Booker T. Washington

My favorite short story by Dorothy Canfield Fisher is "The Washed Window," which centers on Booker T. Washington. Fisher's story was published in 1955, forty years after Washington's death. I…

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Daniel Webster (Central Park, New York)

Thomas Ball, Daniel Webster, dedicated 1876. Central Park near the West 72nd Street entrance. Photo copyright © 2017 Dianne L. Durante Fame ... The national reputation of “the god-like Daniel”…

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Tosca: Sardou / Mucha / Bernhardt

I'll take Mozart or Rossini over Puccini most days of the year, but (OK, husband and daughter, I admit it) I do enjoy Tosca. Alphonse Mucha, who created a poster for…

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Medea: Euripides / Mucha / Bernhardt

While writing last week's post on rhetoric, I ran across Ovid's description of Medea pondering whether to betray her family for the sake of Jason, with whom she's fallen in…

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Seven Liberal Arts: Rhetoric

The purpose of the liberal arts: clarification In my post on Grammar, I stated that the liberal arts were originally intended to provide the knowledge that a person needed to…

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Darrow Faces Bryan Again in Dayton, TN

In late May, I posted on the sculpture of Clarence Darrow that was being designed to stand in front of the courthouse in Dayton, Tennessee, where the Scopes trial was…

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Bridge + Braley

Three major bridge replacements have been in progress in the Tristate area during the past few years. The Goethals Bridge, dating to the 1920s, connects Elizabeth, New Jersey, with the…

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Seven Liberal Arts: Grammar

When I started reading about Laurent de La Hyre's Allegory of Grammar (more on that painting below), I was shocked to discover that I had earned a Bachelor of Arts degree without…

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Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden (Five Favorites Series)

The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (Old Masters Picture Gallery) is part of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (Dresden State Art Collections). It was founded in the early 18th century by Augustus the…

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