Last week I completed a painting I’ve been working on for many weeks. Its name comes from the text written on its face: “Over every blade of grass an angel hovers, whispering, ‘Grow, grow.’” This isn’t even close to an exact translation of the Talmudic text from Bereshit Rabbah 10.6 on which it is based, …
NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 46th episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 15 November 2024. You can find it and all episodes at Stitcher, iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts, along with miaaw.net‘s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie …
I have been thinking a lot about people who are deciding that not voting in the upcoming presidential election—or voting for a spoiler party with no chance of winning—is the only righteous thing to do in November. I have been searching for some way to express my hope that they will awaken from that belief …
My husband and I were watching a TV program in which a young girl’s parents die suddenly, leaving her in the care of a grandmother she has never met. I told Rick I needed to stop watching, then burst into tears. “I was that little girl,” I told him. Not because my circumstances matched hers, …
NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 36th episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 19 January 2023. You can find it and all episodes at Stitcher, iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts, along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie …
I’m letting my hair go gray. My hair is not the main thing I want to focus on in telling you about my new painting, but as this ever-changing reality presents itself to me every time I pass a mirror, it bears mentioning. Also, if like me, you always got a gratifyingly surprised reaction when …
I’m suspicious of nostalgia, even though I’m not immune to it. A glancing reference to the Sixties and I’m off on a magic carpet ride of reminiscence. Despite all of our youthful excesses and errors, I’m as imprinted with that era as a baby duck is with its mama. The flavor of nostalgia that especially …
NOTE: This post is to introduce you to the 26th episode of François Matarasso’s and my monthly podcast, “A Culture of Possibility.” It will be available starting 17 February 2023. You can find it and all episodes at Stitcher, iTunes, and wherever you get your podcasts, along with miaaw.net’s other podcasts by Owen Kelly, Sophie …
I have been learning so much from painting since I resumed in earnest three years ago after a very long hiatus. (You can read more about how and why here.) The first lesson isn’t about painting per se, but about planning. When I picked up my brush again, I began painting portraits from life as …
This is the text of a talk I gave on 24 October 2022 for the Alliance for Jewish Theatre 2022 Annual Conference. While it contains a number of specifically Jewish references, I hope it will be useful to anyone who has every been challenged about being enough in terms of identity or legitimacy. You can …