Year in review collage featuring images from top stories of 2014 written by Aberjhani. Includes photo by Aberjhani and quotation art by Timadae. (by Postered Poetics) Most professional creative artists are familiar with the challenge of having to sometimes divide their inspired energies between remaining focused on one area of productivity while occasionally, simultaneously, completing work in another. It was that kind of cognitive agility that allowed the music of Michael Jackson’s Xscape  album compilation to reconfirm his genius in 2014, five years after his death in 2009. It was also that kind of determined flexibility which allowed this author to remain on track with research for current literary works in progress while also publishing more articles, essays, poems, books, and blog posts throughout 2014 than previously realized. Their titles and headlines confront some of 2014’s most compelling issues, any number of which is likely to continue challenging humanity in 2015

Community leaders, including Georgia State Sen. Lester Jackson (center), gather to celebrate 100th anniversary of the Carnegie Branch Library in Savannah with a new historic marker . (photograph by Aberjhani) Measuring the success of a given year by the percentage of profits gained or lost is a sensible enough practice for many individuals and an essential one for various organizations. However, I decided going into 2014 that I wanted to commit time throughout the year to finding ways that creatively honored the concept of mutually-empowering and life-enhancing partnerships. The goal was to combine as much as possible measures of social responsibility with different types of creative endeavors. Why such an intensely-focused approach? Because the still-straggling uncertainty of the economy, the domestic gun violence that broke America’s collectively-beating heart nearly every other week, and rising waves of conflict on the global front made it far too easy to succumb to su