Author: jstueart

Day by Day, He Gladly Bears and Cheers Me

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When I came out in 2009 to my church, it did not go as I’d hoped it would. But it was music that strengthened me. According to Hymnary, a database of all hymns and hymnals online, there are 6,165 bears in hymns that have been used in Christian churches. They might be “bearing the cross” or “bearing one another’s burdens” or ask us to help them “bear the light” or ask God to “bear us safely over.” Many hymns sung every week have a bear in them. Because I identified with the “bear” community of gay men, I felt like this was a little love note sent by God every Sunday to strengthen me, and so I would sing the hymns as I always would, but I’d be extra loud and strong on the word “bear.”

I’ve mentioned before that I had some leftover grief from that time fifteen years ago, some that bubbled up while I was watching Star Trek with Joey one night. I cried so hard and didn’t know why. I thought I’d worked through all of that years ago. So I went on a journey to find healing. Part of that journey involved creating 9 paintings that I want to share with you. They are images crafted by grief and pain and hope. I did them intuitively, just listening to what my heart was upset about, what it wanted to say, what it wanted to see. I discovered all these protective, strong bears were still there in my head and heart. Many of these paintings surprised me, but they also make my heart glad to see them. And I’m glad to start sharing them with you. I hope they make you glad too.

Originals and prints are available in the comments.

“Day by Day, He Gladly Bears and Cheers Me,” (11 x 15) Jerome Stueart, watercolor, mixed media on paper.

Topple the Oligarchy!

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As events ramp up, as rights continue to be stripped away, and good people are hurt, kidnapped, enslaved, fired, bullied, silenced, and killed, and when it seems evident that fascism is taking hold in our country, we have few choices but to topple these despots before they build their gilded ballrooms and settle in like Long-Covid in our White House.

I call this painting, “Topple,” and I list some ideas for toppling at a local level:

  • call your representatives–bug the hell out of them.
  • vote them out when you are able to
  • speak out at town meetings, on the radio, on TV, on Youtube, FB, Instagram, anywhere you can
  • create art, music, little libraries, banners, flags, protest signs, dance, anything that allows you to either a) address what is happening in some creative way, or b) circumvent the hopelessness and despair that can creep in by creating something beautiful, fun, outrageous, daring, dynamic, peaceful to keep the Light going
  • refuse to work for corrupt governments. If everyone in Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s office refused to come to work, he would be alone; if Trump’s staff quit or refused to come to work for one week, he would falter (and at Mar-a-Lago). While I know that much of his cabinet are loyal to him, partly through fear, I wonder if Hyatt Hotels could shelter the staff as well as they shelter fleeing Texas Democrats.
  • strike–though this sounds like the previous point, a general strike is all of us just shutting down the whole country. Doing it now when they don’t have AI back-ups for your jobs, is better. Perhaps a few days of this would change things.
  • Run for Office. Challenge the Republicans in your district–run on ALL of the things that Trump and Republicans are taking away from every citizen. Make the Midterms about seeing what the LEGISLATIVE branch can do without the President.

I’m sure there are other things we can do to disrupt the system, take down the billionaires, and force change in this country. The rich have always, historically, underestimated the people and the people have surprised them every time.

Together, when we are fighting for the same things, we are unstoppable. We just have to realize that we are essentially on the same side and always have been. Realize and discern who are your allies (most likely anyone who makes less than a million a year is your ally by default! Run with that.)

TOPPLE. TOPPLE the Oligarchy.

*This illustration depicts a mass uprising to metaphorically disrupt billionaires, tyrants, and despots by metaphorically unseating them from their giant chairs of power through all the ways I iterate on the illustration and in the post itself and does not suggest or depict or condone violence. This ain’t Jan 6, y’all.

________________

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Grandmother Rapunzel Teaches Us What to Do with a Tower

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“Grandmother Rapunzel Knows What to Do With A Tower,” by Jerome Stueart (11 x 15) watercolor, mixed media on paper.

I wondered what an older Rapunzel might teach us about how we live with the past, how we get over our towers, and how we might transform them.

Rapunzel had a lot of “Tower” moments.” She lived inside a tower moment created by great upheaval and change when she was traded to a witch as a baby and raised in the tower, isolated, trapped. The Witch, as mother figure, wanted to control what she saw, what she did, who she knew, what she thought. In Sondheim’s “Into the Woods,” the witch is just an over-protective mother; in Disney’s version, she is Dame Gothel and uses the girl’s hair for immortality. In the Disney version (Tangled, 2010) Rapunzel transforms her tower inside to something beautiful–always “repainting” her childhood, the isolation, as a place of joy. I liked that — but I also thought an older Rapunzel, someone we never ever see, might be able to give us some pointers.

Fairy tales could have lessons for Elders too if we heard how the story continued.

