Ken
@bludrone.bsky.social
Liberal and egalitarian values - Art - Music - Literature - Philosophy - Film - Politics - “ life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards “ ( Kierkegaard )
Miami Beach , Florida
Miami Beach , Florida
“there was no doubt the Pope was pursuing a strategy of neutrality even as Nazis’(and the Italian Fascists’) crimes became obvious,he did so because he thought that any more forceful action by him would imperil many Catholics living under Nazi rule or occupation “
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/betw...
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/betw...
Between Hitler and Mussolini: The agony of Pope Pius XII
David Kertzer’s The Pope at War is a compelling historical account of a Catholic Church and its Pope caught up in the totalitarian experiments of the twentieth century.
engelsbergideas.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:15 PM
“there was no doubt the Pope was pursuing a strategy of neutrality even as Nazis’(and the Italian Fascists’) crimes became obvious,he did so because he thought that any more forceful action by him would imperil many Catholics living under Nazi rule or occupation “
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/betw...
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/betw...
“Unsurprisingly, the Art Deco style is at the heart of the project, expressed through geometric patterns and textiles, extravagant archways, decorative ceilings, and curated materials like velvet, marble, and dark woods.”
mymodernmet.com/the-orient-e...
mymodernmet.com/the-orient-e...
Legendary Orient Express Train Is Being Reborn, and Here’s a Peek Into This Art Deco Dream
The famous train is returning in 2027 and the interior is an Art Deco lover's dream.
mymodernmet.com
December 1, 2025 at 1:12 PM
“Unsurprisingly, the Art Deco style is at the heart of the project, expressed through geometric patterns and textiles, extravagant archways, decorative ceilings, and curated materials like velvet, marble, and dark woods.”
mymodernmet.com/the-orient-e...
mymodernmet.com/the-orient-e...
“It’s fascinating to see how fundamentally human this behavior is. A few studies of young children showing that by the age of between 2 and 4, when children talk to adults, the primary thing they’re communicating about other children is the bad things they do.”
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
See something, say something? The science of speaking out
From tattling to whistleblowing, a sociologist explores what drives people to tell on one another
knowablemagazine.org
December 1, 2025 at 12:54 PM
“It’s fascinating to see how fundamentally human this behavior is. A few studies of young children showing that by the age of between 2 and 4, when children talk to adults, the primary thing they’re communicating about other children is the bad things they do.”
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
“He lies nonstop, and lying works. Sure, there are other factors in play—he tapped into and intensified a certain strain of profound proletarian resentment of liberal elites, and … well, that’s about it. But mostly, it’s the lies.”
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
America Is Finally Starting to
See Trump for the Bullsh*t Artist He Is
He came to power through a relentless assault of lies. But the debt owed to the truth is coming due.
newrepublic.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:51 PM
“He lies nonstop, and lying works. Sure, there are other factors in play—he tapped into and intensified a certain strain of profound proletarian resentment of liberal elites, and … well, that’s about it. But mostly, it’s the lies.”
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
newrepublic.com/article/2035...
“When arthritis ended her habit of embroidery, Anna Mary Robertson Moses first reached for a paintbrush with serious purpose in her 70s. Her rural scenes soon hung in New York galleries “
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
In Her 70s, Grandma Moses Began Painting Lovely Scenes of Rural Life. Then She Became an Icon
A new Smithsonian retrospective explores the legacy of America’s beloved late bloomer, often underrated in art history
www.smithsonianmag.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:49 PM
“When arthritis ended her habit of embroidery, Anna Mary Robertson Moses first reached for a paintbrush with serious purpose in her 70s. Her rural scenes soon hung in New York galleries “
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-...
“Clichés or variations on them are a way to immediately connect with an average, non-literary audience in an evocative way, almost with the warmth of an in-joke. Clichés are democratised wordplay, metaphor for the masses.”
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/in-de...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/in-de...
In Defence of Cliché | Sydney Review of Books
When Henry Chase Richards shifted from writing advertising copy to being a Writer with a capital ‘W’, the hardest thing to leave behind was a penchant for cliché. Old habits die hard, but perhaps call...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com
December 1, 2025 at 12:47 PM
“Clichés or variations on them are a way to immediately connect with an average, non-literary audience in an evocative way, almost with the warmth of an in-joke. Clichés are democratised wordplay, metaphor for the masses.”
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/in-de...
sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essays/in-de...
“From dashing off a heated text message to composing an op-ed, writing allows you to, at once, name your pain and create distance from it. Writing can shift your mental state from overwhelm and despair to grounded clarity — a shift that reflects resilience.”
theconversation.com/writing-buil...
theconversation.com/writing-buil...
