A group of seven seemingly disparate people came together recently to begin a creative workshop experience unlike any other; at least, none they’d come in contact with before. The idea germinated in a lecture given on a Mozart concerto at the Julliard School. I had the good fortune of stumbling on it at the invitation… Continue Reading
Author Archives: Sidney Stark
Are Kids People, Too?
Years ago, I might have said ‘once upon a time’ it seems so foreign now, a real estate office I worked in kept its supply of current newspapers stacked in the copy room. Mailboxes lined one wall and a fax machine graced the facing counter. The huge Xerox behemoth that ran our lives took up… Continue Reading
Passion 2, Too!
I was only half listening last weekend during the Q &A when a woman asked about the astounding level of passion the young musicians performed with. It always happens. Every summer concert with the music students there’s the inevitable question about…passion. After years of watching bored middle-aged musicians in an orchestra trying to stay awake… Continue Reading
Summer Reading
“The list has come,” my mother announced, waving two pieces of paper at me from the desk under her bedroom window. I was lying on the floor watching dust motes dance in a shaft of sunlight, an activity that fascinated me as long as I could remember. It was not considered a useful endeavor by… Continue Reading
The Christmas Present
“Don’t say I never did anything for you,” my father announced, knocking his snow boots together at the heels like a Nazi on parade. It was the best way to get the frozen buildup off without shaking the questionable structure of our little wooden porch. Our cabin in the Canadian Laurentians was as simple thirty… Continue Reading
Balance of Power: Dynamism Denied
Born in New York City, balanced uncomfortably on the cusp between the end of WWII and the post-war economic boom, I nonetheless had a unique vantage point to observe the developing international Cold War. It began almost immediately following World War II and lasted through most of the 20th century, basically all of my life.… Continue Reading