tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38507219378657034422012-01-31T12:39:50.416+01:00Essays, stories and filings from a jobbing writerWriter on Boardnoreply@blogger.comBlogger321100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-64804848412311044452012-01-29T12:36:00.042+01:002012-01-31T12:39:50.425+01:00

from Vogue cover, 1950 Irving Penn (1917-2009) transformed fashion photography with his work for Vogue in the '40s and '50s. He then began to both capture and create many of the icons of the 20th century: it's difficult to think of Picasso, Pacino, Capote, Dietrich, without one of his luminous portraits springing to mind. Pablo Picasso, Cannes 1957 He was in complete control in the studio,

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-20969103355881423872011-05-22T11:37:00.305+02:002012-01-30T12:25:07.478+01:00

Second Manassas: Women and Parasols © 2011 WILLIE ANNE WRIGHT The ghosts of the Civil War are always present in the South — stand in the shade of the stone rifleman in any southern square, and they crowd up close, hoping you'll wonder their names. Native Virginian Willie Anne Wright does more than that: she catches them on film. Armed with pinhole cameras of her own design, she followed Civil

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-68619078322744903022011-04-14T14:05:00.042+02:002012-01-16T15:00:36.923+01:00

Hans im Glück, by Oliver Zabel German writer Rudolf Ditzen used a pseudonym when he began to write, afraid that such a career would disappoint and embarrass his father, a prominent judge. He named himself after two characters from The Brothers Grimm: Hans, a boy who puts little stock in worldly riches, and Falada, a talking horse who always speaks the truth. This year marks a century since the

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-47162161391672558732011-01-11T22:39:00.020+01:002011-01-12T10:14:40.945+01:00

...reminds me that I've met someone who knows his paintings like the back of her hand... I'm working on a new slew of stories for Endeavors, the online creativity and research magazine of my alma mater, Texas Christian University. Not that I actually went to school there. I've simply decided to make myself an honorary step-child of the place, seeing as it's been a "bountiful mother" to me for

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-8507797905460390082010-09-24T10:23:00.024+02:002011-01-12T11:54:19.292+01:00

Perspicacious editor of Sandlapper Magazine for over two decades and my great friend Aïda Rogers introduced me to Roger Pinckney, as she has all of the best things about South Carolina. We took the ferry from Hilton Head and met with Roger in March for an article I wrote about him for the autumn issue of the magazine. Gruff, Southern, handy with guns: Pinckney seems an unlikely

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-41353722628529056652010-09-17T18:47:00.020+02:002010-09-24T11:41:07.956+02:00

You know you're in Munich when young girls who normally lift nothing heavier than a lipstick start hefting liters of beer. This year, Munich has gone all historic, with the Stadtmuseum's show on the life of Oktoberfest through the centuries and the Wiesn opening one day early to celebrate its 200th birthday.It all went down like this: On Sept. 17, 1810, Crown Prince Ludwig and Princess Therese of

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-75865774476320691082010-05-19T14:38:00.022+02:002010-05-23T16:58:34.183+02:00

The British Library announced today in less than poetic language that lovers of ancient newsprint should brace for a "mass digitisation." No longer will the 30,000 researchers who make the pilgrimage each year to the Newspaper Library have to traipse to Colindale: soon, 350 years of local, national and international news stories (52,000 titles and counting) will wend their way

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-19424354518243112212010-04-01T10:59:00.018+02:002011-11-18T07:53:44.901+01:00

Just take a gander at this website and tell me what you see. The ink stain that could be blood, the Sherlockian magnifying glass, and the ominous scientist looming over Manhattan on the book cover, all do their part to make you think Deborah Blum has written a crime thriller, right? Even Blum's enigmatic smile in the author pic makes you wonder: Has the Pulitzer-winning science writer with

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-14936788927534436412010-02-18T23:09:00.031+01:002010-03-04T13:37:08.781+01:00

It's official: White-Nose Syndrome has been found in Tennessee-- photo by Marvin Moriarty/USFWS Biologists are calling it the most devastating wildlife decline in the past century in North America. Since White-Nose Syndrome was discovered in a New York cave in 2006, an estimated one million hibernating bats have died in the northeastern USA. The hallmark of the disease is a powdery white fungus

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-32827117924156941532009-12-18T14:32:00.026+01:002010-01-09T15:20:01.555+01:00

Happy Holidays from the Mütter Museum in PhiladelphiaSkull Wreath by Noah ScalinOnce you start looking, you see skulls everywhere, says Noah Scalin, the graphic artist who gave himself the task of making and posting a new skull every day on his blog for a year. Within a few months, his skull-a-day blog had hundreds of thousands of hits. His inventive variation on a theme resonated with people

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-64775961769155194332009-12-08T11:54:00.016+01:002009-12-18T23:19:21.697+01:00

Angela Merkel expressing her regret a few years hence, if Cop15 climate talks fail. Altered images of world leaders greet arrivals at Copenhagen airport. (Created by Greenpeace and tcktcktck.)

