Month: August 2019

The brave Nazis round up their victims

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warsaw_Ghetto_Uprising

January revolt

On 18 January 1943, the Germans began their second deportation of the Jews, which led to the first instance of armed insurgency within the ghetto. While Jewish families hid in their so-called “bunkers”, fighters of the ŻZW, joined by elements of the ŻOB, resisted, engaging the Germans in direct clashes.[19] Though the ŻZW and ŻOB suffered heavy losses (including some of their leaders), the Germans also took casualties, and the deportation was halted within a few days. Only 5,000 Jews were removed, instead of the 8,000 planned by Globocnik. Hundreds of people in the Warsaw Ghetto were ready to fight, adults and children, sparsely armed with handguns, gasoline bottles, and a few other weapons that had been smuggled into the ghetto by resistance fighters.[1] Most of the Jewish fighters did not view their actions as an effective measure by which to save themselves, but rather as a battle for the honour of the Jewish people, and a protest against the world’s silence.[15]

Why drawing is important when we learn art

Click the link for more

Why Having a Dedicated Drawing Practice Is Key for All Artists

EXTRACT

 

Drawing liberates us from the fear of wasting materials or failing. It can be playful and lighthearted. Even doodles count!

Drawing is crystallized seeing. It is the doorway to understanding form through light. If we draw representationally, we simply capture light and shadow. If we draw abstractly, we work on building an assortment of marks.

Having a drawing practice connects our eyes with our hands. Often, we need to get the mind out of that loop. The mind likes to tell us things such as, “I can’t paint hands,” often hijacking our creativity.

Photo by Jill McNamara | Why Having a Dedicated Drawing Practice is Key for All Artists

In Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, author Betty Edwards offers an activity for overcoming this cognitive trap in a lesson involving drawing from a photograph. She encourages readers to flip the photo upside down to better see the shapes and their relationships to each other. This way, the forms are seen as just shapes, instead of a hand, arm, etc.

I highly recommend that you enroll in a drawing class, no matter how proficient you think you are. I take a drawing class every year or two. It realigns me, and makes me a better artist. To that end, below are two quick and easy ways to enhance your drawing practice.

Drawing Practice | Activity 1

Sit in front of a mirror every day for 30 minutes and do a self-portrait using compressed charcoal and a large newsprint pad. Start with several quick one- to two-minute drawings of your face as a warm-up, and then progress to a 20-minute detailed self-portrait.

Assess your image as a collection of shapes. Notice how the shapes change when you move. Look for different proportions within your image, and identify the negative spaces. Hold the charcoal at a low angle to the paper, almost drawing on the side of the charcoal.

Self-portraits offer us the gift of connecting with ourselves and checking in with our emotional state. Life can be so full, busy and distracting that we can lose touch wit the person staring back at us.

Self-Portrait by Carrie Bloomston | Why Having a Dedicated Drawing Practice is Key for All Artists

Drawing Practice | Activity 2

Using charcoal or a 6B charcoal pencil, explore alternate forms of mark making:

>> Draw, holding a pencil in your non-dominant hand.

>> Jab the charcoal onto the paper as if you’re a woodpecker.

>> Explore drawing with firm pressure and with very light pressure, changing a continuous line on the page from dark to light.

>> Make repeating loops until the whole page is a field of marks and overlapping shapes.

>> Cover the paper in charcoal, then use an eraser as you would a pencil, creating marks and lines by erasing.

What poetry changes by Eric Pankey

beige and gray barn owl
Photo by Jean van der Meulen on Pexels.com

https://poems.com/features/what-sparks-poetry/eric-pankey-on-what-poetry-changes/

EXTRACT

In a 1987 interview that appeared in the Partisan Review, the Polish poet Zbigniew Herbert said, “It is vanity to think that one can influence the course of history by writing poetry. It is not the barometer that changes the weather.” With that metaphor, we are asked to see poetry as a gauge, a measure, a tool, a way of understanding the nature of phenomenon. When I say poetry changed the way I see the world I mean it taught me to be attentive, to be curious, to be empathic, to understand both the power and danger of language itself. It is a lens that allows one to see the microscopic and a distant star nursery. The poem, “Five Men,” gives us an insight into the minds of those about to be killed as well as insight into the minds of those leveling their guns as executioners. The poet wonders in “dead earnest” what poetry might offer in the face of horror and trauma. What does it offer? What might it offer?

 

 

How can we explain?