Writing builds resilience by changing your brain, helping you face everyday challenges
Resilience is often presented as feats of bravery and endurance. But everyday practices like journaling, drafting a text or even writing a to-do list are manifestations of a capacity to adapt.
theconversation.com
November 25, 2025 at 2:01 PM
“From dashing off a heated text message to composing an op-ed, writing allows you to, at once, name your pain and create distance from it. Writing can shift your mental state from overwhelm and despair to grounded clarity — a shift that reflects resilience.”
theconversation.com/writing-buil...
theconversation.com/writing-buil...
“No one knows whether Shakespeare felt forced to marry the pregnant Anne or if they were wildly in love. No one knows how Hamnet died, but the plague was then rampant and the most likely cause of his death.”
www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
'History has treated her badly': Hamnet and the 400-year-old mystery around Shakespeare's wife and son
Oscar-tipped new film Hamnet imagines the home life of William and Agnes Shakespeare – and the "soul-crushing" loss of their child. It's a powerful story that fills in many blanks.
www.bbc.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 PM
“No one knows whether Shakespeare felt forced to marry the pregnant Anne or if they were wildly in love. No one knows how Hamnet died, but the plague was then rampant and the most likely cause of his death.”
www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
www.bbc.com/culture/arti...
“Luckily, Stella’s paint is “very lean,” according to Wilmering, which helped the work survive the frequent roll-ups. However, a new technique had to be developed to create a permanent spring-loaded stretcher that retained the integrity of the work.”
hyperallergic.com/541930/frank...
hyperallergic.com/541930/frank...
The Little-Known Story of a Frank Stella Work Once Mistaken for a Lunch Table
In 1972, Stella donated "Isfahan III" (1968) to the Museum of Solidarity in Chile. After a coup d'etat, the artwork disappeared for nearly 20 years, but its story is coming to light as the museum cons...
hyperallergic.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:55 PM
“Luckily, Stella’s paint is “very lean,” according to Wilmering, which helped the work survive the frequent roll-ups. However, a new technique had to be developed to create a permanent spring-loaded stretcher that retained the integrity of the work.”
hyperallergic.com/541930/frank...
hyperallergic.com/541930/frank...
“we cannot quite decipher what is going on. Works like these signaled a hinge point in her work; in the ’70s, she began moving away from subjects such as coffee cups and tables to make abstract paintings more elusive to interpretation.”
hyperallergic.com/1059357/payi...
hyperallergic.com/1059357/payi...
Paying Homage to the Iconoclasts of Abstraction
An exhibition traces the radical advancements in painting by Al Held, Elizabeth Murray, Judy Pfaff, and Frank Stella.
hyperallergic.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:53 PM
“we cannot quite decipher what is going on. Works like these signaled a hinge point in her work; in the ’70s, she began moving away from subjects such as coffee cups and tables to make abstract paintings more elusive to interpretation.”
hyperallergic.com/1059357/payi...
hyperallergic.com/1059357/payi...
“the Trump Administration has been busy commanding an Orwellian erasure of women’s achievements from the public record. In January NASA was ordered to remove mentions of "anything specifically targeting women (women in leadership, etc)" from its website.”
time.com/7284644/trum...
time.com/7284644/trum...
Trump’s Orwellian Erasure of Women
Through executive order, President Donald Trump has used an Orwellian playbook to erase women from the public record.
time.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
“the Trump Administration has been busy commanding an Orwellian erasure of women’s achievements from the public record. In January NASA was ordered to remove mentions of "anything specifically targeting women (women in leadership, etc)" from its website.”
time.com/7284644/trum...
time.com/7284644/trum...
“As the Roman republic’s social and political breakdown quickened, decades of progress in women’s self-determination, emancipation, and participation in public life were erased. The health of the republic suffered because of it.”
time.com/7326211/roma...
time.com/7326211/roma...
The Roman Republic Crumbled When Patriarchy Prevailed
Women secured critical progress in the Roman republic. Their rights were rolled back with the republic's collapse.
time.com
November 25, 2025 at 1:49 PM
“As the Roman republic’s social and political breakdown quickened, decades of progress in women’s self-determination, emancipation, and participation in public life were erased. The health of the republic suffered because of it.”
time.com/7326211/roma...
time.com/7326211/roma...
“Anne Frank, whom the world knows so well while knowing very little about her. An image: that of a pale young girl, hair sensibly fastened with a barrette, sitting at her desk, a pen in her hand. A symbol, but of what? Adolescence? The Holocaust? Writing? “
lithub.com/on-the-vener...
lithub.com/on-the-vener...
