Inspiration
My mom held this banner on the corner of 13th & University Avenue in Gainesville, FL, at an Iraq war protest. The banner is a quote from Martin Luther King: Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.
That's what I'll be doing from now until forever -- not staying silent about things that matter. I'll always think of my mom holding this banner.
It's good to be reminded how we are all star matter, partaking in both immense smallness and vastness, both at once -- we are small souls in a vast universe, and perhaps a multiverse. Carl Sagan gives voice to that here -- our Pale Blue Dot -- and I think of it often.
I'm a big fan of Krista Tippett's interviews on her show On Being. I especially love it when she talks to physicists. I can't get enough of the ideas of multi-verses and the beyond the headlines explanations of the Higgs boson; exoplanets that resemble the earth; and the new map of the cosmos that is unfolding at this moment. It's the physicists who bring these worlds to us; it's Krista Tippett's ability to ask the questions that bring the world of science into the realm of interested listeners in a down to earth way as we look in wonder at all that is out there.
The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow
Take a look at this:
Ever since I saw this rendering, I can't get my mind off of it:
A Sunday morning dance for you from Sigur Ros on Nowness.com. You're welcome.
92nd Street Y is offering their treasure trove on demand!
The Chicago Children's Choir participated in this production.
“This church with which we should be thinking is the home of all, not a small chapel that can hold only a small group of selected people,” he said. “We must not reduce the bosom of the universal church to a nest protecting our mediocrity.”
Here's the interview with Pope Francis: A Big Heart Open to God
A little background on this shot: I took it on January 11, 2005 in Gainesville, FL, at the corner of University Avenue and 13th ST. The Iraq War was nearing its 2 year mark and people were organizing Peace Rallies around the country. That's my mom holding up the banner with Martin Luther King's powerful words; she was 76 years old.
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.' MLK
"My message to you is please use my story, please use my tragedy, please use my broken heart to say to yourself we cannot let this happen to anybody else's child."
Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mom
'Use My Broken Heart' to Change Gun Laws - Trayvon Martin's Mom - NYTimes
I love this quote, in particular:
"On the other hand, in families and churches and workplaces, there’s a possibility that people are a little bit more honest, and at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am I wringing as much bias out of myself as I can; am I judging people, as much as I can, based on not the color of their skin but the content of their character? That would, I think, be an appropriate exercise in the wake of this tragedy." -- President Obama
President Obama's Remarks on Trayvon Martin - full transcript - The Washington Post
President Obama's Anguish - The New York Times
