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Archbishop Tutu had close ties to the Catholic Church
Angya asks for the blessing of the Catholic Church – Blueprint Newspapers Limited
Event: ZOOM: VIRTUAL MEN'S BIBLE STUDY – Ignite Men's Ministry – Monday Night Bible Studies – 20 week study of the Book of Romans written by the apostle Paul to the Romans.
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You are at:Home » Bible study » Do It Yourself: Bible Study Can Begin at Home
Do It Yourself: Bible Study Can Begin at Home
By Nina D. Thompson on	 October 29, 2021 Bible study
The fresco "Peter walking on water towards Jesus in the Duomo" by Italian painter Lattanzio Gambara, found in Parma, Italy.
by Moira Cullings
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – In 1974, Catherine "Cackie" Upchurch participated in her first Little Rock Scripture Study (LRSS).
Only in high school at the time, she could never have predicted how the experience would change the course of her life.
"I thought it gave life," she says. "I didn't know we could read the Bible and get so much out of it. It was a new opportunity at that time.
Years later, Upchurch became the Director of LRSS, a role she held for 20 years.
Cackie Upchurch was the first lay person and the first woman to serve as director of Little Rock Writing Study, a Bible study program started in 1974.
His scriptures series appeared in The Leaven last fall and will be published again this year.
"I think the scriptures have erased some of the rough edges in my life," she said, "and at the same time refined other things that needed to be better worked out – what is my system of values, how I control my day [and]the commitments I make.
"It gave me a better understanding of who I am called to be and how I can help build the kingdom of God.
Make your own way
Upchurch has always been a pioneer.
She studied theology in college and focused on patristics – the study of the writings of the Church Fathers – in college, which was rare for a layman at the time.
"I didn't know anyone when I was in high school studying theology, unless you were a priest or a sister," she said.
After graduating, Upchurch taught theology and worked as a campus minister at Mount St. Mary's Academy in Little Rock. During this time, she started volunteering with LRSS on weekends.
After being invited for the second year in a row, she said "yes" to joining the full-time LRSS team.
"It felt like a natural progression in my life," she said, "as the Bible became more and more important to me as I began to understand and understand it better. appreciate it. "
"The Crowning with Thorns" by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio is exhibited at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.
Upchurch started as an associate director of LRSS and eventually took on the role of director. She was the first layman and the first woman to do so.
She has participated in many innovative projects that have taken her all over the world. Most notably, perhaps, she helped create the LRSS Study Bible, which was published in 2011.
The trip was a roller coaster for Upchurch, who recently retired but is working on various writing projects.
"At the time, I think the biggest challenges were finding my place," she said.
But she wasn't worried about being accepted on the pitch. Instead, she sought to confirm the credibility of her own faith.
"The challenge for me was not focusing on what the limits might be," she said, "but rather where the doors were open and what the possibilities were."
Become a Bible scholar
Catholics do not have to memorize passages of Scripture to become more familiar with the Bible, Upchurch said.
"Bible literacy is more about feeling at home with the word of God," she explained.
"It's learning to recognize its themes and maybe some of the patterns of experiences with God," she continued. "Bible literacy is about creating that level of ease in browsing the Bible. "
This literacy also helps people grasp the context, culture and original language of the passages they read.
Because of the abundance of resources that exist today, this is "a great time to access the tools of Bible scholarship so that we can become more comfortable in this way," said Upchurch.
These tools can be particularly useful, she said, because the Bible is not filed chronologically.
"It's a library of books that are put together, and some of them are grouped by genres, like the Letters of Paul and the Psalms," Upchurch said. "It reflects all of those times in history, so it's hard to keep it straight."
The fresco of Jesus calling Lazarus out of the tomb can be found in the collegiate church of San Gimignano, Italy.
Upchurch said the effort to understand the Bible was worth it.
"If we really take what the word of God is about – in its full context, not only isolating passages here and there, but having a sense of the fulness that God reveals in the scriptures – we are going to be different in really seriously. consequence, "she said.
Move the masses
Colleagues like Amy Ekeh, current LRSS director, are inspired by Upchurch's relationship with the scriptures.
"Cackie reads the scriptures like a conversation, a push-and-pull [and]an experience that values questions, research and even tension over simple answers or distilled truths, "she said.
It is no surprise to Ekeh that Upchurch has spread the truth of Scripture far and wide.
"For Cackie, the sacred truths of Scripture are as real as going for a walk with a friend or listening to an old family story," Ekeh said. "They are not 'out there' or 'up there' – they are as close to us as the air we breathe and the people who cross our paths every day."
Cackie Upchurch Colleaguesare inspired by Upchurch's relationship to Scripture. PHOTO BY JOEL MUNIZ / UNSPLASH
Peter Dwyer, director of Liturgical Press, has also worked with Upchurch over the years. He is moved by the ease with which she teaches scripture.
"The curiosity and wit that fuels his scholarship also feeds his creativity, whether it's promoting scripture study, developing covers or advertising designs, or thinking about new programs," a- he declared.
"Cackie has made an enormous contribution to Bible literacy among Catholics through her work as director of the Little Rock Writing Study, commissioning, editing, writing, filming and teaching in person in most of the state dioceses. "United", he added.
Live the faith
If dedicating her life's work to the scriptures taught anything in Upchurch, it is that God is all around her.
"You learn to see the hand of God and hear the voice of God in many ways," she said, "because you see it emerging in these stories of these people in the scriptures".
For Cackie Upchurch, life as a scripture scholar has helped her defend her faith and see the presence of God in her daily life. PHOTO BY TIMOTHY EBERLY / UNSPLASH
Upchurch hopes more Catholics will benefit from the graces they can receive from reading the Bible.
"I think on the one hand, we don't know if it's really going to be relevant or meaningful enough," she said, "and on the other hand, we're afraid it might be.
"And if it does, we'll change. And change is never easy for anyone. And being countercultural is certainly not easy to be.
"But if we are biblical people, we will be really counter-cultural."
By Catherine Upchurch
Sourdough Special
When you read the Bible, you are never alone. The Spirit of God assists you and the community of God's people accompanies you.
The Bible was written in a very different time and culture from ours, but we share the same human condition (experiences of jealousy, fear, joy, love, forgiveness, etc.). These common human experiences help us enter the world of the Bible.
We have more access to excellent Catholic Bible scholarship than any other generation in history. Footnotes, cross-references, atlases, and commentaries help us appreciate the original context of a passage and anchor our understanding to it first.
A painting of Mother Mary and the Apostles at Pentecost, in the church in Valencia, Spain.
You can come up with surprising ideas by first spending time with parts of the Bible that are most familiar to you (a gospel or the book of Exodus, for example). Then move on to parts of the Bible that are less familiar to you.
The scriptures tell us more than 350 times to "be not afraid". God assures you that He can handle any fear you have of digging into the Bible – fear of feeling ignorant, or of being challenged, or just of taking the time.
Trust Yourself: A faith-filled reading of the Bible will lead to an encounter and a deeper relationship with Christ and with God's people.
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Marx & Philosophy Review of BooksReviews'Marx's Capital After 150 Years: Critique and Alternative to Capitalism' by Marcello Musto (ed) reviewed by Michael Schauerte
'Marx's Capital After 150 Years: Critique and Alternative to Capitalism' by Marcello Musto (ed) reviewed by Michael Schauerte
Marcello Musto (ed)
Marx's Capital After 150 Years: Critique and Alternative to Capitalism
Routledge, London, 2020. 312 pp., £36.99 pb
Reviewed by Michael Schauerte
Michael Schauerte currently works for the University of Miyazaki (Japan) as an assistant professor …
Marx's Capital After 150 Years is collection of seventeen papers presented at an international conference of the same name hosted by York University in Toronto in 2017. A number of the presentations can be viewed on the YouTube channel Marx Collegium, along with presentations by other conference participants whose papers were not included in the book.
Immanuel Wallerstein, who is among the latter, began his talk on the contemporary relevance of Marx by noting that the presenters at the conference could be roughly divided into two groups: those who point out an overlooked idea of Marx and 'berate others for not having noticed' and those who point out that Marx himself had neglected something and 'should be somewhat revised to improve that'. Such arguments, he observes, could go on ad infinitum, whereas it is a desire to know 'what to do now about the bad state of the world' that really draws people to Marx today.
Borrowing those two broad categories of the 'misunderstood Marx' and the 'mistaken Marx' seems a useful way to organise this review of a book that contains such wide-ranging content related to Marx by so many authors. The book itself is organised into three parts (I. 'Capitalism, Past and Present'; II. 'Extending the Critique of Capital'; III. 'The Politics of Capital'), but the content of the chapters does not fit very neatly under those headings.
The highly readable and informative introduction by Marcello Musto that opens the book shows how different the real Karl Marx was from the dogmatic image presented by his 'adversaries and self-styled disciples' by tracing the evolution of his critique of political economy from the 1857–58 notebooks (later published as Grundrisse) to the publication of the first volume of Capital and the writing of the drafts for the other two volumes. The story of Marx's continual struggle to refine his understanding of capitalism is skillfully interwoven with scenes of his personal battles to survive amidst constant health and financial problems.
An outstanding contribution that also examines an overlooked aspect of Marx's thought is Bob Jessop's chapter on how the discoveries in cell biology in the nineteenth century influenced the decision to begin Capital with the analysis of the commodity, which is described as the 'economic cell-form' of the capitalist mode of production. Jessop explores this analogy and its limitations, as part of a consideration of Marx's method of analysis and presentation in Capital.