In my reimagined Rapunzel here, she tries to thrive inside the tower, even making a swing out of her hair. If there are suitors, they are scared off by the witch. Rapunzel eventually outlives the witch, but she is left with the tower.

What do you do with the Tower you are left with?

  1. Examine the Tower from the Inside

As a writer, I have been circling around tower moments in my own life, trying to see them honestly, not relive them, and write about them, so that maybe I can put the tower behind me. But it is hard to look closely at your tower without feeling trapped, or feeling the pain of what it was like inside that tower. People who hurt me are long gone; circumstances have changed. But I am still in the tower because I don’t know how to climb down.

Rapunzel had her hair, but she’d have to remove it to leave. There’s no door at the bottom. In some versions of the fairy tale, she makes a ladder of straw and climbs down — so maybe there doesn’t have to be a sacrifice, but getting out of your tower is not always easy. They tend to travel with you.

Before I can leave though, I need to understand what my tower is, and how it shaped me going forward. It’s hard to look closely at your tower but I don’t think we can escape them without understanding them first — and understanding how we ourselves are NOT our towers.

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The Ascension of Jesus, Attended by Sparrows

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I have to think birds came to Jesus as he ascended into the heavens. In my mind, they would have come to say goodbye, or hello, or just to be playful with the only person they’d ever seen fly. We are told many times in the Bible that Jesus cares about the fates of birds, specifically sparrows, common in Jesus’ area and time, as plentiful and as associated with humans and human habitats as they are today. People thought they were annoying. Some still do.

When I was a child I had a neighbor who killed sparrows on purpose.

He was an older gentleman with the largest house on the block. LD was his name. He had erected a purple martin house at the back of his fenced property, which adjoined the back of our unfenced property (we were living in the church parsonage while my dad was pastor at Braymer Baptist Church). When one puts up a purple martin house, I was told, you want purple martins to come and nest there–not sparrows, or any other bird. It seems to me in retrospect that it’s arrogant to think you open up free apartments and reject whatever birds they attract. He didn’t want those bird houses filled with “nasty” sparrows, so he installed cages at the bottom of the pole of the purple martin house, cages where he placed enticing food to attract sparrows.

So for the birds he wanted, he created homes; for the birds he didn’t, he created cages.

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A Healing Breakfast on the Beach: Jesus and the Restoration of Peter

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Peter learns to forgive himself.

“A Healing Breakfast on the Beach (After Easter Series),” Jerome Stueart, (11 x 15) watercolor and mixed media on paper. 4-22-2025.

A good meal can heal us.

This is a depiction of a beautiful story (John 21) of Jesus, after he comes back from the dead, visiting his friends. It’s not unlike stories from friends I’ve talked to who have had someone pass recently. Stories of healing conversations with loved ones who have died. These stories have a similar theme, though maybe they didn’t see their friend quite so “in the flesh,” but the idea of a healing conversation still rings true and is common. We need to have old wounds resolved and healed after someone dies. Part of grieving is healing wounds that we might be keeping alive inside ourselves.

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The Challenge Ahead (after Pope Francis)

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“The Challenge Ahead (after Pope Francis),” Jerome Stueart, (11 x 15), watercolor, mixed media on paper. 4-21-25.

These are pivotal moments in world history. Today, every election seems to either put a weight on the scale for fascism or against it. There is no middle ground, no neutrality, when fascism is expanding. You are in the fight already, either by capitulating to dictators or through doing what you can to block or limit fascism regimes and plans. The Pope is a power position. The Catholic Church must be in the fight against fascism. The world needs them to elect a strong pope who will protect the weak and push back against the powerful.

This is not a sure thing, though. I don’t know if we will get a Pope as centered on the poor, the marginalized, on broadening out the care of the church and pulling back its exclusionary tendencies. But that is the challenge.

Pope Francis was a great pope, but he wasn’t a perfect Pope. Who is? He certainly moved the Catholic Church towards real inclusion and re-centered it on Christ’s mission. He took necessary steps forward. I found hope in his small moves towards full acceptance of LGBTQ individuals, and hope in his condemnation of American fascists, the war in Gaza, and his hands-on approach to leading.

We will need that kind of Pope again, one that progresses Christianity forward, not one that plays politics and power or eases the minds of social conservatives who want to deny rights and inclusion to those who are most hurting in society. We need someone fearless to take on those in power who seek to hurt others. Particularly, we need a Pope who can stand up to dictators and fascist leaders around the world. We can’t have a Pope who capitulates because he is afraid.

Give us a lion — a lion to protect the poor, the immigrant, the marginalized against the wealthy and powerful; a lion who roars mercy, grace and love at those who would condemn and incarcerate those who are different. A lion who condemns instead the practices of fascists and dictators all over the world, and emboldens the people to resist and create change to remake the society into a place that upholds equality, equity, diversity, and inclusion in every way.