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-77566704216056504992009-11-09T15:30:00.017+01:002011-11-18T11:59:00.255+01:00

In one of his regular columns for Art in America, the glossy international review that bills itself as "the world's premier art magazine," Dave Hickey crams Joe Cocker, a waspish art critic from a '40s noir film, Wilson Pickett singing In The Midnight Hour, Caravaggio, Andy Warhol, a new theory about the unconscious, and his own bifurcated psyche into the Stax recording studio in Memphis,

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-7612926516139860462008-11-18T14:21:00.061+01:002011-06-18T11:33:29.605+02:00

The Ruins of Menokin, by veteran pinhole photographer and VCU alumna, Willie Anne Wright. Ever Present Past, which ended much too soon at The Neue Sächsische Gallerie in Chemnitz, ought to come with a word or two of warning. If it doesn't already, Time — captured, lost, mournful, unyielding — will certainly haunt you once you've seen this show. So be careful when you enter the transcendent

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-48877030612900395272008-03-16T13:28:00.013+01:002009-08-26T08:07:36.834+02:00

When Belgian photographer Philippe Vandenbroeck self-published his book on European Capitals, he didn't expect it to be so successful. Vandenbroeck's photographic pilgrimage has struck a chord with travelers and residents alike. Not least with José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, who was especially taken with, "...the melancholy and the light" of a wall scrawled with "Amor"

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-58266995302657346202008-01-13T18:29:00.008+01:002009-11-12T09:34:59.293+01:00

Ravia's Eyes photograph from Belly Dancers seriesby Anne C. SavedgeCertainly Ravia's eyes have it, several times over, in this image. But in most of Anne C. Savedge's Belly Dancers series, it's the body that counts. In shot after shot, among spinning fabrics of fuchsia, purple and gold, bodies soar like birds and whirl in ecstatic splendor, singing a language that we all know but only dance can

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-9595682051309766252007-11-25T10:23:00.002+01:002009-11-10T10:59:39.090+01:00

Oregon QuarterlyHis native Germany has the highest density of architects in the world. But that’s not what keeps Lars Uwe Bleher up at night. The architect, exhibition designer, and assistant professor of architectural design and digital design media at the University of Oregon shuns shut-eye to straddle two worlds. As managing director of design for Atelier Markgraph, an exhibition design firm

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-17867850803775065612007-10-13T16:24:00.000+02:002007-11-11T22:57:30.991+01:00

Soprano Beate von Hahn and composer Laurence Traiger at the Black Forest Music Festival.Laurence Traiger loved Austria so much during his junior year abroad – he decided to stay. In 1976, the KU music student flew to Salzburg to study at the Mozarteum, the university of music and dramatic arts. Jump ahead 30 years. Traiger's still in Europe, composing and teaching music theory at the Mozarteum

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-77733698433665411372007-09-25T12:33:00.000+02:002007-10-18T13:51:49.173+02:00

Marko Hehl worked for a year to bring this stunning international show to his city. Street-People-Nature, a group show featuring work by Nobuhiro Nagashima, Phillippe Vandenbroeck and Marko Hehl, is a celebration of the surprising gifts of the world. The photographers themselves are a surprising gift to Chemnitz, the former Karl Marx Stadt in eastern Germany. For how often have residents of this

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-86785901573432117322007-07-27T18:25:00.000+02:002007-07-27T23:03:53.748+02:00

Leipzig, new darling of the art world, won't be known solely for its painting if Kristin Dittrich has anything to do with it. The founder of Zentrum für Zeitgenössische Fotografie [Center for Contemporary Photography] Dittrich is the organizer and art director for Leipzig's first international photo festival. The 29 year old curator, who cut her teeth at the Sorbonne and Paris Photo, had a dream

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-69287982090678352662007-06-22T16:34:00.003+02:002009-11-09T16:47:55.269+01:00

Highlight from The Chrysler Museum Photography CollectionMan Ray: Le Souffle, 1931© Man Ray TrustWhen Brooks Johnson left a tiny backwater on the Chesapeake for the big city, he just got in his ‘65 Ford Fairlane and drove. Everything he owned was stuffed inside the old station wagon — most importantly his camera, which had worked so well to help him meet girls. He was 17, a bit of a rough cob to

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-46287900853813014252007-05-30T21:46:00.007+02:002009-08-11T17:09:17.448+02:00

David Yeakle in Wally Shawn's A Thought in Three Partsphoto courtesy of Josh Meyer Wally Shawn and Texas don’t usually appear in the same sentence — but then Austin is an unusually un-Texan place: in the past week it proved itself America’s most progressive city. Or at least one of Austin’s hundred or so theatres did (The Vortex), where Rubber Repertory produced Shawn’s play, A Thought in Three

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-41592372691396643902007-05-25T22:32:00.000+02:002008-11-19T09:24:37.664+01:00

