Trees

I love trees.

Trees are very spiritual and beautiful.

There are the slim new trees that seem fragile and gentle. There are the knarly knotted trees that seem to have their own personality and soul like old women with question mark backs and hookish hands that reach out to hug and love.

Trees weather the ravages of time and history with grace and beauty. Usually, unless they are destroyed by fire, wind, flood or man they stand forever.

Besides, trees are life. Without them we'd be gasping for air.

An atmosphere of mean...

I’ve been a “celebrity-watcher” for the greater majority of my life. I don’t know if it’s my natural curiosity about people and their lives, or my interest stems from the fact that I love music, music and television and want to know more about those who create those art forms.

Lately I’ve been watching how the world “relates” to celebrities and it’s really very sick and scary.

First you have the paparazzi, you know the scum who claim to be journalists, but who are really just stalkers who make money off of other people’s lives. Recently one of those scum was arrested on the property of a famous Hollywood couple. The cockroach (which I read is what paparazzi means in another language by the way) and his female partner were dressed in camouflage and were trespassing in the woods around the couple’s estate. The oh-so-smart pap had the nerve to say he was doing nothing wrong by trespassing in the “woods” because “the woods belong to everyone.” HUH? Not if it’s not public land honey. He went on to say he couldn’t understand why he was arrested because it wasn’t like he was “in their garden”. The even-more scary thing is that the police supported the scum. ??? What??? So now celebrities have even less recourse when someone invades their private lives and land and homes so they can sell pictures.

Next we have the public who demands pictures and video and dirt on anyone who is on a stage or a screen or even just dates someone who is on a stage or a screen. On one hand the public devours every bit of information, no matter how untrue and ridiculous it is and laps up ever word and image. On the other hand that same public says they “love” the artist and supports their work. They revel in the tragedies (real or imagines) of those in the public eye, while at the same time saying they love their work. HUH? How can you truly care about an artist yet tear him or her down at every turn? How can you believe that YOU have the right to privacy, but because someone is an actor or musician, they don’t have that right? I just don’t get it.

There are tons of blogs, and websites, TV shows and magazines whose creators print, broadcast or write whatever they want and no one seems to care whether any of it is true, or really has any real meaning in the scheme of things in this world. People, there are wars, and death and famine and joy and love and GOOD in this world, why focus so much on the lives of other people? Why not try to focus on the good and the happy and the ways we can make this world better????

I recently read some of a blog by people who seem to actually truly detest an actress simply because ….(and this is the only reason I can truly glean from their mean, tasteless and hate-filled writings) ….because she married one of their favorite musicians and they are just plain jealous. On one hand I’m saddened, yet not surprised to see how seemingly intelligent people spend their days. On the other hand I guess I’ll just never understand that type of nastiness and hate.

What makes people think it is okay to spew viciousness and cruelty to someone like that? Is it because they truly don’t know the people involved (and never will)? Is it because of the anonymity of the Internet? Why hate someone YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW so much?

Maybe I’m a Pollyanna, or maybe I was just taught to be so much kinder that those sad bloggers, but I don’t understand why they are so mean and cruel. I guess I never will.

A nation of whiners...

I'm not someone who is political in any sense of the word. Yes, I vote and I do care about the issues, and I will occassionally write to our President or the local representatives. But, I don't usually share my political views with others.

Maybe its my midwestern upbringing, but I truly believe that unless someone REALLY wants to know, religion and politics isn't something to be demonstrative about.

Recently I read where someone from one of the camps who are supporting the two presumptive candidates for President called America a nation of "whiners". And, I will get onto a little soapbox today and agree with the man.

I think its more than whining. Recenltly a town in Ohio had decided to not allow their Little League to have an "all-star" game because having that game excludes some of the children in the league. So to avoid hurting the self-esteem of some of the players, they decided not to celebrate those who excel. HUH? It may just be me, but that is one of the most stupid things I've ever heard.

What's next? No grades because a C student might be hurt he/she didn't get an A? Or, no science fair because someone might NOT get a blue ribbon.

What a diservice that town is doing to its children. Isn't part of competeing learning how to lose? How can someone learn to strive to be better if they are never told they aren't doing well enough? Can you imagine what will happen when little Johnny or Susie gets out into the world? He/she won't be able to pick him/herself up and dust off and start again when failure happens.

When did doing "just enough" or getting by become the norm? I suppose it was about the same time that taking responsibility for ones action became not the thing to do.

Its sad really.

A beginning ...

So, where to start....

I have a friend who says I should write more. She tried to get me to "write a novel in a month" but life seemed to get in the way (for both of us) and so my great American novel has only about 1000 words at the moment.

And then what comes to mind is ... why would anyone give a darn what I have to say. Of course my Aquarian brain answers my own question with ... why wouldn't anyone give a damn what you have to say? ... and so here I am.

I decided recently, that although I love to write, I love to take pictures just as much, if not a lot more. And so, this blog will be my way of not only sharing with friends, and maybe others, some of my thoughts, but also sharing my images with the world. Now don't get me wrong, I don't see myself as the next Annie Lebowitz, or Ansel Adams, but people seem to like what I shoot, so why not share.

So here is my first picture... oh wait ... but what should the first picture be? Most of my friends know I take a lot of concert pictures, so why not something new? The pictures above was taken in London. I loved London. I don't know if it was because my trip there was the first I had ever planned and totally alone, or because it was my first trip "abroad", but London is a gorgeous city with so many things to see and do.

I loved the vibrancy of the place contrasted by the history. The Tower of London standing there across from Parliment is such a testiment to how so many things survive long after those who build them are gone. It goes to show that for all of our bravado and posturing that all of us, no matter how great or small will someday be gone, hopefully to be remembered in some small way by future generations.

I've thought a lot lately about how I would like to be seen by people. Maybe I shouldn't care, but I'm on a journey to understand myself more, so I have been trying to understand others' view of me as well as how I see them.

I'd like to be seen as kinder and more open than I think people see me now. I want people to see the joy that remains buried underneath a shell of coolness and distance. A photo professor once told me that a lot of my pictures seem to be looking out into the light. I think that its more like I'm looking at the world from a safe distance where I can't be hurt or trampled.

And so ... world, my goal for the remainder of 2008 and beyond is to come a bit farther out into the light. Do what you will to me... you've done it before. I'll survive.