RIP Richard Chamberlain
Chamberlain has died at the age of ninety. I remember him almost entirely from his early TV show Dr. Kildare. I was never much of a fan, but the show was wildly popular in its day, and Chamberlain went on … Continue reading →
Category Archives: Arts
Those Dying Swans
“The Dying Swan” is not my favorite dance – not by a longshot. It’s a schmaltzy little number that was choreographed by Fokine a hundred and twenty years ago as a concert piece to display the expressive talents of Anna … Continue reading →
It’s Purim …
… and I guess Purim – which celebrates the thwarting of a genocidal ruler who wants to kill all the Jews – is still apropos. See also this. Jew-hatred is especially rampant on the left, but is has a home … Continue reading →
Ulanova was sui generis
Galina Ulanova was a prominent dancer during the USSR’s ballet heyday in the 1940s and 1950s. But she wasn’t typical of anything; she was completely sui generis. At her Wiki page I found this quote from Sergei Eisenstein: Ulanova — … Continue reading →
Working on Gerard’s poetry book leads me to thinking about Emily Dickinson’s editors
Let’s step away from politics for a moment. Lately I’ve been working hard on Gerard’s poetry book. I’ve discovered that editing poetry is different than editing essays – in some ways easier and in some ways more difficult. And of … Continue reading →
Nasrallah’s useful idiots
A group in New York City held a vigil for Nasrallah on the day of his funeral. Here are some quotes from the vigilistas: On Sunday evening, multiple collegiate chapters for Students for Justice in Palestine held a vigil service … Continue reading →
Presidents’ Day poetry
[NOTE: Today is Presidents’ Day, and this is a repeat of a previous post.] I’m not that old, but pedagogical practices in my youth seem absolutely archaic compared to whatever passes for education these days. For starters, we had Washington’s … Continue reading →
The aftermath for survivors: the Holocaust, and October 7
The terrible plight of returned hostage Eli Sharabi – the man who was released from Hamas captivity last Saturday in a state of extreme emaciation and weakness, only to discover that his wife and two teenage daughters had been murdered … Continue reading →
RIP Jules Feiffer
I hadn’t thought of Feiffer in many years, but as a teenager I was a huge fan. I had several of his books of cartoons, and they were wonderful. He turned his satirical eye and his whimsical pen on the … Continue reading →
Why poetry matters
Here’s a fellow lover of poetry: WHEN I speak of poetry, I think of classic poems written by great poets of the past, poetry that modern educationalists think of as ‘elitist’ literature. Such writing may now be largely the preserve … Continue reading →
O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright
I felt a catch in my throat when I heard that Olivia Hussey had died at 73. She will always be Juliet to me, a role I saw her play in a movie theater in 1968 when the Zefferelli film … Continue reading →
Those fouettés
You might say that the turns in ballet known as fouettés are a sort of parlor trick. They’re neither beautiful nor interesting – at least, not to me – and are mostly a physical feat that requires great skill. In … Continue reading →