I’m reading The Other Blacklist: The African American Literary and Cultural Left of the 1950s, by Mary Helen Washington with special interest because of the work I did back in the early 1980s on a study of the artist, Charles…
Chomsky’s Vessel: Art Preview
I’m pleased to note that Gary Lloyd’s 1978 work, “Chomsky’s Vessel,” will once again be on public display in “Valley Vista,” a group show curated by Damon Willick and opening in August at CSU Northridge. I wrote about this particular…
Odds Against Tomorrow: Book Review
Nathaniel Rich has a fine sense of the apocalyptic absurd–its comical as well as its dark side. Odds Against Tomorrow sets us in the not-so-distant future, in a world where the threat of global climate change has become all too…
Misadventures…
…of a Parenting Yogi is the title Brian Leaf gives to his new book, whose subtitle is “Cloth Diapers, Cosleeping, and My (Sometimes Successful) Quest for Conscious Parenting.” Together, the title and subtitle pretty much say it all. It’s a humorous…
Railway Men: A Film Review
I could not help but think of that other Burma Railway movie, The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957, directed by David Lean and based on the short story by the French writer, Pierre Boulle) as I watched The Railway Man the other day. The two…
Living This Life Fully: A Book Review
Things do seem to happen as they are supposed to, in their own peculiar time. A review copy of Mirka Knaster’s Living This Life Fully: Stories and Teachings of Munindra, was mailed to me last year, but mysteriously failed to reach me.
Tim Ebner at Rosamund Felsen Gallery: Art Review
Rosamund Felsen Gallery has a current exhibition of Tim Ebner‘s work. What a treat! For readers in the Los Angeles area, this is one absolutely not to be missed. It’s sheer delight. Click on that Rosamund Felsen link and you’ll immediately see what I…
The Art Forger: Book Review
I almost invariably have reservations when it comes to the fictional portrayal of artists. Writers, too. But especially artists. I remember not especially believing the character of Gulley Jimson (remember him, in The Horse’s Mouth?) at a time when he was…
Echoes
Sometimes I hear his voice
in mine: my father’s turn
of phrase, a sudden, plaintive
note, a particular tonality,
a hint of affected modesty…
Today, Saturday
I found myself this morning standing
in meditation at the door of my own death.
It was open. I stood on the very threshold,
dazzled. Behind me, everything was darkness.
Before me, light. This was strange, I thought…