Beth's Everything Blog

There is a new book I simply have to own. It is written by Robert Hughes, an art critic who uses words so magnificently and so wittily that he is famous for his long career of passionate opinions. The new book is entitled ROME-A Cultural, Visual, and Personal History. Hughes is not the stuff of classical art history scholars, but he is capable of prodigious energies and enthusiasms and he is a past master of the well turned phrase. He is not only eloquent; he is also courageous and forthright in his opinions. And so this essay must of necessity take direct quotes of Hughes’ personal history writing in order to give full meaning to the excitement I feel as I turn the pages.

Robert Studley Forrest Hughes was born, raised and educated in Australia. Law was the family business through three generations but it did not excite him. He has been described as knowledgeable, sensible, passionate, lucid, unpretentious and most importantly, witty. He concentrated on the visual arts and architecture. His books on Barcelona and Goya as well as on Australia have delighted his audience . He has been the art critic for TIME as well as a documentary film maker and he has lived in the USA for most of his adult life.

What astounds many of his critics is that he finds new observations to make about Rome, a city that has been observed, discussed, praised, and vilified for over 2000 years. The reader sits and nods in recognition of the validity of his complaints about Rome’s traffic or the thousands of tourists pouring into and out of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. He cites Caravaggio’s portrayal of beautiful young Italian boys and describes them with “hair like black ice cream”. Another entry about the Cathars, a heretical sect in southern France whose members were massacred in the Albigensian Crusade, is commented upon thus, “One might have thought that such mild people presented about as much threat to society as a gaggle of vegans–whose spiritual ancestors, in a sense, they were.” There is a description of a mural depicting gory martyrdom as “a kind of Sistine Chapel for sentimental sadists.” Hughes even has a snide understatement about the cruelty of Nero toward the citizens of Rome and even his own family, “Even without the accusations of arson, Nero’s treatment of others, including his own family, was to, put it mildly, defective.”

This is a complicated narrative of the mythological founding of Rome which Hughes takes the reader through and it explains the rise and fall of Rome as well as well as shepherding the reader throgh the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Baroque. Particularly fascinating is the passage on Bernini’s Baroque Apollo and Daphne. Apollo, the god of light and unmarried men, is desirous of a carnal relationship with Daphne, a chaste nymph. In the tempestuous battle between chastity and sexual desire Daphne begs to be saved. “Nobody had tried to illustrate in sculpture things in transition, to convey what was incomplete or in the very process of change. Yet we do see the change from girl to tree happening before our eyes; the bark enveloping and encasing her lithe body; softness giving way to ligneous toughness; movement turning into rootedness. Moreover, the sculpture seems to defy what we know is the chief property of stone: its brittleness.” In another critical estimate Hughes depicts the death of Germanicus with the man’s face turned away so that his expression is not revealed; he says this is “Poussin’s way to suggest that this death is not a private issue but one of history itself”.

When Hughes takes Rome into the modern era he makes comparisons between Mussolini and Hitler that are difficult to absorb “what you saw with Mussolini was what you got. The Italians admired his courage, which was not in doubt. He was clearly not in politics for personal gain; he cared nothing for money or domestic comfort….He had no middle-class background; he was wholeheartedly patriotic and genuinely male.” Then to bring the book up to the present day he complains about Italians wasting their time on soccer and overloading on bad television.

Why, you may ask, am I so enamored of the book and Hughes? To which I must respond that he and I have two important things in common–the glory and the grandeur of Rome through the ages. and a love and abiding respect for Italy. If you have been to Rome, if you want to go to Rome, even if you are not going to Rome it is a fascinating wonderful joy to read.

A very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Give yourself and your family a gift by opposing the Keystone LX Pipeline. Read:

Michael Brune: The Keystone XL Pipeline Scam

We Americans ‘sort of ‘ got what we wanted. The senate passed (89 to 10) an extension of a cut to the Social Security payroll tax, albeit only a two-month extension, and jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed, though only a for a few months.

But . . . Republicans attached a rider speeding up the  process for the construction of Keystone Pipeline XL.

President Obama says it will be okay though because the approval process  for the legislation carries a tight deadline which will ease his ability to stop the project more quickly. (?) What we need to do now is write/call The President and beg that he stop the “dirty, dangerous, oil pipeline proposal [which] would bring corrosive oil from Canada through America’s Heartland. It would be devastating to our air, our water and our climate,” says The National Sierra Club.

