mourningdove

Aikido and Rhetoric: The River

Do not failTo learn fromThe pure voice of anEver-flowing mountain streamSplashing over the rocks. Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace You can never step into the same river twice. Heraclitus, fragment 91 Water–flowing water, to be precise–is a key metaphor in the practice of both aikido and rhetoric. Sometimes it exemplifies a kind of “softContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: The River”

Field-Trip Fridays (actually Saturday and Sunday): Spreewald

My friend and colleague here Birgit had a delayed 50th-birthday celebration with a group of friends out in the Spreewald (delayed because she got omicron right before her birthday! She was boosted and thus had a typically mild infection, but of course she was terribly disappointed). The Spreewald is a marshy oak, alder, and birchContinue reading “Field-Trip Fridays (actually Saturday and Sunday): Spreewald”

German Word of the Week: Vokuhila

This one is hilarious, and it’s really more of an abbreviation than a word. It stands for “vorne, kurz; hinten, lang,” which describes a mullet. The funny part is I’ve been wondering for weeks what the German word for mullet was (why, you ask? Who knows? Some combination of discussing hockey with people and beingContinue reading “German Word of the Week: Vokuhila”

Berlin Philharmonic: Stravinsky & Bach (with extra-credit Handel)

Last night I went with a group of friends to hear the Berlin Philharmonic play some ballet pieces by Stravinsky and a Bach concerto for oboe d’amore (Baroque oboe). First of all, the Philharmonic hall is a wonder in and of itself. Designed by Hans Scharoun and built in 1963, the hall was a bitContinue reading “Berlin Philharmonic: Stravinsky & Bach (with extra-credit Handel)”

Living In…Spirited Away

My aesthetic has a definite bimodal distribution. On the one hand, I like really spare, open (but not necessarily minimalist) monochromatic spaces–which you can see in my Seoul Villa post. On the other hand, I’m irresistibly drawn to spaces and objects with a pronounced “more is more” aesthetic–dark, rich, ornate, with a lot of redsContinue reading “Living In…Spirited Away”

Letter of Recommendation: Rebecca Roanhorse

Rebecca Roanhorse is a fantasy writer who draws on her indigenous heritage and her experience living in the Navajo (Diné) Nation to create really unique speculative worlds. So far I’ve read two of her books: Trail of Lightning and Black Sun, and I recommend them both. Trail of Lightning takes place in a speculative post-apocalypticContinue reading “Letter of Recommendation: Rebecca Roanhorse”

Aikido and Rhetoric: Virtue

The Art of Peace is based on four great virtues: Bravery, Wisdom, Love, and Friendship, symbolized by Fire, Earth, Heaven, and Water. Morihei Ueshiba, The Art of Peace For the orator to produce conviction three qualities are necessary; for, independently of demonstrations, the things which induce belief are three in number. These qualities are goodContinue reading “Aikido and Rhetoric: Virtue”

Ceramics Saturdays: The Porcelain Cabinet at Charlottenburg

So, Edmund de Waal covers this history at length in White Road, but during the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, rich people collected Chinese and Japanese porcelain like crazy–like it was toilet paper during the pandemic; like there was a zombie apocalypse on, and the only things that could stop zombies were teacups. SoContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: The Porcelain Cabinet at Charlottenburg”

Field Trip Fridays: Charlottenburg

Not the most auspicious day to visit the sprawling Neoclassical Prussian castle and grounds, but it was still interesting, particularly the little exhibition of German Romanticist paintings in the New Pavilion. I’m sure Germans consider Caspar David Friedrich schlocky, but man, could he paint. And since my working definition of art is “Things I can’tContinue reading “Field Trip Fridays: Charlottenburg”

German Word of the Week: Glückspilz

A glückspilz is someone who’s happy-go-lucky: sort of a cross between the American expressions “Pollyanna” and “lucky devil.” It transliterates “happy/lucky mushroom” and is, in fact, the German name of the (poisonous!) flycap or fly agaric that Euro-American kids associate with fairytales and gnomes–the one with the red cap and white spots. As a metaphor,Continue reading “German Word of the Week: Glückspilz”