Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President
Portrait of Jimmy Carter
From Blog No. 12:
If you have any doubt that Jimmy Carter was one of the coolest presidents the United States has ever had, think no more. The recent CNN documentary Jimmy Carter Rock and Roll President confirms it. Aside from his political accomplishments in the field of conservation, the Salt II Agreement, and the Camp David Accords (establishing peace between Israel and Egypt), Carter's other deep love and passion was for music. He was friends with a myriad of rock and roll and jazz musicians and they were frequent visitors to the White House. (Willie Nelson was even purported to have smoked pot with Carter's son inside those walls...). Bob Dylan spoke of Carter as "A man you don’t meet every day and you are lucky if you do…." and the Allman Brothers helped propel him into the presidency with their fundraising concerts...
I always thought Jimmy Carter got a bad rap as being a weak president, mostly because of the Iran Hostage crisis. But in my mind, he was a gentle man, a true humanitarian and to this day at 96, still at it, building homes for his beloved Habitat for Humanity and speaking out on issues that matter...I absolutely loved this documentary and if you want to read a good review and synopsis of it, go to Mary Lucia's (aka Looch) Minnesota Public Radio podcast The Current.
Mark Nepo's The Book of Awakening
JANUARY 5
Show Your Hair
My grandmother told me,
Never hide your green hair--
They can see it anyway."
--Angeles Arrien
From the agonies of kindergarten, when we first were teased or made fun of in the midst of all our innocence, we have all struggled in one way or another with hiding what is obvious about us.
No one plans this. It is not a conspiracy, but rather an inevitable and hurtful passage from knowing only ourselves to knowing the world. The tragedy is that many of us never talk about it, or never get told that our "green hair" is beautiful, or that we don't need to hide, no matter what anyone says on the way to lunch. And so, we often conclude that to know the world we must hide ourselves.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. It is an ancient unspoken fact of being that blackmail is only possible if we believe that we have something to hide. The inner corollary of this is that worthless feelings arise when we believe, however briefly, that who we are is not enough."
THE THING IS
Poem by Ellen Bass
THE THING IS
By Ellen Bass
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to love life, to love it even
when you have no stomach for it
and everything you’ve held dear
crumbles like burnt paper in your hands,
your throat filled with the silt of it.
When grief sits with you, its tropical heat
thickening the air, heavy as water
more fit for gills than lungs;
when grief weights you
down like your own flesh
only more of it, an obesity of grief,
you think, How can a body withstand this?
Then you hold life like a face
between your palms, a plain face,
no charming smile, no violet eyes,
and you say, yes, I will take you
I will love you, again.
Pam Smilow/Gert Mathiesen Collaboration, Rowboat, giclee print, framed original is mixed media on Mexican bark paper, 8” x 10” $150 (available in larger sizes as well).
Charity of the Week: Habitat for Humanity
About The Author
New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.
