Saturday, July 31, 2010
Of Mouse and Things
On many a night Thorne gets read Goodnight Moon that classic children's book by Margaret Wise Brown. Her favorite activity while reading this story is to find the mouse. He moves about the room from the bookcase to the fireplace to the bowl full of mush. I'll ask Thorne "where's the mouse" and she'll hover her finger above various objects before stabbing the mouse with her index finger. So when we went to LACMA this week to peruse European art from the 1600's it was no surprise that this was her favorite painting - a still life by Abraham van Beyeren. Can you see why?
Thursday, July 08, 2010
Human Rights Abuse: Diego Arria
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
I can't begin to imagine the kind of courage it takes to stand up to a dictator like Hugo Chavez; to watch as Chavez steals your property and then attempts to smear you as the enemy; to persevere in bringing reckoning to Chavez despite the destruction of your personal property and way of life; to keep fighting for the benefit of all Venezuelans. Fortunately, Diego Arria agrees with Burke and has made it his life's work to fight evil. We can support him by spreading the word of his plight; to not forget about what has happened in Venezuela and is continuing to happen. Oppressive governments hope we'll forget once the story is out of the news cycle. Let's not be so obliging.
I can't begin to imagine the kind of courage it takes to stand up to a dictator like Hugo Chavez; to watch as Chavez steals your property and then attempts to smear you as the enemy; to persevere in bringing reckoning to Chavez despite the destruction of your personal property and way of life; to keep fighting for the benefit of all Venezuelans. Fortunately, Diego Arria agrees with Burke and has made it his life's work to fight evil. We can support him by spreading the word of his plight; to not forget about what has happened in Venezuela and is continuing to happen. Oppressive governments hope we'll forget once the story is out of the news cycle. Let's not be so obliging.