(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“As freely as the firmament embraces the world, / or the sun pours forth impartially his beams, / so mercy must encircle both friend and foe.” — Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, poet and dramatist (1759-1805)

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

I’m ready for summer spring, but I’m really enjoying all the good pix Steve is capturing this winter. Have a good week everyone!

— wm

Duke: “The lights are growing dim, Otto. I know a life of crime has led me to this sorry fate, and yet, I blame society. Society made me what I am.”
Otto: “That’s bullshit. You’re a white suburban punk just like me.”
Duke: “Yeah, but it still hurts.”

– from the movie “Repo Man”

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

At the International Cat Show, Portland, Ore., Jan. 27, 2013.

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“Love Is Not Concerned”
Alice Walker

“love is not concerned
with whom you pray
or where you slept
the night you ran away
from home.
love is concerned
that the beating of your heart
should kill no one.”

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love love

peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace peace

I think about what it’s maybe like in Heaven. My cousin, who shot himself in the head; my uncle (his father), who wrapped his car around a tree; my Dad (my uncle’s friend, and the man my cousin loved most next to his own father), who jumped off a bridge; my Grandpa (who loved my cousin, my uncle, my Dad, so much) who kept threatening to shoot himself, until my uncles took away his guns. So he went off dialysis and stopped eating and was gone in a week.

Yeah, I bet that’s a real g.d. interesting conversation they’re all having, about their rights and how much easier everything is, now that they’re gone.

Now, how about you tell me that suicide is painless, while I’m sitting here alone, with their pain and mine, on a Saturday night. When people kill themselves, that pain doesn’t go away; it just gets transferred to someone else is all.

That’s all. Someone else carries it.

This is all getting stirred up for me in a kind of huge, ugly way, because of Newtown (Clackamas Town Center, Columbine, Springfield, Jonesboro, on and on). All the Yosemite Sams are jumping around, shooting themselves down both legs at once, no gun control bs, “gotta stay safe!”, loading up on new guns and ammo, going to gun shows, taking shooting classes, taking out concealed weapon permits, NRA bs, 2nd Amendment bs, on and on until I want to scream from it, really.

You know what people like to shoot with guns? Themselves. And children. And their wives. Women, in general. Wait. And men. People like to shoot men, too.

No more guns. They’re not worth the cost.

This song always makes me feel a little better. I’ll just play it twelve more times and try to get some sleep.

Peace, love, peace, love, always.

nancy

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“To hatch a crow, a black rainbow
Bent in emptiness
over emptiness
But flying”

— Ted Hughes

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world.” — Mister Rogers

that quote was the only thing that helped me this week. that, and knowing that I don’t have to let my family out of my sight this weekend. so sorry for everyone who experienced losses and trauma in the shootings at Clackamas Town Center on Tuesday and in Connecticut today.

(Photo by Steve Rawley)

Unmarked Boxes (fragment)

“Tatatumtum tatum tatadum.
There is the light gold of wheat
in the sun and the gold of bread made from that wheat.
I have neither. I’m only talking about them,
as a town in the desert looks up
at stars on a clear night.”

— Rumi

(Photo by Steve Rawley)