I see a great nation, upon a great continent, blessed with a great wealth of natural resources. Its hundred and thirty million people are at peace among themselves; they are making their country a good neighbor among the nations. I see a United States which can demonstrate that, under democratic methods of government, national wealth can be translated into a spreading volume of human comforts hitherto unknown, and the lowest standard of living can be raised far above the level of mere subsistence.

But here is the challenge to our democracy: In this nation I see tens of millions of its citizens — a substantial part of its whole population — who at this very moment are denied the greater part of what the very lowest standards of today call the necessities of life. [...]

It is not in despair that I paint you that picture. I paint it for you in hope — because the Nation, seeing and understanding the injustice in it, proposes to paint it out. We are determined to make every American citizen the subject of his country’s interest and concern; and we will never regard any faithful law-abiding group within our borders as superfluous. The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.

If I know aught of the spirit and purpose of our Nation, we will not listen to Comfort, Opportunism, and Timidity. We will carry on.

– President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Second Inaugural Address (1937)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Still making your evening plans? Look through out Cultural nonprofits for some great, local offerings of music, theater, dance, and art.

First, rehearse your song by rote
To each word a warbling note:
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.

– Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

And yet I wish but for the thing I have:
My bounty is as boundless as the sea,
My love as deep; the more I give to thee,
The more I have, for both are infinite.

– Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

HELPED are those who find the courage to do at least one small thing each day to help the existence of another–plant, animal, river, or human being. They shall be joined by a multitude of the timid.

HELPED are those who lose their fear of death; theirs is the power to envision the future in a blade of grass.

HELPED are those who love and actively support the diversity of life; they shall be secure in their differences.

HELPED are those who KNOW.

– “The Temple of My Familiar” by American writer Alice Walker, born today in 1944

Reflect on your present blessings, of which every man has many; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.
– Charles Dickens, born today in 1812

If enough people think of a thing and work hard enough at it, I guess it’s pretty nearly bound to happen, wind and weather permitting.
– Laura Ingalls Wilder, born today in 1867

I don’t believe in fear of divine vengeance, and I do believe in justice and equality.
– Sinclair Lewis, born today in 1885

State of the Union 2012 from President Barack Obama:

Think about the America within our reach: A country that leads the world in educating its people. An America that attracts a new generation of high-tech manufacturing and high-paying jobs. A future where we’re in control of our own energy, and our security and prosperity aren’t so tied to unstable parts of the world. An economy built to last, where hard work pays off, and responsibility is rewarded.

We can do this. I know we can, because we’ve done it before. At the end of World War II, when another generation of heroes returned home from combat, they built the strongest economy and middle class the world has ever known. My grandfather, a veteran of Patton’s Army, got the chance to go to college on the GI Bill. My grandmother, who worked on a bomber assembly line, was part of a workforce that turned out the best products on Earth.

The two of them shared the optimism of a Nation that had triumphed over a depression and fascism. They understood they were part of something larger; that they were contributing to a story of success that every American had a chance to share — the basic American promise that if you worked hard, you could do well enough to raise a family, own a home, send your kids to college, and put a little away for retirement.

But the forming a new System of Government, for so numerous a people, of very different views, and habits, spread upon such a vast extent of Territory, containing such a great variety of soils, and under such extremes of climate, was a task, which nothing less than the dreadful apprehension of losing our national existence, could have compelled the people to under-take. We can be known to the world, only under the appellation of the United States.

– statesman John Hancock, born today in 1737

It is not enough to know your craft; you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.

– painter Edouard Manet, born today in 1832

We must remember that intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character — that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but worthy objectives upon which to concentrate. The broad education will, therefore, transmit to one not only the accumulated knowledge of the race but also the accumulated experience of social living.

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Purpose of Education” (1948)

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation.

– Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top” (1968)

“And what is so strange about that memory is that everybody seems to be floating on those sweet sounds, moving rhythmically, languorously, in complete isolation; responding more to the mood of the music than to its beat. When I remember it, I think of it as dancing. Dancing with eyes half closed because to open them would break the spell. Dancing as if language has surrendered to movement — as if this ritual, this wordless ceremony, was now the way to speak, to whisper private and sacred things, to be in touch with some otherness. Dancing as if the very heart of life and all its hopes might be found in those assuaging notes and those hushed rhythms and in those silent and hypnotic movements. Dancing as if language no longer existed because words were no longer necessary.”

– Dancing at Lughnasa by Irish playwright Brian Friel (born today in 1929)

And in this spirit, get to know our dance nonprofits today.

I tend to be a bit skeptical of New Year’s resolutions, since (for no other reason) the first day of the second month of winter feels like an odd time to restart engines or rethink strategies. Moreover, for many arts nonprofits, the new “year” actually starts in August or September. That said, rather than a time for a restart, maybe this is a good time just to pause, ponder, and reconsider. Which was the theme of many of these resolutions, compiled by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Here are three that jumped out to me:

Stop referring to our industry by what we don?t do. Not-for-profit is a tax status, not an operating model. We are social-benefit organizations that produce significant value.

– Howard Kucher, executive director, the Evergreen Project

Read all »

She looked out the window her whole life, the way so many women sit their sadness on an elbow. I wonder if she made the best with what she got or was she sorry because she couldn’t be all the things she wanted to be. Esperanza. I have inherited her name, but I don’t want to inherit her place by the window.

Because the way you grow old is kind of like an onion or like the rings inside a tree trunk or like my little wooden dolls that fit one inside the other, each year inside the next one. That’s how being eleven years old is. You don’t feel eleven. Not right away. It takes a few days, weeks even, sometimes even months before you say Eleven when they ask you. And you don’t feel smart eleven, not until you’re almost twelve. That’s the way it is.

– The House On Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, born today in 1954

And in this spirit, learn more about our literacy charities right here.