“Starving artist” is acceptable at age 20, suspect at age 40, and problematical at age 60. ..

Robert Genn

Evening Reflection Surprise Lake Tonquin Valley

Robert Genn was born in Victoria, B.C. Canada in 1936. His formal training included the University of Victoria, the University of British Columbia and the Art Center School in Los Angeles, California.

Recognized as one of Canada’s most accomplished painters, his work is well known internationally. While his subjects are universal (he has painted in many countries), he excels in portraying Canada. He is perhaps best known for his work on the West Coast and in the Rocky Mountains.

Robert’s technique includes a tradition of strong design with patterns of color and form, with a pervasive sense of personal style. Grand themes are transposed onto small panels and larger canvases in a manner similar to members of the Group of Seven. Most of Robert’s current work is in acrylic. He has also done considerable work in oils, watercolour, and silk screen printing.

http://www.robertgenn.com/

Life is all memory, except for the one present moment that goes by you so quickly you hardly catch it going…

Tennessee Williams

Thomas Lanier Williams was born on March 26, 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi. The second of three children, his family life was full of tension. His parents, a shoe salesman and the daughter of a minister, often engaged in violent arguments that frightened his sister Rose.

In 1927, Williams got his first taste of literary fame when he took third place in a national essay contest sponsored by The Smart Set magazine. In 1929, he was admitted to the University of Missouri where he saw a production of Henrik Ibsen’s Ghosts and decided to become a playwright. But his degree was interrupted when his father forced him to withdraw from college and work at the International Shoe Company. There he worked with a young man named Stanley Kowalski who would later resurface as a character in A Streetcar Named Desire.

Eventually, Tom returned to school. In 1937, he had two of his plays (Candles to the Sun and The Fugitive Kind) produced by Mummers of St. Louis, and in 1938, he graduated from the University of Iowa. After failing to find work in Chicago, he moved to New Orleans and changed his name from “Tom” to “Tennessee” which was the state of his father’s birth.

In 1939, the young playwright received a $1,000 Rockefeller Grant, and a year later, Battle of Angels was produced in Boston. In 1944, what many consider to be his best play, The Glass Menagerie, had a very successful run in Chicago and a year later burst its way onto Broadway. The play tells the story of Tom, his disabled sister, Laura, and their controlling mother Amanda who tries to make a match between Laura and the gentleman caller. Many people believe that Tennessee used his own familial relationships as inspiration for the play. His own mother, who is often compared to the controlling Amanda, allowed doctors to perform a frontal lobotomy on Tennessee’s sister Rose, an event that greatly disturbed Williams who cared for Rose throughout much of her adult life. Elia Kazan (who directed many of Williams’ greatests successes) said of Tennessee: “Everything in his life is in his plays, and everything in his plays is in his life.” The Glass Menagerie won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best play of the season.

Williams followed up his first major critical success with several other Broadway hits including such plays as A Streetcar Named Desire, Summer and Smoke, A Rose Tattoo, and Camino Real. He received his first Pulitzer Prize in 1948 for A Streetcar Named Desire, and reached an even larger world-wide audience in 1950 and 1951 when The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire were made into major motion pictures. Later plays which were also made into motion pictures include Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (for which he earned a second Pulitzer Prize in 1955), Orpheus Descending, and Night of the Iguana.

Tennessee Williams met and fell in love with Frank Merlo in 1947 while living in New Orleans. Merlo, a second generation Sicilian American who had served in the U.S. Navy in World War II, was a steadying influence in Williams’ chaotic life. But in 1961, Merlo died of Lung Cancer and the playwright went into a deep depression that lasted for ten years. In fact, Williams struggled with depression throughout most of his life and lived with the constant fear that he would go insane as did his sister Rose. For much of this period, he battled addictions to prescription drugs and alcohol.

On February 24, 1983, Tennessee Williams choked to death on a bottle cap at his New York City residence at the Hotel Elysee. He is buried in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition to twenty-five full length plays, Williams produced dozens of short plays and screenplays, two novels, a novella, sixty short stories, over one-hundred poems and an autobiography. Among his many awards, he won two Pulitzer Prizes and four New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards.

http://www.imagi-nation.com/moonstruck/clsc9.htm

Let us not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give us the determination to make the right things happen…

Peter Marshall

Dr. Peter Marshall (May 27, 1902 – January 26, 1949[1]) was a Scottish-American preacher, former pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, and twice served as Chaplain of the United States Senate. He is remembered most popularly from the biography A Man Called Peter, and the film made from it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Marshall_(preacher)

Know people for who they are rather than for what they are…

Anthony J. D’Angelo

Anthony J. D’Angelo is a man who has sparked a revolution in higher education. In the spring of 1995, he was inspired by a vision to Take Higher Education Deeper. At the young age of 23, he left his cushy job, liquidated his personal savings, got a “grant” from his Discover Card (he went into over $150,000 in personal debt to fund the vision) and drove throughout the Mid-Atlantic to interview over 5,000 college students and 1,000 university professionals. His goal was to gain the pulse of what college students were missing. Six months into his journey he found it.

