Gilded Age 2.0 Pushback

 

Folks, we're living in a Second Gilded Age.

It can be easy to feel discouraged, but the First Gilded Age teaches us lessons on how we can fight back. Watch. pic.twitter.com/86wYJar0YK

— Robert Reich (@RBReich) November 11, 2024

Democracies have several pathways to promote financial equality and fair labor practices. Here are three of the most impactful ways:

1. Progressive Taxation and Redistribution Programs: By implementing a progressive tax system, democracies can ensure that higher-income earners contribute more, which helps fund social safety nets and public services like education, healthcare, and housing assistance. Such programs reduce income inequality by redistributing wealth and providing resources to low- and middle-income populations, helping to level the economic playing field.
   
   
2. Strong Labor Laws and Wage Standards: Enacting and enforcing fair labor laws is essential for protecting workers' rights. Minimum wage laws, fair scheduling practices, and protections against workplace discrimination ensure that employees earn a living wage and have secure working conditions. Collective bargaining rights and support for labor unions also empower workers to negotiate better wages and benefits, creating a more balanced power dynamic between employees and employers.
   
   
3. Accessible Education and Workforce Development: Investment in affordable, quality education and skills training ensures that citizens have equal opportunities to acquire the skills needed for well-paying jobs. Subsidized higher education, vocational training programs, and grants for retraining workers in rapidly changing industries help reduce economic disparities by expanding job opportunities, enabling social mobility, and fostering a more adaptable workforce.

Each of these strategies, when effectively implemented, can help promote financial equality and protect workers in a democratic society. 

Vivid Field Trip Dream

 

 

I just wanted to record a bit about my dream from last night—it was one of my most active and detailed dreams. The whole thing was centered around taking students on a trip to the city, which felt incredibly real. There were so many people and places, and I was constantly on the move, visiting different spots in a lively, almost chaotic sequence.

Interestingly, we actually took students to visit a university on Friday, so I think this dream might have been a way of reprocessing that experience. The details were similar, but with a few unexpected twists.

In the dream, like on a real field trip, we had a bus and a driver. At one point, as I was getting off the bus, the driver mentioned that I should put on some deodorant, which made me feel self-conscious. Before our next stop, I decided to “freshen up” by checking into a hotel just to wash up.

I entered a really fancy hotel and went up to the front desk to get a room. But then I realized my credit cards weren’t working, and when I looked for my checkbook, all the checks were used up. I asked if I could leave an IOU, and the receptionist agreed, giving me a Post-it note to write on.

They handed me two “keys” to my room, but these keys didn’t look like normal ones—they were little plastic blobs. When I asked which key was for which door, the receptionist said the room had a front and a back door, almost like a small apartment. I found that pretty funny and surprisingly convenient i n the dream.

Next, I had to find my way to the third floor. I finally found an elevator, and when I stepped inside, it was surprisingly luxurious, with a minibar, a TV, and tons of controls. I remember thinking this would be an expensive stay, and I was a little anxious about the final bill. When I woke up, there was a sense of relief that it wasn’t real.

Earlier in the dream, there was also an appointment I’d scheduled in the city to check for head lice, of all things! I got nervous about missing it, rushing to make it on time—a bit of anxiety mixed into this adventure.

Looking back, it was quite an epic dream. It somehow blended stress, humor, luxury, and a sense of relief by the end. Dreams are funny that way, pulling together everyday thoughts and anxieties into surreal adventures.

Note: Illustrations were made in collaboration with FOTOR A.I. App

“Never Give Up”, Says Kamala

 Vice President Kamala Harris’ concession speech was a gift. I was greatly encouraged by her bravery, compassion and message of strength in the face of defeat. I hope it inspires you to keep standing for freedom, dignity and democracy.

Here are seven inspiring quotes from Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech:

1. "The light of America's promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting."

2. "We owe loyalty not to a president or a party, but to the Constitution of the United States, and loyalty to our conscience and to our God."

3. "I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign—the fight: the fight for freedom, for opportunity, for fairness, and the dignity of all people."

4. "We will continue to wage this fight... in how we live our lives by treating one another with kindness and respect, by looking in the face of a stranger and seeing a neighbor."

5. "Sometimes the fight takes a while. That doesn't mean we won't win... The important thing is don't ever give up."

