Hopeful Beirut and Thinking Bloggers

My heretofore unknown blog-friend, Joumana Mattar Moukarzel at Hopeful Beirut, nominated me for a Thinking Blogger Award.

I was moved for many reasons:

* It seems miraculous that pixels from Central Texas and Lebanon play and shine back and forth like fireflies at dusk.

* Her nomination is more proof that art dissolves barriers to friendship, empathy, understanding.

* She’s been living in a war-zone, and I have no words to adequately express my hope for her safety. My spiritual practice is a private matter, but considering my heritage, it’s especially beautiful and meaningful to me that art made a connection between us.

Thank you, my friend.
Let us continue down these ephemeral paths together for a long time.

*****

Per the meme rules, here are my five tags for bloggers who make me think. (Darn you, Jarvenpa, for tagging Marly first!)

These aren’t the only ones who make me think, of course, but they’re the ones who fit my mood today.

Chris Miller at Mount Shang. Charmingly irascible, dimensionally erudite, Chris always provides new things to see and a rich vein of commentation. Besides, he once wrote a post where I discovered how exhausting it was to be me.

Gawain at Heaven Tree. Balinese dance, Annibale Carracci, Pulcinella jokes, various philosophies of aesthetics—his virtual salon, and smart friends’ comments, enrich me beyond measure.

Alina Chau at Ice-Cream Monster Toon Café. Alina’s joy in life, her playful spirit, and her evil pursuit of Minty the Ice-Cream Cone—as well as her exquisite draftsmanship—help me remember to come out and play.

Dave Bonta at Via Negativa. I suspect Dave may hate a meme almost as much as I do, but he won’t slip past this one. Dave, in all his prolific, porcupine quillishness, inspires me to work hard and create mo’ bettah every day.

Marja-Leena Rathje at her eponymous blog. Her artwork opens up quiet, ancient places inside me, reminds me in good ways where the magic comes from, and makes my eyes feel as sensitive as fingertips to texture.

*****

Stay tuned for a short story tomorrow...