This poem speaks of the nature of God.
God tests the people’s laws and sees if they are fit. If they are not, he punishes them so they will correct their laws.
This is what the poet understands.
God is not like that.
This is what I understand.
Zings of beauty provide luster when luster is needed. Happiness when you are feeling a bit down. Intrigue when your job offers none.
These zings are fleeting so that they can be done again and still offer their impact.
One glows more than the rest and that is the soul? What of the rest? Have they no souls? Is the property of having a soul simply true for the brightest in the bunch? What of the rest? Maybe they have too dim of a soul to be considered by this poet…
This is an interesting poem, and one thing sticks hard in my mind: some things are fleeting so they don’t lose their effect.
“Stain,” Pejac
Stumbled upon this on Facebook. Given the recent resurgence of Banksy in the news (did everyone catch the article on why Banksy may be a woman?), I thought this was interesting.
Spanish Artist Pejac Spreads Poetic Street Art around European Cities
Patti Smith paints her picture very descriptively. She paints her childhood of rote prayers taught to her by her mother, her experiences with Stephanie and her beautiful possessions, her experiences with being an outcast at school, Robert Mapplethorpe’s experiences, trying to find her way in New York City, and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe for the first time.
She had her first psychedelic experiences, it seems, when she was lying in bed with a fever, praying–she thought–to God. That’s interesting, because those first experiences seem to have shaped everything that came afterwards in her life.
Patti believes strongly in fate, or fatalism. That continues throughout her life, even until and after she meets Robert Mapplethorpe.
So, this past week, one of my favorite videogame franchises, Assassin’s Creed, released the newest installment in the series: Assassin’s Creed Unity. I was understandably excited and, as soon as I sat down to play it, my first instinct was to explore the absolutely breath-taking rendition of Paris that the game was set in. These were some of the best graphics I had ever seen ever! Ubisoft, the franchise’s developer, is known for constructing the settings as close to real life as possible, using the actual blueprints.
A rendition of Notre Dame in Assassin’s Creed: Unity.
Now, as anyone familiar with Assassin’s Creed will know, the game involves a lot of climbing, clambering and parkour. As I was traversing the rooftops of Paris, I spotted a particularly high cathedral; only when I had gotten to the top of one of its two towers, did I realize that this was none other than the great Notre Dame cathedral itself! This virtual rendition had taken almost close to two years to construct and was one of the most accurate models in the entire game! As my character sat atop the tower, another thought raced across my mind: these two towers was one of the places that Phillipe Petit, on his wire-walking adventures, had crossed. Although I have never visited Paris, this beautiful rendition of Notre Dame had given me an entirely new perspective on one of Petit’s walks; there was an intense sensation of wonder to the entire moment and led me to appreciate not just the amazing hard work that the designers of the game had put into creating such a historical structure, but of the history that was attached to this building that we, the players, were allowed to experience.
The documentary “Waste Land” was enlightening. It showed a side to product consumption that I had never considered before. Moreso than anything, it showed an entire community of people whose very lifelines came from the landfill of Jardim Gramacho. The documentary followed Vik Muniz’s expedition to create art out of the landfill of Jardim Gramacho and how it impacted the people that lived there. My favorite part of the documentary had to be when Vik, along with the people, actually crafted the pieces of art using recyclable materials. It was an inspiring moment and left me awe-struck.
Another deeply fascinating part of the documentary was its portrayal of the people that made their livings off of picking recyclable materials. The portrait that is painted of this community shows a strong, proud group of people; they live a simple life and are satisfied with it. Vik postulates that this might come from denial and from not knowing any better. Regardless, it was a very heartfelt moment in the documentary when Tiao and his people were at the museum; their words, especially Irma’s, moved me.
“Waste Land” was an extremely enjoyable watch and was full of deep, emotional moments that truly appealed to the viewer. Loved it!
P.S: “99 is not 100!” should be a motto for the recycling movement!
