Choices

 - Tess Gallagher

 

I go to the mountain side

of the house to cut saplings,

and clear a view to snow

on the mountain. But when I look up,

saw in hand, I see a nest clutched in

the uppermost branches.

I don’t cut that one.

I don’t cut the others either.

Suddenly, in every tree,   

an unseen nest

where a mountain   

would be.

                                             

from: Midnight Lantern: New and Selected Poems. Copyright 2011.

 

Choices Abound!

Words of Hard Earned Wisdom

The project was to capture and print large, almost life-sized photographs of inmates from within Maine State Prison, have them write a letter to their younger selves and superimpose those handwritten letters as vignettes around the inmate.

The idea behind it being to display these images in a gallery for public viewing, in hopes that it brought a much more human element to individuals we often look at only as convicts living in a cell.

"Our bad choices can contain untold loss, remorse, and regret [...] but the positive value of these bad choices might be immeasurable if we can face them, admit to them, learn from them and find the strength to share."

Trent Bell Photographer.

Source: Convicts Share Words of Wisdom with their Younger Selves in Powerful Photo Series, by Gannon Burgett

Here is a Personal Perspective on a Well Worn Subject

by a blogger named Nadia Elawady.

I’ve Gone and Done It Now: What It’s Like Without the Muslim Headscarf

I wanted to know what it would feel like. I wanted to know how people’s perceptions of me would change and how my perception of myself would change. ...

What I noticed is that no matter what a woman wears, there are some people out there who treat women inappropriately. There are men who will harass women that are scantily dressed and men who will harass women covered from head to toe. There are people – men and women – who treat women with disgust because they are scantily dressed and other people – men and women – who treat women with disgust because they are covered from head to toe. ...

No matter what I wore, there were still the rude people, the nice people, and the we-could-care-less people. ...

The whole post is worth reading.

 

In other news, IKEA's new Edmonton branch contacted TheHijabShop.com to design and produce a 'hijab' – that would fit in with their current uniform.

 In a world where intolerance in the form of
'protecting women's rights'

(see France for example) is gaining traction,
IKEA has gained respect in my eyes.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT