Book review: Michael Cohen's 'Disloyal' is must-read

Dear Michael Cohen,

I waited weeks to get your book on the reserve list at the public library and told everyone  when I got in the middle of it, that it's a "must."  I have bought two copies for Christmas gifts, one for my Trumper son, a new attorney, so he can see how you developed and used your lawyerly skills, and the other for my pal, Kim.

At the end just now, all I could say was "WOW." Right on, bro'!  I hope you earn billions from sales.

Whether or not you like Mr. Cohen for ratting on his Boss Man, this is must reading (for the hardcore).

Although no collaborator is mentioned for the book, I suspect one existed  since Disloyal  is exceedingly well assembled and flows mightily down the Trump sewage tank, telling all, an insight into Trump World which pretty well matches the sense we've gained from four years of watching what is perceived as White House chaos and confirmed to be just that by Mr. Cohen.

Disloyal, A Memoir, is a page-turner, all right.

That Ted Cruz can even stand to speak to Trump or be near him after the merciless attack Trump and Team made on Mr. Cruz's father, is shocking. It all began with National Enquirer's David Pecker's assertion that a man photographed with Lee Harvey Oswald bore a resemblance to Mr. Cruz's father and away the conspirators flew.  (Mr. Cruz was a preacher who got under the Trump team's skin.)  Beyond the Enquirer, the story failed to launch until Trump ignited it on, where else? Fox.

Or, the Trumps' creation of birtherism is disgusting, pure and simple, all lies, fitting for this administration, but how it "birthed" the slander is astonishing.

Mr. Cohen says the media elected Trump in 2016 with free press every time Trump did anything remotely outrageous which, as we know, occurs daily.  Often, more than once.

Melania knows her husband is a cheater but Trump tells Mr. Cohen, "I can always get another wife."  

That Michael Cohen's beloved family has held firm to their husband and father in the wake of all the Trump cheats and lies is testimony to a family's endurance and will to combat Evil.

Mr. Cohen lays it all out and takes no pride in his fall to hell where he says the Trump cult resides, in adoration of the master, unable to stop gulping Trump's Kool-Aid.  Mr. Cohen accurately predicted Trump would never leave office willingly or with any traditional grace which cannot be a surprise to anyone.

BTW, I read most of Brian Stelter's Hoax, but more than halfway through, I asked myself:  "Why do you care about Fox?" and ended it right then and there.  Too many anonymous quotes are found herein, but I love Mr.  Stelter's Sunday show, Reliable Sources, and would not miss it. I wonder why CNN didn't use him on E-night.

Next up: Bob Woodward's Rage 

Patricialesli@gmail.com

Alexandria's 'Will Rogers' is a cure for what ails us

Will Rogers by Underwood & Underwood/Library of Congress, Wikipedia


But "his" last performance on Nov. 22 is sold out. 

Otherwise, it's a pleasant break from the worries of the day to escape to yesteryear and Will Rogers (1879-1935) whose homespun brand of humor delighted audiences worldwide, and they still do at the Little Theatre of Alexandria where Rob Cork plays the essayist, actor, and man of extraordinary talents.

It's the right kind of uplift we need right now. 

Mr. Rogers was an Oklahoman known for his western-style philosophy which rang true then, which rings true now. He was born a Cherokee Indian in the Cherokee Nation and as a youngster, says Wikipedia, loved reading the New York Times, although he dropped out of school after the 10th grade.

Mr. Rogers found his way to Argentina and South Africa where he was a ranch hand and began his show business career as a trick roper on a pony. He spent hours watching his mentor, "Texas Jack," and "from him I learned the great secret of the show business—knowing when to get off. It's the fellow who knows when to quit that the audience wants more of."

After ranching in faraway place, it was on to Australia, the World's Fair in St. Louis, and then, the mother of them all, New York, Hollywood, films, a newspaper column, radio, and advocacy for the aviation industry until a plane crash in Alaska. 

His life ended there but not his legacy which lives on in Alexandria, enlivened by Mr. Cork, who reflects Mr. Rogers's persona in a captivating manner.

