View allAll Photos Tagged Introspective
Art, Rock, & Talk
With Kate Myers and Wiitala Brothers
Saturday Feb. 26th
Chicago Art Department
Kate Myers’ music is passionate and introspective. Drawing influence from singer/songwriters of the past (Jim Croce, Bob Dylan) and of the present (Conor Oberst, Fiona Apple), she has been able to create a style that is completely and recognizably her own and that transcends the standard coffee shop singer/songwriter genre. Her songs are stories of pain, love, hope and the experience that she has collected through her travels, her family and her years.
Kate’s debut, self-titled album was released in 2004, her second album, “Blanket Sky” in 2006 and her most recent work, “Instant Clarification,” in 2008. She has performed on stages all over the USA and in Europe and is currently writing for her anticipated 4th release.
Wiitala Brothers
“The Wiitalas’ new Bad Blood could be qualified as minimalist indie pop-rock but it’s something much more effective than that might suggest. The duo’s stark guitars and lingering vocals tend to waft around, electrifying the air with their simplicity.”
About me:
I edit this online literary and arts magazine: twowordsfor.com
You can also find me on Instagram: instagram.com/amanthei
Twitter: twitter.com/xoalexo
And Tumblr: thedirectory.tumblr.com
nacque un po' così questo percorso,per caso, per noia o per fortuna. la continua ricerca di risposte a domande sull'animo umano. i colori sono la soluzione per questa vita.
A woman is seated in the back of a car, her expression thoughtful and introspective. Soft sunlight filters through the trees, creating a serene atmosphere in the woods.
What is this sudden sadness that sometimes takes hold without apparent cause. A vice in my spokes, that speaks, but unlike this bicycle, it only speaks when I am not in motion, when I find myself without immediate direction, then the darkest memories sink down from my thoughts into my heart and cause me to pause yet further, which yet increases the shadow; stilled, motionless, watching my shadow lengthen as the sun goes down behind my back. You try to give it words, try to reach out but others will only say, "stop being so introspective" and then you begin to see yourself from another perspective, and again notice your movement before you yet willed it and it has passed and you can only then agree, 'yes, no need for introspection. what was that somber mood?'. Yet, though you've been released, those thoughts and moods tighten back into the coil of your subconscious, waiting to spring again when you next give pause. Then you move for fear, keep moving in order to survive. Don't dare stop. This is the fear and warning of others as well, who would rather not listen or try to understand, as though they know that darkness will spread from you to them in an instance should they feed, the same darkness which gives them cause to sound, "stop being so introspective". And so we all once again join the human race, the struggle and strive of survival: transition as a constant, and the the hope of someday, content.
Eric has a great sound, very fluid and overdriven with rich harmonics.
...and Tift was wonderful, again.
Traveling Alone is a great album, too, with some beautiful melodies. Lyrically strong, touching, and introspective.
"The quiet settling of the night, It always comes to this, You answer to yourself in the dark, That's where everyone lives." From Drifted Apart
"I skipped a stone and watched it go, The arc and then the undertow, Thinking a day is something like a prayer. So much to ask, you start it soft, Then the weighted locks come off, In the end, you just hope that someone's there." From Small Talk Relations
"I'm just looking for that sweet spot, Where I can love the way I want." From Sweet Spot
"An offering here in my winter coat, Touch my face and point me home. The ropes of time tangle the threads of hope, Where I throw my birds, dare I watch them go, I think I'll come apart, how deep they leave their mark.....
And here in my winter coat, How you pretend there's something that you don't know, In the stillness down where a blackbird sings, Its song of nothing and everything. The counting stops and starts. How deep it leaves its mark." From Marks
From Traveling Companion.
"Is this the only way it happens
The stormy noise of all our passions
Finally lays its burden down
Makes its peace somehow
With the quiet virtues of the everyday.
No matter how I play it
One thing stays the same
Time will cover over
my meaning and my pain
With just a country cemetery grave." From Country Cemetery
"So hot out here
Nobody's out
I'm throwin' leaves
At cars that pass
A vacant lot
A thunderstorm
Somebody callin'
Somebody home.
Never did fit in
Always wanted out
Like an empty street
the Southern downtown." From Southern Downtown
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
Reading as Resistance
These young women do not read passively. They underline, they take notes, they write in the margins. They challenge the texts and themselves. They read because the world demands it of them—because, in a time of conflict and uncertainty, thought itself is an act of resistance.
Their books are worn, their pages stained with coffee, their minds alive with the urgency of understanding.
1. Political Thought, Society & Liberation
Essays, theory and critique on democracy, power and resistance.