Pietro Basso, in the chapter titled 'Had Capital been written today', also considers the starting point of Capital, but argues that Marx made the book unnecessarily difficult by beginning with the commodity as the elementary form of capitalist wealth, which presents the reader with a challenge compared to scaling a 'seventh-grade mountain face, with no warming-up in advance'. Basso sees the choice of such a difficult beginning as Marx's attempt to 'settle accounts once and for all both with previous economic theories and with the last great production of philosophy, the rational kernel of Hegel's logic, by incorporating their highest achievements in a dialectical exposition of the material of economics' (209). A more reader-friendly approach, Basso argues, would have been to position the historical passage on the primitive accumulation of capital as the opening chapter.
Another would-be editor of Capital, but one who demands even more of the reader than Marx himself did, is Bertell Ollman, who regrets that Marx downplayed his dialectical method and theory of alienation in order popularise his presentation in Capital. In his chapter, with the twisted tongue-in-cheek title 'Toward a Marxist revision of Marx's revision of Marxism in Capital', Ollman explores the resulting gap between 'what Marx came to believe' about capitalism 'and how much of it he chose – for largely tactical reasons – to present to the public' (277).
Leo Panitch, in 'The Challenge of Transcending Capital', critiques Engels' description of capitalism as a 'mere passing stage in the economic history of mankind' (83) and ponders 'how Marx's Capital needs to be transcending in order to help figure out how to eventually transcend capital itself' (88). More specifically, Panitch suggests the need to supplement Capital with a 'further development of [an] historical materialist theory of the capitalist state' (89), stressing the 'importance of a socialist strategy for entering the state to the end of transforming' (90) it. Setting aside the feasibility of this gradualist strategy for socialism, it seems worth pointing out that Marx had in fact planned to write a separate book on the state as part of his critique of political economy, so that the absence of an elaboration of the subject in Capital was certainly not an oversight on his part.
Gary Teeple, in 'The Neglected Chapters on Wages in Capital', considers the centrality to Capital of the 'dynamic and contradictory relation' (232) between surplus-value and variable capital by examining the chapters dealing with wages and wage forms, countering the view of Capital as concerning 'the political economy of capital alone as if separate from a consideration of labour'. From this perspective, he dismisses as 'difficult to fathom' the suggestion of Michael Lebowitz that there is a 'missing book on wage-labour,' (234) which Marx had originally planned to write. There does seem to be evidence in the pages of Capital itself, however, that the analysis of wage labour was only to the extent necessary to elucidate 'capital in general,' such as the passage at the beginning of the chapter on time-wages where Marx notes that he will only briefly describe the two fundamental forms of wages because an 'exposition' of all the different forms belongs to the special study of wage labour. In any case, Teeple calls for a reading of Capital that unravels the wage form that 'obscures the real relations of production' and the various forms of wages that are employed to 'defraud the workers of the value of their labour-power', against the backdrop of capital's ceaseless effort to 'maximize the surplus extracted at the expense of wages,' which the author sees as the 'main thread of the argument of Capital' (241).
William Clare Roberts, in 'Reading Capital as Political Theory', distinguishes three 'different registers' of Capital as a 'critique of political economy': as internal critique of political economy, a historical or historicizing critique, and as a political critique. In focusing on the third type of critique, which 'rarely gets the attention it deserves', Roberts shows how it differs from the historicizing critique to which it is often identified or reduced, insofar as a political critique reveals how 'political economy justifies relations of domination by making them out to be relations of freedom' (219).
Kevin Anderson, in 'Five Explicit and Implicit Notions of Revolution in Capital', examines different passages in the first volume of Capital that present different conceptions of revolution, revealing both the diversity of Marx's conceptions of revolution, which center on 'capital and labour' but do not adopt a 'reductionist manner that excludes factors like race, ethnicity, colonialism, the state and the relationship of non-capitalist social structures to modern capitalist ones' (206).
Richard Wolff, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and YouTuber extraordinaire, discusses 'Marx's new concept of class,' centered on the concept of 'surplus' (rather than surplus value) that he inherits from Paul Sweezy. Wolff argues that pre-Marxian concepts of class had centered on property or power relations instead of defining it in terms of the relationship to surplus production. Wolff says that Marx's 'new notion of class as a particular social process that occurs together with the physical labour process within the activity known as production' (110) is identified 'early in Capital, Volume 1', but the chapter does not quote any specific passages from that work so it is difficult to know precisely what the author is referring to.
Kohei Saito and John Bellamy Foster, in separate papers, examine the largely overlooked ecological dimension of Marx's critique of political economy. Saito, for his part, looks at differences between the ecological viewpoints of Marx and Engels, while Foster points to how Marx's 'ecological critique of political economy' points the way to a 'new conception of socialism as a society of substantive equality and ecological sustainability' (193).
Another topic addressed in the book by multiple authors is gender. Both Silvia Federici and Himani Bannerji point to the limitations of Marx's understanding of the sexual division of labour of his own time. As she has presented at length in her books and articles, Federici points to the 'under-theorization' of reproduction which was centered narrowly on waged industrial workers at the expense of considering household labour. Bannerji, similarly, takes Marx to task for a view of 'women as essentially reproducers rather than producers', as compared to men who 'transform themselves and nature, develop productive forces and revolutionize society' (154).
Étienne Balibar, in his chapter, considers the famous line in Capital about the 'expropriation of the expropriators', describing as one of the 'great puzzles in the history of modern socialism' that this '"revolutionary conclusion" which marks the 'achievement' of Marx's argument is 'not at the end of the book' (41). Balibar speculates that it may have been concealed in the penultimate chapter as a way of not drawing the attention of government censors. Neatly summarizing his entire chapter, which aims to subject the famous passage in Capital to 'an exegesis at the same time literary, philological, philosophical, political and even theological' (39), is unfortunately beyond the allotted space of the present review.
In a chapter on 'the persistence of Marx's humanism,' Mauro Buccheri adopts a similar free-ranging style as Balibar, but with rather less stylistic success, it seems to me, as a snippet of the opening 12-line sentence may demonstrate: 'In the ubiquitous swamp of Neoliberal capitalism, a time of pestilence and plagues, of zombies, vampires and other monsters of the market, of fuzziness and uncertainty, of religious fundamentalisms and solitary atheism, of violence and repressive tolerance, of Empire and Multitude, of globalization and right-wing populism, of culture wars, and abject poverty, failed and failing states' (247). Epic list-making seems best left to the masters of the genre such as Henry Miller and Walt Whitman.
In considering the book as a whole, my own preferences as reader and reviewer was for the chapters that set out to examine a clearly defined aspect of Capital, as Marx in that work was nothing if not scrupulous in the way that he posed his theoretical questions. Before raising the question of what Marx should have done, certainly one needs to first be sure that what he actually did is adequately understood. Yet some chapters grouped here under the 'mistaken Marx' category did not seem to take Marx to task without always clarifying the exact theoretical question at issue or dealing with too many different questions at the same time.
URL: https://marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviews/19544_marxs-capital-after-150-years-critique-and-alternative-to-capitalism-by-marcello-musto-ed-reviewed-by-michael-schauerte/
This review is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License
Jurriaan Bendien says:
3 September 2021 at 11:28 pm
Michael Schauerte's review is quite critical but fair. I would add though that the formula "what Marx should have done" really turns the matter upside down, because the real questions are "what we ought to do" and "what, if anything, is the relevance of Marx for that challenge". But where can you discuss something like that these days?
I think that readers should bear in mind, that a majority of the contributors honoured in the book are (or were) senior citizens with a vast portfolio of work, nowadays regarded as Marxist sages of the New Left. Some of them have passed away meantime: Moishe Postone, (d. 19 March 2018), Immanuel Wallerstein, (d. 31 August 2019), and Leo Panitch (d. 19 December 2020).
Kevin Anderson is 72 years old. Étienne Balibar, Richards Wolff, Silvia Frederici and Himani Bannerji have in common, that they are all 79 years old, and Bertell Ollman is 86 (if I am not much mistaken). They are living links between the present and the past of the socialist movement. Their seniority has great strengths, but also weaknesses. I think that influenced how they dealt with their topics. It is fascinating to see how alive these veterans still are in their presentations. Marx can be good for your health.
Immanuel Wallerstein's talk at the 2017 Collegium started off well, but then he digressed into a spoken discourse which probably went on too long (about his lifework on the emergence, rise and decline of social systems and different epochs of capitalism across 150 years). He ended his narrative with the spectre of a global "spiritual" battle between the Left and the Right. https://globalsouthcolloquy.com/immanuel-wallerstein-the-contemporary-relevance-of-marx/
As regards Wallerstein's opinions about the relevance of Marx, possibly a better source is Marcello Musto's interview with Wallerstein ( https://truthout.org/articles/read-karl-marx-a-conversation-with-immanuel-wallerstein/ ) Marcello Musto understands about communication. One great advantage he has in contemporary culture is that he actually looks a bit like Karl Marx 🙂
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1. Li Shang,* G. Ulrich Nienhaus, In situ characterization of protein adsorption onto nanoparticles by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy, Accounts of Chemical Research, 2017, 50, 387-395.
2. Li Shang, * Peng Gao, Haixia Wang, Radian Popescu, Dagmar Gerthsen, and Gerd Ulrich Nienhaus, Protein –based fluorescent nanoparticles for super-resolution STED imaging of live cells, Chemical Science 2017, 8, 2396-2400.
