tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-82724644857630037172024-02-19T17:53:02.232-08:00Ars BrevisWeekly musings on the arts and current events.TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-38830578061288636362013-07-03T10:16:00.000-07:002013-07-03T10:16:33.807-07:00Eschatology
Contemplating the end of days, which may come a billion years from now or perhaps sometime next week, I'm incredulous. It's not that I can't believe life on earth will cease, but that all our proudest accomplishments will disappear. Our great works of art, some of which I've written about here, Shakespeare and the King James Bible, the Updike novel I'm going to finish later today, TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-41046365884857469092011-12-31T11:33:00.000-08:002012-01-01T01:19:44.300-08:00About Time and Travel
On this last day of 2011, I am preparing to leave my mountain top for an extended trip abroad, followed, I hope, by further travels in the spring. The confluence of the New Year and my journeys seems like a natural moment to begin a hiatus from this blog. Not that writing it is a hardship or terribly time consuming, but I want to clear the way for whatever commands my attention TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-47717030961331695862011-12-24T09:57:00.000-08:002011-12-24T09:57:19.642-08:00Santa in Wartime
Our popular image of Santa Claus has evolved over the years primarily through the work of Clement Moore's (possibly plagiarized)1823 poem A Visit From St. Nicholas, the nineteenth century drawings by Thomas Nast for Harper's Weekly, and the twentieth century paintings by Haddon Sundblom for Coca-Cola. The one shown here is the first of Nast's Santas and it was drawn at the request of Abraham TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-79342431454303772472011-12-17T09:44:00.000-08:002011-12-17T12:21:27.922-08:00Gadfly
One
can't speak of a tradition of gadflies because gadflies defy tradition. Nevertheless, there's a lineage that begins
with Socrates (The unexamined life is not worth living.), and
continues through Dr. Samuel Johnson (Patriotism is the
last refuge of a scoundrel. ), Jonathan Swift (When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this
sign, that the dunces are allTallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-11529931880076172912011-12-10T11:49:00.000-08:002011-12-11T08:00:53.318-08:00The Weekends Before ChristmasAs a teacher, I rarely got to go to elaborate office parties. Ours tended to be homely on-campus affairs catered by a low bid Mexican restaurant whose tamales and enchiladas were crunchy at the bottom but ominously cool in the middle. There was, of course, no alcohol served, which made the principal's long iteration of thanks to those who helped deck the cafeteria all the more insufferable. TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-32698079429245107652011-12-03T08:19:00.001-08:002011-12-03T09:16:13.957-08:00Bon VoyageAs the detritus ofthe 99% occupations is swept into dumpsters, the movement appears to be sinking. No leadership or agenda emerged during the protests. Quite the contrary, the occupiers seemed to lose sightof their broader goals, and let the symbolism of seizing public parks become their actual and only consensual objective. We also learned this week that the Tea Party's popularity has ebbed TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-44789116227310109212011-11-26T08:51:00.000-08:002011-11-26T08:53:19.500-08:00No posting this weekI'm part of the throng that's jamming the freeways on this holiday weekend. Please come back next week.TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-50634693383055398832011-11-19T09:06:00.000-08:002011-11-19T09:34:31.352-08:00Autumnal ReflectionsAutumn at its most stark. My mountain has been visited by a frigid cloud and I can't see farther than a tree or two past my property line. The black oaks' leaves are yellow and they alone find something to glimmer about in the subdued morning light. Our October snow was untimely and warm days followed and melted it, but now there's no question that winter is nigh.Thanksgiving is a harvest holidayTallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-73246364566495288362011-11-12T08:17:00.000-08:002011-11-12T08:19:14.612-08:00No Posting This WeekMy motherboard bit the dust and now I'm consumed with recovering and reinstalling. Please come back next week.TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-28947432905418980392011-11-05T10:09:00.000-07:002011-11-05T12:44:20.654-07:00The Not-So-Silly SeasonOne year from now we will be voting for President. I'm reluctant to write another word.There may have been a time that I looked forward to national races, but I can't recall when. We have a full year of punditry and predictions to look forward to, together with equivocations, clarifications, and gaffes--and all done in deadly earnest.We'll no doubt witness a blizzard of attacks and allegations, TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-13597460431018041872011-10-29T14:47:00.000-07:002011-10-29T14:56:49.777-07:00Night of the Living ChocolatesSometimes we fly into the maw of our fears. On Halloween, we masquerade as demons. At the movies, we cry "Bring it" to those that would frighten us. And then there's trick-or-treating, when we let children forget everything we've taught them about candy from strangers.The story of Hansel and Gretel is for a different time of year. The gingerbread home, bedecked with chocolates, sugared fruits, TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-8910622481944119372011-10-22T10:15:00.000-07:002011-10-22T10:16:32.283-07:00No posting this week.Please come back next week for a Halloween posting.TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-82348180035950048392011-10-15T10:46:00.000-07:002011-10-16T08:15:07.548-07:00Burning IssuesReligion rears its ugly head. In Egypt, Muslims have attacked Coptic Christians. And when the latter demonstrated peacefully in protest, elements of Egypt's military regime attacked them again. In Libya, a Jew returning from twenty years of exile to restore a synagogue, was assaulted and driven back into exile. The Arab Spring, with its hoped for flowering of democracy, is fast descending into anTallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-82647757413873885112011-10-08T14:23:00.000-07:002011-10-08T15:04:27.574-07:00Two Wars, One StruggleOccupy Wall Street continues and is spreading to other cities. The press has elevated it from a local act of civil disobedience to an inchoate national movement. Pundits now wonder aloud if this isn't the start of a force to countermand the Tea Party. Older pundits have likened the current protest's style and ambiance to that of Viet Nam era demonstrations at their naughtiest, with TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-25927987877437744502011-10-01T08:41:00.000-07:002011-10-04T20:38:06.901-07:00Casting Without a HookThursday was Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. On the Hebrew calendar, this is 5772. Part of the afternoon observance is a service called Tashlikh which means to cast away. This is performed at a body of water where there are fish: in my case, Big Bear Lake. After a few prayers and meditations, the participants shake bread crumbs out of their pockets and into the water, symbolically casting TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-57407507697960205652011-09-24T09:00:00.000-07:002011-09-24T09:15:11.385-07:00Another WorldAround the turn of the century, the last century that is, the Cornish art colony in upper New Hampshire thrived. About eighty artists and notables were associated with this retreat, which was more or less organized by the sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens and the painter Thomas Wilmer Dewing. First artists and architects, next writers, and then other talented and accomplished people, along with theTallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-39236233887414869782011-09-17T09:05:00.000-07:002011-09-17T09:14:23.720-07:00Late SummerThere's something defeatist in the prompt drydocking of the speedboats on my mountain lake. Labor Day has passed, but we have one final weekend of summer, and besides, it won't get cold for many more weeks, barring a precipitous snowfall. Can't we pretend it's summer for just a bit longer?But the fireplaces are already ablaze, and while the mornings may not bite the earlobes just yet, there is a TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-17707928360451210382011-09-10T07:57:00.000-07:002011-09-10T08:04:08.708-07:00Nine ElevenEverywhere people are remembering where they were on this day ten years ago. It's easy to recall how we first heard the news, but harder to think of where we were as a nation before the Twin Towers, before the second Iraq war, before the Afghanistan adventure, before our crushing budget deficits, before a six fold increase in the price of gold, before the Tsunami, before the near sinking of New TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-12207085800785516372011-09-03T08:48:00.000-07:002011-09-03T21:53:10.222-07:00Labor DayIt's happened again. I got into a conversation with a conservative friend and found myself defending labor unions. To his credit, my friend conceded that unions were necessary in the last century to defend workers from oppressive corporations. But today, he says, they only seek to coddle the lazy and prevent social and economic progress.
Gently, I tried to remind him that unions were a partner TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-6646404029631287072011-08-27T09:25:00.001-07:002011-08-27T10:01:51.028-07:00Syriana
Remember in The Godfather how young Michael Corleone first appears, a dignified and principled Army captain who disdains the workings of the Cosa Nostra? But when his family is threatened, Michael transforms into a ruthless Mafia don with a code of honor that, for all its rituals and sanctimony, is chaotic and evil.
A similar character-driven drama is playing out in Syria where the son and TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-39391770698878598602011-08-20T10:44:00.000-07:002011-08-21T18:36:54.733-07:00The Proper Study of Mankind
Where is the touchstone of memory? A friend's father had a charming quirk by which he discounted all changes to his environs. Thus the new Walmart was only squatting on Mr. Stillman's farm, and the sleek Exxon was just a mask fitted over the old general store with its hand cranked gas pump.
For people of my generation, an implanted memory abides from our first schoolbooks of Dick and Jane, BabyTallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-63226699777784165572011-08-13T07:50:00.000-07:002011-08-13T08:16:16.848-07:00Angry, Abandoned, Radicalized MiddleIf I were a political creature, I'd be tempted to start a new movement, or perhaps a party, and call it AARM: Angry, Abandoned, Radicalized Middle.
This week saw two strong rebukes to our political system, first by the historic downgrading of American debt, and next by a resounding market slump. Both have been attributed to the recent debt deal in Congress that came up short of its goals and TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-9579019643539515512011-08-06T10:10:00.000-07:002011-08-06T10:11:17.326-07:00No posting this week.Please come back next week.TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-2844675009494231382011-07-28T13:11:00.000-07:002011-07-30T07:04:50.542-07:00"Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know"Until the word "serenely", Lord Byron's poem seems to prophesy Amy Winehouse. Perhaps the last eight lines are also apt, if we read them as what lies beneath her shadows. Certainly Amy and her art present a nocturnal beauty.She was a flawed creature who thought herself ugly and who wrote "You Know I'm No Good." She was wrong.She walks in beauty, like the nightOf cloudless climes and starry skies,TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8272464485763003717.post-89297249400734816122011-07-22T17:08:00.000-07:002011-07-23T07:47:12.552-07:00The Weakness of SolidarityAmong the more memorable things that President Ronald Reagan said is his Eleventh Commandment: "Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican." The irony is that he didn't need to say it because the GOP has long been loathe to air its laundry in public.Their solidarity has not always served them well. George W. Bush received near unanimous party support as he cut taxes while waging a war of TallTchrhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05552334653035259673noreply@blogger.com3