GOOD ENOUGH MORNING

“Depression is melancholy minus its charms” —Susan Sontag I wake up, that’s good. I can get out of bed, also good. The room is warm and quiet, I can drink my coffee and… Continue reading →

UNFUNNY PAGES

“The country is doing well in so many ways. But there’s such divisiveness.” —DJ trump THE FAT MAN WAS FUNNY a long time ago when he was merely a sleazy buffoonish playboy-entrepreneur, but… Continue reading →

BLIGHT AT THE AMUSEUM

“The nationally advertised product is a celebrity of the consumption world. It is well known for its well-knownness, which is one of its most attractive ingredients.” —Historian Daniel J. Boorstin. “The Image or,… Continue reading →

DOING LAPS IN FREE SWIM

“May we suggest that art is likely to be characterized by low stringency (i.e., high ambiguity and interpretability) where systems of conduct ideals are in doubt or social values are in the process… Continue reading →

TRUMPIPUS WRECKS

NOT TO OVERSTATE THE OBVIOUS: The Trump Show began as a comedy, but it has become a tragedy. In ancient Greek tragedy, the protagonist has a fatal flaw (Hamartia) and there is a… Continue reading →

OTHERED

WE CAN EASILY NAME many bad-guy otherers, but even the good guys (I mean our guys) who took them out were guilty of othering. And their heirs: Our politicians, of course, but as… Continue reading →

THE DONOR PARTY

In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.” —Dante Alighieri, Inferno The drawing on this post is a human-scale… Continue reading →

THE FIELD OF SCHEMES

“I sit on a man’s back, choking him and making him carry me, and yet assure myself and others that I am very sorry for him and wish to ease his lot by… Continue reading →

PLAGIARIZED SIN

The illustration (painting 016) conflates the agitprop parables of a paradise lost from an iron age monotheistic religion and modern secular political conspiracy. They both use their “wisdom” tales to keep their canon… Continue reading →

GORILLAS IN THE MIX

We are just apes underneath the designer suits and cocktail dresses. Or in my case, jeans and flannels. We use our big brains to pick and choose which of the myriad apish attributes… Continue reading →