The Palatine Chapel is one of those must-see places if ever you have the chance. It was commissioned by the enlightened Norman King Roger II (Ruggero) and was consecrated on Palm Sunday 1140. It was designated a UNESCO World heritage site in 2015. It’s inside the palace of the Norman kings of Sicily that now serves as Sicily’s seat of the regional…
The Gallery of Modern Art is located inside the restored 15th century convent of Sant’Anna and has many works of art from the last 150 years. I always enjoy looking at depictions of schools and classrooms and I was very taken with this large painting – Gli Scolari (The Schoolchildren) – by Felice Casorati. Five students and a teacher with symbols…
Palermo has three outdoor markets and we managed to hit all of them. Two we found by design while foraging for supplies and the third on our walk back from the Palentine Chapel and on our way to the completely over the top Chiesa del Gesù. So a few scenes from the market and then on to Montreale. Lots of…
It rarely snows in Palermo but I was pleased to see the universal winter snowflakes on the windows of the elementary school. Our apartment is near the Piazza Marina in the center of which is the Giardino Garibaldi where enormous fig trees create what must be welcome shade in the summer. The largest tree in Europe was planted here in…
On the back-end of bronchitis I’ve been hacking, wheezing and coughing my way through Palermo with the long-suffering travel mate. Here’s part of the first day. First impressions: Grit – the sort that swirls around your feet – , garbage and graffiti. Everything seems pitted and pocked and either under construction or crumbling. Narrow streets with washing hanging from the…
A few images from a century ago to wish everyone the very best for 1917. War is lurking! This Reading (Pennsylvania) Times cartoon sees the threat of war lurking ahead. The US entered the war in April.
It’s politically incorrect to say Happy Holidays these days. We must all say Merry Christmas. No word on the acceptability of Treasons Greetings so I’ll play it safe and stick to Christmas. Religious freedom – it’s a wonderful thing. Just like freedom from religion. Part of making America great again is that we don’t have to worry about other people’s…
The NAIS Annual People Of Color Conference opens this week in Atlanta. It will draw independent educators from across the country. They will gather in groups small and large; renew friendships and make new connections; listen to speakers and attend, participate in, and lead workshops and meetings. I am sure it will all be a necessary time of re-dedication, renewal and affinity.…
Guest Post by Susan Scheid Writing in the Washington Post today, Fareed Zakaria weighs in once again, as many already have, on “what went wrong.” His solution? “Democrats need to focus on the gut, not the head.” Zakaria is often insightful, but in this case, he’s way off the mark, offering, as so many do, a facile prescription without anything…
I left full-time employment at the end of June with a grand plan of doing nothing. After 45 years in education it seemed only reasonable. The send-off was great, people were kind and generous and the summer was ahead. I had an unspoken notion that once the election was over I would begin to focus on what I might want to do…
On November 25, 2016, the New York Times Editorial Board issued a blistering editorial entitled “Donald Trump and the Lawsuit Presidency.” With sabers raised, amid thundering hooves, the editorial proclaimed: Donald Trump will take office as president facing a tsunami of litigation over his business practices and personal behavior. He may have settled the fraud suits involving Trump University, but…
There’s a great exhibit on at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC: Max Beckmann in New York It highlights Max Beckmann (1884–1950) connections with New York City and includes works from his time living in New York as well as works from 1920-1948 that are in New York collections. One of the first works in the exhibit is a self-portrait…
This 1809 cartoon by the political caricaturist James Gillray is in the National Portrait Gallery. London. It is entitled Pandora Opening her Box. It depicts spokesperson Kellyanne Conway letting loose all the evils of the world as proposed by the Trump administration. The story behind the woman in the cartoon – Mary Ann Clarke – is fascinating.
On #VeteransDay #ArmisticeDay #RemembranceDay it is wise to reflect on what we fought and defeated in WW2. Trumpism is what we defeated then and must now defeat again.
As Donald Trump spirals deeper into madness and depravity the toll on the collective psyche just grows. Fortunately help is at hand in the form of the example of Hillary Clinton who recently demonstrated her tremendous problem-solving and self-calming abilities. We all know that cats saved the internet. Now it seems they are saving people from the stress of this…