Chantal Mouffe – For a Left Populism (rethinking democracy through radical left-wing populism)
Nancy Fraser – Cannibal Capitalism (an urgent critique of capitalism’s role in the destruction of democracy, the planet, and social justice)
Étienne Balibar – Citizenship (rethinking the idea of citizenship in an era of migration and inequality)
Silvia Federici – Caliban and the Witch (a feminist Marxist analysis of capitalism and gender oppression)
Didier Eribon – Returning to Reims (a deeply personal sociological reflection on class and identity in contemporary Europe)
Antonio Negri & Michael Hardt – Empire (rethinking global capitalism and resistance from a leftist perspective)
Thomas Piketty – Capital and Ideology (a profound analysis of wealth distribution, inequality, and the future of economic justice)
Mark Fisher – Capitalist Realism (on why it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism)
2. Feminist & Queer Theory, Gender & Body Politics
Texts that redefine identity, gender, and liberation in the 21st century.
Paul B. Preciado – Testo Junkie (an autobiographical, philosophical essay on gender, hormones, and biopolitics)
Judith Butler – The Force of Nonviolence (rethinking ethics and resistance beyond violence)
Virginie Despentes – King Kong Theory (a raw and radical take on sex, power, and feminism)
Amia Srinivasan – The Right to Sex (rethinking sex, power, and feminism for a new generation)
Laurent de Sutter – Narcocapitalism (on how capitalism exploits our bodies, desires, and emotions)
Sara Ahmed – Living a Feminist Life (a deeply personal and political exploration of what it means to be feminist today)
3. Literature & Poetry of Resistance, Liberation & Exile
European novels, poetry and literature that embrace freedom, revolution, and identity.
Annie Ernaux – The Years (a groundbreaking memoir that blends personal and collective history, feminism, and social change)
Olga Tokarczuk – The Books of Jacob (an epic novel about alternative histories, belief systems, and European identity)
Édouard Louis – Who Killed My Father (a deeply political and personal exploration of class struggle and masculinity)
Bernardine Evaristo – Girl, Woman, Other (a polyphonic novel on race, gender, and identity in contemporary Europe)
Maggie Nelson (though American, widely read in European academia) – On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint (a poetic, intellectual meditation on freedom and constraint)
Benjamín Labatut – When We Cease to Understand the World (a deeply philosophical novel on science, war, and moral responsibility)
Michel Houellebecq – Submission (controversial but widely read as a dystopian critique of political passivity in Europe)
4. Ecology, Anti-Capitalism & Posthumanism
Texts that explore the intersections of nature, economics, and radical change.
Bruno Latour – Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime (rethinking ecology and politics in a world of climate crisis)
Andreas Malm – How to Blow Up a Pipeline (on the ethics of radical environmental resistance)
Emanuele Coccia – The Life of Plants: A Metaphysics of Mixture (rethinking human and non-human coexistence)
Isabelle Stengers – Another Science is Possible (rethinking knowledge and resistance in an era of corporate science)
Kate Raworth – Doughnut Economics (rethinking economic models for social and ecological justice)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking coexistence and posthumanist futures)
The Future of Thought
These are not just books; they are weapons, tools, compasses. These women read not for escapism, but for resistance. In a time of political upheaval, climate catastrophe, and rising authoritarianism, they seek alternative visions, radical possibilities, and new ways of imagining the world.
Their books are annotated, their margins filled with questions, their reading lists always expanding. Knowledge is not just power—it is revolution.
Spent some coyote-human introspective time with this coyote at Grand Portage State Park, Minnesota. This little song dog has got some seriously "dogged perseverance". Its front left paw is missing, from the wrist joint down, probably gnawed off to escape a trap. Its tail seems to be missing the tip. Not so noticeable is an injury of the left rear leg, which it favored while walking. Its most remarkable trait was running, when it held its left rear paw completely off the ground, running on only its two right legs! I've seen plenty of canids running on three legs, but this is the first quadruped I've ever seen run on two legs...both on the same side!
By Team Macho
9 x 12 in. alkyd on panel
From Narwhal's Hibernation Sickness:
www.narwhalartprojects.com/events-exhibitions/hibernation...
Fitzgerald's unique take on the increasingly popular immigrant saga juxtaposes an introspective look into the repressive lifestyle experienced by Tamila Soroush, 27, in Iran with the nearly unreal freedom she finds while in Tucson on a three-month visa. Sent by her parents in the hope that she can "wake up her luck" and stay in America like her older sister, Tami has three months to find a husband and avoid returning to Iran. One of the Iranian suitors her sister and brother-in-law have lined up turns out to be obsessive-compulsive; the second is a gay control freak. Beyond these awkward matchmaking scenes, Tami forges her own strong friendships with the students in her ESL class, including Nadia, a Russian refugee abused by her bigoted husband, and the outrageously provocative Eva, who introduces Tami to country line dancing. Tami also captures the heart of Ike, a Starbucks server who encourages her pursuit of photography and sends her flowers, despite her sister's objections. A fun, romantic, and thought-provoking debut novel from a promising author.
