Prosepective

Acts of Nature, Acts of Hope

2010-06-15T11:26:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since posting and while I had thought about scrapping this blog due to neglect, reading the original posts I noticed that the content is still timely - oil spills, destructive acts of nature, etc.

Well, last night a local landmark, affectionately known as "Touchdown Jesus" and "Big Butter Jesus" was struck by a bolt of lightning, caught fire and burned to the ground. The statue originally cost $250,000 and the megachurch that commissioned the statue has announced plans to rebuild.

This has sparked some debate - some see this as a waste of money and feel that there are other ways the church could help the community - through charitable acts, for instance. The church, on the other hand, views the statue as a "symbol of hope," and an important message for the thousands of people who drive by daily. In another camp are those who feel that a lightning strike is a fairly blatant sign from God (cliche though it might be) and ought to be heeded.

The question I have for any reader who wishes to contribute - if you had $250,000 how would you spend it to help others?

Please post your ideas.

Free Expectations

2008-09-03T06:57:00.000-07:00

This is a sunset over New Orleans. Years after Katrina and days before Gustav (which was touted as a serious threat, and for good reason). New Orleans was spared this time, but it won't always be so lucky. In Cincinnati we're lucky. External forces don't threaten us often, and the rare tornadoes and the prospect of *eventually* getting rocked by an earthquake probably don't enjoy much time in the public consciousness. Yet, in the face of this extreme security we still manage to bicker and fight and find fault in everything around us. Typical? Not that there aren't injustices and real problems in the city, we just need to focus on the ability to distinguish between those severe needs for solutions, and personal lack of global perspective.

-Kurt

Forecastle Fest

2008-08-11T15:18:00.001-07:00

My problem with keeping a diary or a journal has always been that if I fall behind on updating it, I just give up. The of you who know me know that there isn't much "down" time in my life, and unpaid writing is hard to squeeze in. But I'm committed to keeping up this blog, so have decided to make entries on interesting stuff even if it's a few weeks old. And even if the pictures have to be added after the text is posted, as we'll have to do now (I'm not in town to get the photos).

Case in point - Forecastle Fest. I never knew Louisville had so much going on until I went down for this festival. We went the final day of a three-day festival, which involved over 60 bands, a bunch of visual artists, environmentalist groups, film screenings, panels on the music industry and other relevant topics and an extreme sports area.

When we went, we were able to hear Robert Kennedy Jr. speak about the environment. One of the main themes throughout his speech was poisoned fish and birth defects/autism called by mothers who ate too much contaminated fish. He talked about how whole mountains are being illegally razed to rubble by the coal industry and how nothing is being done about it because of powerful coal lobbyists.

Kennedy made a number of good points. One that stuck with me was in reference to the oil industry's short-sighted solutions of off-shore drilling and drilling in Alaska and President Bush's comment regarding what he (Bush) called America's addiction to oil.

Kennedy put it well: "You don't cure a crack addict by giving him more crack."

What it is according to Kurt

2008-07-25T13:22:00.001-07:00

This will start out as a playground. A joint venture of words and imagery. Sharing our perspectives and finding new ones we've thus far overlooked.

-Kurt

Through a glass, darkly

2008-07-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

Perception is everything. Our brains create our individual realities by interpeting the raw information gathered via our senses into an impression that is greatly influenced by past interpretations of events, environments and memories - even if the conclusions reached were inaccurate.

It's a cycle; our senses create impressions, which then generate our perceptions - leading to behaviors and beliefs based on memories of memories and imagined possible future outcomes. The catch-22 is that the effect is cumulative - everything we experience and believe is subjective ... but the more experience we gather, the more reinforced and ingrained those perceptions become, until they appear to us as fact. Because the brain interprets information by filtering what it deems most relevant or useful, we ultimately begin to create the reality we believe in, whether we are conscious of this process or not. In the majority of cases, we are not.

Think of all of the background noises you screen out daily that go unnoticed ... you don't even realize you never heard them because you can't know what you don't experience. However, perhaps one of those sounds alerts your cat - it suddenly freezes attentively. That sound, which was unimportant to your brain, was nevertheless relevant to your cat's brain. Had the cat never reacted, however, there would have been no sign of what you failed to notice ... and that sound would have never existed to you.

Hence, perception is everything. It is the fiber of creation. Many assume that perception is passive, the simple process by which sensory data enters the system. Perception, however, is anything but passive - it is the active process by which we shape reality and inform ourselves of how to act at any given moment. It is the root of all our thoughts, beliefs and identities.

Perception influences, and is highly influenced by another
"P-word": Perspective.

If light enters the eyes, perspective is the factor that engages and gives shape to this light ... such as a close-up, or side view, or a look through sunglasses. It is the point-of-view of the observer, both in the physical and emotional sense. If you read this sentence from the perspective of a student, it will differ from the reader whose perspective is that of a merchant, or a pastor, or a feminist. Each of these identifiers, when we wear them, color our perspectives like tinted glass.

This blog is a conversaton and documentation of perspective. There are obvious parallels in the realm of writing and photography ... hence the blog is called "prose-pective" ... also a play on the prospective creations/results/insights/ideas that might spring from the melding of words and imagery ... from at least two unique points of view.

This blog will include a record of the perceptions and perspectives of Kurt, a photographer who sometimes writes, and Liz, a writer who occasionally photographs. There may be some videography, music, and other surprises down the line as well.

All eyes and thoughts are welcome here. There exists an open invitation to lay down one lens to try another. Entertain the idea of yourself as someone or something else, until the lines of identity begin to blur and the boundaries of your perception widen.

Or just be entertained.

*Footnote: After writing this post, I looked up "Through a Glass Darkly" and found:

Through A Glass Darkly is an abbreviated form of a much-quoted phrase from the Christian New Testament in 1 Corinthians 13. The phrase is interpreted to mean that humans have an imperfect perception of reality.

1 Corinthians 13:12 contains the phrase
βλεπομεν γαρ αρτι δι εσοπτρου εν αινιγματι
rendered in KJV,
"For now we see through a glass, darkly."