March 12 2023
Ezine Edition: March 12, 2023
# 1597
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COVER: Guernica
by Pablo Picasso. 1937. Oil on canvas. 349 cm × 776 cm.
Pablo Picasso - PICASSO, la exposición del Reina-Prado. Guernica is in the collection of Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid. Source page: http://www.picassotradicionyvanguardia.com/08R.php (archive.org)
The war in the Ukraine gives me an uneasy feeling.
But if the West allowed Russia to march into its neighbor and seize territory, in ten years China would absorb every inch of territory it claims is its. Tyranny would prevail.
So what choices do we have? None, really.
But the actual facedown, the destruction and the obliteration give me an uneasy, nuclear feeling.
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Commentary
I have advocated a 4-day work week for decades.
Glad to see the conversation go national.
The gains, reduced stress, time to care for oneself and family, and an increase in productivity are as plain as …
Ukraine: The great divide
How Republicans stand on aid to the Ukraine is the Great Divide between those Republicans who are the responsible party and the maniac wing advocating all the extreme positions, from race relations to antisemitism to social welfare.
I am delighted that we have a sand-line of demarcation that will bring on a blood-letting showdown between the two wings.
While I prefer a Biden win in the general election, , and while this intra-Republican Party confrontation will temporarily destroy the Republican Party and guarantee a Biden win, I don’t relish the thought of a severely dominant single party.
And yet, let the traditional right-wing and Nazi-leaning wing Republican confrontation take place sooner rather than later. The only possibility of a Nazi-wing victory in Republican politics is if the right wingers fail to coalesce around a single, anti-Trump candidate. At the moment, it seems that Ron DeSantis is that right-wing candidate.
So bite the bullet, my liberal friends. Support Ron DeSantis for the Republican Party candidate to oppose Joe Biden. In Trump is nominated, watch that 7,000,000 vote Biden-victory swell to 14,000,000.
Nazis alongside members of the far-right reactionary and monarchist German National People's Party (DNVP) during the brief NSDAP–DNVP alliance in the Harzburg Front from 1931 to 1932
Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-02134 / CC-BY-SA 3.0
For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Gründung der "Harzburger Front" Bad Harzburg, 11.10.1931 Hauptmann Göring und Hptm. Röhm, ganz rechts der Preußische Kultusminister Bernhard Rust, (x)
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Kat’s Gen Z Corner
The sweetest ode to New York [Colossus] and a great vegetarian/vegan:
This is the front cover art for the book The Colossus of New York (book) written by Colson Whitehead. The book cover art copyright is believed to belong to the publisher or the cover artist.
https://covers.openlibrary.org/b/id/6799271-L.jpg
For our fifth Valentine’s Day together, Will and I went to Dirt Candy, a one Michelin star vegan/vegetarian restaurant in the Lower East Side. This was one of my favorite meals of all time, for the simple creativity of each dish centered around one vegetable, as well as not having to spar with the chef about my dairy allergy.
This is their onion pizza with cashew cheese that almost brought me to tears of joy.
Really.
Naia Hilo, like Katherine, a Gen Z woman.
She writes:
This generation has grown up in a world where every piece of information is constantly bombarding us with input. I have found that it has become increasingly difficult to be my own person because it always seems cultivated or influenced by outside pieces. I am a self taught artist growing up in a world where every reference you could possibly imagine can be accessed by a click of a button. Does the level of an artists authenticity grow if they are exposed to all these different influences? Or could it be a less genuine representation because it wasn’t ever original in the first place?
“I find it hard to be creative when you are surrounded by ar.
The natural beauty of my surroundings or
even the emptiness of a blank room
draw out a more authentic type of creativity.
When I am surrounded by the art of others
my art feels less genuine.”
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Tucker’s Screen Corner
This week’s entry feels good because I was able to post it in time to actually give folks the opportunity to see it in theaters. I love going to the theater and even with the decline in skilled projection and the complete lack of empathy most people exhibit to others in the theater around them it’s still the ideal way to experience a film. Anyway here’s
Creed III - Directed by Michael B. Jordan
“The higher you get the harder it gets. That’s life. It’s a war. It’s a fight. It’s a battle”
About 1/3 of the way through Creed III, the titular hero Adonis Creed (Michael B. Jordan) catches up with a childhood friend named Damian Anderson (Jonathan Majors). Before the movie tips its hand narratively it’s already clear that Adonis and Damian are going to go at least a few rounds before this story ends. It may even be accurate to say that this diner sequence is as intense as any scene that takes place in the boxing ring. The two estranged friends never come to blows but every word out of their mouth, every gesture and facial tick has a river of meaning surging beneath it. Each one of them is sizing up their opponent before we ever know they’re destined to take each other on in the ring.
