Daily Entries for the week of
Sunday, April 19 2020
through
Saturday, April 25 2020
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It’s Saturday, April 25
Welcome to the 749th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Map of the secessionist state of the Republic of Biafra (1967 – 1970) as in May 1967.
Note: The western boundary may not be accurate due to the low precision of the reference maps used which are also contradictory.
Eric Gaba (Sting - fr:Sting) - Own work
Background map: NGDC GSHHS and WDBII data Biafra independent state borders reference maps: UN, Matthew White, Otvaga2004, Travel-Image (originally a CIA map ?), Biafraland and MSN Encarta
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2.0 Commentary
So, usual time, I arrived at the Pru expecting
to find Yan waiting near the exit door to Huntington Avenue.
Not there.
Checked the sidewalk, up and down.
No.
Started slowly up the escalator.
Thinking, will she get enough to eat today?
Holding her meal in my pocket:
two crisp bills.
Should I wait?
Have no idea if she’s coming.
If I knew, me thinking,
would I wait a minute or two?
Of course.
Five?
Silence.
Ten?
Maybe not.
Strange reaction?
Normal?
But I have my kindle, and
a good book.
I could read while I wait.
Changes everything.
I stop at a deserted counter,
any counter,
and I scribble these thoughts.
Walk on, distracted by these thoughts,
making a turn down a walkway not on my way.
Walk for a few moments and
stop.
Shake my head at the error and
retrace my steps to the rotunda.
She’s there,
walking into the rotunda.
I call out to her.
So happy.
Both of us.
“Nice to see you,” I say.
And she smiles and says, “Yes. You, too.”
I retrieve the bills, still crisp, and
hand them to her.
She examines both sides of each of them.
She bows and bows again.
Smiles.
“See you tomorrow,” and
I continue my walk, grinning.
Glad the mask is concealing my silly grin.
Grinning that she will have a nice meal.
Nice meal.
Balanced?
With knife and fork?
Sitting comfortably?
Warm?
Taking her time?
Was it enough to buy a coke?
Am I being weird?
Again?
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
In spite of everything I still believe that people are really good at heart. I simply can’t build up my hopes on a foundation consisting of confusion, misery, and death. I see the world gradually being turned into a wilderness, I hear the ever approaching thunder, which will destroy us too, I can feel the sufferings of millions and yet, if I look up into the heavens, I think that it will all come right, that this cruelty too will end, and that peace and tranquility will return again.
~Anne Frank
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Salmon on sale.
Slow-roasted the piece @ 20 minutes per pound.
Then I heated the baker’s plate under the broiler.
After 4 minutes it was hot,hot.
I brushed on some butter and
skin down, I set the salmon on it,
the searing sound welcome.
I brushed butter on top of fish and
set the tray up to the broiler flame,
broil-searing it for six minutes.
Topped it with a butter seasoned tiny cubes of red bell, chili, scallions.
Delicious.
Had some leftover Chinese vegetables.
Perfect.
Little effort.
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11.0 Thumbnails
The Nigerian Civil War (also known as the Biafran War and the Nigerian-Biafran War) was a civil war in Nigeria fought between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra from 6 July 1967 to 15 January 1970. Biafra represented nationalist aspirations of the Igbo people, whose leadership felt they could no longer coexist with the Northern-dominated federal government. The conflict resulted from political, economic, ethnic, cultural and religious tensions which preceded Britain's formal decolonization of Nigeria from 1960 to 1963. Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included ethno-religious riots in Northern Nigeria, a military coup, a counter-coup and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Control over the lucrative oil production in the Niger Delta played a vital strategic role.
Within a year, the Federal Government troops surrounded Biafra, capturing coastal oil facilities and the city of Port Harcourt. The blockade imposed during the ensuing stalemate led to mass starvation. During the two and half years of the war, there were about 100,000 overall military casualties, while between 500,000 and 2 million Biafran civilians died of starvation.
In mid-1968, images of malnourished and starving Biafran children saturated the mass media of Western countries. The plight of the starving Biafrans became a cause célèbre in foreign countries, enabling a significant rise in the funding and prominence of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union were the main supporters of the Nigerian government, while France, Israel and some other countries supported Biafra.
