A great run down of the major industries effecting our lives with some helpful links for further reading. The importance of our awareness on these issues cannot be overstated.Ā
Lint Roller? I Barely Know Her
I'd rather be in outer space šø
Monterey Bay Aquarium

Andulka

#extradirty
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tumblr dot com

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he wasn't even looking at me and he found me
art blog(derogatory)

if i look back, i am lost
KIROKAZE
𩵠avery cochrane š©µ
š

pixel skylines
RMH
Not today Justin

shark vs the universe

titsay

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seen from United States

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@thegagglehound
A great run down of the major industries effecting our lives with some helpful links for further reading. The importance of our awareness on these issues cannot be overstated.Ā
We could have had it all.
āIām old, tired and full of no coffee.ā ā Raymond Chandler, Playback
ā Paul Valery Read
Halfway House Music Podcast 2: Electric Boogaloo
Ā Halfway House, a music blog that understands the opportunity our city has lying between two major cities, Detroit and Chicago. Catching bands on the road and bringing in Grand Rapids native talent to Stone House Recording for professionally produced audio/visual media they share for free on their website. Another example of why I believe we can always look to music for the next step in a progressively creative economy. Ā Halfway House seems to understand not only the importance of raising up local talent in a professional context to get an equal chance against more conglomerate sources, but also to create that context where local musicians are sharing a platform in a larger dialogue of the artform and surrounding culture, geography aside. This being a subject I could quickly exhaust your interest in, I'll leave it there and you can get back to Facebook and that (3) on the tab. Ā Just leave the podcast playing while you do.
More good news from the Rapidian #talesofvictory
Below is an excerpt from an article originally published Tuesday, February 5th to the Rapidian. Read the rest of the article here.
Grand Rapidian Wins National Volunteer of the Year Award
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is honored to announce that Dotti Clune, a tireless advocate for trees and urban forest, has received the Alliance for Community Trees 2012
Friends of Grand Rapids Parks is honored to announce that Dotti Clune, a tireless advocate for trees and urban forest, has received the Alliance for Community Trees 2012 Volunteer of the Year Award. The award highlights inspirational volunteers in action who have made a contribution to urban forestry by improving community trees and the neighborhoods where they live.Ā
āVolunteers are the heart of local tree nonprofits, providing the resources and energy that make tree planting and care possible,ā said Carrie Gallagher, ACTrees Executive Director. āDotti Clune embodies all the qualities that make for a great volunteer. Sheās knowledgeable and passionate about urban forests, and an inspiring leader to those around her.ā
the daac (division avenue arts collective)Ā is one of the raddest all ages music venues & art galleries in all of the country! it has given me the greatest friends & allies all around the world. it has saved me from sitting home alone, from ever being bored. it has given my life great joy, forced me to learn a zillion new skills, and constantly surprises me at what it does for other folks.Ā if youāre looking for ways to become a part of what the daac has to offer - check out these two events. xoxo
please reblog // print and hang up // tell a friend!Ā
When you've solved all the mysteries of Harris Burdick
Then check out the mesmerizing ink and scratchboard illustrations of Paris-based artist Nicolas Delort.
Check out more of his work at ColossalĀ or even follow him on tumblr.
I came across this passage in a book I've been reading a little from each morning. One might find it bordering on the cheesy, but the feeling is true all the same. Also "And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light" really stokes the fire in me.
The Peace of Wild Things
Wendell Berry
When despair for the world grows in meĀ and I wake in the night at the least soundĀ in fear of what my life and my childrenās lives may be,Ā I go and lie down where the wood drakeĀ rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.Ā I come into the peace of wild thingsĀ who do not tax their lives with forethoughtĀ of grief. I come into the presence of still water.Ā And I feel above me the day-blind starsĀ waiting with their light. For a timeĀ I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.Ā
Good News
Vacant Grand Rapids Public Schools building to be revived (Rapid Growth Media)
"The former Roosevelt Child Development Center (641 Vries St. SW) has not been the home of regular classes for several years, but soon, the building will be home to a new, free preschool for three- and four-year-olds in the neighborhood.
The Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, a child development program funded by a $5 million grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation, plans to remodel the building for classes that could begin as early as June."
Read the rest of the story published to Rapid Growth Media by Deborah Johnson Wood on January 7, 2013 here.
Read more about the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative's beginnings and work toward improving early childhood education opportunities in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Grand Rapids here.
Dreams Come True and Grades Improve at the Creative Youth Center
At the CYC, kids become published authors, leading to a strong sense of identity and an enthusiasm for learning. We believe that while nurturing kidsā writing can give them access to the world, fostering their creativity may allow them to change the world. -- Creative Youth Center of Grand Rapids website.
Do what you love, and the money will follow. Lori Slager is proof positive that obeying this adage does eventually pay off. Three years ago, with help from Cecile Fehsenfeld, board member and owner of Schuler Books & Music, Slager founded Creative Youth Center (CYC) to āgive kids a leg up on writing and journalism skills.ā
Thanks to a recent, generous $225,000 grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, CYC can now boost its community impact by broadening program offerings, hiring full-time staff members, and leasing a new space at Wealthy and Eastern in the building that used to house the now-defunct Literary Life Bookstore. The funding covers general support for the organization through September 2015. The new digs will also boast a storefront and bookstore for kids.
Read the rest of the story published toĀ Rapid Growth MediaĀ by Victoria Mullen on January 7, 2013Ā here.
In The National Conference of State Legislatureās published summary of recent economic research examining early education initiatives as public investments, Art Rolnick and Rob Grunewald of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank compared early education investments to other state investments, finding early education investments yield a significantly higher return than on most public projects considered for economic development.
āThese movements are powerful not despite their lack of leaders but because of it. Ā They are organized horizontally as multitudes, and their insistence on democracy at all levels is more than a virtue: it is a key to their power.āMichael Hardt/Antonio Negri, The Key to Power, Adbusters America ISS09
Sit, be still, and listen, because youāre drunk and weāre at the edge of the roof.
Rumi, Zen Essentials (via nevver)
Policy Advisory
A new portrait of painter Rick Beerhorst for my ongoing āDudes in Suitsā studio project.
Rickās a good friend and someone I respect very much as an artist. I wanted his portrait to look painterly. I actually donāt remember the last time I saw Rick when he wasnāt wearing a suit.
You should check out Rickās paintings on his new website: www.studiobeerhorst.com
Vonnegutās eight rules for great writing:
Find a Subject You Care About
Do Not Ramble
Keep It Simple
Have the Guts to Cut
Sound like Yourself
Say What You Mean to Say
Pity the Readers
For Really Detailed Advice (read āElements of Styleā)
more
When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak.
Audre Lorde (via 5ft1)
e.e. cummings
Tattoo Ideas / Read Aaron Gear's story A Leaf Falls
Dissent is Democracy.