Malcolm Gladwell is a phenom to be sure. His books always end up on the best seller list (there are two of them on now, Outliers and What the Dog Saw) and he is a popular inspirational keynote speaker. I admit, I imbibe. I read his New Yorker pieces religiously. I’ve read all his books. […]
Mary Daly: Radical Feminist Pirate
Mary Daly Mary Daly has been a longstanding and highly controversial icon in the Boston area. For some she was a fearless crusader. For others she was overbearing and out of line. She died on Sunday at the age of 81. Her extraordinary story is well known in these parts but here’s a brief backgrounder […]
One More From Rachel’s Hand
Dak Thok Monastery, Ladakh At the Zen Mountain Monastery A double line of meditators sits on mats, each one a human triangle. Evacuate your mind of clutter now. I do my best, squeezing the static and the agony into a straight flat line, but soon it soars and dips until my mind’s activity looks (you […]
- In Memoriam
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Meanwhile’s Far From Nothing
So sorry to read about the death of poet Rachel Wetzsteon. She was the poetry editor at The New Republic as well as a member of the faculty of William Paterson University in Wayne, N.J. Her death has been deemed a suicide. She was 42. The Times obituary described her as a “prominent poet whose […]
Hi Ho Silver
For the must be shared file: My SO David ran across a blog a few days ago that has kept both of us pretty fascinated. Yes, there are a lot of great blogs but this one is a stand out. If you are interested in the phenomenon of digital social networks, Greg Satell is worth […]
Top Ten, Plus a Few
More lists! This time, it’s books. Amazingly, the overlap of favored titles is not extensive. *** The year’s top books as chosen by the New York Times: Fiction Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, by Maile Meloy Chronic City, by Jonathan Lethem A Gate at the Stairs, by Lorrie Moore Half Broke […]
The Darker Side of Genius
Paul Klee, mystery man Some highlights the Sunday Times Book Review: A new biography about Arthur Koestler, The Literary and Political Odyssey of a Twentieth-Century Skeptic, by Michael Scammell made the cover. Koestler’s work, The Sleepwalkers, was one of the books that launched me during adolescence into a lifelong interest in the philosophy and history […]
Architecture in the Aughts
Blur, Expo 02, Yverdon-les-Bains, 2002. This sensational pavilion, which was designed by New York architects Diller + Scofidio, was the star of Switzerland’s Expo 02. A cat’s cradle of tensile steel, 20m high and 100m long, it brooded at the end of a steel-and-glass jetty over Lake Neuchatel. Inside, some 30,000 water jets created clouds […]
The Laser Gaze
Herb Vogel doing his laser gaze thing on a John Chamberlain sculpture, part of the Herb and Dorothy Vogel collection that was donated to the National Museum of Art. I’ve been thinking about Herb and Dorothy all weekend. I finally saw the Megumi Sasaki documentary (it was released on DVD on December 15). It isn’t […]
Unfolding A New Reality
Zaha Hadid, in her home. Now that’s what flamboyant looks like! (Photo: Miles Aldridge) Two weeks ago I read the article written by John Seabrook for The New Yorker about architect Zaha Hadid. Up until now I’ve watched her international success with a curiosity and respect, but with a certain detachment. Her work doesn’t exhibit […]