FRIDAY, 20 JULY 2018 "I KNOW IT HAPPENS TO EVERYBODY, BUT IT'D NEVER HAPPENED TO ME," HE SAID. "I KNOW PEOPLE'S MOTHERS HAVE DIED, BUT THIS WAS MINE."OSCAR ISAAC, NEW YORK TIMES. 6 JULY 2017. Isn't that the process of growing up? Realizing that everything that has ever happened to you has happened before to … Continue reading Mid-Summer Snippets
The opposite of optimism is pessimism; the belief that everything will go wrong, all attempts will end in failure, and happy endings are impossible. This is the diametric opposition of the optimist, who believes that things will be okay, things will work out, and happy endings are always possible.
I am not a pessimist.
Over the weekend, I visited the RISD Art Books Fair with a friend. The first question is what is an "art book fair" - are they books about art? Is the library selling off old bits of its collection? Are they books that constitute art? None of the above? The answer, as always, is complicated. … Continue reading 2018.04.10:
At dinner, an unexpectedly personal affair, we were discussing the differences in our ages. The conversation took a turn on the phrase "I have a body, like Adonis." (Consider the placement of the comma.) Which quickly shifted us to discussing the nameless quality which goes by "sex appeal" or "fire" or ... And the term … Continue reading 2017.04.25 : black holes
Sometimes, as I read the news, I try and imagine a different man as president. This other man has been duped into office. He is a man of limited intellect and even less insight. He is hopelessly ill-equipped to do the job before him, and is scared to do it at all, because all of … Continue reading 2017.03.31: exercises of the imagination
Despina E. Durand 