GJ Willis' Art Notes

MORNING COMMUTE:

I know that it’s been a while since I’ve written about my morning commute. The truth is that everything has been running smoothly until today. The morning shuttle bus to the light rail station was crowded. It was so crowded that people had to stand up. This was extremely unusual because I get on the very first stop that the bus pick ups. I hope that this is not the start of an unfortunate trend.

CONCERN OF THE DAY: Bush Takes the Blame

Today, on the morning news I learned that Bush finally decided to take the blame for the horrendously bad Hurricane Katrina rescue effort. At first I thought, “Hey, that’s great! He’s finally growing up!” Then I thought a little more on the subject. Bush is the President of the United States of America and it took two weeks for him to realize that he should take responsibility for the FEMA debacle. What kind of a alleged leader does that?

Based on his past judgement decisions I shudder at the possibilty of John Roberts becoming Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Bush after all appointed the inept Michael Brown, as head of FEMA. Brown as we have learned falsified his resume and his only previous experience was 11 years as commissioner of judges and stewards for the International Arabian Horse Association.

Bush’s refusal to release all of Robert’s legal documents has me worried. I am afraid of what’s hiding in John Roberts closet. If appointed I fear he would be as inept as old Brownie or a shameless corporate opportunistic stockholder like Dick Halliburton Cheney.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a short sleeve white blouse along with a brown skirt that has a multi-coloured circle and square design on it. The sandals I am wearing are beige and tan slides.

You know I can’t help but notice that over the past few days my blog has taken on a slightly political bent. The main reason for this is that I am fed up with Bush’s handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster which only reminds me of the wonderful job he’s done with the war on Iraq.

I feel sad to admit this but I come from a very political family. I have a former Maryland Congressmen, a former Baltimore City Council President, two former Baltimore City Councilmen , as well as the former head of the NAACP in my family. So I suppose being political unbeknownst to me has been second nature. Or perhaps having an opinion be it on politics or whether or not Paul McGann should appear in the next season of Dr. Who, is just part of being human. I have heard a saying many times that opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.

So below is my opinion on the progress of a local Baltimore afternoon radio show....

Former Baltimore Police Chief and convicted felon, Ed Norris

THE ED NORRIS SHOW.....11-3 PM on WHFS 105.7

Today’s show was fantastic. Ed Norris hit the ground running. He was angry about something and boy did it make for great radio.

In my opinion this show has improved by leaps and bounds. I believe the key ingredient to the show’s improvement was allowing designated bad boy, Chad Dukes, to be on from beginning to end. In my opinion the show goes from black and white to colour whenever he’s on.

I also like the interesting team up of the former police chief with the overly opinionated 20something. It gives you an interesting dynamic of the voice of experience versus the brashness of youth.

I hope that they will continue to have good shows like they did today. Then again since the station is owned by Infinity Broadcasting they just might get replaced next week. Oh, well..... My only question is, “What became of Chad Dukes former on air partner of two weeks ago, Oscar, aka The Big O?”

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a dark paisley skirt along with a short sleeve denim coloured henley and tan flip flops.

A banner that says it all, Peace Is Patriotic!

Yesterday, on the anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy there was a Peace Path in Baltimore that extended along Charles Street from the Harbor to the Beltway. The event ran from 12 to 3 pm and was sponsored by Women In Black, an international network for peace.

Since the activists were there and I had a camera I took there picture. No fisticuffs were exchanged.

Below are six more pictures that were taken along the Peace Path. I wanted to join them but didn’t have a sign...

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a short sleeve brown henley along with a plaid denim skirt. The shoes I have on are multi-coloured brown and tan slides.

SIX MORE 09/11/05 BALTIMORE PEACE PATH PHOTOS

A group of protesters with a very colourful flag.

A large group of peace protesters standing on Charles Street.

A trio of silent protesters standing vigil on Charles Street.

A man chats with two peace activists standing at the foot of Washington Monument on Charles Street.