6. "You have the capacity to do extraordinary good in the world... This is a time to roll up our sleeves. This is a time to organize, to mobilize, and to stay engaged for the sake of freedom and justice."

7. "Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars... let us fill the sky with the light of a brilliant, brilliant billion of stars."

Each of these statements reflects resilience, hope, and a commitment to core democratic values.

Click here to see See Clip of their The Saturday/Sunday Show discussion

Live Art Class Memories

The Academicians Of The Royal Academy In London, Painting By Johann Zoffany

During my first year at university, I took general studies, which included introductory classes in both drawing and sculpting. Originally, my plan was to take a year or so of general classes before enrolling in a specialized program in what was then called “Commercial Art.” However, during an orientation for the program, I realized the demanding schedule would allow little time for electives and interfere with my part-time job as an illustrator for a non-profit outreach newspaper—a job that paid little but that I loved.

So I declared an Art Major with a specialization in Sculpting. Having worked with clay in high school, I felt it would be worthwhile to continue exploring the medium. At that time, university art training typically included Life Drawing and Life Sculpting, with live nude models as references in class. Since my focus was sculpting, I looked forward to an assignment involving the creation of a figure in wax that would be cast in bronze.

I had a penchant for thinking beyond the syllabus, and I already envisioned a specific figure for the assignment. I wanted to cast a bronze figure of the biblical David as a young shepherd—not fully nude, but clothed in a sheepskin tunic and sandals, holding a shepherd's staff. I also intended to make it a self-portrait.

In class, I began working on my project. However, there was one snag: our live model was a woman. As my sculpture progressed, my professor noticed I wasn’t using the classroom model as a reference. Once I explained my goals, he arranged for me to attend a class with a male model, which was fine by me—I was simply eager to create the art I’d envisioned.

I didn’t feel necessarily uncomfortable with nudity in a life drawing classroom setting or as a subject in art. Before college, I had studied artistic anatomy books, which presented skeletal and muscular structures, often with nude models in drawings, photos, and classic paintings (and in the 70s, American culture had yet to develop a more conservative sense of propriety).

In my alternate class, working with a male model was actually useful; his form was similar to what I was trying to sculpt. He was around my age, with dark, curly hair, and a slender but unremarkably athletic build. Like the female model, he wore a robe before posing and during breaks, which was customary for live models.

Sometime later, I saw him in the locker room at the University Rec Center. I introduced myself as one of the students in the sculpting class where he modeled. He was friendly and open—I’ll call him Monty. He mentioned he had modeled for other classes and confided that at first, it was awkward for him. Fortunately, the classroom instructor assured Monty he could take a break at any time he felt necessary. He said he sometimes, when feeling uncomfortable, would step down, put on his robe, and inform the instructor he needed a short breather. He might even visit the washroom, splash cold water on himself, and returned to pose when he felt ready.

I told Monty he was a braver man than I, and after some small talk, we went our separate ways. I occasionally saw him around campus, though we didn’t develop our acquaintance further. Looking back, I appreciate his friendliness and candor.

I didn’t take another live model class until the '90s when the art school where I work offered a teachers-only clay class, which included a live model. This time, the model was a young woman in her late twenties or early thirties who had posed for nearby college art classes.

Our class was small, with about five students, and it was invaluable to review techniques for creating the human form in clay. I completed two terra-cotta sculptures: a nearly life-size head and a small, seated figure about twelve inches tall, with one hand on the ground and the other draped along the thigh. Because I have little room for displaying 3D art work in my home, I gave the head sculpture to a fellow teacher which she placed in her garden. The seated figure became a popular white elephant gift at our staff Christmas party, circulating in subsequent years (I don't know who finally ended up with it).

No matter what level of sensitivity is one's priority, using life models as references is essential for training artists; depicting the human form is foundational to developing keen observational skills, as well as fostering an ability to understand and express empathy toward others. In our more socially sensitive era, models’ dignity and propriety are respected, and appropriate coverings are often used.

When the important context surrounding the use and depiction of nude human forms is openly addressed, I believe that respect, maturity, and a sense of decorum can guide art students well in their studies.