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It’s Friday, April 24
Welcome to the 748th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
Carlo Crivelli
- Metropolitan Museum of Art
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1.0 Lead Story
Saint George, Carlo Crivelli
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2.0 Commentary (edited and reprinted from March 17)
Yan walks past me,
Looking asleep on her moving feet.
Ten minutes later walks past me again.
An older woman,
Lower jaw and teeth dramatically forward of her upper,
Legs misshapen and repulsively sored,
Of very few words, they guttural and barely intelligible,
Who everyday has worn the same homespun-looking outfit
that matches the cloth bag hanging round her neck,
Which bag contains her life’s possessions,
Regardless of the weather,
since I’ve become aware of her.
Yan,
Obviously homeless,
Uncared for,
Shunned because
Uncared for,
Adrift in the Prudential Center Mall,
passes me once and
in ten minutes, a second time.
It’s Monday and the Blue Bottle café is closed for the first time
Since its opening on July 11, 2018,
Since the time I made it my workplace,
seven days a week.
Sometime between then and now,
Closer to then,
Yan approached the cashier.
She drew attention: few homeless-types wander such a space: being as it is,
dedicated to the pleasures of the well-to-do.
She ordered a drink and a yogurt cup.
She paid and
she left a tip.
She waited for her order and
carried it to the Blue Bottle communal table,
shyly taking the chair most isolated from the other patrons
who did little to mask their distaste.
She slowly ate and
drank.
Did not dribble.
Did not slurp or spill.
She wiped her lips
And remained sitting.
Just sitting quietly.
Her head drooping.
She nodding.
Dozing.
Jerking awake.
To the disgust of the other patrons.
Blue Bottle management was contacted.
Little they could do:
she a paying customer.
“Hello,” they could say, and
Did.
To wake her.
To tell her,
“You cannot sleep here.”
She smiled that smile, distorted,
although not without its charm –
the defenselessness of a child:
willing to please,
wanting to please,
wishing to please, but
needing to sleep.
Security arrived, but
she not disturbing the peace.
a paying customer,
she warned against sleeping.
But to sit is to sleep.
Eventually Yan got to know the names of a couple of us other daily customers and
Told us her name in return.
She smiling.
Happy to be acknowledged.
Eventually Yan got up the courage
to move a chair to a space convenient to her:
A bit distant from the communal table.
A place where she was close enough
to claim ownership of the two purchased cups but
far enough away from the communal table so as not to
discourage others from sitting.
And so matters rested for several months:
Yan apart,
asleep in a chair
warmed by the sun streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows,
except for her unpleasant visual, and
her inappropriate behavior,
not bothering anyone;
her body taking much-needed sleep,
healing itself, perhaps.
Management, security, and random patrons finally accepting her presence.
Bliss.
For the down-trodden, too good never lasts.
Today the Blue Bottle Café in the Prudential Center closed for several weeks to come.
I’m sitting with a cup of Eataly coffee,
thinking of the virus and me.
Planning a new routine for myself.
Alone.
Yan walks past me.
Squatters’ rights taken from her.
No replacement chair in the entire mall:
all restaurants closed.
The mall’s own common seating off-limits:
any homeless caught sitting, summarily evicted.
Yan.
Adrift.
Passes, not noticing my wave.
Asleep, perhaps,
on moving feet.
Disappears down one of the mall’s walkways.
After twenty minutes, walks past again,
still asleep.
On moving feet.
4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.
~Anne Frank
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
Responses to the Yan story keep coming in so I thought to tweak it and republish it here for those who missed it.
This mail from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
I really like the quotes you include in your blog posts. Many of them I save into a file for future reference.
Dinner comments: Ham and pea soup tonight, although it will be better tomorrow. Pea soups and chowders improve with age. This one is rich with smoked shoulder, onions, carrots, celery seed, basil, tarragon, and a touch of oregano. A bit of cornbread left over from last week to go with it.
Blog Meister responds: Sally’s writings are replete with a nostalgia that we all reach for but few achieve with her ease. Yummy.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
To enhance a meal featuring leftover pork roast, I bought some large, long, green finger peppers, Anaheim and Cubanelle. I put them in a baker’s tray and roasted them with the sliced pork roast, a chicken wing leftover, and 2 breakfast sausages. I added two thinly-sliced Fresno chilis, garlic oil, and salt and roasted the tray for half an hour at 375, tossing the ingredients a couple of times. It made a delicious main-course sandwich which I enjoyed on Wednesday evening with a gin and tonic poured over a mountain of ice cubes of assorted sizes. I could use one of those right now! At 7.41am? Not really. Although no one’s looking.
