Mid April. I anticipate with longer days warm weather will call forth the green of grass and the tender shoots of daffodils. This weekend was a setback. A mega storm of snow and ice swept across the plains state. Minnesota received fifteen inches in some parts. The Star Tribune called it a historic blizzard. …
In Japan many homes have a feature that is called in direct translation, a god-shelf, or kami-dana in Japanese. This feature, a wooden shelf placed in a wall niche, is used for placement of pictures of the deceased, and on occasion a burning candle, and food offering. I thought this odd when I lived…
I’ve not posted in several days. The writing routine has been interrupted by a remodeling project at my preferred spot for contemplation, my examination of soul for proper words. I think that good work requires being at home in a context. The renovation of the Starbucks is nearly complete and I should return to…
Comment was made in the course of our discussion of the Iliad, of the great cultural differences in the late-bronze age status of women, and that of our own time, three millennia in the future. Consider the character of Briseis, taken and given as a spoil of war to Achilles consequent to the razing…
Rage! Menis! How much history, as though a blind fate, –is a story of rage and the aftermath. April 2, 1865 the Confederacy was essentially finished. After four years of war, the Union army entered Richmond while the city burned. A way of life based upon slavery, the blind determination to unjustly use human…
The rage of Achilles—sing it now, goddess, sing it through me the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished. Begin at the time…
I cannot imagine the headlines, if they should have had such a thing as a newspaper. More to the point the “news” was conveyed by word of mouth over the commercial sea lanes of the Mediterranean basin: Troy has fallen. After ten years of war, Priam’s great city is sacked by the Achaeans. That…
Achilles, like most people, has many values, which do not all fit together tidily in all circumstances. This would be a flaw, I suppose, if there were a better alternative, or if it were not so obviously the human lot. –excerpt The Anger of Achilles essay by C D C Reeve
A more intimate opportunity for philosophical “play” is offered at Taste-of-Paris on Thursday evenings. The setting could not be more perfect. A few of us meet in the dining room, find a place at the round table, which is under the scaled down model of the Eiffel Tower. Two to five individuals, friends, a…
Stopped in at the local CVS yesterday to purchase a birthday card. Walking with purpose to the greeting card display against the back wall, I passed a solitary individual who was busy stocking shelves who said “hello.” In the big, quiet store I chose a card with a superhero graphic on the front. Making…
