A natural mood.
An attempt by me to do two things. Or, three.
It’s cold in the swamp today. It was cold and extremely windy last night. That’s what this art is about. You’ve got the bare tree. The kind you see in winter. You’ve got a monochromatic picture because yesterday everything was gray and muddy. Finally, the post production brings you to ice. It covers everything.
No.
We don’t have ice. It is a symbol for winter. The winter that many of you are digging through right now.
I’m trying to stay away from weather pictures. Unless you are very lucky and in the right place, at the right time, weather pictures start looking the same. I wasn’t even going to make pictures yesterday, but I felt the calling. Still, without a lot of help, they looked the same as pictures I made last year. They year before that and…
That’s where all the heavy post production came in.
When I do this sort of stuff, I work until I’ve gone too far, saving versions along the way. When my brain clicks in and I realize that I’ve gone over the top, I save the picture. I go back one version and there it is. The picture of my senses.
That’s the story.
I have a comment about yesterday’s news and those “good” Catholic school boys doing their best to intimidate a Native American Vietnam Vet. I don’t know if it’s because our so-called president has made it okay to be as nasty as you want to be to people who aren’t like you, or if it’s something else. When did it become okay to do something like that? I assume because they attend a Catholic school that they have learned a simple question. “What would Jesus do?” They should think about that and do it.
My take is simple. First transparency. I’m Catholic. I’m not much of one these days. I attended Catholic school from the first grade until I graduated from high school. We were taught by nuns, brothers and priests. I’m pretty sure that if I was in those pictures and videos, the nuns would have cracked my knuckles with a yardstick until they bled. I’m not much for corporal punishment. Even the dogs don’t get yelled at around here. In this case, let me hit them with a yardstick.
That said, I stand with my Native American brother. Yes. I know his name. But, it’s policy of Storyteller not to publish names unless I have permission. I believe that everybody in the pictures and videos should be expelled. That’ll about kill their chances of ever getting into a good university or college. Good. Their lives should be spent saying, “would you like fries with that?” Once that is done, the entire staff of the school should resign. Obviously, they haven’t done their jobs. They can join the boys at the hamburger factory.
Yes. I believe in second chances. I believe in redemption. After a suitable time, they all should be welcomed back. Maybe fifteen or twenty years.
I never get this angry. This kind of anger isn’t good for anyone. Me. The person with whom I’m angry. The world. But, this was just too much.
Sorry if I offended anybody. At least I didn’t curse a blue streak.
STORYTELLER 
Cool composition Ray. Yep, I just hope those kids will learn a lesson, instead of hardening their heart like the individual they are modeling.
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As I said in another comment, where is Sister Mary Joseph when I need her?
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…wielding her weathered, but sturdy yardstick! 😊
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That’s right. She helped to raise me up. 🙂
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First off, the picture is gorgeous. I lingered over it for a long time before I got to what you wrote.
I haven’t read the news sources, so I’m taking your presentation of things as it stands. It sucks that these young Catholic kids are aligning themselves with the ideas of justice and nativism of the more swampish reaches of the Populist Right (the Centrist Right would never do that, and, if Tucker Carlson’s recent rant is any indication, a Distributist Right is in the making that would be even more opposed to the stance of these kids), rather than the radical charity of Jesus, the apostles, and, well, the enormous trunk of the Catholic tradition. The Catholics treated Natives waaaaay better than Protestants generally did, so it’s frustrating that they’re ignoring the best (and the normative!) in their own tradition and opting for the dregs of something alien.
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This is ongoing. A lot of videos are surfacing of that school. They show the students attacking Black basketball players at a game. They dress in black suit, which they claim is not the same as blackface. The list goes on. Where the hell is Sister Mary Joseph when I need her?
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Yeah, I saw those photos. I’m not sure that the internet gives people room to repent and actually change. Would the public forgive them, no matter the penance?
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What do suggest the penance be ?
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No idea. Contrition must come first, though.
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Now comes information from the NY Times that one of Trump’s new advisors came from that school. It figures.
I have a good penance. To the bottom of the ocean to pick up every piece of plastic. That helps the world, jeeps them busy and out of trouble and likely will last a lifetime.
I’m not mean. I’m just practical.
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I approve of this penance
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Thank you, oh wise and learned guru. 🙂
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;-p
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I couldn’t agree with you more! I’m glad the photos have captured the faces of some of the boys so clearly. Much less likely they can escape without dire consequences. It’s painful to even think of such lack of respect. I do wonder what their parents are thinking about today!
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I see the right wing blow bag. MAGA hats = Klansmen hoods as far as I can tell. And, there are plenty of videos of those “boys” doing other things that are just as nasty.
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