Croning My Way Through Life
This blog was originally posted on September 11, 2016. I know that since the original post there have been thousands of art works created honoring this horrific day.
I thought it appropriate to repost this one today. The only changes I’ve made is to add the artist’s name.
We will never forget.
To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts — such is the duty of the artist.
~ Robert Schumann
Thousands of firefighters and emergency medical personnel responded to Ground Zero, including over 350 trained search and rescue dogs to Ground Zero and the Pentagon.
The dogs were extremely important in locating human victims, by using their sense of smell and agility to direct workers to the location of those injured and deceased. 
But according to the American Kennel Club, only about 100 were prepared for the size of the disaster.
They deserve our respect and remembrance, too. 
We will never forget. Victims, rescuers, and search and rescue dogs.
Artist Bisa Butler draws from an array of vibrant patterned fabrics to create portraits of everyday people.
She avoids representational colors, favoring layered jewel-toned hues to form the skin of her Black subjects, and often groups figures together into strong silhouettes.
“I have always been drawn to portraits,” Butler explains in a statement on her gallery’s website.
“I was the little girl who would sit next to my grandmother and ask her to go through her old family photo albums. I was the one who wanted to hear the story behind every picture.”
“This inquisitiveness has stayed with me to this day. I often start my pieces with a black and white photo and allow myself to tell the story.”
Butler studied fine art at Howard University. In a video interview by BRIC TV, the artist explains that she began using fabric in her paintings in college, and then converted to quilting as a way to continue her dedicated art practice while protecting her young daughter from toxic materials and fumes.
Her quilts are full of motion, heritage, tradition, and beauty. They represent a merging of artistic excellence and quilting magic.
Bisa Butler‘s amazing quilting can be found at https://www.instagram.com/bisabutler/ and at at sights and galleries around the Internet.
The dogs were extremely important in locating human victims, by using their sense of smell and agility to direct workers to the location of those injured and deceased. But according to the American Kennel Club, only about 100 were prepared for the size of the disaster.
They deserve our respect and remembrance, too.
To send light into the darkness of men’s hearts — such is the duty of the artist.
~ Robert Schumann
Every year since I started this blog I have honored those who lost their lives on this day in 2001.
Two of those planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon, leading to a partial collapse in its western side. The fourth plane, United Airlines Flight 93, was targeted at Washington, D.C., but crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after its passengers tried to overcome the hijackers.
In total, almost 3,000 people died in the attacks, including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes. We also lost 343 firefighters and 72 law enforcement officers, the deadliest incident for their fields in the history of the United States. Some managed to call home and tell their loved ones they loved them one last time. Some despaired and jumped; others never knew what hit them. We will never know what they thought, how they felt. That is a world sacred to those who have gone before us.
We will always ask, “Where were you when you heard?” Our hearts will always hurt when we watch the Towers crumble. And we will always be ashamed of those who called themselves human beings and did such a thing.
We also will never find the words to thank those who put their lives on the line to save what they could. We will always be amazed that Mother Nature reclaimed her wounded ground in Pennsylvania so peacefully, and that her human counterparts did the same with the Pentagon and Ground Zero.
I will never forget. And as long as I have a blog, I will never let you forget, either.
statistics from Wikipedia
There will always be Madness in the world…there will always be dark, crazy things that happen that will forever have no reason, no explanation.
September 11, 2001 will always be one of those dark, crazy things.
But there is a lot of Magic in the world as well. Your lives are full of it. People you know, food you eat, the weather outside. Music, books, painting, computers, football games, all are wonderful experiences in space and time that forever try and encourage you to leave your own world for a while to experience a different one.
For me, one of the most haunting lingerings from 9/11 are the older movies I watch where the Twin Towers stand proud and gleaming in the background. Every single time I catch a flash of them a pang goes through my heart. Funny the things that trigger memories of madness, isn’t it?
So today, take a moment and say, “Hi! How ya doin’? How’s the magic? Miss you (love you, like you, etc.)” to everyone who has touched your life and passed on to greener pastures (or whatever metaphor makes you feel good). Throw in a “thank you” if you’d like. Or even an extra “love you.” Then move on. They may or may not feel it on the other side, but you will feel it on this side.
And you will be a better person for it.
Even though the Goddess chuckles through life, she is deep and sad and without words, too. Two pictures that make me refocus on the pettiness of my whines…knowing I will pick them up tomorrow, but with a different tint. Keep your dreams alive and your prayers flowing…the Goddess never forgets.
Humoring the Goddess 