Small Column for a GREAT MAN

THE WEEK, the best in US and International Media, is currently my favorite news magazine. For decades I was a Time and Newsweek reader but for the past decade or more, THE WEEK has been my go-to magazine. I also subscribed for decades to the Sunday New York Times but my vision has gotten too poor for the small type. The two things I enjoy most about THE WEEK, are the brevity of the columns and the wide variety. When I say variety, I don't just mean in the stories covered, but in the various other media referenced in the columns; they really do give both sides of the stories!

The old expression "A Good Man is Hard to Find" has often been found to be true in my life experience but I like to celebrate the good ones I have encountered or heard about and I have a few HEROES. Among presidents, my favorites have been Lincoln, a great hero in the most perilous of times, same for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and I have to cite him for his genius vision the WPA! Jimmy Carter has always moved me to tears with his goodness, simplicity and straightforwardness of expressionand his great intelligence, which was never appreciated when he was in office. I would say the same about Joe Biden, a serious, hardworking, intelligent man who truly has put himself in the force field for the good of our people. Often buried in back pages are the lists of President Biden's accomplishements, as for example in the Infrastructure bill. For decades people have complained about the neglect of our roads, bridges and railway systems, not to mention our rivers and air! President Biden marshalled all he could to get something done, against heavy odds and partisan obstruction.

Buried in a 3 inch column today in The News, was a short notice about Jimmy Carter, age 98, being put on hospice at home. The column stated that he had complications from melanoma which had spread to his liver and his brain, and he had been suffering many falls. Mr. Carter stated that he was "absolutely and completely at ease with death." and added that as a Christian he had complete confidence in "life after death." Mr. Carter, working with Habitat for Humanity even up until 2020, helped build more than 4,000 houses. And he and his wife Rosalyn (95) have lived in the same modest house they built in 1961. Here is a man with virtue, simple unadorned nobility. He was loyal to his wife and his vows, not driven by ego or greed or ambition, but by the will and desire to serve his fellow humans. These are the Christian virtues spoken of in the Beatitudes, not the kind spouted in the new popular brand of mega-church Christianity to sells itself as a road to fame and fortune.

I am sorry that President Carter is dying but I am happy in his peace and equanimity in the face of it. He has had a good and long life which is a great blessing. He will always be a great model for me of what a man can be. I have read over the years, a couple of his autobiographical works, I think the last one was "Making the Most of the Rest of your Life." I think I will search my shelves and find it. It would be a good time to read it again and a good way to celebrate the life of a really GOOD MAN.

Happy Trails on your life! Jo Ann (remember, please use my e-mail if you wish to contact me, not the comments section which is polluted by spam!) Thank you wrightj45@yahoo.com

ART NEWS

Today, I won 2nd Place in the Haddon Fortnightly/5050 Club 5th Annual Through a Woman's Eyes ART SHOW. The 5050 Club is a high school group which works in conjunction with the Women's Club Haddon Fortnightly to raise money for international scholarships through this annual show. The theme this year was S.T.E.A.M. (Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics). The winner was a monumentally ambitious and gorgeous full size hand-sewn quilt called Flower Pots. It was incredibly intricate and an original design. My piece was 5 fabric panels, onto which were sewn 5 portraits of women scientists: Patricia Bath who invented the laserprobe for cataract removal (first African American woman on the Stanford Medical University faculty, Rachel Carson, author of Since Silent Spring, Frances Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, Rear Admiral Grace Hopper who created Cobol, the computer language, and Rosalind Franklin, whose electronmicroscopic photo of dna was used by Watson and Crick to create the 3d model of DNA.

The five panels wer sewn together like a 14 x 14 book, with a strap on the spine so it could be carried like a handbag. Each portrait was sewn onto printed fabric with a desitn to match the scientists' area such as a sea motif for Rachel Carson, who also authored The Sea Around Us. I was given a check, a book with apeach ribbon, a framed award, and a flower - all together in a very pretty package. I was overjoyed to be recognized, especially in the context of 75 really excellent works of Art, and I was doubly honored to be part of such a noble enterprise. Also, you know I love historic buildings and the Haddon Fortnightly is on the American Register of Historic Buildings, having been built in 1857, first as a church. It is a beautiful building. The whole day was a sheer delight. >p/> I still have two paintings up at THE STATION (Eiland Arts Center) the repurposed train depot turned Art Gallery and cafe' on Chestnut in Merchantville, and one of those two paintings has sold! This year is off to a very auspicious start!

