A Word FromYour Elected RepresentativesIn Washington
At the end of the month the politicians
agreed:
"See we took your food
stamps don't bother me
with your hunger pains
and tales of sleeping in the
rain.
You're good for nothing
if you can't pay your way
You're a waste of my time
a blight on my day.
No one in Washington sees
your tears
and no one cares if you cry
no one cares if you jump in
the river,
why don't you jump in the
river and die?
Get a job,
get a job
take care of yourself you
lazy stiff
and you'll be rich you see,
you'll be in the sunshine
with plenty to eat just like me." ----------------------------------------------------- A podcast of this poem is available for download at Buzzsprout. Click here.
Jack and Qkjea are characters I developed from photographing
flames in a trash fire. I am using them
to communicate to all involved that the elected representatives of the people
SHOULD NOT CUT FOOD STAMP ALLOTMENTS.
Every dollar cut and given to agribusiness interests will
mean a human being most in need will suffer and go hungry. Twenty years ago it would have been difficult
to believe lawmakers would consider such an act. Today they brazenly announce they do not care
if those most in need suffer a little more.
Take a look at how Jesus feels regarding the actions of
these reprobates.
Born last summer the little tomcat
already a teenager strutting his stuff
has climbed onto my lap
to secret himself inside my coat
where he snuggles, warming me,
before stretching his face up to mine.
His purring becomes loud,
bending my head
our noses touch...
then he swats me and jumps down.
This evening a few minutes before the sun stopped shining and the night drew on I took some photos. The colors were soothing and the ripples in the water produced a hallucinatory sensation.
The pond has full time residents which include a domestic duck, and wild Mallards and Coots.
On occasion Canada Geese will stop. Today a Heron came and stayed long enough for me to take a picture from the opposite end of the pond.
The sunlight on the water and the motion of the ripples are able to produce a trance. If one lets go of his thoughts he might disappear into the moment.
I tried to capture the magic of the moment in the video below. Enjoy.
Photography, video and text (C) 2014 David H. Roche
I wrote this poem upon receiving the news a long time friend had mercifully succumbed from Alzheimer's disease. Her husband faithful to the end is now left to wait his fate alone.
How does the water become unfit to sustain life? Let me give you a few bits of information as to the ways this happens. In West Virginia a corporate polluter took away the right to clean safe drinking water from 300,000 people by their business practices. You may have seen this in the news. Even the mainstream press reported on this action by a major polluter. There have been no arrests. It may not even be against the law.
It is reported on the Young Turks and other publications that the co-founder of this business, "Freedom Industries" is a two time convicted felon. He was a drug dealer and tax evader and got caught. Nice guy.
Below are some instances and ways in which water becomes unfit for use by living creatures. Read the information at the links and inform yourself and then decide what needs to be done.
1. Bakken Shale: At the link you can read a case history about how oil production has imperiled the drinking water of Poplar Montana.
2. Causes and effects of water pollution: Go Green Academy has an easily understandable explanation as to how water becomes unfit for use. There are many ways, all of them associated with the lifestyle required by the status quo. It's only one page. Read it and educate yourself.
3. Water Pollution in the U.K. The U.S. in not the only nation which has allowed it's water to be imperiled. The water in the U.K. is not the best in the world.
4. Ask an Earth Scientist how water pollution comes about. Dr. Ken Rubin places a large amount of the cause of pollution on the lifestyle we have chosen to live. What an irony it is that our way of life is perhaps the greatest threat to our ability to continue to live on the planet.
5. USA Today reports that four states have confirmed water pollution from the drilling for oil and gas.
I made the video, "Water Fowl NOT Water Fouled" after photographing some wild birds who come to a nearby pond. The Canada Geese are a most impressive bird. They cannot live without access to ample clean water producing healthy food supplies for them to eat.
a Clear Running Water state of mind
Below is an environmentally conscious post card I have created. It is for sale at "Art From Another Dimension" at Zazzle.com If you are interested the post card can be purchased after clicking on the image. You may want to share this information about the threatened water supply, the post card is an attractive and effective way to encourage thought on the topic of water quality.
The Canada Goose is a magnificent bird. There are seven recognized subspecies of The Canada Goose. Those are named Atlantic, Hudson Bay, Giant, Moffitt's, Lesser, Dusky and Vancouver.
According to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology there are 11 subspecies recognized. The 4 subspecies, which are the smallest, of Canada Goose included by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology are now considered a different species designated the Crackling Goose.