On the Venerated—and Exploited—Legacy of Anne Frank
It’s her. A silhouette at the window, emerging from the shadows, just a girl. She learns over the ledge, drawn, no doubt by laughter she’s heard in the street: it’s coming from an elegant processio…
lithub.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:08 PM
“Anne Frank, whom the world knows so well while knowing very little about her. An image: that of a pale young girl, hair sensibly fastened with a barrette, sitting at her desk, a pen in her hand. A symbol, but of what? Adolescence? The Holocaust? Writing? “
lithub.com/on-the-vener...
lithub.com/on-the-vener...
“But McCarthyism never really left since its inception in the 50s, only shifting tactics and changing shapes to become other evils, like the War on Drugs, COINTELPRO, or the War on Terror. The Red Scare remains a bipartisan ideological mainstay in the US today. “
lithub.com/on-zohran-ma...
lithub.com/on-zohran-ma...
On Zohran Mamdani, Taylor Swift, and the Evolution of the Red Scare
On Friday, November 7, President Trump issued a proclamation asserting the week of November 2 to 8 as “Anti-Communism Week.” The announcement conjectured that “for more than a century, communism ha…
lithub.com
November 23, 2025 at 1:02 PM
“But McCarthyism never really left since its inception in the 50s, only shifting tactics and changing shapes to become other evils, like the War on Drugs, COINTELPRO, or the War on Terror. The Red Scare remains a bipartisan ideological mainstay in the US today. “
lithub.com/on-zohran-ma...
lithub.com/on-zohran-ma...
“Algospeak, as it's often called, is a whole coded language built around the idea that algorithms bury content that uses forbidden words or phrases, either to boost the political agendas of social media companies, or to sanitise our feeds for advertisers. “
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
The words you can't say on the internet
There's a secret list of words you can't say on social media – at least, that's what everyone seems to think.
www.bbc.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:13 PM
“Algospeak, as it's often called, is a whole coded language built around the idea that algorithms bury content that uses forbidden words or phrases, either to boost the political agendas of social media companies, or to sanitise our feeds for advertisers. “
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
www.bbc.com/future/artic...
“Kendall had made his name in the 1950s by shoving Pepsi into the hands of Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet leader drank three cups of capitalist soda in front of news photographers and declared it “very refreshing.”
slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com/news-and-pol...
In 1990, One of the Great Forgotten Acts of American Subterfuge Unfolded. It Involved Pizza Hut.
A delicious caper of vodka bribes and world-altering salad bars.
slate.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:11 PM
“Kendall had made his name in the 1950s by shoving Pepsi into the hands of Nikita Khrushchev. The Soviet leader drank three cups of capitalist soda in front of news photographers and declared it “very refreshing.”
slate.com/news-and-pol...
slate.com/news-and-pol...
“Within Silveira’s works, you’ll find figures whose faces are replaced by a bouquet of tropical florals or surreal vistas, such as a swan, with a human brain as its body, swimming in the water. in a cross-sectioned composition, a human heart rests on the lakebed. “
mymodernmet.com/rafael-silve...
mymodernmet.com/rafael-silve...
Psychedelic Paintings Visualize the Human Psyche as a Surreal Technicolor Dream
“Everything that crosses my gaze can create this energy and send a signal that opens a kind of portal in my mind, from which these surreal images emerge.”
mymodernmet.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:08 PM
“Within Silveira’s works, you’ll find figures whose faces are replaced by a bouquet of tropical florals or surreal vistas, such as a swan, with a human brain as its body, swimming in the water. in a cross-sectioned composition, a human heart rests on the lakebed. “
mymodernmet.com/rafael-silve...
mymodernmet.com/rafael-silve...
Ancher did not give up on her fascination with light and, by the early 1900s, had established a signature technique of capturing a luminescent brightness shining through white blinds and curtains or reflected onto a wall. “
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/anna...
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/anna...
Anna Ancher's language of light
In the northernmost corner of Denmark, the painter Anna Ancher found the light of Skagen to be her lifelong muse.
engelsbergideas.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:04 PM
Ancher did not give up on her fascination with light and, by the early 1900s, had established a signature technique of capturing a luminescent brightness shining through white blinds and curtains or reflected onto a wall. “
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/anna...
engelsbergideas.com/reviews/anna...
“Kahlo depicts herself sleeping under a yellow blanket in her wooden four poster bed adrift in a partly cloudy sky.A skeletal form wrapped in wires and sticks of dynamite lays its head on two pillows just like Kahlo,and holds a bouquet of flowers. “
hyperallergic.com/1058884/frid...
hyperallergic.com/1058884/frid...
