This is a continuation of my obsession with drawing using spirals that started when I read ‘All the light We Cannot See’. In it there is a young man who is so wounded emotionally and psychology by a terribly abusive beating that all he does all day long is draw spirals, which is seen as just the simplest, most minimal activity a person is capable of. I took it as a challenge to see what I could do just using spirals and it’s become an ongoing series for the past year or so.
I drew it while I was live streaming on Periscope and asked those watching what they thought the drawing was about. My thought as I drew it was that it was about the shapes, curvilinear vs rectilinear, that that was the juxtaposition between her and the world. But a friend in Turkey, Justine, said she saw it as a warm woman in a very cold world and that was a fresh look at it that I liked.
I did the black and white ink portion of this drawing in January of 2003 at Borders Bookstore in Tulsa, OK. We dated for a number of months in 2002/2003 and remained friends after.
I left it as a black and white ink drawing in my sketchbook for 16 years. This fall (2019) I was going through old sketchbooks and decided I would finally ink it up with some color. And this is the result.
Drawing is one of my favorite ways to keep memories from the past.
I’ve heard way too many Pastors speak about things they don’t understand. Whether it be science (especially cosmology and biology), sociology, psychology, art, or some other area.
How do I know they don’t understand these areas? Because they are ignoring the long development of these areas of art and science in favor of their interpretation of the Bible. The choose a specific interpretation that backs up their and their powerful congregational member’s uneducated opinion. And what is that opinion? The opinion is that things need to remain as the powerful congregants want it to remain. Why? Because those congregants give money that sustains both the church and the staff.
What it comes down to is intellectual curiosity and integrity over fear and accommodation. When a Pastor is willing to lead with intellectual integrity and is willing to stand up to powerful interests that are not acting in the best interest of the congregation’s true mission then I will be happy.
Her walk home that morning allowed for thoughts on what had just happened. She wanted to believe she was free but her behavior told her she was not. However, she also believed she could change and be free in the future.
I always thought there was a certain ethical and moral line that most politicians (of any party) would not cross in their pursuit of political power, money or fame. I really did assume that…until Trump came along.
But now I know better. Nothing in my 50+ years of following politics has astounded me quite as much as the Republican party’s acquiescence to the cult of Trump. And what can explain it? Competing bodies of evidence? No. The evidence is clear for all to see. It’s in broad daylight, spoken by the President himself and by his Chief of Staff. It’s in every single witness in both the Mueller Report and the Impeachment inquiry. It’s in the entire public history of Trump’s untruthful proclamations for the last 4 years, since he announced his run for office. Those who doubt this are living in denial.
I have come to the conclusion that there is only one explanation. The Republicans in power are fearful cowards. They fear losing elections, power, money, status. They fear tweets from an angry orange man. They know that if they stand up and say the truth, that Trump is a criminal and has taken impeachable actions, they will have people mad at them. That they will be ostracized from the club. They will lose speaking fees and appointments in the future. It will be like leaving the church they grew up in, excommunicated and shunned forever more.
And that is all true. It will take courage and it will have consequences. But that doesn’t matter. Their first and foremost obligation is to the country, period. If they lose an election, it’s still worth it. If they don’t get that plum lobbying job after congress, it’s still worth it. If they don’t get huge speaking fees or a gig on Fox News, it’s still worth it. And at every step along the way it will, more than anything else, be THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
Our country matters much more than a lucrative gig at Fox or a plaque on a wall at the state house.
