Life
-
“The Human Crisis” — lecture by Albert Camus, in New York, on March 28 1946
Ladies and Gentlemen: when I was invited to give a series of lectures in the United States of America, I felt some doubt and hesitation. I am really not old enough to give lectures, and I am more at ease with the process of thinking than I am making categorical statements… since I don’t feel…
-
“It is not your paintings I like, it is your painting.”*
My father, lovingly, forced me to think but I am not a philosopher. During my upbringing I was taught to trust, believe. I do but filled with questions because I believe in the intellect which dwells on beauty and the ugly alike — perhaps the fruit of thinking. I surrender increasingly to the vibrancy of…
-
The little ghost who gifted Coltrane, Parker, Getz, Coleman, and Rollins
Antoine-Joseph Sax was born on this day in 1814, in Dinant (Netherlands, today Belgium) to Charles-Joseph Sax, and Marie-Joseph Masson, both instrument designers of traditional instruments. Adolphe, as he was called, began making his own instruments, entering two flutes and a clarinet into a competition by the age of 15. Subsequently he studied both instruments,…
-
Childhood outside the box
Somewhat obscure, cloudy, is the childhood memory of a sweet dish which was always served in accompaniment, never as a piece for focus. The inner skin of grapefruits (oranges or limes, too) would be cocked for hours with spices and sugar, until it became syrup. Another memory is of a more common, children’s joy, namely,…
-
Where do I come from? Where am I going?
Those do not appear to me to be the sense, purpose or basis for thinking, believing, and being. Being here, now, present, attentive, responsible, that is to me the space in which I ought to develop my talents, vibrate fully, dive deep, search to learn, here, now. To think to know where I come from,…
-
Eating towards either godside
— one may abide by the common notion that central to eating is a need to subside hunger — one may otherwise eat, not merely in order to escape starvation, or be nourished and avoid ailments but rather in pursuit of the joy in eating, in all its stages The latter goes well with either…
Sila Blume 