Art & Poem

*Update*

"Intermediate level international-style Latin dancing at the 2006 MIT ballroom dance competition. A judge stands in the foreground."

Latin dance, ballroom dance or folk dance, is rarely not originated in Latin America. International dancesport (partner dance) competition categories:
cha-cha-cha
rumba
samba
paso doble
jive (US origin)
Social (and / or) street Latin dances:
Rumba
salsa
mambo
merengue
bachata
bomba
plena
Argentine tango

Photo credit Wikipedia

"A simple truth, 'to make sure everyone, alive, makes it home' (as a soldier shouted out), has been debated by many on and on..." Following is excerpt from "He Fell", poem inspired by a true story. Poet: .D. LuCxeed (www.loves-footsteps.com) -
...
To snatch life out of the steel teeth
      of Death, he fell.
Have you, Heaven's Grace, heard him?
Jason Dunham, a handsome
      heart above Hell -
      "I want to make sure everyone,
      alive, makes it home."

"Son, we're praying for you, Jason Dunham."
"Young man, motherland
      needs you, too, home."
To snatch life out of the steel teeth
      of Death, he fell,
      down into somber deserts' bosom.
Mourning mountains toll the bell.
...

*music by calpomatt

(quote)

PHOENIX (AP) — Thelma Keane, the inspiration for the Mommy character in the long-running "Family Circus" comic created by her husband, Bil Keane, has died. She was 82. She died Friday of Alzheimer's disease, the family said.

"Family Circus," which Keane began drawing in 1960, depicts the good-humored life of two parents and their four children. It is now featured in about 1,500 newspapers. "She was the inspiration for all of my success," Bil Keane, 85, told The Associated Press from his home in Paradise Valley on Sunday. "When the cartoon first appeared, she looked so much like Mommy that if she was in the supermarket pushing her cart around, people would come up to her and say, 'Aren't you the Mommy in 'Family Circus?' and she would admit it."

Bil and Thelma "Thel" Keane met during World War II in the war bond office in Brisbane, Australia. She was a native Australian working as an accounting secretary, and Bil worked next to her as a promotional artist for the U.S. Army. "I had this desk alongside the most beautiful Australian 18-year-old girl with long brown hair," Bil Keane said. "And I got up enough nerve to ask her for a date." The two married in 1948 and moved to Bil Keane's hometown of Philadelphia. They had five children and moved to the Phoenix suburb of Paradise Valley in 1958.

Not only was Thelma Keane the inspiration for the always-loving and ever-patient comic character also named Thel, but she worked full-time as her husband's business and financial manager. Her family says she was the reason Bil Keane became one of the first syndicated newspaper cartoonists to win back all rights to his comic. "There was nothing that I did in the cartoon world or in the business world that she wasn't the instigator of, and she certainly deserves all the credit that I get credit for," Bil Keane said. "The losing of Thel is a heartbreaking thing for me," he said. "However, it makes me realize how important she was to my worldly success, and I know where she is now, I feel that she's still helping me and probably giving me the inspirations you can only get from an angel in heaven."

(unquote)

Original Source: AP

The sun descending in the west,
The evening star does shine;
The birds are silent in their nest.
And I must seek for mine.
The moon, like a flower
In heaven's high bower,
With silent delight
Sits and smiles on the night.

- William Blake