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11.0 Thumbnails
Saint George (died 23 April 303) was a soldier of Cappadocian Greek origin.
A member of Roman emperor Diocletian's Praetorian Guard, he was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith.
He is immortalized in the legend of Saint George and the Dragon and his feast day is celebrated on 23 April.
Saint George is claimed as their patron saint by England, Ethiopia, Georgia, Catalonia and several other nation states, as well as by various cities, universities, professions and organizations.
The legend of Saint George and the Dragon tells of Saint George (died 303) taming and slaying a dragon that demanded human sacrifices; the saint thereby rescues the princess chosen as the next offering.
The narrative was first set in Cappadocia in the earliest sources of the 11th and 12th centuries, but transferred to Libya in the 13th-century Golden Legend.
This picture is a 97 cm × 34 cm (38 in × 13 in) painting of Saint George, depicted in armor with a dead ragon behind him, painted with tempera on a gold-ground wooden panel by Italian Renaissance artist Carlo Crivelli in 1472.
Originally produced as part of a polyptych altarpiece for a Dominican church in the town of Ascoli Piceno, the panel is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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It’s Thursday, April 23
Welcome to the 747th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Symptoms of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
The disease seen in the 2019–20 coronavirus outbreak, and
is caused by the Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).
Mikael Häggström, M.D. - Author info - Reusing images - Own work
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Update from the Boston medical perspective:
We thank Dr. Kay Kane for providing us with the following slice of the activity and concerns of the medical community around Boston:
We are cautiously optimistic that social distancing has been effective and the curve has flattened such that we will not overwhelm Boston's hospital/ICU/ventilator capacity this first COVID peak.
Make note: I said "first".
And know that means 152 people died in MA on Tuesday instead of 500.
We are still severely short of the reagents and swabs necessary to test for the COVID virus itself.
Blood tests for antibodies (indicating previous COVID exposure and hopefully some level of immunity) have commenced but their results/accuracy are highly variable from test to test and their meaningfulness is still debated.
But the data will help us move forward.
The current death rate in Massachusetts is 4.75% (1961 deaths/41199 cases total on Tuesday) but the denominator is likely higher given our lack of testing supplies and asymptomatic/mild unaccounted-for cases.
ERs have been seeing 50% fewer non-COVID emergencies than they should be which is worrisome.
I personally saw a patient for his rash who happened to mention his chest pain and long story short he ended up needing a triple bypass last Monday.
The Boston ERs are safe.
No non-COVID patient has become infected in our hospitals.
Please do NOT delay going if you are having serious cardiac, diabetic, abdominal, neurologic symptoms.
It is calculated that by May/June the number of cases will drop dramatically but as soon as we lift the restrictions the numbers will spike again.
And recurrent bouts of social distancing, work-from-home stretches (4-8 weeks each) may be necessary until a safe, effective vaccine is in place (?2021 or 2022).
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2.0 Commentary
Delighted to receive a medical update on the behind-the-scenes work being done to turn aside the corona virus pandemic from Kay K.
They’ve got my support.
Talking about a petition to permit a limited opening of hair salons.
Need a cut badly.
Thursday and Saturday this week seem to be the picks for getting out.
Hoping to take a couple of nature walks.
Happy to have the time to engage several of my friends every day by way of
the telephone or email or text.
Yan has become a popular figure, the subject of a daily comment from one or another of our community.
Thinking of those who did not read it, I will reprint the original article tomorrow.
And, yes, I do still see her daily.
She waits for me, I’m pretty routine, boring say some,
she says ‘hello’, secures the money, and immediately leaves the Prudential Center.
Much better than staying in the confined, unpoliced, little used entryway where she may fall prey to other street people.
And, yes, I do wait for her to leave the building to ensure her safety until she is out of sight.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
What a wonderful thought it is that
some of the best days of our lives haven't even happened yet.
~Anne Frank
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Kali L:
Dear Dom,
I'm so glad you keep writing amidst this pandemic.
I find it hard to remain in routine and yet nothing has changed in my life.
I am "essential" so I still go to work and come home from work.
My brain is numb (it's stuck in freeze mode).
My allergies are constant and I can't focus to read much more than a blog post. (I've clearly chosen yours).