4. Haixia Wang,+ Li Shang,+ (共同一作)Pauline Maffre, Siegfried Hohmann, Frank Kirschh?fer, Gerald Brenner-Wei?, and G. Ulrich Nienhaus, The Nature of a Hard Protein Corona Forming on Quantum Dots Exposed to Human Blood Serum, Small, 2016, 12, 5836-5844.
8. Li Shang, and G. Ulrich Nienhaus, Small fluorescent nanoparticles at the nano–bio interface, Materials Today, 2013, 16, 58-66.


i called the real RAM Lake and Doug answered. He said he has had several calls and has notified the ATF Atlanta feild office.
I have been looking info same email trying to sell to me what is the real ram lake phone number ?
The REAL RAM LAKE LLC is listed below. I called the number and asked for "Matt" (how is listed on the fake news FFL copy emailed to me) they said instantly do not send money!
The fake news email correspondence never had a actual name in the email, never had a actual phone number, the fake news email came across as RAM LAKE LLC but when you actually click on it, it's not legit looking. They wanted bank wire because they have gotten fake cashiers checks in the past.... they would have had some history online. There is another on this forum saying they are a SCAM to.
Whomever this was is overseas. I called CHASE and they shut down the account as fraudulent. I got a few pics and one of them was a gun I OWN..
Thanks mstrmstr! I didnt know one could do that? I would also like to learn how to track or verify IP address's.
Thought some pics that were sent would be interesting. Q? how did he get a valid FFL and SOT from RAM LAKE???
That MP40 was actually one of mine, and those are my photos. The stamp in the bottom right corner is not mine, however. I sold it to a board member in 2017. Those photos are form my original listing.
I recalled Chase and they said they would shut the account down after investigation .. They didn't say when. I am a Chase customer.
The photos I posted here are the ones Scammers sent me and I was nearly positive the M-11-9 was a old gun of mine I had sold.


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Coronavirus: Worker safety warning as forestry resumes under level 3
Zac Fleming
Watch: The forestry industry was excited to return to work under alert level 3. Credits: Newshub
Forest owners are urging caution as forestry work resumes under COVID-19 lockdown level 3 saying the sector needs to avoid being responsible for the country returning to level 4.
Forestry was not deemed as an essential service under level 4, however some parts of the supply chain can begin operating under level 3.
Forest Owners Association president Phil Taylor said health and safety on the forest work site went well beyond the COVID-19 protocol observance.
Coronavirus: Govt announces $100 million redeployment package for forestry workers
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"The lockdown was unscheduled and had to be rushed through in the course of just two days as we went on to alert level 4 and forestry was not deemed as an essential industry.
"In some places we had to just leave logs on the ground where they were harvested," said Taylor.
He said the worksites were complex operations and, even when a closedown was planned, there needed to be a lot of testing and checking for safe operations before work was able to fully resume
That included checking both the machinery and equipment as well as the earth and roading works in forests, he said.
"We haven't had much rain over the past month luckily, but nonetheless our forests are a natural environment and things will have potentially changed quite a bit while we have been absent."
"A number of forest companies have reported acts of vandalism during the lockdown which is obviously disappointing and we need to check for any sabotage."
He said the biggest change for resuming work would be complying with the COVID-19 protocols to protect workers against the coronavirus.
"Our Forest Industry Safety Council has worked through the supply chain to develop a refined set of safety protocols, mostly about safe distancing and cleaning down equipment, and we expect those rules to be complied with, for everyone's sake."
Phil Taylor said the forest industry accepted its non-essential status when the alert level 4 lockdown began, in the interests of keeping the forest industry workforce safe and contributing to the national effort to combat COVID-19.
"So, while the whole supply chain is keen to get back to production and workers can start earning some income again, it would be hugely disappointing to be the sector responsible for the disease rate to go back up again and for New Zealand being thrust back into alert level 4."


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New age: sci-fi & fantasy movies
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NEW WEBSITE: www.ephesians-511.net DECEMBER 2006
Let me begin with an excerpt from CONFRONTING THE NEW AGE by Douglas Groothuis, InterVarsity Press, 1988, page 185. After speaking about New Age visualization and imagination techniques, he says:
A related point concerns the use of the imagination in fantasy literature, fantasy role-playing games, movies, cartoons or toys. Some Christians having detected the intrusion of the occult into these genres, have rejected them entirely. Undoubtedly, New Age ideas have poisoned many a book, game, movie and cartoon… The premier fantasy role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons (not to mention spin-offs) is incorrigibly occult… Various movies such as the Star Wars trilogy, The Karate Kid I and II, and numerous other films either subtly or blatantly sound New Age themes. And even children's cartoons and toys, such as the immensely popular He Man and the Masters of the Universe use occult symbolism and concepts to draw children into their world of error…
Far too many Christians are ignorant of the occult content of many cartoons, toys and movies. J.R.R. Tolkien, himself a noted fantasy author [Lord of the Rings], notes the dangers of fantasy: "Fantasy can, of course, be carried to excess. It can be ill done. It can be put to evil uses. It may even delude the minds out of which it came."
If in case you have read my articles on FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES: Pokémon, Power Rangers, Yu-Gi-Oh! etc. and TOYS R NOT US [He Man and the Masters of the Universe, Dungeons and Dragons, etc.]***** you have understood that the toy industry realized that big bucks were to be made in designing and marketing toys to synchronise with the release of animated cartoon films which could be watched on the television or on the silver screen and thus influence much wider audiences to buy their products. Where did it all begin?
In 1977, George Lucas released the first film of his series, Star Wars. In the first 10 years, sales of Star Wars licensed products were estimated to be at least $3 billion. From the Star Wars trilogy, we got Droids- robots known as C-3PO and R2-D2, Ewoks- teddy bears that live in the forest, Yoda- an elf-like creature known as the Zen Master, Darth Vader- a semi-human villain, etc. The other movie mogul Stephen Spielberg introduced us to E.T.** [Extra-Terrestrial], and his Gremlins*
was about, well, gremlins or Mogwai. Though Ghostbusters, 1984, was not about aliens, it popularised ghosts. America led the world, or should we say the universe, in opening its wallets and homes to these creatures. *see below and page 28
Toy companies capitalized on the people's love affair with them by selling licences to all key merchandise areas: apparel, food products, household accessories, stationery, gift items, publishing, and music, so that people could wake up to the alarm from an alien-shaped time piece and drink their milk at night looking at a ghost's 'image' on the glass.**E.T. page 3
Star Wars remained fresh in kids' minds also through the weekly Saturday morning telecast of the cartoon series, "The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour". These were reinforced by the release of new action figure toys and accessories. And all this was backed by the mounting of massive promotional and advertising campaigns.
As with the toys that we discussed earlier, most Christian parents believe that such films about creatures from outer space, and ghosts, are science fiction and harmless fantasy. E.T. in fact is a cute and loveable character that any Christian might want to adopt. Everyone is excited about the international co-operation towards inter-galactic travel in the not too distant future and the possibility of the discovery of the existence of alien life forms. And ghosts? They don't exist anyway.
Many parents censor the sex and violence programmes that their children may tend to watch, but what about these movies billed as "good family entertainment"? This is an age when 'family' has been legally accepted as two cohabiting 'partners' of the same sex with an adopted child or a child from a previous liaison, or a 'single parent' living in with a partner. So, have we ever slowed down to examine the world's interpretation of what is 'good' and 'entertainment' for the 'family'?
YOUR CHILD AND THE NEW AGE by Berit Kjos, Victor Books, 1990, page 90
"Did you see Gremlins some years ago? Promoted as a children's movie, it turned into a nightmare. Yet kids loved it. Typical of the New Age, the movie softened hearts with the bright, happy side of evil: a lovable and intelligent little Mugway called Gismo. But happiness turned to horror when Gismo's evil offsprings became an army of ugly, lizardlike, demonic gremlins who destroyed everything in their path. A scene where the vicious gremlins pushed against a door- their horny claws and red, cruel eyes peeping out from the crack until Billy, the hero pushed the door shut…"
Let us consider a movie scene: a husband and wife are crushed to death by a snowplow, victims of a deliberate act of aggression. The scene would normally be considered too violent for children. Now transpose the scene into "Gremlins".
*****NOTE: The reader is requested to please first read the "BRIEF SUMMARY" on page 35
The couple is murdered by the Gremlins in exactly the same way. But the audience laughs hilariously. Why? Because they were all sadists? No. Because the Gremlins behaviour is masked with humour. In fact, the movie is saturated with violence.
Evil influences become palatable when they are sugar-coated with humour, fantasy, and science fiction [sci-fi].
Christian parents must look beyond the cute-cuddliness and lovability of the characters to the meanings of the symbolisms that they advertise, and the subtle messages that they convey by their words, their deeds, and their philosophies of life.
