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What is poverty, and what should we think of the poor?

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

We celebrated Human Rights Day last week, but human rights should be part of our values every day, all year long. As noted in last week’s quote, housing is listed in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as one of the fundamentals. Yet homelessness is a widespread phenomenon, both in the USA and around the world.

IMAGES: Many thanks to…

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Empowering smallholder women

The Artdog Image of Interest

December’s focus for my Images of Interest is smallholder farmers, a vitally important sector of the economy across the world. Last week’s Image focused on “The Smallholder Effect.” This week’s focus is women smallholder farmers.

As microlenders have discovered, women are often extremely responsible businesspersons. This Bayer infographic further explores their role…

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Universal human rights

The Artdog Quote of the Week

Yesterday was Human Rights Day, when this post was originally supposed to go live (many apologies!). But human rights are important every day. My theme for the December Quotes is homelessness. I think this excerpt from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, ratified 70 years ago in 1948, is fittingly consistent with that theme.

IMAGE: I created today’s…

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Service

Please accept my apologies. This was scheduled to go live Wednesday, 12/5/18. It failed to publish for reasons I don’t understand.

Like many people around the world, I was touched by this photo of President George H. W. Bush’s service dog Sully by his casket this weekend.

The late President George H.W. Bush’s service dog Sully helped him with “a list that’s two pages long” of tasks, after…

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Small but mightily important

The Artdog Images of Interest

During my research last month into food insecurity, I discovered the importance of what are called “smallholder” farmers. I thought you might enjoy a deeper look into these essential participants in their local economies.

A “smallholder” farm covers two hectares or less of land. That defines more than 475 million farms throughout the world. How much land is that?

It…

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No accident

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

I recently realized that I’ve talked about habitat loss several times this year on this blog, but always in the context of plants and animals in the environment, never about humans losing their homes, except in the context of natural disasters.

But there’s an ongoing, not-too-dramatic-looking but heartbreaking and needless disaster unfolding in our country. Not…

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Let there be light!

This morning . . .

The first Sunday of Advent is when we light the “Hope” candle. Image by Erika Sanborne.

This evening . . .

The first evening of Hanukkah, in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim. Photo by Sebi Berens, taken 12/24/2016.

Whatever your heritage, may your winter nights be filled with the light of love.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Rachael A. Keefe, whose “Bidding…

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Desert- and Swamp-busters: Community Gardens

The Artdog Image of Interest

Last week’s Image of Interest focused on the problem of food deserts and food swamps. This week, I’d like to focus on one of the solutions that can be used to combat them: the growing movement to create and cultivate–in ALL senses of the word–community gardens.

Community gardens are becoming increasingly popular for more very good reasons. Beyond helping lower-income…

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Design fiction and science fiction

Have you ever heard of design fiction? WALDENLABS’ John Robb explains it this way: “Design fiction is a way for designers and artists to visually depict the future in inspiring ways. Typically, design fiction is associated with how technology will change our future.” But in my opinion he misses an important aspect of design fiction with this definition.

Robb offers examples of companies that are…

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Mindfulness is key

The Artdog Quote of the Week

If ever there was a good argument for staying alert and practicing mindfulness, this is a great one. Whyte has focused a spotlight on an important principle of the human experience.

My Quotes of the Week during the past three Mondays have focused on maintaining an attitude of hope and gratitude in the face of adversity. It’s hard to do, but it’s important work, both…

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Deserts and Swamps: a closer look at food insecurity

The Artdog Image of Interest

Do you know what a food desert is? What about a food swamp? Do you live near one?

They exist in all kinds of places, including rural areas, where you really wouldn’t expect them–but viewing an area in terms of food deserts and food swamps is a way to key in on some root causes of food insecurity.

We can join in the effort to fight this trend. First, support community…

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In search of Thanksgiving peace

That’s the point of Thanksgiving, isn’t it? To break bread together, to join with each other over a table of plenty (or at least, we hope, “enough”), to mend fences, to heal wounds, and to come together.

But we live in a rough time. Post-election, wounds are still raw. Gains and losses are still bitter. And many peoples’ Thanksgivings will be times of strife, if we’re not careful. So, then, what…

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Where is your focus?

The Artdog Quote of the Week

It’s been shown that optimists tend to be healthier and live longer than pessimists. But are optimists born, or do they cultivate their attitude? If one is a pessimist “by nature,” is that person doomed?

No, in fact. Resistance to pessimistic thoughts is not futile. Resiliency can be learned. It doesn’t matter how horrible you think things are, bright spots exist.…

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Banned! Too political, they said.

The Artdog Image of Interest

Normally when we think of a banned book or other communication, we assume it’s considered pornographic or inflammatory. And of course we immediately become curious, if we’re most people.

But . . . they banned a supermarket chain’s Christmas ad, designed for children, as “too political” to broadcast in the UK.

Say what?

This week’s Image of Interest is a video whose…

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Influences: the quilts and quilters of Gee's Bend

Influences: the quilts and quilters of Gee’s Bend

I remember when my sister, the quilter in the family, first showed me pictures of several quilts from Gee’s Bend at some point in the mid-2000s. They were strikingly beautiful, and unlike anything I’d seen before. Lots of other people thought so, too, when they were first exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art in 2002.

Many people were astounded and delighted when they got their first…

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Don't forget your umbrella!

Don’t forget your umbrella!

The Artdog Quote of the Week

I’d describe this past week as one heck of a storm–especially in southern California (with Thousand Oaks in the center of the bullseye). If ever we needed an umbrella against the disaster-storm, it’s now.

But, gratitude? Really?

That’s a pretty hard ask, in a country that’s seen raging weather but continued denial of climate change, ever-deepening political…

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100 years since the War to End all Wars

Unfortunately, it didn’t end all wars. It barely paused them, as we know too well today. But let us stop for a moment today to consider all of those who have died to defend our freedoms, and all the decisions–both foolish and wise–that have been taken in regard to war and its waging, since that day.

I live in the metro area that’s home to the National World War I Museum and Memorial (they don’t

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