I just read about the death of Kim Jong Il online tonight. He was the long standing dictator of North Korea. This is also a nation that has access to nuclear weapons making it a major player in world events. For much of human history most people lived under the rule of dictators, be they Kings, Czars, Tribal Chiefs, or Feudal Lords. It was not until very recently that man started to be ruled by himself or by temporary dictators who peaceably pass power from one person to another. A sustainable democracy or free society is difficult to create and maintain. 

As much as I hope the death of Kim Jong Il will bring lasting change to North Korea, I have serious doubts on the subject. First, like many cruel dictators he has established a line of succession, he has controlled the information his people have about the outside world, and he has left them to live in squalid conditions.

The death of one cruel dictator does not always move a country towards a free future. I hope that the people of North Korea can one day live the lives we know they should. 

I have never lived in an ugly place for where ever I go the sky and sunsets follow me.  

I had a dream a few weeks ago. I dreamed that I was sent back in time. During the course of that dream I wondered what I wanted my future to be. I kept thinking about doing better in school-working harder getting into a better college. I than thought about how I would get into Pepperdine just in time to meet up with the time travel. I started to think about the future about how I could use my knowledge of the past to make my future better. My life would be easier because I knew all the moments. But for some reason I could not make it fit.  

I realized something. I began to understand that just because I knew everything that had happened in that life did not mean I was any better suited for the future. The variables were to great. Simply because I knew all the answers and pitfallsI was projecting a future without the problems.      

These are photos of some of my favorite pieces from the Louvre in Paris. I love art it is a reflection of what we consider to be most important in our society. Art can recreate reality like the early portraits did before we had photography. Art can also teach us like the stain glass in churches tells us stories from the scripture or painting of myths and battle teach us about history conflict and pain. Art is also about passion and love and what we dream of. The most interesting thing about art is that is completely unnecessary. I am not bashing on the purpose and beauty that art has in our individual development. Rather art is not something that we can eat, shelter or protect us. Art is designed to make our life better simply by making it more beautiful. This speaks I think to man’s natural inclination to beauty.

Anyway you will likely notice that these are all sculptures. One is ancient the Venus de Milo, the others are by Davinci for the slave bound in ropes a project designed for the tomb of Pope Juliues that the was cancelled. The slave is supposed to be like us bound by our sins. As for the piece with the woman with a vail I just love the way her features are still clear under the guise of stone fabric, I am not sure who the artist is.

But my favorite is Cupid and Pysch. This sculpture tells the love story between the Greek god and the mortal Physch. He is supposed to punish this lovely girl who had offended Hera by being too lovely, he was supposed to make her fall in love with a beast. But instead he sees her and is himself love struck. In this tale he whisks her away form Hera and her father but he will only visit her at night. The reason for this usually that he feared that she would not love him for himself if she knew he was a god. But she grows impatient and begins to believe him a monster so one night she hides a lamp and looks at him. She is so shocked to discover that he is the god of love that she spills some hot oil on him. He then flees and she seeks him out at Hera’s. She then goes on a quest to earn her godhood and they live happily ever after. 

Love locks. I get lost. I got lost in Colorado when I had lived there for 17 years. So when I travel in a foreign country with the signs all in Czech or French or German that did not help. So while I was lost in Prague trying to find “Charles Bridge,” a very lovely sight, I found these locks on a bridge. These locks are made by couples who then lock them and throw away the key.   

I was waiting to put up this photo. This a photo I took in Germany at the first Nazi prison camps. It opened within a month of Hilter’s assent to power. It was the model for all the other prison camps. Thousand perished in this camp-and it was not a death camp-no gas chambers used. They died of starvation, disease, many were beaten to death, or executed by the guard. It was a place of such tragedy and pain. That is why I have waited two days to put this photo up. It was such a moving experience for me to visit this place and it was so very dark. The images are of the famous sign outside the prison camp, translated to “work sets you free.” It was the idea that you would be freed for enough labor. This camp released a few people but ultimately the sign came to mean that the only freedom would be from this pain was to be worked to death.

The next image was off the wooden block that people would be beaten for punishment. Offenses like to much dust on the floor, or a bed with wrinkles. They party being beaten was required to count to twenty in German. But every mistake made would cause the party to start over. Many Russian, and Polish people died on the block. Perhaps the most chilling of the story is that these types of punishments were administered by other prisoners.

Finally, the image is of a piece of art made by one of the survivors.    

Faces are huge mode of communication for humans. It is so second nature for us to understand what a person is feeling no matter what language we speak. In this photo, I was in Athens Greece, this girl had not been to school and I am sure her parents spoke to her in Greek. So when I asked her if I could take her photo-this is the response I got.  

But when she was not paying attention when I had left her alone on the street. Literally with no parents in sight and her unusual instrument-I love what happened. Her face is appears so wistful-sad, wise even. She is so small. She is so young. 

Walls. I think that the ability to create shelters and walls is one of the most interesting things that humans can do. The first photo is of the Western Walls or the Wailing Wall in Israel. I can completely understand why it is called the wailing wall for they are really crying and praying. It is almost unearthly. It is considered one of the most holy sights in all of Judaism. This is were hundreds of Jews come to pray and tourist take photos of them. 

The next photos are of the walls that separate Israel from the West Bank. I have seen the Berlin wall pieces that are about seven feet tall. The funny thing is that this wall dwarfs most walls.     

One of my favorite movie is “Big Fish,” not because I like the message about stories being told in a creative and interesting way. I like this film because it has one of my all time favorite quotes in it: “a life lived in fear is a life half lived.” 

One of my biggest fears is heights anyone who went with me to girls camp will recall the panic attack I had at the edge of a cliff before ultimately refusing to repel down. After that day and watching all the other girls all but dive off the cliff, I decided that this would be the last time that I let my fear control me. So this specific image of last year when I went with a friend to Catalina Island just off the coast of California.

I am sure that during the entire time his hand felt that the fear coursing through my veins. It was a huge challenge to trust my life to the thin piece of canvas over our head, but I did it.   

Often times in ancient cultures people worshipped the sun. In fact sometimes people would be sacrificed to the sun. It is such a powerful force, the sun is the reason that each and everyone of us is alive and healthy. So when I am outside like I was hear I was considering that and what it felt like to be so close to the sun. So hear it is me trying to swallow some sun. 

On a side note I have a friend she has been posting one photo everyday for a month. I am looking to do the same. So this is day 2.