If we need more evidence the world is imploding on its own good misdeeds, we need look no further than the weight of the ridiculousness that the Urban Dictionary is now being used in courts of law to define colloquial phrases and to help educate judges and juries as to “meaning in the street.”
I live my life trying to create Art and Beauty in all conditions and I also do my best to recognize and celebrate Art and Beauty in others — even if they do not recognize those gifts in themselves. I know a sandwich maker can be an Artist. It’s all about intention and the cut of the knife and the slice of the bread and, of course, choosing just the right condiments. While an Artist can create a sandwich, a sandwich is never really a piece of Art because Art — in its essence — must have the capacity to endure. Sandwiches, by their very nature, are crafted to be temporary and dissolved. Albert Einstein was an Artist as was Alexander the Great.
Imagine my surprise the other day when a new online friend sent me a gift — something he’d made with tools and machines he’d created in a faraway land — and I wrote him an email to thank him and celebrate his talent and my “You’re an Artist!” compliment was wholly rebuffed. I’d unwittingly insulted The Mechanist by identifying his keen aesthetic.
There are many ways to voice your disapproval of something. For example, when people disagree with me on my journal, they don’t hesitate to tell me. When I am at a meal and I mention that I only buy music in vinyl format, someone will inevitably voice their disapproval by speaking up and saying so. My friends in school protested the first Gulf War by walking out of class — not sure what that accomplished, but it definitely got the teachers to know how their students felt about the war. The one way to air disapproval with which I cannot agree, however, is that of death and the death threat.
We live in a cruel world. There is suffering. There is a lack of human compassion. We prefer the preservation of the self over the welfare of others.
If you’re an actress, you already know you face a discriminatory dead zone between the ages of 30-60 years old in the movies and on television. Some actresses, who truly care about their craft, turn to the live stage to help fill that 30-year career void.
Yesterday, we learned the value of removing the “Hiss” from your lyric; today we will concentrate on singing the Vowel in your Vessel. The throat, as you can see in the image below, is one of the many vessels in the body — and we learned that creative notion from Willa Cather, the great Nebraska writer.
Should we be prevented from speaking our minds on the internet? Can we say whatever we wish without fear of prosecution or persecution?
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