By Deborah Donovan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
It was quite an introspective week for me. Steve Job's passing affected me more than I imagined. It was nice to have a saturation of positive ideas and inspiration in the media as opposed to the usual complaining, fighting, and vapid coverage of celebrities. It was good to hear and read his thoughts and caused me to reflect on my own creativity and what I'm contributing to the world.
Also, both Sam Weber and Justin Gerard came out to Utah to do lectures and demos at BYU and UVU respectively. Both were quite gracious with their time and ideas. It was a kick in the pants I needed to shift my work into a higher gear.
Both said a lot about working in the illustration industry and how to be successful but there were two key themes that resonated with me:
Live a full life and set aside time for personal work.
To put it simply: turn off your TV and XBox and go create something. After that, go outside and be with people.
Because I try my best to live these tenets myself it was nice to hear a couple of successful illustrators saying the same thing.
'You need to take an introspective look at yourself to find out, 'What is your purpose?' Mine is to ensure the values which make this country great are preserved.'
-MAJ Alfred Anderson, two-time recipient of the Army Commendation Medal (one w/ V device), is one of 25 Soldier Heroes chosen to represent the Army Reserve at the 2011 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
This lady is a Make-Up Artist and Hairstylist I work with for my portrait sessions. Recently she applied with a model agency for older women so she can be booked for photo shoots and walk-on parts. She needed pictures for her portfolio so last week we took some.
Canon 6D with Sigma 85mm f1.4
Processed with Lightroom, Photoshop CS6 and Alien Skin Exposure 6.
Just after sunrise at Sandy Stream Pond, Baxter State Park, Maine
See more of my work at: www.samhessphoto.com
Thanks for looking!
1783
2D grayscale image of an introspective young lady in the shad of a tree on the shore of a beach gazing at a flower held in her hand. The "enhanced" image was taken at Fort Smallwood park in Pasadena, Maryland.
Kinda introspective this week. Struggling with summer finances, and news of my Uncle Lenny's death. When all else fails, the pets always provide comfort and good cheer. Pets are an invaluable investment.
mauve magic vibration:
This may look pink... but in pure nature, it was quite mauve to view :)
This color relates to the imagination and spirituality. It stimulates the imagination and inspires high ideals. It is an introspective color, allowing us to get in touch with our deeper thoughts.
The difference between violet and purple is that violet appears in the visible light spectrum, or rainbow, whereas purple is simply a mix of red and blue. Violet has the highest vibration in the visible spectrum.
While the violet is not quite as intense as purple, its essence is similar. Generally the names are interchangeable and the meaning of the colors is similar. Both contain the energy and strength of red with the spirituality and integrity of blue. This is the union of body and soul creating a balance between our physical and our spiritual energies.
Purple or violet assists those who seek the meaning of life and spiritual fulfillment - it expands our awareness, connecting us to a higher consciousness. For this reason it is associated with transformation of the soul and the philosophers of the world are often attracted to it.
In the meaning of colors, purple and violet represent the future, the imagination and dreams, while spiritually calming the emotions. They inspire and enhance psychic ability and spiritual enlightenment, while, at the same time, keeping us grounded.
The color violet relates to the fantasy world, and a need to escape from the practicalities of life. It is the daydreamer escaping from reality.
From a color psychology perspective, purple and violet promote harmony of the mind and the emotions, contributing to mental balance and stability, peace of mind, a link between the spiritual and the physical worlds, between thought and activity. Violet and purple support the practice of meditation.
The color violet inspires unconditional and selfless love, devoid of ego, encouraging sensitivity and compassion. Violet can be sensitive to all the different forms of pollution in the world today, whether it be air pollution, noise pollution, visual pollution or the pollution in our food chain. This sensitivity makes violet susceptible to illness and allergies, vulnerable to its everyday surroundings.
Violet encourages creative pursuits and seeks inspiration and originality through its creative endeavors. It likes to be unique, individual and independent, not one of the crowd. Artists, musicians, writers, poets and psychics are all inspired by violet and its magic and mystery.
Violet is the color of the humanitarian, using its better judgment to do good for others. Combining wisdom and power with sensitivity and humility, violet can achieve a lot for those less fortunate.
The color purple is specifically associated with royalty and the nobility, creating an impression of luxury, wealth and extravagance.
