To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space by Carl Sagan"I do not imagine that it is precisely we, with our present customs and social conventions, who will be out there. If we continue to accumulate only power and not wisdom, we will surely destroy ourselves. Our very existence in that distant time requires that we will have changed our institutions and ourselves. How can I dare to guess about humans in the far future? It is, I think, only a matter of natural selection. If we become even slightly more violent, shortsighted, ignorant, and selfish than we are now, almost certainly we will have no future."I highly recommend this treasure as required reading for all who are able to read it. Loved it. Six stars!
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens"The true value of a man is not determined by his possession, supposed or real, of Truth, but rather by his sincere exertion to get to the Truth. It is not possession of the Truth, but rather the pursuit of Truth by which he extends his powers and in which his ever-growing perfectibility is to be found. Possession makes one passive, indolent, and proud. If God were to hold all Truth concealed in his right hand, and in his left only the steady and diligent drive for Truth, albeit with the proviso that I would always and forever err in the process, and to offer me the choice, I would with all humility take the left hand." - Gotthold Lessing, Anti-Goeze (1778)
Pattern Recognition by William Gibson
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
"... he never knew I was there. I never knew I was there, either. For that forty minutes last night I was purely sensitive and mute as a photographic plate; I received impressions, but I did not print out captions. My own self awareness had disappeared; it seems now almost as though, had I been wired with electrodes, my EEG would have been flat."
"... I have often noticed that even a few minutes of this self-forgetfulness is tremendously invigorating. I wonder if we do not waste most of our energy just by spending every waking minute saying hello to ourselves."cool.
"It is dire poverty indeed when a man is so malnourished and fatigued that he won't stoop to pick up a penny. But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty bought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get."- Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
"Kumiko would remember the alley always: dark brick slick with damp, hooded ventilators trailing black streamers of congealed dust, a yellow bulb in a cage of corroded alloy, the low growth of empty bottles that sprouted at the base of either wall, the man-sized nests of crumpled fax and white foam packing segments, and the sound of Sally's bootheels."p.163 Mona Lisa Overdrive by William Gibson
Count Zero by William Gibson
Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr
Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
Dear Friends,
“Birtha” the NC CowParade cow I’m painting is well on her way to being finished. She has begun her work being transformational in many lives including mine as I thoughtfully place every brushstroke onto her surface. Her stand resonates constantly as she was designed to be a “life giver”. Her concept is simple: “to give life, love and rebirth.” She’s about giving. Along this journey these past few days I have had visitors and phone calls that revolve around being a community – a community that gives from the heart, that believes in making a difference. Birtha was not sponsored by a corporation or organization, i.e., sponsored by an entity that runs our way of life. I am earnestly working to raise the $5000 sponsorship level so that her plaque reads: “Sponsored by the People'.” Birtha is a community cow. In my endeavors as an artist I have created my art to be tangible to everyone. Art is meant to be shared and enjoyed by every walk of life, and to this day I am proud to say my art brings joy to many homes, families, and public arenas where I have donated murals.
What always brings me encouragement about the choices I have made as an artist is that it is never accomplished without a group of people with like minds and big hearts, people who not only believe in me, but are willing to become a part of something bigger than themselves. In our final stretch to meet this sponsorship goal I reflect on the people who have backed this effort thus far. They are people like you: people that still believe that we can make a difference in the lives of others who have critical illnesses, whether it be physical or emotional, believing that miracles can and do happen.
This particular fund raiser NC CowParade is reaching for a goal of $300K – $500K to assist critically ill children and their families at the NC Children's Hospital. The effort of Birtha’s sponsorship is to facilitate an opportunity for everyone to take part in her existence. When she is completed by this Friday she will go and meet up with over 80 other cows from the Triangle area. Just envision that you get to say “that’s my cow! I helped make her possible!” Birtha is a gift: she is a gift for me to give to you and everyone who will enjoy her presence while she’s on parade. Then in three months she will go up for auction as and her proceeds will go to the Children’s Hospital of NC.
Please consider being a part of this vision, that we all can make a difference. And while $5000 seems like a lot, especially during this time or economic hardship, many donors equal much money. We have currently raised $1000 with the assistance of twelve donors. Our time frame is short now, but I believe we can and will do this
While I have been painting I have been thinking about parents I know who have lost their children. Children who are losing their parents. Husbands and wives who long for a child. I think about the joy my young son brings me and the challenges my husband and I went through to bring him to this planet, and the risks we take everyday to give him a world that he will be proud to live in.
In closing, if your hands are tied but your heart is open to feeling then you have given. And if we meet this goal and you see Birtha somewhere around town with a plaque that says sponsored “By the People”, embrace yourself and know that you are the people.
Blessings,
Andria Linn
In fact, were it given to our eye of flesh to see into the consciences of others, we should judge a man much more surely from what he dreams than from what he thinks. There is will in the thought, there is none in the dream. The dream, which is completely spontaneous, takes and keeps, even in the gigantic and the ideal, the form of our mind. Nothing springs more directly and more sincerely from the very bottom of our souls than our unreflected and indefinite aspirations towards the splendours of destiny. In these aspirations, much more than in ideas which are combined, studied, and compared, we can find the true character of each man. Our chimeras are what most resemble ourselves. Each one dreams the unknown and the impossible according to his own nature.- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (Charles Wilbour translation 1862, p. 585)
Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal by Christopher Moore
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