From an interview in Insight, the magazine of The Sisters of Life, with Dr. Michael J. Brescia, Executive Medical Director and co-founder of Calvary Hospital, to talk about his experiences at the Catholic palliative care facility and hospice in the Bronx. I heard that you were responsible for a famous invention. I joined the VA hospital in […]
CULTURE
PERSHIING SQUARE ICE RINK EXTRAVAGANZA
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: The Bai Holiday Ice Rink Pershing Square has returned for its 22nd anniversary season. I know because I attended the grand opening, which took place from 11 to noon on Thursday, Nov. 14. From top to bottom, the event, atmosphere, and zeitgeist were quintessential LA. The […]
A GLASS PANEL HOMAGE TO LOCAL FIREFIGHTERS
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture piece begins: Artist Anne-Elizabeth Sobieski’s family lost their Pasadena home to fire when she was 17. “I was frozen. I don’t know how much time went by. We just watched as the roof fell in, and one by one, every room burned.” Ever since, she’s had a special […]
THE SRIRACHA SAUCE EMPIRE
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Sriracha sauce is a crown jewel of Southern California foodie culture. You’ve seen the plastic bottles. They’re filled with bright red sauce, emblazoned with a rooster, stamped with text in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese, and topped by a green squirt cap. For many, this blazing […]
COAST TO COAST
I always laugh when people say “I hope you enjoyed your retreat!” or “your vacation!” I do enjoy it, all of it, but my life and my travel are almost militarily disciplined and at all times retain a pilgrimage aspect. I often fast in my way, I always walk miles. This last trip to NYC […]
PROJECTS AND PLOWSHARES
I haven’t much checked in as of late. This is in large part because I have many PROJECTS. One: I am making a will! That’s right: getting “my affairs” in order, a task upon which I’ve been procrastinating for probably five years. So the ball is rolling. That feels good. It’s a lot of work. […]
MAKING WAVES: THE ART OF CINEMATIC SOUND
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Midge Costin’s documentary, “Making Waves: The Art of Cinematic Sound,” is a fascinating and instructive peek into a world hitherto unknown to most of us. The film traces the history of sound in film, examines the ways directors and sound designers work together, and features the latest discoveries […]
THE PROVOCATIONS OF CAMILLE PAGLIA
I’m no unalloyed fan of Camille Paglia. Her embrace of the New Age and desire to be a man leave me cold. On the other hand, I’m totally on board with her disdain for political-correctness-gone-awry and her recognition that without religion civilization is doomed. I just came across a wonderful piece by Emily Esfahani Smith–“The […]
GORDON PARKS: THE FLÁVIO STORY AT THE GETTY
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: Through Nov. 10 at the Getty is a compelling exhibit based on the work of Gordon Parks, a Renaissance-man film director, writer, and photojournalist perhaps best known for his work for LIFE magazine. President John F. Kennedy’s “Alliance for Progress,” launched in 1961, was an initiative designed […]
CAMBRIA, CA
Hi. I’m in Cambria on the California Central Coast, on terrible circadian rhythm where I get max five or six hours a night of sleep. No matter. Those are the things of this world. Had fugue state pleasant drive up yesterday on about four hours of sleep, wheeled into town, sprang into action, explored both […]
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AUGUST WILSON’S “GEM OF THE OCEAN”
This week’s arts and culture column begins: Here’s how Pasadena’s A Noise Within Theater pitches its latest production: Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson unfolds the African American legacy in the first chronological episode of his celebrated “American Century Cycle,” a soaring, mystical tale of a man desperate for redemption in 1904 Pittsburgh. Aunt Ester, a […]
THE ANCIENT BRISTLECONE PINE FOREST
Here’s how this week’s arts and culture column begins: I spent mid-August to mid-September at a writer’s residency offered by the good sisters at the Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho, population 923. It was good to get away. But it also felt really, really good to be heading back to Southern California in […]
ON MARRIAGE: LEAVING BEFORE THE RAINS COME
“But most vivid of all in my memory was the encounter with Dad’s friend, the Polish father from the Catholic mission at Old Mkushi. He caught me by the shoulders just as I was making my way into the garden for the photographs, as if he had an urgent message to impart. ‘The first year […]
FOOLS FOR CHRIST
Last week I was talking to my dear friend Greg Camacho, of San Antonio, Texas. During the course of our conversation, he said “I was looking for one of your books the other day and saw the title Fools for Christ. Which looks like it’s hot off the press. Did you bring out a new book […]