Creating well

The Artdog Quote of the Week 
As with most of this month's "Quote" of the Week posts, I found so many relevant quotes I couldn't stop at just one, in my quest to explore thoughts about creating a better future. This week was no exception! I hope you'll enjoy these combined thoughts.

IMAGES: Many thanks to QuotesHunter's great post of "20 Inspirational Quotes About the Future," for the first and third quote images, and to Double Quotes for the Eckhart Tolle quote image. I'm grateful for all!

Remembering Jake

The Artdog Image(s) of Interest
I'll write the planned post about another endangered beauty spot a different time. Today I simply want to remember a beloved friend. My dog Jake has gone on ahead of me, as dogs too often do, taking a journey I'm not yet ready to take.

Jake in the back yard with me, in October 2016--Photo by Signy Gephardt

Jake was my writing companion, the co-inspirer of certain dragon body-shapes in my artwork, and my exercise buddy who made sure I took walks as often as possible--at least until his lungs gave out.

He was a rescue dog, an Italian greyhound-whippet mix (thus, a "whiggie") who came into my life around the turn of the decade. He died this week of lung cancer, at the age of almost eleven.

He will be sorely missed.

Mine's missing someone at the moment, alas.

IMAGES: Many thanks to my daughter Signy for capturing a moment between Jake and me in 2016, and to Defining Wonderland's post "Adventures in Dog Watching," for the Roger Caras quote. The source they cite for the quote image is no longer there.

No hypothetical threats, these

My Artdog Images of Interest for most of this month have focused on places of natural wonder that are under threat, with the hope that--if we're working to build a better future-- they still can be preserved. Mining hasn't happened at the Grand Canyon yet. No one has begun to drill for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge . . . yet.

Grand Escalante, at left in blue, with a significantly reduced footprint; the decimated Bears Ears at right in red.

Unfortunately, my subjects today aren't under hypothetical threat. The Very Stable Genius in Chief has already decimated two national monuments in Utah, with great fanfare and self-congratulation for rolling back a "massive federal land grab," and striking a blow for "states' rights."  (Side note: Ever notice how it was "opening the West," when Europeans invaded tribal homelands, but it's a "massive federal land grab" when white ranchers' or mineral developers' access is restricted?)

It should be no surprise that indigenous groups, including the Navajo Nation, and environmentalists have launched protests and filed lawsuits, but were not consulted when the boundaries were redrawn.





Granted, some of the more spectacular sites, such as the Dry Fork Slot Canyons, (including PeekaBoo and Spooky, featured in the video above) and the Toadstool Hoodoos still remain in Wilderness Study Areas, and thus are mostly still protected from development.

A somewhat unique view of the Toadstool Hoodoos, still in a Wilderness Study Area (no thanks to Mr. Trump).

Other areas? Not so much. Despite the economic stimulus brought to southern Utah by a tourism boom after President Clinton's designation of the Kaiparowits Plateau (with its Late Cretaceous "Dinosaur Shangri-La" fossil beds) as part of Grand Escalante National Monument, Mr. Trump's administration seems to have listened only to the mining and oil interests who have long bemoaned "that the Staircase monument has strangled economic development in Kane and Garfield counties for the past 21 years." The area is now available once again for renewal of dormant oil and gas leases, or the granting of new ones.

If you follow paleontology at all, you probably already know about the Kaiparowits Plateau, the scene of many important finds over the last two decades since Clinton protected them. Just last October, paleontologists announced a major new find. “With at least 75 percent of its bones preserved, this is the most complete skeleton of a tyrannosaur ever discovered in the southwestern US,” said Dr. Randall Irmis of the Natural History Museum of Utah.

Future finds such as this newly-discovered Tyrannosaur skeleton may soon be at risk from nearby mineral development.

Equally endangered are many ancient cultural sites in places such as the Dark Canyon Wilderness, Cedar Mesa, and the White Canyon area, which are now more open to less-restricted public access, along with the near-certainty of looting and vandalism. “Only a very small part of this area has been subject to a cultural resources inventory,” Tim Peterson, a program director at the Grand Canyon Trust told Nadja Popovich of the New York Times in December.

Not-so-protected petroglyphs from what used to be part of Bears Ears National Monument--photo by Mason Cummings.

