© Hector Lee, 2011
Happy Birthday, Susan!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Friday, February 18, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
February San Francisco sky
© Hector Lee, 2011
It is cold and raining now. But only a week ago we were blessed with gorgeous weather and remarkable skies.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Mazel Tov!
Mazel Tov!
The guests congratulate
The marriage of a Jewish couple as
A glass is broken under foot.
San Francisco holds for her faithful
Beautiful sunny winter days,
To make up for summer bleakness.
One’s heart cannot contain transitory joy
And receives such moments with gratitude,
As the sun warms Java on Ocean café windows
And outside, the Pacific wind brushes your face.
While canaries sing and Morrissey plays,
A melancholic wistfulness creeps at the edges,
Indicating something—
Inarticulate, incomplete and unconscious.
It nags at you silently
even as you drink your coffee
And bask in the day’s glory.
A glass is broken under foot
To remember that even on
The most joyous moments
Someone somewhere
Suffers.
© Hector Lee, 2011
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Fort Funston
Because my plans for coffee didn’t pan out,
And my sketching partner was unreachable,
And it was too late to go to the zoo,
I went to Fort Funston,
Just God, my shadows and me.
There I was rewarded with a setting sun
That dissolved into liquid gold
Among thin layers of purple and aqua waves,
leaving behind a rosy halo only,
as a sign of holiness and good.
© Hector Lee, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
celebrate African-American History Month
© Hector Lee, 2011
One of the treats of living in the City is Friday Nights at the deYoung, a free event where the museum puts on a social gathering of music, art, and wine. Last night they featured Lawrence Beaman. His spirituals were thunderous! His rendition of Ole Man River is WOW!
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
"The King's Speech"
The Stag at the Pool
A Stag came to a pool to drink. Upon seeing his reflection in the water, he admired the beauty of his great set of antlers—how magnificent and regal—but scorned himself for his slender legs and hooves—so skinny and unattractive. As he contemplated himself, a Lion appeared at the pool and couched to spring on him. The Stag immediately took flight, bounding as fast as he could. As long as the plain was smooth and open, he kept himself at a safe distance from the Lion. But entering a thicket, his antlers became tangled in the branches, and the Lion quickly came to him and caught him. Too late, he reproached himself: “Woe is me! How I have deceived myself! These feet which would have saved me, I despised; and I gloried in the antlers which have proved my destruction.”
What is most truly valuable is often underrated.
--Aesop.
I saw “The King’s Speech” this past weekend. My first impression was that it was an OK movie. I liked it, but I wasn’t wowed by it. I thought that in the realm of challenges Bertie (the King) faced, a speech impediment seemed small. It could have been that he was born into destitute poverty, had a terminal illness, was mentally ill or was powerless to save his loved ones.
Later the subtle message of the film permeated my heart. His challenge may have seemed small to me, but it was Bertie’s problem and Bertie was the one who had to face it. It was his courage to face the speech impediment that lifted the spirits of his nation during the time of war. He continued to work at his speech impediment.
His speech impediment is symbolic of the challenges and failings we face, little or great as they may be. Our courage to confront them boldly can build our moral character and inadvertently liberate us in ways we cannot imagine. Those personal aspects which we despise can be our great assets.
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