Camille Paglia wrote the most amazing article, How Capitalism Can Save Art. Camille is a University Professor of Humanities and Media Studies at the University of the Arts in Philidelphia.

I think I’ve read it about 10 times now, and it’s just so powerful and well written. Check this paragraph out:

…”Capitalism has it’s weaknesses. But it is capitalism that ended the stranglehold of the hereditary aristocracies, raised the standard of living for most of the world and enabled the emancipation of women. The routine defamation of capitalism by armchair leftists in academe and the mainstream media has cut young artists and thinkers off from the authentic cultural energies of our time.”

I love my iPhone too. And I love this lovely Mac Book I write this blog on. I love this amazing machine that allows my voice, art and website to reach out to anyone, anywhere. But thankfully I was educated in an ART school, where making something every day mattered. Looking deeply and thinking long and hard about what you saw was our everyday fare. The history of art was our timeline and connection to the past that put our history in perspective.

God, I loved art school. It taught me to think and see in a hundred different directions. It’s a sad thing to see the arts diminishing in our troubled public education system. It will make for a weak society.  Even as we advance technologically we are in fact getting less and less civilized I fear.

(featured image – DRAWING 101, canvas collage by Catherine Massaro)

We have nothing to FEAR, and a great deal to learn from TREES.

Take a moment to appreciate the awesome wonder and beauty of it all.

(featured image – photograph by Catherine Massaro)

” Only in the last decade have I learned THAT LIFE, with all its perilous ups and downs, does turn out BETTER than we anticipate and that most of the things we worry about DON’T HAPPEN.”

When you’re in your 50’s, your measuring stick for happiness finds a different mark than the one you had in your 20’s, 30’s or 40’s.  Happiness seems to come from old friends and new starts. I have recently reconnected with some  dear old friends, maintained great relationships with one’s I’ve had for years, and even lost my oldest childhood friend – and not from an untimely death. But it was a fine friendship for over 40 years and what I have to take away from it is how we were each other’s best memory keeper. It was a traumatic break for me, but I found solace in a recent editorial by Jo Packham , in her marvelous publication, Where Women Create.

“It is written that if you can name one person who is a true and trusted friend, who has endured , and is victorious through the tests of time, then you are blessed indeed… Often friendships just cannot last forever; along life’s journey, a bend in the road can separate the two of you before you realize that one of you has been left behind”.

Anyway, my life is not lacking for friendships – thank God.  I will continue to build memories with those dear enough to share good times and bad with me,  accepting  both who I am, as well as who I may become. After all, if we do not change, we are not growing. And if we are not growing, we are not really living.

I am happy to be a memory keeper along for the journey, but will keep a wary eye out for  those bends in the road.

(featured image – photograph by Catherine Massaro)

TAURUS (April 20- May 20)

Take a deep breath and a sigh of relief. The sun and ruler Venus have left your solar 12th house of gestation and moved into the first house of rebirth. As planets align, put your best foot forward. As you initiate a fresh , personal solar year, remember you are also in the first phase of a 12-year recurring year Jupiter cycle of expansion and growth. Explore and discover .

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This is my horoscope for the month of May. I just celebrated my  59th year  of rambling around our planet. So far so good. And I’m excited about this horoscope as it highlights two subjects I am very fond of – exploring and discovering. The rebirth part is particularly exciting for me and it looks like I’ve got a running start on what appears to be a 12 year cycle of expansion and growth.

If I think about all the things I want to do in whatever time is left, it’s sad to realize I’ll never get to it all. I have wished for alot of things in my life, and learned from the old adage – be careful what you wish for, you might get it.

I laugh when I hear young people talking about their ‘bucket lists’. You can’t have a bucket list if you are young. Young people  should have ‘wish lists’. Bucket lists are for people at least half way through life. That means 50 plus, after you have had a chance to make mistakes, have some real life adventures, discover some truths through experience and seen how time passes. My sister sent me a collapsible canvas bucket that has it’s own carrying case for my birthday. I’ve decided to prop it up in the corner of my room and toss articles on exotic travel, pictures of ridiculous things that would be fun to have that I will never bother buying, and any other random fantasy idea that comes along.  Maybe I’ll get to it, maybe I won’t. An official bucket list container. The real deal. I think this is a great idea for a birthday gift . Again, only for the 50 and older set.

The rest of you … get a wish bone!