When you discover what ignites your spirit, let that fire burn you into ash.

I said a few months ago that I was attending my first river cleanup but then I got sick. So tomorrow will be my first. I’ve challenged myself to do something monthly that reflects Joseph Beuys’ idea of social sculpture. Environmental stewardship is a good start. (I’m also doing it for the otters.)

Royer Perez-Jimenez was 19 years old. He died by suicide at 3am on March 16 at Glades County Detention Center in Florida. He is the 2nd person to die in ICE custody this week, the 13th this year, and the 42nd under Trump. 🧵

The brighter our screens, the dimmer our minds.

The whole "I had to keep quiet about all the abuse and rape because it would hurt the movement" is on all of us.

Kraftwerk’s Ralf Hütter on Düsseldorf art scene in the late 60s & 70s: ‘…the front there was a nail sculpture by Günther Uecker, a mural by Gerhard Richter, & an installation with black-&-white TV monitors by Nam June Paik . You'd see Joseph Beuys in the old town in the evenings, playing foosball.’

In a less serious matter…most people are annoyed when a flock of grackles land in their yard. I am not one of those people. 🪶

Phil Berger has had a hand in gerrymandering our state but when he doesn’t win, he screams fraud. He claims his opponent, just as bad, sent threatening texts to voters. If true, yes. An absolute problem. But you can’t blame the game you’re also playing when you’re on the losing side.

My own brain is my worst enemy. While last week was emotionally draining for very real reasons, it was a lot worse because of intrusive thoughts. My brain, much like this administration, cannot be trusted right now. That’s an unsettling thought. IF IT’S EVEN TRUE. (I’m doing great, guys 🥲)

Afghans, like Mohammad Nazeer Paktiawal, kept troops informed & safe. They played a pivotal role in supporting military operations in Afghanistan from 2001-2021. They risked their lives & often had to leave home after working w/ the US military. This is the 7th in-custody ICE fatality since Dec.

‘In the run-up to documenta 7, Joseph Beuys plants the first tree of his project 7000 Oaks – urban afforestation instead of urban administration – in front of the Fridericianum in Kassel.’ March 16, 1982 +

The old puff and screech. Red-Shouldered Hawk 🪶

If we made the green energy transition this war would be unthinkable and these authoritarians wouldn’t be in power — not in the US, not in Iran, not in Saudi Arabia, not in Russia. Hydrocarbons are killing our freedom and just plain killing us.

‘Bud and bloom are in fact green leaves transformed. So in relation to the leaves and the stem the bloom is a revolution, although it grows through organic transformation and evolution.’ Joseph Beuys, ‘Rose for Direct Democracy’ Can we revolutionize peacefully? More info: bit.ly/4bcZklS

“I never really thought of myself as depressed so much as paralyzed by hope.” ~Maria Bamford

"Everyone is a king, the value of people lies in their sovereignty. The longing of people for their inner god is destroyed in these materialist times.”Joseph Beuys Beuys’ action disassembling an Ivan the Terrible crown replica & molding into a hare & sun as a peace symbol in 1982.

Fly fishin’ Osprey 🪶

WATCH: Fourteen-year-old Ariana spent more than 45 days at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center. In January, we asked detainees whether their children would be willing to write letters or draw pictures about their experiences. Listen to Ariana tell her story: 📽️ @joannashan.bsky.social

Tiny happy accident when I got the bee and not the bird in focus. Taken in 2023 - hoping for fresh photos soon. 🪶

I hugged a stranger after he engaged us for more than an hour at a restaurant we stopped at this evening. I’ve had a rough week but this guy had me in tears laughing w/ some of his stories. His wife died 5 years ago. He misses her. I think we all needed tonight’s interaction. Thanks, universe.

“‘What is to be done?’ seemed then to be a big Orwellian question. (Joseph) Beuys’ concern generally stretched further & deeper. He was tortured by the separation of the spiritual & the material in society, the divided self in the individual. He regarded this as the most dangerous thing…’cont.

Join the Army

40 years after his death: “The state of North Rhine-Westphalia has succeeded in making his artistic legacy permanently accessible & visible.” ‘The Joseph Beuys Estate stated that it is in its own best interest to preserve & further develop the enduring fascination with Joseph Beuys for the future.’

[TW: graphic fracture, sound of breaking bone] Sen Tim Sheehy (R-Montana) badly breaking the arm of a Marine veteran protesting the war Iran.

It’s a crying in the workplace bathroom kinda day. It’s not my job. My team is wonderful. My brain is just really broken right now.

Iraqi Human Rights Activist and Feminist Yanar Mohammed Is Murdered Prominent Iraqi human rights defender and feminist advocate Yanar Mohammed was murder by two unidentified gunmen at her home on March 3. Mohammed was the co-founder and president of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq.

‘The things inside me had to be totally transplanted. A physical change had to take place in me. Illnesses are almost always spiritual crises in life in which old experiences & phases of thought are cast off in order to permit positive changes.’ ~Joseph Beuys on navigating & overcoming depression

3.4ish years later…

One of my favorite lines from Czechowicz, from his "A Song With Tears": ko­ły­san­ki takt ostat­ni się skoń­czy w strasz­li­wych burz gwał­tow­no­ści In my translation: the last bar of the lullaby will end in terrifying storms of violence

I hope to wake up tomorrow not feeling that the human race is beyond repair. I really want to but it’s looking grim.

"Nixon believed-as he said many times- that if the president of the United States does it, it can't be illegal. But Nixon never understood the much higher and meaner truth of Bob Dylan's warning that, "To live outside the law you must be honest." ~Hunter S. Thompson Kingdom of Fear

Barbara Kruger Untitled (Questions) 1990 "Who is beyond the law? Who is bought and sold? Who is free to choose? Who does the time? Who follows orders? Who salutes the longest? Who prays loudest? Who dies first? Who laughs last?"

Reverberating + Zeig deine wunde ++

"A true leader is only as strong as the joke he can take at his own expense. And there is nothing funny about the fact that we are living through a time when a joke about the government is a liability." Bess Kalb

I will never get used to the disdain our country holds for brown and Black children. From Palestine to Iran to Sudan, we normalize the destruction of schools and hospitals and daycares. We reduce children to death tolls and their futures to rubble with no consequence or second thought.

Update: The total number of little girls killed at an elementary school in Minab, Iran, by the US and Israel has risen to 51. The entire community is devastated, families destroyed.

Calligrammes: Poems of Peace and War 1913-1916 Guillaume Apollinaire

All but one Saturday was cut out of early voting in my county. After being approached by candidates with their buzzwords about ‘illegals’ and ‘transgender books’ I calmly made it clear that I was not the one. Assuming I agree with your draconian, ignorant beliefs is a mistake. I voted. But geeeeez.

Also…Jospeh Beuys once more because this man honestly makes more sense to me than most these days: ‘Honey Flows in All Directions,’ - a symbolism of the flow of human love, energy, and ideas within a progressive society. Chránit plamen +

where is justice for Nurul Amin Shah Alam? when will those charged with holding the guilty accountable demand that justice?

stfu>sotu

Joseph Beuys in America 1974, unknown action - symbolic binding of the individual by systems suppressing intellect, fragmenting spirit & holding them politically captive. Our voice is still there. Will we use it? Felt fitting tonight. Credit: ‘Beuys in America’, Klaus Staeck & Gerhard Steidl