Intimations of spring (my first in the Midwest) are everywhere. It’s been amazingly warm, with passers-by in shirtsleeves. Yesterday on my walk I saw thick green clumps of narcissus and daffodil thrusting through the earth. The tips of branches that had very recently looked dead have now swollen into buds, smooth or fuzzy according to …
My heart goes out to President Obama on his thus far unrequited desire to form a more perfect union with the other party. I understand what he is trying to do, but I’m worried that he doesn’t understand why it won’t succeed just now. Consensus is a beautiful idea. In Aristotle’s philosophy, everything has a …
I grew up in a house without many books. Each volume in the single short bookcase my family owned stands out in memory, I suppose because each one had to be singular in some way to earn its place, something like a cabinet of curiosities. By the time I left home at 17, the bookcase …
My activist colleague sent me a message that appeared to be written in Martian: “ITOS BET SPOFTA?” is what he wrote, kindly providing the translation: “Is There One Senator Brave Enough To Speak Out For The Arts?” Judging from recent debate in the Senate, where the Right seems determined to snatch defeat from the jaws …
“It’s critical,” my wise friend said, “that you continue to advocate for what you want without allowing yourself to be shaped by the limitations around you.” This is such a challenging idea, my head swims when I try to get a firm grip on it. In the personal realm, it arises with great force. Despite …
There they go again! A few right-wingers who want to defeat the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan now before Congress are using one of its smallest provisions, a $50 million supplemental allocation to the National Endowment for the Arts, as a dart they hope will let the air out of the bill. There aren’t a …
That cloud of energy that enveloped the National Mall this morning, the vapor of an simultaneous exhalation synchronizing the breathing of millions to the beat of one brave and honorable man’s heart! Hope was in the air and relief soared alongside, like two birds in flight: we survived eight years of George W. Bush and …
On New Year’s Day, we saw the film Cadillac Records. After drying our eyes, we sat for a few minutes in the empty theater speculating about why such a wonderful film hadn’t done better at the box office. Since opening on December 5, it’s earned less than $8 million (as opposed to Marley & Me, …
I haven’t had my driving-on-black-ice lesson yet. Weather conditions have been spectacularly cold, but there hasn’t been the right combination of temperature, precipitation and time off to open space for this particular learning experience—yet. Everyone is happy to offer advice, though. They tell me to drive slowly, brake slowly and turn slowly, so as to …
I’m in the midst of writing an article about public service employment for artists, an ideas whose time has once again come around. There are numerous proposals afloat and a semi-mysterious political process that will determine whether and how this idea will be implemented. I’ll be posting a link to my article and more information …