intellectual properties

QOTD: ‘i had to draw the drawing’

“i’ve always lived it as big as i could… my brother is married and retired and lives in staten island. and that’s good. his kids are all college educated. i had to do things. i had to draw the drawing, not look at someone else’s drawing and say ‘yeah, that’s a good drawing.’ since 1987 i’ve lived in a commune in brisbane called the annex. it used to be sex, drugs, and rock and roll. every sunday there was an orgy. we called it sunday services. man, that was fun. we had partners—that’s how my daughter was born—but the orgies were disconnected from that and it was fine. now it’s more about pasta dinners all together, and i’m a personal trainer and my roommate laura is a yoga teacher. do you know how high pasta is on the glycemic index? what i’ve learned is this: all the things other people think matter don’t matter. things other people see as sins. we’re all human. there’s a connection to it. as you get older you realize none of that stuff matters.”

- an SF cab driver, via scenes from my hood. it’s so San Francisco, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

you are what you think

“Watch your thoughts, for they become words.
Watch your words, for they become actions.
Watch your actions, for they become habits.
Watch your habits, for they become character.
Watch your character, for it becomes your destiny.”

–unknown

QOTD

“don’t invent too many reasons for what you have decided to do!”

–from Susan Sontag’s “In America“, a book i am very much enjoying and highly recommend.

MLK and the dream

today, remembering that only 50 years ago, white people in this country thought it was just fine to separate people by color, to deny them freedoms and rights and treat them like animals.  may it be so that in 50 years from now, the people who are still fighting for equality in America today (gays, immigrants, among others) will look back at now as a time in history when people fought for change and won.

a few choice quotes from MLK, Jr:

“I refuse to accept the cynical notion that nation after nation must spiral down a militaristic stairway into the hell of thermonuclear destruction. I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right temporarily defeated is stronger than evil triumphant. I believe that even amid today’s mortar bursts and whining bullets, there is still hope for a brighter tomorrow. I believe that wounded justice, lying prostrate on the blood-flowing streets of our nations, can be lifted from this dust of shame to reign supreme among the children of men. I have the audacity to believe that peoples everywhere can have three meals a day for their bodies, education and culture for their minds, and dignity, equality and freedom for their spirits. I believe that what self-centered men have torn down men other-centered can build up. I still believe that one day mankind will bow before the altars of God and be crowned triumphant over war and bloodshed, and nonviolent redemptive good will proclaim the rule of the land.” - 1964 Nobel peace prize acceptance speech

“Modern psychology has a word that is probably used more than any other word. It is the word “maladjusted.” Now we all should seek to live a well—adjusted life in order to avoid neurotic and schizophrenic personalities. But there are some things within our social order to which I am proud to be maladjusted and to which I call upon you to be maladjusted. I never intend to adjust myself to segregation and discrimination. I never intend to adjust myself to mob rule. I never intend to adjust myself to the tragic effects of the methods of physical violence and to tragic militarism. I call upon you to be maladjusted to such things.”

“…it is no longer the choice between violence and non-violence. it is the choice between non-violence and non-existence.”

Realize the Dream

quote for the new year:

“What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

the human race

“The human race is an unfair and stupid competition. A lot of the runners don’t even get decent sneakers or clean drinking water. Some people are born with a massive head start, every possible help along the way and still the referees seem to be on their side. It’s not surprising some people have given up competing altogether and gone to sit in the grandstand, eat junk food and shout abuse. What we need in this race is a lot more streakers.” — banksy

tiny temples

miss erin arrow over at TinyTemples, a beautiful new art/fashion blog:

“Fashion is evolving. It’s not about the thrill of the new, or beauty or even creativity anymore. It is about knowing yourself deeply enough, and loving all that you have uncovered in your searching, enough to let it shine for all to see and be inspired by, be taught by. It’s about learning to trust your desires. Rather than being a display of vanity and self indulgence, taking the time to dress to express can be an act of love. This is a place for celebrating those beautiful people who believe it is their birthright to adorn their bodies, their temples, in a way that most authentically showcases all the jewels housed within.”

perfectly said.

the enemy within

Cicero stated in his Enemy Within:

“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious. But it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banners openly. But the traitor moves among those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself. For the traitor appears no traitor; he speaks in the accents familiar to his victims; and wears their face and their garments, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation; he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city; he infects the body politic so it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to be feared.”

resist

“The opposite of courage is not cowardice, it’s conformity.”

–jim hightower

found advice.