To a stranger

 I realized I was forgetting  a huge part of beauty today the beauty of words to make us think. I found this so moving today I had to share it with you.

To A STRANGER
by: Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

PASSING stranger! you do not know how longingly I look upon you,



You must be he I was seeking, or she I was seeking, (it comes to me as of a dream,)

I have somewhere surely lived a life of joy with you,

All is recall'd as we flit by each other, fluid, affectionate, chaste, matured,

You grew up with me, were a boy with me or a girl with me,

I ate with you and slept with you, your body has become not yours only nor left my body mine only,

You give me the pleasure of your eyes, face, flesh, as we pass, you take of my beard, breast, hands, in return,

I am not to speak to you, I am to think of you when I sit alone or wake at night alone,

I am to wait, I do not doubt I am to meet you again,



I am to see to it that I do not lose you.

VOTE

I am from WI I would be remiss if I did not do something today about voting since we are having our first recall vote in our state ever today. I have a strong opinion about that but am not going to share it here but I am awed by the process of voting today, and it is not just because I got a standing ovation and a drum roll from the poll workers for being number 1000 in my district but that was outstanding. The idea of the peoples voice made this piece stand out to me. it is not a famous artist but a group of teenagers that made it. I love that it is all it is supposed to be no taint of corruption no jaded views on the world yet just what voting should be
http://www.kidsvotingguilford.org/downloads/2011ArtContestWinners.pdf

What an artist and what a subject!

I normally do not look much at the artist or the things about the art I post before I write about it but I was so struck by this statue and the realization that there are too few representations like it when the books of bravery and outstanding acts of African American people is large and long. I was reading about the artist and admire both his skill and his life's work goals I hope you find Gabriel Koren from Hungary as interesting as I have in learning about him. This statue is Prudence Crandall with student.

Normally I would write here what is see in this piece but I will mix in what I know about this as I go. I kept finding this on a kids page then I found out why Children lobbied to have it made sent in pennies to collect for it. Prudence was a remarkable women and I would be dishonoring to her name and legacy if I did not just tell her story here. She was a Quaker school teacher that admitted a black girl into her class room in 1832, a revolutionary act. This act lead to the community removing their white children from the school. So she closed the teaching school and reopened and offered the classes to 20 African American girls from up and down the eastern shore of the us. the opposition was great a year after this a law was passed prohibiting schooling black children from out side the state with out the towns permitting it: this law was called the black law. She continued to teach the girls and was arrested and put on trial. With one judgment against the the school took it all the way to the supreme court and won!  With this the towns people grew angry vandalized the school and finally burned the school down 1834 forcing her to close. Connecticut repealed the law 4 years later. With the support of Mark Twain she was recognized and provided money monthly and her school still stands.

Taking me back.

This is an image from Paul wright's painting It just popped out to me when looking for what I was going to look at for today. Take at least 10 min and let it affect you. it is so hard in our days to do that we are so used to flipping through pictures so fast making quick judgments about them we miss the effect that one piece can have on us.

I see so much dignity in these faces they remind me of my own grand parents the loss of life drips off of them but the vibrant people they are shines through even if life has worn them down. this makes me want to cry at the hardness of life and the beauty of it too. the strength she holds and the kindness of his heart lives in his eyes. they are in love with the closeness of how they sit but it is a tempestuous thing for them. This may be just me putting my grandparents in this with their nick names for each other being you old crow said with such playful affection. The is so much sadness dripping from their eyes. Her hands seem more wringing now than closed off. I am over whelmed with the desire to want to know them they seem like they have so much to say stories I need to know of life and loss. the way this is painted brings so much life to it so much of what I think is in side the people bursting out. It makes me long for my grand parents all sides everyone, but they are all gone now. I wish I knew them more as people not as a child sees an adult but really know who they are. To see them as individuals not just mom dad or grandma and grandfather. This seems briming with longing for me.

What does this say to you? Please share with me.

This is the sight I got this off of please if you enjoyed this visit and enjoy more of his work. http://www.escapeintolife.com/painting/paul-wright/