inclusion | The Direction of Intention

The Full Promise [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on December 16, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

Our basement archeology has unearthed a bin of old world decorative plates dating back to the turn of the 20th century. All are hand painted. Some of the hands that did the painting are Kerri’s ancestors. We know this because the back of each plate sported a fading post-it note, written by Beaky, Kerri’s mom, tracing the lineage of the plate. For us, the notes are more precious than the plates.

“What do I do with these?” she asked. The notes are personal, immediate, while the plates are more complicated.

It is a poignant coincidence that while we are cleaning out our basement and discovering objects from the family tree, important messages from the past, the current leadership of the nation is tearing down the White House, otherwise known as soiling-the-symbol, while also disregarding the important notes from our ancestors, namely the lengthy note known as the Constitution. Our national legacy, our family tree, discarded.

It is hopeful to witness people like Mark Elias pull our legacy from the trash bin. It is heartening to see people take to the streets to protect their neighbors, to protect their rights, to demand respect for their inherent freedoms currently being dismissed; people actively protecting and stewarding their legacy.

The tug-of-war in our history is and always has been over who we mean when we say, “We the People.” Are “We the People” exclusive, white-male-Christian-landholders only? The wealthy few? Or, are “We the People” inclusive, all people equal under the law? Our post-it-note from the past, written by hand, more enduring than the building under assault, certainly more personal and directly connected to each of us, is very clear in the amendments we’ve made as the nation has matured. Our legacy is inclusive. Our laws apply equally to all or they are rendered meaningless.

Perhaps this current abomination of an administration is bringing to light the ugliness of exclusivity that has plagued our past and will once-and-for-all prompt us to clean our house of the scourge of white supremacy and male superiority. Perhaps we will have the courage to see and accept our history, all of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. Perhaps we will write into our sacred document, our post-it note from our ancestors, protections against The Epstein Class, the oligarchs who would (once again) attempt to place themselves above the law and rule like feudal kings.

Perhaps then we can write a note to our descendants, tracing our shared legacy, including a message about the battles we waged against our inner demons, finally purging ourselves of this schism, so that they might carry forward – without resistance – the full promise of democracy.

read Kerri’s blogpost about LEGACY

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Filed under: Identity, Perspective, Possibility, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, Constitution, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, exclusion, inclusion, inheritance, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, laws, legacy, Mark Elias, story, studio melange, The Epstein Class, the melange, We the People, white supremacy | 1 Comment »

What Goes Around [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on November 3, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“May you dwell in your heart. May you be free from suffering. May you be healed. May you be at peace.” ~ Buddhist Prayer

I’ve always appreciated this Buddhist prayer because it is inclusive and expansive. The prayer is repeated several times, each time with a change of the pronoun. For instance, it begins with “I”; “May I dwell in my heart…” From the center of “I”, the prayer moves outward as a prayer for the closest “other”; “May Kerri dwell in her heart…” And, then, again, moving outward, “May Dwight dwell in his heart…” and on and on, expanding and including until the outermost ring of the circle is reached, “May all people dwell in their heart…”

And then, the prayer continues, only now it pulls the heart of humanity back toward – and finally arriving at, “May I dwell in my heart. May I be free from suffering. May I be healed. May I be at peace.”

The message of the prayer cycle is explicit: outward peace on earth is the expression of inner peace within each individual.

Horatio echoed Kerri’s belief when he said that all religions can be boiled down to this phrase: be kind. Outward kindness to others is the expression of inner kindness to the self.

I’ve been pondering the root of deep division ripping apart our nation. It seems so simple. As Horatio reminded me, there are two philosophies at loggerheads. “Every man for himself” versus “I am my brother’s/sister’s keeper.” If you live in an “every man for himself” mindset then there is no need for inclusion or expansion. Exploitation is the goal and hoarding is the and the best you can do. We are witness to this philosophy: gold leaf and ballrooms while many in the nation starve. There is no need for heart or peace.

We are also witness to the other philosophy, those who care for the well-being of their neighbors: people marching in protest of the daily abuse power, people racing into the streets to protect their neighbors from ICE, people giving to food banks…

Which world would we rather live in? Democracy is fundamentally the Buddhist prayer. Of The People. Fascism is the opposite: a dictatorial leader using the military, suppressing opposition. No peace. No prayer.

Absolute power or governance by the people? Heart prayer or no heart? Personal gain through the intentional infliction of suffering or striving for peace and prosperity for all? Which will we choose?