The film opens with a little of the history these two young men share. We meet Dame at the height of his teenage boxing prowess. A promising future on the horizon for someone who may otherwise have been swallowed by Los Angeles’ criminal underbelly. But a mistake of youth gets Dame arrested and sent to prison for eighteen years. Fresh out of his time behind bars, Damian has set his sights on reclaiming the life and career he believes mistakenly wound up in Adonis’ lap. Wracked with confusion and guilt at Dame’s scorched earth approach to getting back what he feels he lost, Adonis’ greatest challenge in this film isn’t felling a particular opponent but reconciling with a past he hoped he could simply bury and forget about.
It’s an intriguing path for this film to take narratively because the entire Creed series has heretofore had to address the past in the form of the film series that spawned it. When Ryan Coogler decided to make a legacy sequel to the Rocky films he ingeniously made the narrative about the very idea of trying to add to something that already has a famous legacy. “I have to prove it!” shouts Adonis in the series first film. “Prove what?” asks his trainer Rocky Balboa. Adonis replies plainly, "That I’m not a mistake.” Thankfully the first entry is one of the better boxing films ever made. Creed II works under this same formula but makes its story about two sons who must take on their father’s unfinished business.
Creed III goes further. Building the story around two characters with such long histories raises the stakes dramatically. Jonathan Majors delivers an incredible performance with Dame, working to make sure his presence is threatening but never unrelatable. For a good portion of Creed III, it isn’t even clear that the film will have a villain at all. The first Creed film took the idea of the underdog story of Rocky and switched it up. Rocky was a working-class hometown hero who had to earn every chance he got and every moment of respite. Adonis was the son of Apollo Creed and grew up wealthy and comfortable. His fight for being recognized is like Rocky’s, it’s as if he had to begin digging the tunnel from the other side of the mountain. Creed III accentuates that idea by having Adonis, now retired from boxing with all the gold and glory earned during his impressive career, now pitted against an actual underdog. A thirty-year-old ex-convict with no family legacy to lean on.
Jonathan Majors is an absolute movie star and his talents are on full display here. He is absolutely terrifying as Damian. Every smile he gives also implies a maelstrom of resentment. His movements in the ring are like the prowl of a panther. Every frame the man occupies is loaded with genuine danger and the result as a viewer is pure thrill. This is a man who has been to hell and back and truly has nothing left to lose. Creed III gets much of its narrative momentum from Damian’s screentime as his full plan comes into focus.
Much like Stallone’s own time with the Rocky series Michael B Jordan has finally stepped into the director’s chair alongside occupying the starring role. He’s terrific at putting a film together, clearly having learned at Coogler’s feet without completely emulating his style. Jordan’s own stylish flares come from an artist who clearly loves anime’s visual style. The fight sequences are heavily influenced by classic anime framing and staging but that style bleeds into the dialogue heavy scenes as well giving the entirety of Creed III some terrific visuals.
In all, Creed III is successful because it pits its hero against a near shattered mirror image of his own success. In Damian, Adonis sees what his life could have been like without privilege or options. At this point in Hollywood’s history, we’ve seen veritably every kind of boxing movie that could be conceived. However, through Jordan’s fresh directorial eye, some killer performances, and some truly thrilling boxing sequences, Creed III feels like something new despite being the ninth entry in this storied franchise.
For more writing on films please head to the Film section here
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Local Bits
We met at the George Howell Cafe and a week later had a lovely dinner together.
Likely we’ll have another.
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Chris’ Corner
pic: use for Chris corner
Fishing Trip
Coming to a close
The last two days have been fishing from Estancia Del Zorro which is a ranch high in the pampas and not too far from Argentina. They have many of the same animals I’ve seen on the trip already plus a colony of about 100 condors which I guess is one of the largest in the world. We’ve seen them many times the last couple of days riding the thermals looking for food. As they get closer you can start to see how large these birds are with an eleven-foot wingspan.
