You don’t have to be Irish or Catholic (I’m neither) to find this documentary fascinating. It’s the story of Evelyn Folan from Ballinasloe in County Galway. It’s her thirteenth birthday. The year is 1966. Of course, I wanted to know what happened to Evelyn. According to information found on Facebook she became a teacher but not a nun. This seems…
Modern life is full of complexity, chaos, and contradictions. In our efforts to cope, some succumb to despair, while others take solace in the knowledge that ’twas ever thus. With Spring on the horizon—if not yet in the air or step—everyone is busy preparing for the new season. Squirrels are digging up last Fall’s nuts, pigeons coo on the fire…
For if ever you are in danger of feeling a wave of quite unreasonable cheerfulness descend, here is a simple antidote: The Three Miseries This is the key to misery It opens its miserable door Attendants glum & gloom greet you half way You bring your fears you call a number They provide the tissues This other key is for…
I take my title from the South African poet Roy Campbell (1901–1957), who knew a thing or two about lovers and haters. It’s from Georgian Spring, in which Campbell lampooned his fellow poets for their cosy triteness: New quarterlies relume their yellow covers, Anthologies on every bookshelf sing. The publishers put on their best apparel To sell the public everything…
This painting dominates a whole wall in the exhibit at the Neue Sachlichkeit / New Objectivity exhibit at the Neue Gallery in NYC. It’s Eclipse of the Sun, by George Grosz (1893–1959) and painted in 1926. There’s a short video with an overview and introduction to the exhibit at the link The exhibit features over 140 works by more than 60…
In the Kitchen, Where I Lay My Scene Upon the counter where I lay my scene— (Do join me, if your hands are clean). From tamarind I strip the shell, And pluck the seeds that there do dwell. A curry brews—a fragrant blend Of cumin, garlic, spice to send A spark upon the waiting tongue. Here, have some wine—both crisp…
My New Identity I haven’t changed. The world around me has. At first, my new identity came as a bit of a surprise, even though it crept up on me over months—perhaps even a couple of years. After all, I campaigned for Labour before I could vote, steeped myself in Orwell as a teenager, developed a New Statesman and Guardian-reader…
The great chain of books – #6Degrees. There’s an explanation of how all this works here. Everyone is welcome to join in. This is my contribution for March 2025 The starting point is Paul Lynch’s Prophet Song (2023) the Booker Prize-winning dystopian novel set in a near-future Ireland collapsing into authoritarianism. It follows Eilish Stack as she struggles to keep…
A murder in a locked room. Whodunit? And more importantly, howdunit? Who would want to kill philanthropist, union organizer, and general do-gooder Arthur Constant? And why? Arthur Constant rents rooms from Mrs. Drabdump in Bow, in London’s East End. Zangwill sets the scene with that essential ingredient of a London mystery—fog: On a memorable morning of early December London opened…
A cold, wet February day – perfect backdrop for a journey into Romanticism—off on the M4 bus to the Met to see Caspar David Friedrich: The Soul of Nature The exhibit is there until May 11, 2025 so if you are in NYC it’s highly recommended. To whet your interest – or to compensate if you can’t visit – there is…
Dialogue with Dignity I’ve been thinking about issues of racial justice since I was a teenager. I’m not claiming to have done anything particularly significant or to have any impact, but the topic has been on my mind for a long time. This weekend, my reflections were sharpened by attending the Dalton Diversity Conference, an event that prompted me to…
I kept coming across paintings of London by Yoshio Markino – gauzy portraits of a mysteriously colorful, old-world city often shrouded in gray mist or yellowy brown fog but always dreamily evocative of another era that was both familiar and yet eerily distant. Time to find out more. Yoshio Markino: The Japanese Artist Who Painted London’s Fog Yoshio Markino (1869–1956)…
There’s something irresistible about a crime story set in a school or college. Like the classic snowbound country house setting, it offers the intrigue of a closed, insular community rife with underlying tensions, repressed emotions, and intellectual rivalries. There may be illicit liaisons, secret societies, cultist rituals, unrequited lust, and simmering passions. Academia promises a cast of eccentric characters full…
The two-forty-five express — Paddington to Market Blandings, first stop Oxford—stood at its piatform with that air of well-bred reserve which is characteristic of Paddington trains, and Pongo Twistleton and Lord Ickenham stood beside it, waiting for Polly Pott. The clock over the bookstall pointed to thirty-eight minutes after the hour. Some train engines are simply superior. But it’s not…