The Giant Canada Goose is the largest goose in the world and long lived as well. It can weigh 20 pounds and live over 30 years according to www.ducks.org in the hyperlink at the beginning of the page.
The photographs are of a pair of Canada Geese which are visiting a nearby pond. It remains to be seen how long they decide to stay. They are comfortable sharing the area with humans and other ducks. They will come up on the banks into the yard to be fed with the mallards, coots and domestic ducks who call the pond home.
The American Expedition website is chock full of facts, photographs and artwork of the Canada Goose. Be sure to take a look at it. Most North Americans are familiar with these impressive birds. I've watched them all my life but was able to learn a lot more about them while researching info about them.
Below is a video I made of the pair of visitors.
The photographs on my blog page were taken by myself and the information presented comes from the websites already mentioned. The Geese depend on water and it is important that we human beings take care of the water
I found, while doodling around, that there is a lot of fun to be had with lights at night using long exposures.
I've figured out how to draw with light and camera this way by deliberately moving the camera. Below is one result I am fond of. I've been able to use this image several times. Did you know photography means writing with light?
I began to play around with video and got some interesting results.
The Original Conception is the biggest Mystery!
An evening eavesdropping on the conversation of two rainbow painters at the end of a days work.
Sand dollars are one of the varied forms of life on the planet. It's clear the imagination of the creative impetus of the biosphere has not been handicapped in the task of maintaining a diversity of life forms. The sand dollar is known by various names according to WIKIPEDIA. In New Zealand the creature is called a 'Sea Cookie' or 'Snapper Biscuit'. In South Africa they are known as 'Pansy Shells'.
Whatever you have come to call them they are all similar, being put together with their inside being their outside. Which leads them to be referred to as 'exoskeletons' meaning they have skeletons, called 'tests', on the exterior of their bodies. Their empty skeletons have the texture of stone or concrete. The exoskeleton is made from carbon carbonate. However they are lighter than what you might expect and are brittle.
The sand dollar feeds on microscopic nutrients in the sandy sea bottom It filters the material and 'eats' with a mouth in its underside. The Monterey Bay Aquarium has a fact filled page on the lifestyle and environmental needs of the sand dollar. The Seattle Times has some in-depth insights into the kind of life awaiting infant sand dollars. When they are small they are called 'sand dimes'. No kidding, read the article at the link, they're crusty little critters well suited to do what they spend their time doing.
Below is a poster I made of the beautiful designs in the sand dollar exoskeleton. I thought it was pretty enough to make into a poster. The design inspires a peaceful and quiet state of mind. The subdued earth tone colors of the borders add to the sense of tranquility. The poster is available for sale at 'Art From Another Dimension' at Zazzle.com. Just click on the image if you are interested in the poster. Or click on the hyperlink to browse through my entire store. The 'Sand Dollar' poster will add a bit of peace and beauty to a wall near you.
An Evening At The Rainbow Painters Cottage is a video made from things I made so far in January. I seem to get onto a theme and work it into the ground by making a multitude of variations of the same general image.
I attempted to do 'zooming' in, in order to gain an additional effect. I'm not sure how that worked out, but I do like the whimsical little tale of the rainbow painters.
I have fond memories involving water. At one time it was my responsibility to mow the families yard. It was 2/3 of an acre of a lawn. I had a push mower and the job was a dreaded event. Thankfully it was not needed to be done in the winter. It was big enough to mow the front lawn one day, the back lawn the next day. It was an old country yard with dips and holes and odd angles to push into and back out of. That was the front yard and the back yard was more difficult to mow due to the locust trees which grew like weeds and spread before noticing they have taken over. When that happens you have to mow around them or cut them down. I liked them. They can grow 20 feet in their first five or six years and be five inches in diameter. Their wood resists rot and is often harvested for fence posts. The locust trees left to grow have long leafy clusters which become filled with wonderful perfumed white blossoms in June. The shadows of their leaves is light and lacy compared to the shade from the maple leaves... but we we're talking about water. I had a well which I paid almost $3000 in 1974 to have drilled. The well digging device was impressive. The well driller called it a 'pneumatic pounder' and explained the difference between 'screw' type drilling and the pounder which he favored. He pounded through 158 feet of earth and shale before hitting water. On a summer day when mowing the lawn I chose this water ahead of beer. Coming in parched and thirsty and letting the water run until the water from the faucet was the temperature of the water at the bottom of the well made me anticipate the first cool gulp. Almost immediately after the first glass my skin was covered with perspiration. It would take several glasses before my body cooled. The water from the bottom of the well was 52 degrees Fahrenheit. On a 85 degree afternoon that water was good when coming in from mowing. The water flowed deep underground in an environment of shale now identified as part of the 'Marcellus shale' formation. It was 'hard' water with lots of calcium that would clog water pipes. The taste of the water was ... I'm trying to describe the taste of water. How does water taste when it has no flavor? We experience water with our eyes and our nose as much as with our taste. Does it sparkle? Does it have an odor? If water can be tasted it probably should not be used for human consumption. The taste of fresh water is like the feeling you have when breathing clean mountain air. It is a taste which is difficult to describe directly.
