
Ant’s Quotes:
Banksy’s New Artwork: A Modern Madonna and Child

Banksy is back with a new artwork, this time showing a modern version of the Madonna and Child. The painting is on a worn-out metal surface. It shows…
Banksy’s New Artwork: A Modern Madonna and Child
Anemone

For Cee´s Flower of the Day and Macro Monday.
Anemone
Doctors warn of a ‘quad-demic’ this winter as four viral infections soar and mask mandates creep back in | Daily Mail Online
Experts say a combination of Covid, flu, the cold-like virus RSV and the stomach bug norovirus could all hit at once.
A mixture of people staying indoors more to beat the cold and mixing over the Christmas and New Year period makes the infections more common.
Doctors are issuing the warning because vaccination rates are lower than in previous years, particularly for flu – rates are almost half the protective level of 70 percent of people over 18.
‘Right now, RSV is ticking up but it hasn’t peaked yet, flu is increasing but still low, we would expect that to peak around January to March, and norovirus is increasing, with infections expected to peak around January.
Only 38.6 percent of adults over 18 years old had got the flu vaccine by the week to November 30, below the nearly 40 percent who had got the shot this time last year.
Covid booster uptake was also lagging, with just 17.9 percent of adults having received the shot by the week to November 9 — 4.7 percent below the levels last year.

Nikki G ✍🏼 | From Behind the Pen

Image Source: https://thecreativeindependent.com
Last week many tributes were paid to the life of famed poet, Nikki (Yolande Cornelia) Giovanni. Giovanni, (June 7, 1943 – December 9, 2024) was a world-renowned poet, activist, educator, and one of the foremost leading voices of the 1960s Black Arts Movement. She was certainly a force to be reckoned with. She was politically engaged, influenced by the Civil Rights Movement, and published more than 30 books, and her final book of poetry, eerily titled “The Last Book” is scheduled to be published next year.
I remember having the opportunity to listen to her speak at one of our local universities several years ago and it was such a treat to hear about her poetic journey of life. What an authentic engagement, yet enchanting evening. Poetry meandered through Giovanni’s life and encapsulated her life in poetry. Reading Giovanni’s poetry was an experience, but listening to her recite her poems took your poetry experience to an intimate, relevant, and different level. She has always addressed human issues by holding a mirror in front of others, exposing truths that were uncomfortable to many.
She shared her admiration for many poets, authors, and artists, but what surprised me the most was her love, and embrace of rapper, actor, and poet Tupac Amaru Shakur. She said she even got a “Thug Life” tattoo in his memory.
Nikki Giovanni taught at Queens College, Rutgers, and Ohio State. She was a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech until she retired on September 1, 2022. After the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007, she delivered a well-received chant poem at a memorial for the shooting victims.
Poets, authors, artists, musicians, and other creatives use their voice through their genre to touch and connect to others who are yearning to be connected to. May we use the power of our creative voice to uplift, inspire, encourage, and leave a legacy for others to be empowered by and to build on, long after we are gone.
Source: Nikki G ✍🏼 | From Behind the Pen
Full moon | Chronicles of an Anglo Swiss
Holiday Lights & Queen — A Winning Combination! | Filosofa’s Word
Enjoy! And come back tomorrow for some holiday fun!
Source: Holiday Lights & Queen — A Winning Combination! | Filosofa’s Word

Macro Monday Bunnies
12 Ways to Maintain the Christmas Spirit AFTER Christmas (4)

In 2017, I spent the year maintaining the Christmas spirit in different ways each month. I thought I would re-post this journey because we’re living …
12 Ways to Maintain the Christmas Spirit AFTER Christmas (4)



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