Once upon a time,

There was a king who appreciated art a lot.

He asked all the artists of his kingdom to participate in a competition and create a painting with the subject of “peaceful view.”

He announced that there would be a great prize for the winner of the best painting and promised that he would hang the frame in his palace, which was a huge honor and fame for artists.

Every artist started to paint their version of the most peaceful view.

At the day of the competition, there was hundreds of beautiful paintings all gathered in the big hall of the palace for the king to judge.

The king looked at each painting in depth. There were many paintings of the blue sky and great sea, quiet and peaceful.

Between all the peaceful paintings, the king announced the winner.

The winner was a painting with a…

Wednesday, January 17, 2018

The New Year’s celebration is finally wrapping up, here at Jazz Age Wednesdays.  Chris Graham, the Story Reading Ape! collaborated on a story with me that started here.  I couldn’t resist keeping the tale going for a few episodes.  However, today I present my conclusion.

Part-1 (here) began with Chris’ character, Artie — a genius time traveler chimpanzee determined to meet up with Pip again.  In Part-2 (here) we left Artie and Mona being pursued by the police.  Now, the conclusion.

Pip and Artie Meet Again

Part 3 — Conclusion

The Christmas tree still stood in the parlor corner.  Granny and I had made the decorations for it.  I frowned at the strings of popcorn, remembering how many times I stuck my finger with the needle when I made them.

Light reflected on the German-made glass ornaments of which my grandmother was so…

“Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.” (The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., August 1963, Washington, D.C.)

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. also said, “In the long-run of history destructive means cannot bring about constructive ends. So, since we are working toward a just society in this movement, we should use just methods to get there.” (1966 Ware Lecture)

One of these “just means” was Soul Force,“The power of a person’s love and humanity to awaken other people’s consciences” (1), based on the value…

Know, that I would accounted be
True brother of a company
That sang, to sweeten Ireland’s wrong,
Ballad and story, rann and song;
Nor be I any less of them,
Because the red-rose-bordered hem
Of her, whose history began
Before God made the angelic clan,
Trails all about the written page.
When Time began to rant and rage
The measure of her flying feet
Made Ireland’s heart begin to beat;
And Time bade all his candles flare
To light a measure here and there;
And may the thoughts of Ireland brood
Upon a measured quietude.

Nor may I less be counted one
With Davis, Mangan, Ferguson,
Because, to him who ponders well,
My rhymes more than their rhyming tell
Of things discovered in the deep,
Where only body’s laid asleep.
For the elemental creatures go
About my table to and fro,
That hurry from unmeasured mind
To rant and rage…