Blog, Poems

Virtually Exploring Art Museums…

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This morning, I’ve been thinking about, actually I’ve been exploring art and art museums virtually.  Clearly there is no possibility of travel, even to the local St. Petersburg museum of fine art, or others that are local such as the Ringling Art museum, and Dali Art museum.  However, there is amazing fine art to be viewed and museums with tours.  Some of the site’s I’ve visited this morning include https://artsandculture.google.com/project/art-camera

A google project that includes high resolution photos of paintings with an explanation of the approach that the artist was taking, and the spirit of the painting.  There is the cave art, the earliest art by man, explored and viewed at Chauvet, https://artsandculture.google.com/story/sgUB9Mfa0DpmPA

There are virtual tours also using the google street map technology, I found however that some of that was tedious and difficult to navigate, but I admire the intent and ambition to allow us to wander and browse from our couches.

David Morgan of CBS news posted a guide to museum virtual tours that I’ve done some exploring with. https://news.yahoo.com/virtual-museum-going-guide-socially-102021811.html

As I clicked thru on to the MET from this article, I found myself looking at the sculpture tour, called body language.  On the ‘Vine’ I found the video of an interpretive dance reflective of the statue, as well as description of the art.  Very interesting. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/viewpoints/the-vine

A painting featured here is a photo I took at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art.

Painted in the 1830’s it is a pre-impressionist (like I really know what that means) piece that is brilliant, colorful, and even though it is not realistic, it seems to be alive.  This little girl of maybe five, alive forever, anxious to go play, but obedient to the artist, thinking not of any great future, but of only the moment, and the inspiration, or instinct for the next moment.  Bright and buoyant, captured forever, just at this moment.

Bright and Buoyant

My silent protest, I’m alive
Sitting for a moment I’m told
But I want to play, I’m five
Holding flowers, I’m bold
Of color, from the fire glow
Forever, I’ll be bright, and five
Forever here, I couldn’t know
Bright and buoyant and alive
Beyond this I’ll never show
A life beyond the age of five

Poems

Last Flag… Not Dark Yet…

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I watched a movie last night (Last Flag) that was a poem, it had a surface and had a bottom many leagues deep.  And that bottom wouldn’t stay down, it had had to come up, and there were emotions and pain at all depths.  People die in war, as do and will first responders trying to help… and the survivors are not really survivors, until they can heal.  The pain of recovery and reconciliation yields to redemption and growth, if one fights through to get there.   I cried at the end of the movie, as the depth of the poetry came forth, and they framed it with a Bob Dylan song with lyrics so clearly about the end of everything, in a voice so beautifully strained and pained.

I don’t mean for this to be dark, and there is hope as he sings it is Not Dark Yet, and for this we must be sure that there is time for us to discover the murmur of a prayer.

Not Dark Yet
by Bob Dylan

Shadows are fallin’ and I’ve been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep and time is runnin’ away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there.

Well, my sense of humanity has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin’ what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there.

Well, I’ve been to London and I been to gay Paris
I’ve followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down on the bottom of the world full of lies
I ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there.

I was born here and I’ll die here against my will
I know it looks like I’m movin’ but I’m standin’ still
Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear the murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet but it’s gettin’ there.

 

 

Poems

Teaching at Home…

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Teaching

Yesterday, I was a total failure at teaching
Until he decided he wanted to learn
That it was better than whining, this was no fun
He wanted to fist pump when he made an e correctly
He wanted to fist pump when he made a good 3
He wanted to fist pump when he circled 7 yellow cakes
He wanted to celebrate discovering that he can do the work
And see the word red among so many others
And I went from yawning, bored, to having fun,
He made me have fun, but tired
Is this what teaching is about?
How do you do this with a class of 30?
It must be exhausting!
Maybe it’s not a virus,
Rather collective exhaustion that sent kids home
To be taught by parents and grandparents
And it will be collective exhaustion that will send them back