Frida Kahlo Becomes Most Expensive Woman Artist at Auction
“El sueño (La cama)” (1940), a surreal rumination on dreams, nightmares, and the afterlife, sold for $54.7M at Sotheby's.
hyperallergic.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:02 PM
“Kahlo depicts herself sleeping under a yellow blanket in her wooden four poster bed adrift in a partly cloudy sky.A skeletal form wrapped in wires and sticks of dynamite lays its head on two pillows just like Kahlo,and holds a bouquet of flowers. “
hyperallergic.com/1058884/frid...
hyperallergic.com/1058884/frid...
“Perhaps the foodie has become imperiled by the transformation of so many of our meals, snacks, and grocery hauls into mere fodder for social media. Preparing, serving, and eating food is now too often only a prelude to posting: “
yalereview.org/article/alic...
yalereview.org/article/alic...
Alicia Kennedy: “Who Was the Foodie?”
Alicia Kennedy on Ruby Tandoh’s All Consuming , Marion Nestle’s What to Eat Now , and the evolution of the foodie
yalereview.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:15 PM
“Perhaps the foodie has become imperiled by the transformation of so many of our meals, snacks, and grocery hauls into mere fodder for social media. Preparing, serving, and eating food is now too often only a prelude to posting: “
yalereview.org/article/alic...
yalereview.org/article/alic...
“Nearly all the estimates of the seats Republicans can steal before the midterms are too low. The estimates say seven to 10; the reality, in my view, is 11 to 14. “
newrepublic.com/article/2028...
newrepublic.com/article/2028...
MAGA’s State-by-State Plot to Butcher Democracy
Political insiders, GOP legislators and governors, the president, even the Supreme Court—they’re all in on the flagrantly unconstitutional conspiracy to destroy democracy by the way they draw lines on...
newrepublic.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:13 PM
“Nearly all the estimates of the seats Republicans can steal before the midterms are too low. The estimates say seven to 10; the reality, in my view, is 11 to 14. “
newrepublic.com/article/2028...
newrepublic.com/article/2028...
“Rousseau may have been self-taught, but he had a copyist’s pass to the Louvre, the source of many 19th-century artists’ educations. He was attentive to current events and incorporated them into his work. “
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
A Once-in-a-Generation Henri Rousseau Exhibition Highlights the Strangeness and Luminosity of His Paintings
The exhibition, starring <em>Sleeping Gypsy</em>, highlights the strangeness and luminosity of the paintings by this self-taught artist.
www.artnews.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:10 PM
“Rousseau may have been self-taught, but he had a copyist’s pass to the Louvre, the source of many 19th-century artists’ educations. He was attentive to current events and incorporated them into his work. “
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
www.artnews.com/art-in-ameri...
“the physicality of Venice seems to dissipate into water and air. The wall texts note that Monet was intrigued by water’s ability to change states. In works such as “The Rio della Salute” (1908), he intermingles these states.”
hyperallergic.com/1057971/drow...
hyperallergic.com/1057971/drow...
Drowning in the Light of Monet’s Venice
Venice turned out to be the ideal environment for the artist to explore the relationship between water and light that long preoccupied him.
hyperallergic.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:09 PM
“the physicality of Venice seems to dissipate into water and air. The wall texts note that Monet was intrigued by water’s ability to change states. In works such as “The Rio della Salute” (1908), he intermingles these states.”
hyperallergic.com/1057971/drow...
hyperallergic.com/1057971/drow...
“El sueño (La cama), or The Dream (The Bed), which depicts Kahlo asleep in a bed with a smiling skeleton wrapped in dynamite on the canopy above her, sold on Thursday night at a Sotheby’s auction of surrealist art after four minutes of bidding.”
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
Frida Kahlo self-portrait sells for $54.7m to set new auction record for a female artist
The 1940 painting of Kahlo asleep in bed has surpassed the record set by the $44.4m sale of Georgia O’Keeffe’s Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1 in 2014
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:05 PM
“El sueño (La cama), or The Dream (The Bed), which depicts Kahlo asleep in a bed with a smiling skeleton wrapped in dynamite on the canopy above her, sold on Thursday night at a Sotheby’s auction of surrealist art after four minutes of bidding.”
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
www.theguardian.com/artanddesign...
“Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders, you can refuse illegal orders, you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Outrage after Trump accuses Democrats of ‘seditious behavior, punishable by death’
US president roundly decried for Truth Social post after lawmakers told military personnel to refuse illegal orders
www.theguardian.com
November 21, 2025 at 2:04 PM
“Our laws are clear, you can refuse illegal orders, you can refuse illegal orders, you must refuse illegal orders. No one has to carry out orders that violate the law or our constitution.” www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...