The sky is cloudless, coral after rain
A mad outburst as sudden as a rage
The sun is trembling as it slowly fades

 

Our people too are troubled and in pain
Where ever shall we find a trusted sage?
The sky is cloudless coral after rain

 

Each side  holds the other in disdain
No conversation. nobody’s engaged
The sun is trembling as it slowly fades


The suicidal kingdom’s  past remains.
The Empire a delusion  of  the age
The sky is cloudless, coral, after rain

The erudite  have no words to explain
What  produced the elemental change
The sun is shaking as it slowly fade

 

Fearing loss  we gather on the stage
There is  no  doubt  the leaders are deranged~
The sky is cloudless, coral after rain
The sun is watching  as we slowly fade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My apology so far has been declined

I shall post my sins upon the Web
Sinners  may be cheered by reading mine
I have killed a  mouse, how very bad

I have  been annoyed  but now I’m sad
My sins are written underneath the lines
I shall post my sins upon the Web

If I get too scrupulous it’s mad
I’ll be committed or at least be fined
I have killed a   fly,  am I a cad?

I stood on my cat’s foot and hurt his pad
My apology so far has been declined
I shall post my sins upon the Web

Original and new, my sins  filled sheds
As I seek to  find how sin’s defined
I have killed a  spider   with black blood

No wonder that my  sins are  all now crimes
One  joined up with others, how malign!
I shall post my sins upon the Web
I have killed a  mouse, how very bad

 

 

He has taken umbrage at my words

He has taken umbrage at my  words
He does not trust my  love, now I feel  sad
Sentenced me to death, oh ,how absurd

Would he feel so  bad were I a bird?
Oh, stone the crows .He must feel I am   bad
He has taken umbrage at my  words

Is what I said or wrote what he has heard?
His rage is more than anger, he seems mad
He sentenced me to death, oh ,how absurd

Still ,from my writing I am not deterred
In a way, I have been feeling glad
He has taken umbrage at my  words

Though, a conversation I’d prefer
He must be   very sensitive, by blood
He sentenced me to death,  this life’s absurd

 

I shall not retaliate , throw mud
That might  bring uncivil war on us
He has taken umbrage at my  words
He  is sulking still, oh ,how absurd

 

 

Umbrage-what is it?

DSCN0149
umbrage
/ˈʌmbrɪdʒ/
Learn to pronounce
noun
noun: umbrage
  1. 1.
    offence or annoyance.
    “she took umbrage at his remarks”
    synonyms: take offence, be offended, take exception, bridle, take something personally, be aggrieved, be affronted, take something amiss, be upset, be annoyed, be angry, be indignant, get one’s hackles up, be put out, be insulted, be hurt, be wounded, be piqued, be resentful, be disgruntled, get/go into a huff, get huffy; More
  2. 2.
    ARCHAIC
    shade or shadow, especially as cast by trees.
Origin
late Middle English (in umbrage (sense 2)): from Old French, from Latin umbra ‘shadow’. An early sense was ‘shadowy outline’, giving rise to ‘ground for suspicion’, whence the current notion of ‘offence’.

Don’t love as if your map is reality

      A map's a guide to find a world

    Knitted by angels,plain or pearled,

    And though you need a map as guide,

    Keep your own eyes open wide.
   

    I spent a year caught in a map

    Until I found a big enough gap

    I crawled out through this exit slit,

    So here I am,like some half wit.
    

    Words can act like heroin,

    You live so high ,where I have been.

    But onto earth I gladly fall.

    The air, the sun, the rain is all.

    
    My senses are my lovers long-

    My ears,my eyes,my skin my tongue.

    The winds caress my naked flesh,

    To dwell on earth is all I wish.
    

    I'll live with mice and birds and plants,

    I'll share my food with miscreants

    I'll keep my words inside a tin;

    And only, now and then,go in.

    
    I'll live with cats and spiders three.

    And like a wild flower grow quite free.

    I' ll give my words to those who hear,

    And eventually I'll disappear

    
    Earth to earth then ash to ash

    When soaked with rain I shall disperse.

    My atoms wing like butterflies,

    And to the Flower I'll fly,disguised.

Jesus never wished to be adored.

20953002_977972015676010_7152312224405674898_n.jpg

Image by Katherine

We spent 10 years  a -wandering  Southport Beach
You may wonder how but I don’t teach

I went to Sinai just to have a look
Now it is in Egypt . bless my boots

The Bedouin people  have not found a home
In the deserts of my heart, they roam

I washed my dishes in some  water cold
They are greasy but I’m going blind

Would you vote for leaving Asia next?
Brexit  has put patience to the test

Are we  in New Zealand’s  trading zone?
We could cut the cord and be reborn

I read the Times and leave a comment too
To be quite  clear  I asked  them , is I you?

The Bread that is so sacred  feeds the poor
Jesus never wished to be adored.

I saw a beggar lying on  the ground
I gave him my down coat, was that unsound?

