Yesterday's visit to the art museum set me thinking. The featured exhibit was quilts from the Gee's Bend community, set alongside and accorded the same respect as works in the museum's exhibit of modern abstract art. Analysts found many similarities between the creations of an isolated, impoverished community and those of the high-brow professional artists.
Folk art, and folk music, grow out of the real lives of ordinary, untrained people. That the experts, the professionals, can find much of value and sophistication in these genres reveals a foundational truth: not that the work of untrained amateurs is as good as that of those who have studied hard and practiced long, but that there are no ordinary people. Each person, being made in the image of God, has within him both the divine creativity and the access to reality that make art important.
Hence my inspiration, and hope, that blogging—despite the often-justified critism by professional writers and journalists—may be the literary equivalent of folk art. The quilts of Gee's Bend were made to keep families warm, and only later discovered to be worthy of hanging on a museum wall.Permalink | Read 2345 times | Comments (0)
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The Orlando Museum of Art offers free admission to locals on Thursday afternoons, so today we paid them a visit.
I am a word person. In an exhibit my eyes are drawn first of all to the small placards that identify and explain, and only afterwards to the object of the explanation. But today I encouraged myself (sometimes successfully) to let the work of art speak first, which was a novel and quite enjoyable adventure.Permalink | Read 3366 times | Comments (0)
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I haven't read A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder—How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place. But for the mood I'm in now, maybe I should. I can tell from the summaries and reviews that the authors have an interesting and most likely valid point, from which those of us on the losing side of the battle with entropy can take comfort.
However, at the moment my cluttered office and decidedly disorganized desk are not making the world a better place; not my world, anyway. So I plan to treat myself tomorrow to some personal time (i.e. I'm going to try hard to carve out a non-interruptible hour) for combing some of the tangles out of my life. Maybe it will take my mind off the fact that the new SD card I bought for my camera isn't working and I think it's the camera's problem because it works in my computer and I have an e-mail request for help in the works with Kodak but in the meantime I can't help being a bit annoyed and consequently grumpy. Which may be why the mess is suddenly annoying. Then again, I'm that way in other areas: The length of my hair can go from "no problem" to "I MUST get a haircut NOW!" overnight....
Why am I relating all this inconsequential detail? Because Janet misses knowing about the mundane events of our lives. The rest of you can read or ignore at your pleasure (which you do anyway).Permalink | Read 2246 times | Comments (2)
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On Monday we attended the latest concert in the Orlando Philharmonic's Focus Series: The Great Struass Dynasty. I love that series because it features a smaller orchestra in a more intimate venue, the 300-seat Margeson Theatre. In our seats, we feel as if we could be part of the second violin section; that the sound is not well balanced there is more than made up for by the more direct experience.
This night we heard music from four members of Vienna's great Strauss dynasty: Johann Sr., Johann Jr., Josef, and Eduard. I'm embarrassed to say I've never cared much for their music, especially the waltzes, but this concert was great! For one thing, the musicians appeared to be enjoying themselves, and it was impossible not to laugh at Carl Rendek's antics. Imagine what such a fun-loving guy could do with such titles as Fireman's Polka, On Hunting, Chinese Galop, and ClearTrack Polka, all without detracting from the music, and you'll get the picture. Is it true percussionists have more fun (even if they're not blond)?
However, that's not the most important of what made the concert so interesting to me. The conductor was Andy Lane, and I'm sure he deserves most of the credit; whatever the reason, for the first time, Strauss waltzes made sense to me! I can't explain it any further than that, but Janet, at least, will understand what I experienced.The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child. Volume 3: Early Modern Times, by Susan Wise Bauer (Peace Hill Press, Charles City, Virginia, 2004)
Once a homeschooler, always a homeschooler. Sometimes I can't help checking out the curriculum explosion that has taken place since the younger days of our own home education experiences. As one might expect, some is awful, some great, and much in between.
Based on this one sample, Susan Wise Bauer's history books are on the high end of in between. In addition to the five-star praises, there are some harsh reviews on Amazon for the first volume of this series. Some of them clearly have an axe to grind on issues that don't bother me; some I agree with but find minor (such as her overuse of exclamation points); others I think refer to faults that were largely corrected by the time she wrote the third volume. (More)Permalink | Read 1938 times | Comments (5)
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Jon alerted me to this performance by a man singing a duet with himself as a young boy soprano. The idea itself is moving, and the arrangement lovely, but both are eclipsed by the boy's incredibly beautiful treble voice.
Why do I post it, other than to share the pleasure? Because the song had barely begun when I knew that I knew that voice! Anyone who grew up in the 80's, or who had children at that time, has a good chance of recognizing it also.
Anyone accept my challenge? I have a couple more hints I can give, but I doubt you'll need them.
Warning: don't read the comments until after you've made your guess.
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A Candian study indicates that knowledge of two or more languages can play a significant role in staving off dementia. Multilingual people in the study began showing dementia symptoms an average of 4.1 years later than their unilingual counterparts. "How you learn the language probably doesn't make much difference; how good your grammar is probably doesn't matter." said principle investigator Ellen Bialystok. "What matters is that you have to manage two complete language systems at once."
Since previous research has found other mental workouts, like crossword puzzles, to be helpful as well, I'm now looking for a multi-lingual version of my World of Puzzles magazine....Beginning January 1st, one of my favorite comic strips, FoxTrot, will be published on Sundays only. I love FoxTrot primarily because it assumes intelligence and knowledge on the part of its readers; only the negative and condescending way Roger, the father, is portrayed dampens my enthusiasm. The more positive approach of Frazz, along with its respect for readers' intelligence and knowledge, is why that strip is now number one on my list.
But I will still miss seeing FoxTrot every day.Permalink | Read 2502 times | Comments (0)
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