Seeking Some Silence

Damien Hirst with his diamond-encrusted skull. Photograph: HO/Reuters Jonathan Jones writes for the UK-based Guardian, and more often than not I find safe harbor in his point of view. He’s not a complexifier or a critic caught in the po-mo net of obfuscation (my exhaustion with that gamey approach to art is showing, isn’t it?) […]

Dune Dwelling

Sand storm on the Sands of Forvie (Photo: Martyn Gorman) Sometimes fate is like a small sandstorm that keeps changing directions. You change direction but the sandstorm chases you. You turn again, but the storm adjusts. Over and over you play this out, like some ominous dance with death just before dawn. Why? Because this […]

Icons of the Desert

Shorty Lungkarta Tjungurrayi’s “Mystery Sand Mosaic”, 1974 (Photo: Grey Gallery) Ken Johnson of the New York Times recently wrote a review of the show, “Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings From Papunya” currently on view at the Grey Art Gallery at New York University. I haven’t seen the show yet but will be down […]

Tidal Flow

In her conversation with Bill Moyers, Buddhist writer and nun Pema Chödrön talks about going into an extended retreat: I felt like I was in Kansas, and Oz was outside the door. You know, it’s like sensory deprivation. But, gradually, what begins to happen is that you sink so deeply into what life has been […]

A Knack for Navigating

Karen Armstrong’s new book, The Case for God, was recently reviewed in the New York Times by Ross Douthat. Armstrong is a prolific writer whose energy to explore, explain and probe the human proclivity to religious belief is enthusiastically optimistic and beguiling expansive. (You can hear and see Armstrong speaking at TED.) As a Christian […]

How Kind Time Is

Thomas Merton in the fields near the Abbey of Gethsemani. (Credit: Sybille Akers) At Thomas Merton’s Grave We can never be with loss too long. Behind the warped door that sticks, the wood thrush calls to the monks, pausing upon the stone crucifix, singing: “I am marvelous alone!” Thrash, thrash goes the hayfield: rows of […]

Read Me My Mirandas

Thank you Regina Hackett at Another Bouncing Ball for highlighting the latest from quirky dry-humored phenom Miranda July. Her films (Me and You and Everyone We Know) and writing (No One Belongs Here More Than You) dance me into a conceptual space that is reminiscent of Yoko Ono’s installation art in its smooth side swipe […]

Caretakers

The new Poets House building in Lower Manhattan near the Hudson (Photo: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times) As the plethora (din?) of voices and venues in the online free for all continues to expand exponentially, it is so helpful to have your own trusted list of favorites. Judith H. Dobrzynski is one of mine. […]

The Primaries

Friedrich Nietzsche Bodies. Language. Expression. Metaphors. Meaning. That’s a list of issues that most people who make things think about. A lot. A recent article from the Boston Globe written by Drake Bennett touches on a lot of these themes, particularly how metaphor both comes from and impacts the way we think. Here’s a sampling: […]