The old man had been on the sea for days; the marlin pulled his small boat hour after hour. My mouth was dry, nearly salty. I felt the weight of isolation–the weight of being on a vast ocean that is void of another human form. Ernest Hemmingway tossed me into the skiff and sent it to sea. Fiction...

Empathy is one of humanity’s best qualities. And it can also be the most neglected. When insurmountable obstacles confront a community, understanding and compassion from neighbors is often just enough to pull them through. But what if the obstacle is something few can understand? What if it’s trauma...

Twenty is a collection of apparently disparate images that have been thoughtfully selected to complement a great work of art (displayed first in the collection below).  Today’s featured image is the Doni Tondi by Michaelangelo. Every individual image may be contemplated in conjunction with the original...

Twenty is a collection of apparently disparate images that have been thoughtfully selected to complement a great work of art (displayed first in the collection below).  Today’s featured image is The Ambassadors by Hans Holbein the Younger. Every individual image may be contemplated in conjunction...

Thoreau’s glorified camping trip at Walden pond has shaped the American imagination and perspective on writers. Of course, writers holed themselves away in order to write far from the madding crowd long before Thoreau. But Thoreau embodied the rigorous independence, the resistance to the unnecessary...

Twenty is a collection of apparently disparate images that have been thoughtfully selected to complement a great work of art (displayed first in the collection below).  Today’s featured image is Peace – The Burial at Sea by JMW Turner. Every individual image may be contemplated in conjunction...

Twenty is a collection of apparently disparate images that have been thoughtfully selected to complement a great work of art (displayed first in the collection below).  Today’s featured image is Penelope Unravelling Her Web by Joseph Wright of Derby. Every individual image may be contemplated in...

“I once taught art to adults in a night course. I had a woman who painted her back yard, and she said it was the first time she had ever really looked at it. I think everyone sees beauty. Art is a way to respond.” —Agnes Martin As a painter, I understand a number of paintings more readily than...

By now you’ve doubtless heard about the brazen art heist in France.  The security system at the Museum of Modern Art, Paris, had been broken since March 30 this year.  On May 20, a lone burglar wearing a face mask cut a padlock and broke a window to gain entry to the museum.  He stole five paintings...

Two nights ago, five paintings were stolen from the Paris Museum of Modern Art.  Among them was this piece, L’Olivier pres de l’Estaque, by Georges Braque. Twenty is a collection of apparently disparate images that have been thoughtfully selected to complement a great work of art (displayed...