This amazing performance piece by student Madiha speaks for itself:
https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10204250744971795
Originally Posted on Facebook by Usamaa Babar.
Category: Beauty
The Search for Basho I
“Ballet in the air…
Twin butterflies until, twice white
They Meet, they mate”
Matsuo Basho, Japanese Haiku
(I studied Matsuo Basho’s poetry in college, and there is one poem that left an impression on my soul, but I’ve lost it along the way. I am searching for it. In the meantime, I’ll post new favorites, like this one.)
Pixabay photo by claude05alleva
It’s OK to show your face
Acid attacks are devastating, debilitating, deadly, and yet they are often motivated by petty power plays, greed, or for no reason at all. Perhaps that’s why I wrote a play about acid attack victims – to try and honor their perseverance to live in a world when their physical identities are stolen, their faces destroyed, their skin-deep beauty obliterated.
CNN recently did a story about acid victims in India posing for a photo shoot. These women are brave & beautiful, and I’m inspired by their honesty and strength. Take a moment to let them inspire you, too.
How I Fell in Love with a Writer Named Ryszard
In his book, Travels with Herodotus, Ryszard Kapuscinski wrote about the first time he left Poland in 1958 (3 years after Stalin’s death) for his first journalistic assignment abroad:
“We flew in darkness; even inside the cabin the lights were barely shining. Suddenly, the tension which afflicts all parts of the plane when the engines are at full throttle started to lessen, the sound of the engines grew quieter and less urgent – we were approaching the end of our journey. Mario grabbed me by the arm and pointed out the window: “Look!”
I was dumbstruck.
Below me, the entire length and breadth of the blackness through which we were flying was now filled with light. It was an intense light, blinding, quivering, flickering. One had the impression of a liquid substance, like molten lava, glimmering down below, with a sparkling surface that pulsated with brightness, rising and falling, expanding and contracting. The entire luminous apparition was something alive, full of movement, vibration, energy.
It was the first time in my life I was seeing an illuminated city.”
Photo by xuuxuu on Pixabay
Secret Worlds Part 3: Racism, Sexism, and Bubbles of the Beautiful
Think beautiful people have it better? 30 Rock thinks so.
It turns out, beautiful people can not only butcher the French language and get away with it, but when they’re trying to steal a bike, bystanders will actually offer to help them commit the crime.
In the recent viral video of ABC’s show What Would You Do, three actors – a young white male, a young, black male, and a young white woman – take turns stealing a bike in a park. The white guy is unchallenged. The black guy is harassed and accused of stealing. When the woman works on stealing the bike, men come up and offer to help her.
Zut alors, quel monde terrible!
One of the reasons why writers craft a story, and why readers pick up a book, is that we’re searching for answers about the human condition. We want to live in someone else’s bubble for awhile – beautiful or not – and understand ourselves better.
Screenwriter John Rogers wrote, “You don’t really understand an antagonist until you understand why he’s a protagonist in his own version of the world.”
Most people in the park considered the black man as the bad guy, but if they could walk a day in his shoes, I wonder if they’d change their minds.
Mort a la bulle!
KIMBERLY SAVAGE 