Little Black a Pony

A spread from the book that supported me through childhood.

….Red Sweater Boy in his red jacket astride Big Red (red – the primary look-at-my-power color) gallop away from the farm. In a sheer moment of panic at the loss of his friend, Little Black charges after the couple.

But, the little pony can’t keep pace with the powerful stallion…

Will Red Sweater Boy realize the depth of his friend’s heartbreak before something tragic unfolds?

Is Big Red capable of caring about a less-powerful animal?

Will Little Black tire out, lose heart, end all protest and lose his friend?

Illustrations by James Schucker
1961

I am a loyal American & this is my CREDO

After getting through the news each morning, I read the Credo taped to my studio wall. This is the America I want my children to have. This is why I protest…why I write letters…

“In a time when labels are weaponized and dissent is recast as danger, I choose to define myself—before others try to do it for me.” —James B. Greenberg
James B. Greenberg’s Credo (James Substack entry, August 5, 2025)


How I’d love others to share Mr. Greenberg’s Credo – to keep us going – to keep us fighting back – to keep us AMERICAN

WE ARE ART. WE ARE ALL ARTISTS.

We express ourselves in different ways. One’s wild garden tending is another’s storytelling of memories, across the bridge someone walks along the river in deep introspection, another dreams as she looks at the sky, he hopes as he sprints down the road, they smile at passersby…this is art…the living choices we paint our lives with…the colors spilling over onto another’s path…some mixes go muddy…others create spectral arcs that seemingly touch the sky…if you think you can’t create art…you’re not looking deeply enough…we are all artists…each one of us the embodiment of art itself…🌠

My character, Hank Olin, began as a drawing many years ago. He was then slid into a plastic sleeve and clipped into a binder to join other characters who’d grown silent between black vinyl covers. One day he escaped to become an acrylic painting. His accomplice told him metallic paint would wake his spacesuit up too so he could fly. Hank Olin was happy – he no longer had to live in the binder. He was free.

Being the benevolent ele-space-ien he was, he asked for the immediate release of all those trapped between the heavy covers of that wicked black vinyl binder.

His request was soon granted by an accomplice on the outside, who looked at the sky that very day, appreciating their singular freedom to gaze upon such beauty in a world of madness. Hank Olin was lifted from his two-dimensional prison. Today Hank is free to stargaze, to whisper musings in the ear of anyone nearby, he’s dreamed below the afternoon sky and sparkled, he travels to regions real and imagined, he lives his best life while watching his friends grow into the free characters they were meant to be.

WE THE PEOPLE

It is the 4th of July 🇺🇸 I believe in America 🇺🇸 I believe in democracy 🇺🇸 I believe man’s hubris is capable of darkening the stars 🇺🇸

I believe in empathy & kindness ❤️ I believe in the power of perseverance when driven by love ❤️ I will never give up on “WE THE PEOPLE” ❤️

Thomas Jefferson —

“When government fears the people, there is liberty.
When the people fear the government, there is tyranny.”

A day of peaceful protest
Newburgh, NY, June 14, 2025

Polli Protest has accompanied me to several protests now.

Satellite Dish Inspired Prose

sipping coffee at 5 am while looking at a neighbor’s satellite dish (which to me resembles a sun warrior beseeching the sky for hope)

persons of flesh