Tag: Arts & Culture

Profiles in History: William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison has gone down in the history books as being one of the first major leaders in the abolition movement of the 19th century. Although his opinions and anti-slavery views were very unpopular during that time, Garrison stood by his beliefs that all men are equal until his final days. Garrison became most…


Gentle Persuasion: Mary Roberts Rinehart’s Short Story, ‘Gentle Hand’

Too often, when someone disagrees or opposes us, we respond with force or harsh words. Yet, in her short story, “Gentle Hand,” Mary Roberts Rinehart demonstrates that gentleness is far more persuasive and moving than any amount of force that we can conjure up. In this story, as the day draws to a close, a…


From Darkness to Light: Blac Chyna’s Journey of Faith

Reality star Blac Chyna, whose real name is Angela White, has turned her life around, removing implants, fillers, and demonic tattoos, and getting baptized. As culture warps minds to a dark side, Angela White proves to be an outlier in stepping back into the light. When right and wrong and left and right get blurred,…


Book Review: ‘ANZAC Soldier Versus Ottoman Soldier: Gallipoli and Palestine 1915–18’

War creates cultural collisions. In Si Sheppard’s militaristic comparison and contrast of Ottoman soldiers and those of Australia and New Zealand, the cultural divisions are easy to notice even before the collision. Sheppard utilizes battles from World War I in his book “ANZAC Soldier Versus Ottoman Soldier: Gallipoli and Palestine 1915–18” to point out the…


The ‘Mona Lisa’ of the Southern Hemisphere: Frederic Leighton’s Iconic ‘Flaming June’

The permanent collection of Museo de Arte de Ponce in Puerto Rico contains one of the most noteworthy holdings of Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite art to be found outside of the United Kingdom. The Museum’s founder, Luis A. Ferré, assembled this spectacular collection from the late 1950s through the mid 1970s, a time in which these…


It’s National Poetry Month: Ways and Reasons to Join the Festivities

April has arrived, that season when in many places the growl of a lawnmower replaces the roar of a snow blower. It’s the first full month of spring, when melted ice and snow perform their usual magic, giving birth to daffodils and grass green as the hills of Ireland. Sunlight falls soft as down on…


Cartoonist of World War II: Bill Mauldin

Bill Mauldin once said, “Humor is really laughing off a hurt, grinning at misery.” Increasingly, awareness heightens that few of the 16 million who served during World War II are still living. At least a half dozen wars have occurred since Japan surrendered in 1945, but some surviving veterans recall details as if they happened…


Rewind, Review and Re-rate: ‘Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead’: Garcia Leads an All-Star Cast in This Neo-Noir Crime Thriller

R | 1h 55min | Drama, Comedy, Crime, Mystery, Thriller | 1 December 1995 (USA) The debut feature from director Gary Fleder (later “Kiss the Girls” and “Runaway Jury”) and screenwriter Scott Rosenberg (later “Con Air” and “Gone in 60 Seconds”), “Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead,” (“Denver”), was one of the first movies to be labeled a “Pulp Fiction”…


‘Spring Parade’ from 1940: Springtime in Europe

Spring is the most romantic season of the year, so it inspires poems, songs, paintings, and even movies. One springtime movie is “Spring Parade” from 1940, a Joe Pasternak musical starring Deanna Durbin. Set in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 1890s, it’s full of music, laughter, romance, and Old-World charm. A Hungarian Girl Ilonka Tolnay…


American Vermeers in Amsterdam

Vermeer hysteria has been stoked by the current blockbuster exhibition “Vermeer” on view at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, until June 4, 2023. This show is a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition showcasing the majority of the artist’s oeuvre. The show, which is the first Vermeer exhibition ever held at the Rijksmuseum, congregates an astonishing 28 of the Baroque painter’s…