AND BEAUTY FOR ALL:
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2018 NEWSLETTER
|
|
Contents
NEW BLOG POST UP
REACHING OUT
KARA'S CORNER
SURVEY COMING SOON
WEBINAR
CONFERENCE CALL
CROWDFUNDING PLAN
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
NEW VIDEO
PLEASE WRITE FOR US!
Friends and supporters:
Well, the year is coming to a close and November got by me before I could get out a newsletter, so this one will have to serve for two months. But we’ll be back on schedule in January. It’s raining hard today and the flowers of summer are a distant memory. The last red and gold leaves of autumn have been dropping steadily in the downpour and float in puddles on the glistening streets. It’s cold in Seattle now, but not cold enough to provide the lovely blanket of white many of you take for granted in still colder parts of the country. Yet there is beauty in the skeletons of trees and the dark sky and I know that after the rain, the great peaks of the Olympic Range will appear out my window, dazzlingly white across Elliott Bay.
|
|
NEW BLOG POST UP
I’m delighted to report that we’ve got a new blog post on our website, following last month’s beautiful textiles by Dianna VanderDoes. The new post is a set of moving poems by Vicki Graham, professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota—Morris. I think they will touch your heart as they do mine. Vicki will be taking over the editing of our newsletter, which should make it far more interesting. I’ll provide a monthly note, but I’m hoping the bulk of contributions come from you, our members and readers. I encourage you to send me anything you think we should post—anything that calls our attention to beauty and why America needs it in these polarized times.
Vicki Graham
REACHING OUT
I think the message of beauty resonates widely, and I’ve had the chance to test that a bit in the last few weeks. Though I come personally from the liberal side of the political spectrum, I’ve discovered that much of the best writing about how beauty might “save the world” and bring us together can be found in right-of-center publications like The American Conservative and the Front Porch Republic. I’ve had some good conversations with the editor of latter, who is also hopeful about beauty’s power to de-polarize and encourage respectful dialogue. He invited me to submit a piece on our campaign and I did. I’ve received some positive comments and emails from readers.
Moreover, I was invited not long ago to give the keynote address at the California Association of Resource Conservation Districts’ annual conference in San Diego las month. RCDs have been around in most American counties since the 1930s when the were part of the New Deal effort to save farmland from the dust bowl and other perils. They truly encourage dialogue across political lines and cooperation among landowners and environmentalists so the leadership is quite diverse, depending on location. My talk was well-received and posted to the organization’s website. I met many wonderful people from throughout California who care about the beauty of the land.
|
|
KARA'S CORNER
Our “intern,” Kara Patajo, who is really our social media director in terms of what she does, has been busy posting to our Instagram and our FB page and has been working on a template calendar for the celebration of beauty months in libraries throughout the US—we hope to see the first of these soon.
|
|
Just a reminder, if you are sharing photos of beauty on Instagram don't forget to use the #andbeautyforall hashtag so that we can see your images! These can include photos from hikes, sunset views, or art, to name a few. We love to see your examples of beauty.
SURVEY COMING SOON
I had hoped to get up a survey on Survey Monkey this month for your
responses and ideas but was unable to find time, so we will start the new year with that!
WEBINAR
I’d like to do a webinar on our campaign and hope some of you will join in. I will work out the details and try to announce something next month.
CONFERENCE CALL
It’s time to create some leadership for this organization. We have a lot of wonderful advisors but need an executive committee of people who have enough time to do some advising! Email me if you are interested or if you would at least be willing to join on conference call and let me know your general ability. jodg@comcast.net Thanks!
PLEASE SHARE THIS NEWSLETTER! And encourage friends to sign up for our newsletter on the website.
CROWDFUNDING PLAN.
I’d like to start a crowdfunding campaign for this project through one of the available sites but I’m not sure the best one to use. Would love to hear your advice on this. jodg@comcast.net. Thanks! We really do need some resources.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
I will be speaking about beauty and happiness at the Olympia, WA Senior Center on January 16 at 10 am and again that even (with a screening of REDEFINING PROSPERITY (www.redefiningprosperityfilm.com) at 7 pm that evening at The Evergreen State College. I will also be presenting at The Academy of Leisure Sciences annual meeting in Greenville, SC in late February. I’d love to speak in your community. I also want to establish a speakers’ bureau for this campaign. If you’d like to be part of that, email me jodg@comcast.net.
NEW VIDEO
With help from Steve Dunsky, I’ll be starting a new film project, about Vallejo, CA and its efforts to develop through beauty. You can read about this great project here.
|
|
PLEASE WRITE FOR US!
We’re looking for more blog posts so please write for us. And send us articles about beauty that you find interesting so we can post links of Facebook and Instagram. We’re also interested in book reviews. Kara will write the first, on Florence Williams’ great volume, THE NATURE FIX. Look for that soon! Letters to the newsletter are also welcomed! Again, email to me!
We need your contributions to this newsletter—I don’t want it to simply be a personal letter from me. We are picking up steam—join the ride!
Thanks, and may you have a wonderful holiday season surrounded by beauty.
John de Graaf
Photo Courtesy of Banna Bazzarie
|
|
|
|
|
