Take a quote with you. . .

I have stumbled on a small handful of great quotes today and I thought I should share them with you.

"Never forget, when the situation seems hopeless, remember that life is just a game. Play with the card's you're dealt and enjoy the game." --Bill Hicks

"They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them." --Unknown

"Come to the edge.
We might fall.
Come to the edge.
It's too high!
Come to the edge!
And they came,
And he pushed,
And they flew." -- Christopher Logue

Spreading Love in Baltimore

Spreading Love in Baltimore

Take a look at this wonderful project. Can you imagine paintings of "love" all around your town? Do you think it would help crime rates go down and people be kinder? Take a look at the blog linked above and read all about it!

FIRE

I saw this post on one of the many social networking sites from one of my friends trying to cheer up another friend. The point of it is to be serious but throw in a bit of humor.

F.ire that starts small but quickly spreads
R.eclaiming feelings of warmth throughout our bodies
I.ncline of emotional trust among people
E.ven struggles to work past differences
N.ever failing each other, no matter how much the annoy you
D.on’t ever give up hope
S.lay them if they turn into zombies

Earth Creativity

"Art is the transforming experience." –Joseph Campbell

"It's not art for art's sake, it's art for my sake. " — D.H. Lawrence

These quotes and many others can be found at www.earthcreativity.org

I Hope You Dance

This song was played over and over in my home as I was growing up. My mom always referred to it as "Our" song. My brothers and I had to hear this song hundreds of times when mom was in the kitchen cooking or as we were going to bed or reading stories or when the stress was almost to much to handle. It brought me so much inspiration as I grew up and I think it did the same for the rest of my family. I hope you get something out of this song, I sure have.

Quote of the Day

Stealing this idea from my sixth grade english teacher. Everyday Mrs. Sachs had the class discuss a quote and what it meant to them and the world. Today, I got an email from someone that said that this quote was on her friends Facebook status and that she thought it fit with the theme of my project. What do you think of the quote?

"Men and women are limited not by their place of birth, not by the color of their skin, but by the size of their hope." ~John Johnson

Books

What is on your reading list when you are looking for hope? What books inspire you or motivate you? Are there any books that you read once a year or more because it offers you something? Tell me of your favorite books, maybe even a quote or two that you find powerful to you for one reason or another.

The Power of Art to Transform

“I believe that we need to allow ourselves to feel grief deeply. Anger and rage and shame—those are surface feelings. Grief is deep. Grief and love might be the two deepest human emotions. When we allow ourselves to really grieve, it's a transformational experience.” -Chris Jordan. Photographer attempting to capture aspects of the consumer culture through his art.

If you wish to read the whole article on his amazing experience take a look at the following link: The Power of Art

How art Gives Shape to Cultural Change

Dry

So my official launch date for this project is not until June 16th. However, I got one submission earlier that I just must share with you now. Enjoy! I look forward to more amazing submissions.



Genius surrounds me, and I look at my meager words as if they were crusts of bread left for the poor in spirit. My muse is gone...perhaps she left to encourage some other poetic endeavor. I sigh in resignation as I coax the creativity to come, but the well is dry. I must move on to another vein of inspiration and thrust the needle deep within like a poetic junky longing for that heady existence that is created when words and inspiration swirl inside my brain. My soul threatens to leap from my body so that it can be free to fly and dance. My heart waits in anticipation for the rush that I know will ensue. I look at the world around me, and ponder all the wisdom that lies within and outside my being. I search every corner of my existence and shrug in defeat. I sit down inside another's poetic dream and find some solace but still, I long for what God has placed within me, what I was created for. So, I wait. I will continue to wait until those snow capped mountains of stagnated creativity melt and the water of inspiration floods my rivers and tributaries once more until they are overflowing.

Rebecca Truman
Folsom, CA
April 14, 2010

Hope for Our Generation

Submissions

Look in your inbox
What do you find?
Submssions coming out the
ears.

Motivation comes in the from of
realization
People are interested
and want to create hope.

A chance to succeed and
A chance to fail
But what you offer up
Gives us all a chance to heal

People materialize
hope in every breath they take;
in glowing halos of their
mortal lives

Where to you get your hope from? What keeps you alive?

To submit to my project email me at whispersofthewheel@live.com I am also taking art submissions. If you find hope, motivation, inspiration, or healing from what you have created then submit it. To address a few questions. I am taking audio files, youtube videos, quotes (as long as you provide the name of the person who said it), poems that you get something from, and really any other form of art you can think of. I look forward to hearing from you.

To Write Love on Her Arms Day

I thought this was a pretty cool event.

"To Write Love on Her Arms is a “non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide.” The idea of a TWLOHA day is quite simple: write the word “love” on your arm on April 21st. The goal is to raise awareness of those who are hurting as well as promote TWLOHA’s work to provide hope, help, and support."

