http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:objectivegray&section=today deviantART RSS for by:objectivegray en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:51:29 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/26636186/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/26636186/ Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:24:50 PDT
I'm an amateur photographer (obviously; I also tend to have the WRONG camera with me...) of insects and flowering plants native to the northwest corner of Louisiana, near the borders of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.

Why do I photograph insects? Have you ever really taken the time to get down on the level of an insect? To look it in the eye? They are intelligent creatures, as aware of themselves as your pet dog or cat and twice as beautiful.

It's my hope that when you see these creatures through my lens, you'll begin to understand that they aren't just nuisances to be swatted, squashed, and shooed.

Thanks so much for stopping by. If you happen to be into Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic or Naruto (and other anime/manga), my fan fiction account is =VernaJast.

Lene



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Note: All insect photos can be used on deviantART as stock photos for other works IF you leave a note on the photo letting me know and if you credit me in the author notes. I want to see what you do, and these photos required time in the heat, mud, ants, and cold to get. All other photos/deviations are my art and cannot be used. Some of my photos have defined Creative Commons licenses to govern off-deviantART use. Thanks!

]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/26635971/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/26635971/ Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:13:17 PDT
Let ME tell YOU: Age 27 has sucked.

I want to be 19 again. Or I want to skip ahead to 29. Something.

In any case, nothing calms me like photographing nature, and so I hope these few pictures will help to calm you, too. I plan to move to San Francisco, CA soon, and I'm a little sad that there won't be the same fauna and flora to capture like this, but I think the Mission Blue Butterflies and other new creatures and plants will be just as rewarding to photograph. I certainly hope they make for better behaved subjects.

My life is going in many directions. I hope you'll stick with me through it all.

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For my friend Dylan Yo!, a fanatic of Bob Dylan's writing and an excellent poet I once had the pleasure of knowing.

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/15285399/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/15285399/ Tue, 30 Oct 2007 10:37:55 PDT
Well, it looks like I'm going to stay active here for at least another year. My fanfic account's in full swing and I'm happily subscribed for another year over there. This account, poor neglected thing that it is, has just gotten a big update. And expect more. I plan to do more paintings and, of course, continue photographing the fauna and flora around me. Basically, the non-fan pieces I do will go here.

I've considered deleting my old journal entries. There are so few and they start back in 2003. I was a completely different person back then. Hm. I guess, for now, they stay.

Also, I'm learning French. Slowly. Very. In my shoutbox on =VernaJast. I'm bad, but I keep trying, haha.

I'm just rambling here, so I'll stop. Because I don't know what to write and because the journals are making me sentimental.

Lene.

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So, where have I been? Writing Knights of the Old Republic fan fiction. Sheesh. As if I need to add 'Star Wars' to the list of geeky things I like. It's okay, though. I don't care.

I check this account roughly every two weeks, so my apologies if it takes a while to get to you.

My work around the 'net:

KFM
(my main fic location).

LiveJournal
(Just the place where I stash my slashy M/M fan fiction).
[new address]

Flickr: [link]
(flora and fauna and a bit of Harry Potter).

Oh, and for those from KFM, I'm Verna Jast.

My fan art/fic account:



]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6915960/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6915960/ Mon, 31 Oct 2005 12:31:52 PST












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These people are DEFINITELY worth visiting. I know I'm probably leaving some really great people out and I will add them as I go. I am very proud to list you all.

]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6735175/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6735175/ Mon, 10 Oct 2005 23:10:08 PDT
I hope everyone in a slump, is surfacing, slowly but surely. Good morning.

Lene

{Please view previous entries for my friends list. I'm really tired, tonight.} ]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6694486/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6694486/ Thu, 06 Oct 2005 11:11:54 PDT
Lene

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These people are DEFINITELY worth visiting. I know I'm probably leaving some really great people out and I will add them as I go. I am very proud to list you all.

]]> ~objectivegray http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6111688/ http://objectivegray.deviantart.com/journal/6111688/ Tue, 02 Aug 2005 11:31:26 PDT

I have been thinking a lot about cancer lately. About the real reason behind it. Cancer is not a disease that is passed by physical contact, caught from contaminated water, or borne on the wind (that's been questioned, actually...). It is your body. Your own cells. They mutate and begin to grow at an alarming rate. They grow into mutated cells that aren't designed to do the job they started out with. Your body believes there is an infection, a virus, an intruder. So it begins to attack itself. This is when your body starts its long dive into death. It is slowly devoured from the inside out. The cancer began to grow, stimulated by a catalyst. Something (foreign or not) in your body. Cancer, mutation, is written into those cells from birth. It is a matter of time before the right mixture is arranged and the bomb goes off. Some people never get cancer, even thought their cells are prepared for it. The right mix is never achieved. They are the lucky ones, perhaps. Cancer is evolution. It is our cells trying to evolve at a super rate, too fast to keep up. We aren't meant to evolve so quickly. I believe it will weed out the weak from the strong, as part of natural selection. Cancer survivors may constitute the strong. Their offspring may be more resilient to it (once it reaches its peak in the family line). Those who never get cancer may just be prolonging their line's inevitable fall. It may start with me. It may start with my mother or my daughter. But from that starting point there will be a pattern in each generation of offspring, until one develops a natural way to contend with it. Then our line will be purified. This happens with lots of birth defects and congenital illnesses. I can see it happening with cancer. It will get worse before it begins. Maybe a nuclear war would save us, rather than kill us. Maybe it's the catalyst we need to erase those genes that cause the mutations. But what would happen when the next evolutionary stage appears. It would be no different, I think. Another round of species-purification. I had to talk about it.

My bestfriend's mother has Stage 3 Ovarian Cancer. She was diagnosed 6 months ago and given 2 months to live. She had immediate surgery, which removed a tumor the size of a football from her abdomen. She had a second emergency surgery 2 weeks later. It's been 6 months, and 8 chemotherapy sessions on the strongest chemotherapy drug available. Her hair started growing back in, a sign that she is becoming immune to the affects of the chemotherapy medicine...a bad sign. Another ovarian tumor is growing. She has 7 new tumors in her stomach. They waited 2 months to tell her about them because she would be too depressed. She is working in an office because her short-term disability has worn off and she must either return to work or lose her full benefits. If this happens she will enroll in the COBRA program and it will cost the family $900 per month to cover chemotherapy. They are not rich, and her illness has taken every penny they had already. She is in the hospital for dehydration once a week. Her original surgical wound has not healed and the cancerous fluid is still draining out. The doctor has told her family she has 4 months left, now. She won't be bouncing back this time. When her family heard her diagnosis 6 months ago, they all got checked for cancer. Her sister-in-law found out that she has breast cancer. She never knew. While they were taking her breast, she told them to take both, because the other would probably become affected, too. They did so. She is in chemotherapy and doing well, but it is also hard on the family.

My mother had cervical cancer 7 years ago. She never told me. It was treated by surgery and no chemotherapy was necessary. She never told me. I remember that she had some surgery, but I never really knew why. She never told me. I don't even know if it is hereditary. She never told me.

I have four bestfriends. We've been friends for 18 years, at least. One of my friends is no longer my friend, as we had a falling out over religion (I believe it was). My other two friends and I meet every 3 months to talk and see a movie or shop. This weekend, we all bought bracelets with the ovarian cancer ribbon symbol in teal on them. My friend whose mother is mentioned above bought one that was pretty with stones. My other friend and I bought some that have locket charms for a picture and we are going to have our friend's mother's name engraved on the back. She is like a second mother. She will be sorely missed. She just renewed her vows with her husband (and legally ma... ]]> ~objectivegray