Based on his research and interviews he learned what was missing from most students’ collegiate experience. As D’Angelo says, “Most college students go to college and get a degree, but not an education.” From this reality he went on to create a small yet passionate educational group called EmPower X!. EmPower X! is a team of young adults all under the age of 30 dedicated to empowering other young adults.

In the year 2000 in an effort to be of even greater service to the higher education community, Anthony expanded EmPower X! into Collegiate EmPowerment a nationally recognized 501c3 non profit educational firm dedicated to empowering college students and higher education professionals via Collegiate EmPowerment Student Seminars, Publications and Professional Development Services. Since taking action on his vision Anthony D’Angelo and the EmPower X! Team has gone on to empower over 1.5 million college students and over 5,000 higher education professionals from over 2,100 college campuses throughout North America.

As the #1 Contributing Author and Editor of The NY Times Bestseller, Chicken Soup For The College Soul, Anthony D’Angelo has been featured in several national media outlets. As early as 1997 at the young age of twenty five, D’Angelo was hailed by CNN as, “The Personal Development Guru Of His Generation”. In the same year SPIN Magazine has compared D’Angelo with the likes of world renowned motivational speaker, Anthony Robbins. He has been quoted in numerous publications including Woman’s Day and Oprah’s O Magazine where his famous one liners have been quoted along side the thoughts of Einstein, Ann Frank and Nelson Mandela.

Today D’Angelo serves as the Chief Visionary Officer of Collegiate EmPowerment where it is his lifetime mission to Take Higher Education Deeper by empowering students, educators and University Executives a like to embrace the concepts, strategies and tools of Collegiate EmPowerment for success in the 21st Century.

http://www.collegiate-empowerment.org/tony-bio.html

The worst sorrows in life are not in its losses and misfortunes, but its fears…

Arthur Christopher Benson

Arthur Christopher Benson (24 April 1862 – 17 June 1925) was an English essayist, poet, and author and the 28th Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Benson was one of six children of Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury, 1882-96. An uncle of the family was philosopher Henry Sidgwick. The Benson family was exceptionally literate and accomplished, but their history was somewhat tragic. A son and daughter died young; and another daughter, as well as Arthur himself, suffered badly from a mental condition that was probably manic-depressive psychosis, which they had inherited from their father. None of the children ever married. Arthur was homosexual, though his diaries suggest he had few or no sexual relationships.

Despite his illness, Arthur was a distinguished academic and a most prolific author. He was educated at Eton and King’s College, Cambridge. From 1885 to 1903 he taught at Eton, returning to Cambridge to lecture in English literature for Magdalene College. From 1915 to 1925, he was Master of Magdalene. From 1906, he was a governor of Gresham’s School.

His poems and volumes of essays, such as From a College Window, were famous in his day; and he left one of the longest diaries ever written, some four million words. Today, he is best remembered as the author of the words to one of Britain’s best-loved patriotic songs, Land of Hope and Glory, and as a brother to novelist E. F. Benson.

A Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, he founded in 1916 the Benson Medal to be awarded ‘in respect of meritorious works in poetry, fiction, history and belles lettres’

He is buried at the Parish of the Ascension Burial Ground in Cambridge.

Life is now in session. Are you present?…

B. Copeland

There are three types of people in this world: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened… You can decide which type of person you want to be…

Mary Kay Ash

Mary Kay Ash earned a place in history when she stepped out in a man’s world to blaze a new path for women. Recognized today as America’s greatest woman entrepreneur, Mary Kay created new opportunities for women around the world. Her revolutionary move led to a multibillion-dollar success. In the process, she earned a place in the hearts of millions for her giving spirit, unwavering values and inspiring belief in the power and potential of women.

http://www.marykaytribute.com/

The ability to convert ideas to things is the secret to outward success…

Henry Ward Beecher

Henry Ward Beecher (June 24, 1813 – March 8, 1887) was a prominent Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century. An 1875 adultery trial in which he was accused of having an affair with a married woman was one of the most notorious American trials of the 19th century. In 2007, The Most Famous Man in America: A Biography of Henry Ward Beecher by Debby Applegate won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher

Ninety percent of achievement is deciding where you want to be and flying over the obstacles. ..