In either case, as the old saying goes, “As within, so without.” Or, said another way, “What goes around, comes around.”

read Kerri’s blogpost about PEACE

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Filed under: Identity, Merely A Thought Monday | Tagged: artistry, Buddhist Prayer, compassion, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, heart, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, peace, prosperity, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Do Small Somethings [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on August 23, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve heard it said that there are two kinds of Christianity. The first places the emphasis on love and inclusion. The second places the emphasis on rules and exclusion. These two roads lead to wildly different worship-realities; two radically different world views.

Little things add up. Tens of millions of people getting up everyday determined to do small acts of kindness adds up to a damn powerful something.

It is also true that tens of millions of people getting up everyday determined to do small acts of cruelty also adds up to a damn powerful something. The sentiment cuts both ways.

Heather Cox Richardson suggested that we, the believers of love and inclusion, the woke, need to take back the narrative from the white supremacist christian nationalists currently flooding our airways, poisoning our brainwaves, and soiling our social media with incessant acts of cruelty.

Protesting cruelty is an act of kindness. Donating food to a food bank is an act of kindness. Calling your representatives and demanding that they serve you, the constituent, rather than the whims of a single man, is an act of kindness. Emphasizing love and kindness without apology – each and every day – is an act of strength.

Love and inclusion need not be soft. Kindness in the face of cruelty is not weakness; it is to stand up for what you believe. Calling out every single lie is not aggression, it is a commitment to truth. Small acts matter. Open doors for people. Literally and metaphorically.

Team cruelty is unapologetically standing up for what it believes. Each lie, each breach of the constitution, each broken promise, each gerrymander, each bully maneuver is a goosestep toward a damn powerful something. It’s called fascism.

If you believe that love is stronger than hate, that kindness is an act more powerful than cruelty, it is way past time to start stacking up the little things. Each and every day. Donate to the homeless shelter. Pick up the phone and call your representatives. Take to the streets with your neighbors and say, “Enough.” Join the tens of millions of others doing small somethings to create a damn powerful something: it’s called Democracy. It’s called love. It’s called inclusion. WE. The People.

*the quote in our cartoon is from John Pavlovitz

read Kerri’s blogpost about SMALL THINGS

Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, Christianity, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, exclusion, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, kindness, love, story, strength, studio melange, the melange, truth | 1 Comment »

Rabbit, Rabbit [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on June 21, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“A man who chases two rabbits, catches neither” ~ Confucius

It’s called a split-intention. Boiled down to the bare bone, a split-intention is what ails the USA. We chase two rabbits.

The first rabbit is a higher ideal called Equality. This rabbit represents a government dedicated to public service and focused on protecting equal rights. It embodies values, like “Liberty and justice for all” and “e pluribus unum” (out of many, one). It understands that strength and unity are forged from difference. It is the rabbit of inclusion.

The second rabbit is inequality. This rabbit is concerned with Privilege. This rabbit represents a government dedicated to private interest by channeling wealth to the few. It champions unbridled gain for select individuals. It embodies beliefs like white supremacy and justice for the top-class. It understands strength as a rigged game of dominance. It is the rabbit of caste and exclusion.

A healthy, successful nation, like a healthy successful human, is clear on the ideals it pursues. It chases a single rabbit. It knows without question what it values. It understands that, with a single focus, it is not only possible but necessary to debate how best to achieve it.

We cannot tout equality and pursue exclusion. We cannot have justice for all while rigging the game to protect the few. We cannot be a thriving democracy and an autocracy.

We cannot fulfill the promise of The Constitution by betraying it. We cannot realize the ideal of our Declaration of Independence – that government derives its power and consent from the governed – by allowing oligarchs to purchase autocracy.

Our split intention has never been so clear. We have two opposing media bubbles weaving two irreconcilable narratives, each defining the other bubble as the enemy. We have two political parties: the blues chase democracy while the reds chase the privilege of the autocrat (please examine the detail in the Republicans Big Gluttonous Bill – in addition to stealing from the poor to give to the rich, our right of redress is on the chopping block).

“A man who chases two rabbits, catches neither.”

Proverbs are proverbs because they reveal a simple yet universal truth. We split ourselves in our political dishonestly. We can either serve the people or we can exploit the people. We have wrestled over this choice since our nation’s inception: Who do we mean when we say, “We the people…”?

How do we reconcile the vast difference between our rhetoric and the rabbit-rabbit-tug-of-war of our history?