In the meantime, grab your warm coat and your binoculars and join 60,000 other Americans in the Audubon Christmas Bird Count. It’s fun and you might just be able to save the birds, our habitat and humanity. Go to Count Date Search to find out a place closest to you.

According to the National Audubon Society, the count takes place within “Count Circles,” which focus on specific geographical areas. Each circle is led by a Count Compiler. Therefore, if you are a beginning birder, you will be able to join a group that includes at least one experienced birdwatcher. In addition, if your home is within the boundaries of a Count Circle, then you can stay home and report the birds that visit your feeder once you have arranged to do so with the Count Compiler. There is a $5 fee to participate in the CBC for all field participants aged 19 or older. Please see our frequently asked questions to learn more. If you have never been on a CBC before your first step is to locate and contact your local Count Compiler to find out how you can volunteer.

Chickadees in decline

There is a bill before Congress to extend unemployment insurance and payroll tax cuts. It will be voted upon soon. Though unemployment fell last month, there are still over six million Americans in need of assistance. Also, unless Congress extends the payroll tax cuts, 160 million Americans will have to pay $1000 in increased taxes next year.

Some are staunchly against the passage of this bill. But some, especially the oil lobby,  desperately want the Keystone Oil Pipeline. John Boehner is considering attaching approval of the Keystone Pipeline XL to the bill.

Consider what that can mean to YOUR environment!  Spills from existing pipelines have been well documented. An existing pipeline, Keystone 1, has already leaked 14 times since it went operational in June 2010; one spill dumped 21,000 gallons of tar-sands crude. Another existing tar-sands pipeline spilled more than a million gallons in the Kalamazoo River.

30% of the nation’s groundwater will be put at risk as well as 82% of the drinking water coming from the Ogalalla Aquifer leaving your children an increasingly dangerous world.

It is true that construction of the pipeline, which runs down the middle of the United States from Canada to The Gulf of Texas,  may create some 20,000 jobs, but at what cost to our country?

If you don’t believe the Keystone Pipeline would drastically damage the environment, take a look at where the oil comes from and the damage it’s already done; the tar sands in Alberta Canada . Click here for pictures taken by Robbie Mcclaran, a nationally known freelance photographer.

President Obama has already said he will veto the bill if it passes with the Keystone attachment.

We should too. Each of us has only one tiny voice but we can become a roar if we all speak together. My Congressman is Kevin Yoder. Please Sir, Don’t vote for the Keystone Pipeline!

                                                                                                                                                                                          Alberta Canada Tar Sands

Is it right for one man to have so much power in the United States that he can control elections? We seem to have such a man in Grover Norquist. He is a 55 year old Harvard graduate who worked for Ronald Reagan and originated something called, “The Pledge.” Politicians  who take The Pledge promise that they will never, under any circumstances, vote to raise taxes on anyone. Two hundred and seventy nine (279)Republicans, all sitting members of congress,  have taken this pledge.

Norquist heads up an organization called Americans for Tax Reform, a groups whose ‘not for profit’ status makes it possible for them to conceal their funding sources.

So what is it that gives Grover Norquist and his group so much power? If you are a politician running for office and you violate your pledge, he and his wealthy backers will end your career by financially supporting your opponent and/or by causing voter retaliation of your constituents.

Consider that Mr. Norquist has lobbied Congress for communication laws  and The Keystone Pipeline which would transport crude oil with all its inherent dangers,  from the oil sands of Alberta, Canada through the center of the United States to the Gulf of Texas. Both communications and oil are very powerful and wealthy  interest groups.

I find it hard to envision an America without Social Security, Medicare, welfare assistance, and unemployment assistance. So does Alan Simpson, a former Republican Senator and co-chair of The Deficit  Commission which failed to decrease our national deficit by even one cent.

Senator Simpson has been quoted as saying our country is in such dire circumstances that taxes are inevitable.  He went on to say, “It’s hard to imagine what more House Republicans could learn from conservative lobbyist Grover Norquist after they’ve already embraced his hyper-partisanship and his protection of tax breaks for Big Oil and billionaires, at the expense of Medicare and causing a payroll tax increase.”

Simpson (18 years a United States Senator from Wyoming) stated that Grover Norquist advocates “no taxes under any situation even if the country goes to Hell.”

Let’s be clear. I’m not advocating blindly raising taxes but it is hard to justify irresponsible tax breaks for the big oil companies and the mega-rich. Maybe it’s time for congress to quit acting like a bunch of clickish, bratty high school kids. Get to know one another. Have drinks and dinner together. Seek to form friendships across party lines. Do what we thought we elected you to do. WORK THIS OUT!