The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine, and “an independent literary organization committed to a vigorous presence for poetry in our culture,” has announced the five recipients of Ruth Lilly Fellowships for 2011. My son, Theodore Zachary Cotler, was one of the winners. Quoting from the Poetry Foundations’s website: The editors of Poetry magazine selected [...]
Category Archives: Art
Sea Ranch Chapel
August 11, 2009 – 3:57 pm
Less than a mile from the Pacific, unmanned and open to all, the Sea Ranch Chapel appears to be protected by its own beauty, for vandals neither spray-can nor gouge it. A non-denominational sanctuary for prayer, meditation, and spiritual renewal, it is an architectural wave on a sea of grass just off California’s Route 1, [...]
On the Bull’s Back
July 31, 2009 – 7:16 am
America, in skin and shorts, sleeps on Wall Street’s back the beast appetite and direction, ignores flies It is five a.m. and raining – - Cell phone photo: Anonymous, July 2009. Look closely. A man lies supine upon the statue.
Space Shuttle Atlantis & Hubble …Crossing the Sun
May 19, 2009 – 12:27 pm
What an image! The NASA space shuttle Atlantis and the Hubble Space Telescope, seen in silhouette during a solar transit at 12:17 p.m. EDT, Wednesday, May 13, 2009, from west of Vero Beach, Florida. The two space craft were at an altitude of 600 km above the earth. It took only 0.8 seconds for them [...]
The Babson Boulders of Dogtown
April 19, 2009 – 10:13 am
In his 1905 book, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, German economist and sociologist Max Weber theorized that capitalism’s ascendancy owed much to Protestantism’s emphasis on hard work and worldly success. Whether or not Weber was actually right, the term he coined, “Protestant ethic,” has, to many, become accepted as part of our [...]
Racial Identity: “Hapa” Obama
December 12, 2008 – 5:06 pm
A comment on my recent post (Rule Book Racism: Can a Black Athlete Celebrate?) deserves a full response. Lanny writes: “A young, black, athletic man will soon be our president.” Why don’t you call him white? He’s just as much white as black. Is my wife, Karina, yellow or white, Japanese or American? Her mother [...]
Arms and Armor at Cleveland Museum of Art
October 11, 2008 – 9:10 am
The Cleveland Museum of Art is in the midst of a massive renovation, so only a fraction of the collection is currently on display. But there is still much to see. The Arms and Armor Room is magnificent. Its many artifacts illustrate the armorer’s craftsmanship, art, and weapons development, as well as the pomp and [...]
Birthday
April 8, 2008 – 8:04 am
Today is my birthday. Also born on this day in 1944 was Odd Nerdrum, a prominent Norwegian painter. Our names were switched at birth. * * * “Wanderers at the Beach” 2001
P(achy)casso? — Elephant Painting an Elephant
March 31, 2008 – 6:51 pm
An excited correspondent sent me a link to this video of an elephant painting a picture of an elephant. YouTube – Elephant painting an elephant It is an engaging video, and comments on other websites from eyewitnesses (most often reporting their visits to Thailand) to such “artwork creation” give good evidence that this is not [...]
