just a note
Just a little note. Dictators are a pretty complicated bunch. And it really might be what (t)Rump wants to become. I imagine it’s sort of what it was like when Adolf was coming into power. Everybody just went “no big deal”. Until much later it ended up being a very big deal. Some very good books have been written. “The Feast of the Goat” by Mario Vargas Llosa, a novel about Trujillo in the Dominican Republic. “The Autumn of the Patriarch” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Actually, Naomi Wolf touches on some of the atrocities committed by dictators in Africa, in her book “Vagina”. Truly insane people. Mindbogglingly fascinating. Really made me wonder about our definition of freedom. More than that, it made me wonder about all the different things said about God. How is any of this possible?
You have to remember that I’m but one eight billionth of Humanity, and what I think is of no importance on that scale. But it’s sort of interesting; decades ago, while still living on Cannery Row, (this was before it turned into just another huge tourist attraction) we already saw that our Country was beginning to go down. Later, at the Academy, I stood on the position that if indeed America needed to get off its mighty horse and really was going down, that our duty, as artists, was to help this happen as quickly as possible so that we could bottom out and begin to grow upwards again. I was so much younger then. Pretty ignorant. I now believe that each of us makes this world. And in the face of very big odds we still can do good. I believe hotwu showed me that. Being human is pretty alright.
This is important
O.K., this, for me, is a hard one. But it’s important. I’ve pondered it for a long time. Actually, there’s two parts to this. The first is, how do I get this out to the world? It’s a Monument for Humanity, right? And we’re all over this wonderful planet, so how do I get this out to people in South America, Asia, Africa, all the Islands, Europe and USA? Just to get the idea out there where people can see it, to see if it resonates, if people (we) think this is something worth pursuing because we now, with how the pandemic has united the whole world, are beginning to understand what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr said a long time ago. That we’re all in the same boat now. That this thing of the Climate Change, Pollution and Corruption is affecting all of us and we’re all responsible. We, the “small” people, can’t really do anything about the Climate Change. That’s sort of up to the large corporations-industries. But the pollution we can work on. There’s much work being done already to address these issues. But on a personal level, a lot more can be done. And the Corruption, the way I see it, isn’t really about the corruption of the governments. That’s as old as the world. Used to be called “you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours”. How, basically, things get done. The Corruption I was thinking of is the corruption of our thinking, of our seeing things. Where all the “ism’s” come from. Our perception that Women are second class citizens. That Blacks aren’t human. That if you’re poor, you don’t count. That money makes you right… It goes on and on, even though it doesn’t make any sense. We have been around for a very long time, and technologically we’re very advanced, but somehow we’re still pretty much barbarians when it comes to our humanity. So how to get this out to the world? I was thinking that if these ideas resonate with you and you know somebody who lives in another part of the world, send them a link to HOTWU.org. And if they like it they could send it on. Maybe this is good?
The second part of this is the money. To build this Monument could cost around 20 million dollars. Maybe more. I know. It’s scary. I catch my self thinking “who the hell do I think I am?”. But you know what? We can do it! I’ve been working with this idea for over 30 years. Amazing things happen. And what’s pretty interesting, is that the hyper rich people build amazing things, right? A hotel for three billion dollars! That’s pretty crazy. A lot of really expensive things are being created, all for the good. But we, the “small” people don’t really get to build anything on a grand scale. Not for ourselves, but for everybody. As a not for profit physical statement of what we believe and are striving for. There’s 8 billion of us! And so if 20 million of us contributed a dollar there it’d be. 20 million out of 8 billion is but a drop in the bucket, no? So even this part seems do-able. I shall write grant applications, but I’m really curious to see where we, the people, are with this Idea.
Dear Unknown!
Dear Unknown!
So this morning I was thinking. To whom am I actually writing all of this? Right? I know form the media that there’s somewhere around 8 billion of us. Made my mind spin. Even with the internet being World-Wide, it’s mindboggling to think that I actually want to connect with so many people, but I do. It’s sort of scary. But suddenly I thought, or rather knew, that I was writing to the wonderful, mysterious, Symphony of Life! To feel that connected was pretty new.
In our chance encounters we seem to be lovers. Enemies. Co-workers. Critics. Very powerful people of extreme wealth, commanders of huge armies and unimaginable possibilities. The very poor, living in dumps. The beautiful cripples. Countless unimaginable living beings of this world. And yes. Unknown As I do not completely know my self, I know not you. But I do know that we are amazing! So there. Good Morning!
Beautifully ugly, Life unfolds. Blossoms.
As in a dream, where I casually-gently stroke the insides of your thighs, gazing into your eyes. Looking for a sign of recognition. A glimmer of joy. Wake up thinking; “What was that all about?”.
So this is possibly a little unusual.
Hearts of the World United…
So. HOTWU!
HOT WU.
An introduction.
No. It’s not HOT WU. I don’t know what WU might be. And it doesn’t stand for “Hackers of the World United”. I thought that was pretty funny when I saw it on the web. No. This one is HERATS OF THE WORLD UNITED. HEARTS. A visual symbol of Humanity. Humanity is ONE. There’s 8 billion of us, but one Humanity. Four hearts for the four Races of One Humanity. I believe it’s pretty extraordinary that this idea is appearing at this moment of seeming crisis.
The story has been going on for a lot longer than we can even imagine. And possibly it’s not even a story of humans. There seems to have been a time when humans didn’t exist. But now, here we are. After thousands of years, at what looks like a critical time. It almost looks like a time when we have to look at ourselves and ask: “do we really think we can go on like this, or are we subconsciously destroying ourselves?”. A large portion of us just struggling for survival while the luckier (?) ones are immersed in entertainment and raw consumerism. A very broad generalization, I know. But you know, it sort of looks like that.
And so this symbol, this concept of the hearts of the world united, it appears to be pretty timely. Maybe the question now is do we think humans are good enough to try and save, or are we satisfied with simply being a cancerous growth destroying its host? It does seem that our pollution is fueling the Climate Change which in itself is a cyclical event which might or might not drive us into extinction, but if we as humanity don’t try to remedy this situation, then all these other issues will become irrelevant. Now, at this point of time, I believe the importance of the Me Too Movement, the pandemic and Black Lives Matter is in showing us that we are all involved. We are all responsible.
Hearts United. Really very simple. We make the world. The Corona, by putting all of us in the world into solitary confinement, said; “Get to know your Self, Human!”.
Why unfinishedness?
All of the images of the hearts are complete. Why is this one “unfinished”? I believe this one is actually my favorite because of that. It implies that there’s room to move, room to grow, to change. The Universe is unfinished, right? And going along with the idea that we make the world, and that amazingly enough, in a very unusual manner we’re getting onto “the same page”, we’re beginning to see that really there’s a few things we might wanna change. It sort of began with the “Me Too” movement and moved on to the Climate Change concerns, only to be replaced by the Corona Virus, and lastly Black Lives Matter. All of these issues have one thing in common; they’re all all-inclusive. They don’t respect borders. And they’re getting all of our attentions.
