Posts in ‘POLITICAL DIARY’ Category

WAKE-UP! The Political Power of Art and Dreams

Tuesday, September 18th, 2018

Like surrealism, the political-art movement opposing totalitarianism in the aftermath of the horrors of World War 1, the power of art and dreaming in these turbulent times holds the possibility of social change.

Art and dreams are conduits to truth, paths to healing and transformation. Art and dreams wake us to reality and response.

That is why I am curating and inviting you to “Wake-Up! The Political Power of Art and Dreams,” a mixed media exhibition at the Claudia Chapline Gallery, Stinson Beach, California, October 6-October 28, is set the month before the 2018 Congressional elections to create dialogue and raise consciousness about U.S domestic and foreign policy.

An opening day reception will be held from 2-4 pm on Saturday, October 6.

At the reception; attendees will share/write/sketch their political dreams to inspire positive action.

The exhibition in the pop-up gallery will include works derived from dreams by Northern California artists: “Dream Vessels” by MARSHA CONNELL; “Flag of Death”" and other images of war by CLAUDIA CHAPLINE; works by artist-activist RICHARD KAMLER; ” FrankenBush,”commissioned by PLUM DREAMS MEDIA; “They Never Stood a Chance,” an installation of remembrance and survival by JENNIFER LUGRIS; and “Dream Veritas! From Tragedy to Transformation,” a multimedia presentation of dream profiles by journalist and exhibition curator JOYCE LYNN, and more. Several graphic pieces will capture dreams about Donald Trump.

WAKE-UP! is an activity of the 50 State Initiative of ForFreedoms.org, a platform for civic engagement, discourse, and direct action for artists in the U.S.

A percentage of sales from the exhibition will be donated to Bay Area peace candidates.

SUBSCRIBE & Wake-Up to the Power of Dreams

Monday, April 30th, 2018

Subscribe to PLUM DREAMS JOURNAL, our new monthly publication filled with timely political dreams revealing uncomfortable truths, proffering guidance for positive social change, and sharing dreams, tips and tools for remembering, understanding, listening to, and expressing you dreams for personal and planetary change.

The introductory offer is only $26 for a year (12 issues) of witty and insightful inner wisdom arriving the second Sunday of each month to your email inbox. Contact Info@PlumDreams.com or call 415-267-7620 and we’ll set you up with a subscription.

Subscribe by sending an email to Info@PlumDreams.com. We will invoice you $26 for 12 issues, so you can pay by credit card or PayPal. If you prefer, send a check payable to Plum Dreams Media to PO Box 7152, Louisville, Kentucky 40257.

Dream On!

Joyce Lynn, Editor

THE AMERICAN FLAG OF DEATH

Tuesday, April 17th, 2018

painting © by Claudia Chapline

In a dream, I’m standing on a ladder painting a large (American) flag. When I awoke the next day, I sketched the flag in my journal and then I made a small painting from the drawing/dream. The stars resemble exploding bombs, the stripes, missiles. A skeleton’s head emerges from the war machinery.

For me, the flag painting symbolizes the discrepancy between American ideals and manifest American policy.

March 11, 2006*
Claudia Chapline
Artist, activist, Gallery owner
Stinson Beach, California

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May 1, 2018 — PDJ Commentary

US neo-cons, fortified by Iraq war architect John Bolton as National Security advisor; an unfettered Benjamin Netanyahu as prime minister of Israel, and the belligerent Donald Trump as US president, aided by a compliant corporate media and complacent Congress–the same forces capitulating the US into the illegal, immoral, and disasterous Iraq war–are aligning to fell Iran, their final target in the Middle East.

We are reposting Claudia Chapline’s prescient American Flag of Death dream and fortifying the original with the stark costs of war to re/awaken you to the horrors the US war machine inflicts before — once again– it is too late and another country is decimated and millions of people suffer:

–2.4 million Iraqi civilian deaths.**

–4,489 US soldiers killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom (originally Operation Iraqi Liberation -OIL – 2003-12.

–14 journalists  killed by US forces

–$1.1 trillion US taxpayers dollars spent on Iraq war direct spending (plus billions in hidden costs) **

–12,095 US bombs dropped on Iraqis in 2016 (Barack Obama’s final year as president)

–26,172 US bombs dropped on 7 countries in the Middle East in 2016

–215% increase in civilian deaths in 2017, Donald Trump’s first year in office from

Obama’s final year as US-led bombing is increasingly “indiscriminate”

–50% more coalition (mostly US) air strikes in Iraq and Syria in 2017

Total cost: the destruction of Iraq, the cradle of civilization, and the genocide of a people

GW Bush initiated six minutes of “shock and awe” on Baghdad, Iraq, based on a lie about WMD and occupied the country for years; Barack  Obama extended the bombing and mayhem to Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, and Lebanon. Donald Trump has increased the bloodshed seven fold. Congress, regardless of whether the Democrats or Republicans are in control, has relinquished its Constitutional role in matters of war and peace. The war the media cares about is the alleged cyber battle with Russia.

Total cost: destruction of Iraq, the cradle of civilization; genocide of a people, and demise of the soul of the US democracy, eradicated by its own missiles and bombs. Can/will we the people find a way to stop the war machine; make reparations, rebuild what we have destroyed, and redirect money from armaments to create a thriving and healthy nation at home?

—–/-

**Figure from a stunning story by Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J.S. Davies, Counterpunch.org, March 16, 2018.

*** Brown University

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* Around the time of the dream, marking the third anniversary of the U.S. bombing of Iraq, the U.S. invasion and occupation had killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.