I am one of those who believe that a human being is not an autonomous construction with no given structure, order, status, or role. I believe that the affirmation of freedom does not imply the negation of limits and that the affirmation of equality does not imply the leveling of differences. I believe that the powers of technology and of the imagination do not require that we forget that being is a gift, that life is prior to all of us, and that it has its own laws.I long for a society in which modernity would have its full place but without implying the denial of elementary principles of human and familial ecology; for a society in which the diversity of ways of being, of living, and of desiring is accepted as fortunate, without allowing this diversity to be diluted in the reduction to the lowest common denominator, which effaces all differentiation; for a society in which, despite the technological deployment of virtual realities and the free play of critical intelligence, the simplest words—father, mother, spouse, parents—retain their meaning, at once symbolic and embodied; for a society in which children are welcomed and find their place, their whole place, without becoming objects that must be possessed at all costs, or pawns in a power struggle.
Amazing photos of coral reef life by Felix Salazar — please click through for the rest
A society which disregards those who are weak and non-productive risks exaggerating the development of reason, organization, aggression and the desire to dominate.It becomes a society without heart, without kindness — a rational and sad society, lacking celebration, divided within itself and given to competition, rivalry and, finally violence.” ~Jean Vanier from Man and Woman, God Made Them Hear more of Jean Vanier in The Wisdom of Tenderness Photo by Craig Allen / Flickr, cc by nc-nd-2.0
In this Q&A, experts (including Harry Ransom Center Senior Research Curator of Photography Roy Flukinger) discuss the changing landscape of photography in the digital age.
Barcelona bites:Five design studios have been picked to represent the best design talent from Spain’s cultural headquarters, Barcelona.The exhibition is to be hosted by one of the UK’s thriving design hot-spots, Manchester.
Each company and the curator, David Sedgwick, have designed a letter from the exhibition title, BCN-MCR (Barcelona-Manchester). These works double as promotional posters.
The 5 consultancies representing themselves with a distinct letter (above) are: Lo Siento (N), Hey ©, Lamosca (B), Mucho (M). and Mayúscula Brands ®.
But if Jane Austen could see that a world of frantic change was about to supplant the world of peaceful fixity she knew, why then does she allow the spirit of Mansfield, in the figure of Fanny, to triumph over the forces of change, as exemplified by the Crawfords? I think one could put it this way: to a world abandoning itself to the dangers of thoughtless restlessness, Jane Austen is holding up the image of the values of thoughtful rest. Aware that the trend was for more and more people to explore the excitements of personality, she wanted to show how much there was to be said for the ‘heroism of principle’. Mansfield Park is a stoic book in that it speaks for stillness rather than movement, firmness rather than fluidity, arrest rather than change, endurance rather than adventure. In the figure of Fanny it elevates the mind that 'struggles against itself’, as opposed to the ego which indulges its promiscuous potentialities. Fanny is a true heroine because in a turbulent world it is harder to refrain from action than to let energy and impulse run riot.