Author Abraham Verghese

Just found out that Abraham Verghese has a new book out entitled The Covenant of Water and I cannot wait to read it! I have been anxiously awaiting another of his books after reading Cutting for Stone, one of my all time favorite books that has stuck with me all these years later.

Verghese is a professor of the theory and practice of medicine at Stanford Medical School, has a clinical practice, and attended the Iowa Writer's Workshop well into mid career to become a writer as well. To quote the New York Times, "It is tempting to look at Abraham Verghese as a man with multiple careers running in tandem, but all his work is anchored in a consistent, profound moral architecture of the spirit. He suffered considerably when he was younger — experiences he has chronicled in his earlier fiction and nonfiction — and emerged a romantic, determined to be kind and extravagantly compassionate, a genuine humanist. In an era when seriousness is often presumed to entail skepticism, he is serious about benevolence. By projecting his own best self, he hopes to coax out the best selves of others." This is precisely why I find him so compelling as a writer and as a human being as well.

Good Reads calls it "one of the most masterful literary novels published in recent years and goes on to call it "a shimmering evocation of a lost India and of the passage of time itself...a hymn to progress in medicine and to human understanding, and a humbling testament to the hardships undergone by past generations for the sake of those alive today."

The Storm by Mary Oliver

Now through the white orchard my little dog
romps, breaking the new snow
with wild feet.
Running here, running there, excited
hardly able to stop, he leaps, he spins
until the white snow is written upon
in large exuberant letters
a long sentence, expressing
the pleasures of the body in this world.

Oh, I could not have said it better
myself.

Diego Cusano Food Art

You know how your mom said "don't' play with your food." Well, Diego Cusano didn't listen--he plays with it in the most creative of ways! I love his mix of graphics, reality and fantasy. In his own words, "I’m more of a ‘fantasy researcher’: every day I get up and look for an object and think of how to represent it in my own way, outside of reality and its constraints." He does a great job of having us look at something in a new way and it makes me smile to look at his mixed media drawings...

Charity of the Week:
National Dance Institute

These performances at the Skirball Center of NYC take place on Father’s Day Weekend and Monday June 19th and are full of joy and spirit. Some people walk out of them and say it was the best thing they saw all year! Not to be missed if you are in New York Father’s Day Weekend…and if you want to attend the Friday night dress rehearsal benefit, National Dance Institute is a great organization to support…founded by Jacques D’Amboise www.nationaldance.org

Painting of the Week

Red Tree, mixed media on canvas, 50” x 80” private collection

About The Author

New York City based contemporary artist, Pam Smilow, began writing the creative lifestyle blog “things we love” in an effort to foster a sense of community during times of isolation and reflection. To read more about her and her art, visit her website and check out the essay written by the Hammond Museum's Frank Matheis entitled The Sophisticated Innocence of Pam Smilow.