Linda Lundstrom

Embodying effortless style with a unique elegance and artistic flair, the LUNDSTRÖM label is synonymous with beautiful wearable clothing. Originally founded in 1974 by award winning Canadian designer Linda Lundström, the LUNDSTRÖM brand is most recognized for its statement-making outerwear including the iconic LaPARKA and for designing fashion for women sizes 2 to 24.

http://www.lundstrom.ca/DesignerBio.aspx

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation… even so does inaction sap the vigor of the mind…

Leonardo da Vinci

The Battle of Anghiari 1505

The illegitimate son of a 25-year-old notary, Ser Piero, and a peasant girl, Caterina, Leonardo was born on April 15, 1452, in Vinci, Italy, just outside Florence. His father took custody of the little fellow shortly after his birth, while his mother married someone else and moved to a neighboring town. They kept on having kids, although not with each other, and they eventually supplied him with a total of 17 half sisters and brothers..

Growing up in his father’s Vinci home, Leonardo had access to scholarly texts owned by family and friends. He was also exposed to Vinci’s longstanding painting tradition, and when he was about 15 his father apprenticed him to the renowned workshop of Andrea del Verrochio in Florence. Even as an apprentice, Leonardo demonstrated his colossal talent. Indeed, his genius seems to have seeped into a number of pieces produced by the Verrocchio’s workshop from the period 1470 to 1475. For example, one of Leonardo’s first big breaks was to paint an angel in Verrochio’s “Baptism of Christ,” and Leonardo was so much better than his master’s that Verrochio allegedly resolved never to paint again. Leonardo stayed in the Verrocchio workshop until 1477 when he set up a shingle for himself.

In search of new challenges and the big bucks, he entered the service of the Duke of Milan in 1482, abandoning his first commission in Florence, “The Adoration of the Magi”. He spent 17 years in Milan, leaving only after Duke Ludovico Sforza’s fall from power in 1499. It was during these years that Leonardo hit his stride, reaching new heights of scientific and artistic achievement.

The Duke kept Leonardo busy painting and sculpting and designing elaborate court festivals, but he also put Leonardo to work designing weapons, buildings and machinery. From 1485 to 1490, Leonardo produced a studies on loads of subjects, including nature, flying machines, geometry, mechanics, municipal construction, canals and architecture (designing everything from churches to fortresses). His studies from this period contain designs for advanced weapons, including a tank and other war vehicles, various combat devices, and submarines. Also during this period, Leonardo produced his first anatomical studies. His Milan workshop was a veritable hive of activity, buzzing with apprentices and students.

Alas, Leonardo’s interests were so broad, and he was so often compelled by new subjects, that he usually failed to finish what he started. This lack of “stick-to-it-ness” resulted in his completing only about six works in these 17 years, including “The Last Supper” and “The Virgin on the Rocks,” and he left dozens of paintings and projects unfinished or unrealized (see “Big Horse” in sidebar). He spent most of his time studying science, either by going out into nature and observing things or by locking himself away in his workshop cutting up bodies or pondering universal truths.

Between 1490 and 1495 he developed his habit of recording his studies in meticulously illustrated notebooks. His work covered four main themes: painting, architecture, the elements of mechanics, and human anatomy. These studies and sketches were collected into various codices and manuscripts, which are now hungrily collected by museums and individuals (Bill Gates recently plunked down $30 million for the Codex Leicester!).

Back to Milan… after the invasion by the French and Ludovico Sforza’s fall from power in 1499, Leonardo was left to search for a new patron. Over the next 16 years, Leonardo worked and traveled throughout Italy for a number of employers, including the dastardly Cesare Borgia. He traveled for a year with Borgia’s army as a military engineer and even met Niccolo Machiavelli, author of “The Prince.” Leonardo also designed a bridge to span the “golden horn” in Constantinople during this period and received a commission, with the help of Machiavelli, to paint the “Battle of Anghiari.”

About 1503, Leonardo reportedly began work on the “Mona Lisa.” On July 9, 1504, he received notice of the death of his father, Ser Piero. Through the contrivances of his meddling half brothers and sisters, Leonardo was deprived of any inheritance. The death of a beloved uncle also resulted in a scuffle over inheritance, but this time Leonardo beat out his scheming siblings and wound up with use of the uncle’s land and money.

From 1513 to 1516, he worked in Rome, maintaining a workshop and undertaking a variety of projects for the Pope. He continued his studies of human anatomy and physiology, but the Pope forbade him from dissecting cadavers, which truly cramped his style.

Following the death of his patron Giuliano de’ Medici in March of 1516, he was offered the title of Premier Painter and Engineer and Architect of the King by Francis I in France. His last and perhaps most generous patron, Francis I provided Leonardo with a cushy job, including a stipend and manor house near the royal chateau at Amboise.

Although suffering from a paralysis of the right hand, Leonardo was still able to draw and teach. He produced studies for the Virgin Mary from “The Virgin and Child with St. Anne”, studies of cats, horses, dragons, St. George, anatomical studies, studies on the nature of water, drawings of the Deluge, and of various machines.

Leonardo died on May 2, 1519 in Cloux, France. Legend has it that King Francis was at his side when he died, cradling Leonardo’s head in his arms.

http://www.mos.org/leonardo/bio.html