Don't know a spatula from a Sacher torte? Don't worry. In this aptly named cookbook for chocophiles, (Death by Chocolate Cake) Marcel Desaulniers makes baking your own gâteaux look as easy as pie. He's known as the Guru of Ganache. Some call him Dr. Chocolate — and wish he made house calls. As serious as he is about chocolate, (and he is serious: this is cookbook number three in his Death by

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-15430387620297103302007-05-22T13:53:00.000+02:002007-07-12T23:30:46.165+02:00

TCU MagazineSheila Stark Phillips would rather climb a tree and tell a lie than stand on the ground and tell the truth. It’s a preference that served her well when she represented the south central US at the biggest confabulator’s conference in the country. She didn’t have to climb a tree, but she did have to travel to the tiny town of Jonesborough, Tenn., where the National Storytelling

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-70093394574686423922007-05-10T20:05:00.000+02:002007-07-09T11:19:00.328+02:00

Herbs for Health Magazinephoto by Henri Li at kronka.comHold on to your hat and pile your plate with wasabi: new research indicates that it may be good for your health.Used for centuries by the Japanese on raw fish as a tasty antimicrobial, recent studies suggest that the incendiary green paste may help prevent blood clots, asthma, and even cancer.Hideki Masuda, Ph.D., has discovered another use

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-24518868830110788722007-05-08T22:33:00.000+02:002008-11-19T09:37:46.696+01:00

Stanford MagazineIt's a raucous morning at the Mozart Café. The jazz is loud; the espresso machine gushes like Old Faithful; a delivery man bangs through the door with a dolly of beer. But Susan Ji-on Postal sips her chai serenely. While other patrons bend close to hear each other through the din, Susan is unbowed by all the chaos. A sweet-faced woman with dark cropped hair, she sits straight and

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-34016817299568904722007-05-08T22:25:00.000+02:002007-10-18T20:32:42.809+02:00

Dog Fancy Magazinephoto by Candace JenkinsCharleston, South Carolina, is known as the country's most sociable city. Little wonder then, that Charleston's canine residents have quite a reputation for being charming too. But they do have a secret advantage: a weekly support group for the socially challenged dog.more...

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-28508220815531867362007-05-08T21:48:00.000+02:002007-05-12T14:07:06.935+02:00

Chesapeake Bay MagazineWhat is it that’s so satisfying about living near water? I ask myself this question as I drive happily down a narrow Virginia road, the Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers on each side of me like green-skirted sisters eager to link arms and show me the view. Their insistent voices and shining faces encourage me to pull over, stop the car and abandon it, as I’ll someday leave my

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-50414488534637917192007-05-08T21:38:00.000+02:002007-07-07T15:10:28.173+02:00

The Photo Reviewpinhole photograph by Willie Anne WrightWhen asked to describe the work of Willie Anne Wright, a visitor to her recent 30 year retrospective nearly succeeds with one word: "elegy." A mournful poem, yes; lament for the dead, not quite, for the subjects of Wright's pinhole photographs, photograms and composite prints are very much alive. Present with all their associations and

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-37094781346911891762007-05-08T21:28:00.012+02:002009-08-06T21:09:44.412+02:00

TCU Magazine/photo by Loli Cantor"Sorry I'm nekkid," says Johnny Simons, in a voice as smooth and deep as riverbed rock. As he pulls his t-shirt on, I fiddle in my bag for the recorder, but much as I want to, I don't turn it on. The writer, director and creative engine of Hip Pocket Theatre doesn't like to talk much about what he does."I know you don't want to talk about your work," I say, to let

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-55679544363849343372007-05-08T15:01:00.000+02:002007-07-08T12:00:25.427+02:00

Hometown Media New YorkOutside the Big Apple Shoe Repair in Mamaroneck, New York, the ripe red symbol of NYC hangs proud. Inside, busy at his workbench, is a living symbol of what lies behind the city's (and, many would say, the country's) greatness: immigrant, craftsman, small business owner, Isidro Frias. Bending leather to his will involves smelly chemicals, sharp knives, a fair bit of

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-37570713359103176702007-05-07T23:21:00.000+02:002007-07-06T15:16:35.748+02:00

Just 15 miles from Charleston, every day is a day at the beach. Everywhere you look, it's sand and palms, ocean and palms, sunshine and palms.In the palm of a palm tree is how one feels in designers Kevan and Funda Hoertdoerfer's residential commission on the Isle of Palms. The house stands ten feet high on hurricane-protective pilings, resembling, as one visitor said, a cross between a tree

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3850721937865703442.post-86426195570259695692007-05-07T22:05:00.002+02:002007-07-07T20:14:39.379+02:00

Labyrinths 11 by Joachim KerstenIn his studio in Nuremberg, Germany, it’s always a gamble whether Joachim Kersten can build a canvas big enough to please him, yet small enough to get down the stairs. “Size matters,” he says with a grin, opening the massive door to the Rathaus (built in 1572). Inside, the stone walls soar. The floorspace is so vast that viewers shuffle backward to take in his work

Writer on Boardnoreply@blogger.com0