I thought I’d go out on the River Thames
But then I went to Kew to make amends

Did God wish to  convert the  Jews by force?
I hope he will be filled with bald remorse

The Inquisition, torture and  then death
Jesus would be shattered by this mess

Don’t we pay the Hebrews  for their Scrolls?
They told the stories , made the Bible  whole.

All of Europe forced to go to Mass
Those unwilling,  burn them up like grass

I hated sermons for  men gave no clue
How to do in practice what they knew

I made some salad green and ate it all
The slugs and snails are  looking up appalled

English grammar is no use to me
I want to go to Norway and catch flu

I made a rule :it is a sin to pee
Like  sex and drugs and eating from my shoe

Why not work out what we’re made to do?
Making babies may be the real clue

Getting mystic, lying on the lawn
Is that a cat that  bit me on the arm?

I fear my cat has grown her claws  yards long
If she liked my boyfriend,  she’d grow fangs

When in Israel  do  not speak in code
They invented it  to please the Lord

 

Do you long fo marmalade in bed?
The duvet’s  bitter orange  matching bread

 

My husband  phones  when I’m asleep
I can’t pick it up, so it is cheap

Wandering in the Estuary of the Ribble
Stand on Sinking Sand and play the fiddle

If Britain  travels  like the great Titanic
Boris Johnson will sell us our own Panic

If you see a Polar bear at night
Take a photo  followed by swift flight

I’d like to phone my husband but he ‘s gone
Get BT to lay a line  for one.

I don’t believe in mourning over-long
I’ll  soon be dead myself and feel the prongs

Grief is free for all of us on Earth
It hurts like Hell and  makes the World seem cursed

Good night my little cat and my tame snails
I’m off soon  to New  Zealand  with my tales

We prefer to do or be wrong than to be unpopular,mostly

dsc00106-1

YANSS 122 – How our unchecked tribal psychology pollutes politics, science, and just about everything else

Extract

As you will learn, the latest evidence coming out of social science is clear: Humans value being good members of their tribes much more than they value being correct, so much so that we will choose to be wrong if it keeps us in good standing with our peers.

Once an issue becomes politicized, it leaves the realm of evidence-based reasoning and enters the realm of tribal signaling. It’s always been a challenge to progress, but the power of modern media and modern social media has allowed humans to signal their tribal loyalties on a scale that has never, ever been possible, and this one thing might just be what is driving our intense, modern polarization problem.

Compromise and agreement on policies and laws and decisions and judgments and notions of what is and is not true will naturally become more and more difficult as our ability to signal to others to which tribes we belong increases. In this episode, we learn why this is true, and what we can do about it.

G-d likes Tablets, washed in the Red Sea

The impaired keyboard  likes my voice I’ m told
I wonder if I ‘ll write an elegy.
It cannot see, but yet it is not cold

It’s not disabled,  keys look bright as gold
Maybe this will write a poem for me
The impaired keyboard  likes my voice I’ m told

As long ago the prophets had foretold
G-d likes Tablets, washed in the Red Sea
t cannot see,  so is the water cold?

I like on grassy slopes to lie and roll
Would a Tablet suit my malady
The impaired keyboard  likes my voice, you know

The keyboard fits my phone plugged in the wall
Is there  no  more help or remedy?
I cannot see, but yet I am not cold

I want a hybrid child  born out of me
The keyboard will fill in as family
The impaired keyboard  likes my voice I’ m told
We cannot see, but  neither are we cold

 

 

We stand upon  the ruins unredeemed.

There are many sights I have not seen
Whether in the sunshine or by  night
The Tudor walls, the priest’s hole, ancient dreams

The church  once held us,  what does  absence mean?
We do not see   the candles or the lights
There are many sights we have not seen

We stand upon  the ruins  unredeemed.
Averted  human eyes can  find  no signs
The Tudor walls, the bolthole, ancient dreams

We feel alone, no meeting  yet convened
As if we are divided by straight lines
There are many sights we have not seen

Like runners in a race  appear so keen
Our pride makes up pretences for our lives
The Tudor walls, the priest’s hole, ancient dreams

As we submit to sleep  we find designs
Patterns in the world  of poetry ,rhymes
There are  visions  I have not yet seen
The Tudor walls, the  floating clouds , our times

The house

The house seems solid ,weight and gravitas
Wallpaper and pictures  of our choice
It is no stronger than a blade of grass

The  furniture is  mixed  but it will pass
As long as cats   don’t rip it with their claws
The house seems solid ,grams and gravitas

Gone the inkstand with the  heavy glass
Now we use  cheap biros, our envoys.
What is stronger than a blade of grass?

