Bits and Clips for April 2016

Bits and Clips for April 2016

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Here are the articles, videos, podcasts, and memes that I thought are worth sharing from this month. I hope you find something here thought provoking, meaningful, inspiring, or helpful in these links:

Art:

Watercolor Underpainting Part 1 with Alain Picard (video)

Watercolor Underpainting Part 2 with Alain Picard (video)

Molly Rausch Postage Stamp Artist (video)

3D Drawing (video)

Iris Scott Fingerpainting (video)

Sculpter Barbara Hepworth

When Your Art Doesn’t Sell

How Ink is Made (video)

Free Museum Days in NYC

Photography:

Metamorphosis of Queen Elizabeth II (video)

Photos of African Wild Animals Roaming Their Lost Habitat

Spirituality:

In Heavenly Love Abiding (Lisa Redfern song)

Common Misconceptions of Christian Science Answered

Joy is Not an Add-On (short podcast)

Healing Beyond Borders

Don’t Buy Fear (short video about terrorism)

Fierce Women in History: Mary Baker Eddy

Conflicts Between Science And Spirituality Are Rooted In Your Brain

Faith, Spirituality, and the Future (CBS Video)

Bernie Sanders on Religion (video)

Ideas:

The Moral Bucket List

How to Save a Million Dollars without even Trying

13 Massachusetts Swimming Holes

Dance of Earth and Venus Around the Sun (Video)

15 Best Quotes About Love

We Need Fewer Exams and More Wilderness Education

7 ways for Young Men to Stand Out

Bipartisanship Isn’t for Wimps

Want Your Kids to Get into College and Have a Good Life? Here’s How

Obama on Responsibility in Politics (video)

This is Why Finland Has the Best Schools

Marriage Isn’t About Your Happiness

On the Wildness of Children

Joanna Macy: On how to prepare internally for WHATEVER comes next

Rethinking the Map

Terrorism is rare (short video)

Teaching children philosophy can improve their reading and math skills, study finds

Make an Art Out of Falling (video)

I’m Sick of Reading About Kids Getting Into Harvard

Snapchat: The One App to Rule them All?

Silence Is Much More Important Than We Think

Kids Spend Less Time Outdoors Than Prisoners

Relationships Are More Important Than Ambition

Boundaries with Brene Brown (video)

Molly Fletcher: Unleashing Your Potential (video)

The Quiet Quality That Uplifts

Books:

TED Educator’s 50 Books to Read in 2016

Why Are Schools Abandoning Literature?

21 Quotes About Friendship from Books

2016 Cookbook Award Winners

Movies:

Girl Empowering Movies

Famous Movies Before and After Special Effects (video)

A Comprehensive List of Historical Movies For Kids

Food:

The 12 Most Contaminated Fruits and Veggies

Recipe: Easy Ranch Baby Carrots

Recipe: Roasted Vegetable Marsala

Poetry:

30 Poets You Should Be Reading

Audio of Mary Oliver Reading “Wild Geese”

& Hope:

Female Chief in Malawi Breaks up 850 Child Marriages and Sends Girls Back to School

San Fransisco Offers Fully Paid Parental Leave

France Bans Supermarkets From Throwing Away Unsold Food

Canadian Prime Minister on Multiculturalism (video)

Why US Skies Keep Getting Cleaner

These Gloves Can Convert Sign Language into Spoken Word (video)

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I work to amplify good wherever I find it. I love color, texture, beauty, great ideas, nature, metaphor, deliciousness, genuine spirituality, and exploring new territory. I encourage authenticity, nurture creativity, champion sustainability, promote peace, and hope to foster a new renaissance where we all are free to be our most fulfilled, multifaceted, and terrific selves. Read more here.

4 Comments

  1. Mary Jo Beebe 8 years ago

    Polly, I haven’t read anything about Joanna Macy for some time. I see you have included this article–“Joanna Macy: On how to prepare internally for WHATEVER comes next”–in your April Bits and Clips. I’d like to know what you think about Joanna’s thoughts and ideas.

    • Author
      Polly Castor 8 years ago

      What do you know of her?

  2. Mary Jo Beebe 8 years ago

    A few years ago I joined Carol Hohle’s ecospirituality program. She assigned readings of leading environmental thinkers. Those participating read the articles and then gathered by phone to comment and discuss. One of the environmentalists we read was Joanna Macy. I had never heard of her. At the time my understanding was that she felt if humankind would move forward to change thinking and habits, the earth would have a chance to survive. I think this article indicates a dark, foreboding–that the earth is doomed. From what I can gather of her thought, she advances the idea that she can at least help others die with grace. Maybe that’s a little far out and I misunderstand her. As a Christian Scientist I’m awakening big time to the need for enlightened prayer on this subject.

    As a result of Hohle’s program, I became more environmentally aware, watched the documentary, Food, Inc., and determined that at the very least, I must follow my heart and be a vegetarian. That was five years ago.

    • Author
      Polly Castor 8 years ago

      I first encountered Joanna Macy in 1983 with her book Dharma and Development before she would be considered an environmentalist. I have greatly admired her since. I just pulled that old book off my shelves and was interested that even then her first sentence was, “Humanity faces a crisis of global dimensions.” Well that is even clearer now, to be sure. Her assessment of the problems are accurate as far as that goes.

      What I liked in this article was more the sense that it is time for us to be collectively heroic– to step up and “measure up.” That the privatization of religion is insufficient, and needs to become more collective and inclusive. It is not just about finding one’s own equanimity. What is individual salvation, without collective salvation? Why do we pray for our own sense of our own little experiences, instead of coming together for the whole, collective one? I believe that if we could do that, unforeseen (miraculous seeming) solutions could arise.

      We have to be careful what we accept, and as Christian Scientists we know better than most; Buddhists have a slightly different take on acceptance. But pretending there are not these issues to be counteracted is lethal. We cannot afford that, but many are guilty of it. Error and evil need to be actively denied,repudiated, and abolished. I believe good can and will triumph, but we are not to be idle spectators in that.

      To whom much is given, much is required. I honor your attempts to do this. Mary Baker Eddy says, “There is always some tumult, but there is a rallying to truth’s standard.”(SH 225:11-13) So I see this as not hopelessness, but a call to action beyond ourselves!

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