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.
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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!
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.
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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!
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!
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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!
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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!
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.
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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!
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!
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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!
Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
It’s a special day to remember the wisdom of one who knew that love is always greater than hatred.
Over the years, I’ve taken photographs of events and works of public art inspired by America’s great civil rights leader. I thought I’d share some of these optimistic images.
It’s always a good time to be reminded of our common humanity.
To see many past photographs concerning Martin Luther King, Jr., click the following links:
Optimism and love at the big MLK Parade!
Quotes on the Martin Luther King Jr. Promenade.
Sign language Tribute to Martin Luther King Jr.
Shedding the Cloak sculpture inspired by MLK.
Breaking the Chains on MLK Promenade.
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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!
Would you like to read two very short stories about Christmas?
Both works of fiction might touch your heart.
The first short story is titled A Wise Man. It concerns how we all can become jaded over the years, and how one seemingly ordinary moment can renew our appreciation of life’s preciousness and beauty. Read it here.
The second short story is titled An Encounter With Santa Claus. It’s about the spirit of Christmas. About unselfishness, not rampant materialism. Read it here.
Thanksgiving arrives tomorrow.
Today I thought I’d go through thousands of old photos and find examples of street art that include the words “Thank you” or whose central theme is gratitude.
I found almost none.
Many of the beautiful murals and painted electrical boxes I’ve photographed over the years encourage the viewer to be or do something. Be kind, be brave, be inspired, be strong, fight for a cause, love, hope, laugh, smile, be yourself…
Only a small handful of messages concern gratitude, or directly say thank you.
And these tend to be written in chalk or very simply.
Why is this?
I do know that to acknowledge indebtedness to others requires humility.
I fell a far distance –
You caught me many, many
Times – Awoken revived thankful
to be alive – Living is a privilege
Take care – See the life you’ve
been given – Cherish it
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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!
This is not a cool sight. Not for those who want to live in a representative democracy. Free to vote for their candidate or party of choice, no matter which side. Free to live without political violence or the threat of violence.
I noticed while walking through downtown San Diego that some businesses are boarding up doors and windows anticipating the possibility of destruction and looting.
No matter the outcome of this year’s election, no matter who is disappointed or who is elated, whether power over others is increased or diminished, may a shared sense of our common humanity prevail.