Two peace activists and a very colourfully dressed dog standing on Charles Street.

A group of exuberant peace activists standing on Charles Street.

PATRIOTS DAY

Today is Patriots Day also known as the 4th year anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. I spent the day as per usual at church and then over at the movie theatre..

AT CHURCH TODAY

Today, at church we had something called called a Homecoming and Water Communion. As I’ve written virtually every Sunday I’m new to Unitarianism. Heck, I’m new to church period.

I think one of the main reasons I find myself attending this church on a regular basis is because Unitarian Churches for the most part are liberal. They are pro-choice and are for gay and lesbian rights including marriage. None of that love the sinner but hate the sin crap. It’s nice knowing that not all churches are conservative and close minded in there thinking.

The church for the most part is non-denominational. So I know that on Sundays I’m gathered with people of different faiths; Wiccans, Liberal Christians, Jews, Buddhists, etc. , the type of people who might cause Pat Robertson to writher in convulsions. I also like the fact that Sunday sermons are not bible based. There sermons have the feel of a liberal political pep rally. I also like the fact that from time to time sermons might end with Blessed Be, or So Mote it Be. I’ve even heard services end with a double hitter of Blessed Be and Amen. Ok on to Homecoming and Water Communion.....

I got there late because today was the annual time switchover for church services. In the summer they start at 10 am during the rest of the year they start at 11-am. So today was also the start of trying to figure out how public transportation really runs on Sundays. To give you an idea in the summer the #11 bus according to the bus schedule arrives at 10-am but in actuality it arrives at 9:45. Today since I didn’t see a bus at the later start time I tried the subway which got me 10 minutes late.

When I got there I was surprised to see the place was packed. There were people there that I had never seen before. I suppose Homecoming and Water Communion services must be very popular amongst Unitarians.

I didn’t get a sense of anything different going on for Homecoming except that there were children there who would ordinarily be in the church’s Sunday school. Then again I might have missed something by coming in late.

Water Communion consisted of parishioners bringing in water from a place that had special meaning for them over the summer. If they forgot to bring water, water was provided by the church. I didn’t participate in this because it was so crowded and I was afraid that as I was about to pour water into the big crystal bowl I might fall trip and knock over the bowl. Oh, well maybe next year...

Also a little later in the service Rev. Hubbell read a deep and meaningful letter written by William G. Sinkford, the head of the Unitarian church, about his feelings of the blatant racism and classism he saw occurring with the Hurricane Katrina coverage. I found myself nodding in agreement with every word she read of Sinkford’s letter.

AFTER CHURCH

The Sunday movie today was Red Eye. To be absolutely honest I was ambivalent about seeing this movie. I thought it would be a good diversion since it got an 81% approval ratting on Rotten Tomatoes. I also felt that since it’s directed by Wes Craven, who’s known for great horror flicks like Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, The Serpent and the Rainbow, etc., it would be a sure thing. Boy was I wrong!

Overall, l I found the movie to be both claustrophobic and boring. Claustrophobic because for the most part the movie takes place in a plane and boring because I didn’t really care about the man who had an assisination plot against him. I didn;t care if he lived or died because you don’t see him until the last half of the film. The movie never really conveyed why it was so important that he lived. Also it never explained why their was a plot against him. Who knows maybe he was a bad guy who needed to be taken out? If I had had more facts I would have cared more.

The only good part in this movie is towards the end when it veers into classic Wes Craven thrills and chills territory.

One strong feeling I got while watching this movie is that Cillian Murphy is the successor to Ray Liotta as the quintessential creepy guy. Gee, I’d really love to see those two in a movie as father and son, psychopaths.

WHAT I’M WEARING:
Today, I have on a nautical themed outfit. I have on a t-shirt that has stripes of navy blue and white on the top and a sold block of navy blue on the bottom. In the center of the shirt is a gold anchor. The pants
I have on are navy blue cotton shorts. I’m also wearing tan leather flip flops.