Church of Skippy

a report of doings at meeting #125, Sunday, January 14, 2018
including liturgical items, major themes, and other odds and ends

INVOCATION

Freedom begins the moment you realize someone else has been writing
your story and it’s time you took the pen from his hand and started
writing it yourself.
—–Bill Moyers

Oh, rebellious Woman,
to you the world looks
in Hope.
Upon you has fallen the glorious task of
Bringing liberty to the earth and all the inhabitants thereof.
—–19th c. Suffrage leader, Matilda Joslyn Gage

THEME

Sue again opened our conversation with fascinating research on word
origin, history, and meaning, for today’s topic, Power/Empowerment.
And she read many great quotes, two poems of hers, and a ‘power
brainstorm’. She introduced the idea of women’s empowerment so much in
the news and on our minds today, with the recent enormous wave of
sexual harassment/misconduct charges made by women. She also invited
us all to the Women’s March II being held next Saturday in Cobleskill
(and all over the US), passing flyers on it to post. See AFTERWORDS
for her notes and quotes.

Gail had been recalling how she’s learned to do tasks on the farm that
are hard and challenging that she would rather back off from, and how
persisting, doing them has been empowering. So she believes we can
move through adversity, and can learn, especially by trying new
things. (As a proponent of trying new ways, new ideas, new places, she
for years has inspired others, like us here at COS.)

Marge, also a great explorer of new things and places, again
demonstrated her sense of empowerment from continued visits to distant
locations, reporting on her and Don’s recent RoadScholar trip to
California’s Rose Parade (where they even helped make a float!). And
then she spoke of their experience first as students in the local
S.C.H.O.O.L. program, and later teaching in it., definitely a learning
experience both ways, and empowering.

Ann spoke of playing pickleball and over the years deepening her
understanding of the game, and fine-tuning the skills required for its
different aspects, which has felt empowering—–led to a stronger
sense of competence, confidence, and power.  And she also reported
something that surprised most of us: Since 1911 at least 27 countries
have been celebrating a holiday called the International Women’s Day;
the US not one of them.  See AW for her N and Q.

Nancy was very encouraged by the stunning wave of change happening now
on sexual harassment and power. And she’d just got a letter from
Donna, a friend of hers and COS, that so fit today’s topic that she
quoted a bit of it on the place of women in her native south. N was
also seeing the inspiring, empowering effects of other people on
herself—not just famous ones like MLK (Happy BD), but the many
other, unfamous—family and friends, like the present company, who’re
kind, spunky, brave, caring of the earth, and who’ve also given her
the gift of their listening, making her feel real!   See AW for her
notes.

Cynthia reported that Life and cold winter out in her front-porch
studio had forced her to take a vacation from her usual painting, and
push through that frustration to try new forms of making art. Like
finding natural things such as stones and adding features that
transform them. And she said learning to talk to herself, like ‘Yes, I
can’, and so to persist, had also been empowering. She spoke too of a
recent frustration trying to get an EDL driver’s license where she
managed to coolly find an alternative. And in addition, Cyn read some
of the reassuring report our friend Anna’s daughter Janay sent about
Anna’s condition.

We agreed to send our offering today to the FINCA program, which funds
women’s efforts in many countries to start businesses of their own.

NEXT TIME

Sunday, February 11, 2018 (1030) at Sue’s house on Quarry Street, Cobleskill.

The topic will be FAVORITES(books/movies/anything else).

BENEDICTION

Power concedes nothing without a demand.  It never did and it never will.
—–Frederick Douglass

…..Nevertheless, she persisted.
—–Senator Mitch McConnell, about Elizabeth Warren (amen and amen)

AFTERWORD

from Sue

POWER
Meaning “one who has power”-late 14c.; “specific ability or
capacity”-early 15c.; “a state or nation with regard to international
authority or influence” [OED] 1726; “a large number of” from 1660s;
“energy available for work” 1727; “electrical supply” 1896.
https://www.etymonline.com/word/power

Indo-European root for power = poti-as in omnipotent, Padishah,
podesta, possess, possible, potent, power, prepotent.  Powerful; lord.
1. podesta, possess, power from Latin potis (> *pots > pos-), powerful, able.
2. possible, potent; impotent, omnipotent, prepotent from Latin
compound posse, to be able (contracted from potis, able + esse, to be;
see es-)
bashaw, Padishah, pasha from Old Persian pati-, master. Both a and b
from Indo-Iranian *pati-, lord.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/_/roots.aspx?type=Indo-European&root=poti-

QUOTES
“You have power over your mind – not outside events. Realize this, and
you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius

“To live happily is an inward power of the soul.” ~Marcus Aurelius

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is
devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There
is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When
we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” ~Martin
Luther King, Jr.