It is impossible to categorize the hundreds of 'family entertainment' films released in the 30 years since Star Wars for their indices of sex, violence, pornography, the occult and New Age. But the few examples that we deal with in this article can serve as a sort of standard by which one can evaluate them. And, whatever, you do, do not blindly accept the ratings of any group of people, even those claiming to be Christian. These Christians are 'film critics' who review films for Christian periodicals. They may be lay persons, nuns, or priests. There is one such lay person, Ronita Torcato, writing for The Examiner, the Catholic Archdiocesan weekly of Bombay. She somehow finds good morals even in the worst of films that include mayhem, marital infidelity, murder, and the macabre. I have written several letters of protest to the editor who is a priest, to no effect. Other examples are the St. Paul's sister Sr. Rose Pacatte FSP of the reputed St. Anthony's Messenger, Fr. Mervyn Carapiet, and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Office for Film & Broadcasting Classification whom I mentioned in my report on RPGs [pages 19, 20]. Another example is Catechetics India, a Salesian magazine from Kolkata:
a former editor, a priest, admitted to me in a series of letters that he views everything as a journalist. [Which, to me, means that he does not look at things as a Catholic priest is expected to.] So, selection of articles is based on sensation value, not on moral or spiritual content. Thus, articles both for and against Harry Potter appear in the same issue! And he might carry a letter from me protesting against an article speaking positively about yoga in a particular issue not because he believes that yoga is a New Age meditation [he doesn't], or because he would like to warn Catholic readers that yoga is indeed a no-no for Catholics, but because he wants to excite readers, invite responses, provoke a debate.
Yet another example of how much confidence readers can have in the views of Catholics holding positions of authority in the Catholic media is the lay editor of the Voice of Delhi, the Archdiocesan weekly of Delhi, Kurien Joseph. I had some correspondence with him recently. With his kind permission, I have reproduced it in my article SRI SRI RAVI SHANKAR AND THE 'ART OF LIVING' [pages 35-40].
Most Catholic magazines carry a 'disclaimer' from the management stating that the views of contributors are not their own. Convenient, and hypocritical. You do the devil's work for him, and try to distance yourself from it. Also, keep in mind that secularisation has entered the Church, even evangelical churches. So one may not implicitly trust their movie reviews, of which a couple of examples are included [see pages 4 ff]. I have yet to come across a Catholic magazine that reviews a movie from the perspective of Biblical revelation and Church teaching, the Da Vinci Code* excepted, and instructs Catholics firmly and categorically about its potential spiritual dangers. [*Even in the case of the Code, there were as many opinions as there were well-intentioned critics. But the Code is of a different genre than the one that we are currently engaged in analysing, where there is a greater possibility of matching certain criteria with what the Word of God says.]
And if one has reason to doubt the reviews and ratings of Church bodies and ministries, then how much more must a Christian beware of the ratings of Censor Boards and Motion Picture Associations.
During my visit to a toy store, I was perplexed about the pricing differential of some CD-ROMs of RPGs of the same games. There could be a difference of at least Rs. 500 in some cases. The salesman explained to me that the audio effects were greatly enhanced and so were the "graphics". [The thought struck me that he probably should have said 'graphic violence'.] Today's computer games- and cartoons and movies- are not only about story-line, but also about sound and visual effects [remember the photo-induced epileptic seizures of the Pokémon cartoon show, "Electric Soldier Porygon" in the RPGs article, page 27?]. And pace.
People have objected that today's movies are not much 'darker' than The Wizard of Oz or Snow White [scarecrows and tin-men, fairies and fairy god-mothers, elves, witches, enchantment, spells…]. True to a large extent. But the difference between those films and today's genre is not in the content but in the way in which the story is told. The Disney films presented a world in which there was a moral order. Good was good, and bad was bad. The bad never looked good. 'Good' bads never fought 'bad' bads with bad 'good'- as they do today. [This point has been touched upon in the RPG article.]
"There was a sweetness in the way they told their stories that is several levels removed from the vivid realism of [the movie] Indiana Jones," says Neil Postman, an expert on the effect of the media on children, and author of "The Disappearance of Childhood". "The new movies, like the Star Wars films, are authoritarian," says child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, referring to "the breakneck pace and emphatic editing that can be overpowering for young children." [Both references from "The Dark Side of Films for Kids", USA Today, by Hal Hinson.]
The top money-spinning movies of the new genre, that set the trend for what is being scripted today, were films that glorified extreme violence and those that awakened an interest in the occult. Exactly 20 years ago, in 1986, one of every four tickets sold was for Sylvester [Sly] Stallone's two movies, Rambo in particular, and Spielberg's two movies.
The films mentioned above had been preceded by the darkest of movies like Rosemary's Baby, The Exorcist, Omen, and Poltergeist. The films that followed desensitized people to discerning real evil, and their popularity soon encouraged the introduction of television shows such as Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, The Twilight Zone, Dark Shadows, Batman, Wonderwoman. TV cartoons were not far behind, targeting the kids' prime time Saturday morning slots.
We will analyse two of the early films [one briefly, the other in detail] that promoted toys, accessories, and games- the Harry Potters, Pokémons, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers of yesteryear: E.T., and Star Wars, as well as Close Encounters… [below] and the Star Trek series [see pages 17-19]. While various aspects – like their exposing kids to violence etc. - of these Sci-Fi [science fiction] and fantasy movies will be examined, this article will focus more on the spiritual or New Age characteristics of this genre of 'family entertainment' cinema.
E.T., and CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND : "U.F.O."s
When released in 1982, E.T. grossed $313 million. The movie begins with three boys playing Dungeons and Dragons [D&D], the occult violence-breeding fantasy role-playing board game that we heard so much about in the article on RPGs.
Later that night, Elliott, the young star of the movie, calls his brother "penis breath" during an argument. Does their mother get mad with them? No, she just laughs. Later we find Elliott and E.T. linked by telepathy, and the both of them levitating.
Throughout the story, E.T. uses supernatural powers. It is also projected as a gentle creature, an emotionally and morally superior being to humans [in every sci-fi movie, TV show, cartoon or game, aliens are portrayed as superior beings to humankind], and has to be protected from them. It falls deathly ill, and virtually heals itself, much as is taught in New Age alternative medicine. It then returns to its 'planet', a better place than earth with all its violence and unlove.
Much like the hero of Close Encounters of the Third Kind* [1977] who is so obsessed with the Earth-visiting gentle aliens that he lets his marriage break up [no moral judgements on that] and elects to leave his wife and family- and planet Earth- to go back with them for God knows what, to God knows where. It is most unlikely that he would have even believed in what he 'saw' had he already believed in the existence of God.
Talking about Close Encounters brings us to the matter of UFOs or Unidentified Flying Objects, a New Age phenomenon that will be the subject of another article. Suffice it is so say for now, that despite all the "testimonies" and government conspiracy theories, there has been not one, I repeat- not one, documented UFO sighting or "close encounter".
*After so-called 'Distant Sightings' which "involve observations of anomalous lights in the sky, nocturnal disks, etc., visually or on radar," there are six categories of 'close encounters'. "Close Encounters of the Third Kind comprise the sightings of UFOs with occupants, at very close range, including landed craft with occupants in or about the craft". [Explanations are quoted from The Facts on UFOs and Other Supernatural Phenomena, by John Ankerberg and John Weldon, Harvest House Publishers, 1992, page 7.
STAR WARS : THE FORCE BE WITH YOU
The first three films of the Star Wars saga- Star Wars [1977], The Empire Strikes Back [1980] and Return of the Jedi [1983] are together known as the Star Wars trilogy. The three movies of the original trilogy are actually now the "sequels".
They are classified as Episodes IV, V, and VI respectively.
They were followed by the "prequels"- The Phantom Menace [1999], Attack of the Clones [2002] and Revenge of the Sith [2005], Episodes I, II, and III respectively, dating the back story to the original trilogy. This means that the Star Wars saga starts at the fourth movie in the series [Episode I], and continues through Episodes II and III to lead into the story of the first film which is now Episode IV. Lucas gave the original film the subtitle Episode IV — A New Hope.
For the sake of our study, we will consider Star Wars as one unit. The cartoon sequels- The Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour- may also be included. Although the story lines are different in each, the basics are the same.
The cartoon series, the Ewoks and Droids Adventure Hour is full of magic, fairies and witches, spells and telepathy and other stuff from paganism.
Star Wars, in the first trilogy, follows the tales of a band of rebels fighting against the evil Galactic Empire: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Lando Calrissian, and the sentient robots R2-D2 and C-3PO. The Empire's oppression is personified in Darth Vader, the Dark Lord of the Sith, a figure in black armor, mask and cape. The second trilogy travels back in time to the period before the Empire, when Darth Vader was a young man, then known as Anakin Skywalker, tracing his fall from grace to evil. Ultimately, the films are about the cosmic Force, which guides the destinies of the main characters, with the effect of leading Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker to redemption after his fall.
Yoda, the Zen Master, introduces Luke Skywalker, the young hero, and all movie-goers, to this Force. The wise old man Obi-Wan Kenobi describes it as "a powerful energy field created by all living things who both take from it and give to it. This energy can be tapped by those who are trained to do so. The Force requires faith (not everyone believes it exists), but it does not have a personality. It 'runs strong' in certain people, but it does not have a will of its own- it acts when a person's will is exerted upon it."
The above quotation is taken from "The Gospel of Lucas", by John Styll, Contemporary Christian Magazine, August 1983.
The Force will be discussed at great length later. It is after all, the pivotal point of the Star Wars saga as it is of New Age alternative medicine, New Age meditations and the martial arts. [Please read this writer's articles on those subjects.]
Though the new prequels have been widely contrasted unfavorably with the original trilogy, the Star Wars universe remains a cultural institution of immense proportions. Its impact on Hollywood alone has been incalculable.
