Eternal Scream

Michael Schwartz

Tucson, AZ

Dear Taxi Driver:

Hands to my face

Thank you for sharing your story.  I asked.  Nothing I can say to you will bring back your brother's children, your cousins' store, your sister.  

I can weep with you, get angry, try to organize, but nothing will bring back the people who you loved, killed by bombs, made with dollars that should have gone to teach kids about empathy, compassion, science, history, art, math, and yes, poetry.

It's all wrong, this hopeless, pathetic, cruel, stupid, lost war, this tragedy, this sickness.

All we have is this bond with the Earth and each other.  Unconditional, passionate love, across cultures, borders, languages, uniforms.

Biography:

Michael Schwartz, (MFA 1991 University of Arizona, BFA 1988 Tyler School of Art at Temple University) is a leading community based cultural development specialist with projects throughout the Americas. His art includes participatory murals, paintings, drawings, writing, teaching and organizing. His projects balance a civic engagement process with a beautiful, safe, secure and durable final product. In May 2009 he joined community arts leaders at the White House to begin a historic dialogue about the role of arts in national recovery. He currently is the lead artist on several civic dialogue based neighborhood mural projects in Tucson, AZ.