“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s
character, give him power.” ~Abraham Lincoln

“There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness,
but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues.
They are the messengers of overwhelming grief, of deep contrition, and
of unspeakable love.” ~Washington Irving

“The power for creating a better future is contained in the present
moment: You create a good future by creating a good present.” Eckhart
Tolle

“…one of the most dangerous stances in the world is thinking you are
a powerless victim when you actually have great power.  Even if you
are also vulnerable, as well as powerful, forgetting your power and
remembering only your weakness endangers your self and everyone else.”
~Rabbi Arthur Waskow,  “Amalek Today: To Remember, To Blot Out,”
9/8/2001,  http://www.theshalomcenter.org/node/299

“Law is not as disinterested as our concepts of law pretend; law
serves power; law in large measure is a recapitulation of the status
quo; it confirms a rigid order designed to insulate the beneficiaries
of the status quo from the disturbances of change.  The painful
truth—one with a long history—is that police are around in large part
to guarantee a peaceful digestion for the rich.”  William Sloane
Coffin, Credo, Westminster John Knox Press, 2004 p.35

“The failure of academic feminists to recognize difference as a
crucial strength is a failure to reach beyond the first patriarchal
lesson. In our world, divide and conquer must become define and
empower.” ~Audre Lorde

“Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great
men are almost always bad men.” ~John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton,
first Baron Acton (1834–1902).

“Playing helps us to find our power, our humor, and our love.  We are
commanded to go out to play.” ~Rabbi  Shefa Gold, In the Fever of
Love: An Illumination of the Song of  Songs,  Ben Yehuda Pr. 2008. p.
95

“Speak softly and carry a big stick.” ~President Teddy Roosevelt
“Sisterhood is powerful.”  “Black Power.”

“Societies that empower women are less violent in every way.” Steven Pinker

Power Brainstorm–taking power, losing power, usurping power, power
within & power without, the powerful, the powerless, to be empowered,
to be disempowered, power outage, the invisible powers, woman power,
man power, black power, flower power,  power over, power up,
power-dead-even, signs of power, the power of words, the misuse of
power, exponential power, the powers that be

2 Poems:
POWER by Susan Fantl Spivack

Arbitrary
like the egg that does not break
cracking it against the side of the pan,
and when you smash it finally
with a sledge hammer
the chick that has grown inside
is an armored knight,
and you cannot see its face.
The visor, black-ribbed,
reveals only yellow light
through the eye slits,
and the hen, when questioned,
denies everything;
the cock doesn’t know the meaning
of paternity.
The entire flock, tortured
and interred proves ignorant.
We murder every bird
in the county
though we’re sure something from outside
is getting to the hen.
We candle her eggs
and destroy the malformed,
the unnaturally heavy.  We breed
and crossbreed her
with her sons, nephews, imported
exotic roosters
interrogated in advance
by experts in poultry management.
We hang the rejects by their ankles
and stare into their golden crosshatched eyes
looking for a final abject confession,
any pippin of information,
before we finish them off.
We have not eaten a decent breakfast
for months.  We have stopped bathing.
The odor of feathers and gizzards defies
the scrubbrush.
Each day a covered dish is placed
on the glass table on the veranda.
The egg in its cup, translucent, pure,
is warm.
We crack it against the porcelin.
Out tumbles another small iron man.
Even x-rays have not altered this.
Our women have begun to bear murderers.

THE POWER OF IMPOSSIBLE STORIES
by Susan Fantl Spivack
If you were threatened with marriage to an old man
and then he swallowed you, swallowed
you and nourished you inside his belly
which made him young, which made him handsome
so when he coughed you up
and you saw him, love suddenly took you
out of yourself,

would you feel betrayed when he became
old again at the birth of your son?
Or would you say, Easy come, easy go,
even trade, I’ve learned a few things.
I’m asking you, would love endure?

