March 2008
145 posts
LEST WE FORGET
70 years ago Hitler annexed Austria and within hours artists of all kinds who were Jewish or married to a Jew were being dismissed from their positions. The Vienna State Opera currently has an exhibition of photographs and memorabilia of the numerous members of the opera they lost to Nazi hatred in 1938.
“The directorate is obliged to inform you that you are relieved of your duties as...”
– This is the termination letter to Risa Dirtl who had been with the Vienna State Opera for 14 years. The letter was dated 16 March 1938 - just 3 days after Hitler annexed Austria. Risa Dirtl’s only “crime” was that her husband was a Jew.
“There is unbelievable jubilation in Austria. We ourselves did not think that...”
– Göring
WHEN ARTISTS TAKE CHARGE
The Real Refuses exhibition is on again in Sydney.
THE BEAUTIFUL ARTS OF THE PEACEFUL PEOPLE
“All dreams spin out from the same web.”
– Hopi proverb
“The one who tells the stories rules the world.”
– Hopi proverb
“Don’t be afraid to cry. It will free your mind of sorrowful thoughts.”
– Hopi proverb
“One finger cannot lift a pebble.”
– Hopi proverb
“Wisdom comes only when you stop looking for it and start living the life the...”
– Hopi Proverb
“The rain falls on the just and the unjust.”
– Hopi Proverb
THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL
Oscar Wilde wrote many things more famous than this poem yet few things he wrote compare with or surpass the passion and depth of this marvelous poem. In 1895 he had been sent to prison for homosexuality. While there he witnessed the execution of of a man who had murdered his wife. Wilde wrote the poem in France following his release from prison in 1897. The full text of the poem can be found here...
“And all men kill the thing they love,
….By all let this be heard,
Some do it...”
– Oscar Wilde from The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
“The moaning wind went wandering round
….The weeping prison-wall:
Till like a...”
– Oscar Wilde from The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
“Right in we went, with soul intent
….On Death and Dread and Doom:
The hangman,...”
– Oscar Wilde, from The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
“I know not whether laws be right,
Or whether laws be wrong;
all that we know...”
– Oscar Wilde, from The Ballad Of Reading Gaol
VANDALISM AND THE MERMAID
Hans Christian Anderson wrote The Little Mermaid in 1836. The sculpture was unveiled in 1913 in Copenhagen Harbor and quickly became the iconic and much loved symbol of Copenhagen. Since about 1960 the sculpture has been suject to an escalating number of acts of vandalism ranging from being dressed to having its head cut off (twice). It was vandalized 3 times in 2007 and the city authorities have...
Story Of The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid lives with her sisters on the bottom of the sea. One day she sees a handsome prince on a ship and falls in love with him but the ship is wrecked and she saves his life by carrying his unconscious body to shore. She wants to become a human to be with her prince but is told that humans only live a short time (Mermaids live for 300 years) although (unlike mermaids) humans have an...
THE REAL COLORS OF ANCIENT GREEK AND ROMAN...
