Watching this awesome video from PBS which I found on ScienceSwitch went well today with a video Youtube threw up in my recommendations list:
It has been a very racially loaded couple of days for me, actually, as I also heard yesterday on NPR’s here and now about Watson Mere, the Haitian artist who created the image of MLK shushing Trump.
Mere mentioned that one of his major influences was the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat, a painter whose work has long intrigued me. Most of Basquiat’s work I find quite violent really, but then there are pieces which do speak to me. And I love this one, “Earth”:
While it may seem that there isn’t a whole lot to this piece, when taken in the context of the whole body of his work, the Basquiat oeuvre, so to speak, “Earth”, I find, is very moving.
So yeah, but, after listening to NPR talk race all the way to work this morning, I happened upon the thought-provoking post Rainbo Conversation over on jsbrandblog too.
Race plays a big role in our times and maybe especially where I live, which is right about where the Mason Dixon Line crosses the USA, where brother fought against brother in the Civil War. I remember talking about race issues with fellow teachers of English during my time in Korea… most of my friends there were Canadian, and they were like – What’s the big deal? Race is bogus science and bs. It’s a non-issue. My response was, you’re right on all counts, but you ought to feel some of the tension that can crop up where I’m from.
My own feelings on the matter are pretty much identical with the assertions of this T-shirt…
…which I found on Facebook here.
Word Florilegium 