Blog

We The People

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Two weeks ago, I wrote Beware the Ides of March.  In that blog I point out that by mid-March (the Ides) we may be at a pivotal point, where we find out if we can rise to the challenge of a global crisis or we fail because we cannot believe and accept that continued growth and prosperity could be vulnerable.   So far as this time approaches, I’m very encouraged, not so much by our Federal leadership, but by the actions of State and Local governments, the sports and entertainment industry, the education, religious and healthcare institutions.  So many making smart decisions about reducing large crowds, encouraging safety, and preparing for a surge of patients that will challenge our healthcare systems.  The social distancing and containment actions of society will help flatten the curve of patients needing critical care, thus avoiding overwhelming our healthcare capacity.  It is remarkable that this understanding, and these actions are happening as rapidly as they are prior to emergency declaration, and while it will do great good.  The Federal government is almost being dragged along in this crisis instead of leading it.   We are a society that still believes and operates with democratic principles of it is We The People that will govern, and ensure our elected leaders come into alignment.  The release of emergency funding, and the actions to soften the financial blow to millions that will be out of work, as well as millions that have no healthcare insurance, are in all our best interest and We The People understand.   Sure, many will complain about overreaction, about March Madness being cancelled and a host of other inconveniences, but I see our society showing that it can pivot rapidly to meet a global, crises.   And yes, there will be some that hoard what others need, but when the time comes I think most of them will share what they have.   I believe in the collective good and wisdom of people, and we will learn from this as we have with every global challenge, that We The People are resilient!

Blog

Beware the Ides of March…

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I woke this morning, thinking.  Thinking about the threat of this virus, and the stock market’s reaction.  I wonder if there is something to the stock market drop that goes beyond the herd mentality of predictive growth slowing.  Maybe it smart money betting that something is changing.  We have become so accustomed, since the end of WW2, to expect continued growth and improvement in the quality of life, and life expectancy, that maybe it is difficult to imagine and to remember that continued improvements are not guaranteed.  The world has suffered greatly in many parts over the recent decades driven largely by war or local weather phenomena, such as the fires in Australia a couple of months ago, the war in Syria and other places.  But we have not seen a world-wide crisis since the end of the second world war.  We have enjoyed 75 years of relative continued improvements in prosperity, reduction in poverty, and advancements in science, art, and human understanding.   Sure, there are plenty that resist change, resist the opening of thought, of understanding, and even the globalization of commerce and advancement, but they have never really won the day.  Optimism, philanthropy, science, and human spirit for growth have been the winners, and have shaped our recent history.   However, progress and growth are not guaranteed.  A crisis, be it a pandemic, or climate change, and the simultaneous loss of faith in human ingenuity and values could tip the cart over and our future could be one of decline and dismay.  If we allow it, or we deny and resist reality.  And if we give into global challenges with a loss of spirit, with a loss of fire, intellect and desire to make the future better for our children, and grandchildren.

I don’t know why, but I feel we are at an historically pivotal moment that could be a major world-wide crisis, or more hopefully a wakeup call that reminds us that we are, and remain vulnerable to the randomness of nature and our response to it determines our futures.  Beware the ides of March.

Poems

Keys to Success…

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Keys to success in business

  1. Be prepared
  2. See risk and opportunities
  3. Be prepared
  4. Persist through challenges
  5. Be prepared
  6. Take care of your team first
  7. Be prepared

How to Succeed

In things of intent, be prepared for all
As fate’s prospects for fortune rise or fall
Are not for you to now or ever know
But rather be prepared for all that show
For your opportunities will come
As will risk, as sure as the rising sun
And the one prepared will win the day
And in the final analysis will get to say
What goes here and what goes there
As well as what is mine and yours to share
And if you think of all the others first
Before yourself and your ambitious thirst
Then you’ll be the leader whose most prepared
When it’s time to act and for wisdom shared
And if your talent, preparation and fates allow
You’ll have success, as well as the team who follow
And joined in the joy of a journey of many wins
That build wealth of success as well as friends

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poems

Dark Thoughts…

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Dark Thoughts

Such dark thoughts that live
In his head, each betrayal and slight
For which he’ll never forgive
As he energizes for the next fight

Like a boxer, cheered on by those
Who bet on him to win
And jeered by others that chose
To hold him and pin him in

For fear of the tremendous wrath
Of this wrecking ball mind
Bent on clearing a devastating path
Through whatever he can find

That he defines as the other side
For which there can be no truce
Nor compromise he can abide
So, words and threats he lets loose

And the war is fought
With referees and judges unfair
And what we thought
Was there under his wild hair

Was not hope and care,
And positive works for all
But only the deep and dark despair
Of dark thoughts and their hopeless call

My Stories, Poetry, Thoughts of the day