In response to the very last Daily Post Photo Challenge.
To help photographers get over prompt withdrawal, during the month of June ARHtistic License will be posting its own daily prompt that can be interpreted in any art.
May31
Tag Archives: The Daily Post
May27
Famous
In response to today’s Daily Post prompt.
photo by Robert Hooft
I wanted the success,
But did I want the fame?
I dreamed people would love my work,
Then be delighted to discover I was the author.
Can’t I be famously anonymous?
Enjoy my royalties without having to take selfies with strangers,
Pretending to be intimately acquainted?
Could I just be paid now,
And schedule my fifteen minutes after I’m gone?
May26
The Demise of the Daily Post—and an Attempt to Fill the Void
Yesterday, the news that WordPress’ Daily Post will cease broke my heart. I especially will miss the writing prompts and the photography challenges, in which I have often participated during the last three years. The writing prompts have helped me in my effort to write more poetry—they helped ideas spark in my imagination.
This morning it occurred to me that others can step up to do what The Daily Post did. So, during June 2018, ARHtistic License will post a daily prompt that creatives can respond to in any medium or genre—memoir, flash fiction, watercolor, photography, poetry, whatever. Bloggers can create a pingback to the prompt, or leave a link in the comments. (If you share your post with us, please read at least two other offerings.)
If the ARHtistic License Prompt catches on during June, I’ll continue it indefinitely.
What do you think? Will you participate? Please share in the comments below.
Mar18
I’d Rather Be…
Who are these friendly people extending their hands toward one another? See their smiles?
The arthritis in my left hip has reached critical mass, and until well after my hip replacement surgery in July, there are certain things I can’t do.
When I saw The Daily Post’s photo challenge this past week, I knew exactly how I would finish this sentence. You see, yesterday was the 31st Phoenix International Folk Dance Festival. I brought my camera and took lots of pictures, but I’d rather be…dancing.
Those lovely people above who look so happy are dancing to an American folk tune called Paul Jones and executing a square dance figure known as a grand right and left. If you scroll through the photos at just the right speed, you’ll get a feel for the sequence.
Or you could watch the short video below.
The festival was delightful, but I missed out on the best fun, the dancing. I have lots more pictures, so I’ll post a whole photo essay on the festival soon.
Jan21
Strategy
In response to the Daily Post Prompt:
Strategy—the human attempt to attain desirable ends through available means. (~nod to Max McKeown)
I will
Make you mine:
Diagnose the problem
Gain perspective
Formulate a plan of action
Utilize whatever ploy necessary
Consider the consequences
Implement my schematic
Proceed from the status quo
To the desired position
Make you mine I will.
poem ©ARHuelsenbeck
Dec20
My Favorite Photo of 2017
The theme for the current Daily Post photo challenge is your most meaningful photo of the year. It’s hard to choose a single shot, but I’m leaning toward the one below, taken last month at Serb Fest in Phoenix. My daughter Katie accompanied me in honor of my birthday, which made it an even more special occasion. Even though we have no Serbian ancestry, I love the folk dances of Serbia, which were featured at the festival. These lovely Serbian-American girls in their beautiful traditional costumes danced so beautifully:
Dec5
Beach House
My response to The Daily Post prompt: relocate:
Beach House
Gonna ask my realtor
Can she get me a deal
On a sweet little beach house
With a lot of appeal.
It should be in the tropics
But not too hot
Close to the water
In a shady spot
Must come with a cabana
And cabana boy
With lots of clean towels
And mai tai joy
All this and more
At a super price—
Less than a hundred
Would be very nice
poem © ARHuelsenbeck
Nov29
Snippet: The God of Paradox
Tonight I’m taking one of my projects to the next level. I’m field-testing a Bible study guide I’ve been working on for the last two years, The God of Paradox: Relying on God Even When He Doesn’t Meet Your Expectations. When I saw today’s Daily Post prompt, I knew it was a divine nudge to share from this message. Here is an excerpt from the first lesson, which I’ll be sharing with my Bible study group tonight. It’s entitled Paradox I: Why Does Our Holy God Allow Evil to Exist?
- Read Genesis 1:26 through 3:24.
That God permits wickedness is the singular issue that caused me to walk away from God in my early teens. Maybe you struggle with it, too. After all, if God is righteous and all-powerful, with unlimited options, how can He not eliminate evil as soon as it emerges?
When God created the first humans, He told them, “‘Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’” (Genesis 1:28). With those words, He put them in charge of creation. He gave them a beautiful paradise full of nutritious plants (Genesis 1:29-30).
But He set one limit—not to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:16-17). Adam and Eve could trust that God knew what was best for them, or they could rebel against restriction and find out what the alternative to best is.
Satan, the serpent, tempted the humans with the lure of the power of secret knowledge. “When you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). To our naïve first parents, that sounded beneficial, and they ate.
God could have blocked that first intrusion of evil. He did not. When He gave humans dominion over the earth, He also gave them free will. They had the power to ponder, to consider, to discern, and to decide. Would they utilize their free will to obey the God Who had provided them with everything they could ever want?
I wish God had created us with an intellect that propelled us into doing only good things that would glorify Him and bless our fellow human beings. But He didn’t. He wanted us to know Him and to learn to trust Him. He wanted us to obey Him joyfully, because we want to, not because we couldn’t do otherwise. Free will is a good gift of a loving God, Who provides us the opportunity (and the responsibility) of shaping our own characters. His gift of free will allows us to decide whether to serve Him and become the people He created us to be, or go our own way and serve ourselves.
Now, this is just a snippet. There’s more to this lesson: more text, more passages from Scripture, questions to ponder (such as, “Are people born good, evil, or a blank slate?”), personal application, and prayer.
With the insight I get from working through this manuscript with my Bible study group, I hope to fine-tune it and submit it for publication in 2018.
Nov15
Honk If You Love…
My response to the Daily Post prompt.
Honk if you love:
Jesus
Babies
The beach
The clean smell of the air after a rain
Biting the least attractive piece in a box of assorted chocolates and discovering it’s the best thing you’ve ever tasted
Taking an item to the checkout and finding out it’s 50% off
Quitting time on Fridays
Getting a hand-written letter
Kissing your sweetheart
Family heirlooms
Wildflowers
Bumping into an old friend
Finding $20 you forgot you had
A night sky full of stars
Nov7
My Pain in a Black Disguise
In response to today’s Daily Post prompt: Faint.
My Pain in a Black Disguise
On my failed canvas I overpaint
This time allowing myself no preconceived expectations
Mindful only of each stroke of the brush
And selecting only bright colors
Straight from the tube, no muting
The movement on the surface pleases me
Draws my eyes ‘round
Never lingering for long
Until I see it: the faint outline of the portrait
I’m trying to forget
I take my palette knife
And scrape off the layers
Intended to hide my pain
Pain is inevitable
I paint the whole thing black
© ARHuelsenbeck
ARHtistic License 