Under direction by Frank D. Shutts, "Will" brings his soft humor and remembrances of stable times in unstable times with his witticisms. He moves back and forth across the stage, waving his hands, changing his attire to keep the audience engaged visually, too.

Rogers's actual words comprise the script some of which is below:

I never met a man I didn't like.

Never let yesterday use up too much of today.

Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment.

Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.

I belong to no organized party. I am a Democrat.

I don't make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.

All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance.

Live in such a way that you would not be ashamed to sell your parrot to the town gossip.

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

.Everything is funny, as long as it's happening to somebody else.

Last year we said, 'Things can't go on like this', and they didn't, they got worse.


Worrying is like paying on a debt that may never come due.


The best way out of a difficulty is through it.

Will Rogers is the right kind of person to be around today... and every day. 

Applause to the theatre and its continuing quest to produce "small theatre for unusual times" for theatre lovers who welcome actors on stage, any actor, any play will do, thank you, LTA!

The theatre is strict about practicing safety measures in this time of covid and only seats 25 percent of its capacity. Tickets were free, and donations are welcome.

Other members of the Will Rogers production team are Russell Wyland, producer and rigging; Marg Soroos, state manager; Jeffrey Auerbach and Kimberly Crago, lighting; Alan Wray, sound; Ken Brown and Jim Hutzler, construction; Myke Taister, set design; Helen Bard-Sabola and Bobbie Herbst, props; Kit Sibley and Jean Schlichting, costumes.

What: Will Rogers' U.S.A.

When: The last show on Sunday, Nov. 22, 3 p.m.  is sold out.

Where: Little Theatre of Alexandria, 600 Wolfe Street, Alexandria, VA 22314

Duration: 45 minutes; no intermission

Tickets: Free! Donations, welcome!

Public transportation: Check the Metro website.

Parking: On the streets and in many garages nearby with free parking at the Capital One Bank at Wilkes and Washington streets (when the bank is closed).

For more information: Box Office: 703-683-0496; Business: 703-683-5778. Asklta@thelittletheatre.com

Next up: Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol told by actors, virtual reality, and animation, Dec. 4 - 19, 2020. Tickets start at $20.

patricialesli@gmail.com

The day after in Washington, D.C.

A proud moment in front of St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Nov. 8, 2020, Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, where St. John's Episcopal Church stands at the center of it all. boarded up and the building closed but the church conducts on-site services in Virginia and the District and offers online programs and classes/Patricia Leslie

At the corner of H and 16th streets, NW at St. John's Episcopal Church,
Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

The side entrance of St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020, on H Street NW. The Smithsonian Institution has requested the painted windows, all made by black artists, when they come down and the church building re-opens/Patricia Leslie

The sign says: "IT'S TIME TO THROW OUT THE GARBAGE - DUMP TRUMP - SWEEP HIM OUT,"  Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Making street signs in the street at Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

Is it just me that many of Trump's while male supporters all look like Harley-Davidson riders? There was one at Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020, under no threat by anyone/Patricia Leslie

The rare Trump supporter who drew barely any notice at Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

There was dancin' in the street at Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

At St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, where the middle sign reads: AZ+ NV+ GA+ PA+ = DEMOCRACY. The sign on the far right reads: We (heart) Math! 74,811,378 - 70,554,537 = WE WON, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

This sign on the fence on H Street, NW says:  THANKS TRUMP - YOU MADE ME INTO AN ACTIVIST across the H Street NW entrance at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

The Washington Monument in the distance from Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

The sign on the fence surrounding Lafayette Park on H Street, NW says:  i WANT YOU TO PROTECT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY FROM AN UNCONSTITUTIONAL TRUMP COUP D'ETAT! Lafayette Square, Black Lives Matter Plaza, Nov. 8, 2020/Patricia Leslie

The White House fortress erected by the National Park Service upon the direction of the Secret Service (and costing U.S. taxpayers, $?) at the intersection of 15th Street, NW, and Pennsylvania Avenue where President Bill Clinton played Sunday street hockey with regulars, now blocked to keep citizens out/Patricia Leslie

patricialesli@gmail.com

 

Feminine dissidents in Russia

  

Pussy Riot, Feb. 14, 2012/By Denis Bochkarev, Creative Commons, Wikipedia

Russia has many feminist groups, but it has not been easy for them to connect or learn about the existence of similar organizations since communication isn't the greatest.

Thanks to samizdat and other means, though, that is changing.

This was the account by Ella Rossman and Dimitry Kozlov, both from Moscow's Higher School of Economics where Ms. Rossman is an historian and research assistant at the International Centre for the History and Sociology of World War II, and Mr. Kozlov is a research fellow at the Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities. 

With Valerie Sperling, political science professor from Clark University, they spoke and answered questions at a webcast titled Feminism in Russia: From Soviet Samizdat to Online Activism.

The Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars was the host with the Institute's Izabella Tabarovsky moderating.

Dr. Kozlov presented a brief history of samizdat, an underground system of communication which publishes and distributes by hand content free of the censor's pen. The purpose is to the plight of women in Russia, including inequalities they endure and assaults at home. 

Covid's rampage has alarmed authorities who worry the disease is causing an uptick in domestic violence. Many women are stuck at home with abusive husbands who are irritable from job loss and lack of work. 

The U.S. treats domestic violence more seriously than Russia where the crime dates back hundreds of years. In the 16th century, German Ambassador to Russia Baron Sigismund von Herberstein reported a man who beat his wife constantly (at her invitation) until the man finally beheaded her. He was not charged with any crime.*

Dr. Sperling, the author of Sex, Politics, and Putin: Political Legitimacy in Russia, briefly outlined the rise of the Russian feminist movement and its values which are perceived as threats to men.

"Feminism is dangerous precisely because it explicitly reveals and questions that patriarchal hierarchy where masculinity is valued over femininity.”

She continued: There is a need for action to protect women and to allow them voices in today's society. Religion is the natural enemy of all feminist values because they conflict with tradition.

Indeed, Yelena Mizulina, longtime member of the Russian Parliament, believes women should stay home, give birth,  raise children, and avoid the practice of science.

A major difficulty in the march towards freedom, acceptability, and equal rights in Russia has been myriad women's groups which, until more recently, were unaware of similarly likeminded gatherings, said Ms. Rossman. More than 300 events were produced by women in Russia last year.

She reported that between 30 to 40 feminist groups existed in Moscow in 2019 with many more found throughout the nation. Five years ago, feminist art galleries were "booming" in St. Peterburg.

Dr. Sperling described a 2015 account of a jailed rapist who received a prize from an art gallery which provoked a rebuttal prize from a woman's group to the gallery for its "amorality."

In 2014 a feminist group began giving awards to the biggest sexists of the year including one to a Russian leader who boasted that "when we take over America" (which Dr. Sperling noted didn't seem as strange now as it did then), anyone can punch anyone in the face in the U.S. whenever he hears the word "sexist."

Supporters attending a 2015 labor rally for women were sprayed with urine.

Trying to stop the feminist movement is like trying to hold back ocean waves. The movement grows, although at a much slower pace than many would like.

The webinar was spoken in Russian and English with translations available.

The Kennan introduction described the program:

Forty years ago, the Soviet Union expelled females dissidents for pubishing a samizdat journal where contributors considered pressures on women, the double standard in the nation and unequal treatment they received in the "supposedly egalitan society." Since then, many new groups of female activists have emerged in Russia demanding equality and recognition.

*Notes Upon Russia, A Translation of that Earliest Account Of That Country translated to English by R.H. Major of the British Museum and the Hakluyt Society by Baron Sigismund von Herberstein, Ambassador from the Court of Germany to the Grand Prince Vasiley Ivanovich in the Years 1517 and 1526

patricialesli@gmail.com

'Boom!' Charlie Cook predicts a Biden win

Charlie Cook

Folks, the 2016 pollsters weren't all that off-key, said Charlie Cook on Sunday at a Zoom gathering of the Adult Forum at St. John's Episcopal Church-Lafayette Square. (Yes, the same church where Trump thumped or thumbed or trummed or trumped the Bible or whatever he did to it upside down on June 1.) 

What the pollsters missed in 2016 was the Electoral College count, but there's no mistaking that Joe Biden is a lot more likeable than Hillary Clinton was, and voters this year are weary of Donald Trump, evidenced by his falling poll numbers which match his falling fundraising numbers, covid and the first debate and "boom!"  

Trump is done and fried.  

All his lies before the first debate and his performance that night turned off the few remaining undecided voters, said Mr. Cook.

After the first debate, the fence sitters "turned down the volume" and "boom! I don't think they are hearing a word he's saying now," Mr. Cook said. 

It's a "totally different dynamic" this year compared to 2016.  What we have now is "an up or down vote on the incumbent," absent in 2016 which saw a late breaking vote for Trump. His unfavorable ratings then were matched by Hillary's, both candidates' ratings, "way upside down."  

Many voters didn't much like either person.

This year Joe Biden has positive ratings which exceed his negatives, while the opposite has always plagued Trump who has a 20% chance of winning the Electoral College.

Mr. Cook quoted a portion of the "unknowns" statement by Donald Rumsfeld (the second most remembered thing about him):

As we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns—the ones we don’t know we don’t know.

Biden has a 40% percent chance of a "skinny win" and a 40% chance of a "big win" if he wins five or six of the "big 6" (Arizona, Florida, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and North Carolina) and a big get if he wins Ohio, Georgia, Iowa, or Texas.

Trump must win Texas, Florida, North Carolina, and Georgia to stay in office.

This year's turnout is "huge;" it's not "a close race," but whether the early voters are new voters or ones who would have voted anyway is not known...yet.

2020 may become a "wave" election, like those in 1964 and 1980, Mr. Cook said.

The 2016 pollsters may have leaned too heavily on the college-educated without adequate attention to the non-college-educated, Mr. Cook said, skewing the numbers, but pollsters have pretty well learned their lesson, and that is not happening this year.

One of Hillary's errors in 2016 was using the word "deplorables" which "cost her a half million to a million votes." 

Another "big mistake" she made was going to Arizona at the expense of Michigan and Wisconsin which she did not visit between Labor Day and Election Day.  (Hillary "has accumulated a lot of baggage over the years.")

She lost those states and, in case anyone has been napping four years, the election.

Mr. Cook quoted the Gallup Poll: Trump's first year in office earned him the lowest post-World War II job approval rating ever recorded for any president (by 10+ points! 38%) and his second year (40%), was the second lowest post-World War II rating.  (Jimmy Carter's third year in office takes that prize.) 

Trump's job current job approval average is 43% with an average over his term of 41%. He has hit as high as 49%, but his solid base of favorability by 40-42% of Americans will support him no matter what.  

History shows his present job approval rating is not enough to win a second term.

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Photo by Patricia Leslie

From St. John's:

 "Charlie Cook, Editor and Publisher of The Cook Political Report, political analyst for the National Journal Group, and a political analyst for NBC News. Founded in 1984, New York Times once described The Cook Political Report as, 'a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative' while CBS News’ Bob Schieffer called it, 'the bible of the political community.' Mr. Cook has appeared on numerous news shows and has served over the years as an Election Night analyst; since 1996, he has been part of the NBC News Election Night Decision Desk."

St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, Washington, D.C. Photo by Patricia Leslie 

Charlie Cook is one benefit of belonging to St. John's. Another one is a nice respite from the election this coming Sunday when CNN "royal commentator," Victoria Arbiter, will speak on The Windsors: A Chat about the British Royal Family.

Writer's note to the Cook Political Report:  You are wrong labeling Virginia as "likely Democrat" in the "2020 Electoral College Ratings." We are SOLID Democrat as evidenced by the 44 point spread Biden has over Trump in Fairfax County. Whither goest, thou, Fairfax County, there follows the Commonwealth of Virginia.

patricialesli@gmail.com

Ancient Egypt rests in Richmond

Bust of Neilos, God of the Nile, ca. AD 100-200. Neilos was the "divine personification" of the River Nile in ancient Greece and Rome, according to the label copy. This sculpture was found in the submerged city of Canopus. The Nile is vital to Egypt's welbeing, then and now/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Osiris, 664-610 BC.  Here he wears the "white crown" of Upper Egypt, with a rearing cobra. Considered to be a god of the afterlife and "Lord of Life," he has a curved beard, a sign of divinity. The white dots are reflected lights/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/Photo by Patricia Leslie

At the entrance to the exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Near the entrance of the exhibition is this statue of a Ptolemaic queen dressed as the goddess, Isis, whose styles and imagery reflect Egyptian and Greek influences, 2nd century BC/National Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a woman, possibly Princess Berenike, II, c. 300-200 BC. She was the daughter of Pharaoh Ptolemy III who died young and was deified. Found underwater at Canopus where she was honored at the temple alongside Osiris. The white lines in the photograph are reflections of lights/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries atTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

We three kings and pharaohs... were found at Canopus/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Perhaps this is Emperor Hadrian (who just spied Cleopatra) and ruled Rome from AD 117-138 or perhaps he is a citizen who looked like Hadrian.  This bust was found on the banks of the Nile where stones were quarried for Hadrian's building projects in Italy.  In AD 130 Hadrian visited Egypt where his lover, Antinous, drowned. He doesn't blink, then or now/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Temple Stele, c. 664-332, BC, limestone/
Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries of Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Arsinoe II, c. 300-200 BC, an excellent example of Greco-Egyptian art/Bibliotheca Alexandrina Antiquities Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The photograph by Christoph Gerigk of Arsinoe II being raised from discovery at Aboukir Bay in the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria

This is Horus protecting the pharaoh (between its talons), c. 350 BC. The Egyptians believed that every pharaoh was a reincarnation of Horus, the son of Osiris and Iris/Egyptian Museum, Cairo. 

In front of Horus is the smaller bronze statuette of a pharaoh c. 664-380 BC/Maritime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Statue of Tawaret, 664-610 BC. Tawaret was the "Great One" whose scary looks help protect mothers and infants. She has the head and body of a hippopotamus, the limbs of a lion and the tale of a crocodile/Egyptian Museum, Cairo/ Photo by Patricia Leslie

 In the galleries ofTreasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Head of a priest, c. 332-330 BC. Found in an Alexandria harbor with features likely obliterated by hundreds of years spent under the sea. His bald head identifies him as a priest. If he were a little bit younger, I'd swear he was an old boyfriend/Martime Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Apis Bull, AD 117-138, The cult of the sacred bull probably rose in the city of Memphis where Alexander the Great offered sacrifices to Apis, but this statue was found at a temple in Alexandria/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

Goblet, c. 1 - 200 CE, gilded silver/Greco-Roman Museum, Alexandria/Photo by Patricia Leslie

In the galleries at Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

It's only a three-hour drive* from D.C. to Richmond where you can see the notable Robert E. Lee Monument (if it's still standing; please see photos below) on Monument Avenue, and just a mile away, the fascinating "underwater" exhibition, Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities at the beautiful Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

The Ptolemaic Egyptian exhibition is the East Coast premiere (and the last stop before returning home) of the presentation, spread over several large galleries and designed to make visitors experience the sensation of being underwater as they descend the stairway to the museum's lower level and enter the show. (Elevators are available.)

Scientists, archaeologists, researchers, and Egyptologists from the European Institute of Underwater Archaeology spent more than a decade recovering and studying the artifacts, almost 300 which are displayed; some, from Egyptian institutions.

The IEASM, headed by Franck Goddio, its founder, subscribes to the standards of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage. In its arsenal of treasured discoveries, Mr. Goddio has recovered about a dozen historic ships, some lying on the sea floor for hundreds of years, including Napoleon Bonaparte's Orient.

Researchers believe a natural event such an an earthquake, tsunami, or other cataclysmic force "sunk" the two ancient cities featured in Richmond: Canopus (which Herodotus called an ancient port) and Thonis-Heracleion (their Greek and Egyptian names are combined). Both places prospered in trade in and around Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean Sea, and on the western edge of the Nile delta not far from Alexandria's center where 60 shipwrecks are recorded.

Research and excavated coins from the second century BC tell the story of Canopus whose buildings collapsed, and the city disappeared from view. A British air officer spotted the ruins from a plane in 1933, according to Wikipedia. 

The exhibition was curated by Mr. Goddio and organized by VFMA's Peter Schertz. Dominion Energy is the chief sponsor.

Who's not to be fascinated by Egypt? Curiosities of young and old alike never wane when it comes to the Land of the Nile, pharaohs, pyramids, cobras, and strange (at least, to Westerners) practices. It's a magical and alluring ancient civilization one thousand years old whose busts, statues, gods and goddesses, travelers can see nearby at little cost. 

It's a large show, beautifully designed to welcome visitors to "somewhere beneath the sea" to visit galleries on timed entrances which allow plenty of "elbow room" to see and practice social distancing.  

Make sure to get tickets before you go. The show was sold out the weekend I visited, and as time grows closer to the closing date on January 18, 2021, I do imagine the crowds will grow. Maps and an audioguide make the visit more rewarding.

Remember your mask! And, practice social distancing.


* I refuse to drive the crowded, the ugly I-95, and I take instead the beautiful two-lane highway 522 south from Culpeper to I-64 or turn off 522 and pick up Route 33 at Cuckoo, that's right, (my preferred route) into Richmond. The time from here to there is about the same as on I-95, but you "keep on truckin,'" as they say, without 95's "stop and go," but please, keep my secret highway "secret," or it won't be a secret. Thank you.

What: Treasures of Ancient Egypt: Sunken Cities

When: Now through Jan. 18, 2021; open seven days a week, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Wednesday through Friday nights, until 9 p.m.

Where: Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

How much: Free general admission to the Museum. but a fee  for the exhibition, students (over age 7), $10 ; seniors over age 65, $16; adults, $20. Free for members, children age 6 and under, state employees, teachers, active-duty military members and their families.

Free virtual lectures:

Sun, Oct 25 | 2:30–3:30 pm
Re-Membering Osiris: Overcoming Death in Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Robert Ritner, Professor of Egyptology at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago who will examine the underlying mythology, symbolism, and festival rituals for Osiris, the Egyptian god of the dead, focusing on the rites of reanimation celebrated at the now sunken city of Canopus on the Mediterranean coast.

Sun, Nov 15 | 2:30–3:30 pm
The Maritime History & Archaeology of Ancient Egypt
with Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, Archaeologist and Director of the American Center of Oriental Research who will provide a brief history and review of the field of study, discussing topics as diverse as early dynastic (ca. 3000 BC) boat burials found on land at Abydos, Ramesside (ca. 1200 BC) tax levies on imported ship cargoes, and underwater excavations of the Ptolemaic (ca. 300 BC) harbor at Alexandria and identifies possible avenues for future work.

Fri, Dec 11 | 6:30–7:30 pm
The Art of Object Conservation with Elsa Sanguoard, Senior Conservator, USS Monitor Center, Newport News, VA, in conversation with Ainslie Harrison, Associate Objects Conservator, VMFA, moderated by Dr. Peter Schertz, Jack and Mary Ann Frable Curator of Ancient Art, VMFA Join experts in the field of conservation for a discussion about the different techniques and strategies needed to stabilize objects for display.

Thu, Jan 14 | 6:30–7:30 pm
Cleopatra’s World: Greeks, Egyptians and the Fusion of Culture
with Dr. Jeremy McInerny, Professor of Classical Studies, UPENN who will examine how Egyptians and Greeks dealt with each other, how Egyptian culture changed as a result of the occupation by Greeks and how Greek culture was transformed as well.

