world cultures

Here is my Christmas card to you- a paper collage.  For some time now, I’ve been thinking about the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh that, in Matthew’s story, the scholars from the East brought to Jesus after they realized that a new king had been born near

For a number of reasons I have not been posting recently, but I hope I’m back now.  It is amazing how writing and making art, and then seeing comments on the effort come in from next door and across my country and all around the world feels like intimate community, rather

The other day my friend told me about an incident witnessed by two people, one of whom saw meaning in the event, and the other of whom apparently found only an odd occurrence.   A groomsman had fainted at his brother’s wedding.  The question: was this caused by a virus and

When I was in the car yesterday, I was listening to the evening news on National Public Radio, when “All Things Considered” came on with Ofeibea Quist-Arcton’s report on the September 28 massacre of pro-democracy protesters in Conacry, Guinea.  I had heard the

Until the federal government suddenly became interested in the wars between the drug cartels in the area, this seemed a completely ignored quarter of Mexico.  I made this painting after a church trip to Reynosa in the state of Tamaulipas.  Every year we go across the Texas border

Why was and is art integral to the daily lives of people who hunt animals for their very existence ?  Why cave painting, why carved bones?  Why decorated pots?  Why temple architecture and decor?  Why artistic quilting just to stay warm?  Why lace?  Why dyes and printing?  Why

For those who have seen the picture of my last mosaic piece, “Seafood”, and have wondered what in the world was going through my mind when I made it, here is the best explanation I can offer.  One day, when I was already working on two other mosaics, I had taken a

Yesterday marked the 60-year celebration of the Communist revolution in China.  I briefly watched a video of a military parade on the avenue in front of what had once been the imperial palace, “The Forbidden City”, in the middle of Beijing.  The president of China was

Emergency! Alone, Together Starting when it was just a newly-hatched community free-food-pantry, I have been volunteering for an organization of university-area churches called Micah 6, named after the passage from the book of Micah regarding what it is God requires of us.  The

Almost every day I walk through my neighborhood to a bridge over Barton Creek from which I can look down and scrutinize the animals and plants below.  I count the turtles, watch fish, and admire the water fowl.  I feel satisfied when I see a snapping turtle beneath the surface