Israelis Asked to Get Naked for the Environment

The Dead Sea, which unites Israelis, Palestinians and Jordanians, is dying. A receding water level and diminishing shoreline means this beautiful contender for the New Seven Wonders of the World will one day vanish if people in the region do nothing to stop it. One artist thinks he knows how to help. [READ MORE HERE]

Enter Guitar Heaven

In 2000, it was decided by the Wisconsin Arts Board that art needed to be advanced in some official way in Portage County. An“Arts Assessment” was conducted to explore the best way to spend the $50,000 the state of Wisconsin was giving to the county for this very purpose. It took four years, but by the end of 2004 a board of directors was established as was a mission statement, which says the board will strive to “connect, promote, and illuminate artistic expression, artists and audiences across Portage County.” [READ MORE HERE]

Always Be Training for the Writing Olympics

The International Writing Olympics was developed by a Peace Corps volunteer in the eastern European nation of Georgia in 2003. It is a program geared toward encouraging young people – both grade school age and university students – to write creatively. That makes no small mark on a culture dominated by post-Soviet ideology that stresses the technical forms of writing in education. [READ MORE HERE]

India Reaches Westward

On April 21st an organization called the Creative Services Support Group (CSSG) held a celebration of the arts in New Delhi. Local arts big wigs were in attendance at this cocktail party/performance which included a dance in the water of a hotel fountain. The celebration, says CSSG director Anand Kapoor, is a precursor to a planned festival called Indian Renaissance, to be held in Manchester, UK. [READ MORE HERE]

Not Just Another Music Conference

It’s called Rethink Music, but it might also be called the Rethink Music Conferences Conference in its unique approach to broaching the subject of a music industry in crisis. This coopertive production of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society and the Harvard Business school is set in Boston and bills itself as solutions-focused, pledging to facilitate a critical dialogue that offers more than just a complaint session. [READ MORE HERE]

Enter Gillian Best's World of Pigeon Racing

Description: Carbunckle’s Flight follows a dysfunctional family’s struggle to cope with father Charlie’s obsession with pigeon racing.

Excerpt:

When the bell rings Seamus Carbunckle rushes to the bike racks. He looks around for his best friend; through the crowd of hoodie-wearing, gum-chewing teens, he sees Lloyd in his usual hand-me-downs.

“Dude,” Seamus calls out. “You gotta tell your folks those pants are slowing you down.”

“I can tell them every day,” he says hitching up his over-sized trousers. “But it’s not going to change anything.”

Draping his lock across his chest, Seamus nudges his bicycle toward the street. “Today’s the day.”

“You’ve been saying that all week.”

Seamus pushes off the curb and looks right, left, and right again. There is a familiar lull in the traffic – when the lights a block north and a block south are both amber – that allows the boys to dart across the five lanes of rush-hour traffic. He hops the curb on the other side, swerving to avoid a tranny in training heels.

“Get off the sidewalk, you shit!” she shrieks. [READ MORE HERE]

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GettingDiscovered.net

Happy Easter Controversy

For many, Easter is a holiday for children, a time for entertaining them with bunnies, eggs and candy. For millions around the world it is far more meaningful, as they celebrate the belief that Jesus Christ died in the place of all humanity to satisfy the penalty of our sin and came back to life, thereby conquering all death and offering eternal life in its place as He sits at the right hand of God. A central tenet of the Christian faith is that mankind must believe in Jesus and accept the gift of eternal life if we are to be with God, and that the alternative is to be separated from Him forever in a place or state of being called Hell.

Rob Bell has written a book called Love Wins, in which he says the Bible supports the view that all of mankind will eventually choose to pledge their allegiance to Jesus ... [READ MORE HERE]

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GettingDiscovered.net