…after two days of prep for a winter vacation on Block Island… winter intervened with an “overperforming” snow storm… we are in a holding pattern…
… in light of my earlier post on Francis Bacon and Bill Cosby…
The Dilemma of Brilliant Jerks, David Shaywitz, The Bulwark…
Perhaps, with the appropriate refinements, we can create the space for a new category of equally effective—and ideally, even more effective—transformative leader to emerge; this is the dream and what I’d wish for myself, my colleagues, my family.
But it’s also possible that, in our eagerness to minimize offense, we will instead condemn ourselves to anodyne leaders incapable of profoundly challenging the status quo. Worse still, such organizational stasis might even pave the way for a disruptive, malignant narcissist eager to step into the breach.
… i will set aside for the moment a question about whether the current ever growth goal of capitalism is a good thing, it is another interesting example of how genius walks hand in hand with darkness… is it possible or even desirable to have great creators that are as pure as the driven snow?…
20220213-06
The Beastliness of Bacon, Michael Glover, Hyperallergic
Francis Bacon, “Man with Dog” (1953), oil on canvas, 152 x 117 cm. Collection Albright-Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo, New York. Gift of Seymour H. Knox, Jr., 1955. K1955:3 (© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2021. Photo by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd)
… i had intended to share an image of a later work that seemed more visually compelling, but then i looked at Man with Dog and… after a moment… um, wow!… something really dark about the painting as, apparently, there was with Bacon himself…
… the idea that darkness of the soul is a frequent walking companion of genius is one that came up a day or two ago as H and i watched a news segment on the four part mini series We Need to Talk About Cosby, in which…
Writer/director W. Kamau Bell’s exploration of Bill Cosby’s descent from “America’s Dad” to alleged sexual predator. Comedians, journalists and survivors have a candid, first of its kind conversation about the man, his career and crimes.
… when a great creator turns out to have a parallel self that is a horrible self, what do we do with the creative legacy?… in Bacon’s case there were “sadomasochistic excesses” though there was no suggestion in the article that any of it was non-consensual… still, by most of our standards, there were demons in his psyche and those demons flowed out onto the canvas… psyche and creative output walked hand in hand… in the case of the alleged sex crimes of Cosby, one has the sense that psyche and creative are split, with the dark self a presence lurking outside a comfortable suburban home, peeping through windows, stalking its next victim…
20220213-03
February 12, 2022, Heather Cox Richardson
… about Abraham Lincoln and his leadership during a trying period for democracy in this country… in particular, she shares the cogent argument that Lincoln makes against the idea that there are intellectually and morally superior individuals who should command and organize life for everyone else… that there is ever good cause for some people to be masters and some people to be slaves, however you define slave…
In the 1850s, on a fragment of paper, Lincoln figured out the logic of a world that permitted the law to sort people into different places in a hierarchy, applying the reasoning he heard around him. “If A. can prove, however conclusively, that he may, of right, enslave B.—why may not B. snatch the same argument, and prove equally, that he may enslave A?” Lincoln wrote. “You say A. is white, and B. is black. It is color, then; the lighter, having the right to enslave the darker? Take care. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with a fairer skin than your own. You do not mean color exactly?—You mean the whites are intellectually the superiors of the blacks, and, therefore have the right to enslave them? Take care again. By this rule, you are to be slave to the first man you meet, with an intellect superior to your own. But, say you, it is a question of interest; and, if you can make it your interest, you have the right to enslave another. Very well. And if he can make it his interest, he has the right to enslave you.”
20220213-02
… snow predicted by the weather app has materialized… conditions are going to be at their worst at our anticipated start time and as we climb over the (not very tall, but tall enough for lower temps and freezing) mountains… i am weighing options and leaning towards aborting departure until tomorrow or next day when weather will be better… H will not be happy but, we do not work a day job anymore and there really is no reason for us to take risks… we should be able to reschedule our ferry reservation to the next couple of days, the timing of the snow is perfectly placed to be disruptive…
… i have reviewed the radar map and relative projections… the situation is more significant in Connecticut which is most of our journey…
… HCR with a nice piece on Abraham Lincoln… timely too… we are facing similar challenges to our democracy in the present moment… would love to have a leader such as Lincoln step forward…
… we lost a chicken yesterday… hawk brazenly feeding on it as i did the food and water… brazenly perching on top of the coup… i disable the auto door to the main coup… chickens will have to stay put… otherwise hawk will pick them off one by one… as B famously says, nature wants you dead, especially if you are a chicken… actually, death is simply a part of living… for creatures with predators, a premature end is always a risk of living…
20220213-01
Can i brag about my niece?
