All The King's Men

what a good book.  (Robert Penn Warren) all the elements of a good novel; character development, philosophy, drama, suspense, history, descriptive settings, human nature, good vs evil and exploration of how there might be good in the worst of us and bad in the best of us.  Would be a great book to do a book club on because there is so much material for debate/discussion whether it be politics, religion, human nature, ethics, etc etc.  It was especially interesting to me at this point because I am still struggling with what I believe in regarding all these topics.  I am continually bemused and get frequently frustrated with the automatic categorizing that goes in the human mind.  I have noticed that most people, including myself, take a small number of known facts about another person and quickly and thoughtlessly catorgorize them in a group of "similar" people.  Along with this categorization is the assumption that I immediately know how this "type" of person would vote politically, how they would react in certain situations, what their values are, how they entertain themselves, and then assign that person a certain value based upon those assumptions.  "This one is a redneck. That one is a snobby country club republican.  This one is a no-account lazy bum. That one is a yuppie city slicker." and on and on and on.  And usually, I come out superior in some way or another to all those groups and feel better than and more intelligent simply because i can place a person in a category: it must mean i immediately know everything worthwhile there is to know about a person. And I, of course, defy all categories and am the only one who can see the world with a clear eye.  what nonsense my ego speaks. i am right in my beliefs than they are either wrong, stupid, greedy, selfish, etc.  And then on the next day I may find myself in a place where I feel LESS than all these categories.  I am the worst, everyone else has some redeeming qualities.  The all or nothing, right or wrong, good or evil, black or white, dualistically-entrenched mind which stems from the Tree of Knowledge. 

The problem comes in purples, greens and oranges.  They are not black or white.  Right or wrong.  Less than or greater than.  They are simply different from eachother in mood, hue, intensity, temperature.  Who can judge which one is the most valuable, which one is the nicest, which one is the right one.  So, with this knowledge I try not to judge, not to categorize, not to assign value.  But impossible...the categorizing is automatic, built-in, involuntary.  Except when I read books like this and am reminded again that we know very little of the inner secrets, pains, ambitions, dreams, worships, loves of even the people we know best.  We can only scratch the surface. Therefore it is useless and foolish to categorize.  We must draw out other people, understand how we are similar, weep for the communal sorrows and disappointments, be comforted with the common joys of a sunny day and laughing children.

  Compassion and humility...the two attributes hardest to come by and the most valuable to have. 

Quote from the book:

"The creation of man whom God in his foreknowledge knew doomed to sin was the awful index of God's omnipotence. For it would have been a thing of trifling and contemptible ease for Perfection to create mere perfection. To do so would, to speak truth, be not creation but extension. Separateness is identity and the only way for God to create, truly create, man was to make him separate from God Himself, and to be separate from God is to be sinful. The creation of evil is therefore the index of God's glory and His power. That had to be so that the creation of good might be the index of man's glory and power. But by God's help. By His help and in His wisdom."

Green Things: Smudging, Terraniums, and Garden Veggies

Smudging stone. My favs are the 3 listed below: sweetgrass, sage and cedar.  Smudging: if you don't know what it is .....google it.  i don't feel like explaining.  basically just burning herbs and plants.  see below for very brief/bare bones descriptions.

 

Sweetgrass.  Perfume-like, musty odor.  usually comes braided like this.  available from several different Native American shops/websites.  it's usually burned after sage and cedar; used to bring in good influences/spirits.         

There are many varieties of sage, and most have been used in smudging. The botanical name for "true" sage is Salvia (e.g. Salvia officinalis, Garden Sage, or Salvia apiana, White Sage). It is interesting to note that Salvia comes from the Latin root salvare, which means "to heal."  Used to drive out negative influences. 

Cedar: my favorite aroma of the three.  Used for protection, brings in good influences. 

One of my huge sunflowers....yellow finches love eating the seeds...they bring a lot of birds around.

                                                    Roma tomato plant.  lookin good so far.

