branching out, Lennon, and the nature of idealism

I've covered lots of things in polymer clay in my life. In fact, I once had to move out of an apartment whose floor was completely covered in the stuff...


Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. I guess that's how life is, eh? This one worked out pretty well, I think.



$15.00 here at my etsy shop.


While I spent an afternoon making picture frames, I watched a movie called "America Versus John Lennon." Since I'm generally pop-culture challenged, this was of great interest to me (although it would have had more credibility if Geraldo Rivera hadn't been on it.) Anyway, it really got me thinking, as I rolled and molded, about the nature of nationalism and how our collective need to be at the top of the pecking order makes us (and by us, I mean the US) come off as arrogant bullies. It also brought my mind to a topic I think about quite often, which is the nature of idealism. They say that as we grow older we become more practical, more loving of the compromise and the middle ground. In the primaries, we vote for the "viable" candidate rather than the one with true democratic values. And in the thousand decisions we make every day, we search for diplomacy and middle ground and fitting in. Well, I'm going to remain an idealist like John Lennon was. Nope, it ain't practical. My candidate will never win, because he/she is too left of center (and likely too smart) for the general populus. Just because it will never happen doesn't mean we should stop fighting. I'm not specifying what the "it" is; I'm just saying that we need to keep idealists in the world or pure concepts (like peace) will disappear and we'll be left with nothing but murky, diplomatic middle ground. Middle ground isn't good enough.