Owasco Lake was 'my' lake or 'the' lake for me as a child. I went there many summer afternoons with my mother. I swam in it during all my childhood years. I do not recall it having water quality problems until many decades later. I find it difficult to accept the idea that migratory birds which have been coming and going for thousands of years have all at once become an identifiable cause of the problem. Owasco Lake has responded to human efforts and improvement has been obtained, but efforts have not ceased as eliminating and monitoring contaminants is a necessary safeguard to human health and well being. Nationwide the integrity of the water supply is imperiled with many threats. Nitrate pollution is only one of the problems to be solved in maintaining water quality. Nitrate pollution of the water supply represents an approaching calamity facing multiple water supplies in diverse parts of the country. At the link is an overview of the reason for decreasing nitrate pollution to levels considered as acceptable for human use. I'm not sure who produces the blog, but the information seems to conform to reality.
The effects on those drinking water polluted with high levels of nitrates can be read here. From the previous link, produced by the State of Colorado, the first warning with nitrate laced water is not to allow infants to drink it including in formula preparations. In the baby a chemical change occurs which is linked to 'blue baby syndrome'. This occurs because of a failure to produce enough oxygen in the blood. As a result the skin will turn blue. If caught early enough it is easily treatable. If not the results can be horrible, including brain damage and death. It is not something most parents wish for their children.
We have in a sense emancipated ourselves from the spiritual dimension of life by being infatuated with our own ingenuity. In a sense this culture worships the works of its hands and in doing so reveals it's spiritual apostasy. How we define ourselves is a major contributing factor to the future we make for ourselves. It should be apparent we did not come into the world at birth. In fact we came out of the world at birth. There never was a time this was not true, however that is not often the way we think about it. The philosopher and theologian Alan Watts has some thoughts regarding human nature which are appropriate. Click here for a short YouTube presentation by Alan Watts. By nature we are spiritually and dynamically connected to the biosphere of earth. To imagine our existence apart from reliance on the earth as a life sustaining system of relationships is not possible except in science fantasy. However the way our culture has taken upon itself to besmirch the face of the earth with its technology shows the extent of the departure from the spiritual which the 'race' and 'culture' have taken. There are many explanations as to why the biosphere of earth is suffering and finding it difficult to regenerate itself. It is not a failure on the part of Mother Earth. We have made messes faster than she can clean up after us and we need to stop doing it.(the preceding hyperlink is to an educational video produced as part of class material for the University of North Carolina)
"Take Care of The Water"
The post card below is available at Art From Another Dimension at Zazzle.com. Click on the image and you're on your way.
Safe drinking water is not only a necessity for human life it is an element in the category of human rights. The Pacific Institute gives startling revelations concerning the status of earths water supply. You will find it a reliable resource. "Every day, 2 million tons of sewage and industrial and agricultural waste are discharged into the world’s water (UN WWAP 2003), the equivalent of the weight of the entire human population of 6.8 billion people."
"The UN estimates that the amount of wastewater produced annually is about 1,500 km3, six times more water than exists in all the rivers of the world. (UN WWAP 2003)" Furthermore the U. N. has determined that clean water and sanitation are essential components of universal human rights. The postcard below is a consciousness raising media. I was motivated by concern for the condition of environmental malaise associated with access to clean drinking water and sanitary living conditions throughout the world, as well as my desire to support myself in the world through my labor and art. The postcard is available at Zazzle.com by clicking on the image below.
for answers. an audio version of the poem is available for listening and free download at Buzzsprout. To hear or download the poem click the title at the top of the page.