One rabbit is worth chasing. The other we ought to chase away before we lose it all.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE ALMIGHTY DOLLAR

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, autocracy, Confucius, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, democracy, e pluribus unum, exclusion, freedom, government, ideals, inclusion, justice, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, liberty, privilege, proverb, public service, split intention, story, studio melange, the melange, values | Leave a comment »

Love Is. [David’s blog on Not So Flawed Wednesday]

Posted on June 18, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve decided love is like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. The more we try to nail it down, the less we actually know about it. We know it when we feel it yet it is impossible to describe. If we know its location we cannot fathom its momentum. And vice versa. Poets and priests have been trying to wrap their fingers around it for centuries to no avail:

“All we need is love,” ~ The Beatles

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude…” ~ 1 Corinthians 13: 4-7

If you want to jump down an bottomless rabbit hole, consider the religious views on love as articulated by the world’s many, many, many religions. As a boy I read and reread a thick book on comparative religions. It was my dad’s from a course he took in college. It left me with the impression that the more the religious try to lay claim to love the further away from it they travel. Carl Jung famously wrote, “One of the main functions of organized religion is to protect people against a direct experience of God.”

It does seem to me – especially now – that people not only seek protection against a direct experience of love but actively erect fortresses against it. The word “love” is often used to justify its opposite. For instance, the “love” of country is currently the go-to rationalization for the brutal rejection of others. Hurting others has nothing to do with love of country or love in any sense of the word.

The more we try to nail it down, the less we actually know about it. The more rules and laws passed to define it, the more “moral authority” is proclaimed to own it, the more the bible – or any religious text – is used to parse it…the less love is actually understood.

The message painted on the window read, “Love is. Love.” It’s not so complicated. Not really. Love is. It has no opposite. That’s what makes it so hard to grasp. There is no separation, no capacity for comparison, no black-and-white, no division from love that is not manufactured. Love is all inclusive. No law can slice it. No poet can contain it. No priest can claim it.

Love is. The rest – what we do with it – is of our own making.

read Kerri’s blogpost about LOVE

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Filed under: Flawed Wednesday, Love | Tagged: artistry, Carl Jung, comparison, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, religion, spirituality, story, studio melange, The Beatles, the melange | Leave a comment »

Choose Your Chosen [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on June 16, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

It might surprise you to learn that the adage, “Blood is thicker than water”, originally meant the exact opposite of what you assume. The full adage is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”. “The [word] “covenant” in this context often refers to agreements or commitments made through shared experiences, like in battle or through friendship.” ~ AI Overview

The meaning flipped when the phrase was condensed to eliminate the context.

I live in a mobile society and have rarely lived close to my family. The people who have shown up for me, served as my safety net, lifted me when I have fallen, reached out when I needed a hand, have been my friends, the people I share my day-to-day life-experiences with. I have done the same for them. We have a covenant.

One of the reasons I enjoy attending our son Craig’s EDM performances is that Kerri and I enter – and are welcomed into – his tight circle of friends. He enjoys an extraordinary family of friends. They are kind, playful, and generous. As gay men they’ve all experienced cultural persecution, rejection and marginalization – often from their family of origin – so they understand to their bones the necessity of support, the power of presence in their chosen family. They consciously and intentionally create community. Craig and his chosen family give me hope. They open their arms and welcome us into the vibrant dance of their community.

Our society demonizes our son and his LGBTQ+ community yet, it is within this circle that I experience what the rest of our troubled nation is lacking: acceptance, inclusion, open minds, open hearts, authentic community. A spirit of play. A genuine dedication to showing up for each other. Honesty. As a persecuted group in an increasingly homophobic society, their support of each other means safety. The threat they face each day is actual, not an abstraction.

At the epicenter of their communal support is a simple truism: they’ve each walked (and continue to walk) a hard road to self-acceptance so they are masterful teachers of acceptance of others and powerful advocates for inclusion. Their encouragement is simple: be yourself. Fully. Find safety, together. Chosen Family, Infinite Love.

At the beginning of June, the month of PRIDE, I was saddened by the many, many people posting images of the flag of the United States with the words, “This is my pride flag.” Mean-spirited statements of division. The fear of difference. Sad declarations of homophobia.

It is the very reason why the original adage is so powerful: the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. We have so much to learn from the LGBTQ+ community – and what we might learn could very well save our democracy from those who only admit straight, white, males to their country club blood covenant, their ruling class, those who would persecute their way into brutal authoritarianism: Chosen Family, Bottomless Hate.

