Couldn’t resist posting this utter piece of joy that has just elevated my mood tenfold this afternoon…—Mark Morris’ Dance Company hot off the press including the divine costumes by Isaac Mizrahi. The piece debuts in Santa Monica on October 20th but watch for it as it tours in a performance venue near you…

The Year Earth Changed

David Attenborough Illustration by Lulu Kitololo

My friend Tina is pure heart and she always gives me great ideas of what to include in this blog...Brought to you by David Attenborough, the important Apple TV film The Year Earth Changed shows us the positive impact the pandemic has had on animal and plant life and is a clear reminder of how much better off nature would be without us. It also includes some practical ideas of actions we can take to better coexist with our fellow inhabitants on this planet, while not destroying them in the process (which is exactly what we are doing at fantastical rates right now...).

Bobby by Diane Zeuss

As it appears in Poetry Magazine October 2022

BOBBY
by Diane Zeuss

All the actors from the sitcoms
I watched as a child are dead.
And the musicians, assassinated
or natural
causes. Take a hint
they shout from the top tier
of the ancient Roman
amphitheater. No
I will not take a hint. I still
make a mean
bowl of soup which can now
be poured directly
from a can and inserted
into a box that heats
via electromagnetic radiation.
I once owned
a guitar and learned me
some of the chords to “Me
and Bobby McGee” and damn
if I couldn’t sing
good.
My voice was not like Janis.
Nothing like Janis. It was high
serene
forthcoming
piercing
mezzo
very lyric
very trill
hugely skinny like a water spout
the neighbors complained about
its beauty I sang I sung I’m singing
I barely began to begun
and I’m not done.

Beth Krensky Art

One of the best things that came out of the pandemic is the fact that we can visit faraway places virtually and experience things that are not just in our local backyard. For example, I have been a regular visitor of programs at the The Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Center in South Africa. I have participated in film festivals in California, attended holiday events with distant friends and family strewn all over the globe. And in the case below, we can attend an art exhibit at Yale University by artist Beth Krensky, because an old client asked me to take a look at her childhood friend's current exhibit there at the Institute of Sacred Music. I found her exhibit and the objects in it mysterious, meaningful and intriguing...Krensky considers herself to be "a gatherer of things--objects, words, spirit--and a connector of fragments, to make us whole..." And in the words of the curator Maddie Blonquist Shrum, "This exhibition invites viewers to inhabit the space Krensky does herself: the in-between of matter and spirit, the profane and the sacred."

Take a look yourself at both the exhibit entitled Between Spirit and Matter and the catalogue which accompanies the show...and if you are anywhere near New Haven, the gallery is open weekdays from 9-4.

Paintings of the Week

Collaborative Animal Giclee Prints, 8” x 10” or in customizable sizes….www.pamelasmilow.com/animal=prints/

Charity of the Week:

World Central Kitchen

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.