like this one

Michigan

♥♥♥♥❤

Awesome voting people

Straight Ticket

Yeah, baby.

Voted absentee today.


Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr, Ivanka Trump, Sarah Sanders...this one's for you:

The most arrogant, shitty, out of touch people on the planet.

Stating the obvious

I feel like there is this consensus, or maybe it's just something happening in Washington, that to speak out against anything is to prove that you are motivated by some sort of partisanship.  At least that's what D Trump and S Sanders would have you believe.

I'm not.  I'm not motivated by some Democratic agenda.

The only thing motivating me today is that of being a woman and of "having been there."

I'm a believer.  In good.  In God.

Sometimes you just have to step aside and give people enough rope to hang themselves.

Or so it would seem...

Unfit

Can you imagine if a female nominee for the supreme court cried in a judicial hearing?
We'd never here the end of it.

They would have shut the process down immediately and either vote no for her or call off the vote.

Wouldn't it be nice if Judge K had shown a little wisdom, perhaps a deep spirituality, some peace?

But no we just got Trump wrapped in a different robe.

Oh he's so angry....

Eww his admonishments were so pointed.

What a jerk.

Boy/man.

Caught.

I don't feel sorry for him.

He is a candidate for a position of service.

The conversation he is having with Dr. Ford is the conversation our country is having at the moment.

His service started the day he was nominated, and yet he is serving nobody but himself, his own ambitions, Trumps agenda, and the Republican agenda, for what ends I'm not sure.

He is supposed to be non - partisan, serving all of us.

Puhlease.

And don't forget Lindsey Graham, coddling the redneck and misogynist votes in South Carolina.

How very unsuprising.

Get out the Vote

This is what Senator Graham said three days ago about Dr. Ford's accusations regarding Brett Kavanaugh.

(This from CNN.COM)

"I will listen, but I'm not going to play a game here and tell you this will wipe out his entire life...Cause if nothing changes, it won't with me."

Why is Senator Graham so worried about ruining Mr Kavanaugh's life?

I don't remember asking Mr. Kavanaugh to become a supreme court justice.  I'm not so concerned that Mr Kavanaugh's own ambition and perhaps grave (understatement) misdeeds might, in somebody's opinion, "ruin his life."

What's a lot scarier, to me, is that a serious misogynist might be in charge of interpreting and creating the laws in our country.

Wouldn't you think that would be Senator Grahams first concern also?

I just did the math.

Senator Graham is up for re-election in 2020.

(Suburbanstats.org)

There are 1,796,798 females over 18 in South Carolina.

I cannot imagine why even one of them would vote to re-elect Senator Graham.

NOT ONE.

Love Yourself

(all Graham had to do was say, there is going to be a hearing and he would listen,  then shut his mouth...but he couldn't even give us that miniscule amount of care and respect)

More on Brett Kavanaugh

Hey, I'm no saint, and either are my friends or boyfriends.

But I tell you, I sat back and I thought about it and No male friend of mine has ever pinned a woman down, put his hand over her mouth, shoved his penis in another woman's face without invitation.

It's not normal.

And a kid who does this at 17, is still acting this way as a man, unless he has undergone deep therapy or a very unusual healing experience.

It's violent and fucked up, although honestly behavior like that probably stems from a serious lack of self esteem and confidence.

But mostly, it's NOT NORMAL.

Kellyanne Conway supposedly blamed Kavanaugh's detractors today for trying "to ruin the man's life."

Puhlease.

We just don't want him to be a Supreme Court Justice.


:)

Supreme Court / sexual assault / yada yada

I wouldn't call it a stretch to imagine a man who carries himself as a famous man who can do anything, including grabbing unspecified women "by the pussy," to nominate a very similar co-hort with very antiquated ideas about ownership to the highest court in our country.

I would guess Dr. Ford is not lying.

New Show

I have six "abstract" paintings (20 x 16) and one smaller one (9 x 12) that make for a colorful possibly energetic experience.

I am looking for a place to hang them.  In my mind's eye, I see a modern clean space with light walls, but I'm open to other ideas.

In the past, I've split shipping with people who don't live in the Charleston area and who have wanted some of my paintings to decorate their space on a short term basis.  If you are in Charleston, I can just bring them to you.

