Category Archives: Art and Culture

Art and Culture, Commentary on Religion, Great Wheel, Holidays

Monks and Prisoners

December 23, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

An interesting Christmas note to my brother Mammoths from a monk at Blue Cloud Abbey in South Dakota

winter-solstice-1

MERRY CHRISTMAS JIM AND ALL WOOLLY MAMMOUTHS (sic),

Thanks for those elegant photographs, Jim. As much as I hate winter, I have to admit a work of art when I see one.

Recently I went to a meeting at the prison in Appleton, Minnesota. The facility is closing the first of February. At present there are only 230 inmates in a building that can accommodate 1500. I suggested to the inmates that maybe they could finish out their sentences at Blue Cloud Abbey because we have plenty of room and so few vocations.

One of the guys asked his fellow inmates, “Would you like living with a bunch of old monks?” One of them answered, “It might be better than living with a bunch of old convicts.” Some people think the prison will reopen soon because crime is increasing. Monks are decreasing but convicts are increasing.

The cat just came into my office. This fall someone dropped off a cat and fled. Brother Chris has assumed the care of the winter-sol-2 cat. It lives in the garage but when doors are left open, Da Cat (that’s its name) strolls down the ramp and into the house.

A Blessed Christmas to you and yours (and stay out of the blizzard)!

Benet

(note: these pics are by Woolly artist Jim Johnson who does not know whether he is a falcon, a storm or a great song.)

Art and Culture, Family, Holidays, Politics, Writing

Ordinary Time

November 30, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Samhain Waxing Wolf Moon

Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to attend February Tea Party Convention. That should be fun. Seeing these two damsels of the right dancing to the tune of the real wierdos would be entertaining for anyone interested in politics. I’d watch a 2-minute video just to see them on stage together. They could discuss hair and glasses and kissing GW.

Mary left this morning on the 7:38 Northstar headed for the airport. The strange action of the international date line has her leaving on Monday and arriving home on Wednesday, coming here she left on Tuesday around 6 a.m. and got here Tuesday at 11:00 a.m., something like that. Both ways the flight involves 21-24 hours. And I find daylight savings time confusing. Under any circumstances the air temperature will double when she gets home, perhaps a bit more.

Ordinary time has slipped back into the house for the moment with family gone and the leftovers much reduced. I worked on MIA business a bit this morning and will spend some time today getting the Sierra Club legislative committee focused for a December meeting.

After that I can continue my declutter campaign. It goes pretty well. My study has remained clear and I’ve removed several things from it, some in anticipation of the arrival of my Anthro computer desk. On it will go the Gateway I bought in the summer. I plan to use it only for art history research and creative writing.

Art and Culture

A Day at the Museum

November 20, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Samhain Waxing Wolf Moon

Long day at the museum. Two tours, 2 hours apart. Just got home. Today was just ok. Nothing amazing, just solid trooping through the masterpieces and their attendant objects.

It was good to see fellow docents, chat. Other docents are mentors, but not me. I imagine the museum did not want me representing the docent corps to junior docents. Wise choice from their perspective.

Tired.

Art and Culture, Writing

Electile Dysfunction.

October 23, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Waxing Dark Moon

Electile dysfunction (hanging Chads?). Dam Yangtzes (Will they make the World Series?). Random thoughts generated by recent news pieces.

A tour with business students from the Metropolitan Community and Technical College. This was a group of engaged and well-spoken young adults, roughly 24-28. Their questions and observations brought out the grace of the Shiva, the durability of Vishnu and the cosmic elegance of Yamantaka. They were a pleasure.

Allison gave Kate a book. Thanks, Allison, for thinking of her. Very sweet.

The day continues our string of cold, wet weather. A good day to nap. Which. I intend to do. Right Now.

Art and Culture, Weather +Climate

Cozy

October 13, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Waning Blood Moon

As the outside work wanes, the inside work increases. This and that on the Sierra Club, getting ready for the upcoming legislative session. Preparing multiple tours at the MIA while reading the fat Louvre catalog. Keeping up with the blog. Getting ready for Kate’s surgery and recovery.

This all dovetails nicely with the nesting instinct that always strikes when the first snowfall and cold snap hits. It was a record snowfall for October 12th and the temperature remains low today. Forecasts portend more snow.

As I sat in my study yesterday working on the Asia tours, it felt snug, cozy. The study has a small gas stove and I lit it, read object files and watched the snow come down. A perfect day for a library rat like me.

Art and Culture, Dogs, Faith and Spirituality, Sport

Dogfood, O.D. and Football

October 10, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Waning Blood Moon

He loaded 10 bags of 40 pound dogfood and the straw boss said, well bless my soul. This is what Tennessee Ernie Ford would have sung if he’d been with me on my trip to Costco this morning. I like to make fewer trips when I run errands so this time I stocked up on dogfood.

The nice lady that counts the objects against your receipt took a look at my cart and my gray hair, “Do you need some help?” Nope, I could handle it just fine. A few years back I used to resent this kind of heavy lifting, in particular rock salt for the water softener and dogfood. Now I look on it as an opportunity to tone up the muscles. It’s part of my resistance work out for the day.

I shifted today from the garden to the desk, spending a couple of hours puzzling over how to organize a conversation for a congregation that wants to consider its future. This is very different work from harvesting potatoes or planting garlic. Not finished yet. It has to set a bit. Percolate, as Kate likes to say.