Okra plants!!!  this is my first time trying this one.....so far so good! 

Here's an okra...kinda hard to see.....they match the leaves pretty good. 

One of my indoor hanging "air plants" they don't need any soil....just water once a week and fresh air. 

looks like a mini-tree skeleton.....this is my old geranium stem from last year.  geranium or mum, i can't remember which.  but it looks cool in the glass terranium. 

out of order picture: this is an okra flower!!!! its so pretty and i didn't even know those plants had flowers! 

giant okra! 

okra, tomato, corn and onion mix

This is one of the bugs that completely decimated my yellow and zucchini squash plants this year.  oh well.  i'm still kinda sick of eating squash since last year i got so many, i ate squash every day for about 2 months it seems like.  only got a couple squash this year before crop was destroyed.  I also have some green beans, and some corn.....corn isn't doing the greatest since its not in full sun.  beans didn't do too well either, its been so dry this year.  but i did get some and they were good!

kathryn williams - in a broken dream

Sad Eyes - Bruce Springsteen

Another Day by Paul McCartney

Artsy stuff

Cy Twombly passed away last week; I had the pleasure of seeing some of his work at an exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago not too long ago.  HUGE canvasses, child-like scribbles and running colors, i didn't like it at first but it left an impression and over time i liked it more and more.  Here's a quote from an article i recently read: 
"In the only written statement that Mr. Twombly ever made about his work, a short essay in an Italian art journal in 1957, he tried to make clear that his intentions were not subversive but elementally human. Each line he made, he said, was “the actual experience” of making the line, adding: “It does not illustrate. It is the sensation of its own realization.” Years later he described this more plainly. “It’s more like I’m having an experience than making a picture.” The process stood in stark contrast to the detached, effete image that often clung to Mr. Twombly. After completing a work, in a kind of ecstatic state, it was as if the painting existed and he barely did anymore: “I usually have to go to bed for a couple of days.”  

One of the best quotes about "outsider/intuitive/visionary" art I've ever read.....I've often thought along these lines but never even came close to putting it into words like this....

"Those works created from solitude and from pure and authentic creative impulses – where the worries of competition, acclaim and social promotion do not interfere – are, because of these very facts, more precious than the productions of professionals. After a certain familiarity with these flourishings of an exalted feverishness, lived so fully and so intensely by their authors, we cannot avoid the feeling that in relation to these works, cultural art in its entirety appears to be the game of a futile society, a fallacious parade." - Jean Dubuffet. Place à l'incivisme (Make way for Incivism). Art and Text no.27 (December 1987 - February 1988). p.36 Dubuffet's writing on art brut was the subject of a noted program at the Art Club of Chicago in the early 1950s."

Twombly's work did not fare well with the critics at all early on...but it seems that he was completely unperturbed by this and just kept marching to the beat of a different drummer and stayed true to himself.  Now, of course, his paintings sell in the millions, and he is internationally well-known.  Not that that in itself is a true measure of success...I think he would have considered himself successful even if he had never garnished any acclaim in the art world.  Certainly an inspiring example of staying true to oneself and being authentic. 

Also recently, an old friend visited me from Mississippi...he is an artist, and by my opinion could definitely be considered an "intuitive/visionary" artist.  I am always awestruck by his work.  And i don't think he would mind me saying that he is very bi-polar and consequently very dysfunctional in "normal" society.  sometimes extremely manic to the point of pyschosis, sometimes so depressed he sleeps for days.  very painful to watch someone go through this over and over again and not receiving a whole lot of benefit from medications.  Anyways, here are some of my favorite pieces that he has done.  of course, the photos do not do them justice. 

We visited an old sacred Native American site, the 7 pillars....I do believe the Miami Indians own this land now.  Here is a pic of the pillars....

It was really awesome.  I went there last year but really didn't have time to look around very much.  I explored a bit more this time...it is some beautiful land.  i'll put more pics up some other time. 

Florence + The Machine - Dog Days Are Over (2010 Version)