Pastels

I took a pastel painting class in Winchester on Saturday with my friend and this is the result. I'm pleased with it.

A Very Merry Minuet

This is me and my brother sitting on our beautiful older cousin Dorothy. Lots of water under the dam since. This was probably taken in the very late 40s.

Can't seem to shake sadness. A good friend in Arkansas is very ill, a good friend here has died, and I don't feel very well myself. That reminds me of some words to the Merry Minuet . . .

Italians hate Yugoslavs

South Africans hate the Dutch

And I don't like anybody very much

My good friend, Lydia Wells Sledge, has gone off and left me, and all her other friends, special causes and charities and I'm SOooooo sad about it. It was a beautiful day and I know she would have enjoyed it.

The Daffodils preceeded the crocus by several weeks, but they're finally here. See upper right.

Above isMario our last model for the long pose sessions I have every other Saturday. He was interesting to draw.

I've started "yelling" in my sleep. The last episode I kept telling someone in no uncertain terms, "I want you to be quiet!" My "nightmares" seem to take the form of teaching or directing (Hey kids, let's put on a play!) multiple little or younger people.

And now my old friend, Lydia-- will NOT read this and comment on it. Despite being interested in the quotes, she would NOT have read a book titled What It Is Like To Go To War. She couldn't see the play or the movie War Horse . . . her heart was too tender.

Pg.8

"Our young warriors are raised in possibly the only culture on the

planet that thinks death is an option."

Pg. 19

" . . . the chances of transformative psychological experiences

are decreased enormously when you wage war with all the

comforts of home."

Pg. 26

" Killing someone without splitting oneself from the feelings that the

act engenders requires an effort of supreme consciousness that, quite

frankly, is beyond most humans."

Pg. 45

" I was just new to the platoon," he said, staring into the past . . ."

Pg. 48

" War is the antithesis of the most fundamental rule of moral conduct

we've been taught --- do unto others as you would have others

do unto you."

Pg. 51

" Reconciling the moral conduct we are taught as children with the

brutal actions of war has been a problem for warriors of good

conscience for centuries."

Pg. 66

" . . . the transcendent realm one reaches through violence, is one that

society says it condemns but in fact celebrates everywhere, on film,

on television, and in the news."

Pg. 74

" Since many people strive for positions of power as compensations for

needy egos, it is hardly surprising that the corridors of power are filled

with people for whom the compassionate responses will be short-

circuited as a matter of course."

Pg. 88

" We all have shit on our shoes. We've just got to realize it so we don't

track it into the house."

Pg.119

" When the system starts seeking goals that are out of line with

individual values, the individual, who is usually trapped in the

system, can either get hurt or survive by lying"

AND

" We kid ourselves when we think lying is abnormal behavior."

Pg. 129

" The more (self-esteem) you have, the less you lie."

Pg. 150 (transposed)

"Troops will fight to stop murder and torture of other human beings

and to stop terrorism and threats of mass destruction to their people.

Troops won't fight for oil."

Pg. 165

"We all want to be special, to stand out, there's nothing wrong

with this. The irony is that every human being is special to start with,

because we're unique to start with."

Pg. 217

" Boasting is the same as a peacock spreading his feathers.

It's a natural act."

Pg. 226

" Just because game theory can be applied to war does not mean

war is a game."

Pg. 252

" . . . warriors choose sides. Police cannot choose sides, they must be

on the side of the law."

This book is by the same fellow, Karl Marlantes, that wrote Matterhorn published last year.