One of the great joys of traveling to places that we visit to see other things is learning about their other histories, those that we are not necessarily there to see. I am in Salem, Mass. to learn about witches…
I first meet Gertrude Stein during my Pablo Picasso phase, and my Hemingway phase, and my F. Scott Fitzgerald phase and then I come across her in Bryant Park in New York and I see her resting at Père-Lachaise in…
The Brawny Sherpa and I are fortunate to be introduced to Iceland at a new exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, N.Y. Over watermelon and vodka cocktails, we become acquainted with Icelandic art—dark, bright, volcanic, a little…
On view at the Katonah Museum of Art is John Ruppert’s Yellow Orb/Homage to Van Gogh (2014). Some of us see less Van Gogh and more of a giant citronella candle. No matter your interpretation, it’s worth visiting! —Lori Tripoli…
During my nonblogging hours, I spend a fair amount of time thinking about what educators intend to teach students and whether and to what extent students are actually learning what their instructors intend. I can’t help but wonder whether I’ve…
Forget bikini ready; right now, I am training to be adventure ready. I am contemplating a hiking vacation in a desert in a very hot place, so I practice by going running in very humid New York. Where in more…
In my on-again, off-again love affair with my Kindle (love the convenience, miss the smell of paper), I splurge and buy a digital copy of The Last Full Service Crocodile Ranch in Quintana Roo (2012) by Richard Hofheimer. It’s an…
I expect coldness at Dia: Beacon, all angles, no softness. There will be no pastel ballerinas guarded on the walls in this former factory space in Beacon, N.Y. Entering, I wonder what Dia stands for. Is it an acronym? Does…
My little habit of appreciating a Bloody Mary sometime during any given Sunday probably started years ago at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, N.Y., back when drinking at age 18 was still legal and Sundays weren’t ruined by multitasking or…
Wouldn’t it be great to listen to what an ATM gets to hear on any given day? There’s an entire arch of a story line, starting with “Do you suppose this is safe?” to “Does it give out dollars or…