Dear Satan, Merry Christmas!
Lots of heavy news here on Art Predator, and more heavy news to come as I post some of the writing that my students did about their Thomas Fire experiences.
Demonstrators at the FCC building Dec. 14 protest the end of net neutrality rules. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
And it really feels like the Grinch not only stole the hillsides and Christmas but the internet as well.
But today is Christmas so here’s something that will hopefully lighten the mood a bit.
Or not.
Seriously, though, cheers!
And may your day be merry and bright or calm and bright and have a joyful night. Seriously — Cheers!
(More about Flora Springs Joyful Angel on Wine Predator.)
Merry Christmas Eve from #ThomasFireVentura!
(Photo: STEWART PALLEY/U.S. FOREST SERVICE)
All I want for Christmas is for the Thomas Fire to be contained, for the oil seeps to stop burning, for the rain to come to wash away the ash and smoke that is making us sick, and for the people who had their homes destroyed by the fire to find new ones. Read more…
Happy Winter Solstice! And news from the #ThomasFire in Ventura CA
Today is the Solstice, and here in the northern hemisphere, it is the first day of Winter — and the shortest day and the longest night. It’s a time to reflect and be grateful for the return of the Sun.
“The sun shines along the passage floor into the inner chamber at newgrange during the 2013 Winter Solstice.” Photograph: Alan Betson https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/winter-solstice-at-newgrange-broadcast-live-around-the-world-1.3332820#.WjtbG7rjkrY.facebook
It’s a magical time at many places around the world because people have marked this transition from darkness to light in many special ways like New Grange above where the light shines through this portal.
I’ve been missing in action here on Art Predator because #ThomasFire erupted in Ventura county on Monday December 4, 2017 and spread to Santa Barbara County and before it is through, it is predicted to be the largest fire in California’s history possibly reaching 275,000 acres and not fully contained until early January. Read more…
What are words worth?
For a writer, words are everything: they are the medium with which a writer builds a world. According to the Tom Tom Club Read more…
Dolores Huerta Documentary Film Screens at VC, plus pottery and poetry!
This Friday, Ventura College screens the documentary, Dolores 11/17/17 at 6:00 pm in the Performing Arts Center located on Loma Vista Road in a free event open to the public.
According the the synopsis on the Dolores website, “Dolores Huerta is among the most important, yet least known, activists in American history. An equal partner in co-founding the first farm workers unions with Cesar Chavez, her enormous contributions have gone largely unrecognized. Dolores tirelessly led the fight for racial and labor justice alongside Chavez, becoming one of the most defiant feminists of the twentieth century—and she continues the fight to this day, at 87. With intimate and unprecedented access to this intensely private mother to eleven, the film reveals the raw, personal stakes involved in committing one’s life to social change. Directed by Peter Bratt. ”
Also today Thursday Nov. 16 until 5pm is the final day of the student pottery exhibit and sale! Some great deals for yourself, for your holiday table, for hostess gifts, and more! Support student art!
And tonight at 730pm is former VC adjunct faculty Tree Bernstein’s poetry reading at EP Foster Library in downtown Ventura. Details here.
Tree Bernstein Returns from the Peace Corp With Poetry!
Former Ventura College Adjunct Faculty Member and Ojai resident Tree Bernstein recent;ty returned to the US from a two year stint in the Peace Corp. Well known locally as poet, Tree will be the featured reader on Thursday, November 16 in the EP Foster Library in the Topping Room. Poetry readings are held every Thursday at 7:30pm at the library located at 651 E. Main Street, Ventura. The series is curated and usually hosted by Ventura Country Poet Laureate Phil Taggart but this week Friday Gretchen steps in. An open mic follows the featured reader. The event is free and open to the public, but donations for the poet are accepted.
Here are two poems by Tree Bernstein: Read more…
Debris in the Sea: Problems. Solutions. Actions.
albatross on Midway Island by Chris Jordan
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We know the problem:
Concerned? What to learn more? Here’s a 2012 three part one hour video about a journey from Los Angeles toward Hawaii. During the voyage, they took samples of ocean water and filtered it to see how much plastic was in the ocean in different places.
And by now most of us know that plastic water bottles are a huge part of the problem Read more…
Happy 10th Bloggoversary to Art Predator!
On Saturday November 4, 2007, on the night of the time change, I started this blog.
One year later, in 2008, I was blogging on Wine Predator and attended the first Wine Bloggers Conference which I reported on here.
And two years later, in 2009, I was in Portugal as a wine blogger. Read more…
Getting Wild at Ventura College Fall 2017
Since 2012 I’ve included Cheryl Strayed’s memoir Wild as a book club option for my students. And each year they create a blog and do a project. One of the project options is to do a book trailer or other video related to the book’s content.
Wild definitely lends itself to the book trailer idea and this semester a group in each class took on that challenge. I am sure you will enjoy the blogs and videos Read more…
“In the field of your imagination are all possible flowers.”
Theodosia Burr Shepherd, the Flower Wizard of California.
Theodosia Burr Shepherd was known as “The Flower Wizard of California” and as the mother of the bulb and seed business of California. Theodosia encouraged women to grow seeds and bulbs. In fact it was said in Ventura County the “making” of new flower varieties was as common as new cake recipes in other places.
“In the love of flowers…[it is] as if the soul of the plant comes in touch with our soul. If the plant possesses the power to around such strong vibrations within us, is it possible the vibrations from us are received by the flower? We and the plant are the manifestations of the same force.” Theodosia Burr Shepherd
Learn about the remarkable life of Theodosia Burr Shepherd when her daughter, Myrtle Shepherd Francis returns from the dead on Halloween, Oct. 31, 2017 to regale us with stories about old Ventura, her mother, and the development of Ventura’s flower seed business. Join us at the site of the famous gardens in Ventura on the corner of Poli and Chestnut Streets during one of two 30 minute living history performances: 1:30 and 4:30pm in a script written by local historian Suzanne P. Lawrence. Read more…
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