The covenant of our nation? Equality. With liberty and justice for all.

read Kerri’s blogpost about CHOSEN FAMILY

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Filed under: Family, Identity, Merely A Thought Monday | Tagged: acceptance, artistry, authoritarianism, chosen family, community, covenant, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, homophobia, hope, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, open mind, pride, story, studio melange, support, the melange | 1 Comment »

The Original Message [David’s blog on saturday morning smack-dab]

Posted on June 7, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

This is our first ever re-post of a smack-dab. We first posted it exactly 52 weeks ago at the beginning of PRIDE month 2024. Our nation is a much different place now than it was a year ago. Or, perhaps it is not so different. Perhaps the ugly face of our nation is now visible, unmasked. Homophobia is but one of the many phobias run amok in the meager minds of our Republican controlled courage-less capitol.

The problem with their collective yellow-belly is that it sanctions violence against all the colors of the rainbow. Wrapping a cloak of religious righteousness around prejudice and cruelty does not change it. It permits it.

The people participating in PRIDE events all across this nation this month are showing more courage, demonstrating more of the authentic American spirit of freedom-of-expression and inclusion – than the rigid right will ever understand. It is the celebration of difference that has always made our nation vital.

Given our current technical limitations we were going to use the same smack-dab images from last year and rewrite the dialogue – but decided against it. We liked the original message: love is love. Period.

read Kerri’s blogpost about PRIDE MONTH

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Filed under: smack-dab | Tagged: artistry, Chicago Pride, courage, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, love, Milwaukee Pride, prejudice, pride, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

Be-Longing [David’s blog on Two Artists Tuesday]

Posted on May 20, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.” ~ Oscar Wilde

I am spiraling down a rabbit hole of thought. This morning I read that many Indigenous languages have no verb form of “to be”.

It might seem like a small thing but it is not. We make sense of our world – and ourselves – through the language we use.

“To be” is a verb of separation. It is a verb of identity, placing primary emphasis on the individual, emphasizing difference rather than similarity. It places the identity-accent on “I”. A present tense of “to be” is “I am”. To be is to be alone.

“To be” fosters “be-longing“; the longing to find and express the unique self, and then “to be” accepted, paradoxically through differentiation. Our “to be” imperative requires us “to be” removed, above it all, accenting the ego, so that the highest achievement, the most celebrated “being” is the one who rises above the crowd. The one who successfully separates.

Is it no wonder that the three “great” western religions place humans atop a hierarchy, high above and removed from nature? Our notion of original sin stories us as born bad to the bone; we kick ourselves out of the garden of our own nature so we might strive “to be” better than we are.

Our language, rooted in “I am”, is incapable of storying us as belonging to nature, being a part or expression of nature. We must strive to return to the garden in order to find the tree of everlasting life.

Our language requires us to story a god living remotely in the sky. The god promises an exclusive resort called heaven if-and-only-if we elevate ourselves above our original nature. Separate to belong.

To this day I ponder a conversation I heard again and again in graduate school: people, living in a city of 1.8 million, yearning for community, discussing over and over the need to create community. How is it possible for nearly two million people to live together in a city without feeling a sense of community? It was not community they yearned for, it was belonging. Connection. An identity of inclusion.

Recently Kerri asked me, “I wonder what it would feel like if…?” I carried her question into our hike. I wonder what it would feel like if I did not story myself as separate? What would it feel like if I knew belonging as a given? Not just belonging to a community of people but intrinsically belonging to all of creation.

“Lookit,” she said, showing me the photograph that she’d just taken of the dandelion. “Isn’t it perfect?”

Perfect (adjective): flawless. ideal. magnificent. A word of unity. Belonging.

“Yes,” I said, aware of the story-limits of my language. I wondered what it might take for us “to be-ers” to see ourselves as perfect – as a given- to be as perfect as the dandelion.

read Kerri’s blogpost about THE DANDELION

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Filed under: Identity, Language, Two Artists Tuesday | Tagged: artistry, belonging, community, connection, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, expression, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, language, nature, separate, story, studio melange, the melange, to be, yearning | 4 Comments »

For All Humans [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on May 5, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I read that Cinco de Mayo, in addition to being a celebration of Mexican heritage and culture, serves as a reminder of Mexican resistance and resilience in the face of adversity. That makes this Cinco de Mayo a uniquely potent and particularly relevant celebration. With Mexico demonized and under assault from this current administration, it is more important than ever to uplift and honor Mexican heritage. Honoring Mexico on this day serves as an act of resistance to the bully xenophobic Republican agenda.

