Yes.

if we cant remedy it here, what point in trying to fix the more offensive offenders...

My mother was a feminist in the 60's and 70's. She would tell any man, any time, to kiss off, that she knew more than they did, and she did.

God I miss her.

when she was in her 20's she looked very much like Marilyn Monroe...

I may take a little break now and again, because it can become toxic, but hell, somehow I always find a way to keep going!

I go to art. It relieves my stress and takes me to a different place and that is exactly what I need at the moment...a different, quiet place where I can soar with my feelings and my thoughts...it is transcendent...

little posting here, and just basically give myself more attention by doing something more enjoyable. Lately it has been gardening, well, because the season calls for it!

Hey, you got any good art that depicts penitence/forgiveness?

penitent about?

It's about accepting an apology. Maybe that is the best way to put it.

this is one helluva magdalen. She is very powerful and true to her faith. It is by Piero della Francesca.

Of course, it is a complete distortion of the story of mary magdalen, as was the theology of the day, but as usual, art triumphs. She is so powerful and no one can question her...

As a nonbeliever, I must relive art of the past in a kind of denial but yet with a reservation in my mind that I try to resolve. Art, as I say, always save you...but by different ways than the religious believe...

I can see how the word penitence may have intimated that. However, that was not my intention. I'm a very non religious person.

You have given me something to meditate on, though. Those of us who are non religious, as I am, must have a place to go in art...

Wow, you've given me a whole new perspective on forgiveness/penitence...

please understand, tho, that even if I post religious art, it is from an understanding of what the artist meant at the time of the work, in that world and that point in time. Therefore, we have to separate our feelings about the religion of the time and the artist's creative output...I do this all the time in my art essays (and before in my Challenges). I had to make my peace with this, as a non believer, a while back...

a religious story.

But if you deconstruct the religion into how people lived at the time, you can view it through a different lens.

Although in art with Mary Magdalene, Jesus, Mary, Joseph, it's pretty hard to untangle.

but not often.... ROFL!

But that is just one womans opinion, MY OWN! LOL

or in explaining an apology has to mention the few not liked. or say....

go onto the cousin site and diss us like mad then come back and say .... what???

i do not get into it with the women. they seem to find me on their own. i mostly ignore them. but... i am not doing any fuggin' pretending for whatever reason

when i read nasty from the same people, just the cousin site, that doesnt appease me.

but. i do not have a need to go hunt the women down and confront, either.

i hear you all. respect the reason and what you are saying.

People are who they are. I can't control that. The only person I can control is myself. So I will make an effort to ignore and not engage with the toxic shit. I don't have to like or be friendly with them. Rather, I will devote myself to issues I care about and do my best to waste no more energy on petty bickering. I would be surprised if anything we do or don't do will change their behavior. I had some people on ignore for months who continued to attack me regardless. When I proposed a truce, I had no illusions of establishing any kind of positive relationship with people whose very first post to me and every subsequent once since has been hostile. I can't control who they are. Rather, for the benefit of members of this group, I would like to see HOF used for better purposes and not waste ink on petty disputes. That is a far less gracious approach than Boston's, but it's the best I can do given the circumstances.

I too have tried in the past to do the same, but the same old bullshit was flung from long ago disputes, which became quite personal.

I really do not like that, and I really don't like doing it to others. But sometimes it felt like a matter of survival.

But when a branch is offered, I think the best thing to do is accept it and move on and admit ones own mistakes. I'm not sure how much agreement we will have on the actual solutions to the issue, but I do think that with many we agree that there is a problem. Then there are others, all of this will mean diddly squat to, and they will make themselves known sooner rather than later. To that, I think we just need to ignore and try not to engage. But that will be a test for us all. Because some of it is just plain old mean.

not everyone goes at the same pace.

That is just the way of life.