Nicole,
I was very intrigued with your observations about Dali's "The Persistence of Memory". This painting has been a favorite of mine ever since 3rd or 4th grade. I love the general strangeness of it, but never really thought there was an underlying meaning. I also never noticed the bugs on the clocks; this could also explain how just because time goes on, it doesn't mean that all life will. It almost looks as if the human-esque shape is being pinned down by the melting clock. In the end, time catches up to us. No matter how fast we think time is going by, we cannot escape it.
You pointing out the shadows made me look at the specific directions of them. The shadows are pointing east; but there's a large black spot in the bottom right corner (where the light source should be coming from.) This is very interesting to me. How could light come from dark? Maybe this could also relate to dreams; how things that make sense in the dream don't have to when you wake up.
Erika,
hearing about the Hands of Peace program and what the participants walk away with is truly amazing. I admire your choice to stay neutral while listening to both sides of the conflict. Because you didn't become biased, you saw all of both sides. Nothing was blinding or clouding your judgment. If all conflicts were looked upon by neutral people, then I'm sure that both sides of the conflict would also start to lean towards that neutrality and actually understand the other. Biases seem to be playing too big of roles in any sort of conflict or even discussion in current times.