I put abstract in quotes because this is my first foray into that genre and I'm not sure if I hit the mark or not.  But either way, they are cheery.

I would like a place that has good traffic flow and where people would enjoy the work.  Any other details are probably flexible.


Contact me here: gtrees@hotmail.com

Thank you!!!

get real

When people from a non-caucasian lineage can take it, just as easily as they give it out, finally, finally, America, we will know progress has been made.

The last episode of "White Famous" a Showtime show I truly enjoyed, showed the lead actor who plays a comic, doing his stand up routine to a room full of black people.  He's going on and on abt "White people" and how weird they are, and crazy they are.  The people in the room are laughing their asses off.

I really liked the show.  It was hilarious and cute.  I think Jamie Foxx was an executive producer.

But, watching the last few minutes of the last episode, I was like hmmm.  What the comic was saying was funny, and probably "true" as much as anything is, and honestly it didn't bother me that much, or take away how much I enjoyed the show, but are "White people" the only sentient beings on the planet expected to have self-awareness and the confidence to be able to laugh at themselves.  Somebody somewhere probably called that episode "rascist" bc it was, but honestly who cares, I'm getting sick of that word.

I wasn't alive in the 18th and 19th centuries.  I have no idea if my ancestors were the coolest people on the planet, the worst, or just humble folks struggling to get by.  And to be frank I don't really give a shit.  I'm not sure what dwelling on any of that stuff does.

But, as for this lifetime, I've been around for a while.  Suffering is something we all get to experience.  We also get to experience "the other," be it male, female, christian, muslim, jew, native, non-native, LGBT, hetero, old, young, southerner, northener etc. etc.

Lets move on people.  Focus on making our lives the best they can be.

Eat healthy, exercise, speak our truths, respect others as they do the same, stand up for ourselves, stand up for each other, but also know "there are countless variations on the human theme" (a quote from one translation of the I Ching) and that the person in front of you who you deem so privledged or perfect, or contrarily so valueless and disposable, may not be who you think they are, just like, most certainly, you are not who they think you are.

I'm a patriot, I'm not sure why.  Maybe in a global sense being a patriot is as bad as being a rascist.  I don't know.  But either way I am one.

And I'm hoping we can heal all the division we have in our country.  But I know healing won't come from, I don't know how else to say it, liberal guilt, walking on egg shells, and double standards.

We're better than that.  All of us.

peace

Barometer

These are the two songs I'm feeling most right now.  They are highly overplayed on my local radio station, but I thought I'd still post here, for my own enjoyment, posterity and for anyone who doesn't get American radio, and wants to listen.

Cedar Tree

Sunday Figure

I did this with some pastels and a scrap piece of black paper I've been carrying around with me for years.  I rather like it, and think I might frame it one of these days.  (25.5 x 20 in)

Richard 'Box' Bachschmidt. RIP

One of my favorite people committed suicide last week, Richard Bachschmidt, or Box.

He was a DJ at our local radio station, live 105.5, for many years.

I can't tell you how many times this wonderful man cheered me up.

He was so honest, and so angry, and so loving, and often, in so much pain.

He quit the station last February after complaining for years (openly and on the air) that he was underpaid, underappreciated, and the work environment was poor.

Initially, after he quit he was going to move back to Florida, but instead stayed in Charleston and started a daily podcast.  He wasn't a personal friend of mine, but I followed him, as a fan, and because I loved him.

I often felt badly that I couldn't consistently listen to the podcast due to tech limitations in my car, and on my phone, and how and where I work.  But sometimes I was able to tune in and was always a little bit disappointed to note that there weren't that many people listening (on a podcast it says how many people are tuned in). I prayed he would get a break, or a new opportunity, or that the podcast would take off for him.

We have a lot of drama in Charleston, between hurricanes and floods and white supremacists and mass shootings.  Box was always there for us, talking us through, telling us the truth, making us laugh.

After he quit, the radio station he left, I don't know for sure, but I can only assume was inundated with complaints and sadness.  But they forged on, and have since branded themselves with the motto "live 105.5 where different is good." And mind you their "different" isn't rebellion or truth talking, they were just talking about moving forward without Box.  I listen every now and then and am annoyed and turned off most especially by their claim to be so "Charlestonian" as if that's such an amazing thing.

Box was always open with his struggles with depression, with his emotions, with his love life, with being on or off his meds.