The fishing in this area is all walking and wading along small spring creeks (no boats). We tried to stay ten feet away from the water to not spook the fish and we cast flies that look like beetles or grasshoppers trying to avoid the bushes and brambles that line the sides of the creek. It makes the fishing very challenging as your fly gets caught outside of the water frequently, but it makes the fish you do catch super satisfying. Both days the fishing in the morning was slow but the afternoons were extremely productive giving us very high fish counts and some memorable encounters. Many times you can see the trout in the water so you try to put the fly in just the right location and then watch as the trout swims toward the fly, looks at it, and decides to crush it quickly, sip it slowly, or swim away. This is sight fishing and it’s some of the most interesting fishing you can do because you get to see everything develop slowly, and then you must set the hook the right way based on what the fish decided to do.
Chris
Just one more day of fishing so I hope to make it count!
BTW: ALL of the caught fish are returned. None are eaten or kept for trophies.
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Writing
I’ve begun rewriting the second half of my manuscript. And once again enjoying it.
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Recipe
I am in love with this idiom: a braise that works with many centerpieces, in this case, vegetables that I want to enrich to supplement a simple main course, like a broiled steak, a special meal. I call it:
Velvet Vegetables.
Aromatics
Finely Chop:
2 green onions
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon ginger
1 red pepper
Soften in Dutch Oven
2 tablespoons Asian Oil [Sesame oil, garlic, scallions, ginger]
Braise for 20-30 minutes
1 cup water
½ cup sake (or dry white wine or rice vinegar or Mirin)
1.5 packets Kayanoya Original Dashi Stock Powder (remove from packets)
Prepared Vegetables
When Braise is Done, Thicken
1TB potato starch to ¼ cup cold water
Stir well
Stir into braise and simmer for another few minutes to permit starch to thicken up braise.
Sauce must be velvety.
Serve on Toast or biscuit
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Chuckles and Thoughts
The Cow, from Ogden Nash:
The cow is of bovine ilk;
One end is moo, the other, milk.
For fun, we asked ChatGPT, “What makes these lines so attractive?”
The first two lines of "The Cow" by Ogden Nash are effective for several reasons:
Conciseness: The lines are concise and to the point, conveying a lot of information in a short amount of space. This brevity helps to capture the reader's attention and pique their curiosity about what else the poet has to say about the cow.
Clever wordplay: The lines employ a clever wordplay on the double meaning of the word "moo." On one hand, "moo" is the sound that a cow makes, and on the other hand, it rhymes with "two," implying that the cow has two ends with distinct purposes.
Introduction of the subject: The lines serve as an introduction to the subject of the poem, the cow. By succinctly describing the cow's most distinctive features, the poem establishes its theme and tone from the outset.
Overall, the first two lines of "The Cow" effectively capture the reader's attention with their brevity, clever wordplay, and introduction to the subject matter of the poem.
Many ancient and medieval Hindu texts debate the rationale for a voluntary stop to cow slaughter and the pursuit of vegetarianism as a part of a general abstention from violence against others and all killing of animals.
The interdiction of the meat of the bounteous cow as food was regarded as the first step to total vegetarianism.
An Indian cow and its calf— a late 7th century sculpture from Uttar Pradesh, India
LACMA - https://collections.lacma.org/node/240386
Cow and Calf India, Uttar Pradesh, late 7th century Sculpture Sandstone 20 1/2 x 26 1/2 x 5 in. (52.07 x 67.31 x 12.7 cm) Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harry Lenart (M.73.87.2)
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Understanding Ageing
Two conflicting forces are at work in my body.
One is that I am old and getting older. My strength is diminishing. As people age, they tend to experience a gradual decline in muscle mass, strength, and power, known as sarcopenia. This decline is due to a combination of factors, including reduced hormone levels, decreased physical activity, and changes in muscle fiber composition.
The opposing force is that although it may be more challenging than for a younger person due to age-related changes in the body, regular strength training can help older adults maintain or even increase muscle mass and strength. It is helping me. I follow a well-designed, self-designed exercise program of resistance exercises that target all major muscle groups, along with adequate rest and recovery time. Although I am an 80-year-old man I am gaining muscle mass from lifting weights.
A tangentially related issue is my weight. Since muscle mass is heavier than fat, my weight is going up and I don’t know if I should be worrying about that. it’s frustrating.
Even if you’ve never lifted before, you can work with your doctor and find and/or create a beginner’s program that will help you shape up.
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Social Life
My social life has ticked upwards since last week. Some meetups were due to special circumstances, some were catch-ups, some were new, some were from my activity around the ezine. All were sweet.
