“…the only hope given us, although only in retrospect, is that we change.” ~ Michael Ondaatje in Warlight. ****** At a recent reading given by New Yorker book critic and award-winning author James Wood, he introduced his new novel called Upstate, about family relationships and the universality of the interactions within them. The author described… Continue Reading
Forever is composed of nows. – Emily Dickinson ******** Let’s face it; we’re all struggling to control the use of this addictive substance called technology. I was most aware of it recently during a news program about modern musicians who’ve started to ban cell phones and videos from their performances. The young guitarist being interviewed… Continue Reading
There are moments when I really feel more clearly than ever that I am in the company of my own person. ~Anna Swir Not long ago, walking aimlessly between competing appointments as one does in New York City, I was suddenly filled with a feeling of who I was before life made me who… Continue Reading
“It seemed to me that I made no impact on the world, and that in exchange I was privileged to watch it unawares.” ~ Marilynne Robinson ****** It carries a certain cachet for me, and maybe for everyone else, too. There’s a rakishness to the label of ‘outlier’. I realize that could come entirely from… Continue Reading
“Fiction—and poetry and drama—cleanse the doors of perception.” ~ Ursula K. Le Guin **** The theater critic, Ben Brantley, wrote recently for the New York Times on the exhibit of Tennessee Williams memorabilia at the Morgan Library in New York. It’s a wonderful piece of writing and well worth your time for its own merits,… Continue Reading
Spirit of Delight!… Spirit, I love thee— Thou art love and life! By, Percy Bysshe Shelley ******** Watching a recent Nova episode on PBS called ‘Memory Hackers’, I found myself drawn into the connections between our ethereal visions of memory and the concrete realities of the mechanics of the human body and its brain. I’d… Continue Reading