Huntington Gardens

The blonde ingenues, turned bronze madonnas. Hair fashionably gathered at the crown, babies pushed before them as trophies of their wealthy alliances…

The dynasties of Asian-American families celebrating their assimilation beneath paintings of alabaster virgins… 

The teenage girls in search of enlightenment among the rose bushes…

All basking in the sunlit glow of one insanely rich man - long dead. A man who built America’s arteries on the moist backs of foreign labor. From his fecund flesh bloom flowers and jungles, the stage for rites of passage: marriage, graduation, anniversaries. And the cherry on top: the descendants of his laborers now claim this place as the nucleus of their Americanization. And no doubt, this place is a testament to their economic ascent. Membership isn’t cheap.

Purple jacaranda outside a Buddhist temple, Little Tokyo, LA

Purple jacaranda outside a Buddhist temple, Little Tokyo, LA

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where. I love you simply, without problems or pride: I love you in this way because I do not know any other way of loving but this, in which there is no I or you, so intimate that your hand upon my chest is my hand, so intimate that when I fall asleep your eyes close.
Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets (via matrem)

matrem

On the inside

On the inside

The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen. Perhaps the most important thing we ever give each other is our attention. A loving silence often has far more power to heal and to connect than the most well-intentioned words.
Rachel Naomi Remen (via black-tangled-heart)

arpeggia

This is my grandfather. He’s been through a lot: world war two, the liberation of China in 1949, opium, building roads in a labor camp for 30 years, a divorce, estranged from his three children… His list goes on. And yet he smiles. He smiles! All in all, he has much to smile about. My grandpa, almost a stranger to me who’ve grown up away from him. I love to see his smile. Because in his smile I see myself. I see the existence of my own courage and my own resilience. All in all, we all have something to smile about.

This is my grandfather. He’s been through a lot: world war two, the liberation of China in 1949, opium, building roads in a labor camp for 30 years, a divorce, estranged from his three children… His list goes on. And yet he smiles. He smiles! All in all, he has much to smile about. My grandpa, almost a stranger to me who’ve grown up away from him. I love to see his smile. Because in his smile I see myself. I see the existence of my own courage and my own resilience. All in all, we all have something to smile about.

Little Tokyo view from first street bridge. The sky is changing.

Little Tokyo view from first street bridge. The sky is changing.

Sometimes food is a battle for life. I went to a dumpling house in Beijing. At the table next to us, a granny was eating lunch alone. She sipped her beer contemplatively. And ate two plates of dumplings all by herself. Sometimes one needs to eat alone I guess. And sometimes a prayer just isn’t enough.

Here I am again. Somethings are familiar, but vague like paintings hung on a far wall or a miniature covered in dust. The plastic glue smell in the air, the slur of the language, the dry wind slap in the face. The millions and millions of faces you pass with familiar features, yet expressionless. Who are they? Do they have courage? Where is the crab general leading his shrimp minions?

npr:

jtotheizzoe:

staceythinx:

I am a big fan of the minimalist black and white images that have been coming back from NASA’s Cassini Orbiter, but I think the ultraviolet-light images are pretty cool too. 

Make that two fans! Awesome stuff. More views through the UV lens coming later today, coincidentally.

These are beautiful! -Savy

saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

1988 - A Novel by Han Han

这么多年来，一直是我脚下的流沙裹着我四处漂泊，它也不淹没我，它只是时不时提醒我，你没有别的选择，否则你就被风吹走了。我就怎么浑浑噩噩地度过了我所有热血的岁月，被裹到东，被裹到西，连我曾经所鄙视的种子都不如。

一直到一周以前，我对流沙说，让风把我吹走吧。

流沙说，你没了根，马上就死。

我说，我存够了水，能活一阵子。

流沙说，但是风会把你无体止的留在空中，你就脱水了。

我说，我还有雨水。

流沙说，雨水要流到大地上，才能够积蓄成水塘，它在空中的时候，只是一个装饰品。

我说，我会掉到水塘里的。

流沙说，那你就淹死了。

我说，让我试试吧。

流沙说，我把你拱到小沙丘上，你低头看看，多少像你这样的植物，都是依附着我们。

我说，有种你就把我抬得更高一点，让我看看普天下所有的植物，是不是都是像我们这样生活着。

流沙说，你怎么能反抗我。我要吞没你。

我说，那我就让西风带走我吧。

于是我毅然往上一挣扎，其实也没有费力，我离开了流沙，往脚底一看，操，原来我不是一个植物，我是一只动物，这帮孙子骗了我二十多年。作为一个优有脚的动物，我终于可以决定我的去向。我回头看了流沙一眼，流沙说，你走吧，别告诉别的植物其实他们是动物。

我要去向我的目的地。我要去那里支援我的兄弟们。

A plant jumps from the quicksand and realizes that it has legs, it’s actually an animal not a plant. The quicksand has been lying to him all along. As he escapes to freedom, the quicksand tells him, don’t tell all the other plants that they’re actually animals.