Edward Hopper's "Nighthawks" depicts a late-night scene in a small diner in New York City. The diner's large windows allow the viewer to see into the brightly lit interior, where three people and a lone diner attendant sit in isolated contemplation. A man and woman sit at the counter, their backs to the viewer, while another man is seen sitting alone at a table in the corner. The sharp angles and stark lighting create a sense of unease and loneliness, suggesting that despite being in close proximity to each other, the individuals in the scene are isolated and disconnected from each other. Overall, the painting captures the essence of urban loneliness and the anonymity of modern city life.
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Mail and other Conversation
We love getting mail, email, or texts, including links.
Send comments to domcapossela@hotmail.com
or text to 617.852.7192
This from daughter Katherine on my 81st birthday.
More than most, my dad has been many things. Lawyer, restaurant-owner, entrepreneur, husband, cookbook, ezine and blog author. Not one, however, has he taken more meaning from than being a father.
For most of my childhood, my dad and I lived in a one bedroom apartment in Somerville, where he raised me off the money he earned from serving at Limoncello’s, an Italian restaurant in the North End. Perhaps because he was accustomed to struggle, the limitations of being a working class single father never stopped my dad from curating a beautiful life for me.
Every night, without fail, he took to the kitchen to cook us an elaborate meal. I never once ate frozen or, god forbid, fast food. Every night, he would select a movie or television show, occasionally pausing the program to walk me through the subtleties of the plot. He would read books out loud to me until I fell asleep, and we would parse through what happened in the morning. Looking back on this now, I don’t remember him once looking fatigued or complaining about exhaustion.
The little spending money we had only went to my development. He put everything in front of me. Theater and writing classes, classes at the MFA, piano and Italian lessons, ice skating. The little free time he had also only went to me. For years, he endured over an hour of Boston traffic just to watch me play middle school basketball in my mom’s suburb of North Andover on Thursdays, take me back to Somerville for a night, and return me to school the next morning. He never missed a game.
My dad operated effortlessly in the grind, what he was long used to, but his heart always belonged to the finer things of life, which never lessened even during times of financial downturn. Together, we explored every new exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts. We spoke at length about the way Audrey Hepburn carried herself at the end of My Fair Lady. And once a year, he saved enough money for us to eat at Arrows, where he taught me how to order and eat properly at a high end restaurant. At age 9, it was important that I knew what an “amuse-bouche” was.
There were so many special moments and traditions that molded me into someone who invests in their life. This is the greatest gift any parent can bestow on their child, and that's what my dad gave me.
Suffice it to say, life was also terribly difficult during these years. I still have flashbacks of family court, of an exhausted dad picking me up at Grandma Nonna’s past midnight after a shift at the restaurant, of wearing winter gear to bed to avoid getting bitten by bed bugs, (Ed. Note: Writer is omitting the regular appearance of rats in the apartment, the near murder of a man found stabbed and bleeding on our doorstep one morning when we stepped out to get to school, and the daily drug deals in our building. But the apartment was affordable.) of repeatedly screaming “I want to go to my mom’s!”
Not an easy time.
But the genius of my father was his patience and tenacity. He never gave up. Do you want to go to the cafe with me? No. Do you want to go for a walk? No. Do you want to keep learning the piano, ice skating, theater? No, no, no.
Then, one day: do you want to uproot your life at near 13-years-old to come live in the city with me?
Yes.
(Ed. One afternoon Kat was with her mother and I and Kat was extolling living with me in Boston. In a pique, her mother said, “Well you can always go live with your father.” And then the little near-13-year-old stunned both parents, “Alright.” And that ended custody fights and began six brilliant years of single-parent, single-fatherhood.)
Today, I am my father’s daughter. I love walking in the city, taking refuge in a cafe with a good novel, and even birding once in a while in Central Park, like we used to in Plum Island. My dad’s influence and my brothers’ love, in many ways, saved my life. But I think the years of raising me also helped save my father’s.
My dad has wrestled with demons that most of us could not comprehend. Growing up in the terribly backwards neighborhood of the 1950s North End, my dad came to fatherhood with a lot of heaviness. I do not share the stories of my brothers and their dad who threw steaks across the room in anger. We had different mothers, and, in many respects, different fathers. But despite our divergent upbringings, we all came into adulthood with an amazing curiosity of life and a genuine kindness for others that is impossibly rare. And our common denominator is my father.
