I'm left of center politically and I sometimes feature the art and ideas of people who are way more to the left than I; perhaps even considered radical or subversive in this society. This doesn't necessarily mean I agree with or endorse their ideas 100%, just that I value those whom I consider to be free thinking. I'm a strong supporter of marriage equality. I'm against the wars and the amount of money they're costing our society. I speak out against war and injustice as often as I have the opportunity. I no longer, however, make myself hoarse doing so. ;-)
I like to contradict the assumption that all people who love art and culture are elitist snobs. I'm the child of immigrant factory workers. I was raised on a lot of love, an inferior education and all the books I could carry home from the public library.
My father was an atheist and my mother a non-practicing Catholic. The result is perplexing - thus the moniker The Pagan Sphinx, which was borrowed from the source below.
"When the Amherst sphinx styled herself a pagan, she meant she didn’t believe in the biblical God. What sort of deity, if any, she did believe in is hard to pinpoint."
-- Gary Sloan, "Emily Dickinson: Pagan Sphinx,"
"Faith is doubt."
-Emily Dickinson
I have a fascination with icons in literature, art and history: Emily Dickinson, Mona Lisa and The Sphinx, are among them. Emily connects to my sixth sense - my heart. Mona Lisa to my eyes and The Sphinx to my head. My inner life is one of words, ideas and images - mostly from the past. Psychically, The Icons have been very fulfilling in helping me to understand and appreciate my inner life, and to stop trying to live an outer life that I am not in step with.
My family is my love-affair. My two beautiful and mercurial daughters. One amazing daughter-in-law. My lovely, loving, old-world mother. My six-year relationship with my partner; the father of two daughters of his own who are an integral part of my life. One dearest friend whom I love like a sister - living in the Southern U.S. Aunts, uncles, cousins and friends worldwide. A small group of blog friends whom I would welcome to my home like family, if ever there was an opportunity. When I consider how grounding (it's an overused term but it works here) my family and friends are for me, I no longer worry about my frequent flights of fancy into the world of The Icons.
I love to take photos and carry my cameras wherever I go.
SALUTE!