I am presently un-planning my already small June wedding and re-planning it for an unaltered dress and 10 people who can socially distance.
I'm thankful I never dreamed of my wedding day the way some do.
I'll be even more thankful if we all make it through this pandemic with our health.
What a time to be alive-
Sending love
Kali
Blog Meister responds: My dear, you are a microcosm of what’s going on around us. Keep in touch.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Tuesday night I enjoyed a lovely steak: slow-roasted. broiled/seared.
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11.0 Thumbnails
Update from the Boston medical perspective:
We thank Dr. Kay Kane for providing us with the following slice of the activity and concerns of the medical community around Boston:
We are cautiously optimistic that social distancing has been effective and the curve has flattened such that we will not overwhelm Boston's hospital/ICU/ventilator capacity this first COVID peak.
Make note: I said "first".
And know that means 152 people died in MA on Tuesday instead of 500.
We are still severely short of the reagents and swabs necessary to test for the COVID virus itself.
Blood tests for antibodies (indicating previous COVID exposure and hopefully some level of immunity) have commenced but their results/accuracy are highly variable from test to test and their meaningfulness is still debated.
But the data will help us move forward.
The current death rate in Massachusetts is 4.75% (1961 deaths/41199 cases total on Tuesday) but the denominator is likely higher given our lack of testing supplies and asymptomatic/mild unaccounted-for cases.
ERs have been seeing 50% fewer non-COVID emergencies than they should be which is worrisome.
I personally saw a patient for his rash who happened to mention his chest pain and long story short he ended up needing a triple bypass last Monday.
The Boston ERs are safe.
No non-COVID patient has become infected in our hospitals.
Please do NOT delay going if you are having serious cardiac, diabetic, abdominal, neurologic symptoms.
It is calculated that by May/June the number of cases will drop dramatically but as soon as we lift the restrictions the numbers will spike again.
And recurrent bouts of social distancing, work-from-home stretches (4-8 weeks each) may be necessary until a safe, effective vaccine is in place (?2021 or 2022).
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It’s Wednesday, April 22
Welcome to the 746th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Marsh wren
Cephas - Own work
Marsh Wren (Cistothorus palustris), Cap Tourmente National Wildlife Area, Quebec, Canada.
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2.0 Commentary
Mother Superior and some governors have jumped the gun.
Let’s restrain the exuberance but
For those out in front, we hope for the best.
Good news, however, is beginning to permeate our newscasts, especially
the growing number of states that have seen the pandemic plateau.
Testing and treatment catching up to the need.
Some states even helping others with needed equipment.
And finish lines being set up: when we get to 500,000 tests per day.
Give us a goal.
Something to ramp up for.
Here in Boston, however, our unpleasantly cool weather continues to plague us.
Only once a week do we get a lovely day.
As is the case in the next seven days.
Thursday.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Failure is success in progress
~Albert Einstein
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Tucker J, our resident movie critic:
Hey Dom,
I couldn’t help but notice your thumbnail for “A Man Called Ove”
Have you seen the film adaptation? It’s lovely!
I hope you’re doing well
Blog Meister responds: I read Tucker’s email and the movie idea for perfect for that very moment. Indeed, I loved it. A gentle, loving piece.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Monday night I debated: turkey soup or leftover Chinese.
And in Yogi Berra fashion I concluded: Yes:
A bowl of turkey soup and a plates of Chinese food.
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11.0 Thumbnails
The marsh wren (Cistothorus palustris) is a small North American songbird of the wren family.
The adult has a dark cap, brown upper-parts, a white throat and breast, and light brown underparts.
Marsh Wrens are known for their loud gurgling song.
Only males sing.
Marsh Wrens learn their song from adults; they begin imitating songs at about 15 days of age. Learning continues throughout their adult life; it has been shown that adult males imitate songs presented to them on a tape recording or by a live tutor.
It breeds in southern Canada and the United States; some birds are resident while others migrate to overwinter in the southern United States and Mexico.
Its habitat is marshland where it nests in tall vegetation, the male building several oval structures with side entrances, only one of which is eventually used by the female.
The male is fiercely territorial, attacking the eggs and young of other birds nesting in the vicinity.
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It’s Tuesday, April 21
Welcome to the 745th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Book jacket: A Man Called Ove.
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2.0 Commentary
Is there anything more confusing than our weather forecasts?