Says Steven D. Greydanus http://decentfilms.com/sections/articles/2535, "It's impossible to imagine Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T., The Matrix*, or The Lord of the Rings without Star Wars. *see pages 33, 42
In fact, Lucas' bitterest critics charge Star Wars with nothing less than 'ruining' Hollywood by turning it from the gritty, 'relevant' sophistication of films like The Godfather and Taxi Driver toward juvenile fantasy, spectacle, and romanticism. Here's a typical complaint from Peter Biskind's gossipy manifesto Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock'n'Roll Generation Saved Hollywood: 'When all was said and done, Lucas and Spielberg returned the 1970s audience, grown sophisticated on a diet of European and New Hollywood films, to the simplicities of the pre-1960s Golden Age of movies… They marched backward through the looking-glass'. Those with different values, obviously, might care to see it the other way round: It was Lucas and Spielberg who "saved Hollywood" from the decadence of the "sex-drugs-and-rock'n'roll generation" and brought old-fashioned good-versus-evil storytelling back to theaters. That's not to say that Lucas' critics don't have a point. Artistically, the flaws and limitations of the Star Wars films- and of its many less distinguished heirs, from Independence Day to Tomb Raider - are inescapable. They are silly, indifferently acted, poorly thought out in some respects, and not infrequently inconsistent verging on self- contradiction. As Lucas's saga progressed, moreover, the flaws have become more pronounced…"
As with Role-Playing Games [RPGs], and the movies, cartoons and toys associated with them, Christians are divided on the Star Wars issue. Christian books and sites are dedicated to defending the culture, some of them making out laborious comparisons with events in the Bible and with the life and message of Jesus Christ himself. As with RPGs, Catholics are not to be outdone in this. Both sides of the picture will be presented in this report, starting with the pro-Star Wars lobby.
For internet readers, headlines and important points related to the pro faction [which includes those who, taking a 'neutral' stance, do not elaborate], will be highlighted in red colour, and the Christian arguments in blue, as far as is possible.
THE PRO-STAR WARS LOBBY. "HE WHO IS NOT FOR ME IS AGAINST ME" [MT. 12: 30]
1. Alec Guinness' Journey ROME, JUNE 23, 2005 [http://www.zenit.org/] by columnist Elizabeth Lev ZE05062322
[ZENIT [http://www.zenit.org/] is a highly reputed Catholic news agency which otherwise I have never faulted.]
This year, Italy's first taste of the summer film frenzy was the last installment of the Star Wars saga, "The Revenge of the Sith." The die-hard Star Wars fans of Rome dutifully went and came away with the same dissatisfaction produced by the other two new films. While certainly better than the last two, even this final episode seems to lack something.
Discussing the movie with colleagues later, we agreed that one of the key elements missing was Alec Guinness as Obi Wan Kenobi*. Speculating further, the question arose of whether Guinness' firm Catholic faith played a part in the moral authority and the gravitas of Obi Wan.
While it is well known that the mighty "Force" of Star Wars is more Buddhism Lite than anything remotely Christian, Guinness infused his character with something not found in the later Jedi Knight renditions.
Unlike Jedi master Windoo who knows much but never expresses faith in the Force or super-ninja Yoda and his Force-driven martial skills, Guinness' Obi Wan offered an example of spiritual peace and, most indelibly in the mind of the children who saw it, an example of self-sacrifice.
Timely enough, the subject of Guinness' conversion was back on bookshelves last year with Piers Paul Reid's biography "Alec Guinness: An Authorized Biography." Together with Guinness' own description of his conversion to the Catholic faith in "Blessings in Disguise," it appears that life does imitate art.
Both the spiritual and material origins of Sir Alec Guinness were inauspicious. An illegitimate son of a woman who barely provided for him, he was confirmed in the Anglican church at 16 when he, in his own words, "arose from under the hands of the Bishop of Lewes a confirmed atheist." As he trained for a stage career he also started searching for a religion. His myriad of early characters - Osric in "Hamlet," Herbert Pocket in "Great Expectations" and the astounding eight parts in "Kind Hearts and Coronets" - reflected the numerous stops on his quest for faith, from Buddhism to Tarot cards.
While Guinness himself asserted that the catalyst to his conversion was his son's recovery from polio, there was a long, slow preparation to what would be greatest part. As Guinness started to find himself drawn to the Catholic Church looking for inner peace, he started taking priest roles in film. In 1954, he accepted the part of Father Brown in the screen adaptation of stories of G.K. Chesterton's beloved clerical sleuth. Then in 1955, he played the heroic cardinal in the controversial film "The Prisoner," a film banned by both the Venice and Cannes film festivals for its negative depiction of Eastern European Communism. Adapted from a stage play, it is an intense psychological duel between an interrogator representing the totalitarian regime and a prelate charged with being overly political. While the story is loosely based on the story of Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary, the character of the cardinal has startling parallels with the actor's own life. The shame of a poor background and an unpresentable parent, and the desire for glory to cleanse himself of the past, are all used against the cardinal in his psychological torture. This must have resonated very deeply in Guinness.
In 1956 Guinness converted. He lived out his life as a very prominent Catholic in England, becoming vice president of the Catholic Actors Guild but also a lector in his home parish of St. Lawrence in Hampshire.
Guinness was not proud of his association with Star Wars. He apparently refused to read fan mail connected with it and never uttered the phrase, "May the Force be with you."
Nonetheless, he gave the generation that got to know him through these movies a new kind of hero. Who could forget the old man against the towering machine, weaker and out of practice in combat, who smiled as he lifted his saber to be cut down by his enemy? Guinness gave young people a last gift, albeit reluctantly, of an example of love and courage in popular culture and in life as well.
*In the Star Wars saga we first learn about the Force from Obi Wan Kenobi in the first movie of the trilogy, Episode IV. In Episodes I-III Ewan McGregor plays this role; it's played by Alec Guinness in the first three movies, Episodes IV-VI.
MY COMMENT: Elizabeth Lev actually misses the presence of Alec Guinness in Episodes I through III.
2. The following is a ZENIT interview with Father Jonathan Morris, Fox News Analyst www.foxnews.com/fatherjonathan.
The Catholic priest hosts a regular editorial column, a blog, for Foxnews.com giving his perspective on top news stories.
Hollywood's Big Disconnect ROME, MARCH 17, 2006 ZE06031720 EXTRACT:
Hollywood still doesn't get it - judging by the recent Academy Awards. So says Legionary Father Jonathan Morris. He offers the U.S.-based television station ethical perspectives on current events. The Ohio-born priest, stationed in Rome, shared with ZENIT his views on what the recent Oscars say about the state of the U.S. film industry.
On the movies that did well in the box office, Father Morris: The top four movies for gross ticket sales, in this order, were: "Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith," which grossed $380 million, but received only one Oscar nomination; "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," which collected $288 million but only one nomination; "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," collected $288 million, but only three Oscar nominations… People want to see movies which will help them relax, escape momentarily from the hardship of life. I think it's a legitimate desire. That's why science fiction movies like "Star Wars" have always been so big.
Q: What could you suggest to parents who are raising their children in an anti-Christian media environment?
Father Morris: Our mission is to be in the world without being of the world. We love to complain about the media. It's an easy target. But there is a danger in spending our limited energy on criticizing and tearing down, without ever daring to build up. We need to shield our children from evil, but first and foremost we need to teach them the beauty of God and their faith. Children can't love what they don't know. In the past, parents relied heavily on healthy environments to teach their children what is good and what is bad. The advent of the Internet age has changed all of that. The new challenge represents a new opportunity: Be with your kids, teach them with your own example that the truth of the Gospel is the source of real joy.
MY COMMENT: A lot of nice words. But – considering that he is PRIMARILY a Catholic priest and only secondarily a journalist - Father Morris does not pass ANY moral judgement on either Star Wars or Harry Potter. Many Catholics who hold positions of authority have fine-tuned the art of doublespeak. He certainly cannot be accused of having said nothing 'Christian', but neither can he be held accountable for resorting to his Bible in the secular media. His job with Fox is safe.
3. The Catholic Insider CatholicInsider.com is a podcast by Father Roderick Vonhögen, Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Utrecht, The Netherlands.
In the Star Wars Chronicles, http://www.catholicinsider.com/scripts/starwars.php Fr. Roderick takes you to a galaxy far, far away to explore the mythology, the philosophy and the religious themes underneath the surface of the Star Wars movies. Messianic hope, vocation and celibate, fall and redemption, betrayal and fidelity are some of the many themes that George Lucas has woven into the tapestry of his epic saga, and this podcast explores them all.
Fr. Roderick takes you on a journey of discovery through J.K. Rowling's magical world of wizards and muggles in a quest to uncover the secrets behind the mythological, biblical and christian symbols and themes used in the Harry Potter series
4. Prognosis Negative: Star Wars- A Christian Perspective
http://jatser.typepad.com/prognosis_negative/2005/05/star_wars_a_chr.html
That's a toughie... Star Wars or my eternal soul.. I realize this site is a parody of all those christian websites out there that vehemently lambast pop-culture icons, but what the hell, I had to comment.. Apparently, Christ is about to hug the ever-loving shit out of the giant battle station, and the TIE fighters know it, they're hauling ass!
MY COMMENT: Maybe this is a good example of the opinion of some who reject the genuine Christian position.
5. Star Wars and Spirituality by Jason Chandler 2005
Campus Crusade for Christ International http://www.ccci.org/feature_stories/2005/05_may/star-wars-spirituality.html
Most people associate New Age and Eastern mysticism with the Star Wars franchise, but could there also be nuggets of Christian teachings tucked away in the sci-fi epic that can encourage healthy dialogue about spirituality and the Christian life? Dick Staub, author, adjunct professor and director of the Center for Faith and Culture in Seattle, makes a compelling case in his newly published book, Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters.
