RAYS OF SUNSHINE.

Last week, France finally hit the crescendo from the religious right toward the liberal left in the form of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo, a satirical newspaper who have published provoking comics, attacking every group and way of life as a way to poke fun at humanity. However, it can be said that you can mean what you say, and say what you mean, but you can never control how someone feels about it. And this was just the last straw for those "extremists" living in France.  The French government places so many restrictions on faith practices that differ from the French or Gallic way of life. Christianity is allowed to be openly expressed in the form of Christmas markets and festivals, while hijabi women are condemned for wearing their faith expression through fashion.  The meanings of faith expressions belong to those expressing, not the government. If you ask a hijabi woman if she feels she has freedom in relation to what she's wearing, she oftentimes does. The c

To be or not to be? To create or to destroy? To understand or to dismiss? These are the questions that I think of when I think of artistic freedom and cultural competency. The events worldwide this past week say much about how sophisticated world politics has become as well as the snowball effect of technology and media on human behavior. I am talking about the Parisian killings at "Charlie Hebdo" last Wednesday, January 7th, and the struggle between freedom of expression and maintaining human decency. Here is Vox Media's in-depth coverage of the whole situation on a timeline:  http://www.vox.com/2015/1/7/7507849/charlie-hebdo-attack-terrorists-paris-shooting  From @BBCNews When we were kids, we were taught simple life lessons like "Say what you mean, and mean what you say because the people who mind don't matter, and the people who matter don't mind," and "If you have nothing nice to say, it's best to say nothing at all." This