June 11, 2015
(This is part of a 365 project during my 70th years where I write and illustrate a blog on each day’s gift.)
How we connect and what evolves from these connections are important. I went to Ignite Baltimore tonight at MICA’s
(Maryland Institute College of Art) Brown Center. At these events, usually sixteen speakers each get 5 minutes to show 20 slides and give a
presentation about ideas. Here are some things I learned tonight:
* Within the distance of about five miles between
the neighborhoods of Roland Park and Sandtown, Freddie Gray’s neighborhood,
there is a difference of 20 years in life expectancy.
* Baltimore is hyper segregated, among the top eight
most segregated cities in the country. Dr. Lawrence Brown called it a type of apartheid
that “restricts opportunity.” He says that we have to “dismantle segregation”.
* Protester DeRay McKesson, talked about the
importance of how we tell the story. Was it Baltimore’s riot or was it
an uprising? He chooses to use uprising. McKesson pointed out
that this year so far, there have been only nine days when police did not kill someone
in the United States.
* Myra Margolin made a good point when she said, “We
are criminalizing rather than developing people.” Baltimore city
has put more money into policing but cut funds for education, parks and
recreation, health and job development.
* Dr. Polly Bart who has traveled around the world
related a conversation she had with a Buddhist monk. She observed that she
feels God in nature but not when she’s with people. The monk answered, “See
people as trees.”
Tonight I looked at shadows on a wall as we were
talking with some friends we ran into at MICA. The shadows reminded me
of the potential of connections, the ambiguity of shadows, the importance of
connecting the dots, and our choice in how we interpret and tell the narrative.
My
gift today is shadow ideas on a wall.
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