| You Are a Red Crayon |
 Your world is colored with bright, vivid, wild colors. You have a deep, complex personality - and you are always expressing something about yourself. Bold and dominant, you are a natural leader. You have an energy that is intense... and sometimes overwhelming. Your reaction to everything tends to be strong. You are the master of love-hate relationships. Your color wheel opposite is green. Green people are way too mellow to understand what drives your energy. |
To the left: the poster advertising our concerts, which featured choral works which didn't exist yet 10 years ago. New music. Of the 8 pieces we sung, two were accompanied by organ, one by a CD soundtrack, and the rest were acapella.
Last week my co-volunteers and I at Inloophuis de Ruimte visited Stichting Aap, a sanctuary for 'exotic animals' -- most of whom have been abused or mistreated and some of whom were purchased by well-meaning folks wanting a unique pet who later realized that these animals were never meant to live in enclosed spaces. This charitable organization gives the animals medical attention, resocializes them, and when possible, places them in refuges/reserves all over the world. The animals received by Stichting Aap are too traumatized to ever function in the wild.
Prairie Dogs! They had been purchased as pets and proceeded to bite everything in sight to smithereens, including their owner's finger. Cute they are, but domesticated they are not meant to be.
An ape, enjoying his territory.
Evening snack. Yum!
Stichting Aap is located in my own lovely town of Almere, and they are working at opening another 'branch' in Spain. As far as I know, they are unique in Europe, and perhaps in all the world, in terms of the kind of work they do and the kind of animals for whom they do it.
P.P.S. Photo Credit: Ryan Miller of Mennonite Mission Network.
Ancient Philistine pottery.
Looks nearly as fun as War on Terror!
Some board games are more dangerous than others. If you dare play War on Terror, you may end up with Evil plastered all over your forehead. In London, some friends and I spent several hours one Sunday figuring this game out. If I gave board games stars, I would give this one 3 out of 4. Recommended as an entertaining way to get educated about the crazy turn our world has taken. Apparently, WoT's creators, who are peaceniks from Cambridge, have been banned from some game conventions because of the controversy surrounding WoT. Read The Guardian's coverage of the game here.
Viewing this image both awed me and broke my heart. I remembered Psalm 137:By the rivers of Babylon— there we sat down and there we wept when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our harps.
For there our captors asked us for songs, and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!”
How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land? (NRSV)
When I first viewed this piece of art last week, I was impressed by how the faith expressed in the Hebrew scriptures was grounded in concrete, earthy experiences - many of which were tragic. Here is a portrayal of Israelite musicians: conquered, captive and marginalized as 'the other'. I could only gaze in sadness and wonder as the real, lived experience behind this artifact (and the psalm) leapt forward, demanding my attention. Today, as I think back to my afternoon in the museum, I wonder about the real, lived experiences of the 'captives' in Western societies. I chose to emigrate to Holland; many immigrants leave their homeland against their will. In what ways are they required to sing their songs in order to 'entertain' the powerful majority? In what ways do we use others to satiate our own 'need' for mirth? By refusing to take seriously those who are different, how do we impoverish our own souls?
Related pieces include:
Self-Portrait in Miniature, with River and Bridge
Self-Portrait at Gabriel's Wharf, Amongst Woodland Creatures
Self-Portrait, Airborn, Passing Big Ben
