William Sutherland's most appreciated articles

Many times the decision to exhibit or permit a public exhibit of photographs featuring the nude (aesthetic or erotic) art is not an easy decision since the delineation between legitimate art and pornography may appear to be blurred. Examples of this paradox exist when one considers the sculptures at the Kandariya Mahadeva Temple in Khajurâho, India, 19th century Japanese Shunga art, and the jury finding that a collection of photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989) featured in The Perfec…

Garbage Hanukkah was created from discarded hand-crafted items I found in a large plastic bag on 18 June 2017 and saved, a tiny plastic menorah found among other personal effects in the drawer of a discarded piece of furniture and broken tiles and plaster, all found on 12 November 2017. It is intended to celebrate Hanukkah, honor the resilient Jewish spirit and take a strong stand against rising anti-Semitism in the world. Accordingly the selected colors and imagery are meant to provide po…

All of us who lived that 9/11 day eighteen years ago will never forget. That fateful Tuesday started out full of promise with a cloudless sky and mild temperatures until the first plane, American Airlines Flight 11 hit the North Tower of 1 World Trade Center at 8:46 AM. A second plane, United Airlines Flight 175 hit the South Tower seventeen minutes later. By 10:28 AM both towers had collapsed and New York City was shrouded in darkness with the Statue of Liberty the only beacon of light as it…

Based on an increasing pool of scientific evidence, it is likely Mars was once “covered by oceans and lakes and was layered by a thick atmosphere, very much similar to Earth.” [1] In addition, per scientific studies, Mars had all the ingredients necessary for life: an abundance of water, an energy source, sufficient presence of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, and phosphorous, all with the proper “atomic charge” and a stable environment capable of supporting life for at least a billion years…

Sparked by significant warming in mid September highlighted by a record 91° F reading on September 24th that smashed the previous mark of 89° F set in 1959, the New York City metro region experienced a two-month mini-Spring that lasted until the morning of November 10th when the mercury plunged from a balmy 50° F at the start of the day to a record low of 24° F on the morning of November 11th (breaking the 1933 mark of 29° F). During this two-month period, “fueled by surges of warm air from t…

Insects “may all look alike to human eyes, but each… is unique” with its own distinct face and “personality” that consists of traits like boldness, forcefulness, determination, shyness and even the presence of an ego, [1] despite being an estimated quintillion in number. At the same time, insects are conscious sentient beings that can communicate, think, have subjective experiences, possess a memory, feel pain, display emotions including empathy and engage in both individualistic and group b…

I created the header image because the United States is facing its greatest threat ever – a coup that will forever destroy the Constitution, extinguish freedom and have significant, profound and lasting consequences for not only America but the entire world as human dignity and fundamental rights such as freedom of speech, thought, religion and life are eliminated and governments determine and control the dissemination of information, shape our individual destiny and even decide who may have off…

Never has good weather felt so bad. Never have flowers inspired so much fear. Never has the warm caress of a sunbeam seemed so ominous. The weather is sublime, it’s glorious, it’s the end of the world. Run for your lives! [1] With temperatures consistently breaking 50º F and 60º F and a peak high of 70º F on the 24th, February 2017 with a mean temperature of 41.6º F set a new record for the warmest February in history in the New York metro area. The previous mark of 40.9º F had bee…

Created from Images purchased from Shutterstock For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” [Jeremiah 2 9:11 ] Disappointment, setbacks and adversity “are inevitable parts of life, yet difficult… to deal with.” [1] Yet there is little comfort in knowing this and even when a spiritual explanation is added – “It happens for a reason” – they are still not easy to accept since we often never…

Composite created from images purchased from Shutterstock While I never crossed the threshold of the point of no return – permanent death – the near death experience (NDE) was nevertheless a shock. Being in top physical shape with perfect numbers on my last physical in December 2021, it was something I could have never imagined nor expected, which reinforces Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius’ (121-180 CE) words, “Live each day as if it were your last...” When I overexerted myself to hasten…

