(Text by Swells, photos by ScottyGee) Dresden is known for its beautiful central theater complex, its devastation after the Allies firebombed it in WWII, and of course its central role in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five. It’s such a culty novel, at least for American college boys, that I assumed its iconic status would at least [...]
Archive for the ‘War’ category
Nice Day For A Drive(by)
It’s a rare day that it rains in Los Angeles, and a rarer one that Tim and I spend the afternoon together at home, not running errands or otherwise careening about. The rain had been coming down in sheets for a good part of the morning, and we were cosily tucked at our computers, working [...]
So this is Christmas
I’m sure you’re all well aware of the news: President Obama orders 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. It seems so clear to me that this is a case of a Democratic official buckling to the not-wanting-to-appear-weak-on-defense pressure, but I was hoping that you all could give me some other reason for Obama’s decision, so I [...]
Tomorrow’s nostalgia today: The Aughties
Quick, what comes to mind when you think about what’s happened in the world since 2000? We’re at the end of the first decade of the 21st century (okay, pedants, I know the new decade doesn’t technically start until 2011, but roll with me here), and the inevitable looking-back lists are starting to appear. One [...]
Warmest welcomes
You might have seen this when it went viral last week, but in case not, here’s the most incredibly touching welcome home I’ve ever seen: It turns out that there are a spate of such “welcome home” videos, showing soldiers returning from the Middle East to rapturous receptions from their kids… … and their dogs: [...]
Angel of the Waters
New York seems, to me, to differ from other major world cities in the recyclability (is that even a word?) of its symbols — especially its architecture and public art. To get what I mean, consider the Louvre by contrast. You experience it as an art museum, and yet if you’ve given your tour book [...]
With love on this special occasion
BTW, in addition to this triptych card I made for you, keep your eye out for the gift I ordered for you. Since it’s your “wood” anniversary, I got you this really cool “wazzUP?” woodcut. I hope you like it. Love, (and keep on KICKIN’ TERRORIST ASS!) Mr. S. Godfree
The white hats, part II
So the story goes that America is disinterested, often even benevolent, in its conduct of foreign affairs. We fought the Vietnam War to protect the South Vietnamese and the rest of Southeast Asia from Communism; same with the Korean War. World War II was “the Good War”; Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war on [...]
Just another manic Monday
Postscripts, follow-ups, and a few odds and ends I’ve wanted to share for a while: 1. Nostalgia or counternostalgia? The Jon Kessler Experience VBS.tv has a little four-part Art Talk! interview with a friend of mine, Jon Kessler, who set up studio space out in Williamsburg in 1980. He took an entire factory building for [...]
The white hats, part I
William F. Buckley, Jr. died last week at the age of 82. A central figure in the birth and rise to power of the postwar American conservative movement, Buckley was well known not just in political circles but in ordinary households across the country, where his syndicated column ran in the local paper and Firing [...]
