I watched the Academy Award nominated documentary Attica which is free as part of Black History Month. I knew about the 1971 rebellion inside Attica, but I never realized how brutal it truly was. It is extremely hard to watch; the film is a very graphic history lesson. It certainly deserves an Oscar! A warning–it
Author: Barbara
I was surprised to discover that Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor has written children’s books. Her latest is Just Help. Out of curiosity, I signed up for a live zoom conversation between Justice Sotomayor and America Ferrera about writing the book. The Justice especially impressed me when she responded to three children from the audience who
I attended a zoom program with Pádraig Ó Tuama, Poet Laureate of OnBeing. He did a close reading of Tracy K. Smith’s poem Unrest in Baton Rouge. The poem is a response to Johanthan Bachman’s iconic photograph taken at a protest in the wake of the shooting by police of of Alton Sterling and Philando Casitle.
Every year since 2017, I have loved the The Universe in Verse. This year there is a new iteration: “For four seasons, it remained a live gathering — thousands of embodied universes of thought and feeling, huddled together in a finite space built in a faraway time when Whitman’s living atoms walked the streets outside.
Here’s an article for poetry lovers. Ari Banias’ book, A Symmetry, was published in October, 2021. https://www.thenation.com/article/culture/ari-banias-interview/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Daily%2012.30.2021&utm_term=daily
Funny Boy gave me an opportunity to explore a culture I know nothing about. The story is set in Sri Lanka during the late 70’s and early 80’s when the Tamil-Sinhalese conflicts exploded into full-blown bloody civil war (1983-2009). In reading the novel, once again I realized that I know little about most of the
Learning about anger rooms for the first time from A. during our online conversation made me very curious. As far as I know, there is not one in my community yet. I did a bit of online research, and I found this interesting article, “When are Anger Rooms Beneficial?.” For those interested, it is an
Rebecca Solnit, one of my favorite writers, has a new book out, Orwell’s Roses. I happened upon a 30 minute interview on “Start Making Sense,” The Nation’s podcast. In discussing her book, she talks about politics, pleasure, joy and resistance to authoritarianism. Solnit’s take on George Orwell, the man and his work, was thought provoking.
Here’s an interesting Nation article about Richard Power’s new novel Bewilderment. I am still reading Overstory. It is taking me awhile. It is a wonderful read, but living out the end of my life on a planet that has such an uncertain future makes it, at the same time, a very difficult read for me.
I thought I would share information about this free program that promotes the important idea that art and activism are related–an idea I see reflected in many of the posts on this blog. Here’s a description of the event: “At this year’s Art & Activism titled “Our House: Claiming ‘Home’ through Art and Design” numerous