I read after the announcement of his death, that the radio station he left, is going to somehow contribute to some mental health awareness campaign and suicide prevention organization in his honor.

Isn't that nice.

You know once you're open about your emotional struggles, or worse, once you're outed about it, due to lack of privacy, gossip and insensitivity, no one listens to you, or takes you seriously.

"I'm bummed out you..." "Have you taken your meds?"
"I don't think you respect me or pay me enough."  "Have you talked to your doctor?"

So to you live 105.5, I say your contributions to said organizations are noted, but did you pay him enough, did you take care of him?  He didn't think so.  And I don't think that was his "mental illness" talking.

He was the heart beat and the possible future of this city.  And no, let me assure you, in this case, different is not good, not even slightly.

Donald Glover - This is America - Review

This is America?

I don't think so.

Mr. Glover your song and video made me so sad.

I venture to propose that your bio is more reflective of "this is America," then your song will ever be.

You have over 307 million views of your song.  I guess you needed some street cred.

Think of the 307 million young people who don't have your talent, your beauty, your brains.  You just affirmed for them their greatest fears, and deepest sense of powerlessness.

Think twice before you say I don't know what I'm talking about.  You really have no idea.  Out of the two of us, I am confident in saying I know you better than you will ever know me.

Where did you leave all the young people, at the end of your song, when you were being chased down that alley?

Your irresponsibility is mind blowing, and I suppose, despite your success, a reflection of your youth.

What did you think you were doing with your song?  Waking white people up?

I'm white, I'm woke, and I'm terrified of you, and all the black people, you just martyred and inflamed.

You have a net worth of 12 million dollars, you are extremely talented, have been blessed with multiple opportunities to express your gifts, and you're beautiful.

This is America.

If you are unhappy, you're welcome to leave.

Red Hen, Lexington, Va

I love the fact that this restaurant refused to serve Sarah H Sanders.

I love it.

What astonishes me about Trump and his minions is that they respect no one and will say anything and or everything no matter how crass or fabricated and then in the next breath (barely) they all seem to have the chutzpah to be totally indignant when somebody treats them the same way.

People are in such pain in our country.  We have a completely unevolved human in the highest office of our government.  People are hurting.  Trump is neither a peaceful or intelligent man.  He simply sews dissension and avarice among all of us. Its sad.  Those who work for him are culpable.

life

Michelle Wolf

I wasn't at the correspondence dinner, of course, but I love Michelle Wolf.

"What do you call white women who disappoint other white women?"

Exactly.  It is my personal wish that Sarah Huckabee Sanders never gets employed again once this shit show, fingers crossed, is over.

And by the way, I'm sure Michelle doesn't care at all how Sarah Huckabee Sanders looks.  No one does.

Except of course maybe the President who has a long history of berating women on appearance and in misogynistic terms.

Sorry Sarah you could be ugly, you could "look" beautiful, but you are still a liar and a fraud, and no friend of any woman, nor any person, with integrity or heart.

I hope your Dad doesn't attack me in your defense.  Eww I'm scared.

Thank You

I won "Best in Show" at the 2018 North Charleston Arts Festival.  I am extremely honored by this distinction.  You can read about it here N. Charleston Arts Festival "Best in Show"

Charcoal

These are quick sketches from studio time with a model.  A lot of times it's the ones we do really fast (under five minutes) that are the most interesting.

(this one was longer than five minutes, maybe twenty.  at this pt, capturing an authentic face is like a miracle.   piece by piece, and then a smudge and suddenly you've got it.)

Letting It Go

I went through something kind of emotional and a friend suggested I do some abstract paintings to express it, get it out.  I think abstract painting is something I could study for a long time, and never have :).  Anyhow, I got seven canvasses on sale, and here is what I painted.

2018

It snowed in Charleston the week after New Years.  Quite unusual, for those of you who do not know the Southern climate.

May the wind always be at your back

Here's to new beginnings:

lyrics: 

All I want is to feel alright

Struggling from ride to ride

Up all night

You look like a get-a-way

A better place

All by that look on your face

Up all night

Meet me below the heart

Where it's warm and dark

We'll disappear

Haunted, haunted

It's no longer about the pain

It's a habit to replace

I'm an eagle

Up above

This is my first love

Up all night

(copyright 2017 moi)