While New York City, a metropolis of 8.6 million is known for its urban bustle and towering skyscrapers currently with four over 100 stories tall, Central Park with its diverse ecosystems and abundance of flora and fauna provides a hidden view of New York City and a welcome escape from the urban din. “Under the forest canopy of the Ravine , Manhattan’s skyline is hidden and the rushing sound of a waterfall drowns the city noise. When Park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux create…

Fifty years ago – August 15-17, 1969 – “three days of peace and music” at Woodstock in the tiny New York town of Bethel that had expected “no more than 50,000 people” [1] marked an epochal spiritual and cultural moment in global history when more than 400,000 people came together to enjoy music and spread peace and love among each other despite soaking rains, cramped space, and scarce provisions of food and water. Even though the crowd wa…

Doll (2013) Prior to the early 20th century, garbage was not considered photographic art. In fact it was not considered to be art at all. Consequently, if it appeared in photographs, it was accidental or unavoidable such in pictures documenting poverty and social issues (e.g. sanitation strikes, health hazards). A prominent 19th century photographer that included garbage in his photos while advocating for the poor was Jacob Riis (1849-1914) when he documented the lives of New York City’s…

Collage: Totem Poles, Donald M. Kendall Sculpture Gardens, Purchase, NY (25 May 2009) and Architectural Relief, Mount Vernon, NY (27 April 2012) On this 11 October 2021 the debate continues to rage in the United States about today’s holiday. Some call it “Indigenous Peoples' Day,” others continue to call it “Columbus Day” – I call it both, with the term “Indigenous Peoples” at the forefront since there are oral records of North American peoples hunting mammoths, saber-toothed tigers an…

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem [Psalm 122:6] Many have voiced their opinions about the recent 14 May 2018 violence along the Gaza border with Israel and the formal opening of the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. Consequently I write this article to express my opinion too especially since based on the well recited quote, “ All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. ” Although I am a strong supporter for the creation of a viab…

Image created by Dall-e 2 Today, with the USA on the cusp of an intractable split, the Supreme Court exhibited a rare example of unity handing down a 9-0 decision that prohibited states from removing former President Donald Trump from the ballot. Like him or loathe him, this is the correct decision since allowing states to determine who is on their ballots would've destroyed our electoral system since states sympathetic to Trump’s candidacy threatened to retaliate and likewi…

Banner created using Coronavirus clipart for the zeros in 2020 purchased from Shutterstock and photograph of a solitary person who exited the New Jersey Path at World Trade Center Station Updated: 20 April 2020: With New York the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic and the daily death toll now exceeding 200, grim reality has sunk in. Consequently with the exception of military personnel providing services at the Jacob Javits Center that had been converted into an operational hospi…

When my brother, Don called me to let me know the temperature in NYC had dropped to –1º F, I had just left church with plans to take a few local photographs. Prior to mass, I had documented a pair of blooming dandelions and several crocuses in the –3º F cold in my neighborhood. Knowing that the temperature had fallen below zero F only a handful of times in NYC during my life (this was only the 7th time to be exact) and it hadn’t done so for a record drought of 22+ years, I decided to race to…

With today’s climate change strike protests by young people (who have the most to lose) across the world the question arises, did the world miss its best chance to unleash a “green” revolution? Back in late 2008 and early 2009, when the world was experiencing the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, former World Bank Chairman Nicholas Stern stated, “the economic case for tackling the global climate crisis is more compelling than ever” [1] since downturns and dis…

Note: This composite was created from images purchased from Shutterstock When the flames threatened Notre Dame Cathedral, all decent people were filled with horror and sadness. Evildoers such as members of ISIS, though rejoiced especially when word first came out that it was likely to be a total loss. Yet a miracle occurred – yes miracles are still possible in the 21st century despite an unbelieving, skeptical world – and much of the cathedral’s iconic exterior including its famous tower…