Hour by hour temperature shifts.
In Boston.
On the Cape.
Western Mass.
Other New England states.
Then
Hour by hour wind chills.
Pollen counts.
Offshore storms.
Midwestern cyclones.
Western European floods.
Tomorrow’s forecasts.
Ten day forecasts.
When the newscast ends,
What are we left with?
A simple question: is it raining out?
Over the past two year I gained 12 unwanted pounds.
So eight weeks ago I changed my eating habits to a breakfast of half a muffin, a soft-boiled egg, and two cups of half decaf coffee.
Then fasted until noon when I had a cappuccino and 1pm when I had a single, modestly-sixed dessert.
Then fasted until 5pm when I had a nice dinner with wine or gin.
Over the first several weeks of this regimen, eight of the unwanted twelve pounds melted off me in an extraordinarily easy and steady fashion.
A first in my thirty years of dieting.
Then the weight loss stopped.
Out of fear, perhaps, that I might gain that weight back, I stayed the course and
for the next four weeks my weight stabilized.
Not what I hoped in my most optimistic moments, but
it’s still eight pounds.
I’ll take it.
Don’t look now.
But over the last four days my weight loss seems to have recommenced.
1.2 pounds in total.
So little and yet 25% of the total remaining of my original goal.
That’s not insignificant.
I’ll report again in four days or so.
BTW: I find the diet totally consonant with my life style;
no sense of sacrifice and so,
sustainable.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.
~Albert Einstein
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Colleen G:
Hi Dom,
Have you read A Man Called Ove?
May be worth a look. I didn't particularly enjoy the reading of it--but I am in the minority since everybody else seems to have loved it--but I read the whole thing and enjoyed the message of community that envelopes it overall. Makes me think of how someone like Yan can be an important part of a person's life. Check it out.
Stay well!
Cheers,
Colleen:)
Blog Meister responds: So I looked it up on Wiki and got interested. Will definitely add it to my reading list. Me, the sucker for the heartwarming story. Thanks for the tip, my dear.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
With plummeting lobster prices, lobster jumped the menu line:
we served it last night.
Delicious and 30% off.
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11.0 Thumbnails
Ove is a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window.
He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse.
People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.”
However, behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness.
So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heart-warming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul.
All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations."
–promotional blurb on U.S. edition cover jacket
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It’s Monday, April 20
Welcome to the 744th consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Italian Landscape with Umbrella Pines
Hendrik Voogd (1768–1839)
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2.0 Commentary
So happy with today’s NYT newsletter on the corona virus:
containing numbers.
As soon as our testing capacity reaches so many hundreds of thousands daily
we may start opening our economy.
They thinking mid-May.
Wow!
The light at the end of the tunnel.
In my heart I had hoped that by the end of April
we might develop our economy’s opening date.
Here, two weeks ahead of my hope, they are dating the opening.
Not blindly, but
with hard-scientific goals: the number of daily tests.
Very few of us will think this a too-far-away date.
Most of us will feel relief that an end date is at hand.
BTW: Have you noticed the price of lobsters?
Down 30%.
What a deal.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
Don't listen to the person who has the answers;
listen to the person who has the questions.
~Albert Einstein
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5.0 Mail
We love getting mail.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
This from Sally C:
Dear Dom,
I’m so pleased that you reconnected with Yan. When the shut-downs began, I remember you posting your concern for her welfare, not seeing her and not knowing what her status was. And I remember others who follow your blog asking about her.
Thank you for helping her.
Sally
Blog Meister responds: Wonderfully implicit in Sally’s email is her thank you: do it for one and you do it for us all. Basic human doctrine.
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
Had takeout yesterday, Billy Tse’s in the North End Waterfront.
Was very good.
Chop Suey, Vegetables in wine and garlic; vegetable fried rice; chicken wings.
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11.0 Thumbnails
Hendrik Voogd (1768–1839) was a Dutch painter and printmaker who spent his active life in Italy. He was known as the "Dutch Claude", because some of his landscape paintings resembled those of the French painter Claude Lorrain, whose landscapes were often bathed in golden light.
