French Pastels

I hadn’t expected to enjoy this exhibit at the Boston Museum Of Fine Arts as much as I did. It focuses on the use of pastels by French Impressionist painters like Mary Cassatt, one of my favorites. 

As some of you know, I love pencils, and although pastels are very different in composition from wood-and-graphite, they have a kind of creative synergy with pencils that intrigues me. And as with pencils, pastels have a very special relationship with fine papers. 

They make me wish I could draw. Maybe I should try. 

Not This Fourth

Sorry. No fireworks and flags for me tonight. Not in the mood this year.  At all.

Rhapsody In Blue

I remember hearing this as a kid, and thinking that it didn’t sound like any music I’d ever heard before. It still doesn’t. 

But each time I listen, my spirits rise, and that is a good thing in these perilous times - especially on a commemorative day like this one. 

World Cup

Dancers of the Bolshoi ballet following yesterday’s football match backstage during a performance of Raymonda

Photo via Bruna Gaglianone

No Doubt About It This Week In Boston

Flags On Overpasses

I’ve been seeing more and more American flags attached to the cyclone fences on overpasses around Boston - multiple flags on each overpass, facing in both directions. 

Does anyone know what message these flags are intended to convey, who puts them up, and whether they require permits? 

Be Specific

 42nd Street, New York, 1940, by Lisette Model. Her student Diane Arbus said Model taught her: "The more specific you are, the more general it’ll be."

“On Your Left!”

I do a lot of walking in places where I have to compete for space with bicyclists, and some recent Democrat primary results  - especially last night in New York - are beginning to give new meaning to a phrase I hear out there a lot: “On your left!”

The Fourth Is Coming

Out walking on the Mass Avenue bridge this morning, and running into Keith Lockhart at the 180 Smoot marker.  

is the Fourth Of July really next week already? 

Betty Draper Is Prepared For The Revolution. Are You?

Bienvenido a América

Rooting For England In The World Cup

Because the United States didn’t qualify. And I like their uniforms best.

“Please Make It Stop”

Central Park

When you’re in Manhattan, moving around over and under the grid on your way to and from work, or on vacation, you’re aware of Central Park, but not really of its scope until you see photos like this one. And I doubt that anything of this scale could be accomplished in a city again.

Robert Moses disrupted and damaged the lives of thousands of people in the implementation of his various highway plans in and around the city and has rightly been held accountable, but he did protect and expanded the recreational opportunities available within this incredible space. 

Who Wore It Better?

Fathers Day Memories

We’ve Been Here Before

 “Other governments have separated mothers and children.” (Michael Hayden)

“My! How Handy!”

A General Electric ad from 1940

The Truth Will Be Drowned In A Sea Of Irrelevance

 "People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think."

Aldous Huxley, pictured in 1936 by Cecil Beaton

The Truth Will Be Drowned In A Sea Of Irrelevance

 "People will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think."

Aldous Huxley, pictured in 1936 by Cecil Beaton