Books

I am a major bookworm.  I have a stack of books that haven't been read yet and I'm looking forward to them.  I like knowing that books are waiting for me to read them. 

I just finished one by Studs Terkel called Hope Dies Last.  I tend to be a right wing conservative but his book really made me think.  It's all interviews with different people.  Liberals, activists, illegal immigrants, students and so on.  He had an interview with a young man who was born in Iraq and who now lives here.  He explained how he came to be here and how he feels at home here.  I have a tendency to think that all Muslims are hostile to America and therefore I should be hostile to them.  I have  believed that they all want jihad and are violent.  I'm glad to know that all are not like that.   In the book there was an interview with some illegal immigrants who told why they were here and where they came from. It has changed my attitude.  It's easy to try and look at the world in a black and white way.  This side is good, that side is bad.  When in reality we need to look at the good in things and people and concentrate on that.  What I'm trying to say is stop the prejudice, stop saying vile things like "let's just nuke the Middle East and get it over with," or "let's send all the illegal aliens back where they came from."  Talk like that isn't from God.  It's now how we're supposed to look at the world as Christians. We don't like change, we don't like people or things that are different.  But the world is full of all kinds of unique and beautiful people.  Different cultures, different beliefs.  That's why I enjoy reading the National Geographic and Smithsonian magazines.  I don't agree with everything that I read but I do like to learn new things.

I did an oil pastel the other day on the mat board that I got from Hobby Lobby.  I really like the way that it turned out.  It will be the photo of the day.  I've been doing pencil drawings lately.  My favorite drawing subject is portraits of people.  While my favorite painting subject is landscapes. 

Photo of the day my oil pastel on mat board.  Based on a photo that I took out at the Refuge.  Quannah Parker Lake (I think.)

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Isaiah 5:20