“The vote is precious. It is the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society, and we must use it.”
– John Lewis – late civil rights activist and US House of Representative – GA
(This is my take on the Palo Alto City Library’s voting graphic.)
If you haven’t already voted, either by absentee or in-person early voting, please schedule time tomorrow to visit the polls and cast your ballot.
“If you are bored and disgusted by politics and don’t bother to vote, you are in effect voting for the entrenched Establishments of the two major parties, who please rest assured are not dumb, and who are keenly aware that it is in their interest to keep you disgusted and bored and cynical and to give you every possible reason to stay home doing one-hitters and watching MTV on primary day. By all means stay home if you want, but don’t bullshit yourself that you’re not voting. In reality, there’s no such thing as not voting: you either vote by voting, or you vote by staying home and tacitly doubling the value of some Diehard’s vote.”
– David Foster Wallace – Up, Simba!
This Vote image is a riff on Robert Indiana’s Love image, postage stamp and sculptures.
“We are not helpless. The fire is still burning. Please go out and vote this November. Too many people have died and sacrificed so much for us to have our voice, we have to use it. Get in formation. Use our voices to do something great for our children.”
– Beyoncé
This year on our big family camping weekend we carved and decorated so many pumpkins I needed two full spreads in my journal to document them all sitting on the low rock wall bordering our sites.
Thank goodness we had delicious treats to keep up our energy. From top to bottom – lime, roasted shrimp, pepperoni, horseradish cheese, salami, pickle chip and another shrimp… and of course the requisite celery stick for stirring. Yum.
You must live in the present, launch yourself on every wave, find your eternity in each moment. Fools stand on their island of opportunities and look toward another land. There is no other land; there is no other life but this.
– Henry David Thoreau
Over the years the spindly young oak in my backyard has become quite grand and has started producing an amazing number of acorns, much to my and the squirrels’, delight.
Nourish your eye and spirit with inspiring things. They will bloom with your tending.
– Sark
As we pass through the months of the pandemic I’ve been following Gayle Kabaker, one of my favorite artist/illustrators. She has been writing and illustrating an occasional column, Sketching My Way Through Crisis, in The Washington Post and last month they hosted a webinar on Zoom. Gayle and her guest, Jennifer Orkin Lewis aka: August Wren, answered questions and each shared sketchbook techniques while inspiring us to sketch along with them.
I blasted out these two spreads while taking copious notes so I can refer to them when my own inspiration is nowhere to be found. (BTW… all faces drawn here are from my imagination. No egos were harmed in the making of these pages.)
I believe the plan is to upload the webinar to YouTube but I don’t think it’s happened yet. I’ll be sure to update this post with the link when it happens.
Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day?
Both.
At the center of the
universe dwells the
Great Spirit. And that
center is really everywhere.
It is within each of us.
– Heĥáka Sápa
Black Elk
Oglala Lakota
Dana Burrell... Art 