Science

"It is a mistake to believe that a science consists in nothing but conclusively proved propositions, and it is unjust to demand that it should. It is a demand only made by those who feel a craving for authority in some form and need to replace the religious catechism by something else, even if it be a scientific one."

Sigmund Freud

Last Stop In The Alps

As World War II drew to a close, the SS were determined to use every means at their disposal to prevent the defeat of the NS regime. One such means was to take prominent concentration camp inmates hostage for use as pawns during negotiations with the Western Allies. By order from SS Obergruppenführer Dr. Ernst Kaltenbrunner the hostages – many of whom had been at the mercy of the SS for years – were collected from various concentration camps and brought together in the camp at Dachau for transfer to a destination further south. The group that arrived in Niederdorf in Hochpustertal Valley on April 28, 1945 in the company of a heavily armed SS guard detail numbered 139 in total and included citizens of 17 European countries. They were liberated two days later by German Army troops (!) and taken to Hotel “Pragser Wildsee,” where their odyssey halfway through Europe ended. A few surving prisoners of those days still meet once a year at the same Hotel.

Not For An Ass

An Ass having heard some Grasshoppers chirping, was highly enchanted; and, desiring to possess the same charms of melody, demanded what sort of food they lived on to give them such beautiful voices. They replied, "The dew." The Ass resolved that he would live only upon dew, and in a short time died of hunger.

Aesop

The Philosophy Of Magic

We all know that illusionists like David Copperfield or Siegfried and Roy are deft entertainers. They perform stunning tricks, but not for one moment do we believe they have supernatural powers. We just love to see them because they demonstrate that things are not always what they seem. Therein lies their philosophy.

Shakespeare

We know comparatively little about what Shakespeare's audience actually saw and heard, a gap in our knowledge that offers both advantages and dangers: Actors and directors need to mine the published texts for clues, but also get an enhanced permission to make free with them. The authentic tradition disappeared when England fell into civil war; attempts to recapture it amount to educated guesswork. There are very few points about which one can say with certainty how Shakespeare's company staged a given moment or what shadings they read into a particular speech. The plays' greatness makes the challenge to solve their mysteries that much more exciting. Every performance of Shakespeare is an adventure that may supply some startling revelation. The picture shows Lily Rabe and Al Pacino in this summer's New York Shakespeare Festival in Central Park production of The Merchant Of Venice.

Unrest

"People wish to be settled. Only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them."

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Brierfield

The slave who rowed Jefferson Davis from his farm Brierfield near Vicksburg to the Mississippi steamboat that took him to Richmond where he would be the Confederate President was Ben Montgomery. The same Ben Montgomery would wind up owning Brierfield plantation after the American civil war.

Twain Upset

According to the New York Times, the University of California Press will publish soon the uncensored “Autobiography of Mark Twain”. Its content will make it clear that Twain’s opposition to incipient imperialism and American military intervention ran very deep. Obviously the book includes remarks that, if made today in the context of Iraq or Afghanistan, would probably lead the right wing to question the patriotism of this most American of American writers. For example, in writing about an attack on a tribal group in the Philippines, Twain refers to American troops as “our uniformed assassins” and describes their killing of “six hundred helpless and weaponless savages” as “a long and happy picnic with nothing to do but sit in comfort and fire the Golden Rule into those people down there and imagine letters to write home to the admiring families, and pile glory upon glory.”

Storyteller's Credo

"Every man is more than just himself; he also represents the very special and always significant and remarkable point at which the world's phenomena intersect, only once in this way and never again. That is why every man's story is important, eternal, sacred."

Hermann Hesse

Technique and Creativity

Leonardo da Vinci was obsessively secretive about his techniques for mixing paints. Of course no formula for pigment or mineral spirits would allow anyone to paint like da Vinci. We tend to regard such protectiveness silly until we realize that we're acting in no way smarter. Most people put more trust in their techniques than in their creative powers. I do confess to be one of them.