Purple has power. It has a richness and quality to it that demands respect. Purple is ambitious and self-assured, the leader.
Too much of the color purple can promote or aggravate depression in some. It is one color that should be used extremely carefully and in small amounts by those who are vulnerable to these depressed states.
Nikon F Photomic FTn, 50mm 1.4 Nikkor, Fuji NPH 400. Scanned from print. PLEASE NEVER FORGET THE VICTIMS.
Passei mais tempo do que devia acreditando que a fotografia era uma forma de explorar apenas o mundo afora; acabou que nela existem mais maneiras de cavar dentro dos escombros de mim do que eu poderia imaginar.
20.4.1.4
Living in Transit: The Thinkers of a World in Turmoil
War looms over Europe, uncertainty seeps into everyday life, and the weight of history presses upon the present. The world is burning, and yet—there are those who seek understanding, those who bury themselves in the quiet refuge of books, the dim glow of libraries, the solitude of knowledge.
This series captures the introspective minds of young academic women—readers, thinkers, seekers. They wander through old university halls, their fingers tracing the spines of forgotten books, pulling out volumes of poetry, philosophy, and psychology. They drink coffee, they drink tea, they stay up late with ink-stained fingers, trying to decipher the world through words.
They turn to Simone Weil for moral clarity, Hannah Arendt for political insight, Rilke for existential wisdom. They read Baudrillard to untangle the illusions of modernity, Byung-Chul Han to understand society’s exhaustion, Camus to grasp the absurdity of it all. They devour Celan’s poetry, searching for beauty in catastrophe.
But they do not just read—they reflect, they question, they write. Their world is one of quiet resistance, an intellectual sanctuary amidst the chaos. In their solitude, they are not alone. Across time, across history, across the pages they turn, they are in conversation with those who, too, have sought meaning in troubled times.
This is a series about thought in transit—about seeking, reading, questioning, about the relentless pursuit of knowledge when the world feels on the brink.
Where the Thinkers Go
They gather where the dust has settled,
where books whisper in the hush of halls.
Pages thin as breath, torn at the edges,
cradling centuries of questions.
They drink coffee like it’s ink,
trace words like constellations,
follow Rilke into the dusk,
where solitude hums softly in the dark.
Outside, the world is fraying—
war threading through the seams of cities,
the weight of history pressing forward.
Inside, they turn pages, searching
for answers, for solace, for fire.
And somewhere between the lines,
between time-stained margins and fading ink,
they find the ghosts of others who
once sought, once wondered, once read—
and they do not feel alone.
Three Haikus
Night falls on paper,
books stacked like silent towers,
thoughts burn in the dark.
Tea cools in the cup,
a poem lingers on lips,
war rumbles beyond.
Footsteps in silence,
the scent of old ink and dust,
pages turn like ghosts.
ooOOOoo
The Intellectual Pursuit: What They Read in 2025
In a world teetering between war and uncertainty, young academic women turn to books—not as mere escape, but as a way to confront reality, to seek wisdom in the echoes of history, and to understand the weight of the present. They read in dimly lit libraries, at café tables littered with half-drunk cups of tea, in quiet university archives where dust clings to forgotten volumes. They are drawn to words that unravel complexity, books that demand contemplation, and authors who have wrestled with the same existential questions that haunt their minds today.
Here is what they read.
1. Existential and Philosophical Works
In times of crisis, philosophy becomes a mirror—reflecting both the weight of the world and the possibilities of thought. These books challenge, unsettle, and offer a way to navigate uncertainty.
Simone Weil – Gravity and Grace (moral clarity and reflections on human suffering)
Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism (a timeless study of power, ideology, and authoritarianism)
Byung-Chul Han – The Burnout Society (a philosophical take on modern exhaustion and performance-driven culture)
Jean Baudrillard – Simulacra and Simulation (a critique of reality and illusion in an age of digital manipulation)
Albert Camus – The Plague (a novel that mirrors today’s existential and ethical dilemmas)
Søren Kierkegaard – The Concept of Anxiety (an exploration of freedom, dread, and the human condition)
These thinkers guide them through uncertainty, offering both discomfort and clarity—challenging them to see beyond the immediate chaos.
2. Poetry and Literature of Longing, Loss, and Human Experience
Sometimes, only poetry and fiction can capture what analysis cannot—the deep, wordless truths of grief, love, exile, and the quiet resilience of the human spirit.
