Tag: compassion

A librarian’s Call to Serve in San Diego.

An inspiring exhibit now on display at the San Diego Central Library is titled Call to Serve: Clara E. Breed & The Japanese American Incarceration. It can be viewed through January 2022 in the Art Gallery on the downtown library’s Ninth Floor.

The exhibit recalls how San Diego librarian Clara E. Breed comforted and advocated for those American citizens of Japanese ancestry who were sent away to internment camps during World War II. She particularly helped and encouraged the children, with whom she kept in communication. Part of the exhibit includes many of her letters.

Clara Breed also fought against the censorship of books, and for a library collection that contained more international and multicultural material, that would speak to readers from diverse backgrounds.

I was touched by Clara’s compassion as I read many of the letters. She clearly had a love for the hundreds of children that she tirelessly championed. Anyone reading her words will be moved.

A replica of a barracks that was used to incarcerate Japanese-Americans during World War II can be viewed on the Central Library’s First Floor, near the main entrance. I blogged about it about a month ago here.

“Military necessity” was the justification for the removal of all persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast of the United States…On April 1, 1942, Civilian Exclusion Order No. 4 announced that all persons of Japanese ancestry were to report to Santa Fe Depot…Military guards supervised the transportation fo some 1,150 San Diegans to the Santa Anita Race Track…
“…When the children came to return their books and surrender their cards we gave them stamped postcards. Write to us. We’ll want to know where you are and how you are getting along, and we’ll send you some books to read.” –Clara E. Breed
…I am going to miss you a great deal, as you must know. You have been one of my restorers-of-faith in the human spirit. I know that you will keep your courage and humor in the weeks and days that lie ahead, no matter what they may bring…

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Mosaic at God’s Extended Hand building.

There’s an elaborate, quite beautiful tile mosaic mural outside the old God’s Extended Hand building in San Diego’s East Village. You can see it at the corner of 16th Street and Island Avenue.

The colorful mural is overflowing with compassionate messages and religious imagery, including Christ as a shepherd carrying a lamb.

The God’s Extended Hand ministry endured for 96 years, feeding the homeless and hungry, until it closed down a few months ago. Father Joe’s Villages will be redeveloping the site, creating more affordable housing and support for the homeless downtown. I don’t know whether these mosaics will be preserved.

I walked past part of the artwork this morning and took these photos. I only photographed the wall along 16th Street. Some people camped on the sidewalk were by the other wall on Island Avenue.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can help homeless people in San Diego.

Homeless man walks through life with his stuff.

Seven years ago I published 20 Ways To Help the Homeless in San Diego. This special page lists twenty organizations and initiatives that can use your help, to reach and assist homeless people all around San Diego.

This morning I revised the page. I’ve removed links to charitable operations and websites that no longer exist, added others.

If you find it in your heart, please visit this page again. There are many opportunities to volunteer, mentor, donate, provide hope.

Perhaps you’ll feel inspired to help out in your own way.

Have a great day!

Richard

Take care of each other in East Village!

I spotted this mural for the first time this morning as I headed down Ninth Avenue, through downtown’s East Village neighborhood. I hadn’t walked that way in a long while.

The fun, very colorful mural has a positive message: take care of each other. It was painted by Hanna Gundrum (@littlehouseink).

The mural is located on G Street, on the east side of Bear Republic Crossfit.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Art, wisdom and unity at the City Heights Library.

A man called King once had a dream. A dream of man caring for fellowman, limited only by the boundaries of time and space, echoed by men and women through time. A love without limits. Art and Poetry – Jihmye Collins, 1998.

At the City Heights/Weingart Library, in the City Heights Urban Village, colorful art and wise words greet patrons as they approach the front door.

The artwork and poetry were created by Jihmye Collins in 1998.

Learn more about Jihmye, his life and work, here.

Approaching the City Heights Library on Fairmount Avenue.
Vivir! To live!
Celestial fragrance consumes universal air…
Patterned tile mosaics and faces.
Sometimes I dream a dream of totally finding myself multiplied by the peoples and kindreds of the earth…
World Unity.
I dance on the brink of the world. I hear your drum…
A circle containing diverse symbols.
…your creativity, your mind and compassion…
Many children at play together.
A wall full of life and wisdom.
Reading colors your world!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Kindness and Love Mural in Imperial Beach.