MY COMMENT: Campus Crusade for Christ, too?!!!? "New Age and Eastern mysticism" but still potentially healthy for Christian life! What next? If you want to know Dick Staub's views, read on, especially Berit Kjos' article, page 8.
6. Dick Staub on the Star Wars Myth [Staub is the author of "Too Christian, Too Pagan"]
http://www.ctlibrary.com/ct/2005/mayweb-only/22.0b.html EXTRACT: Lucas's stories may have more in common with Hinduism than Christianity, but it's still True Myth, says the author of Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters.
In it, I show how Luke's development is analogous to a serious Christian's progression as a follower of Jesus.
Q. How do you explain America's enduring fascination with all things Star Wars?
A. George Lucas created an epic tale that taps into the universal themes of good versus evil, and did it in what was at the time a next-edge use of technology and special effects.
7. Star Culture Wars by Terry Mattingly June 2005 http://www.leaderu.com/popculture/starculturewars.html
[Terry Mattingly [http://tmatt.gospelcom.net/] writes the nationally syndicated On Religion column for the Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C., and is associate professor of media & religion at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He also is a senior fellow for journalism at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.]
While tweaking the original Star Wars movie for re-release, director George Lucas decided that he needed to clarify the status of pilot Han Solo's soul. In the old version, Solo shot first in his cantina showdown with a bounty hunter. But in the new one, Lucas addressed this moral dilemma with a slick edit that showed Greedo firing first. Thus, Solo was not a murderer, but a mere scoundrel on the way to redemption.
"Lucas wanted to make sure that people knew that Han didn't shoot someone in cold blood," said broadcaster Dick Staub. "That would raise serious questions about his character, because we all know that murder is absolutely wrong."
The Star Wars films do, at times, have a strong sense of good and evil.
Yet in the climactic scene of the new "Revenge of the Sith," the evil Darth Vader warns his former master: "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." Obi-Wan Kenobi replies, "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."
Say what? If that is true, how did Lucas decide it was wrong for Solo to gun down a bounty hunter? Isn't that a moral absolute? If so, why are absolutes absolutely wrong in the saga's latest film? Good questions, according to Staub.
While we're at it, the Jedi knights keep saying they must resist the "dark side" of the mysterious, deistic Force. But they also yearn for a "chosen one" who will "bring balance" to the Force, a balance between good and evil.
"There is this amazing internal inconsistency in Lucas that shows how much conflict there is between the Eastern religious beliefs that he wants to embrace and all those Judeo-Christian beliefs that he grew up with," said Staub, author of a book for young people entitled "Christian Wisdom of the Jedi Masters."
"I mean, you're supposed balance the light and the dark? How does that work?"
The key is that Lucas—who calls himself a "Buddhist Methodist"—believes all kinds of things, even when the beliefs clash. This approach allows the digital visionary to take chunks of the world's major religions and swirl them in the blender of his imagination. Thus, the Force contains elements of Judaism, Christianity, Animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and even Islam. None of this is surprising. Lucas merely echoes the beliefs of many artists in his generation and those who have followed. But the czar of Star Wars also has helped shape the imaginations of millions of spiritual consumers. His fun, non-judgmental faith was a big hit at the mall.
It is impossible, said Staub, to calculate the cultural impact of this franchise since the 1977 release of the first film—episode IV, "A New Hope." The films have influenced almost all moviegoers, but especially Americans 40 and under.
"I don't think there is anything coherent that you could call the Gospel According to Star Wars," stressed Staub. "But I do think there are things we can learn from Star Wars. ...I think what we have here is a teachable moment, a point at which millions of people are talking about what it means to choose the dark side or the light side.
"Who wants to dark side to win? Most Americans want to see good triumph over evil, but they have no solid reasons for why they do. They have no idea what any of this has to do with their lives."
Staub is especially concerned about young Star Wars fans. He believes that many yearn for some kind of mystical religious experience, taught by masters who hand down ancient traditions and parables that lead to truths that have stood the test of time, age after age. These young people "want to find their Yoda, but they don't think real Yodas exist anymore," especially not in the world of organized religion, he said. In the end, it's easier to go to the movies.
Meanwhile, many traditional religious leaders bemoan the fact that they cannot reach the young. So they try to modernize the faith instead of digging back to ancient mysteries and disciplines, said Staub. "So many churches are choosing to go shallow, when many young people want to go deep," he said. "There are people who just want to be entertained. But there are others who want to be Jedis, for real."
8. 'Star Wars' has strong presence in religion May 13, 2005
Series inspires reflection as the story lines are compared to those in the Bible, some say. Films such as "Return of the Jedi" are becoming a more popular part of discussion on religion's relationship with culture
by Karen Vance / Cincinnati Enquirer http://www.detnews.com/2005/religion/0505/13/D05-180130.htm EXTRACT:
Russell Smith, Presbyterian pastor of a Cincinnati church hosted a Bible study entitled "The Gospel According to Star Wars."
"Star Wars" is hardly alone as a film looked to for spiritual enlightenment. "We are now movie watchers as never before," says Bill Blizek, founding editor of the Journal of Religion and Film. "And movies are filled with religion - sometimes it is done well, and sometimes it is not done well." The most written-about mainstream film in terms of hidden religious meaning in recent years, he says, is "The Matrix*." But people connecting faith to film have also found such films as "Mystic River," "Twelve Monkeys," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and "Fargo," among others, can be discussed in terms of a religious message. For church member Jeffrey Perkins, the overall arc of the six-movie "Star Wars" series is inherently Christian. "The whole story is the redemption of Darth Vader. He falls to temptation and is redeemed by the son in Episode VI," Perkins says. A recent study was a discussion of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo's decision to try to rescue Princess Leia from the detention area of the Death Star in Episode IV and how that relates to the obstacles Christians face and are willing to overcome to follow Jesus and put values into action. *see pages 33, 42
The class discussed how every action R2-D2 takes in the first 30 minutes is motivated by his need to share his message from Princess Leia to Obi-Wan Kenobi, including going into the desert on his own. Adams likens that to Matthew 28:19: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."
"This is a Bible study that's simply using 'Star Wars' as a vehicle," Adams says. That's not a new way to teach Christianity, says John Brolley, director of the legacy program in religious studies at the University of Cincinnati. "It's the modern-day version of something that is described over and over in the (New Testament's) Acts of Apostles as what (St.) Paul did. He provided a blueprint for evangelization," Brolley says. "(Paul) accessed the concepts and the images from the dominant culture to teach the Gospel. If 'Star Wars' was in those days, (St.) Paul would have invoked C-3PO and R2-D2."
Brolley says Paul would visit communities in the ancient world, and begin by talking about themes they were comfortable with. Then he would segue into talking about Christ. Incorporating pop culture as a way to teach a faith is a skill urban churches have become especially good at because they often deal with people exposed to the arts and culture, he says.
"The Gospel According to Star Wars" isn't the first connection Covenant-First has made between the secular and the sacred. In the past, the church has done "The Gospel According to Shakespeare" and "The Gospel According to the Simpsons" Bible study sessions.
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CIFF Review: Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?
Writer/Director Arvin Chen's new film takes for its title The Shirelles' 1960 pop standard, a song performed in an obligatory karaoke scene blending reality and fantasy, joy and sadness. It is a demonstration of what made many of those songs from the 50's and 60's so great – sonically they were all sunshine and rainbows, lyrically they were often honest and aching. Thus, Chen takes that idea and communicates it cinematically. The film has a fanciful air and a bright visual sheen, but lurking is an undercurrent of melancholy. Formally, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" is very much a rom com, what with its meet cutes and misunderstandings, and yet it's still willing to drop a tab of Alka Seltzer into the sugary milkshake. Here, whimsy actually has consequences.
Its focus is two couples, connected as family, but each one finding its romantic ideals tested. Mandy (Kimi Hsia), suggesting a reformed party girl, breaks off her engagement to San San (Stone), whose name alone evokes a Sad Sack if his general demeanor did not, more from fear than any logical reason. She stays indoors and watches soaps as the soap's leading man continually materializes beside her, dispensing advice that only appears to enable her already questionable attitude.
Meanwhile, Mandy's older brother, Weichung (Richie Jen), a demure optometrist, finds his long repressed homosexuality re-bubbling to the surface when a handsome flight attendant (Wong Ka-Lok) enters his shop and makes eyes at him through his brand new frames. This is problematic because Weichung has a young son with his wife of nine years, Feng (Mavis Fan), whose own turmoil involves potential downsizing at her office job.
Help for both confused men arrives in the form of gay greek chorus, fronted by wedding photographer Stephen (Lawrence Ko), who is in a marriage to a lesbian – a tart character that could have used a little more screen time – that purposely has no boundaries to afford maximum happiness. He coaches hapless San San in an effort to first re-woo Mandy and then become his own man. He urges Weichung to be honest with himself, and so Weichung tentatively begins to explore feelings he put aside for responsibility upon saying "I do."
Feng, as it happens, is the weight that keeps "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" from floating into the billowy clouds, not unlike an umbrella-sporting character near the start who finds himself whisked into the sky at a moment of profound happiness. Most films would have been content to focus on Weichung's coming out, to show him as the victor simply for acknowledging the truth, but Chen's film also acknowledges the price to pay for that truth is Feng's own well-being.
Hope and hurt collide, and a happy ending is proven more difficult to achieve than merely taking a magical umbrella ride.
