Thanks for this hopeful piece, Stewart. The darkness can seem overwhelming at times and people seeming so immune to the sorrows/lessons of the past. Yet life will always prevail in small ways and communities. I loved seeing the Escher “ Dove Tessellation” again and seeing anew how the blackbirds dominated initially for me, and then the white ones emerged as the foreground! Light and dark always receding or emerging-neither gone.
I was looking for any dove image - there are so many, but only Escher captured the spirit of this theme. I have loved Escher for decades, but it wasn't until I posted this tessellation that I saw, as you did, the dark/light alternating dominance -- first one comes to the fore, then the other. Yin and yang. "Neither gone." I guess that is why hope is so important. Thank you for your reflection.
Thank you for this beautiful essay, Stewart, which is both poignant and uplifting, difficult and beautiful. Molly, so perceptive always, with her succinct and pointed question. No doubt she's still asking the same question today.
"I wanted to walk carefully, as though the hallowed ground were still and forever wounded." This line captures the whole of it for me, the part our corporations and politicians are repeatedly willing to ignore.
Last night, I joined close to 60 people on a virtual call, the common thread a youth minister who served for many years at one church. We were there to celebrate the continuation of that connection, despite the miles and years between most of us. Darkness is a force that loses its strength in the face of community care, and that remains one of the most accessible forms of resistance we have!
Thanks for this hopeful piece, Stewart. The darkness can seem overwhelming at times and people seeming so immune to the sorrows/lessons of the past. Yet life will always prevail in small ways and communities. I loved seeing the Escher “ Dove Tessellation” again and seeing anew how the blackbirds dominated initially for me, and then the white ones emerged as the foreground! Light and dark always receding or emerging-neither gone.
I was looking for any dove image - there are so many, but only Escher captured the spirit of this theme. I have loved Escher for decades, but it wasn't until I posted this tessellation that I saw, as you did, the dark/light alternating dominance -- first one comes to the fore, then the other. Yin and yang. "Neither gone." I guess that is why hope is so important. Thank you for your reflection.
Thank you for this beautiful essay, Stewart, which is both poignant and uplifting, difficult and beautiful. Molly, so perceptive always, with her succinct and pointed question. No doubt she's still asking the same question today.
"I wanted to walk carefully, as though the hallowed ground were still and forever wounded." This line captures the whole of it for me, the part our corporations and politicians are repeatedly willing to ignore.
Last night, I joined close to 60 people on a virtual call, the common thread a youth minister who served for many years at one church. We were there to celebrate the continuation of that connection, despite the miles and years between most of us. Darkness is a force that loses its strength in the face of community care, and that remains one of the most accessible forms of resistance we have!