My finished bronze sculpture of David the Shepherd

See more photos of my 1st-year University sculpture of David

Bonus: Video Discusses the Value of Live Model Drawing

Sonnet 29 to a “Fair Youth”

 A beautiful sonnet performed beautifully by the inimitable Judi Dench

I remember during the pandemic Judi Dench read some Shakespeare and people were in tears watching because we are so starved for poetry, for romance, for beauty. “This is what we stay alive for.” pic.twitter.com/3bq4oad8eT

— Owl! at the Library 😴🧙‍♀️ (@SketchesbyBoze) October 1, 2024

Read the lines along with her below:

Sonnet 29

William Shakespeare

When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes 

I all alone beweep my outcast state, 

And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries, 

And look upon myself, and curse my fate, 

Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, 

Featured like him, like him with friends possessed, 

Desiring this man's art, and that man's scope, 

With what I most enjoy contented least; 

Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, 

Haply I think on thee, and then my state, 

Like to the lark at break of day arising 

From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate; 

For thy sweet love remembered such wealth brings 

That then I scorn to change my state with kings. 

There has been much speculation over the identity of the “Fair Youth” alluded to in the poem.

Sir Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton

Although Shakespeare's contemporary Sir Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton (augmented portrait above) has been postulated and then discounted as the sonnet's subject, I used AI to make some fanciful conjecturing on what he might look like today as an actor.

AI modern renderings of Sir Henry W.

Absalom: The Undead - Part 1

 

Illustration © by O. Douglas Jennings

History states that after Absalom's death, his body was treated with a lack of honor. Absalom, the third son of King David, was killed by Joab, David's military commander, during a battle in the forest of Ephraim. Joab found Absalom caught by his hair in an oak tree and killed him. Following his death, Absalom's body was thrown into a large pit in the forest and covered with a heap of stones, a burial typically reserved for criminals and those who died in disgrace. But that is not the whole story.

DATELINE 979 BCE...

The moonlight filtered through the gnarled trees in the Forest of Ephraim the night the disgraced prince was reborn –if that is what it could dare be called. A hunched and shadowy figure clamored over the rubble of heavy stones under which the royal assassinated body had been discarded. 

With uncommon, supernatural speed and strength, the form shifted the burial boulders aside in the cool desolate hours when no one could hear the scrape of rock against rock as the bloody and broken body with its tragic yet still handsome form could be discerned with glowing crimson eyes.

Like a spider approaching its prey, the dark, cloaked interloper drew closer to the now-exposed neck of the corpse and extended a talon-sharp fingernail that made a thin yet deep scratch along the jugular vein from which came a small trickle of dark blood . If a witness had been present they just might have heard the faint, raspy murmur, “The life blood has not fully congealed, praise be to the Dark Lord!” 

“You’ve done well, Tubal,” hissed a dulcet yet sinister voice behind the miscreant.

Whipping around, the startled scavenger beheld a tall, slender but imperious woman in a hooded yet resplendent black robe adorned with gleaming silver clasps that matched the tresses that could barely be seen underneath the additional scarves framing her chiseled, icily composed face. 

Now bowing low in the still night air along the rubble, Tubal hoarsely exclaimed, “You honor me, my mistress. The sleeping prince awaits you!”

As if transported without the slightest gesture the woman was instantaneously poised with her face near the neck of the broken corpse. Tubal, in anticipation even as he had spoken, moved synchronistically with similar speed out of the way of his darting mistress.  

Obscured, now, by the crouching body and flowing cloak of the eerie lady, the corpse of the slain royal became a hidden object from which emanated sickeningly gurgled sounds of an unholy and disturbingly unclean communion taking place. 

Tubal averted his gaze and looked toward the densely darkened treeline near the cast aside boulders. Nor did he turn back around when the sound of a hacking cough, then a croaking breath and finally a sudden and chilling, ominous silence took hold. He knew the process had been completed. His eyes gleamed and a twisted smile curled his cracked lips in knowing his mistress would now have a fitting consort. 

To be continued.

© by O. Douglas Jennings. All rights reserved.

A Remarkable ”Broken Nose Reset”

Prior to car wreck

 

After car wreck

Very good to get the Readers Clarification Crew's input about how there was no reconstructive surgery on MH. Yet one can see how the story got started. Compare movie stills pre-car crash with one from the interview: https://t.co/30tw3WIF2y pic.twitter.com/iceNiaZ1l5

— 𝐎. 𝐃𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐥𝐚𝐬 𝐉𝐞𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 🇺🇦 🇺🇸 🌈 (@odouglasj) August 26, 2024