Labels: Chicago Film Festival, Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow


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The Best We Could Do: Thi Bui & Thuy Linh Tu
Thursday, March 30, 2017, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm EDT
Organizer: NYU Department of Art and Art Professions
Venue: NYU Barney Building
34 Stuyvesant Street, 1st Floor
Add to Calendar 03/30/2017 06:00 PM 03/30/2017 08:00 PM America/New_York The Best We Could Do: Thi Bui & Thuy Linh Tu More detail: https://apa.nyu.edu/event/the-best-we-could-do-thi-bui-thuy-linh-tu/ NYU Barney Building, New York, NY, 10003
Cosponsored by Asian/Pacific/American Institute at NYU and NYU Department of Art and Art Professions.
"Thi Bui's stark, compelling memoir is about an ordinary family, but her story delivers the painful truth that most Vietnamese of the 20th century know in an utterly personal fashion—that history is found in the marrow of one's bones, ready to be passed on through blood, through generations, through feelings. A book to break your heart and heal it." —Viet Thanh Nguyen, Pulitzer Prize winning novelist
Celebrate the publication of the critically-acclaimed graphic novel The Best We Could Do: An Illustrated Memoir (Abrams, 2017) by NYU alum and debut author Thi Bui. Exploring the anguish of becoming a refugee and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of a family's daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves in the US. Bui will be joined in conversation by Thuy Linh Tu (Department of Social & Cultural Analysis). A book signing and reception will follow.
Thi Bui is a writer, artist, and former public school teacher. She came to the US as a refugee in the aftermath of the Vietnam War, and continues to advocate for refugees and immigrants today.
Thuy Linh Tu is an Associate Professor at NYU, where she teaches and writes about race, culture, aesthetic labor, and increasingly about Vietnam.


Long-form journalistic writing skills development; techniques for thorough investigation of timely public issues. Study of outstanding feature and investigative writing examples. Students will pursue their own reporting projects.
Precludes additional credit for JOUR 3205 (no longer offered).
Prerequisite(s): JOUR 2201, JOUR 2202, and JOUR 2501 with a grade of C or higher in each.
Lectures and practicum three hours a week.


Atonu Choudhurri is a Kolkata-based freelance writer and a member of 101Reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters.
As the Lok Sabha elections approach and the industrial sector in West Bengal's Asansol continues to dissolve, BJP MP Babul Supriyo's chances of a second term look bleak. The problems facing Supriyo are symptomatic of the ones that have been haunting his party on a national level for some time now.
The arrest of Suman Chattopadhyay in the iCore chit fund scam failed to make headlines in any Bengali newspapers – marking a stark difference from the infamous Saradha scam. What explains this silence?


Research Title	Study of financial report for hospital efficiencyResearcher	Khanokporn Suranatkul, Sirirat Sonchi, Suphasit PhanarunothaiFunding	Health Systems Research InstituteYear	2003AbstractFinancial report plays an important role in organization management. Nowadays, each hospital, however, has its own format of financial report and provides inadequate financial information. Therefore, it is difficult to compare the managing performance of each hospital. The objective of this research is to set up the standard form of financial report, which could be used for evaluation of hospital efficiency.In this study, we developed the new financial report format and the service cost data had been filled in (accrual basis), which could be categorized into 2 groups: outpatients and inpatients. Furthermore, we calculated service cost for each group based on three types of health insurance policy, i.e. 30 baht, social welfare, government officer, using data from Bhuddhachinnarat Hospital during January-May 2003. The result showed that the average outpatient's unit cost/visit =1, 039.20 and the average inpatient's unit cost/head = 14,967.68. Moreover, we found that outpatient's unit cost/visit for 30 baht and social welfare is similar, whereas unit cost/visit for government officer is relatively high. In case of inpatient, the lowest unit cost/head is social welfare, 30 baht and government officers, respectively. In addition, comparison of service cost of each health insurance policy showed that only the difference in medicine cost affected the difference in outpatient's unit cost/visit. In case of inpatient, not only the difference in medicine cost but also other service cost affected the difference in inpatient's unit cost/visit.The result from this study is useful for the health authority and other involved users to obtain the proper financial report in the same format. Evaluation of hospital efficiency can be readily performed and comparison between each hospital can be assessed.


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Naya has always been my favorite three-color combination. With its aggressive nature, reach, and efficient answers, the archetype is always a competitive deck in every format. I played it in Legacy and Extended for many years, during Shards of Alara Block Constructed, and in Standard both this season and for Pro Tour San Diego when Luis Scott-Vargas made his 16-0 run. So naturally, I'd like to discuss the state of Naya in Standard right now and how it fits into the metagame.
Once I discovered that Team StarCityGames had developed Mono-Blue Devotion, I was unsure how my "fair" deck would perform. It turns out I was able to beat Mono-Blue Devotion both times I played it mostly due to key trampling opportunities. I took some losses to Esper Control and B/R/W Midrange but finished a reasonable and semi-expected 7-3 in the Constructed portion.
I got a lot of criticism about some of my choices in the deck, in particular the eyesores of one-ofs that I decided to include. I'm of the belief that if a card gets noticeably worse in multiples then it's a fine candidate as a one-of even if it's a card that you want to have early like Sylvan Caryatid. I used similar logic when I ran a singleton Lotus Cobra in my Naya deck some seasons ago. The first Sylvan Caryatid is a nice blocker and accelerator. The second is nothing but a 0/3 defender, much like the second Lotus Cobra was nothing but a vanilla 2/1.
The legendary cards like Xenagos, the Reveler; Chandra, Pyromaster; and Polukranos, World Eater are one-ofs because of the legend rule. Domri Rade is such a centerpiece of the deck and such a dominant presence that I often don't mind drawing multiples or having one being "uncastable" while another is doing work taking over the game (I say "uncastable" because sometimes the second copy is cast after the first one uses the -2 fight ability).
"If I could play more than four of this card in my deck, would I?"
If the answer is "no," odds are that four isn't the perfect number of copies of that card and perhaps two or three may be right. This is how I came to easily shave a Loxodon Smiter and Boros Reckoner.
The card I was most excited to play was Gruul Charm. I didn't get to cast it very much, but the impact seemed awesome. I originally included it as a semi-mise against the Ashiok decks (to take back what they took with Ashiok) while having marginal use of making Blood Baron of Vizkopa or Aetherling unable to block. I even had hopeful fantasies of killing all of the Soldier tokens when an opponent activated Elspeth's ultimate. It turned out the card has more utility than just that—killing all of the flyers out of Mono-Blue Devotion or letting me get past a wave of 2/1 Elementals made me wish I had more copies in my sideboard.
David Sharfman played a similar version of Naya that had two maindeck Boros Charms, which was an idea that I didn't like at first. I originally wanted a deck that was super threat dense with as high a percentage chance as possible to hit a creature from Domri Rade's +1. I didn't want a ton of Mizzium Mortars, and Selesnya Charm had a ton of applications but most often functioned as a weaker Ghor-Clan Rampager.
I've since changed my outlook toward spells in Naya, realizing that squeaking out a bit of card advantage isn't so great when your deck is somewhat one-dimensional. Boros Charm serves as the reach needed to sometimes finish off the opponent or to kill a planeswalker. And of course the indestructibility mode serves to combat Supreme Verdict, which is probably the most effective card against Naya. Unfortunately the double-strike mode always felt like a waste of space. The highest natural power a creature in the deck has is only four, so the mode won't do anything that the other two don't.
Brad Nelson told me the story of how he cast a Mistcutter Hydra for X=4. Attacked a Mono-Blue Devotion player down to sixteen. Then attacked next turn . . . used Ghor-Clan Rampager's bloodrush to make the Mistcutter Hydra an 8/8, and then cast Flesh // Blood for the final eight, dealing sixteen in one turn!
So I began sideboarding in my Boros Charms against Mono-Blue Devotion and using the double-strike mode on a Rampaged creature like Loxodon Smiter to get past lone blocking 2/1 Elemental tokens. The "combo" was really actually happening! I immediately wanted to have them maindeck.
So there you have it! Naya's strangely effective plan to beat Master of Waves.
My sideboard has changed a bit since Pro Tour Theros. The second Polukranos is necessary because of how good it is against Mono-Blue Devotion, and an extra copy of Gruul Charm and Wear // Tear were added because they overperformed in testing. Arbor Colossus never really got to come out of the sideboard, and Pithing Needle was a reactive card that I was unhappy with. Plummet is a new addition to help fight Nightveil Specter and Desecration Demon, and Bramblecrush is sort of a flex card that does everything from killing planeswalkers to destroying the land enchanted by Underworld Connections.
Since this is the version of Naya that I'm most experienced with, I'll give a quick rundown of how I sideboard against the common matchups before looking at other existing versions of Naya.
Here it may seem strange to side out a land, but against decks with Thoughtseize and other attrition-based strategies, I like doing so. The Boros Reckoners are weak because their removal isn't damaged based.
Your Voice of Resurgences never die, but it's easy for them to avoid casting spells on your turn. Stormbreath Dragon tends to be too slow and gets blocked or dealt with rather easily. The planeswalkers also don't do enough in general.
Here you have to be the beatdown and deal a large chunk of damage in one hit through Unflinching Courage or Ghor-Clan Rampager trample complemented with Boros Charm. Again, we're siding out mana sources while reducing the curve by bringing in cheap answers. Shock and Mizzium Mortars are largely to kill Tidebinder Mage since the games rarely go long enough for a Mizzium Mortars to be overloaded.
