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Oct32019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Reason And Treason

activism, autonomy, awareness, betrayal, Challenge, Change, citizenship, civics, community, constitution, courage, Criminal Procedure, critical judgment, faithfulness, history, Impeachment, justice, law, political rhetoric, Politics, Presidency, Rationality, Secularity, Trump

I wish people, especially Bill Maher, with whom I completely agree on virtually all other issues, would stop playing fast and loose with the word “treason” when referring to Donald Trump. (Or course, Trump has been at least equally reckless. But I expect more of Maher.) Now, I have immensely greater respect and regard for the excrement I flush down my toilet every morning than I have for Donald Trump. (At least the former has served a useful and healthy purpose, which is considerably more than I can say of the latter.) So my purpose is not to defend Trump. My concern, rather, is to defend the Constitution, which I esteem as the civil / secular equivalent of Holy Writ. We should be meticulously careful about construing the words of the Constitution for the same reason that the Catholic

Aug292019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

Memorial, Marriage, And Memory

"Life" Issues, 14th Amendment, 5th Amendment, activism, anger, aros, Art, awareness, bible, bigotry, Challenge, Change, Christianity/Catholicism, citizenship, civics, community, Compassion, conflict, conservatism, constitution, courage, Creativity, critical judgment, culture, Discernment, empathy, Equality, Ethics, faithfulness, Freedom, GLBT, history, Hope, injustice, justice, Marriage Equality, praying with art, progressive politics, Religion, Secularity, sexual orientation, Sexuality, social justice, Tolerance, Uncategorized, Women

Every several years or so, perhaps every decade or so, a work of art captures my emotions and imagination, and sticks in my memory, even though it may be several years between viewings – assuming I ever see the original of the work at all. One such is Renoir’s Luncheon of the Boating Party; another is Rembrandt’s Slaughtered Ox; another, Picasso’s Guernica; still another, Edouard Manet’s The Old Musician. I have never seen the originals of the Rembrandt and the Picasso. I know them only from reproductions. But they haunt me. I recently discovered another such image while visiting the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC: Patricia Cronin’s Memorial to a Marriage (hereafter Memorial ). Memorial is a bronze sculpture, cast from a marble original, depicting two women lovers,

Jul182019 by jrcowlesNo Comments

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