And could your son,
more beautiful than any dream
of his immortal father,
restore to your old husband his exceptional youth
simply by cutting his beard?

Which is what happened, the Birom people say,
to old man Davolem and young maiden Yop
and their son, after Yop
climbed a byorop tree
and could not climb down by herself,
so old man Davolem to save her
and have her, swallowed her.

I’m asking, do you believe
in the power of impossible stories?
1991 Cobleskill

from Ann

International Women’s Day, which has existed for more than 100 years,
was the product of an era marked by rapid change and upheaval in the
industrialized world. As the planet’s population grew and the demand
for labor increased, and as new ideologies took shape, women were
thrust into a brave new world and confronted with a host of
challenges.

The first day dedicated to women was established in 1911, and it was
observed for the first time in Austria, Denmark, Germany and
Switzerland on March 19, when more than 1 million people attended
rallies around the world to assert women’s right to work, vote, be
trained and hold public office. Two years later, the day was
officially changed to March 8, the date on which it’s been celebrated
globally ever since as International Women’s Day.

Today, International Women’s Day is recognized by the UN and is an
official holiday in 27 countries. On this day each year, men are asked
to honor their mothers, wives, girlfriends and colleagues — similar
to Mother’s Day, when boys and men celebrate and give gifts to their
mothers and grandmothers.

“Nobody can make you feel inferior without your permission.” —
Eleanor Roosevelt

“I believe that it is as much a right and duty for women to do
something with their lives as for men and we are not going to be
satisfied with such frivolous parts as you give us.” — Louisa May
Alcott

“The fastest way to change society is to mobilize the women of the
world.” — Charles Malik  – Charles Habib Malik was a Lebanese
academic, diplomat, and philosopher. He served as the Lebanese
representative to the United Nations, the President of the Commission
on Human Rights and the United Nations General Assembly, a member of
the Lebanese Cabinet, a national minister of Education and the Arts,
and …

“Men and boys, we show our manhood through the way we treat our women.
Our wives, our sisters, our mothers.” — Archbishop Desmond Tutu

“Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists
principally in dealing with men.” — Joseph Conrad

“Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of happy, fat
women.” — Nicole Hollander

“By and large, mothers and housewives are the only workers who do not
have regular time off. They are the great vacation-less class.” —
Anne Morrow Lindberg

“The reason women don’t play football is because 11 of them would
never wear the same outfit in public.” — Phyllis Diller

from Nancy

a few discoveries on the road of life, with much help from others:

that we can do hard things in spite of fear.
that we’ll all have adversities—part of the deal—but so is change.
that we can learn from it all, trying new ways.

And a suggestion:

Please, if you haven’t already, check TIME magazine’s December 18,
2017 issue, with the Person of the Year cover and article on The
Silence-Breakers, on sexual harassment and misconduct—the Voices
that launched a movement—so many, here representing thousands of
silence-breakers in 2017.

a report of doings at meeting #123, Sunday, November 15, 2017
including liturgical notes, major themes, and other odds and ends

