Photographer Hannah Stonehouse
took this marvelous photo of her friend John Unger swimming with his dog
Schoep, who at 19 years old, now has arthritis and has trouble sleeping.
Unger found that the water helps the dog's pain and takes the dog to Lake
Superior to lull him to sleep. The photo has gone viral on Facebook,
and it's easy to see why.
John Lundy of Duluth News Tribune has the back story of the man and his
best friend: Link
- via Huffington
Post and PetaPixel
Adam Buxton wrote a song about the joy of counting that soon turns into something not quite so joyful. Despite appearances, this is not for children. Video directed by Cyriak Harris, illustrated by Sarah Brown. -via Laughing Squid
Roman Baca became a ballet dancer after high school. Since male dancers are in the minority, he found plenty of work, but not the full-time position he hoped for. So Baca joined the Marines and was sent to patrol Fallujah, Iraq, in 2005. When he returned, he couldn't find satisfaction in a desk job.
My then-girlfriend, now my wife, sat me down and challenged me to make a change: “If you could do anything, what would you do?”
I wanted to be part of a dance company.
So I choreographed a duet for two women in the neo-classical style, and sent it to competitions for feedback. It was rejected, but I wasn’t surprised. I felt like I was forcing creativity instead of creating something that I cared about. So I turned the duet into a four-movement work called Habibi Hhaloua (Arabic for my beautiful, you have my eyes) about a Marine on patrol, and sent it out.
Over time, Baca developed a program to combine dance with veteran's services.
We started performing in festivals and showcases in and around New York City and within a few months we had a name and a mission, Exit12 Dance Company, an organization to advocate and educate through performance on behalf of a new generation of veterans.
He now holds workshops for veterans and schoolchildren in both the U.S. and Iraq. Read more about Baca and his mission at The Daily Beast. There's a dance video included. Link
