Laughing With...........

Maybe it is because I have a gravely ill loved one in the hospital, but I find this new song by Regina Spektor to be profound.

Recycled Book Publishing

You may have heard of the two reporters being held in North Korea. They work for Current TV. Check out this short (too short) documentary on artists publishing books using recycled material. Check out the other documentaries at Current as well.

Update: I just watch a longer documentary by Current and am a total fan. Check out "Thankyou, Recession." Consider joining the Face Book Group that is supporting the family of the two current journalists.

Something Wonderful from Next to Nothing

In this time of shrinking wealth and growing worry it is refreshing and inspiring to see imagination at its best. The Guggenheim Grotto, an Indie band from Dublin, has created a wonderful music video for their song 'Her Beautiful Ideas.' If you've studied art history you may be successful in finding the numerous art references.

Touching Portraits by Laura

Laura Chasman has created a touching series of paintings of elderly nursing home residents and the aids and nurses that care for them. I came across her work while doing research for a similar project I am considering. Her gouache paintings stood out as I did a good image search of nursing home portraits. Laura has painted other groups of people. I like the way she has used her natural communities (family, friends, work) as the subject matter. Her work has the same directness as Alice Neel's. It comes across unassuming yet profound. Be sure to visit her site to see these excellent paintings.

Keep Getting Better

Maybe you bought the CD like I did and played it to death, but I bet you will still enjoy this video from the Playing for Change folks. Their music is great but combined with the images it is overwhelmingly excellent. Watch the expression of emotion on these singers' faces and you will get why art (music in this case) is so important to being fully human. These guys exude the suffering that New Orleans went through with Katrina- yet through their art their spirits have triumphed- yours will be raised as well. Enjoy!

Spanish Version of Give Me Eyes Book now online

This is a book I published in 2007. It is written in both Spanish and English. It tells the story of a couple who cross the border illegally. It was created in collaboration with undocumented immigrants living in my community and with families left behind in Mexico. I hope to share this video across Mexico. This book is now for sale on Amazon.com and on lulu.com

Has Nothing Changed?

More on Wislawa Szymborska

Tortures
by Wislawa Szymborska

Nothing has changed.
The body is a reservoir of pain;
it has to eat and breathe the air, and sleep;
it has thin skin and the blood is just beneath it;
it has a good supply of teeth and fingernails;
its bones can be broken; its joints can be stretched.
In tortures, all of this is considered.

Nothing has changed.
The body still trembles as it trembled
before Rome was founded and after,
in the twentieth century before and after Christ.
Tortures are just what they were, only the earth has shrunk
and whatever goes on sounds as if it's just a room away.

Nothing has changed.
Except there are more people,
and new offenses have sprung up beside the old ones--
real, make-believe, short-lived, and nonexistent.
But the cry with which the body answers for them
was, is, and will be a cry of innocence
in keeping with the age-old scale and pitch.

Nothing has changed.
Except perhaps the manners, ceremonies, dances.
The gesture of the hands shielding the head
has nonetheless remained the same.
The body writhes, jerks, and tugs,
falls to the ground when shoved, pulls up its knees,
bruises, swells, drools, and bleeds.

Nothing has changed.
Except the run of rivers,
the shapes of forests, shores, deserts, and glaciers.
The little soul roams among these landscapes,
disappears, returns, draws near, moves away,
evasive and a stranger to itself,
now sure, now uncertain of its own existence,
whereas the body is and is and is
and has nowhere to go.

Chaos in Calais - Another Perspective on Undocumented Immigration

You may have never heard of the port city of Calai, France or may think of Rodin's Burghers of Calais. (see below) Today, Calais is in the news for their tent city called "The Jungle" . It is an abandoned bit of woods that is shelter for undocumented immigrants coming from all over Africa, and the Middle East including Iraq and Afghanistan. We in the US tend to think only of Mexico and Latin America when we think of undocumented immigration. The issue of migration is a world wide one and tied tightly to the issue of human suffering and dreams for a better life. This video examines the issue from all sides; the immigrants, the volunteers, and the officials. Particularly touching for me is the migrant who came to Europe to pursue his love of Western Music and was shocked by the racism he found. Worth looking at also are the comments left by viewers on You Tube- sad, truly sad. (Click on the video to go to You Tube and scroll down to read comments.)

Rodin's sculpture memorialized the willingness of man to sacrifice for the love of others- a lesson we are still learning.

Latest "Playing for Change" video

If you have not picked up the new Playing for Change CD and DVD, then you have to see and hear this video. The audio version is great but combined with the imagery it is awesome and inspiring.

(Click on the above video box if your view of the video is clipped on the right.)

Homeless In Gaza

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/7926780.stm

This is a powerful slideshow with audio that shows the lingering effects of war. The Gaza War seems old news to us, we have moved to Swine Flu and so forth, but for this family with their children and grandparents, the war still looks them in the face every morning when the rise, and it sleeps with them at night. I respect the job the BBC News staff did in compiling this slideshow, you can hear the flames popping the wood as the photo comes into view of the father starting the fire. They also give everyone a voice, providing subtitles when needed. Heather Sharp, Hamada Abuqammar, and Paul Kerley have put together one of the best presentations of this kind I have seen. Touching. Disturbing.

To Be Rather Than to Seem

Check out my new project that is finally ready to go public. I have been traveling the state of North Carolina for the last year collaborating with Muslim Americans to help them create self portrait images. Go to www.muslimselfportrait.info

Chinese Artist Wei Wei takes Dragon by the Tale

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Artist Ai Wei Wei, who helped design the Chinese Olympic Stadium, has been collecting the names of the children who died in last years quake. His goal is to find a total number of children's deaths, that's all. His blog has become a popular site for parents and others. Keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Maybe he has enough visibility as an international artist not to be disappeared.

SORRY but this blog is the only one I could find on his activities. It has a Honda commercial at the start.

Women Are Heros

TRAILER " WOMEN ARE HEROES"
by JR

WARNING: Mature images and content. Grow up and watch it.

Beautiful Site on Ugly Reality: 287g

Check out this well designed project on the ugly truth of deportation practices in our state.

www.facingdeportation.org

Makes we want to run

Onwards from akqa on Vimeo.

This animation by James Jarvis is excellent. If you have ever run regularly you will recognize the joy and awe in this animation. For me, it brings back memories of a long run once when it began to snow, by the time I got home I had ice on my beard and a fire in my heart. From the very first stretches the yellow man makes you can recognize its honesty and accuracy. Man, I gotta get back out there. There is music - after a moment.