Wednesday, October 31, 2007

the truth is out there...

I know I've talked before about moral character, and how lately (in my lifetime, anyway) the world seems to be running on greed. Hungry for more and more power and control, massive multinational corporations have become something akin to the evil empire from Star Wars, gobbling up more territory every day, and crushing all who don't get out of the way fast enough. The men (and let's face it, they are mostly men) who run these corporations are behaving as if they believe that nasty little saying: "the one who dies with the most toys wins".

Case in point: yesterday, I was listening to news from the BBC...coverage of Saudi King Abdullah's state visit to England. He was greeted warmly by the Queen and PM Gordon Brown, after which, as he was ceremonially inspecting the troops, you could hear a military band playing "the Imperial March" in the background. (that's Darth Vader's theme song from Star Wars to most of us) How insane is that?!

We certainly seem to be heading toward some sort of final reckoning. I'm not predicting the end of the world, just the end of our world as we know it now. I doubt that we'll go so far as to literally destroy the planet itself, but we certainly have the means to obliterate every living thing on it.

Dave sent me the text of a speech John Edwards gave the other day at a college in New Hampshire. He talked about the moral decay in our country and about how we need to start hearing the truth, especially from our country's leaders. He spoke frankly about the moral crisis we're facing, and how difficult it will be to overcome. We need to rise to the challenge, as we've always done: ordinary people driven by what is right to do extraordinary things.

Here's a link to the text of his speech. I don't think anyone could read this and not be stirred into action.
http://johnedwards.com/news/headlines/20071029-moral-test/index.html

By the way...it was not lost on me that he gave this speech in New Hampshire. He is running for president.

Monday, October 22, 2007

complementary colors 101

What a beautiful autumn day! The sky is an amazing, clear blue; the trees are lit up in brilliant golds, reds and oranges. Walking up on the ridge with Dave and the pups this morning, we could see Portland spread out below us like a gorgeous multicolored tapestry. It means so much to me to feel connected to the earth, and unapologetic city girl that I am, I still get to observe nature and the change of seasons and all the creative inspiration that brings.

Friday, October 19, 2007

quote of the week

"The artist is a receptacle for emotions that come from all over the place: from the sky, from the earth, from a scrap of paper, from a passing shape, from a spider's web. "
- pablo picasso