Cliff dwellings such as this one in the Dark Canyon Wilderness are now more vulnerable to looting and vandalism, much to the dismay of local tribal groups and others concerned with preserving cultural sites in the area that until recently was part of Bears Ears National Monument.

We may never know everything we stand to lose, in the wake of this Trumpian downsizing move. One thing I haven't seen mentioned so much--but which appears to be another likely result--is the loss of wildlife corridors, particularly because there will be fewer restrictions on development.

So--is all now lost? No. Environmental and tribal groups already have already filed lawsuits to block Trump's changes to these two monuments. If you feel strongly about this, two immediate paths of action are available.

First, donate to groups such as The Sierra Club or Natural Resources Defense Council, which are among the ten environmental groups that have filed suit, or the Native American Rights Fund, which CNN reported is representing the Hopi, Zuni and Ute Mountain Ute in the lawsuit.

Second, write or call your representatives in the US House of Representatives and the US Senate, to let them know your opinion. They can't directly block an executive action, but they do have to weigh in on any changes to Wilderness Study Areas, among other things, and they are in charge of funding decisions. Contrary to the intransigence I often receive from the three men who purport to represent me in Washington (Rep. Kevin Yoder, Sen. Pat Roberts, and Sen. Jerry Moran), SOME people's elected representatives even listen to them!

IMAGES: Many thanks to The Salt Lake Tribune for the map showing original and shrunken outlines of the two national monuments (the article was written before the official changes, but the maps turned out to be pretty accurate). I also am grateful to Climb Utah and YouTube for information and the imagery from the Dry Fork Slot Canyons; to TripAdvisor's article about the Toadstool Hoodoos for the photo of that feature (check the page for many more photos!); and to the Natural History Museum of Utah, for the photo of the newly-discovered tyrannosaur fossil from the Kaiparowits Plateau. Many thanks also to the National Trust for Historic Preservation and photographer Mason Cummings, for the photo of petroglyphs in one of the newly-exposed areas that used to be part of Bears Ears National Monument, and to the US Forest Service, via Howard Myerson's "The Outdoor Journal," for the photo of a cliff dwelling in the Dark Canyon Wilderness.

Taking it seriously

The Artdog Quote of the Week
If I want to improve my future, I have to do more than wish. Powered by dreams, I have to take the needed steps to make it so.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Quotefancy for the Jim Rohn quote, and to QuotesHunter's great collection, "20 Inspiring Quotes About the Future," for the Mahatma Gandhi quote. I'm grateful to both!

Drill, baby, drill?

The Artdog Images of Interest

As I noted last week, this month's theme is working toward a better future, and my Images of Interest for the rest of the month feature amazing places in the United States that are threatened or actively under attack. As long as they continue to exist, we can still fight to save them, even if things are looking bad at the moment.

The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) is one such place that is under threat. Not immediately, but the Trump Administration has green-lighted the initiative to begin drilling there, so the process has definitely started. 

What kind of damage is that likely to do? That first link may have a dated lede, but the rest still applies. It's also true that tundra "heals" after disruption extremely slowly.

ANWR is so enormous, no single picture can hope to capture its variety and beauty. It's true that five won't do it either, but I've tried to find a good variety to give a small taste of what's at stake.

IMAGES: Many thanks to William Bonilla and Defenders of Wildlife for the polar bear photo taken in the ANWR; to Robert Salazar and Origami for an Interdependent World (what a cool idea!), for the photo of the famous Porcupine Caribou, a subspecies; to Peter Mather and The Wilderness Society for the lakeshore-and-clouds image from the refuge; to Florian Schulz and The Audubon Society for the aerial photo of the braided river, plains and mountains in the refuge; and to the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the photo of the mountain foothills. sloping down to a plain in the ANWR. I deeply appreciate all!

Dream-believing

The Artdog Bonus Quote of the Week 
What is the future made of? Many influences, but the best futures come into being because someone has a guiding vision to lead them forward. Where do we get our vision? We dream it. 

IMAGES:  Many thanks for these images to a great article from  QuotesHunter, "20 Inspiring Quotes about the Future." I really appreciate it!

Important to remember

The Artdog Quote of the Week
This is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and on a week in mid-January when we can use some motivational dreams to guide us into a better future, I could not imagine any quote I love more to combine these thoughts about dreams for the future.