Any place that can post a flat roasted pig’s face on Instagram for a dinner special; name a prune juice/vodka/amaro cocktail the Poo Driver; and proudly own the beigeness of its menu — which resembles a public affair with secondary meats, cheese-gilded crepes, wobbly farm eggs and house baked scones — is all right with me. Not only do I want to eat there, I want to go often for the unpredictability of what chef-owner Shaina Loew-Banayan will cook next.
… read this glowing article about them and Cafe Mutton…
“Rest Behind the Curtain” by Photographer Michal Solarski, Anna, BOOOOOOOM!
Some really nice photos in this set and a nice set overall…
Photograph by Michael Solarski
20220212-03
Five Transcendent Films to Watch by Oscar Nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi, James Balmont, AnOther
In a 2021 interview with MUBI’s online magazine The Notebook, Hamaguchi spoke of a profound experience he felt while watching director John Cassavetes’ film Husbands in his twenties: “For some reason watching those people on the screen, I felt as if their lives were more real and vivid than my own.” I can scarcely think of a better quote to describe the works of Hamaguchi himself. And that is what makes him the most exciting “new” director to emerge from Japan in years.
… oh man… a three hour must see film, with subtitles… argh!… hard enough for me but with H’s poor eyesight, it’s really tough on her… but how exciting that a foreign language film actually has a chance to win not just Best Foreign Film, but Best Film award at the Academy Awards?…
20220212-02
Since when did ‘golden years’ planning include a collapse of democracy scenario?
As I look back over the past week in posts, I feel grounded, even if worried about the future. Grounded because having a daily practice of reading, writing, posting, then reviewing at the end of the week, helps to keep my sense of being in the world intact. Worried because I didn’t really expect to be confronting the possible collapse of Democracy in the United States as one of my ‘golden years’ planning scenarios.
In some ways I am bewildered it has gotten to this place, but, I saw the struggle and eventual crescendo years ago. I remember being in a local cafe and talking to somebody about the challenge to white patriarchy unfolding in the country. I am pretty sure this was during the early years of the Obama administration. A young white dude sitting nearby said he was studying that very thing in college and that I was right. He seemed surprised that an older white dude could be aware of it and name it. To what degree either of us white dudes was as enlightened as we felt ourselves to be in that moment is another question.
I am on the most comfortable ground when I am taking in the 360 degree view. I am a generalist. I am good at seeing big pictures, less good at developing detailed plans and seeing them through. The big picture to me has been, for a long time, the challenge of the multicultural promise of our democracy to hegemonic white patriarchal order.
Large numbers of white people, and we should resist the temptation to label them ‘white supremacists,’ favor white patriarchal control, either consciously or subconsciously. It is better understood, I think, as the privileged wanting to retain their privileges. Why wouldn’t they? It has been the state of things since the founding of the country. It has conferred a significant advantage to conducting their affairs which would be hard for any group to give up. It has been the foundation of their identity for as long as they have been living. Nobody likes to loose ground or the foundations of their identity, which is exactly what must happen to white men and women if the multiarchy (as I like to call it) is to emerge.
The entitlement and anxieties of white men and women are not new. They have reached crescendos in the past (Civil War anyone?). However, the present shift in demographics has brought white anxiety and insecurity to the surface in a profound way.
Good leadership could steer us through the transitional rapids to the multiarchy without overturning the boat of our democracy. Unfortunately, that is not what seems to be prevailing right now (though there have lately been some hopeful signs). Instead there is the leadership of desperate, mostly white, men and women who no longer believe in democracy because it won’t maintain their privileges. They are exploiting racial animus and resorting to minority rule tactics to maintain their position at the top.
I believe in the multiarchy. I will do what I can to help birth it, or at least not stand in the way of it. I have no idea which way this struggle is going to go. Some days I am in despair, on others I am hopeful. It’s a continuous effort to take each day as it comes and be grateful for it. Reading, writing and blogging helps.
