So, I got fucked for calling Nancy Mukasey Rothenberg, Princess Nancy. She was absent from court, often, planning her wedding, leaving her cases unprepared, I was told. It was a Jewish insult, according the Commissar Stern, a term abhorred by Jewish girls/women, though none I knew. Sharon never got her Prince, like Nancy did, she got me. What Sharon does well, like some Jewish women, is she orders in. And in this time of Corona, that is a skill devoutly to be wished. We are still married, despite Nancy’s efforts to cause otherwise. Is she?
Category: photography
Stutthof Guard Convicted
When you visit a Concentration Camp, your mind wants to see the people who perished there, hear their cries and question the ones who allowed the holocaust to happen. Learning that a guard has been convicted may bring some relief, but not much, and certainly no sympathy.
The guards entered here, through these gates. The camp sat in a residential area. It was more a work camp, than a death camp. But when you could not work, you died. The neighbors denied its existence, despite the smells.
The prisoners entered in cattle cars on a specially built track.
They slept in these bunks.
Peed and shit in these toilets set behind barbed wire.
When they were no longer useful, 50,ooo were gassed in this crematorium.
Some were just hung, to make an example of the penalty for laziness or not following the rules.
We mourn them, today, and everyday. Nothing will erase the horror.
Goya Boycott
Goya, portrait painter to the Spanish Court. He knew nothing about beans. If he did, he would fart uncontrollably knowing his name is being used to create a financial fortune for a man who thinks Trump should be reelected.
Nathan Bedford Forrest Removed
In September, we visited Memphis, ostensibly to see the Motel, Graceland and Sun Records. Arriving early for our tour of the place where Elvis recorded, we walked to a nearby park which had been the subject of litigation and consternation over a monument erected to honor Nathan Bedford Forrest.
An American flag flew over the statue’s base. I was appalled. Here is a man who massacred 300 helpless black Union soldiers and served as the first wizard of the KKK and not only do they have a monument to him, but after it is removed they fly an American flag.
As an artist, I love to look at statues, reminded as I am of their three dimensional quality, a level of visual arts not allowed to photographers, as well as their historical value, but they belong in museums where people have the choice of looking at them or looking away. And parks, nature parks, educating people about nature and schools, where people learn to read and think, should not be named after them.
Yes, he is an historical figure and someone who should be studied. But so should Dr. King who was murdered in the same area. No statue stands at the motel, a place our tour guide neglected to have the bus stop. I wouldn’t want one there either, but I would have wanted to step out on the terrace and cry.
Yesterday, I watched The General, one of the greatest films ever made, starring America’s leading comic actor. But, is it still relevant as it portrays a Confederate victory, a Rebel outsmarting the Union Army? Yes, as a historical artifact. Not worthy of a statue, though.
Morikami Reopens
Morikami Museum and Gardens reopened today. It is like we were reconnected to our lives. We see new things every time we go and never seem to stop loving being there.
Summer colors on the way. Plants haven’t really awakened, but will as the rain and sun return. The reds aren’t that red and the yellows are a little green, but who cares.
Not that I know what the symbolism of all the sculpture or the shapes of the gardens, but I feel it.
Keep Your Distance
Keep Your Distance
Overflow
Not that we don’t have enough problems, but it is now Hurricane Season. Covid causes death, despair and disease. Rain and wind destructs, demolishes and decimates. Any way you look at it, society gets eradicated in an unpleasant way.
The canals await the rainfall, already over their early June limit. Deadly frogs live around them. Lizards and geckos which didn’t die due to climate change (no cold spell) abound and there is no species to eat them or drive them away. Unbelievers continue to ignore the signs, partying on the beaches and in the clubs. Well, so-be-it.
Don’t Shoot Blue
Boca Museum Reopens
We went to the early opening for members, but the power was out due to a thunder storm. Felt normal being able to visit a cultural institution in the midst of Corona and Black Lives Matter. We even dressed for the date.
We returned the next day. Only a few people present. Museum show featured Self-Portraits from the National Gallery and prints by Steichen. We dressed again.
I got to see a Chuck Close, one of my favorites and pose with him. Too complicated to explain here.
But Steichen will always be the start, the greatest portraitist of the 20th Century. He invented it. Here is a self-portrait where he photographs himself as a painter. He preferred photography and destroyed many of his paintings.
Chuck Highstien, Artist
My next-door neighbor, Charles Highstien, MD is or was an Otolaryngologist, ENT. Helped heal many people during his medical career. Now he makes art.
His stuff comes from nature, birds, snakes, imaginary creatures. He builds forms, covers them with bubble wrap and paints them.
The lanai onside his home serves as his studio. Weather permitting he works the plein air, watching the birds land, fish jump and trees blow in the wind.
Cannot say there is a market for his work. He does commissions and would like to show. As with the rest of us aging artists, no one is going to buy our work and no wife is going to let us clutter the home with it.