Seeking the Sublime in the Everyday

     I try to keep my posts uplifting or at least upbeat, but here's something I can't get over.  Have you seen this? It's an ad posted on our city busses and I am appalled. No, I do NOT  lay in bed.  I lay me down to sleep, I lay down my sword and shield, but I LIE in bed.      Here's what Mirriam Webster says: Lay  means "to place something down flat," while  lie  means "to be in a flat position on a surface." The key difference is that  lay  is transitive and requires an object to act upon, and  lie  is intransitive, describing something moving on its own or already in position. Beyond the present tense, the pair can become more confusing because  lay  is the past tense of  lie , and  laid  is the past tense of  lay .      They also say,  L ay  and  lie  have been tripping up English speakers for 700 years, and no one should be judged harshl...

In all the talk and uproar around statues, I've found some that we can ponder and appreciate. This is Doctor Benjamen Rush, Founding Father, a signer of the  Declaration of Independence, physician, writer, educator, humanitarian,   author of one of the first major essays against slavery in the Colonies,  founder of the first anti-slavery society in America. He said, " Temperate, sincere, and intelligent inquiry and discussion are only to be dreaded by the advocates of error. The truth need not fear them..." He wasn't perfect; in 1778 he wrote an anonymous letter criticizing George Washington and suggesting he be replaced as Head of the Continental Army, and this fervent abolitionist actually owned a slave.  Huh?  It's always complicated--he never said much about this; as I would imagine not. As an educator Rush believed that, as nurturers of virtue in society, women deserved to be educated  and patriotism  should be deeply ingrained in women's thoughts...

Fall is almost here, which means it's back to school.  Mr. Rogers once began a talk by saying, "Let's be quiet for a minute. Think back to a teacher who made a difference in your life."  My friend, Jim Carroll, was there; he said it was a sacred moment. Do you remember your teachers? One I remember is Mrs. Brilliant--that was really her name. Doesn't she look like a kid? I was a terrible math student but when she made me stay after school for extra help and I stood at the blackboard, algebra suddenly made sense to me.  I aced the next test and when she looked over my shoulder to see that I had solved the extra credit question her face absolutely lit up.   That look has stayed with me all these years.  I didn't realize it then but Mrs. Brilliant showed me what to work towards in my life--to get that much joy from my work.  Not as an algebra teacher, but as something meaningful. I wish I could let her know how much she meant to me. This year will be and is al...

 Drawing faces with just lines is hard.  I've studied many who succeed-starting with Durer,  Hans Holbein the Younger Rembrandt Charles Dana Gibson,  Aubrey Beardsley, well, now that I look at his work, he does what I do--put in lots of texture and pattern so you don't notice that the faces are not all that great. Mark Summers: This is a portrait of Dr. Seuss. You see, I've stolen from the very best. A favorite is Hilary Knight, best known for his illustrations for Eloise the waif of the Plaza.  He won my heart with his illustrations of my edition of Dr. Spock's classic Baby and Child Care.  Dr. Spock marched against the war in Viet Nam, saying, "What is the use of physicians like myself trying to help parents to bring up children healthy and happy, to have them killed in such numbers for a cause that is ignoble? " He was a mensch, and he was a big help to me.  When I was about to leave the hospital with newborn Jessie the obstetrician and the pediatri...