Shedding off layers of anger and shame is a battle of a lifetime for us all, and it’s one to which my dad has courageously dedicated his life. Few people have as successfully opened their heart and emerged from poverty as decent and giving of a person as my father. I’d like to think he worked at himself for himself, but I know the driving force behind his growth was his children.
Today is my dad’s 81st birthday. Today he is one of the healthiest and most energetic people I know. And I think that’s because he’s largely won his battle. With age, my dad has softened into a man willing to compromise, a man willing to be vulnerable and listen with a bit more tenderness in his heart. And for that, I am so proud.
I hope one day I will be as selfless and devoted to my children as you were to me.
Happy Birthday, Dad. I love you.
Blog meister’s response: If anyone thinks there exists a finer and sweeter birthday gift than that, she is simply wrong. I cried.
Kat and dad on Thanksgiving, November 2022
Egon Schiele
These from Jim P and Tommy D, two dear friends responding to my recent loss of a dear friend of seventy years.
Dom,
I heard about Mike.
I ‘m very sorry.
I thought of you as soon as I read the news…
I ‘m very sorry.
Take care my friend.
We will talk soon.
Jim
and,
Hi Dom
I just saw that your good friend Dr. Mike Annunziata passed away.
Please accept my condolences.
Life long friends always hold a special place in one’s life.
Tommy
Blog meister responds: Thank you, my dear friends. Love you.
And this from another friend, Tony C:
Hi Dom,
I loved this issue. Isabelle Wilkerson’s book was a great read, as you suggest.
I wonder how many of our NE friends have read it.
It was sad to lose Mike Annunziata 2 days ago…. I always respected him. I appreciated his reaching out to me to get involved with the public artwork. I will work to get the public art project with Nancy Schon to become a reality in his memory. Making progress on the design. Still trying to get a lawyer – have several leads – should have one in a week.
Stay well and keep up the inspiration with Existentialautotrip.
Tony
Blog meister responds: Thanks, Tony. Be well.
The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Édouard Fournier (1889); pictured in the centre are, from left, Trelawny, Hunt, and Byron
Louis Édouard Fournier - uwFW5-eMuEhgAA at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level
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Short Essay*
Picasso's Guernica is an iconic painting that depicts the horrors of war and the suffering it inflicts on innocent civilians. The painting is named after the small town of Guernica in northern Spain, which was bombed by German and Italian warplanes during the Spanish Civil War, resulting in hundreds of deaths and widespread destruction.
The painting is composed of black, white, and gray tones and features a chaotic, fragmented composition that reflects the disarray and violence of the event it portrays. The central image is that of a bull, which is a symbol of the brutality of war, and a wounded horse, which represents the suffering of innocent victims. Other images in the painting include screaming people, a woman holding a dead child, and a shattered light bulb, which symbolizes the destruction of civilization.
Guernica is widely considered to be one of the most powerful anti-war paintings ever created, and it has become an enduring symbol of the horrors of war and the need for peace. It continues to be studied and analyzed by art historians, activists, and scholars, and its message remains as relevant today as it was when it was painted in 1937.
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People
Volodymyr Zelensky is a Ukrainian politician, comedian, actor, and screenwriter who rose to international prominence after he was elected as the President of Ukraine in 2019. Prior to his political career, Zelensky was known for his work as a comedian and the creator of the television series "Servant of the People," in which he played a high school teacher who becomes the President of Ukraine after a viral video of his anti-corruption rant.
As President, Zelensky has focused on promoting transparency, combating corruption, and improving Ukraine's economy and international relations. He has also been a vocal advocate for Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, particularly in the face of ongoing conflict with Russia over the annexation of Crimea and the ongoing war in eastern Ukraine.
Zelensky's presidency has been marked by both controversy and accomplishment, as he has faced criticism from some quarters for his lack of political experience and the slow pace of reforms, but has also achieved significant progress in key areas such as anti-corruption measures and economic growth.
Overall, Zelensky represents a unique and unconventional approach to politics, and his presidency has been closely watched by observers around the world as a potential model for other countries seeking to shake up their political systems and break free from entrenched corruption and bureaucracy.
*The Blog Meister selects the topics for the Lead Picture and the Short Essay and then leans heavily on Wikipedia and ChatGPT to provide the content. The Blog Meister usually edits the entries.
**Community Pictures with Captions are sent in by our followers. Feel free to send in yours to domcapossela@hotmail.com
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