Life in the End of the Rainbow Valley: January 2023

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

TUESDAY TUNES:RUNS IN GHOST

TUESDAY TUNES this week can't be anything besides an amazing rendition by Grace Bello of a Sicilian mom and Cuban dad nails it in VOICE 2022 with the gorgeous music and lyrics 'I miss you more than life' in GHOST...

Sunday, January 29, 2023

MONDAY MUSINGS:TWO VICTIMS OF A LYNCHING :A HUMAN BEING AND CIVILIZATION

No matter how painful, some stories have to be told, especially from the years of this country's slavery filled with its resistance, the Civil War, Reconstruction and Jim Crow.

In Jackson, Mississippi there is a museum where one can learn about Mississippi's Civil Rights movement (1945 - 1970) through a plethora of exhibits, oral histories, films, artifacts and media posts. There are 7 galleries encircling a main round center called This Little Light of Mine with gospel music crescendoing as visitors can sit, look and listen...

One gallery has two sided illuminated columns with racially motivated killings with name after name of lynched blacks dividing its center. (R)

Random racial slurs sound out from speakers as one reads those names/ views the walls.

Remember the Fallen

In fact, expect an overload of your senses from this museum. The exhibits are both powerful and overwhelming and a perfect reason to rent a headset and audio tape to zero in on the information.

Zoom in below to see how many of your state's representatives voted against the Anti-Lynching bill...

"There are always two victims of a lynching- a human being and a civilization."

So many lives were lost/ ruined earning the right to vote, making it all the more important for each citizen to exercise their voting rights. Poor turnout at the polls unfortunately abounds in our country. We must eliminate voter apathy and be cognizant of gerrymandering," a corrupt practice that ensures boundaries benefit political parties," and elect officials who represent the best interests of society.

The race conversation must continue until there is no reason for a 'Me Too' movement.

No matter how unsettling, I so appreciated the opportunity to have been able to spend some time during my Jackson visit at their Museum of Civil Rights... May we all remember the importance of our country's past, its present so that future generations will also remember.

Friday, January 27, 2023

FOTO FRIDAY: A CUBBY ADDITION

For this FOTO FRIDAY there's a perfect new addition to one of the den's cubbies!

Take a look in the lower right-hand corner and you will see it...

Did you spot the sweetest painted still life on a wooden block?

I got it last weekend from new friends, Julia and Larry.

Thank you.

Hey readers, is there something new on one of your shelves/walls?

Do share! Keep on sending me your newest.

Colleen shared her first art purchase in a long time.-Trees a Bas Relief by Marianne Stanke

Ginger's painting of Chris Keller's sister's living room in Louisiana...

Thursday, January 26, 2023

TBT: ESCAPING 10 YEARS AGO TO SUNSHINE

TBT: ESCAPING 10 YEARS AGO TO SUNSHINE This pic was on an escape 10 years ago from Wisconsin winter weather to Florida and sunshine as you will see the blog entry was about ice fishing 5 miles from the End of the Rainbow Valley.

Take a look at sitting next to another body of water but it was frozen...

Icefishing Have a great Thursday!

Wednesday, January 25, 2023

AN UNEXAMINED LIFE IS NOT WORTH LIVING

It is said one is never too old to learn something new. And thank goodness because learning does make life more interesting. As a college double major with a minor there just wasn't enough time in a semester to take classes to pursue other interests.

You may remember me writing about a Latin American Contemporary Art class I audited on UW-L 's campus when I taught there and the countless lectures/ presentations attended on 3 different town campuses. Sometimes Natureman joined me and other times, I went on my own. COVID interrupted all our lives on many levels...

Here in Little Rock, LifeQuest, the senior learning program, began its winter quarter last week. Although I decided to take a break from teaching this winter, My Dad and I still signed up for a class together taught by a different lawyer each week. Our first class was on Socrates. Did you ever study the Greek philosophers? I hadn't.

Socrates was raised during the Golden Age, the 5th century, and considered the founder of Western philosophy.

He was not attractive, clothing wasn't important to him and he walked around barefooted.

Socrates was a harmless eccentric who engaged others. It was his students who passed on his teachings since he never published nor wrote down his idealogy ( Plato, by the way, was one of those students.)

Anyhow, Socrates challenged Athenian 'democratic' dogma and logic. As a teacher, unpaid no less, his methodology was asking critical questions regarding ethics. Questioning to learn therefore became known as the Socratic method. Sometimes he appeared to mock those who didn't question although it wasn't his intention to make them look ignorant. How can one learn if one doesn't question?

He was convicted of 2 offenses for corrupting the minds of Athens. He didn't contest his charges as he could have just left Athens. His sentence was death by poison.

Socrates left us knowing ' an unexamined life is not worth living.'