230.4 lbs
Weight coming down, good!…
… preparations for departure to Block Island continue… we leave early AM tomorrow… most of the shopping complete… need to buy some wine, pick up my BP meds, put gas in the car… today will mostly be about containerizing what we will be taking and determining how many containers will fit in the trunk…
… the world careens towards war in Ukraine, truckers in Canada are clogging the arteries of commerce, HCR tells me that the past month saw a budget surplus as tax revenues were up (due to a booming economy) and expenses were down (who knows why that should be)… the point of the trucking protests, which are being conducted by a small group of truckers and are not supported by truckers in general, is to disrupt the economy and weaken government… there is indication that foreign troll farms are stirring the pot and Fox News is giving the truckers a lot of air time compared to other networks, with Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity egging them on, calling for an American version of the protest… there are times when i wonder if speech should be so free…
… i have managed a long form, titled post for the second week running… it works to dedicate a morning of the week to it…
20220212-01
This is a really good album! music.apple.com
Thousands Pledge To Egg Jeff Bezos’s Mega-Yacht As It Passes Through Rotterdam Bridge, Sarah Rose Sharp, Hyperallergic
Oh the poor man!… crying big crocodile tears…
Here is a classic problem we can all relate to: Isn’t it the worst when you build your mega-yacht SO big that it can’t fit under bridges? Such are the pains of being Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who faces a conundrum about how to get his 417-foot boat, known as Y271, out to open water from the port city of Rotterdam, where it is being built. Standing in the way is the 144-year-old Koningshaven Bridge — known locally as De Hef — which cannot accommodate the three 229-foot masts atop the $485 million vessel.
… this brings to mind the movie Fitzcarraldo… didn’t Herzog actually drag a boat over the hills (mountain?), using local, indigenous labor and causing the deaths of many of them?… the article suggests a similar strategy for Bezos now that his route is blocked through the intransigence of locals…
20220210-06
The Worst Person in the World Is Among the Best Portraits of Modern Womanhood, Eileen G’Sell, Hyperallergic
Add this to my list of must see movies…
Like so many women her age seemingly basking in professional and personal freedoms of which earlier generations could only dream, these choices come with consequences that can prove more burden than boon. “The only way to learn is to make choices and live them through,” Reinsve reasoned. “Some of them will be really stupid, and you will regret them, but that’s what life is like.” In terms of what she learned about herself through playing Julie, Reinsve responded with touching candor. “By the end of making the film, I couldn’t really tell the difference between us,” she confessed. “At the start, Julie is not able to accept herself; she is so restless … but going through some really big, hard losses … she learns to surrender to the chaos of life. I learned a lot from that process — the value of finding peace, and being proud, by making choices that really make you happy. To have the courage to be in your emotions, even if they are fucked up and hard and complex. It’s the only way.”
20220210-05
Brenda Goodman’s Fearless Self-Portraits, John Yau, Hyperallergic
_ Brenda Goodman, “Self-Portrait 1” (1974), oil, mixed media on canvas, 60 x 48 inches_
Brenda Goodman has been defining a singular path in painting at least since 1973, when she had her first exhibition in Detroit. From the paintings done around this time, it is immediately evident that Goodman was uninterested in either aligning herself with any of the styles going on around her or in making polite, palatable views. That early testimony to her fearlessness — which is still going strong — is apparent in the eight works done between 1974 and 2006 in the exhibition Brenda Goodman: Self-Portraits at Sikkema Jenkins & Co. (January 11 – February 12, 2022).
Love this woman’s work…
20220210-04
America Can’t Fight Authoritarianism on the Cheap, Shay Khatiri, The Bulwark
… The Bulwark is a center conservative publication so it is not surprising that they are pro military, perhaps a bit Hawkish… still, it looks like they advocate a large expansion of the military budget and one has to wonder, don’t we spend too much already?… apparently not… present expenditure is about half of peaks reached in post cold war years… and yes, i agree with the article that the threats are real and come from many directions…
One of the reasons President Biden has sought a “stable and predictable” relationship with Russia, and has been hesitant to respond to Russia’s destabilizing unpredictability, is that the United States doesn’t have the resources to confront both Russia and China at the same time. Yet, that’s exactly what it has to do.
