Art Works!

"To be a successful artist you must be unrealistic and delusional."

- Contemporary writer and Art activist, Amie McNee, found here.

And that's just the beginning! :-)

In any case, artists - and this means you - if you or someone you know are suffering from fears of alienation, inadequacy or irrelevance, do yourself an immense favor and listen to the wise woman in the TED video above: The Case for Making Art When the World Is on Fire. She speaks for you. Her name is Amie McNee... (and her voluminous coat-of-many-colors is to die for)!

Artists at work

Today's hat-tip goes to the artists of Portland, Oregon, keeping the streets (and democracy) safe with insight, humor and music!

Costumed protesters in Portland defy description of the city as a 'war zone'

"Dancing frogs, peacocks and unicorns outside the federal immigration building present a joyful contrast to the Trump administration's portrait of the Oregon city, they say."

 Thank you, Portland, OR! (The artists in action.)

Note: My own, small, vaporous rant lies below the jump.

Albuquerque, NM, October 9, 2025, 

Whether we're referring to the world as an existential prison for lost souls, or a paradise for lovers and wannabe warriors - or, possibly, an experiment in evolution by an advanced alien race - the "meaning of life" should not be confused with the larger mission at hand: the discovery of life. Life on earth. And, no, we're not, yet, there. We know and understand neither life nor death. We have, thus far, a primitive grasp of consciousness. We are, as of now, precociously developing computing machines which can process some forms of information faster than we can. But, as one science fiction novelist once asked, can machines dream? How would we know?

While humanity has evolved in many obvious ways, without art and without humans who make, describe and project things, we would not know this. We'd have no clue. We'd have no record. We'd have no communication. We'd have no reason, no inspiration, to arise from the swamps and fly to the far reaches of the galaxy. The word "galaxy" would not exist.

Making things, building structures, studying the phenomena around us, communicating ideas, inventing forms of communication, revealing one's dreams and imaginings, recording ones experience and the experience of others, making up entertaining stories, baking an extraordinary pie, all describe art-related skills. They keep us alive, relevant.

Evolution is a creative process in which we all participate. And, often, the seeds of our endeavors are found in dreams, our longings, our private imaginariums.

Trust them. Then, go forth and multiply. ;-)