cultural commentary from the desk of Don Shewey
NARCISSISM
I’m a recovering narcissist. I didn’t know I was a narcissist. I thought narcissism meant you love yourself. Then someone told me there’s a flip side to it, so it’s actually drearier than self-love. It’s unrequited self-love.
— Emily Levine
PERFECT DAY
“On a Perfect Day”
… I eat an artichoke in front
of the Charles Street Laundromat
and watch the clouds bloom
into white flowers out of
the building across the way.
The bright air moves on my face
like the touch of someone who loves me.
Far overhead a dart-shaped plane softens
through membranes of vacancy. A ship,
riding the bright glissade of the Hudson, slips
past the end of the street. Colette’s vagabond
says the sun belongs to the lizard
that warms in its light. I own these moments
when my skin like a drumhead stretches on the frame
of my bones, then swells, a bellows filled
with sacred breath seared by this flame,
this happiness.
— Jane Gentry
MARRIAGE
What counts in making a happy marriage is not so much how compatible you are, but how you deal with incompatibility.
— Leo Tolstoy
MONEY
The safest way to double your money is to fold it over once and put it back in your pocket.
— Kin Hubbard
KOINONIA
Koinonia is the Anglicization of a Greek (κοινωνία) that means communion by intimate participation. The word is used frequently in the New Testmanet to describe the early Christian church as well as the act of breaking bread in the manner which Christ prescribed during the Passover meal.
To create a bond between comrades is the meaning of koinonia when people are recognized, share their joy and pains together, and are united because of their common experiences, interests and goals. Fellowship creates a mutual bond which overrides each individual’s pride, vanity, and individualism, fulfilling the human yearning with fraternity, belonging, and companionship. This meaning of koinonia accounts for the ease by which sharing and generosity flow. When combined with the spiritual implications of koinonia, fellowship provides a joint participation in God’s graces and denotes that common possession of spiritual values.
— Wikipedia
Tom and Don's video salon: George Russell, Dave Nimmons, David Carrino, Darren Polito, Blair Voyvodic, Tom Dennison, Michael Mele, Andy Willett, Andy Holtman, Jonathan Arnold, and Stephen Soba
another eye opens 