“Where’s the beef?”

I went to the non-library section of the Clark the other day for the first time in months to see “Dove/O’Keeffe: Circles of Influence“. Aside from its frankly dull title, it was a perfectly diverting show. I’d never really seen much of Arthur Dove’s work, and his choice to use metallic-colored paints in some frames [...]

Beat that with a stick

http://francis.williams.edu/record=b2115817

A Terrible Ordeal

A man who knows not how to write may think this no great feat. But only try to do it yourself and you shall learn how arduous is the writer’s task. It dims your eyes, makes your back ache, and knits your chest and belly together – it is a terrible ordeal for the whole body. So, gentle [...]

Wintry Mix

I’ve been continuing work on my preliminary paper for my art history thesis this year. I’ve been reading the literature for months, so now I’m down to looking closely through the major catalogues to figure out what images I’ll want to focus on. It’s a little daunting, but my advisor has provided her usual excellent [...]

Spoons! What are they?

“It was the advent of the salver spoon which changed so much about seventeenth-century Europe. Up till then, it was a backward province; a place of love, but not of lust; a place of culture, but not of high culture. With the advent of this trinket, everything changed.”
I’ve been re-reading Simon Schama’s Embarrassment of Riches. [...]

Water Damage

A fairly quiet week after a low-key but beautiful weekend trip to Maremma. I had adventures with PosteItalia and TrenItalia but everything seems set for the next few weeks. This Saturday I’m making another trip to the studio of my book art professor, and with any luck I’ll be able to come out of it [...]

I was talking to the Malaysian prime minister…

Written Sunday night – I’m currently watching a dubbed episode of Dottore House. I have not yet learned Italian for “lupus”, but I’ll make sure to keep you posted.
Today I had what was possibly the most pleasant day that I have had in Italy so far.
A couple of people from our book art class went [...]

Italo Calvino

Here (finally) is something in response to some friends’ study-abroad panic attacks, from Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities:
“And yet I know,” he would say, “that my empire is made of the stuff of crystals, its molecules arranged in a perfect pattern. Amid the surge of the elements, a splendid hard diamond takes shape, an immense, faceted, [...]

Don’t get cake on the Amalfi!

I have to admit my birthday has been rather lackluster for the past two years, falling one week before spring break at Williams, and thus right the middle of midterm exams. Everyone (including myself) is too stressed out to think about doing anything except making it to those golden two weeks, so I haven’t relished [...]

È Lei…?

Last week I went with one of the other girls in the program to a choir that two of the professors (married – he’s an american creative writing prof, she’s from Naples and studies medieval music. Adorable.) sing in. The group seems to specialize in madrigals and Renaissance sacred music (with a little Brhams thrown [...]