Sunday Sermon - Party On

"A man asked his wise old uncle - 'Could it not be simply that we are alone and aimless, doomed to wander in an indifferent universe, with no hope of salvation, nor any prospect except misery, death and the empty reality of eternal nothing?'

The uncle replies - 'And you wonder why you're not invited to more parties." --Woody Allen, Getting Even

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If you are bored, you could plan a party for cooler weather. (It will happen. Keep repeating it.) Or plan one for next weekend & have a cool place for guests to escape.

Have a great Sunday evening!

ciao-meow/GG Sunday Central

(photographer unknown via Pinterest, via Sunsurfer)

The Flower Sermon

GG & her editor wish you a peaceful Thursday. (The story of the Flower Sermon)

ciao-om-meow/GGCM

[photograph by generous D Sharon Pratt, from her Free for All Creative Commons flickr set.]

Moving by Isabella - Week's End

Watch this mini-movie by Isabella who has the right attitude. (We must speak to GG about attitude.) Most of us don't like moving, even if it's to somewhere great. Just thinking of packing & moving makes our hair hurt. Isabella, whose mum is The English Muse, has a lovely way with the camera. Thanks for making us smile, Bella.

ciao-cheerio-meow/GG Central

[photograph via motley photos, via we heart it]

Terrible News from Washington, DC

...in more ways than one. Please visit the U.S. Holocaust Museum & send your condolences to the family & colleagues of Mr. Stephen Tyrone Johns, a security guard murdered this afternoon at the museum. He worked at the museum for 6 years & was a wonderful man. He saved many lives. What you do matters.

UPDATE: There will be no post today (Thursday, 11 June 2009).

[photograph by generous George Brett, Washington, DC-area photographer.]

Never Again: What You Do Matters

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”
— Elie Wiesel

The Days of Remembrance this year are 19-26 April. Holocaust Remembrance Day, this year is tomorrow, Tuesday, 21 April 2009. (See here for explanation of date system & for 5 Things You Don't Know about Anne Frank.) See here for this year's theme (Never Again: What You Do Matters), activities, & reading from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. President Obama will give the annual memorial speech in the Capitol Rotunda on Thursday, 23 April. We will listen closely for his thoughts about Darfur. There is a fascinating exhibit at the USHMM on Nazi Propaganda; you can make a virtual visit if you're not planning to be in DC anytime soon. (photo credit)

Note: Unfortunately we cannot allow comments or back-links to/on this post. We are very sorry but cannot risk the possibility of a recurrence of what happened with the Rwanda post.

On Choosing Civility - Week's End

It's past time!

As our formerly low-ish blood pressure rises (it's up, it's up! along with stress hormones...no kidding) with the goings on in the world, not to mention in our own city, we try to remember calm, lovely, & sensible Johns Hopkins University Professor P.M. Forni's Civility Project. Listen to him, people (& you, too, naughty Mlle. GG). Oh, no, no. So sorry. Please, listen to him. Read what he has to say.

(Oh, yes, the sage advice is difficult to swallow at times; we'd just like to bellow out a big "shut up" quite often. But we've always cringed at "shut up." So that won't do. Still....)

A civilized ciao-meow & good weekend to all,
GG's (harried) editor

Tempus Fugit by Alice Lucchin

The Not-Really-a-Diet but a Rebalance...

..if that makes you feel any better. From Cute Overload via We Heart It. Entitled You Want Fries With That?:) Oh boy, can we identify. French Women Don't Get Fat in hand & a bunch of leeks on the counter. Still, that's no punishment.

xoxo,
GG's editor

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling

More lessons from the past year. Here is a repeat of J.K. Rowling's moving speech at Harvard's commencement this past June (2008). We had to hear from a (nice) stranger that Rowling spoke about Amnesty International in the speech; you'd never have known from the press reports. Read it here. Watch the video, here.

photograph/Harvard University Magazine online

Stand Up To Cancer

GG urges everyone to watch or visit the links for all three broadcast networks. Help make cancer a thing of the past. Do it for your family, for your friends, for yourself. Remember Randy Pausch's Last Lecture--he died only a few weeks ago; this was his cause, too. We need to make one big huge push to end this; more links in the coming weeks about stem cell research & other issues that are crucial to ending cancer.