The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 50,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 12 Film Festivals
Click for more information
Need some help visualizing global issues? Here’s an amazing idea:
Oceania: blue. Europe: black. Americas: red. Africa: yellow. Asia: green.
Powerful. Also illustrations for homicide, obesity, military spending and billionaires. Click graphic for source and story.
Scott Terry’s sculpture about Proposition 8 is now a YouTube video:
From his website:
When the religious right campaigned to repeal the right of California gays and
lesbians to marry, I was silent. It’s not that I didn’t care or was uninterested…I
just didn’t care enough to get involved. I don’t ever see myself getting
married, so I did not join the fight.That was a mistake.
So while I did not voice my opinions or feel alarmed at the potential for
California voters to feel strongly enough about gay marriage to amend the
state constitution, I do have a really short fuse when people take their
religious dogma out of their respective churches and expect everyone else to
adopt it. I get even more impatient with the “it’s the way it’s always been”
argument. I mean, get real. If we lived by the way it’s always been, we’d still
believe in slavery and child labor.This art piece is my late entry into the argument and an apology for my earlier
silence.
On December 5th, 2008 when I first envisioned the creation of this piece, I
sent an email to the ProtectMarriage group, inquiring where I might obtain
some YesOn8 lawn signs. Here’s the text of that email:Me: “Hi. I need some YesOn8 lawn signs. Can you tell me where I could get
them?”The ProtectMarriage folks reply: “Your best option would be visiting your
local church. They might have some leftover from the campaign.”Powerful message, I think.
Me, too. Thanks Scott!
Have you ever thought of an idea that would make a good project, but maybe just didn’t have the wherewithal, the resources or the drive to see it through? Or have you ever seen something totally engaging that you knew you could wholeheartedly support?
Recently I’ve come across something that I love, both in idea and in practice, and I would like you to take a look with me….
Alix Smith is a brilliant photographer who has received recognition for her art. But she has recently decided to change things up. More specifically, she has chosen to document non-traditional, same-sex families in traditional, beautiful ways. “I wanted to show people the beauty of all families, that there’s nothing to be afraid of,” she told me.
And she does it beautifully. Not only that, she has a vision.
I asked her to share it with you:
“States of Union is a photographic project that documents gay and lesbian couples and families in the style of the classic masterpieces. As a lesbian I conceived of this project to fill the void I experienced in my own coming out process – I had no paradigms, no role models, no historical examples, and no contemporary exemplars of what my family might look like.
In order to truly do justice to the subject matter and show the diversity represented in our community I am currently raising funds to facilitate travel to photograph families from states that are not traditionally perceived as gay-friendly (e.g, New Mexico, Arizona, Oklahoma, Alabama, Alaska, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Georgia, Virginia, Wyoming, and Washington)
The more the world is permeated with images of loving and committed same-sex couples and families, the harder it will be for same-sex relationships to be considered “other.
Your donation will help give these families a voice. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing site, meaning if I don’t reach my entire goal before the deadline on JUNE 14TH AT 8PM I will not receive any of the funding.
To support this project go to: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alixsmith/states-of-union-portraits-of-same-sex-families
Please email, blog or tweet this! Each donation level has an accompanying reward No amount is insignificant – even $5 will bring me closer to the kickstarter goal.”
I am so in. Made a pledge, in fact.
I’d like you to consider it, too. If nothing else, to help erase fear and bring a greater awareness of truth and beauty to our country- and to the world.
From Ballon Juice, one of the best posts I’ve ever read on the ridiculous “strength of non-wisdom” meme that circulates through the neocon-tea-redneck (frat) party.
If you’ve ever wondered where the unwillingness to admit mistakes in modern politics comes from, read the post. It’s excellent.
Thanks to Rob Kailey.
From Eternity To Here 