Who would now care if I cleaned the brass?
Women see the dust  ,does it annoy?
The house seems solid ,weight and gravitas

After I am dead, all this is trash
Noone wants to play with others’ toys
Love is stronger than a blade of grass.

I haunt my house, I never hear a voice
Except the television  I employ
The house seems solid ,weight and gravitas
It is no stronger than a blade of grass

Bless the hand that points us past the known

I cannot mend the lamp that we both chose
The top and bottom split when  he fell down
But I can make it look as if it glows

The candle burns, has fragrance of a rose
That takes away my sadness and my frown
I cannot mend the lamp that we both chose

I find it hard to  bear the pain of loss
The concept is  more verbal than it’s noun
But in my home  the candle  brightly glows

In Blythburgh church, a lighted candle  bless
See the painted angels and their crowns!
I  will bear this breakage and its cost

I will get the strength to bear my cross
Oh,haul me, holy one, if I fall down.
Beyond  these lights we sense  the Light of God

Bless the hand that points us past the known
Where each of us must travel, perhaps alone
I cannot mend our lamp that we both chose
I  wander in my grief amongst the low

What a diatribe!

He rang me up ,  oh what a diatribe
I am the monster dwelling in the deep
I feel lucky still to be alive

He raved,he ranted,  did  our worlds collide?
I am the evil witch , he gets the creeps
He rang me up ,  oh what a diatribe

I hope the Lord will not with him abide
I relive  the tumult  in my sleep
I feel lucky  that I am  alive.

I know I ought to take   him in my stride.
If only my  knee joints had never creaked.
He rang me up , what is a diatribe?

I went to Southport just to take a ride
Do the donkeys  on the sands still speak?
I feel  blessed  that I am  now alive.

I know many people that will  shriek
As we  rarely see a duck when we feel bleak
He rang me up ,  oh what a diatribe
I  think he has a  monkey in his mind

His voice caressed me as we sat alone

His voice caressed me as we sat alone
As tender as a dove, as felt as song
But he has gone and I ‘m inert as stone

His voice was mellow even when he phoned
Did I fail him,did I  do him wrong?
His voice caressed me as we sat alone

Sometimes I see his face , let out a moan
Where is he and where do I belong
For he has gone and I ‘m inert as stone

After him, I dwelled with the unknown
No voice, no word, no  greeting ,silence hung
His  memory  flutters   in my mind alone

If I did him wrong, may I atone?
May I confess my sin by writing  songs?
For he has gone and I ‘m inert as stone

Oh, you  angels, may I learn your tongue?
For  his love my little heart still longs
His voice caressed me as we  nestled close
But he has gone ,I wonder does he know?

 

 

What is a diatribe?

DanewayLgeBlue2016.jpghttps://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/diatribe?topic=talking-angrily

Read more by clicking the link

Meaning of diatribe in English

noun [ C ]

formal UK ​ /ˈdaɪ.ə.traɪb/ US ​ /ˈdaɪ.ə.traɪb/

an angry speech or piece of writing that severely criticizes something or someone:

He launched into a long diatribe against the lack of action in Congress.

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

Ranting

 

March 2012 025

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/rant

 

rant

verb [ I ]

UK ​ /rænt/ US ​ /rænt/

to speak, write or shout in a loud, uncontrolled, or angry way, often saying confused orsilly things:

He’s always ranting (on) about the government.
I get fed up with my mother ranting and raving (about my clothes) all the time.
Synonyms

jabberdisapproving
rave
Compare

spout verb

Thesaurus: synonyms and related words

I’ve been given a sentence

I’ve been given a sentence
For a book, that’s not enough
I mean I am going to jail
Time will be no problem then
Doing time is though
What was your crime?
It’s not mine, lots of people have  commiting it
Was it burglary?
No,I parked on the M1 to eat my lunch
You could be dead
I think I may be.
Who took you to court?
An Amazon delivery man
Surely they would not do  that
You’d be amazed
Well ,look after yourself
You too

When it was the time

Richard Zimler’s book are very fine
The Warsaw Anagarm, I love the best
I wish that we could meet to drink or dine

If my book were paper,I’d draw lines
Underneath  the sentences I’d rest
Richard Zimler’s book are very fine

Back  up North, we  ate our meal at noon
I don’t intend this sentence  as a test
I wish that we could meet to drink  good wine

Imagination, tenderness ,aligned
If only  men would kill each other less
Yet Richard Zimler’s book are very fine

The sorrow and the love, the feeling signs
My heart so moved ,I felt in in my breast
I wish that we could meet to drink  good wine

To lack of  feeling,I was once resigned
My heart blew open  when it was the time
Richard Zimler’s book are very fine
I wisht we  all could meet to drink or dine