Now that it is spring again we count our days and years and blessings. If we had a way to stop the process of time, when exactly would we halt it? These are the glorious days of almond trees in bloom, like the one across the Public School, and of daffodils soon to come … Continue reading
. At my former dentist’s office in Albany I saw the Adirondacks in full colors on the wall while my teeth were being polished or repaired. Now the half-finished puzzle reminds me of the picture, and the way it fades in my memory, since the main thing I remember is the waterfall and the full … Continue reading
. We all talk about it. It is on our minds. How can he? How could he? What state of mind can a man have who could, who would do the unthinkable? But in the midst of the shock and the unbearable images and the thought of a plane and its human cargo running 600 … Continue reading
“Some say an army of horsemen, some of footsoldiers, some of ships, is the fairest thing on the black earth, but I say it is what one loves.” . . Sappho, ~600 B.C. . .
. An incidental lookup, spurred by curiosity, produced a surprise: Anecdote goes back to a Greek root and means “something unpublished.” So it refers to a story, in other words, that has not gotten the blessing by our custodians of knowledge, those editors of Nature, Science, Cell, EMBO Journal, Granta, The New Yorker, Paris Review, … Continue reading
When we shudder at the atrocities inflicted by ISIS, as deeds that transgress every notion of decent human behavior, we must think back at our own contribution to the deterioration of mores, under George W. Bush. We have to remind ourselves of Abu Ghraib, and the justification of torture as a means to extort information … Continue reading
I would like to bring an article (see link below! But be quick!) to your attention that is an eye-opener regarding the permanence of information on the web, which we often take for granted. The article is breathtaking to read, but it should be required reading for everybody who is doing scientific research or creative … Continue reading
Today’s article about scrolls from Pompeii fuels the imagination. The papyrus scrolls were dehydrated by the burning volcanic ash, but they are still intact. They cannot be unrolled since they would fall apart like Turkish sweets, and the writing inside was inaccessible for years after it was discovered. Now people have used high-energy high-intensity X-rays … Continue reading
This is anecdotal. Still. Think of the significance! A friend told me yesterday that he knows somebody who lives on the Upper West Side whose dog passed away. Rather than being content with this as a fact of life, sad as it is, he asked a South Korean entrepreneur to clone the dog for … Continue reading
On 1/6/2015 3:05 PM, Joachim Frank wrote: . All I know about St. Anne is St. Ann’s Warehouse, now moving into the old Tobacco factory in the DUMBO area. And St. Joachim, purported violator of St. Ann’s virginity, is far from my mind indeed. (Though I wouldn’t mind having a powerful son-in-law. And I don’t … Continue reading
Walking deep into our new property in the Berkshires, 800 feet of it, into the depths of the forest, I found an authentic dream catcher. It is of the no-frills kind, without the fancy spiderweb criss-crossing you see on the ear-ring variety, but it is naturally grown, and on a gigantic scale. It makes you … Continue reading
I confess I’m not a patriot. I don’t fulfill the basic requirements of the trade, which according to our present CIA Director is the ability, and the willingness, to torture people. Of course Obama says “folks” when he refers to people who have been tortured, and Brennan says “enhanced interrogation” when he actually means torture, … Continue reading
The origin of music is in the ether, way above us, accessible only by gifted people. The origin of music is a well-kept secret. To see it one needs to look at a window of a storefront, under an angle, at a particular time of the day. This was my lucky day. . . . … Continue reading
Thanksgiving with friends and family (33 in total) in the Birkshires, with almost a foot of snow. The view from the back of the house is a scene of harmony — I can look at it all day; it puts me into a state of equilibrium. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . My friend Jan died this Easter, I just found out. I’m doubly sad, for one since he passed away, and with him an entire universe filled with his restless energy and his inventions. The other reason is that he stopped responding to my letters more than 10 years ago, … Continue reading
. Athena on the public plaza in Ag. Marina, island of Aegina. A fitting image. Ag. Marina, on the side of the island opposite to the city of Aegina, is the most dilapidated place I found on my recent trip to Greece. It is entirely built in concrete for the tourist industry, the hill a … Continue reading
Whenever I see his name, whenever I see his face, I become incensed. He, the engineer of the old world order, who used bombing as primary tool. For people who have not been around: On his advice the US bombed Cambodia, a country whose main offense was the fact that it had a long border … Continue reading
Remember David Brickman’s blog entitled GET VISUAL? I commented on it when I started this blog. Soon after David suspended his blog. Well, it is back now. These are highly interesting commentaries on visual art that are in the margins of the normal discourse. . . . . . . . . .
During my vacation, just days ago, I sat happily in front of my Mac Air, a machine without moving parts so none can break, when the screen went black and the computer spoke to me no more, nor did it listen or react to touch. The worst that can happen is that all is wiped … Continue reading
A while ago I found the book by John Berger again in my little library, “Ways of Seeing.” Written in 1972, it is a series of essays containing a refreshing demystification of the visual arts, particularly oil painting, established in our Western canon. He has helped me understand the huge step that was taken collectively … Continue reading