IMAGE: Many thanks to LoveOfLifeQuotes, via Addicted2Success's "88 Iconic Martin Luther King, Jr. Quotes," for this quote image. And many thanks to Dr. King for an enduring aspiration! Side note from the artist in me: After my Kwanzaa quote-searches and now this one, I really want to know how it is that so many quotes by African Americans are rendered in black-and-white. What is up with that? Don't the folks who create quote images think persons of color are colorful??

Mining here?

The Artdog Image of Interest 
In keeping with this month's theme of working toward a better future, my Images of Interest for the rest of the month will feature amazing places in the United States that are threatened or actively under attack. As long as they continue to exist, we can still fight to save them, even if things are looking bad at the moment.

Today's image is a stunning photo of the North Rim of the Grand Canyon at sunset, chosen in response to the current administration's recent (early November) moves toward opening areas adjacent to the second-most-popular US national park for uranium mining, despite the concerns of environmental groups and local Native American groups. Local mining interests have been opposed to an Obama-era ban on such mining since it was put in place in 2012.

IMAGE: This photo appears to have originated on Shutterstock (photo by Erik Harrison), but it has migrated widely all over the Internet since it was listed in 2014 (thanks, TinEye!). I first found it on the Grand Canyon West website.

What do we value?

My theme this month is "working toward a better future." That probably is a pretty common and predictable topic at the turn of the year, when it seems as if we have a new chance to "get things right."

NOTE: every day actually is a new chance. Every hour. But many of us do tend to think about it more around New Year's.

How "right" we can get things depends in part on the cards in our hand, however. Last year at this point, for instance, certain decisions already had been made. Votes had been cast, and irrevocable changes set in motion. We dodged a few bullets in 2017, but some dies already had been cast by this time last year. In this context, I've been thinking about a pair of "takes"  on current events, by two commentators whom I respect.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., by Al Diaz, Miami Herald Staff 

The first is a recent column by the ever-perceptive Leonard Pitts, Jr., a columnist based at the Miami Herald. He wrote that "our sense of what is allowable and acceptable on the public stage, have been eroding for years, but 2017 saw the process accelerate like Usain Bolt. It was the year things that are not supposed to happen happened all day, every day."

He goes on to lay out the argument that we've come to a place in the public discourse where "anger, coarseness, political destabilization and a trickle-down nastiness [is] visible both in anecdotes and in hate-crime statistics."

But he doesn't leave it there. He's one of my favorite columnists because he always takes it to the next step. He ended his column, not with a groan of despair but with a call to action: "civil society is not something you take for granted. It’s a choice you make, a thing you have to fight for. Which will be a fitting mission for 2018 and beyond."

Resisting the tide of discord and "trickle-down nastiness" is an honorable goal, and it is our daily choice. I'd like to echo Pitts's challenge as well as respond to it in my own life. We also were treated in the last few days to another ringing call fo a better future, when Oprah Winfrey was awarded the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2018 Golden Globes. In case you haven't heard her speech, or even if you have, but want to hear it again, I've embedded a YouTube video of it here.



Even if some things look bleak as we move into 2018 and beyond, let us "maintain hope for a brighter morning, even during our darkest nights." Let us all affirm together we "know that a new day is on the horizon," because we are working to make it so.

Let us never lose hope, and never allow our weariness to keep us from continuing to fight for "the time when nobody ever has to say 'Me too' again," and we live in a civil society where  the dignity and value of all persons are respected, basic human rights are demanded for all, and where we cherish the well-being of this fragile globe that we call home. It's only too late if we give up on the values we hold most dear.

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jeremy Graham, Sr. on Ingrum, for the "Working towards a better future" image, and to Al Diaz and the Miami Herald for Leonard Pitts's photo, via his profile on Speakerpedia. Many thanks to CNN for the transcript of Oprah Winfrey's speech, and to NBC via YouTube for the video of Oprah's acceptance speech.

Lessons creatively applied

The Artdog Quote of the Week
My normal theme for January's quotes is "improving the future"--and this year I found so many I like, I've teamed some of them up! Today I'd like to share a pair of thoughts about lessons learned and creative challenges accepted.

IMAGES: Both of these come from a great list on QuotesHunter, "20 Inspiring Quotes about the Future."Many thanks!

