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Jul182019 by jrcowlesNo Comments
Shhhh! … Don’t Tell Anybody … But Art Is Fun!!!!

Shhhh! … Don’t Tell Anybody … But Art Is Fun!!!!

"Life" Issues, affirmation/s, Art, Artistic Afternoons, awareness, Change, Christianity, Christianity/Catholicism, Classical / Baroque music, community, Creativity, culture, Discernment, Enlightenment, Fascism, humor, Ideology, jokes, Joy, Laughter, Play, postmodernism, praying with art, praying with music, Renewal, Secularity, Trump, Uncategorized
Would someone please answer the following question for me:  Why do Americans – actually, I think Westerners generally, but I will stick with Americans – believe art is something that must be approached so … well … seriously? With most art, most Americans seem to believe that, when looking at a painting or a piece of sculpture or seeing a play or listening to a piece of music, they are obligated, on pain of being branded as culture-phobic philistines, to wear a facial expression that announces to the world Pity me! I am dying of terminal hemorrhoids! Well, before anyone makes any cracks about that remark, I will back up a step or two and say that, yes, to be sure, some works of art are explicitly intended to evoke play, laughter, and light-hearted dalliance. A good example is
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Jul42019 by jrcowles7 Comments
Jesus, Jefferson, and Jingoism

Jesus, Jefferson, and Jingoism

"Life" Issues, community, conflict, conservatism, Consitution, critical judgment, culture, declaration of independence, Ethics, fourth of july, Religion, Spirituality, Tolerance
I am re-publishing this "Skeptic's" column today because, if anything, it is even more relevant today than when it first appeared. I am also re-publishing it because, when I originally published it, politics used to be ... you know ... both fun and funny. So for a few moments, we can share a trip down Memory Lane to a time of comparative innocence. Well, we are in that time of year again – July in general, and the Fourth in particular -- when we all make the obligatory pilgrimage to the First Church of American Exceptionalism, also known colloquially and variously as "the back yard" or "the deck" or "the patio", where we celebrate the Sacrament of Opportunistic Patriotism with beer instead of wine, with burgers instead of unleavened bread, on an outdoor barbecue grill instead of an alta
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