Elvis Ate America

"Overman would be proud," I mumbled to myself after hearing the second Elvis song in a row at 8:05 yesterday morning.
Yup, he would be ecstatic that if there was one thing carried over from my high school education, that I could recall Elvis Presley’s birthday with minimal prompting would be it. So I [...]

A Decade in the Making

Good 2010 to all of my fellow Hollow Souls.
I’ve been in a particularly reflective mood in this New Year, and I want to explore some of those reflective moments with the rest of you, if possible.  It’s been a decade since the calendar flipped over to the year 2000, a lot of fears never [...]

Jim and Marty Harris

I posted this on facebook, but thought I would add a little here as well. I heard Jim Harris on NPR and if you view the website, you get a little insight into his life and work – amazing. But you don’t get all the war facts he dropped during the interview. It was shocking, [...]

Resurection (not the title of my painting but of my blog entry).

This is from a series I am doing on animal/human territory collisions. Somewhat related to my painting Apex. This is a parking lot near the Eau Claire mall where I saw a fox darting between two SUVs that inspired this painting of a trio of foxes. There should be two more to come, but right [...]

Le Scaphandre et le papillon

 
Ned, thanks for telling me about your thoughts on Persepolis and Sweetland.  I had heard about Persepolis (and have been meaning to check out the graphic novel it’s based on), but hadn’t heard anything about Sweetland.  It’s amazing to me the sheer amount of great movies that fly under the radar nowadays.  Quantity of Hollywood [...]

Steven Pinker

Pinker has a quite good article in the NY Times.
There isn’t too much new there, but it offers a good overview of some of the ideas of Moral Psychology and relates them to issues of the environment at the end.
I’m glad that he brings up Peter Singer’s idea of the expanding circle of reciprocal trust [...]

A Book from 2007

I’m wondering why I am posting this, but for some reason feel compelled. Since I have been on the couch or in bed lately, I managed to read a bit.
I just finished The Dream Life of Shukhanov by Olga Grushin. It was a terribly engaging book that takes place in real time over three [...]

A Brief History of Violence

Thanks Ned for posting the Story of Stuff. I think that it is largely preaching to the choir (with emphasis on “preach”) on this blog but still it is good to know that there are people out there fighting the good fight. I’ve been thinking about these issues over the last few days. [...]

Thirty-Three

I have been contemplating this place and time in life–being 33. It is an interesting but hard to define stage. I have particularly been trying to explore the concept of the Jesus Year, as Jesus was supposedly 33 for the bulk of his ministry, betrayal, and death. The concept is that by the age of [...]

YouTube Friday — The Hollow Men

So here I am at the McPherson Public Library buzzing on coffee from the Main St. Deli.  Now seems like an appropriate time to post Marlon Brando reading “The Hollow Men.” Enjoy if you dare.

Another passing

I attended the funeral service yesterday for Bob Hapgood, Sr.  He was of course a neighbor of mine and the father to Tony and Bobby, childhood friends.
His death was sudden and unexpected, but the result ultimately of a food habit. Bob had heart surgery several years ago and had a recent heart attack. [...]

Poetry Post

It IS National Poetry Month, so I shouldn’t let it get away without a current Poetry Post. This one from fellow Kansan Albert Goldbarth, who teaches at Wichita State University and who is the only poet to have twice won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Poetry. This poem is from the “new” section [...]

Protected: Debt

There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.

It Is Easier to Conquer Than to Govern

 From the studio of Ned:

Click on the image above to enlarge.

Living It

I thought this was an interesting story and wanted to share.  Click on the photo above to read the article.