… we already don’t pay for it all… how do we balance the budget, grow military spending and grow soft and hard infrastructure spending?… and all in the midst of our own lurch towards Authoritarianism?… something has to give…
20220210-03
231.4
… a longer walk yesterday, treacherous here and there but mostly not…
… as i am sitting here, i am listening to a newly developed humming of my external hard drive… hmmm… i have had it for a while… i wonder if it is on its way out?… i have multiple backup systems, so not worried about loosing anything… but… i look up the price of a new external HD… 6TB not too bad… raid array expensive… hmmm…
… not a bad day yesterday… began organizing for BI in earnest… ordered another duffel dry bag for top of the car… also a containment net… streamlining the cargo system… bought some meat, will probably buy a bit more… decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon for Valentines dinner… H is enthusiastically on board with that…
… ordered new glasses from Liingo… easy peasy, inexpensive… now, is the quality good?… we will see…
20220210-01
Currently reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚 … just finished a few more chapters of To The Lighthouse… what an astonishingly beautiful book… it takes a bit to let her style of writing envelope you, but, if you let it, it does… it ruthlessly lays bare what it is to be this human and that human and these humans together, pursuing petty lives with delusions of grandeur… and yet, there is grandeur, it just isn’t the grandeur they imagine for themselves… they all find themselves wanting but remain these sad, beautiful, flawed, grand creatures, even so… this is my present impression, about a fifth of the way through the book…
Kate Le Bon music.apple.com
Trauma and Textiles: Inside London’s New Louise Bourgeois Exhibition, Martha Alexander, Another Magazine
… if i had wings to get me across the pond this is where i would head… to London… to Louise Bourgeois… i especially love this one…
_ Conscious and Unconscious, 2008 © The Easton Foundation/VAGA at ARS, NY and DACS, London 2021. Photography by Christopher Burke_
20220209-06
Two Cheers for America’s COVID-19 Response, Brent Orrell, The Bulwark
… Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live… just added this to my to-read list… it’s way down but it looks really interesting… so is the Bulwark article which says we got a lot of things right, even while getting a lot of things wrong…
20220209-05
The Supreme Court’s Alabama Redistricting Ruling Looks Like a Holding Pattern, Not a Power Grab, Eric Boehm, Reason.com
But the case against Alabama’s new districts is hardly clear-cut. On the map approved by state lawmakers, there would be six likely Republican districts and one majority-black, likely Democratic district. What you think about that split probably depends on your own political leanings, but the operative question in the federal lawsuit is whether state lawmakers in Alabama (a state where about 27 percent of the population is black) should be required by federal courts to draw a second majority-minority district.
… i am pretty liberal… i’ve been a registered Dem for all my voting life, though i am seriously considering changing to a registered Independent… despite my strong liberal leanings i am, and have always been, interested in legitimate and well formulated discussions and arguments from the other side of the spectrum…
… Reason.com, which presents the Libertarian perspective is one of my best go to conservative sources… it presents an argument for the conservative side of things that makes the case without much liberal bashing…
… MSNBC has done all the handwringing about this decision suggested in the article… i suspected that the issues at stake and the reasons for deciding one way or the other were not clear cut… and they aren’t…
Regardless, it was not, as some coverage of the case has suggested, Republican state lawmakers who took radical action here. It was the federal district court, which on the eve of an election overturned a map that is not materially different from the maps that have been used in every congressional election for the past few cycles. Were those maps racially discriminatory too? If so, why weren’t they challenged?
20220209-04
What Did the IRS Want With Your Selfies?, Lil Kalish, Mother Jones
Facing mounting bipartisan pressure, the Internal Revenue Service announced yesterday that it’s walking back plans to deploy facial recognition software to identify taxpayers.
… well, i have allowed Apple to use facial recognition to unlock my phone… it felt secure and easy on one level… but, this feels much more Orwellian to me… perhaps i should rethink it with Apple too?… especially since, at this moment, i can’t say whether we are heading for authoritarianism or not… something rather threatening to humankind lurking out there…
20220209-03
231.02 lbs
… downward trend of weight is a good was to start the day…
… slept in a little this AM… then the dogs suddenly had an urgent need to get out of bedroom… it was time to get up anyway… disrupted the normal order of the morning though… that has a discombobulating effect on one… when you have an out of the bed routine, it means you are on auto pilot until some of that delicious coffee starts flowing through your system… you struggle to think what’s next… oh yah, gotta feed the cat… not that the cat would ever let you forget for long… but after a few minutes, the flow of things is gently pushed back on track and auto pilot engages again…
… photography salon… a lot of abstract work last night… a lot of good abstract work… my image poem received reasonably well… i am well into it as a weekly production habit… more auto pilot… or is it a discipline that projects one more deeply into their life?… shaking things up once in a while is good, but disciplined routine certainly has its rewards…
… H asked me to call them last night… they announced their pending departure from CPW… big changes… H is a confusion to me… is it my leadership of the Salon that puts me on the list of people that should be notified before the general public learns?… our interactions have always been a bit stilted, distant, like we both want to connect but struggle to do so… they said they are working on a personal project of interviews with photo artists and i was one they wanted to connect with… i will miss them, but not completely clear in what way… she and C haven’t figured out exactly what they will be doing, or rather, the particulars of what they are doing… as we walked i wondered if they were pushed out or they are leaving under their own steam… i am distant from the politics of the center, so i don’t know… it could be either… H would never make it clear which… they will leave the area, they said… not clear where to… C is pursuing a PhD but it doesn’t sound as though the institution that will grant it is lined up yet… i think i will make a point of reaching out to them now and again in coming weeks and months, see if i can establish more of a relationship…
… S was not at Salon last night… they have been a bit silent lately… hope everything is good with them…
20220209-02