“The Time Is Always Right To Do What Is Right.”

"Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal."


"If we are to have peace on earth, our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Our loyalties must transcend our race, our tribe, our class, and our nation; and this means we must develop a world perspective."

"Life's most persistent and urgent question is, 'What are you doing for others?'"

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase."

"Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

"It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

“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.”


“It does not matter how long you live, but how well you do it.”

"Whatever your life's work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better."

All photos are from Beaumont Enterprise.com.

All quotes are Dr. King's.

Makeup Monday: On Beauty

I sometimes (okay rarely) have Makeup Mondays on this here blog, discussing makeup ideas, tips and tricks. Today, I'm just not feelin' it, probably because I've felt pretty crummy about my appearance as of late. I found this sign and thought it was good for today.

(found via Christine's Pinterest)

Learning Isn't Pretty

Remember way back when I posted this video I saw at a conference?



(Here's the video that actually shows him speaking. I had a totally different picture of him in my mind!)

I swear I can watch this every day. Makes me want to get back into the trenches of teaching.

Seriously.


I happened upon a review of it in the Seattle P-I. I especially loved this part:

...learning is not pretty. It is a fist fight of the mind and the only way to comprehend and appreciate what we have learned, [is] to pick ourselves back up and continue.

~ Jeremy Tolbert
"Slam Poet Taylor Mali on What Teachers Make"

That could just as well be about life, no?

Calling It In

(These horseshoes have absolutely nothing to do with this post. I just thought they were funny.)

Yeah, I know, I've been calling it in the past few posts. It's not that I haven't wanted to write anything, I've just not had anything interesting to say. (Many might argue that I never have anything interesting to say.) I've also been lax on answering e-mails, returning telephone calls, or any kind of correspondence in general. It's not that I'm in a funk, so to speak. In fact, I'm finally feeling better after my last bout of depression. I guess that's why I'm not as tempted to surf the net, update my Facebook status, or chatter on incessantly about my everyday, mundane life. I kind of want to get out there and do some living for a change.

The other day I ran across a post by Ashley at Domestic Fashionista. She's reading a book by Donald Miller called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. I went back and read all her posts about the book, and I love the introspection she puts in her posts.

The book is basically about Miller's experience working with screenwriters to make a movie based on his memoir. Problem was, his life was a bit too directionless for the big screen. So he set out to start living, rather than writing about living.

One quote from the book (that Ashley has in her post as well) particularly struck me:

People who live good stories are too busy to write about them. Nobody ever strapped a typewriter to the back of an elephant and wrote a novel while hunting wild game…

Not that I'm planning on riding an elephant or hunting wild game. Maybe just taming the wilds of our backyard and picking up some projects that have been languishing forever. Or savoring a delicious book or ten. Or perhaps even venturing out into the great IE and engaging with others. What a concept.

Spring weather seems to do this to me.

It also makes me want to add random pictures that have nothing to do with the post.

Sorry. I'll stop.

Anywho, I guess this is an excuse and an apology and a manifesto all rolled into one. Or something like that.

Carry on.

Find the unicorn meat here.

Yeah, That Sounds About Right

"Truth is, the teenage brain is like a Ferrari: It's sleek, shiny, sexy, and fast, and it corners really well. But it also has really crappy brakes."

- Judith Newman, "What's Really going On Inside Your Teen's Head," Parade, November 28, 2010

(found in Middle Ground, Feb 2011)

If Only All Men Were So Insightful About Women Crying

There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness, but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwhelming grief...and unspeakable love. ~ Washington Irving

Well At Least Someone Finally Admits It

Life is a shipwreck but we must not forget to sing in the lifeboats. ~ Voltaire

Exploding Like Spiders

artwork entitled: Exploding like spiders across the stars

(found here)

I was looking for images for Fourth of July and randomly came across a quote I had in a draft of another post. Uncanny how perfectly it fits.

“The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!”

~Jack Kerouac

(found at The Run-a-muck.)

Footnote: It's funny that I like some of the beat poets (especially Charles Bukowski) even though I most often think of them as lecherous old men who treat their women badly and spend most of their time ingesting copious amounts of drugs and alcohol. In fact, I found On the Road to be boring and redundant as all they did was drive back and forth across the country and drink and chase women. But,I've definitely felt disillusionment (doesn't everyone coming of age?) as well as feeling like a drifter or outsider, so maybe that's the connection. I do also like that they brought poetry down to a level of us mere mortals. CB describes it well:

"My contribution was to loosen and simplify poetry, to make it more humane. I made it easy for them to follow. I taught them that you can write a poem the same way you can write a letter, and that there need not be anything necessarily holy about it."

Quote of the Day Plus George Clooney

"Laugh lines are the new skinny."

I just found it this morning on Katie Bower's blog, All Bower Power. It's in her "about me" description where she describes how she never misses a moment to laugh at herself.

I have a million opportunities a day to do that (unfortunately) but I usually pity myself. I'm gonna have to try that laughing thing...

(Purely gratuitous Clooney shot. Hey, at least he's laughing.)

image credit