It also serves as a reminder that this nation – in reality – is a celebration of many ethnicities. We are a cultural crossroads. That is precisely what makes America great. We need not go back to some imagined fantasy-past. Our strength in this democratic experiment is our capacity to reinvent ourselves, over and over again.

The bumper sticker reads, “Equality hurts no one.” Too true. Equality is the ideal, the guide star at the very center of the Declaration of Independence, the driving force behind our capacity to re-imagine ourselves. It is the promise that allows us to intend a nation comprised of many races and ethnicities, a people capable overcoming their small tribal imperatives to create a more perfect union. In the ideal, our differences are what unite us. Our differences are our strength. In our nation, as in nature, our diversity is – and always has been – our secret sauce. Our superpower. It is the unique source of our innovation and our capacity to adapt, change, and grow.

More importantly, equality-in-diversity is the magnetic north of our moral compass. It informs our national conscience. Human beings, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity or sexual orientation are afforded equal protection under the law. Equal rights. Human rights. An intention to foster equal opportunity for all. A celebration of humanity in all its rich multiplicity.

We can only hope that this current Republican attempt to scrub the nation of color, to force lock-step uniformity, is the last gasp of a dying white supremacy, the final whimper of Manifest Destiny. Change – real change – is always preceded by a frightened step backwards.

Today, more than ever, it is important to celebrate the resilience and resistance of Mexico, a day of triumph over a brutal suppressor. A day of recognition of the great spirit of Mexico, one of the many deep flowing currents of courage that forms the powerful river known as the United States of America, a nation of diversity that intends equity and inclusion – for all humans.

read Kerri’s blogpost about EQUALITY

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Filed under: Identity, Merely A Thought Monday, Uncategorized | Tagged: artistry, Cinco de Mayo, david robinson, davidrobinsoncreative.com, DEI, democracy, Diversity, equality, equity, humanity, inclusion, Kerri Sherwood, kerri sherwood itunes, kerrianddavid.com, kerrisherwood.com, multiplicity, resilience, story, studio melange, the melange | 1 Comment »

The Line [David’s blog on Merely A Thought Monday]

Posted on April 14, 2025 by davidrobinsoncreative

I’ve decided that garden messages like “Be Kind” are actually sign posts marking the dividing line in these un-United States. There is – and always has been – a faction of the population that sincerely believes in equality. Kindness extends to everyone. Justice for all. There is – and always has been – a faction of the population that believes in racial superiority. Kindness is extended only to a select few. Justice for some.

The visibility of the dividing line has varied over our history depending on the faction in the power seat. When team equality-for-all is driving, the line fades. When team power-for-the-select-few is driving, the line blazes into visibility. Our short history is a tug-of-war with both sides trying to pull the other team over the line.

We are currently living in a time when the line is readily apparent, team white-male-superiority has the reins. Any mention of diversity is grounds for firing. DEI initiatives are being scrubbed from view. Segregation has been given a green light. Women’s rights are under attack. Tariffs are, of course, market manipulation to enrich the few while shifting of the tax burden onto the poorest citizens. Kindness is exclusively reserved for members of the country club.

It is, I suppose, one of the legacies of colonialism. Manifest Destiny. We are not alone in our tug-of-war but we are unique in wrapping it in ideals like “…with liberty and justice for all.” or “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” We are not alone in editing our full history but we are unique in our capacity to white-wash it as is currently the case. The Lost Cause narrative is alive and well.

This tug-of-war is the question at the heart of the experiment that is The United States of America. Can people of many races, ethnicities and religions, come together and form a society that protects the rights of all, equally, under the law? Can such a society be honest in telling of – and learning from – its full history? Can such a society extend kindness across difference to support a more perfect union? Can we actually strive for and achieve e plurbus unum?

Right now, the prevailing answer as articulated from the seat of power is “no”.

There is a different answer available on the streets.

In any case, it leaves me wondering what must happen for us as a nation to consider fully our history, to admit the truth of our tug-of-war in order to transcend it – so that we might fulfill the promise of our democracy that has the potential to enrich the lives of all the citizens, including citizens of the world.

Perhaps our current ugliness will crack open our denial and reveal the true nature of the discriminatory disease that continually ails us. Perhaps this is a step on the road to all-inclusive-kindness, power attained from giving rather than taking, serving rather than suppressing. In my idealism – and in my garden art – I can only hope so.

read Kerri’s blogpost about BE KIND