Revival of the humanities
Desk behind my desk. This is NOT the desk I use but the one which shows up behind me, piled with various books and a fidget slug. Paintings by Karen. Also, paintbrushes!
What a week it’s been for me! I feel like maybe, after the arrival of Covid and the previous crises of the Internetification of all the things, humanities are reviving, and continuing to humanitize. As Huey Lewis once sang, “the oboe may be barely breathing but the heart of rock ‘n’ roll is still beating.”
2023-02: Tue. Midwest Poet’s Series at Rockhurst University. Naomi Shihab Nye. Reading from Everything Comes Next and other works. Shihab Nye really brought the audience together in a fresh and remarkable way. I was reminded of Alexander Pope’s line about genius. “True wit is nature to advantage dressed; What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed.”
I also saw Patricia Cleary Miller. Miller, a poet, taught me creative writing and contemporary poets when I was in school. These days she’s drumming up support for Bookmark (Bkmk) Press.
2023-03-01: Wed. Artist Lecture: Jorge Benitez, "Beyond the Unreachable Horizon, Linear Perspective and the Global Imagination."
A totally different take on the Renaissance from Brad S. Gregory, one in which different points of view are valued instead of feared. Some notes: The development of linear perspective, bringing together math from the Arabic world with art in the Western world. The increasing nearness of Jesus in art. The Japanese, rightly worried about Christian colonialism, banned Christians but read up on technology via the Dutch. Perspective showed up in an incredible way in the woodcut prints of Utagawa Hiroshige, with a vanishing point to the side instead of in the center.
Event also included a gallery opening for:
“Geometric Aljamía: A Cultural Transliteration” is a traveling exhibition co-curated by Reni Gower and Jorge Benitez that is a cross-cultural collaboration addressing how connections between the Middle East and West during the Golden Age of Islamic Civilization continue to be relevant and vibrant in the 21st century. This exhibition features contemporary artists and designers from Afghanistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Canada and the United States.”Karen and my younger (grown) daughter attended and agreed that it was a great presentation.
2023-03-02: Thu. Streamed Cabaret Plays - Eddie Schumacher: The Wind Is Us, about Truman Capote. Written by Mike Broemmel. My review: “Funny, devastating, profane, haunting.”
2023-03-03: Fri. Poetry reading at Wise Blood Booksellers, the soft launch of the Bear Review reading series.
Courtney Faye Taylor read from her book, Concentrate, which reflects on the killing of Latasha Harlins.
Andrew Johnson read from his book, The Thread, and from a novel in progress.
My older daughter attended with me and got her copy of The Thread signed.