profane horrors

As New York City prepares for the 45th Annual Village Halloween Parade, we cannot help but draw parallels between this showy shindig and impending elections.

Halloween originated with the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, when people would light bonfires and wear costumes to ward off ghosts.

wishing on 1.6 billion stars

Photo Credit: Jack Fusco, Star Trails, New Jersey. 

The stars twinkled in the sky.

In space - billions of universes.

Silence.

Resting my forehead in my hand and thinking.

I do not dream.

A big Reality has awoken me,

A truth that strikes the eye,

The truth that is being, visible, unique,

Eternal:

I - under this huge starry dome,

I - perceiving its entirety with my brain,

I relish it, I become one with myself

And slowly - inside - I am restored to myself:

To profound joy and perfect rhythm.

All my thoughts, words and deeds

Were only bringing me closer

To universal embrace:

Here I am resting joyfully in myself,

Wrapped in deep silence on all sides,

And my heart beats in the rhythm of everything

Which surrounds me.

Enough. No need for words.

~ Julian Tuwim, translated by Adrian Thomas. http://tmblr.co/ZjYlFyVzI5BX

Image from "Your Shot," National Geographic. Taken on April 19, 2012, in Strathmere, New Jersey. These star trails show the Milky Way rising over the Atlantic Ocean.

risk & disaster

October 13 is International Day for Disaster Reduction. This was started in 1989 by the United Nations General Assembly. A day to promote a global culture of risk-awareness and disaster reduction.

The 2018 theme continues as part of the "Sendai Seven" campaign, centered on seven targets of the framework. This year focuses on reducing disaster economic losses in relation to global GDP by 2030.

liberty, justice, freedom

Any recipient of abuse lives with the consequence of their traumatic experience. Each individual manages their own personal experience - dealing with it through whatever means they have available and are capable of. 

Those who have not been abused live in a different world.  Touched or untouched by the abuse of another, some can relate and others cannot. But never in the exact same way the one abused is forever changed - for better or worse.