Dinner Theater?"Philosophers ponder the idea
of identity: what it is to give something
a name on Monday and have it respond to that name on Friday...."
-- Bernard Holland in the New York Times of Monday, May 20, 1996
…
Habeas CorpusFrom St. Nicholas Versus the
Volcano:"The day begins with Yvonne’s arrival at the Bella Vista
bar in Quauhnahuac. From outside she hears Geoffrey’s familiar voice
shouting a drunken lecture, this time on t…
Lynchburg Law
From today's New York Times: The Rev. Jerry Falwell's Liberty
University [at Lynchburg, Virginia] is part of a movement
around the nation t…
Flores, Flores Para Los Muertos
See entry ofAll Hallows' Eve:
"A memorial Mass will be held on Monday,November 22, 2004, at the
Church ofSt. Ignatius Loyola, 980 Park Avenue...."
From Four Quartets…
Pictures at 11From today's Maureen Dowd
column:
"Trapped in their blue bell jar,drowning in unfulfilled
dreams,Democrats are the'Desperate Housewives' of politics."
Sam Dean forThe New York Times Law and Rel…
A Burning Crossfor Ireland
Friday's entries included a cross-burning in honor of the late
Protestant activist Bobby Frank Cherry and of a 1963 bombing in
Birmingham, Alabama:
Click on picture for details.
…
Trinity and CounterpointToday's Roman
Catholic meditation is from Gerry
Adams, leader of Sinn Fein, the political arm of the Irish Republican
Army:"I certainly regret what happened and I make no bones about that,"
Adams …
Today's Sermon:Canonization
The title of Cleanth Brooks's classic The Well Wrought Urn comes from a
poem by John Donne:
We’ll build in sonnets pretty roomes; As well a well wrought urne
becomesThe greatest ashes, …
Janet's Tea Party
From Log24.net, Oct. 5, 2004: For Janet Leigh, who died on Sunday, Oct.
3, 2004:
The Manchurian Candidate
MARCO -- What's your last name?ROSIE
-- Chaney. I'm production assistan…
From Tate to Plato
In honor of Allen Tate's birthday (today) and of the MoMA re-opening
(tomorrow)
"For Allen Tate the concept of tension was the most useful formal tool
at the critic’s disposal, as irony and p…
Goin' to Carolinain My Mind
From today's New York Times:
"Bobby Frank Cherry, the former Klansman whose conviction two years ago
for the church bombing that killed four black girls in Birmingha…
Last Crusade?
From the Los Angeles Times:
Evangelist Billy Graham is scheduled to preach a four-day Crusade at
the Pasadena Rose Bowl, beginning tonight.
I do not agree with Graham's beliefs, but respect his sin…
Geometry, continuedAdded a long footnote on
symplectic properties of
the 4x4 array to "Geometry of the 4x4 Square."
Dark ZenThe above link is in memory of
Iris Chang,who ended her life at 36on Nov. 9, 2004.
A central concept of Zen
is satori, or "awakening."
For a rude awakening, see
Satori at Pearl Harbor.
Fade to Black
Se…
11/11 11:11:11
Samuel Beckett on Dante and Joyce:
"Another point of comparison is the preoccupation with the significance
of numbers. The death of Beatrice inspired nothing less than a highly
complicated poem d…
Updike on God"In Exodus 3:14, when Moses asks
God his name, the answer
in Hebrew, ’Ehyeh-’Asher-’Ehyeh, has been commonly rendered I AM THAT I
AM but could be, Alter reports, simply I AM, I AM. An impression grew
upon …
The Nine
(Readings for
Weyl's birthday)
"The grid is a staircase to the Universal.... We could think about Ad
Reinhardt, who, despite his repeated insistence that
'Art is art,'
ended up by painting a ser…
A Harvard Educationin a Sentence
Harvard alumnus Norman Mailer:
"At times, bullshit can only be countered with superior bullshit."
For Harvard bullshit, seeThe Crimson Passion.
For superior bullshit, seeShr…
New Journalism 101:
The Rhetorical Question
Art critic Holland Cotter in today's New York Times on the work of a
contemporary artist:
"Although much of this art is intuitive in origin, an on-the-spot
response t…
Readings for
All Souls' Day
Yesterday was the Feast of All Saints. Today is the Feast of All Souls.
Those of us who are not saints may profit from the writings of both the
saintly Thomas Wolfe and the more sec…