heckit's blog: 2026

Tuesday, June 30, 2026

Monday, June 29, 2026

Sunday, June 28, 2026

Saturday, June 27, 2026

Our doubts are traitors

"no doubt - autumn is here" by Stiller Beobachter is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lose the good we oft might win

By fearing to attempt."

-- William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

Friday, June 26, 2026

Thursday, June 25, 2026

The physical and abstract life of books

As a mature artist, Monet was feeling discouraged about his series of waterlily paintings, his dealer questioning the marketability of the works. So his wife Alice suggested they go to Venice for change of scenery. They planned to go for two weeks and ended up staying for three months, Monet being enchanted by the enveloping light and atmosphere of the place. Being in Venice and painting there built up his confidence in the waterlily paintings. And when he returned to Giverny, his home, he communicated to his dealer that he was ready to paint the waterlilies with renewed energy and perspective. So had it not been for his venture to Venice, we would not have his waterlily paintings.

Canaletto

Paul Signac

John Singer Sargent

Wednesday, June 24, 2026

star gazing

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

Worldview

Monday, June 22, 2026

Not all who wander are lost

Sunday, June 21, 2026

perfect days

Happy Father's day Dad! Love you

Hirschorn Museum

In many ways, making work is a testing ground for what it means to pay attention. What can I make that will hold my own attention, so that the time spent being attentive is not wasted?

--Paul Chan

Saturday, June 20, 2026

l'italica rossa

Friday, June 19, 2026

Cutest

Thursday, June 18, 2026

National Museum of African-American History and Culture

Since the National Museum of African-American History and Culture opened in 2016, I wanted to visit. The gentleman at the welcome desk gave me an orientation. He mentioned the suggestion that it can take up to two days to visit the museum; I had planned to be there half a day. Since the exhibits were so moving and dense it took the entire day from 10:00 to closing (5:00) to take in the floors on history. Every American should see this exhibit. It helps us understand many of the problems we have today.

While the scale is difficult to gage from the decontextualize photo, these shackles were for a child. I just had to sit with the trauma the slave trade and institution caused on people.

The world in 1400

· Slavery was everywhere.

· The trade in gold, salt and spices far exceeded the trade in slaves

· Slavery was not based on perceptions of race—what was is based on?

· Slavery was a temporary status.

The World after 1400

· Slavery because based on perceptions of race.

· Enslaved people were considered property and dehumanized.

· Slavery was an inherited status and passed down through generations.

· Slavery was for life.

I admit I am sickened at the purchase of slaves…. But I must be mumm, for how could we do without sugar or rum? --William Cooper

“to traffic in human creatures, may at first appear barbarous… the advantage of it ….far outweigh{s} all …inconveniences.”

William Snelgrave, 1734.

The cultivation of sugar was part of a deadly planation economy that satisfied a growing in the international demand for sugar, A line from a period poem entitle “On Sugar” captures the moral issue: “To me thy tempting white appears, Steep’d in a thousand Negroes tears.”

The prejudice of race appears to be stronger in the states which have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those states where servitude has never been known.

--Alexis de Tocqueville. 1835

The United States of America was founded on dissent. American colonists waged a war for the principle that no one—no king, no lord, no president—held the right to rule without the consent of the people. This demand for popular sovereignty grew out of the experience of the founders, who understood the power granted by liberty. It also sprang, in part, form the actions and political philosophies of enslaved men and women, who contested the right of any person to dominate another. Freedom was revolutionary, contagious, and incomplete.

When I behold the frantic and delightful appearance of the country from nature I cannot but reflect on the awful sight to the seen at a place called Gadsdens Wharf of about four thousand poor Africans naked in a manner and lousy. The most distressing sight I ever beheld offered for sale every day at Auction to him who will give the most.

--James F. Legate, 1856

Pleasure as resistance

Enslaved people claimed their bodies for themselves. Arranging secret dances, they put on their best clothes and displayed a spirt free from bondage. Lynchburg Negro Dance ,by Lewis Miller, about 1853

Adults taught children that one of the greatest acts of resistance was to embrace the joys life can bring. They taught self-esteem and self-expression, in part, through adornment. Taking a small cut of inexpensive cloth, they sewed fine clothing to reflect their sense of self-worth. they made necklaces by piecing together seeds and dying them rich colors. Food, stories, songs and prayers all taught children who they were and how much they were loved.

Once you label me you negate me.

--Soren Keirkegaard, 1849.

Our lives matter

--Alicia Garza

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

--Maya Angelou

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or … some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.

--Barak Obama

The past of value only as it aids in understanding the present; and an understanding of the facts of the problem… is the first step toward its solution

__Chicago commission on Race relations.

If now isn’t a good time for the truth, I don’t see when we’ll get to it.

--Nikki Giovanni

There is nothing more powerful than a people, than a nation steeped in its history. And there are few things as noble as honoring our ancestors by remembering.

--Lonnie G. Bunch III

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