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Writers and Books
Most of my life I have spent studying books, writing about books, selling books and for the past 8 months researching and writing my own blog. Books and the culture of art, photography, music and writing are more than passions for me – they are indeed my way of life. Rather than do a summary of my resume I will give you some highlights of what I have done. I have had a variety of demanding positions in New York, New York in publishing sales and management as well as Baltimore, Maryland in museum store management and marketing. Marilynne Robinson said when she turned 70 years old she felt no…
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Close by the cathedral
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Ubi Caritas: where charity and love are, God is there
Ola Gjeilo, the pianist in this piece, is also the composer of the work which is played and sung below. He is Swedish and it was written in 2011. You will recognize that the Trinity Choir has sung this piece several times under the direction of our most recent choir masters. The words are: Where charity and love are, God is there The love of Christ has gathered us together. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. Let us revere and love the living God. And from a sincere heart let us love one another. Amen. We know that we do not have to be together in the same…
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Being Present
I’ve been listening to a wonderful podcast called Art and Faith: A Theology of Making by Makoto Fujimura. It is about creating and painting as a discipline. Even when one is experiencing grief and trauma one can create. Fujimura’s book shows how making art can help us better understand God’s work in our lives. It may even show us how our own creativity can reflect creation itself. I have always been a listener and an observer of the arts. My brief introduction into the world of painting was a disaster. My imagination was willing, but my mastery of the tools was weak. I was also impatient. But I have always…
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My Dear Little Bea
Little Bea In early August of 2014, I returned to New York from cleaning out my mother and father’s house. We were getting ready to sell it. It was a difficult time, but it was also a time of finding “lost” memories and articles of clothing and jewelry that reminded me of their presence and of their physical lives. I found two rings – one of my father’s with gold and a red ruby in it and one of my mother’s with a pale green jade stone. When I wear them, I wear them carefully as I do not want to lose them. In photographs of my father I can…
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Body Armor
I finally watched “My Octopus Teacher” and I walked away from it with tears in my eyes and lessons learned. I won’t tell the whole story in case you haven’t seen it. It is indeed worth your time. The artist–Craig Foster–is an excellent narrator and an even better diver and observer of the ocean beneath–particularly this individual octopus. He comes to the project with depression and burnt out from filming and life. I can relate to that. It took him ten years (& octopuses do not live long) to create this documentary. Frustration and fear concerning my recent illness has grown in me. Its cause’s ability to hide in my…
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Kindness must watch for me
I find myself unable to edit the blogs I write, so I send them back to the “draft” stage. It is as though I can only write in the immediate moment — the true present. It is also hard to find my true voice. My desperation comes out of anger, not depression. This poem by James Agee has rung true for me for many years, but now during this pandemic, this time of moral unrest and economic injustice, I believe it is particularly meaningful. Here it is both the poetic form and the song composed by Morten Lauridsen. Sure on this shining night Sure on this shining nightOf star made…
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Individuation
Jungian analyst Anthony Stevens writes in Private Myths: “Individuation is the process, simple or complex as the case may be, by which every living organism becomes what it was destined to become from the beginning. The purpose of this individuation process is to increase the individual’s consciousness. In the first half of life, we make our way through the world, doing our best to develop healthy egos. The first portion of life is mainly external as we seek to meet our basic needs. “From Jung’s outlook, the second part of life can represent a turning inward toward a deeper part of ourselves.This inward turn starts the individuation process.” I find myself…
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Emotional Intelligence – how to feel
I am presently devouring the 3rd Season of “The Crown.” I don’t believe everything the Queen does and says in it is factual, but the actress Olivia Coleman is so good at times it seems as if I am in Buckingham Palace. In the episode I just saw there is a terrible mining disaster in Wales and many children are buried alive. Over 100 perish. Eventually the Queen visits the village, but she later confides to the Prime Minister that she does not know how to feel or how to weep. “I dabbed a bone-dry eye and by some miracle no one noticed, ” she confesses. Then, when she is…
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The pen is mightier than the sword
In high school I had an English teacher who taught creative writing in a unique way. She would toss blank sheets of paper out to each row and then give us a subject or quote to write on. Normally I moved through high school with ease, but for some reason her method of teaching terrified me. One day she gave us: ” the pen is mightier than the sword.” While I was trying to come up with who said this; other students began to write. I thought maybe Shakespeare. One of my dear friends was extremely good at this type of writing and he thought I should throw caution to…