INVOCATION

The arts are a celebration of life.
~~~Michael Douglas

THEME

Nancy, who’d missed last meeting, opened today’s on Art/the Arts. She first recalled her sense for many years of art/the arts as too long culturally limited to ‘real’ or professional artists, and she objects; saying we are all potentially able to do/make ‘art’ when we find a way to express something that feels like beauty, joy, gratitude, even truth. And that recalled some appreciations in home-made music,eg.,in the wild 60s/70s. Her notes and quotes continued in AFTERWORDS.

Marge followed with a show-n-tell of the many art museums she and Don have visited in the past 20+years, passing beautiful, color-photo postcards of some of their favorite art works, old masters and modern. Her collection numbers so many they’re organized in alphabetized bunches. Marge also raved about another, more local art, the music of the High School Band and the Community Band, both of which had concerts scheduled that we should not miss!

Louise thought first of her own life and practice for many years of the art of teaching, and then, the art of lobbying. Later it occurred to her that we need more than ever the art of conversation now when there’s so much quick reflexive anger, making real conversing hard; that we need more than emotion, must be able to listen. She also spoke
of Gilbert Welch’s book, Overdiagnosed, on too much info when what’s needed is less meds and more health.

Sue first gave her regular word origin/meaning report, and then read from one of the chapbooks of her poems written daily for many years; she likened it to journal-writing, saying rereading them brings reminders and new appreciations, a healthy thing. She also spoke of another healthy favorite thing, gardening, how it can be an art. And she described the set of chapbooks she’d published and gives to friends, offering to print up some more if we’d like; yes, we’d like! See her notes and quotes in AW. She also read Cynthia’s 2 cents. (see AW)

Ann brought us her usual fine 6-wordies and quotes, and spoke of several different kinds of art—not only the fine arts and the liberal arts and the differences between art and the arts, but things like the art of the deal. And she explored the idea of arts and crafts, how we tend to put ‘crafts’ on a lower level and not give it proper appreciation, when there is and has always been so much beautiful, lovingly made work done by ‘craftspeople’. Her N and Q in AW.

Gail, like Marge, was very enthusiastic and touched by the local high school productions, especially how they enlivened the kids doing them, and she recommended the next one. She spoke glowingly too of the junior-year visit she and Virginia had just made to Vermont’s Green Mountain College, a sustainable school where kids build cabins and
more and learn the arts of living and giving back instead of just taking from the world. (And she updated us that sis Winnie and Mom and Dad were back safe in their home states.)

Vijaya was another who brought a show-n-tell: several of her handmade art works including a beautiful large banner colored with her own beet and berry dyes, and a jeweled doll, and a clay dish, and a star-shaped decoration, and some cotton bags made from reused, bleached cotton, and more. And she described the dyeing process and how the doll’s dress was made of salvaged small cloth pieces from her sister’s factory in India.
———–
The report Cynthia sent us about the recent misfortune in the family of our friends Nancy Van Deusen and Sandy McKay prompted us to direct our offering today to the fund benefiting their daughter Sara’s small business that is now, with her husband’s health, her family’s only support.

BENEDICTION

If poetry and the arts can do anything, they can fortify your inner life…
~~~Seamus Heaney

NEXT TIME

Sunday, December 10, 2017 (1030), at Vijaya’s apartment above her store on Main Street, Cobleskill. The subject is Triggers/Turning Points/Epiphanies.

AFTERWORDS

from Nancy

The ideas I voiced above also recalled an appreciation I’ve always had for the wild hippie 60s-70s, in one respect especially—how it loosened the cultural barriers to who can ‘properly’ do the arts, in particular, music. Suddenly, more and more young people were making their own music, in garages and anywhere, often more for the joy of it than money. And that was a cultural revolution in itself.
Which made me remember, down in Appalachia, lots of people for years, generations, in small communities and in their own families had beendoing a native kind of Scots-Irish folk music for the pleasure of it,not for $.
And for many years as well, there’s been a tradition in African-American church communities for the sacred music that became ‘gospel’, which not only was life-saving for so many, but contributed much to the evolution of the blues and jazz music—jazz, credited by many as the most truly original American art.
And then too, I remembered other countries, with their much longer histories than here and long traditions for home-made music, and how I have been so attracted and moved by traditional music from France, the British Isles, Spain, Russia and other Slavic countries, and African countries, for instance.
And later that other very important aspect came back to me, of art as something one might be able to do with long, whole-hearted attention to a task—like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle-Maintenance, or anything. Say the Buddhists: we all, anyone, can, Be Here Now. And for me that also means, Stop forcing your will on Life, Nancy; learn to join it.
.
(and some quotes)

The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heavens sake.—–Kurt Vonnegut

Poetry is one of the ancient arts, and it began as did all the fine arts, within the original wilderness of the earth.—–Mary Oliver

Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words.—–Franz Liszt

Art is the expression of something one has seen which is bigger than oneself.—–Oliver LaFarge

Every child is an artist.—-Pablo Picasso

Louise
Outline re Art of Conversation

• *Knowledge, Facts, Informed Opinions: Have a reservoir of knowledge. Not just bullet point info like names of sports teams or the day’s weather. Do some deep thinking and research.
• *Objectivity: Subdue anger and ranting behavior
• *Creative thinking: Explore ways to illustrate with words and think on your feet (improvise).
• *Listen: Be patient.
• Practice: Move away from computer/Facebook overload

H Gilbert Welch—Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health 

Ann

Art, the arts… What is the difference, if any, between ‘art’, ‘the arts’. In answer to this question, there was some discussion about whether these two sentences are equivalent:
Art nurtures the soul. The arts nurture the soul. Are they equivalent?
‘The arts’ is a common but woolly term and ‘art’ is notoriously difficult to pin down. Oxforddictionaries.com gives the following definitions:
art [mass noun] the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power
(the arts) the various branches of creative activity, such as painting, music, literature, and dance.

