Sloycha, from a recent series ______ As you unfold as an artist, just keep on, quietly and earnestly, growing through all that happens to you. You cannot disrupt this process more violently than by looking outside yourself for answers that may only be found by attending to your innermost feeling. –Rilke in Letters to a […]
Month: April 2011
- Aesthetics
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Deep Attention
The publishing of David Foster Wallace’s last novel, The Pale King, unfinished at the time of his death, has brought on yet another torrent of writing about DFW. I can’t think of another writer whose legacy is shaped quite like his. His writing is brilliant and penetrating, and the cadence of his style is infectious […]
But There Are, Still, The Roses
Boston-based actor Paula Plum read this poem at a memorial service recently for Talbot Waterman—Yale professor, biologist extraordinaire, music lover, traveler and friend. This was her tribute to Talbot’s 60+ year relationship with his partner Joe Gifford. “I usually read this poem at weddings,” Paula prefaced her reading, “but it can be a way of […]
- Books
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Sontagism
Susan Sontag Claims and concerns that we are creating an increasingly voyeuristic culture are heard frequently these days. The deeply disturbing (but essential viewing IMHO) film, Catfish, is just one of a number of movies, books and articles delving more deeply into how we are constructing relationships with others and how we construct our sense […]
Pleasure, Feeling Good and Pipilotti Rist
Pipilotti Rist (Photo: Getty Images) Peter Schjeldahl’s New Yorker review of Pipilotti Rist’s show in New York last fall has been in the pocket of my handbag for months. I originally read it while traveling and had torn out the pages after marking them up with squiggly lines. Happy squiggly lines. The paper was worn […]
- Books
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Simplicity, Complexity and Elegance
Close up of Jackson Pollock’s August Rhythm at the Met Museum ____ When U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. said generations ago that “I wouldn’t give a fig for simplicity on this side of complexity, but I would give my life fro simplicity on the other side of complexity,” he meant that to […]