The boy calls me often this term; he wants to tell me all about the fun he’s having. He says he has to be humble with everyone else, and I’m the only person he can brag to, the one he can tell everything. His little girlfriend would be upset by some of it, and MrsContinue reading “Chapter 27: I’m Left, You’re Right, She’s Gone”
Category Archives: Aesthetics
Anna Boghiguian
Essay · Art & Lives The Nomad Who Carries History in a Suitcase Anna Boghiguian has no fixed address and no fixed medium. What she has, instead, is an inexhaustible appetite for the world’s buried histories — of trade, of empire, of displacement, of the bodies that paid the price for other people’s prosperity —Continue reading “Anna Boghiguian”
Chapter 26: That’s All Right
The boy is nervous as we drive to the studio. “Don’t be,” I tell him. “Remember, I’m here, and you were born for this.” “Thank you,” he says. “I don’t know. I just hope it’ll…” “Breathe in. Slowly. Then out.” I guide him through it. “Centre yourself. Find your core before you walk in. I’llContinue reading “Chapter 26: That’s All Right “
Fritz Wotruba
Essay · Art & Architecture The Man Who Built the Human Figure from Rubble Fritz Wotruba spent his life doing one thing: finding the body inside the block. That this task consumed him entirely, across five decades of exile, return, and monumental ambition, tells us something important about what sculpture is for — and aboutContinue reading “Fritz Wotruba”
Chapter 25: Life Could Be a Dream
I watch the boy, Scotty from Sun, and his bass player Bill run through every song the boy knows. Scotty’s wife is warm and sweet and keeps me company, but I can tell they aren’t exactly blown away by him. The boy doesn’t seem to mind. He’s off in his own little world today, notContinue reading “Chapter 25: Life Could Be a Dream “
Katharine Hepburn
Essay · Arts & Lives A House That Made Her Possible Katharine Hepburn did not invent herself. She was manufactured — lovingly, rigorously, sometimes mercilessly — by two of the most unusual parents that Progressive Era New England ever produced, and she spent the rest of her life living out the experiment they designed. ByContinue reading “Katharine Hepburn”
Chapter 24: A Fool Such As I
We are in the patio garden at Tilly’s parents’ house. I arrange to spend the summer in Newport with Cornelia. Her parents will be in Europe, so we’ll have the house to ourselves. She invites everyone to drop in whenever they want. Topper says he might come and see us, if I would like himContinue reading “Chapter 24: A Fool Such As I”
Chapter 23: I’ll Never Stand in Your Way
I am surprised when I receive a letter from Bryn Mawr, and it turns out I’ve done much better in my exams and essays than expected. I decide to give college a chance before I determine whether or not I want to drop out.I speak to Tilly, who, for once, is warm and generous withContinue reading “Chapter 23: I’ll Never Stand in Your Way “
Cher and the Art of Outlasting America
Cher has lasted so long, and in so many forms, that she can seem less like an entertainer than like a permanent feature of the culture itself. She belongs to that tiny class of figures who have ceased to be merely famous and become symbolic: instantly recognisable, endlessly referential, somehow both singular and omnipresent. Singer,Continue reading “Cher and the Art of Outlasting America”
Chapter 22: You May Go to College – You May Go to School
“We’ll come off too pedestrian if we stay in college housing,” Tilly informs me. “We’re adults. We need our freedom now.” I agree, if only to keep the peace. It’s the first term at Bryn Mawr, autumn after our debut into New York society, a debut none of us took seriously, which upset Tilly’s mother.Continue reading “Chapter 22: You May Go to College – You May Go to School “
My World of Interiors 