In addition I have to put together an Asian tour for next Friday. At the same time I’ll design a Southeast and South Asian tour since I’ll be able to use some similar objects. That’ll be tomorrow morning.

The Vikes play the Rams tomorrow. The Rams now have the longest losing streak of any NFL team. Detroit won last week and lifted that burden from their franchise. No team in the NFL is a push over because the NFL has only elite athletes, some a bit more elite than others, some a bit younger, others more experienced. The combination means that on any given sunday (yes, there was a movie.) any one team can beat another. I hope the Vikes win convincingly and shore up their pass defense while getting Adrian a 100+ yard day.

After the Rams, the Vikings play the Ravens at home, then go on the road for the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Green Bay Packers. That will be a tough stretch. If they do well in those three games, they will move up in the power rankings.

Art and Culture, Garden

The Louvre

October 9, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Waning Blood Moon

Yesterday was politics. Today is the Louvre. I was a late addition to the Louvre exhibition touring list and the training is today. This exhibition focuses on the question of the masterpiece. It includes a Vermeer, amazing when you consider there are only 36 Vermeer’s in the world. 9 of them are in New York City on Museum row and the rest in Europe.

We had a hard frost last night with several hours below 28 degrees. That pretty much knocks out blooms and most plants.

The longer hours yesterday in the city made me a bit weary, so I’m heading in today with less than a clear head. We’ll see about the learning capacity when I get there.

Art and Culture, Friends, Woolly Mammoths

Friends

October 5, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Full Blood Moon

“There is no need like the lack of a friend.” Irish saying

How many sets of friends do you have? Not an idle question since study after study shows friendship a vital element of health. Friends become even more important as we age. Here’s a couple of examples: BBC, Science.

Today at noon a group of friends I still consider new, but whom I’ve actually known for almost 5 years, met for lunch at the Black Forest. It was those from the Docent class of 2005. We trained together for 2 years, meeting every Wednesday during the academic year for lectures and tour practice. The education was fun, since I love learning new things, but over time I’ve found the relationships formed then the most important gift.

An introverted guy, I need these kind of stable groups. I’m fortunate right now to have three groups in which I’ve made networks. The Docent class of 2005 has, by now, blended into the docents of all classes, in particular for me, those who tour on Fridays, my tour day. I see these folks at continuing education, on tours, in the docent discussion group and in these more casual events that happen from time to time.

The Sierra Club, the most recent of the three, taps into older networks for me, the DFL political world and the world of community activists, but has opened up a new one in those people whose primary activist commitment is the environment. I enjoy being around the new generation of political activists, people in their 20’s and early 30’s. They’re bright, practical, and seem to have a better balance in their lives than I did when I was engaged as intensively as they are.

The oldest network for me is the Woolly Mammoths. With the Woolly’s I have 20+ years of twice monthly meetings, annual retreats and social occasions outside those events. We know each other, each other’s story, our families. We’ve had fights and reconciled, gone through life and death struggles and will go through more. As a man, I feel so lucky to have this long term set of relationships in my life.

Art and Culture, Weather +Climate

Dull Gray Day

October 2, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Fall Waxing Blood Moon

Another dull gray day as my Aunt Roberta used to say. The morning so far has been doing work for the Sierra Club, organizing issue briefs and selection criteria, moving our process along. That’s done now.

Today I’m going in to the MIA for some interesting education about photographs. I’ll also pick up my Louvre catalog. Yes, at the last minute I got added to the list of docents touring this show that focuses on the concept of masterpiece.

Need to feed the dogs and get a nap in before the drive into the MIA. Later.

Art and Culture, Faith and Spirituality, Writing

Il Dolce Far Niente

September 3, 2009 Charles Leave a comment

Lughnasa Waxing Harvest Moon

Kate and I sat out on the deck with the dogs. Il dolce far niente. The sweetness of doing nothing was a theme for paintings in the mid-Victorian era. Apparently the Italians have always been after la dolce vita.

A point where Kate and I meet, where our inner worlds and outer worlds intersect, is our horror at these moments. There is something in the northern European blood that suspects doing nothing, finds nothing sweet about it. Instead it has a bitter taste, something mom may have given you when you didn’t do your chores.

These later years may be the time to catch up with the Italians, to learn how to kick back and relax. If they’re not, then we’ll never get it, not in this turn of the wheel.

I wrote several hours in a row yesterday and today, but it was not fun. Usually writing pleases me, gives me a sensual satisfaction as well a creative one. Not this time. It was as if I had tried to stick a large ball into a glass Coke bottle. There was too little space in the three thousand words, the maybe 15-18 minutes of spoken English, to contain what I wanted to communicate.

Too much truncating, jumping, glossing. The whole needs more metaphor, a way to condense big ideas into small spaces. I have two metaphors that work pretty well. I use Rembrandt’s etching of Faust and Vermeer’s painting of the Astronomer to illustrate the difference between the ancien regime and the Enlightenment. I also use Petrarch’s letter to posterity to underscore the Italian Renaissance’s influence on our understanding of the individual. So far, so good.

After that, though, I lean more into short summaries of complex ideas, philosophical vignettes no bigger than fortune cookies. All this means I’m not done.