Geraniums in Black & White. © Colline Kook-Chun, 2014

The lack of colour seems to bring out the shades in the geraniums and the detail of its centre. When blossoms are seen without colour, their beauty seems to be highlighted in contrast to the darkness of the leaves.

Blossoms in Black & White. © Colline Kook-Chun, 2014

The photos are effective and pleasant to look at. I do prefer, however, seeing the colour when I walk about outside. Colour that tells me that spring has arrived and old man winter has left for southern plains.

Do you enjoy seeing flowers in black & white?

©…

This stunning image is actually five women decorated by world champion body-painter Johannes Stötter to look like an amphibian.  You have to look hard to see where they all start and end. It’s very clever.  🙂