“It costs approximately $40,000 to incarcerate a juvenile offender for one year. With that money… Parks and Recreation in California could have him or her attend camp for 2 weeks, play soccer for 3 months, play basketball for 3 more months, receive help at the Youth Center Homework Center/Computer Lab everyday after school, participate in daily Youth Center programs, take 2 supervised adventure trips, 36 classes of Spanish, 9 piano lessons, 13 ballet lessons, 3 cartooning classes, 8 Mad Science classes, 5 karate classes, 9 acting lessons through the Children’s Theater, 7 ice skating classes, 5 rock climbing classes, 7 ice hockey classes, 8 tap dance classes, 8 tennis lessons, 9 Masters Art classes, 9 gymnastics classes, 5 fencing classes and receive a Babysitting Certificate after taking 3 classes. After which they could return to you: $37,797 and one much happier and healthier kid.” cites: Coles. 01 Jan. 2007 online: http://www.mrpaonline.org/resources_library/ColesArticle.pdf (link no longer active 08-12-07)

Michelangelo Category: Art and Photography Michelangelo and the Art of Seeing Deeply by Sunny Alex Grey is the author of The Mission of Art. In the chapter titled "Deeply Seeing" Grey shares with us his profound experience viewing Michelangelo's sculpture The Pieta in which he "hears" the words of the artist speaking to him as one artist to another. "...At Dell'opera del Duomo, I was drawing the Pieta' that Michelangelo carved while in his seventies, which includes his self-portrait as a hooded Nicodemus. I began to hear in my mind what I sensed was Michelangelo's voice: 'This stone that your see is like the flesh body; respect it but never worship it. Reserve your devotion for the living Christ, the light of God within and unseen. All flesh is dead as this stone. The spirit animates it. Love that.' I felt as if the divine Michelangelo were trying to keep me focused on the true source of beauty and telling me not to get so overwhelmed by the material object." Michelangelo understood the art of seeing deeply. He was so adept at carving the animating spirit of The Pieta' that in 1817 Marie-Henri Stendhal fainted from viewing the sculpture.* I would like to add, it was likely because novelist Stendhal had the ability to see deeply that he had this unusual reaction. What is Seeing Deeply? And is there a language we can use to express it? The answer is yes to both questions. Seeing deeply requires moments of inner silence and devoting at least 15 minutes a day or evening to practice it. Practice seeing deeply on your next walk or while sitting on a bench. If you don't have a place to sit outdoors create one for yourself. It needn't cost money. It can be as simple as a board laid across two paint cans to form a bench... placed in your side-yard or on a roof top where you can be alone. Make it your place to sit alone each day undisturbed. Seeing deeply can be done both in nature and in an urban setting. Locate the peaceful place within you. It's there. Simply say, "I'm going to go to the peaceful place within me now." Drop any inner dialog and simply listen to the sounds around you. Just simply breathe and listen. Observe the world around you just as it is without judgment. You did this naturally as a child. When you are ready, begin to observe the art around you. If you're in a city, notice the facades on a buildings, the landscaping designs, and the signs in store windows. Notice the shape of your coffee cup or the logo on the side of it, if there is one, or the color of the buildings, or even the shape of your shoes. All of these things were designed by someone. They are in fact man-made objects of creation or art work of sorts; for better or for worse. If you are out in nature it is easy to see the art surrounding you. Complementary colors, designs and patterns make up the natural world. God is truly the Great Landscaper. As you sit, don't forget to look-up at the sky. Look directly above you. People sometimes forget to look up if they have become too busy. We begin to think that all sunsets are the same. Yet no two are alike. No two weeds look exactly the same, nor do two ducks, or two clouds, or two people. You are observing infinite variation on beauty and design. Begin to remember your child-like mind that found happiness in colors, the lettering on window signs, the crown molding above doorways, and the cobalt blue of a star filled sky. Van Gogh did; that's why he painted Starry Night. As a child you knew how to see deeply. We are surrounded by art. The art of Seeing Deeply brings it into focus. If you're walking, begin by observing the stone scroll work at the top of pillars and entry ways. The saying used to be, "God is in the details". Look for those details. Take time to walk up to monuments and plaques and to read them. This is all part of seeing deeply and learning to "read" the landscape visually. Check-out books from the library or search online to understand what was important in the lives of the people who worked hard to place the monuments. This will give you clues about what was important in the past. Visit your local historical cemetery, always with respect not to disturb anything, and observe the art work on the monuments and the sayings carved into them. You are then experiencing a bridge in time through art and seeing deeply into the light of the people, seeing more than the surface of things. These small actions are simple steps to seeing deeply. They are steps that will help you develop a keener vocabulary to express what you are seeing. In this way, your life begins to shift as you become more conscious of what you choose to put into your personal space, that is, into your own material life. You will not simply be placing things as a matter of routine or convenience. You will be seeing deeply and placing those things which bless you, that make your life simpler, more meaningful, and certainly...more creative. You will be replacing what no longer serves your best interest or that does not inspire you to be your best. This will increase your energy, your inner peace, and your joy. This will increase your relationship to art and creativity and to people, communities, cultures, and the world around you. Sunny Citations: **Michelangelo Birth name Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Born March 6, 1475 near Arezzo, in Caprese, Tuscany Died February 18, 1564 Rome Field sculpture, painting, architecture and poetry Training Apprentice to Domenico Ghirlandaio Movement High Renaissance Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (March 6, 1475 .. February 18, 1564), commonly known as Michelangelo, was an Italian Renaissance painter, sculptor, architect, poet and engineer. Source: Wikipedia Online. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelangelo 19 Mar 2007. Stendhal Syndrome: French novelist Marie-Henri Stendhal. When he visited Florence in 1817 and viewed artorks by Giotto and Michelangelo, he became so completely overwhelmed by their beauty and meaning that the rush of intense emotions caused him to collapse. he was so sensitive to the power of great works of art that he fainted." _Alex Grey, "The Mission of Art". Shambala. Boston/London. 2001.* *Alex Grey. "The Mission of Art". Shambala. Boston/London 2001. **Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelan