The Importance of Living by Lin Yutang
Tags/ Posted by Gretta BarclayAs I sat in the Coffee Club today, who should I see but Ernest Hemingway.continue reading this poem
If you believe Lin Yutang, author of The Importance of Living, man is a curious wayward dreamer who is furiously pursuing all the wrong things. Yutang has a very specific philosophy for living life which will bring genuine contentment, and he begins with the idea of detachment, which is similar to Buddhist philosophy.
Plato and a Platypus Walk into a Bar
Tags/ Posted by Gretta BarclayVan Helsing unfastened the coffin lid, peeled the crucifix from the bone-white brow.continue reading this poem
Being a Philosophy major in college, I never thought there was anything funny about the subject of Philosophy. Understanding metaphysics, logic, rationalism and existentialism etc. discussed by the super thinkers of the world like Aristotle, Plato, Marx, Sartre, and Kierkegaard seemed anything but humorous. Trying to grasp the perplexing questions of life like, “Why are we here?” and “What’s it all about, Alphie?” hardly seemed a subject for humor.
Book Reviews: The Gardner Heist and The Art Thief
Tags/ Posted by Gretta BarclayWe burst into vapors after walking the soaked trail.continue reading this poem
Until I read The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser, I did not know how easy it was to walk into a well known museum and simply lift rare and expensive art right off the walls. This is exactly what happened one early morning on March 18, 2009 in Boston, when two thieves entered the famous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and ripped off a Vermeer (only 35 left), three Rembrandts and five Degas, pulling off the biggest and most expensive heist in the world of art.
The Kindly Ones: The Anti-Hero is Us
Tags/ Posted by Lethe BasharSince I was young, I've been the youngest and worshipped Venus in the sacred and fragrant colonnades of even her humblest serving maidscontinue reading this poem
The real danger for mankind is me, is you. And if you’re not convinced of this, don’t bother to read any further. You’ll understand nothing and you’ll get angry, with little profit for you or me. (The Kindly Ones, Jonathan Littell)
As many of you know, my writings are preoccupied with the question of innocence. The question of innocence inevitably begs the question of guilt.