This matchup greatly depends on what cards you see game 1. If they have Ashiok, Nightmare Weaver; Domestication; or something like Nightveil Specter, then you want Gruul Charm. Nearly all versions have Detention Sphere, so Glare of Heresy and Wear // Tear are likely what you want as well. If they have multiple Blood Baron of Vizkopas, then you want Mizzium Mortars. Whatever you decide to bring in, you always side out the same four cards.
Selesnya Charm really shines here as a way to kill Polukranos, World Eater and a Boon Satyred creature. The plan here is to ride out an Unflinching Courage on hopefully a Fleecemane Lion. Loxodon Smiter is just a vanilla creature that doesn't match up too well against their bigger creatures.
Now let's compare my list to Andrew Hanson's Top 8 deck from Grand Prix Albuquerque.
This version forgoes Domri Rade in favor of real spells. I definitely like Soldier of the Pantheon as the one-drop of choice since it's still a very strong card even when it doesn't come down on turn 1. There was always a tension when trying to add it to Domri Naya since it can't be used to fight other creatures due to the protection from multicolored clause. The reason that Domri Naya runs Elvish Mystic is for the turn 2 Domri Rade or Loxodon Smiter draws. Otherwise the card doesn't do all too much. Your creatures are very efficient, so there's less need to actually ramp when what you're doing is as good or better than what your opponent is doing.
Chained to the Rocks is undoubtedly very strong in the format right now. The key is finding the right home for it. Ten Mountains is the minimum I'd want to play with the card, and this deck fits the requirements. It's quite the blowout when Mono-Blue Devotion leans on Master of Waves to stabilize and you cast Chained to the Rocks on it when they figure that they're safe.
Chandra, Pyromaster is interesting, and you do run the risk of not getting double red to cast her. But Naya needs some source of card advantage, and without Domri Rade the Chandras fill this role. The +0 is best in a deck like this that can easily protect her, and the eight Temples make sure the top card is something that is useable that turn.
I like the Advent of the Wurms to go along with Boon Satyr, Lightning Strike, and Selesnya Charm. It's an inherently powerful card that only gets stronger when you have further options when you're leaving mana up. Advent is often telegraphed the moment any G/W/x player passes with four mana open, and after you show them that you had instants to play during their turn with the mana, they're going to have a lot of trouble playing around everything and may start respecting Advent less and running into your open mana.
I personally like the idea that such a deck exists. When the format is full of targeted removal, it's vulnerable to being attacked from the hexproof axis. Right now it's close, but Devour Flesh is plentiful in Mono-Black Devotion and Esper Control still has access to Supreme Verdict. Anger of the Gods isn't played very much outside of Matt Costa's Jund, and the "Voltroned" creature quickly gets out of range of it. If people become convinced that Last Breath is the answer to Nightveil Specter and end up going lower on Devour Flesh numbers, this deck could be a thing in the future.
The most glaring card not included is Fleecemane Lion, which seems like a perfect fit in the strategy, but I'm sure that crossed the mind of the designer. The obvious switch would be for Skylasher, but that card seems sweet in the metagame right now with how popular Mono Blue Devotion is. It also doesn't hurt that it avoids Azorius Charm and Detention Sphere.
The things that bother me about this deck are its current inherent weakness to Devour Flesh with the draws that don't include Voice of Resurgence and the low number of Mountains to go along with Chained to the Rocks. I also don't love that the deck is running the full eight life-gain Aura package in Gift of Orzhova and Unflinching Courage, but that was likely a byproduct of the red-heavy environment on Magic Online.
Overall, the deck (and archetype in general) is very capable of catching a format with its pants down, serves to keep them honest, and punishes those who lean on one-for-one targeted effects backed with card advantage of some sort to solve all their problems. It's a good deck to keep in mind for when the time is right to strike.
I would be happy to pilot any of the above three versions of Naya at Grand Prix Dallas/Fort Worth if Boss Sligh weren't so sweet. I think midrange is in a pretty good place right now and that rogue strategies in general have a lot going for them since the format is so centered on beating Mono-Black and Mono-Blue Devotion. A lot can be said about people not knowing the exact contents of your deck, and value can be gained by them wrongly assuming that you do or don't have certain cards in your deck.
As the Philosophy of Fire says, "There are no wrong threats—only wrong answers."


text:
Youth Art Program (YAP)
Products and Gift Bag
Cookbook Prints
Select Originals
Sipp and Paint PAYMENT PAGE
BLACK ART IN AMERICA™
at: Faison Firehouse Theater
Fine Art Show & Sale of Works by African-American Master Artists and their Contemporaries ...
Black Art In America™ (BAIA) is the leading online social network focused on African-American art. On October 4th - 6th, 2013, BAIA will host an extraordinary showcase of works by African-American Artists in Harlem at: Faison Firehouse Theater, Six Hancock Place, NYC 10027 (124th Street between. St. Nicholas & Morningside Avenues)
Featuring Original Works By:
Charles Alston / Romare Bearden / Herbert Gentry / Hughie Lee Smith / Bob Thompson / Charles White
Louis Delsarte / Frank Frazier / Mr. Imagination / Vincent Smith / Purvis Young Mason Archie / Najee Dorsey / Lawrence Finney / Nnamdi Okonkwo / Woodrow Nash / Najjar Abdul-Musawwir / ScareCro ... and many more
Hosted By: George Faison, Celeste Beatty and Najee Dorsey.
Special Guest: Kenny Leon, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of True Colors Theatre Company, and supporter of Black Art In America, Kenny Leon, is an acclaimed film and theater director. Leon is the first African-American director to have two shows running on Broadway simultaneously with the Mountaintop starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett; and Stick Fly, produced by Alicia Keys.
Host: George W. Faison, patron and fine art collector, danced with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater from 1967 through 1970. He was the first African-American choreographer to win a Tony Award for his choreography in The Wiz (1975). In the early 1970s, he created two modern American dance classics, Suite Otis and Slaves for the George Faison Universal Dance Experience. Mr. Faison choreographed for Broadway and choreographed and directed numerous productions for regional theaters. In the early 1980s, he changed his professional career focus to writing, directing and choreographing dramatic and musical theater pieces. Mr. Faison co-produced and wrote the Cosby Salutes Ailey, NBC TV special, celebrating the 30th Anniversary of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He is co-founder and the producing artistic director of the Faison Firehouse Theatre, located in a former Harlem firehouse. In addition to the theatre, Mr. Faison has developed a unique performing arts-based outreach and youth theatre project, the Faison Firehouse Respect Project. www.faisonfirehouse.org
Host: Celeste Beatty, is an avid collector and founder of Harlem Brewing Company. The Harlem Brewing Company's flagship brand is Sugar Hill Golden Ale. Their artisanal craft beers celebrate Harlem's rich cultural history. At Harlem Brewing Company, supporting arts programming has been a part of the companies mission for 13 years. Harlem Brew is available at many special events, restaurants and retailers including Jazz at Lincoln Center, Sylvia's, Whole Foods and the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Host: Najee Dorsey, is Founder / CEO of Black Art in America™ (BAIA) and is an avid collector and patron of the arts. Black Art in America™ is the leading online social network focused on African-American art, Najee is also an accomplished visual artist -- now preparing for his solo show at the Columbus Museum of Art in Columbus, Georgia, entitled "Leaving Mississippi: Reflections on Heroes and Folklore". Philadelphia Daily News called Dorsey's contemporary work "a highlight of the Rittenhouse Square Fine Art Show" (2012).
Program Schedule:
Thursday, October 3rd, 2013 (6pm - 9pm) - Private Collector Preview Art Tour and Champagne Toast (Opening Reception) -- light fare, cocktails, private collector preview, art exhibit and opening of online auction.
Friday, October 4th, 2013 (2pm - 9pm) -- exhibit with online auction (public opening), (6pm - 7pm) -- BAIA Member Workshop with Tantra Zawadi, (8pm - 9pm) -- Harlem happy hour with George Faison and Celeste Beatty.
Saturday, October 5th, 2013 (12 noon - 10pm), (12 noon - 2pm) -- valuation day hours,
(8pm - 10pm) -- dei 7 free range music (multimedia, playlists and music performance).
Sunday, October 6th, 2013 (by appointment only) -- closing business sales, end of online auction.
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What we do as artists is not an easy job. It's truly a labor of love. So when you spend your time and money to support the arts, we appreciate it! There is no measure of thanks for your generosity. Without you and your passion for the arts, we could not continue to do the craft we enjoy and love so much. I can't speak for others, but at Arthur L Dawson Studio and Contemporary Masters, Inc., your support is greatly appreciated. And we hope to always answer your generosity by continuing to create and provide high quality collectable art we all can be proud of. Your support says how you feel about us; I just thought you should know how we feel about you!
For over 20 years as a professional artist
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or YAP. Why YAP? The acronym is a pun for
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Rail Worker $2,450.00 USD The Stranger $2,450.00 USD Wash Day $2,800.00 USD Leaving Home $3,850.00 USD Praise and Peas $5,950.00 USD Red Snapper $5,950.00 USD Teacher and Student $3,500.00 USD Forever Learning $2,800.00 USD The Big Test $2,450.00 USD The Reader $3,500.00 USD
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Topics Collectors Should Know
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I am honored to have been commissioned by The Original Florida Highwaymen to create the official Original Florida Highwaymen Group Medal. The greatest honor an artist can receive is to honor a fellow artist.
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Title: Europae Tabula nona continent Iaziges Metanastas, Daciam, Mysiam superiorem..
Description: Trapezoid map of the territory of eastern Europe with Romania, Hungaria, Dalmatia and the european part of Turkey with the Boporus.
On reverse the description of the area.