wow, yesterday was a surprisingly beautiful and warm day. the temperature was in the 60s. the sky was so blue and the air crisp. in the middle of winter, it was a rare treat. i could definitely feel a change in my mood. everything was just better when the weather is nice. alas today we are back to cold, rainy, and dreary. oh please spring, hurry up and arrive.
there is a great traveling art exhibit entitled: "A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal". it has some great pieces. there is an article exploring the art in the nyt. the exhibit is a great way to expose people to the tradition of tassawuf in islam. an interesting observation in the article, recognizing the picasso-esque forms in the art: "Yet Picasso's adaptation of African forms is viewed as evidence of his receptive vision, while an African artist riffing on Picasso's riffs on Africa is a copycat."
yusuf islam (cat stevens) just got back from indonesia where he was doing relief work. he has now won a libel suit against two british newspapers. they also had two publish apologies to him for labeling him a terrorist supporter. he has been named a 'man of peace'. all the damages from the suit are being donated to tsunami victims. way to go cat!
"Our continuing uneconomic growth makes us complicit in a process that is triggering an ecological catastrophe for our children and generations beyond them. They will justifiably sit in judgment on our failure to have prevented its devastating consequences knowing that we chose to look the other way." (Mayer Hillman, environmentalist and author) read fears for a finite planet.
