Sometimes a children’s book says what adults forget. Maria McSwigan’s Snow Treasure (1942) turns sledding into resistance and innocence into courage. A quiet lesson in bravery worth rediscovering. 👉 tinyurl.com/38sk9cfd
Roy Lichtenstein’s Gullscape has no sun, only geometry, gulls, and a calm too precise to be natural. My new essay, “The Geometry of Calm,” looks at irony, longing, and light without a source. 🌊 tinyurl.com/bddtnyan #PopArt#Lichtenstein#ArtCriticism#VMFA
Dinner at Amelia’s Trattoria reminded me that not everything needs reinvention to matter. Good chicken piccata, loud room, a sangria kissed with limoncello, and a reminder that comfort, done well, is its own art. 👉 tinyurl.com/45796hnp #CambridgeMA#FoodWriting
Happy 250th Birthday to the U.S. Navy ⚓️ From wooden decks to digital fleets, the mission endures: defend freedom and stand ready. Proud to have served, fair winds and following seas to all who wear the uniform. #USNavy250#NavyBirthday#Veteran
Sally Rooney’s Conversations with Friends captures the quiet violence between people who want to be honest but can’t bear the cost. Read my full essay → tinyurl.com/4msw7wjk
Robert Cottingham’s Pool (1973) looks flawless until you notice the missing balls and sprung wires. Perfection giving way to truth. A portrait of America’s beautiful decay.
Before California became a state of mind, Beach Party (1963) captured its sunlit absurdity—Frankie, Annette, and a surfing anthropologist in America’s last innocent wave. 🌊
In 1977, Barkley Hendricks painted "Sisters" (Susan and Toni), turning absence into recognition and presence into permanence. My new essay: tinyurl.com/5effde2z
A forgotten British road movie in stark black & white, soundtracked by Bowie & Kraftwerk. Radio On (1979) isn’t plot—it’s atmosphere, silence, & a country in transition. My essay: tinyurl.com/33jhbybh#FilmEssay#RadioOn#BritishCinema#Sting
An empty diner. A cartoon owl. A painting that feels like a prayer. Ralph Goings’ Burger Chef Interior isn’t about nostalgia—it’s about the quiet rituals of American forgetting. 🖼 Read the essay: tinyurl.com/ytmszmrp #Photorealism#ArtCriticism#BurgerChef
100 years on, Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway still captures how love, memory & loss linger in the ordinary hours of a single day. My reflection: tinyurl.com/23hywz7b
Richard Estes’ Paris Street Scene depicts Paris twice, once as it is, and once as it is reflected. More than photorealism, it’s a meditation on how we see. Read the full essay: tinyurl.com/bdcp94kf#RichardEstes#ArtCriticism#Photorealism
Warfare (2025) doesn’t let you watch—it makes you endure. Real-time chaos, memory, and survival collide in one of the year’s most harrowing films. My essay: tinyurl.com/2948nbkb#WarfareMovie#A24#FilmCriticism
Beck’s Midnite Vultures is dazzling, absurd, and sonically brilliant—but does irony leave it hollow? My track-by-track deep dive is here 👉 tinyurl.com/2xet2v5c
Conrad’s Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim are two halves of the same wound: empire’s horror, a man’s shame. My new essay explores how these works intertwine on the themes of guilt, survival & redemption.