Parking: The onsite parking deck is free to members and $6 for others. There are some free handicapped spaces.

For more information: 804-340-1400

 

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The Robert E. Lee Monument, Richmond, Aug. 15, 2020/Photo by Patricia Leslie

The base of the Robert E. Lee Monument, Aug. 15, 2020, Richmond/Photo by Patricia Leslie


patricialesli@gmail.com

The Wall Street Journal and "anthropomorphism"

Albrecht Altdorfer, Landscape with a Spruce  which may be confused with Landscape with Woodcutter, c. 1522/Kupferstichkabinett Berlin/Wikipedia Commons

Anthropomorphism is unusual enough to find the word in a newspaper, let alone two different articles covering the entirety of a single page. Both articles in the Journal's weekend edition, Sept. 19-20, 2020, about works by German artists, their lives separated by centuries.  

The word leaped from the Journal's page to me who did not know the meaning, but, ask me now! 

To those unlearneds, "anthropomorphism" is "having human characteristics" (like Trump).  

One article, "Rediscovering a Renaissance Man" by J.S. Marcus, is about the Louvre's new exhibition on works by Albrecht Altdorfer (c.1480-1538), who was forgotten for several hundred years until "rediscovered by 19th-century German art historians," and used in the next century by a different group of finders, the Nazis. They thought Mr. Altdorfer was a "folk artist" and used his art to convey their message. Current experts say they got it all wrong.

Mr. Altdorfer is generally considered one of the founders of the movement which came to be known as the Danube School. 

The Louvre's Altdorfer exhibition was delayed from April and set to begin October 1, according to WSJ (whoops!  This just in:  Delayed until Jan. 4 , 2021 !), with  191 works or "more than a third of his surviving oeuvre."  

(If only the French would let us back in! With the show's delay, maybe you can gain entry before it closes whenever that might be.. The National Gallery of Art in Washington has 167 Altdorfers in its collection, 

Who is WSJ writing for, anyway? Is Trump going to arm wrestle his good friends, President Macron and his wife, into opening the gates to France so Trump can toot the French horn? I imagine that in the time it's taken me to learn how to spell "anthropomorphism." Trump has probably written a symphony which will likely not impress his pals, the Proud Boys. What are they proud of anyway? Tatoos? Motorcycles? Looking like every other Harley-Davidson rider? You see what art can do!)

It's easy to see anthropomorphism in Mr. Altdorfer's Landscape With Spruce Tree, pictured in the Journal. The long, tall tree becomes long, tall Sally with stringy hair, sinewy arms, maybe wearing an apron and carrying a birdhouse purse. (The next time you're at the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden, check out Roxy Paine's Graft for anthropomorphic examples.)

Eva Hesse, Repetition Nineteen III (1968)/The Estate of Eva Hesse. Hauser & Wirth/The Museum of Modern Art/Art Resource

Next up, the second WSJ article, "Making the Most of Minimalism" by Helen A. Cooper, about a "masterpiece," Repetition Nineteen III (1968) by German-American Eva Hesse (1936-1970).  It's a sculpture which looks like an enlargement (ahim, sick, sic) on orange hardwood of half cigarettes, some leaning left or bent; maybe dented in their centers, reminiscent of those candles you see (or saw) lighted on sidewalks at Christmas parties. 

The Museum of Modern Art just moved Repetition Nineteen from public view. Thanks, MOMA!  (Prithee, why run an article about this now which it leaves the stage? None of the National Gallery's six Hesses are on view either.) 

An article subtitle calls Nineteen a celebration of "humor, eroticism and discovery," The only anthropomorphism  I see are 19 male examples.  What do you think?

Ms. Hesse's family also had a connection to the Nazis., forced to flee Germany to save their lives. They made it to the Netherlands, and then to England before settling in  the U.S. in the late 1930s.  

At age 34, Ms. Hesse died of a brain tumor.

If you are still reading, I hope you have added a new word to your vocabulary, or maybe you knew it already. Can you spell it?  No peeking!

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