I put everything that interests me to use, one way or the other: martyrs, cults, women’s tennis, Scottish otter keepers, heroin-addicted jazz singers, cloistered nuns, serial murderers.
ARTS
O ANTIPHONS AND MORE!
Here’s the obit for one Renay Mandel Corren who died December 15. It begins: “A plus-sized Jewish lady redneck died in El Paso on Saturday.” I hope I get such a full-bodied tribute when I keel over.
COME FLY AWAKE!
The Pharisees’ goal was to be “good,” correct. excellent. Christ’s goal was to come awake, in love.
THE FREE WORLD
“[Louis] Menand himself seems not much to admire any of them. Is he saying that, given an unlimited amount of freedom, this somewhat uninspiring group—the way he paints it, anyway—is the best that post-WWII Western civilization was been able to produce?”
THE MODERN CONSCIOUSNESS
“I think that the Church is the only thing that is going to make this horrible world we are coming to endurable; the only thing that makes the Church endurable is that somehow she is the body of Christ and that on this we are fed.”
–Flannery O’Connor
THE GUARDIANS OF MY DESK
Christ had a soft spot for people who stepped out from the crowd: the one leper out of ten who said thank you, the blind man who cried “Have pity on me!”, Zacchaeus in his sycamore tree.
ZAPOTEC MASTER WEAVER PORFIRIO GUTIÉRREZ
“I do not work with natural dyes simply because I was born into the tradition, or because there is money to be made, or because it is a trend. I work with natural dyes because I discovered my gift and calling within our traditional practice and developed a profound connection with Mother Earth.”
RESURRECTING THE DEAD: ART FROM DEATH ROW
Living in Oklahoma in 1999, Green would read in the morning paper of executions that had taken place the night before, including descriptions of the prisoner’s clothing and last meal. “Comfort food,” she thought. “It humanized Death Row for me…I related to that inmate.”
HEAVEN IS OUR HOME
Don’t get me wrong. All three homes were wondrous. I wouldn’t have missed them for the world. Still, I couldn’t help reflecting afterwards that the effort to preserve in amber any human life carries a touch of the absurd.
BLONDELL CUMMINGS: DANCE AS MOVING PICTURES
Jubilant, earthy, celebratory, mischievous, she invites us to see the dance “inside” our most homely tasks, chores, and daily activities. Layered through her soundtracks are oral histories; whispered, overheard and remembered conversations through open windows or over the kitchen table. Throughout her careers, she collaborated with avant-garde musicians and writers.
DESIGNER RUSSEL WRIGHT’S MANITOGA
Those of us of a certain age will remember, at least vaguely, some of his designs. And he had one whole line made of Melamine, a substance I, for one, remember well.
THE THEATER IS BACK! PATRICK KERR IN MY FAIR LADY
“My first acting teacher made the point that two things are required for theater: actor and audience. If a tree falls alone in the forest and no-one hears it, that’s not theater. That’s rehearsal.”
A SHORT WALK
Speaking of travel, I myself am setting off next Tuesday for a two-week jaunt to the East Coast! A bit of a working holiday as I’ll be visiting lots of museums, gardens, and suchnot, but I’d do that anyway.