If you have work to enter into a show, it isn't too late - Here is info on the upcoming Cherry Hill show which I won't be entering becauae I am tired.

The ‘Art Blooms’ festival will run for two weeks in Cherry Hill, beginning in late April. The festival will consist of a variety of events, including a coffee house, concerts, fashion shows, and art exhibits. The first event of Art Blooms will be the Earth Festival, presented by Sustainable Cherry Hill. It will feature artists and crafters selling their original handicrafts, environmental displays, and family activities such as a family bike ride. All art works submitted in the Art Blooms festival must be art on canvas or paper; this will include watercolors, oils, and prints. Each artist can submit up to three pieces of artwork until April 24, and a submission fee of $10 per piece applies. Artists then compete for various cash prizes, with the winners being announced at the festival's opening reception. Those taking part in the Earth Festival will likely want to work with Cherry Hill printing companies to prepare. Artists and crafters might want to invest in a colorful sign or banner that will draw attention to their booth. Those providing environmental displays might also want to distribute literature to those who are interested in the work they do. Art Blooms will run at the Croft Farm Arts Center from April 27 until May 11, with Earth Festival 2013 taking place on the opening day from 10:00 am - 2:00 pm. Admission is free and the opening reception for Art Blooms will take place on April 27 from 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm. For more information, call 856-488-7868.

Happy Trails, my friends! I think my next work will be a piece dedicated to Lady Gregory, for St. Patrick's Day. More on that when March arrives!

wrightj45@yahoo.com

February Black History Month

Here are a variety of suggestions for anyone wishing to increase knowledge of the history of our American Continent and our African American fellow citizens. The hidden, lost, and erased hisstory of people has always been a great interest to me - I like a MYSTERY! Let me get right to it:

On pbs Passport (which you can access with a one time $60 donation to pbs) is hosting the History of Hip Hop. Iy is a marvelous musical adventure to see the history of the times evolve with the music and to understand how the music evolved from parent music genres like R and B and Blues. A surprise for me was the involvement of Disco which I confesss I never liked until I watched this series. Don't Miss It - you will be glad you had the opportunity.

On HULU you can see the 1619 Project which was first feaured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine, then a book, and now this infinitely enlightening series which has reached 6 episodes in Season 1 so far. The brilliant and entirely engaging narrator dips into everything - music, literature, and adds the voices of the notable scholars and celebrities as well as ordinary people who light up the narrative. I watched three episodes last night, one on the music aspect, and one on the growth and transformation of policing as a result of the Race/Slave hitory of the southern half of the country. Of especial history to me due to my family history with Union efforts was the view of the history of the exploitation of labor as a result of this past.

Finally, this morning I was reading Early American Life a longtime favorite magazine of mine from my former volunteer days at the Whitall House. There was a fascinating article on the International African American History Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, which opened in January. It is hard, if you have any empathy at all for your fellow human beings, to face the facts of this horror, the slave ships, the suffering, the generations of misery the kidnapped and enslaved people were then to face, but there must be a reckoning and repair. For too long there has been a kind of blind, romantic view of the Old South that completely ignored the suffering it was built upon. The time is now for us all to take every opportunity offered to us to understand our own history and how things got to where they are today. All of these entries into history, are, also, interesting, and you get a blossoming of understanding in your brain when the pieces of the puzzle begin to come together and you see the full picture. Enhance your month with an expansion of your knowledge of American History - check out these available and entertaining sources!

Happy Trails! Jo Ann (as usual to contact me, don't bother with comments as it is polluted by robospam - use my e-mail. Thanks

wrightj45@yahoo.com

Fight the Power

Right now on PBS there is a great show called Fight the Power which is about the Roots of HipHop but even more, it is about the last 50 years of contemporary life for urban and poor African Americans as reflected in their music. If you have seen the first episodes of the 1619 Project, then turn to Fight the Power - you will go from the Roots to the Fruits of the Exploitation and Sacrifice of our African merican citizens and our sisters and brothers. This is African American History Month and what we can all do is learn about the situation, what is happening and how it got to be this way. Learn and Understand better!

Happy Trails! Jo Ann

wrightj45@yahoo.com