A daring, creative choice

The Artdog Image of Interest 
The new year has begun, and if you're like me you've begun to think about the year to come. What new initiatives will you take on? What changes will you make? What new insights will you bring from the year just past?

I'd like to challenge you to look at things afresh, to rethink some of the areas where you may have settled into unconscious habits. To dare to make divergent, creative choices.

Can't imagine a cooler way to say it--or a more badass attitude to carry into the year to come. Be creatively bold!

IMAGE: Many thanks to Aga's Pinterest Board, via NanouBlue's Drole Pinterest Board, for this image!

Pongo faces

Last year I had occasion to look more closely than I ever had before, at orangutans (Why? Long story). I'm not generally much focused on ape species--there's a touch of the uncanny valley in my initial response. I'm more of a "dog person," in general. But on closer examination I found fascinating beauty and diversity.

Baby and mother, of the newly-identified species, Pongo tapanuliensis.

More recently, I read about the discovery of an entirely new orangutan species, Pongo tapanuliensis. It was announced in the online journal Current Biology last November. If you want a more in-depth dive into how they decided it's a separate species, here's a video abstract that lays it out well.

Pongo tapanuliensis looks to a clouded future--it is one of the most endangered ape species in the world. We've only just realized we have it--and we're already about to lose it.

But reading about Pongo tapanuliensis reminded me of my earlier research. I hope you'll enjoy this little gallery of Pongo faces, in all their marvelous variations.

With only about 800 individuals known to exist, this Pongo tapanuliensis baby has an unfortunately fraught future.

Pongo tapanuliensis may be new to us, but the other two species also deserve our regard and protection. All are endangered. All are amazing creatures.

A Sumatran Pongo abelii mother and baby find something of interest to look at, over there.

This Pongo abelii male looks to me as if he's about to say something profound. If only he could talk!

Another P. abelii male, but clearly not the same guy as the one pictured just above. I wonder what he's thinking about (probably wondering, "Who is this crazy human, and what is that contraption he's waving at me?").

A Bornean male, of the species Pongo pygmaeus, seems to have a lot on his mind.

Noisy zoo visitors prompted this reaction from a Pongo pygmaeus in an Indonesian zoo. Haven't we all felt this way at times?

Meet Mari, a Pongo pygmaeus (Bornean orangutan), with her baby. They live in a zoo in Singapore.

If you still haven't had enough wonderful orangutan faces, there's a nice collection of them on this video from The Orangutan Project, based in Australia (be aware: there's a fundraising plug at the end).




I wasn't able to find The Orangutan Project among Charity Navigator's listings, but another orangutan-devoted organization rated very high on their evaluation scale for financial integrity, accountability and transparency. It's Orangutan Foundation International, based in Los Angeles, CA. If you're inclined to donate, here's your chance.

IMAGES: Many thanks for all the wonderful Pongo faces, to: Zee News, Stuff, and The Atlantic, for first glimpses of P. tapanuliensis; to photographer Thomas Marent on Fine Art America, for the Sumatran P. abelii mother and baby; to iNaturalist and Roni Bintang's Flickr Photostream for the male P. abelii faces; and to Jason Hon of WCS and World View, for the askance-looking male P. pygmaeus, to Robertus Pudyanto, photographer, via Metro (UK), for the P. pygmaeus reacting to noisy zoo visitors, and to photographer Roslan Rahman/AFP/Getty and Slate (nice article on animal personalities), for the photo of Mari and her baby. Thanks also to The Orangutan Project (AU)  via YouTube, for the video. 

Faith to take that step

New Year's Day: The seventh day of Kwanzaa
We greet this New Year with Kwanzaa's call for Imani--faith. Faith in ourselves. Faith in a higher purpose. In the eternal, immutable intrinsic worth of each human being, and the ultimate triumph of those who persist in pursing their vision. The Kwanzaa journey is a path of renewal, rededication, and forward-looking toward a better tomorrow. May it be so for all of us!

IMAGES: Many thanks to Jeffrey St. Clair via LinkedIn's SlideShare, for the nicely designed symbol image and "seven principles" slide, to Develop Good Habits, via Pinterest, for the Martin Luther King, Jr. quote, and to Oprah, Quote of the Day via Pinterest, for the Maya Angelou quote.