Posted in art, media, notes on the human condition, tagged acclaim, aesthetic, American Dream, angst, appeal, art appreciation, art history, art world, artist, artistic merit, barriers, beauty, Bible, biography, Christian, church, clash, collectors, commercial, community, conformity, consumer, contemporary, contradictions, contrast, controversy, conventional, creative, creator, critics, culture, curators, cynical, death, debate, definition of art, dialog, discussion, disenfranchise, distain, disturbed, elite, esoteric, eye of the beholder, family values, fans, favor, fine art, folk artists, gallery, globalism, idealized, ideals, innocence, landscapes, lithographs, marginalize, middle class, modern art, narcissism, painter of light, paintings, passing, personal life, popular, portray, postmodernism, prints, redefine, self-absorbed, styles, suppression, themes, Thomas Kinkade, traditional, unconventional, what is art on April 8, 2012 |
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There is something attractive about defrocking a figure of faith-and-family-values virtue, particularly one of great commercial success who has endeared himself to an endangered minority: the American middle class. The late Thomas Kinkade, who died of unnamed causes Friday, made an easy target. The self-anointed “painter of light” specialized in idealized scenes harkening to a more innocent and bucolic time. Such art might be expected from a pastor’s wife or a bookish introvert yet it was the high degree of contrast between the artist’s placid and peaceable imagery and his real-world foibles and flaws that made him an irresistible subject for personal and artistic attack.
In the wake of Kinkade’s untimely death at age 54, the Los Angeles Times rehashed a 2006 exposé in which the painter was portrayed as a drunken, ruthless and foulmouthed hypocrite. Whatever one may believe about the man, the art world has stood firm about his vision: Kinkade is a commercial success but his paintings do not merit creative or historic memory.
Kinkade’s artistic legacy is as much in question as his personal one. (more…)
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Posted in faith, media, notes on the human condition, politics, tagged abusive, ACLU, Americans, Arizona, ashamed, badly, behave, bill, border, Cardinal Roger Mahony, Catastrophizing, church, civilians, clash, Communist, comparison, comply, consequences, conservatives, controversy, crime, critic, criticisms, cross, debate, dialog, disappointing, dishonest, divided, divisive, documentation, drug war, ego, ethical, ethnocentric. stereotype, exaggeration, fear mongering, Federal, First Amendment, government, governor, higher calling, illegal immigration, intellectually dishonest, irresponsible, issue, Jan Brewer, law enforcement, leaders, liberals, librals, lies, Los Angeles, Lou Dobbs, Michael Smerconish Program, middle ground, misdirect, mislead, moral, narc, Nazi, neo Nazi, on the books, outcomes, personal, polarized, polemic, police, policy, political temperance, poor example, popularity, pragmatic, predators, prediction, profiling, protests, provocative, public interst, race war, racist, raise the bar, rat out, reality check, Robert Krentz, Roman Catholic, Russell Pearce, safety, SB 1070, senator, set example, shame, smear, speech, statesmanship, status, trash talk, truth, turn in, unfair, unforeseen, victims, violence on April 23, 2010 |
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In a move that has sparked controversy nationwide, Arizona state Senator Russell Pearce, R-Mesa, has successfully promoted a bill that requires state law enforcement, among related jurisdictions, to aid in federal immigration law enforcement. The state senator’s most outspoken critic, Roger Mahony, Roman Catholic archbishop of Los Angeles, writes on his blog:
I can’t imagine Arizonans now reverting to German Nazi and Russian Communist techniques whereby people are required to turn one another in to the authorities on any suspicion of documentation. Are children supposed to call 911 because one parent does not have proper papers? Are family members and neighbors now supposed to spy on one another, create total distrust across neighborhoods and communities, and report people because of suspicions based upon appearance?
Mahony’s words are provocative — arguably, even, a cheapening comparison to the horrors Communist and Nazi victims experienced. Yet they come on the heels of an audacious personal attack: The Los Angeles Times reports Sen. Pearce told syndicated radio talk show host Michael Smerconish “This guy has a history of protecting and moving predators around in order to avoid detection by the law. He has no room to talk [on the illegal immigration issue].”
Sen. Pearce may be well within the protections of the First Amendment, but he has far overstepped the bounds of responsible speech. Cardinal Mahony, however, has some confession of his own to do: Dredging up a very painful historic reality in contrast to a hypothetical and alarmist outcome.
It’s time for a time-out.
(more…)
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Posted in health, notes on the human condition, tagged 1957, 35 percent less likely, activities, affect, Ann Arbor, apart, appearances, artificial, attendance, blessings, bonds, Bowling Alone, break, breakdown, caregiver, cave, challenges, charity, chips are down, chronic, church, circumstances, closing, club, commitment, commonalities, community, comparisons, competition, connectedness, connection, consequences, cope, data, development, diagnosis, differences, difficult, dignity, disconnect, displaced, distance between, don't be a stranger, downsized, Easy Street, economic, effect, effort, employees, envy, example, exclude, fair weather, fear, friends, friendships, group, groups, hard times, hardship, hermit, how to, identity, illness, implications, individuals, involvement, isolation, Jennie E. Brand, job, job loss, job market, join, Joneses, keeping up, laid off, layoff, leave, livelihood, lives, lonely, long-term impact, longitudinal, Los Angeles, lose, loss, luck, meeting, membership, mental, miss, model, needs, nonprofit, normalcy, notice, organization, others, out of business, outgroup, participation, people, personal, pride, prime of life, professional, PTA, reach out and touch someone, reciprocal, reconnect, recovery, reestablish, regain, regroup, rejection, religious, relocating, repercussions, researchers, respond, restructuring, retreat, role, safety net, service, sever, shorten, skills, social contract, Social Forces, social lives, social science, socialize, sociologists, spiritual, starting over, study, superficial, support group, team, tough people, tough times, trials, UCLA, unemployed, University of California, University of Michigan, US News and World Report, Wisconsin high school graduates, workforce, youth on July 24, 2009 |
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Don’t be a stranger.
That’s the message of a 45-year-long study according to US News and World Report in “Job Loss Has Long-Term Impact on Social Lives“.
Once someone in the prime of life suffers a layoff or is otherwise displaced from the workforce, community connections — anything from a PTA meeting, charity involvement, sporting team or church attendance — are severed for good at least 35 percent of the time, study results show.
Perhaps this comes as a surprise. It shouldn’t. How many of us have grown distant from someone simply because they left our school, workplace, club or church?
And how many of us, by the same token, have isolated ourselves because we fear that others will judge us when the chips are down?
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