December 31, 2016
I have so many things in mind on this last day of 2016. My gratitude for the support and encouragement of a growing number of blog readers. My joy when I get comments that have me feel heard. Or put me in my place. Or help me to learn more. The blog was a band-aid during those many months when I could not photograph or create montages due to my eye problems; it has now become a central part of my daily attempts to work my brain. Although I do know it is time to get back to making art, I look forward to blogging in 2017.
The year will start with revelations about where we are headed as a country, as of January 20th. It will also start with me heading to Europe for a short stint, so your daily picture(s) might be not quite as regular as usual.
I want to close 2016 with a Brecht poem that is perhaps overused (if it was a musical piece I’d call it a war horse.) But it is optimistic and dialectical, and those are two mind-sets I intend to focus on in 2017.
Happy New Year to you all.
EVERYTHING CHANGES
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
But what has happened has happened. And the water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again.
What has happened has happened. The water
You once poured into the wine cannot be
Drained off again, but
Everything changes. You can make
A fresh start with your final breath.
Berthold Brecht (translated, I believe, by John Willet.)
(Images from the Rodin sculpture garden at Stanford)
Martha Ullman West
Happy New Year, Friderike, and yes, you are both seen and heard by those of us who are lucky enough to read your daily blog. Sometimes, I confess, I want to tell you to cheer the hell up, but that’s because you resonate only too well with some of your posts. Good travels to you and a good year. I’ll paraphrase Voltaire and suggest we all focus on tending our own gardens in the coming year, while doing whatever we can to save the planet and our adolescent democracy.
Lee
Would you consider that poem an example of “conditional optimism”?
Best Wishes for the Holidays and the New Year … and have a great trip.
Ken
Best wishes, good health and happy new year Friderike!
joseph mclelland
All the Best, with thanks for the images and words. You keep a fine journal (with music, too!)