This picture is an 1807 oil-on-canvas painting by Voogd, entitled Italian Landscape with Umbrella Pines, depicting the gardens of the Villa Borghese in Rome in the late afternoon. People can be seen strolling amongst the trees, which stand out sharply against the sky and cast long shadows across the lawns. In the foreground, an artist is shown at work beside a fallen tree. The painting is now in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
Painting credit: Hendrik Voogd
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It’s Sunday, April 19
Welcome to the 743rd consecutive post to the blog,
existentialautotrip.com
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1.0 Lead Picture
Michelangelo por Daniele da Volterra (detalle)
Daniele da Volterra - Metropolitan Museum of Art, online collection (The Met object ID 436771)
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2.0 Commentary
Saturday in Boston.
Insult to injury.
Poor outdoors weather.
Depriving the weak at heart of a walk out.
But not the others.
Those with the strength to assess the discomforts.
To dress for them.
And to go outdoors to shop.
Or to break from the boredom.
For those who have the strength,
weather only impacts how we dress.
Not whether we go.
I must go out.
My friend Yan has figured out that I arrive at the Pru about 11.00am.
And for the last several days she’s been waiting.
I say, “Hello, Yan.”
She grins and bows from the waist and
takes the money to buy herself a prepared meal at Star market or
other places that permit clients to enter their food store without having gone online.
I don’t know the rest of her day, but
feel good that I’m able to soften one part.
I’d feel like I abandoned Yan because I wanted to stay warm and comfortable.
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4.0 Chuckles/Thoughts
The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but
imagination.
~Albert Einstein
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6.0 Dinner/Food/Recipes
I’d forgotten how good butterflied leg of lamb can be.
Using the Broiled-Seared recipe in the Recipe Blog section of this blog,
I ate it last night and it was good indeed.
Accompaniment:
Had leftover lentils for the base of a soup that I made by adding a cup of chicken stock (my own, of course) and a handful of cooked soup pasta.
And a spoon of broccoli rabe.
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7. “Conflicted” podcast
Conflicted, by Dom Capossela, is a spiritual/fantasy/political story about a sixteen-year-old mystic-warrior conflicted internally by her self-imposed alienation from God, her spiritual wellspring, and, externally, by the forces of darkness seeking her death or ruination.
Today we post Chapter 27 in which Dee goes mano a mano against the devil and Laini passes.
The podcasts are also available on Sound Cloud, iTunes, Twitter, and Facebook.
Search: dom capossela or conflicted or both.
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11.0 Thumbnails
Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6 March 1475 – 18 February 1564), known best as simply Michelangelo was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect and poet of the High Renaissance
born in the Republic of Florence,
who exerted an unparalleled influence on the development of Western art.
His artistic versatility was of such a high order that he is often considered a contender for the title of the archetypal Renaissance man, along with his rival, the fellow Florentine, Leonardo da Vinci.
Several scholars have described Michelangelo as the greatest artist of his age and even as the greatest artist of all time.
A number of Michelangelo's works of painting, sculpture and architecture rank among the most famous in existence.
His output in these fields was prodigious; given the sheer volume of surviving correspondence, sketches and reminiscences, he is the best-documented artist of the 16th century.
He sculpted two of his best-known works, the Pietà and David, before the age of thirty.
Despite holding a low opinion of painting, he also created two of the most influential frescoes in the history of Western art: the scenes from Genesis on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, and
The Last Judgment on its altar wall.
His design of the Laurentian Library pioneered Mannerist architecture.
At the age of 74, he succeeded Antonio da Sangallo the Younger as the architect of St. Peter's Basilica. He transformed the plan so that the western end was finished to his design, as was the dome, with some modification, after his death.
Michelangelo was the first Western artist whose biography was published while he was alive.
In fact, two biographies were published during his lifetime.
One of them, by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that Michelangelo's work transcended that of any artist living or dead, and was "supreme in not one art alone but in all three".
In his lifetime, Michelangelo was often called Il Divino ("the divine one").
His contemporaries often admired his terribilità—his ability to instill a sense of awe.
Attempts by subsequent artists to imitate Michelangelo's impassioned, highly personal style resulted in Mannerism, the next major movement in Western art after the High Renaissance.
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12.0 Diary of the Surrender of a Private Car
Two weeks out from the fourth month without a car.
On four separate occasions I had friends drive me to the big box stores: Total Wines, Home Depot, Costco, and Market Basket for bottles and cans.
And, as a passenger, twice have gone on day trips.
My expense, to fill the cars with gas.
Meanwhile, $5,565 has stayed untouched in my account.