I spotted this big, colorful mural during my walk in Imperial Beach today. I see it’s titled the Kindness & Love Mural. It’s by local artist Michelle D. Lubin aka MDFerrera. Visit her website here.

She painted the mural earlier this year outside the Imperial Palms Apartments on Seacoast Drive. It’s part of an ongoing Imperial Beach beautification project.

Hands offer flowers, which attract butterflies and a hummingbird.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Heart and art on National Dog Day!

Today is National Dog Day!

What a perfect time open your heart and adopt a furry friend. Or provide a little help to your local animal shelter.

In San Diego, you might consider a visit to the San Diego Humane Society or Helen Woodward Animal Center. Adopt a rescue animal, donate or even volunteer. Click the above links!

In celebration of National Dog Day, please enjoy this collection of fun photographs.

I’ve captured all sorts of dog-themed art during my random walks around the city. Whenever I spot murals or street art featuring cute canines, my camera is on it!

…

This blog now features thousands of photos around San Diego! Are you curious? There’s lots of cool stuff to check out!

Here’s the Cool San Diego Sights main page, where you can read the most current blog posts.  If you’re using a phone or small mobile device, click those three parallel lines up at the top–that opens up my website’s sidebar, where you’ll see the most popular posts, a search box, and more!

To enjoy future posts, you can also “like” Cool San Diego Sights on Facebook or follow me on Twitter.

End hunger with the SD Fridge Project!

Here’s an idea to consider if you’d like to help neighbors who could use a little food assistance.

While out on a recent walk, I spotted a refrigerator and some shelves in front of the Normal Heights United Methodist Church. A sign on the fridge stated FREE FOOD. I had to check it out.

Members of the church are participating in the SD Fridge Project, and the canned food and fresh vegetables near the church entrance are free for the taking. If anyone in the community is in a difficult place and could use some food, they are more than welcome to help themselves.

I read the info on a sheet taped to the refrigerator and learned more about the SD Fridge Project (@sdfridgeprojects). I took a photo so you can read it and perhaps become involved, too!

You can find the enlarged email address in an upcoming photograph, if you’d like to participate!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Small anonymous stones spread love!

As one grows older, it can be easy to turn cynical. Experience shows us how the world really operates. How people often behave.

Some of it is depressing.

But should we shrug aside acts born of love when those acts might seem microscopic or hopelessly naïve?

It appears a child or children used paint or magic markers to decorate a few small stones. The stones relate simple, positive messages. The stones were placed beside a sidewalk along Governor Drive, east of Genesee Avenue.

Not many people walk down this sidewalk. Realistically, chances were few eyes would ever see these stones.

But even the tiniest stones dropped in water create ripples.

And somebody walking along the sidewalk by sheer chance happened to notice.

And love is now spreading through your eyes.

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

Mother Teresa mural expresses unconditional love.

A beautiful mural depicting Mother Teresa expresses the potency of unconditional love.

Roman Catholic nun and missionary Saint Teresa of Calcutta stands in a field of grain and flowers holding a small orphaned child. White doves raise a banner containing the words: “Saint Mother Teresa never judged people, she took more time to love them.”

Indeed, Mother Teresa and her sisters devoted themselves to loving and aiding the poorest of the poor, providing comfort for those suffering with leprosy, AIDS and other awful diseases, caring for those who lived in hopeless situations of homelessness and extreme hunger.

She loved those whom others would not love.

Would any of us do that?

This gentle but extremely powerful mural was painted in San Diego, California, in the Memorial neighborhood of Logan Heights. You can find it in an alley off 30th Street, north of Franklin Avenue.

The mural was painted recently by the artists of Arte Atolondrada. To visit their website, click here!

…

I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!

You can easily explore Cool San Diego Sights by using the search box on my blog’s sidebar. Or click a tag! There are thousands upon thousands of photos for you to enjoy!