Six Wordies

“Artful Dodger” was still a thief.
The “art of the deal” stinks.
There is no end to art.
Art is creation with no limits.
An artist opens windows for us.

Art: early 13c., “skill as a result of learning or practice,” from O.Fr. art (10c.), from L. artem (nom. ars) “work of art; practical skill; a business, craft,” from PIE *ar-ti- (cf. Skt. “manner, mode;” Gk. arti “just,” artios “complete, suitable,” artizein “to prepare;” L. artus
“joint;” Armenian arnam “make;” Ger. art “manner, mode”), from base *ar- “fit together, join” (see arm (1)). In M.E. usually with sense of “skill in scholarship and learning” (c.1300), especially in the seven sciences, or liberal arts. This sense remains in Bachelor of Arts, etc. Meaning “human workmanship” (as opposed to nature) is from late 14c. Sense of “cunning and trickery” first attested c.1600. Meaning “skill in creative arts” is first recorded 1610s; especially of painting, sculpture, etc., from 1660s. Broader sense of the wordremains in artless.
Fine arts, “those which appeal to the mind and the imagination” first recorded 1767. Expression art for art’s sake (1836) translates Fr. l’art pour l’art. First record of art critic is from 1865. Arts and crafts “decorative design and handcraft” first attested in the Arts
and Crafts Exhibition Society, founded in London, 1888.
Shows how the meanings evolved from a wider meaning into a more narrow one. In context of Bachelor of Arts, it is obvious that it refers to “skill in scholarship and learning”.
Today when we talk about artist and art the immediate association are
paintings, sculptures and other “works to be appreciated primarily for
their beauty or emotional power”.

However some connotations from older meanings still remain:

in the expression “art of making something” we don’t refer to l’art pour l’art, but we refer to craftsmanship (an older meaning) in slightly metaphorical sense, “art of…” can be taken to mean skill, as in art of persuasion, art of motorcycle maintenance
(wikipedia), art of war, rather than art that is normally exhibited in a gallery
in “college of arts and sciences”, arts refer to “studies intended to provide general knowledge and intellectual skills”
in artless, the 1st meaning lists: “lacking art, knowledge, or skill”,
extending the semantic to include knowledge and skills in what should
be a direct antonym

Quotations
“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” — Leonardo da Vinci
“If you want to really hurt you parents, and you don’t have the nerve to be gay, the least you can do is go into the arts. I’m not kidding. The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake. Sing in the
shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something.” ― Kurt Vonnegut Jr., A Man Without a Country
“Art ena”Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” Thomas Merton
“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ― Edgar Degas
“It would be possible to describe everything scientifically, but it would make no sense; it would be without meaning, as if you described a Beethoven symphony as a variation of wave pressure.” ― AlbertEinstein
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” ―Pablo Picasso
“Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water! And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now, uh… now you tell me what you know.” ― Groucho Marx
“An artist’s only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else’s.” ― J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey
>From an NPR interview with Arden Reid (?) about his new book about “Slow Art” (?) – an artist (didn’t catch his name) was asked what he considered good art versus bad art; he said bad art, you see it and you say “WOW” and then think hmmmm, whereas good art is just the opposite. Also in this interview there was a quote from Diderot (18th
century French philosopher, playwright, novelist, art critic) who said“…good art calls to you, stops you in your tracks and keeps youthere.”
“Life doesn’t imitate art, it imitates bad television.” ~Woody Allen
“A great artist leaves us with the feeling that something is right inthe world.” ~Leonard Bernstein