One Pope (like one person) can be powerful if they can help empower others for positive change. This is a huge platform where the right person can help change society for the better of all. Pope Francis started that great work. Who will wear those shoes now?

Orange is the New Backdrop

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“Orange is the New Backdrop,” Jerome Stueart (11 x 15) watercolor, mixed media on paper.

I believe in using art to create the future I want to see.

This is the Justice we need.

Now, I believe mass incarceration in the US is a huge problem on many levels–not to mention that it’s a money-making scheme for those who own the prisons, but I also believe in Justice. Many of us are watching the Trump Administration break the law by the Trump administration and wondering– isn’t this illegal? Is no one going to catch them on this? It reveals to us what many already know that the justice system works differently for those with money and power than it does for most of us. But I still have hope.

Judges are still fighting for us, and justsecurity.org is cataloguing all the lawsuits currently being filed against the Trump Administration. I have listed a few of the charges there–including some that are just Trump’s personal charges. But there are LOTS of lawsuits being filed right now. Justice may be slower than we want, but it can be more lasting.

My illustration may be a fantasy: two current prisoners as (hopefully) future plaintiffs in one of many lawsuits against the Trump admin already forming, but it gives me hope.

I was disgusted by the PR stunt Kristi Noem did with the men as backdrop for what amounted to an ad for Homeland Security. MSNBC revealed that the men rounded up for the El Salvador facility included men with NO charges against them, but who sported a tattoo that would look good in the public relations message Trump wanted to send to his voters about the “good job” he was doing on immigration.

In my painting, I imagined a future I wanted to see.

I want to believe that Justice will happen. We are being flooded with Executive Orders and State’s Bills whose purpose is to scare us into giving up. It may look hopeless, but people are fighting back. And I want you to take heart.

Many people are fighting for us, and we can join that fight.

Two people that are helping us know HOW to fight back are AOC and Bernie Sanders, and you can watch one of their stops on the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in its entirety, below. AOC begins about 11:40 into the video:

I believe in using art to create the future I want to see. I don’t have to be confined to ONLY what is happening, or what happened. I can create a new future.

I hope you make art creating the future YOU want to see. May your art inspire you and others to create that future.

Mama Just Got Added to the War Chat

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“Mama Just Got Added to the War Chat,” Jerome Stueart (11 x 15) watercolor, mixed media on paper. 3-25-25.

This was perhaps too easy to make fun of–as public incompetency is its own caricature. Of course, as an artist, there is a representation which reflects my own idea of attractiveness–as every artist does throughout time. But this is also a nod to adult gay son’s taking care of their moms/parents. Shoutout to family caregivers. And it’s a nod to gay representation in editorial illustration, and a positively-presented unique body image. Hey, we deserve that!

Also, just to note, V.P. is not J.D. I suspect it is only a matter of time before our own troops will be used to help V.P. in the Ukraine.

While the sheer incompetency of the Trump Cabinet and other Appointees is what this illustration is about, I was most appalled by the sheer lack of empathy by any participants in the chat about the lives they were taking. War is a serious business, and I can’t imagine Obama’s team or Hillary’s team using prayer emojis and cheering on the deaths of those who were NOT the target. I expect my elected officials to be grave and reluctant to use weapons of mass destruction to end the life of one person–and if they have to use that kind of weapon, I would hope that they would have more respect for life than this. Trump and all his team disgust me.

Everything I see from this administration comes from a lack of empathy and compassion for the humanity of anyone but themselves. They are all drunk on power.

I also hate the kidnapping of Christianity to promote hate. I’ve seen it many times, and of course, Christianity has promoted slavery, and the subjugation of women, and the cruel treatment of the LGBTQ community. So it has a history just in the US of being used to hurt people– not to mention WORLD history– but that is not what the core of our faith teaches.

I hate how the US is being run now in OUR names—as if we all agreed this would be the right thing to do. I can’t imagine a single Christian person–if they truly followed Christ–approving of this kind of behavior or of the “disappearing” of people who don’t agree with Trump–students and professors taken off the street and shuffled into prisons in El Salvador for exercising their rights of free speech while Trump’s team are committing crimes against the country and humanity every single day.

I pray Justice comes, and she comes swiftly, against this fascist regime.

Until then, illustrations and essays, and calling my representative and protesting when I can. I’m going to try to start illustrating more of what we CAN do–and not just the shock at what is happening. I think there’s a place for prescriptive illustration– a tool which has been used for propaganda before can be used to model ways to fight back. Show us winning, show Justice coming, show the paths.

Thank you for listening. I’m just one bear bearing witness. I just didn’t think I would be witnessing this.