I've had a waking dream as I sorted the underwear laundry into the proper drawers. Not that I ever use the dresser, usually my things reside in baskets in the laundry room, but I've been on a cleaning binge this weekend and it seemed only fitting to put my garments in their proper places.

I think the seed of this waking dream was brought about from a story Corazon was telling me of some rocker legend, the details of who precisely escape me at the moment. As a kid this legend would scratch the names of artists out on little forty-five singles that he particularly admired and write in his own name. I can't help but think these talismans weaved a spell of the most intimate sort where maybe even the caster doesn't realize the ripples of energy they have cast out into the universe to one day find there way back home.

So here I am, tossing my own pebbles into the placid reflecting pool of the universe. I assure you I'll be here eagerly waiting upon the return of the reflections of this energy. Please, dear reader, don't think me pompous, it's only I want the world and this is me asking.

On the eve of my 60th birthday:

June 2036
The National Gallery of Art presents:
Reflections of the Cosmos
A retrospective of Works on paper and panel by J@me$ Edw@rd Cre@mer

Headline: New York Times July 2036; Madam President Omongosu calls Cre@mer, Fr@liegh, P@lmer, S@ndstrom, and Vigi| �Living National Treasures� at the signing of her bipartisan Neorenaisance Bill that increases funding some ten fold to past president Obama's Arts and Sciences initiative. President Omongosu says, �The time is right for this bill. Not since the Medicis of Florence has such an ambitious patronage of the visual, performing, and literary arts been undertaken by a government.� President Omongosu went on to express her hopes that universities, institutions, artists collectives, and individuals will take full advantage of the bills funding, as well as charging the countries artists with the mission to go forth and � . . . embolden our national identity and take their places amongst the great artists of the worlds cultures.� Creamer's works, which strive to find common ground between spirituality and the sciences, the often awkward siblings of our secularly enlightened age, are viewed by many as the embodiment of our modern era. Creamer's art resonates with many who were brought up in the sterile secular culture at the end of the last century and the beginning of our own. The artists biggest fans say that his works encapsulate this balance of beliefs, beliefs that do not find the need to exclude ones spirituality for the sake of ones reason. Fraliegh's grandiose, romanticized figures reacting to dangers just beyond the viewers perception, pulling us into the work and exposing us to our own vulnerabilities. Reflections of the fearful times perpetuated by the war on terrorism era Sandstrom's haunting images of the northlands one time rivers of ice skirting the poles. Haunting reminders of man's greatest blunder and yet simultaneously reminding us that their might once again be rivers of ice at the poles with the continued goodwill and cooperation of all mankind. Palmer's figures illuminating the very best of humanity. His subtle progression of expressions reminding us of the vulnerability of each moment, the simple pleasure of unspoken understanding between the viewer and the painting.
Because of the near eradication of global poverty and the resulting unprecedented decrease in global violence, monies that were once exclusively earmarked for military use can now be used to further fund initiatives in medicine, the office of Environment and Industry (past president Obama's cabinet level creation that allowed industry and the environment to flourish in synergistic unison as the former barons of a planet destroying industrialization never dreamed possible.) Now the country is poised for the next phase of funding for what many are calling the �True New Society Programs;� resulting in this massive increase in the funding for the arts and sciences. Creamer and a pantheon of artists and scientists representing all disciplines, was present at the presidents historic signing of the bill Friday morning to coincide with the opening of Creamer's retrospective at the National Gallery of Art. Reflections of the Cosmos will be on display through September 15, 2036 at the National Gallery.