If you want to show your support or get involved with this movment to provide hope, help, and support click on the link. To Write Love on Her Arms.

How Images Impact You

As many of you know my median of the arts is photography. Photojournalism has greatly changed how we perceive the world. Can you think of images in the media or mabe in your everyday life that has offered you hope or given you motivation to change the world?

Hope On Subway

Would this offer you hope on a subway? Would it bring a smile to your face?

Just Released Community Statement

My name is Kashia Gale. I will be a senior in the fall and am getting a head start on my senior project, called Whispers of Hope. My project consists of offering hope through the arts. The main part of my senior project will be gathering suggestions from community members, like yourself, on what motivates, inspires, heals and offers hope. The very first thing you can do is tell me what offers you hope. An additional part of my senior project is to get community members to submit poetry, photos of their art, or any other from of art that is associated with the theme of healing, hope, motivation, or inspiration. Everything that is submitted will be used for my senior project on my blog and be used to inspire others through the arts. To submit, email me at WhispersoftheWheel@live.com with the name of the person submitting as well as an email address where I can contact you. You can also stay up to date with my project at www.whispersofthewheel.blogspot.com . I look forward to hearing what gives you hope as well as receiving your submissions of poetry and other forms of art. Thanks!

The Offering of Hope

After spending a day downtown in the "bad" area I got to thinking. People from all walks of life are found in this area. Spoken words flow from their lips and mumbles of past treasure. I see tread marks on arms and flowing tears with yellow smoke stained teeth. I listen to music that tells of death and hurt and heartache. I think about the amount of pain that can be found in this one block. I here desires of wishing to die and wonder what it is that keeps them alive with this strong want for death. I'm not brave enough to ask. Instead I turn to my camera and try to capture these feelings. I try to see what I can not see with the naked eye, to feel what people feel when there is a numb breathless pain.

So I wonder, and desire to know, what is it that is offering them hope to keep them alive? What hope do they have that is not available for the naked eye to observe? What are the things that offer you hope when nothing is left?

Over the next two months I will be requesting people tell me what they find hope from. Motivation, Insperation, and Healing? What keeps you alive and moving forward? After I have recieved suggestions I will start trying to capture this hope, motivation, inspiration, and healing with my camera. Then, over the summer I will post one photo a day that tells of your hope. Each day this summer will be a day where someone can hopefully gain something from my hope and your hope.

I look forward to your many suggestions.

First Hope Poem

The Sound of Squeaky Voices


I enter the bus with a smile on my face
Gliding to my spot
Up the steps
First left,
By the window

In the back boys sit with legs spread
Chin high with a look of dispare on their round skulls
Their sqeaks allow me to think
of small children
yet to hit puberity

They talk of
Nipple peircings
Fights
"Gay" events
In their lives

They talk of four letter words
Being kicked off the bus
Beatings
Thrashings
Skeletons in their closet

With every sentence
I think of their age
10
maybe 14
at most

They speak of their manhood
Their hair looking badass
Their baggy jeans and
Golden boxers
Lined and sewn with the lays they've received

With every sentence
With every word
With every squeak
I wonder how their lives came to be
This

Then I hear of their parents
And
Role models
Lives filled with people who
Do not give a damn

I no longer wonder how
I feel for them
I want to hug them
Look them in the eyes
Say something

Give them a care in the world
Because they deserve that
They deserve people who care and love them
For who they are
They deserve to find interests other than beatings
Other than hurting
They deserve a chance for something more. . .

So I sit there and listen to their macho stories
And the sqeaks of their voices
The breaks and clearing of the their throats
I listen to the nuclear warfare they live with at home or on the streets
and the
Girls they torment because they are "all that" and more
I listen to the bravado and hate that spews from their sqeaks

Then I hear
It
A hope
A shimmer
The word "Beautiful"
The words "If only"

And I wonder will they make it to the glimmer of hope they hold.

I stand to get off the bus and turn back to smile at them all.
I wonder, if maybe, just maybe,
It holds the power to give them a peice of hope they can take with them
Into a new world

Theme Song for Whispers of Hope

Whispers of Hope

Dear Blog,

A dance, a song, a photograph for hope. . . We can change the lives of others through the arts and give people motivation, inspiration, and healing. Join me in my project of Whispers of Hope.

I am the founder of Whispers of the Wheel Photography. I have loved photography for as long as I can remember. It is my true passion along with helping others. So I decided to use my business to help others. I will be doing this through my senior project for High School graduation. Thus, I have come up with a project that shows my passion for photography and helping others. Stay tuned for updates on my project and how you can help and change the lives of others.

I will be brainstorming and asking for your ideas and suggestions through this process. I look forward to working with you all to make my ideas for this project a reality.

With hope,
Kashia Gale