Category Archives: Dan Vera

Witt Pratt – Maker of Beauty.. Rest In Peace

Witt_cat I just received word that a good friend, Witt Pratt, a dear deep luscious soul of great beauty and creativity, is no longer alive in this world.  I'm in a state of shock with the news.  He was such a delight in my life and even though I didn't know him long before he moved from the city, he gave of himself with every interaction.  He was the sort of guy who would light up every room he walked into.

I had the chance to interview him for White Crane a few years ago.  I so loved interviewing him for the issue, which was on "Craft."  He was a friend, but he was more importantly, a man who had dedicated his life to making beauty without making any excuses for it:

65_wittpratt Well, I think that whether its hobby or salvation or occupation or preoccupation, it depends on how we look at it. I do believe that as difficult as it may be that it is possible for us to decide that we would rather spend our lives expressing ourselves in that way. In my case the expression is with knitting, in somebody else’s case with making really amazing cakes, or whatever. Sometime ago I decided to do that. But it took a conscious decision and it took a lot of conscious effort to bring what had been a hobby or a pastime into a more enriching and focal position in my life.

By its own being, it is creation in motion. Like so many things if we take the time to notice, when you’ve got a ball of yarn, which to many of us represents nothing short of infinite possibility, the world just opens up before you. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have found this for myself. Knitting can be practical, it can be nonsensical, it can be insanely complex or completely simple. There’s beauty in all of it if you take the time to notice it. I’m thankful to be able to notice that and just want for everyone to find something in the world that they can notice that enriches them similarly.

The excerpted interview is here: http://www.whitecranejournal.com/65/art6510.asp

In his memory, whether you knew him or not, I invite you to pay attention to your surroundings, to speak about the beauty you see, to go out of your way to make others happy in their day.  This was what he taught me by his presence and his example.  My thoughts are with his beloved Gary who I know is deeply missing his fere, his companion, his heart.  I know he was so close to his beloved mother Bobbie, and my heart goes out to her as well.

Charlatans of Intolerance

A week back the New York Times Magazine profiled the disturbingly (proudly) intolerant Evangelical Fundamentalists from Africa who have moved their "ministries" to the United States.  Worth a read.  But more worth a read is this Letter to the Editors:

Daniel Ajayi-Adeniran and Raphael Adebayo claim that the Redeemed are in America because it “has fallen into the thrall of wickedness.” If America is considered fallen, what does that say about the extreme poverty, disease, ethnic cleansing, tribal warfare and failed states of Africa where he and the Redeemed originated? In truth, the Redeemed came to America because this is where the money is, and because American freedoms allow all religions — even the most bizarre — not only to exist but to sustain their existence by exemption from taxes.

We chastised the leaders of the American automobile industry for flying to Washington on private jets, yet we subsidize by tax relief the purchase of a private jet for a religious group that prays for God to cancel debts supernaturally; believes text messages offer divine protection; prays for deliverance from curses, spells and sorcery, witchcraft, evil spirits, poverty and addiction due to demonic possession; petitions God to transform their followers into millionaires; and claims to perform miracles, see the future, raise the dead, avoid traffic jams, foresee coups, restore hair, cure kidney disease, depression and H.I.V.

How can we be so inconsistent?

STEPHEN T. MOSLEY
Newtown, Pa.

 

Indeed.

Former Priest Marries His Partner of 50 Years

An inspiring story out of Connecticut:

Former Priest Marries His Partner of 50 Years

"It is exciting and also gratifying to go this route, from the closet to being legally married on the campus where we first met," Nolan said. "It's a real sentimental journey."

But for a couple that's been together for over 50 years, the marriage is also a bit of a formality.

"For me the significance of it is the legal part, but I do believe marriage should be a civil issue and religion should be left out of it," Pingpank, a former math teacher, said. "For me it's something we should formalize because we can."

A Straight Ally on Amazonfail

Richard Nash, founder of the respected indie Soft Skull Press (now an imprint of Counterpoint), had a fascinating entry on his blog about the recent Amazon.com LGBT book-ranking controversy (if you've been in the sauna the last few days you can get up to date here, here and here).  Nash writes as a straight ally and tells the truth about the importance of vigilance when it comes to corporations like Amazon.  It's well worth a read.  A taste:

"In effect: guilty until proven innocent is the standard to which we must hold ourselves. Because that’s how the other half lives, without any choice in the matter."

You can read the rest of it here: A straight white male publisher on glitches and ham-fisted errors