Also, from wikipedia on the arts
In the Middle Ages, Artes Liberales (liberal arts) taught in medieval universities as part of the Trivium: (grammar, rhetoric, and logic) and the Quadrivium (arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy), and the Artes Mechanicae (mechanical arts) such as metalworking, farming, cooking, business and the making of clothes or cloth. The modern distinctions between “artistic” and non-artistic skills did not
develop until the Renaissance.
As for capitalized the Art – you will find it referring to almostanything; for more colorful examples see magic, alchemy and so on.
Actually any kind of human activity can be called “art of..”, andespecially in the writings it is often the most appropriate word to describe studies of such interests. In those cases practitioners usually refer to their subject simply, and sometimes deliberately
cryptic, as the Art art (n.) early 13c., “skill as a result of learning or practice,” from
Old French art (10c.), from Latin artem (nominative … ars) “work of art; practical skill; a business, craft,” from PIE *ar(ə)-ti- (source also of Sanskrit rtih “manner, mode;” Greek … artless). Meaning “skillin creative arts”
In Middle English usually with a sense of “skill in scholarship andlearning” (c. 1300), especially in the seven sciences, or liberalarts. This sense remains in Bachelor of Arts, etc.

Cynthia:

I had planned to send along some wonderful quotations about ART but-my little notebook has gone missing- hopefully I will find it one of these days! So my “two-cents worth” for discussion- I believe we are all artists…LIVING is an ART and every one of us has a gift to use- {even the ‘con-artists’ recognize & develop their skills! }
My love of drawing and painting has been a wonderful outlet for that energy which once went into my careers before I retired. I amcurrently working on two rather complicated projects- and this hastaught me not to HURRY!
I also believe if everyone could get in touch with their inner artist,the world would be a much more peaceful place. I think one of the quotes in my missing notebook said something like “make ART, not WAR”
I am also forwarding the email from Sandy and Nancy- (I think most Skippies know this family) Ron and I have sent a donation but I willbe glad to add to our collection if you all decide to do so…. I willbe home Sunday evening and I will take care of sending the check if that helps. Love to all and have a terrific meeting- I’ll miss you all! Look forward to reading the “SNEWS-letter”!! 💗Cynthia

Sue
Art—Indo-European root*ar- also arə-, Proto-Indo-European root “to fit together.”
It forms all or part of: adorn; alarm; aristarchy; aristo-; aristocracy; arm (n.1) “upper limb of the body;” arm (n.2) “weapon;” armada; armadillo; armament; armature; armilla; armistice; armoire; armor; armory; army; art (n.) “skill as a result of learning or practice;” arthralgia; arthritis; arthro-; arthropod; arthroscopy; article; articulate; artifact; artifice; artisan; artist; coordination; disarm; gendarme; harmony; inert; inertia; inordinate; ordain; order; ordinal; ordinance; ordinary; ordinate; ordnance;
ornament; ornate; primordial; subordinate; suborn. It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit irmah “arm,” rtih “manner, mode;” Armenian arnam “make,” armukn “elbow;” Greek arti “just,” artios “complete, suitable,” artizein “to prepare,” arthron “a joint;” Latin ars (stem art-) “art, skill, craft,” armus “shoulder,” artus “joint,” arma “weapons;” Old Prussian irmo “arm;” German art “manner, mode.”

Quotes
To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts. ~HenryDavid Thoreau
“To create one’s world in any of the arts takes courage.” Georgia O’Keefe
“I have come to believe that a great teacher is a great artist andthat there are as few as there are any other great artists. Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.” ~John Steinbeck
“The arts are not a way to make a living. They are a very human way of making life more bearable. Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven’s sake.” ~Kurt Vonnegut
Insurrection is an art, and like all arts has its own laws.” ~Leon Trotsky
“When people ask me about what I learned from martial arts, I don’t talk about favorite punches or kicks, or about fights won or lost. I talk about learning self-discipline, about ethics and manners and benevolence and fairness.” ~Jonathan Maberry
“The main thing is to be moved, to love, to hope, to tremble, to live.” ~ Auguste Rodin
“Cooking is an art, but all art requires knowing something about the techniques and materials” – Nathan Myhrvold.
“All gardening is landscape painting.” ~ Alexander Pope
“Nothing is more the child of art than a garden.” ~Sir Walter Scott
“Design is where science and art break even.” ~Robin Mathew

my poem from Knots & Mysteries
10. the mystery of art

the shape of this vessel
thick plastic child’s
cup
the handle designed
by marketing experts
for opposable thumb just learning
how.

weighted base, colors primary
red garish green
scratched and faded
clown decal
unassuming in its
usefulness. battered
beloved unbreakable.

if it lasts a thousand years
if it’s discovered in some midden heap
beneath a cooking pot
beside a child’s bones
will it be art?