There aren’t many clichés you can add to the spectacular-ness of nature. And there aren’t many places where you can get the full impact of its largesse than that of the Lamar Valley in the northeast corner of the first US National Park. From a core herd of 24 genetically Read More
Travel
Sicily: Ancient Empires
The three highlight antiquities we’ve seen this trip are the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento (Greece 2400 BCE); the remarkable Roman mosaics (300 CE) at the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina, and the rarely open Houses of Augustus and Livia with their delicate wall frescoes in the Read More
Sicily: Festival of San Giorgio
Everywhere I look I see someone who reminds me of someone I know in Boston. Occasionally it seems like the North End of 30 years ago (Boston’s Little Italy) has teleported itself to Sicily. It’s a testimony to the extent of Italian and Sicilian emigration to the Northeastern US over the past Read More
Sicily: Religioso
Full disclosure – I love churches – the gloomier, darker and more intense, the better. It must be related to childhood in Montreal and short winter days stomping in and around St. Joseph’s Oratory – the Shrine – with as many bleeding martyrs as you can find, including Brother Andre’s Read More
Sicily: Ortygia
The sculpted faces in the glass cases in the archeological museum in Siracusa are a parade of Athenas, Minervas, Madonnas – seamlessly slipping from Greek to Roman to early Christian. But a significant difference is the proud straight-on view of the Greek and Roman goddess morphing to the Read More
Rome: Nature and Nurture
Mass on Pentecost Sunday at the Pantheon ends with a shower of red rose petals fluttering down from the oculus, the open “eye” in the center of the massive dome, thrown by the basketful by intrepid firemen hanging from ropes. Seating for Mass is by reservation only and a huge Read More
Rome: Saints and Sinners
Is there a theme here? Rome — Corporate headquarters for Christianity Inc., RC. All things WILL pass. Whatever you are doing here — eating succulent lamb chops, poking through tiny, jewel-like shops, admiring the ochre and pink buildings, being wowed by marble choreography, deciphering frescoes, trying to figure out Read More
The September 11 Museum, NYC.
Architect Daniel Libeskind, praised for “his ability to weave memory into physical space (Jewish Museum, Berlin)” has created an underground memorial museum to the lives lost on 9/11 that takes up the entire footprint of the original north and south towers and the plaza between them, seven floors below ground. Read More
Egypt: Exodus
Did the Exodus happen? Ancient Egypt’s massive temple and tomb building projects required a huge number of people slaving in the heat, building for someone else’s afterlife. Were there ever Israelite slaves in Egypt? Did they escape Ramses II by the hundreds of thousands through the Sea of Reeds, Read More
Egypt: Is it Safe?
Is it safe? This is a question we were either asked or asked ourselves for weeks before we left. Actually, we were asked much more directly – are you nuts? Why are you going? My dear friend, Judy, who lived in Egypt off and on several years ago, was so Read More