Anne Carson – Nox (a fragmented, deeply personal meditation on loss and memory)
Paul Celan – Todesfuge (haunting post-Holocaust poetry that lingers between beauty and horror)
Rainer Maria Rilke – Letters to a Young Poet (a lyrical guide to solitude, art, and self-discovery)
Ocean Vuong – On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous (poetry-infused storytelling on identity and survival)
Virginia Woolf – The Waves (a novel that reads like a long poem, exploring time, consciousness, and human connection)
Clarice Lispector – The Hour of the Star (a sparse, existential novel that lingers long after the last page)
These books are read slowly, lines underlined in pencil, phrases whispered to oneself in quiet moments.
3. Political Thought and Social Critique
Understanding the present requires looking at the past and tracing the patterns of history, power, and resistance.
Naomi Klein – Doppelganger: A Trip Into the Mirror World (on misinformation, conspiracy culture, and the fracturing of reality)
Timothy Snyder – On Tyranny (20 lessons from history on how democracy is lost—and how it can be protected)
Achille Mbembe – Necropolitics (on the politics of death, control, and who gets to exist in modern power structures)
Olga Tokarczuk – Flights (a novel that blurs fiction and philosophy, exploring movement, exile, and identity)
Rebecca Solnit – Hope in the Dark (on why history is shaped by those who refuse to give up)
These books are read with urgency—annotated, discussed, debated. They provide frameworks for understanding the unfolding crises of today.
4. Science, Psychology, and the Search for Meaning
In times of uncertainty, some turn to the mind and the universe—to trauma studies, quantum physics, and new ways of seeing.
Carlo Rovelli – The Order of Time (a poetic examination of time and its illusions)
James Bridle – New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future (on the unpredictability of AI, climate change, and human systems)
Bessel van der Kolk – The Body Keeps the Score (on trauma, memory, and how the body stores experiences)
Donna Haraway – Staying with the Trouble (rethinking human and non-human relationships in a time of ecological crisis)
These books stretch their understanding beyond politics and poetry—into the unseen forces that shape the self and the cosmos.
The Memorial Plan
Visitors will find the memorial at the southeastern edge of Clement Park and are drawn in by the sound of water and a grove of trees. Volumes of rushing water fill your ears, masking noisy park activities and providing a means to transition into an introspective interior space. A short gentle decline as you cross the threshold into the memorial further emphasizes the solemnity of the place and is intended to create a quiet, respectful demeanor.
The interior of the memorial is an oval stone outer wall softened by a grove of trees in the center and low native plantings around the edges. Steep landforms of the existing hills gently fold back from the top of the outer retaining wall. These hills surround a majority of the memorial, embracing, comforting and protecting the visitor and the community. As the memorial elements are revealed, the visitor notices the inner Ring of Remembrance, and the outer Ring of Healing.
At the core of the memorial, an intimate grove of trees grows out of an oval of intricate landscape and stone paving. The leaves soften the light surrounding the Ring of Remembrance. This low elegant wall of stone invites you into a circle of stories. The stone is etched with words that are individual narrative remembrances of the deceased victims; remembrances crafted from interviews of the victim’s family and friends. While reading the remembrances, the visitor may be comforted by the sound of water coming from the opposite side of the low wall. An intricate ribbon design fills the center space and hugs the Ring of Remembrance. The tails of the ribbon, inscribed with the phrase "Never Forgotten" frame a connection to the outer Ring of Healing becoming a symbolic link between the community and the deceased.
Forming the remaining structure of the memorial is the outer Ring of Healing. Native Colorado stone forms the space for the memorial out of the embracing hills and is etched with the words of the community. A variety of general text gathered from interviews of students, teachers, the injured and their families, and other community members tell diverse stories of healing, changes in the community, and hopes for the future. The Ring of Healing starts low near the entrance to the memorial and climbs towards the back wall where the majority of the general text will be concentrated. Low groupings of native shrubs and flowers soften the stone and create an inviting garden environment. Benches are located in welcoming areas to allow the visitor to sit in reflection and contemplation.
There will be overlooks along and on top of Rebel Hill providing panoramic views to the Rocky Mountains, the eastern plains and the Columbine community. Another walk arcs along the top edge of the hills and connects the overlooks while providing an accessible route to the dramatic views. Landscaped terraces on the north hill soften the hillside and allow for small gathering areas in which visitors might share their thoughts and experiences with each other.
The exit to the memorial moves the visitor back through the entrance corridor and once again directs their view towards the Colorado foothills. One final quote (not yet created) on the exit wall will disclose a parting thought to take away with you as the sound of water reintroduces you to the activity of the outer park and ongoing life in the community.
Construction Process
Groundbreaking for the Columbine Memorial took place on June 16, 2006 with construction beginning in August of 2006. The Memorial was completed and dedicated on September 21, 2007.