—Saint Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
Boston, Massachusetts
This year’s William A. Dwiggins lecture, “Graphic Guts,” will be presented by friend Luba Lukova at six this evening at the Boston Public Library, Rabb Lecture Hall (free admission, presented by the Society of Printers and the Boston Public Library).
Lukova’s distinctive art utilizes metaphors, symbols and economy of line and text to succinctly capture humanity’s elemental themes. She employs accessible metaphors in a concise and iconic way, sometimes using humor to present disturbing issues. Social justice and consciousness have long been part of Lukova’s vocabulary in creating public images that invite social responsibility… her new book, Graphic Guts will be published in June 2011.
More about Luba and her great work here.
London, United Kingdom
This year, Amnesty International is celebrating half a century of active opposition to human rights abuses… “From community to community in every corner of the world, Amnesty International enables ‘ordinary’ concerned people to work together to protect other people in danger. Change begins each time a single, concerned person speaks out against wrongdoing.”
The Guardian‘s ‘Observer’ has just published a selection of the powerful posters used by Amnesty International over the past 50 years (see more here), including the selection above.
Christian fundamentalism + Gainesville, Florida = words fail me… and please don’t say you didn’t know. Learn more for yourself about what passes for God’s love…
—Bertrand Russell (thanks to friend and client Chris Maxfield for the quote)
(a re-post… from 2008)
Not to get weird about it, but the Ides of March have freaked me out ever since I first learned of them in elementary school. In the year 44 BC this day marked the treacherous demise of Julius Caesar (I’m not making a value judgment here, it’s just a historical thing); in 1917 it was the day that the last tzar of Russia, Nicholas ll, was forced to abdicate the throne (three years before my dad was born into the turmoil of Molotchna, and part of the remarkable unrest following WWI); in 1933 it was the day that Adolf Hitler first expressed his nascent dream of The Third Reich (and six years later to the day that Nazi troops invaded Bohemia and Moravia [then Czechoslovakia]).
More recently, it was the single day in history that more people on the face of the earth than ever before gathered together in a unified action for peace (400,000 marched in Milan, 300,000 in Barcelona, 120,000 in Madrid, you get the picture… )—to no avail, George W. Bush simultaneously prepared to lead the (bullied, cowed, coerced) “coalition of the willing” nations into the U.S. empire’s most recent war against Iraq.
It remains a poignant day for me… five years ago today I was in Mumbai, India on a network-building sortie with Icograda—six days later while in Ahmedabad (Mahatma Gandhi’s home town), we watched in surreal disbelief as the U.S. reigned down an unprovoked firestorm on the ancient city of Baghdad (one of the the world’s “cradles of civilization,” and onto its hundreds of thousands of terrified citizens).
Indeed, beware the Ides of March… (don’t say I didn’t warn you).
Images: Caesar’s demise as painted by Vincenzo Camuccini; Tsar Nicholas ll of Russia; Adolf Hitler of Germany; George W. Bush of the U.S. of America.
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What if we were more like trees, converting carbon
dioxide and releasing oxygen?
We live in a bite-back, one-up world where anger,
bitterness, resentment, prejudice and violence are
the soul’s carbon dioxide.
We could receive curses, then give blessings.
We could get manipulated, then speak the truth.
We could be spat upon, then respond with grace.
We could be struck, but not strike back.
The thing about trees is that they need to absorb
CO2 in order to live and grow.
We could do the same. We could absorb hate,
discrimination, judgment and harm, and use
forgiveness to demonstrate healing and love.
This would free us from having to avenge our own
injustices and allow us to open our arms, welcoming
those who are often unwelcome and unwanted.
Photosynthesis and forgiveness are miracles of life.
Without them, the world is a hostile place.
—Ryan McCormick, from Geez
More inspired lines from the great Rumi…
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī, جلالالدین محمد بلخى
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Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshiper, lover of leaving, it doesn’t matter.
Ours is not a caravan of despair.
Come, even if you have broken your vow a thousand times.
Come, yet again, come, come.
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The heart has its own language.
The heart knows a hundred thousand
ways to speak.
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Wherever you are,
and whatever you do,
be in love.
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Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.
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And from beyond the intellect, beautiful Love
comes dragging her skirts, a cup of wine in her hand.
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Everyone has been made for some particular work,
and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.
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Why do you stay in prison
when the door is so wide open?
Move outside the tangle of fear-thinking.
Live in silence.
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The beauty of the heart
is the lasting beauty:
its lips give to drink
of the water of life.
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In the early dawn of happiness
you gave me three kisses
so that I would wake up
to this moment of love.
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Love is that that never sleeps, nor even rests,
nor stays for long with those that do.
Love is language that cannot be said,
or heard.
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Let us fall in love again
and scatter gold dust all over the world.
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There is a life-force within your soul, seek that life.
There is a gem in the mountain of your body, seek that mine.
O traveler, if you are in search of that
Don’t look outside, look inside yourself and seek that.
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We come spinning out of nothingness, scattering stars like dust.
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Sit only under a tree
that is full of blossoms.
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The idol of your self is the mother of all idols.
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If you wish mercy, show mercy to the weak.
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If you dig a pit for others to fall into,
you will fall into it yourself.
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No mirror ever became iron again;
No bread ever became wheat;
No ripened grape ever became sour fruit.
Mature yourself and be secure from a change for the worse.
Become the light.
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We rarely hear the inward music,
but we’re all dancing to it nevertheless
directed by the one who teaches us,
the pure joy of the sun,
our music master.
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Remember, the entrance door to the sanctuary is inside you.
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Be melting snow.
Wash yourself of yourself.
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Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.
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